Homeworld: Ven

Species: Ven
 

Little is known of Ven history, outside of its homeworld. Despite their vast wealth of historical knowledge, the Ven are incredibly secretive of their own history. Even the average Ven citizen knows little, as Ven's history is only accessible to the highest echelons of government.

Physically unimposing and lacking in any significant naval or military power, the Ven have existed mostly as scientists, artists, historians, archivers and record keepers.
It's not known what protects their homeworld from invasion, but somehow the planet has been untouched by any sign of external conquest, not even from the Galactic War. One account exists, of Sith forces attempting to attack Ven, only to be wiped out by a solar flare, that caused no harm to the planet - whether this was a natural fluke, or some sort of secret Ven weapon, is not known.

One of the main reasons for the value of Ven, and its people as historians, is that the people of this world can potentially live forever, barring accidental death or illness.

How this works is unclear, even the Ven themselves do not seem to know how their aging works (if they do, they aren't telling) but it seems to be tied to another trait they possess - the ability to erase their own memories at will.
A Ven can, by sheer conscious will and thought, search for their own memories, within oneself and choose to remove memories, like deleting files from a computer.

This "deletion" can erase seconds or years. This is the sole clue to deducing an age of any given Ven - or at least, how old they wish to appear.

Ven age normally up until maturity, after that, their aging is slowed but the more memory they retain, the more signs of age they show.
Its believed that some Ven, even married couples will purposely live out a few decades of life and then erase it all and start again. Some keep records of past "lives" while others leave clues, and some just start fresh.

Some Ven are so well tuned is this ability, that some ancient Ven like Jedi Master Chan, have certain methods that apply to memory erasure, where they are frequently erasing seconds of trivial memory here and there, yet ensuring they do not become absent minded - such methods delay outward signs of age for ancient Ven.

Some older Ven go to great lengths to store backups of their memories, on remote locations, holonet servers, and even orbital satellites. The Ven homeworld has an archive that all Ven can contribute to, be it for public or private use.

Other unique traits of the Ven include their ability to detect each other when in close proximity, and to some degree, detect how old the other is (at least in terms of memory). Some older Ven can transfer portions of memory, to devices of Ven technology, as well as the galactic holonet.
Ven who are close to each other can transfer memories to each other, especially if they are lovers, very close friends or blood relation (this ability has been compared to the memnii transferal ability, of the Caamasi race).
Some Ven can even transfer and receive memories with members of telepathic species.

Master Chan, possibly the only force sensitive Ven known to exist, is able to transfer memories and knowledge to holocrons, and is sometimes seen with some unique shielded holocrons, floating around him. 

 

Further notes:

 

• Ven cannot breed with other species.
   

• Force sensitive Ven are extremely rare. Al'Sekhen ineb Chan is thought to be the only one.
   

• There is some evidence, albeit inconclusive, to suggest that the Ven created the Arkanian species, or that the Arkanians are an offshoot race. If this is true, it raises questions of how ancient Ven travelled the stars before the Duros invention of hyperdrive.
   

• The Ven homeworld library is not open to all, and the knowledge within is sometimes at a cost. Things like art, literature, and known technology are generally not restricted, but advanced sciences and some ancient secrets are revealed to but a few, if at all.
   

• B'Taran / The Blacksmith of Gaia, learned how to forge Songsteel, by gaining access to the Ven library, by sharing his secret spicy sushi sauce.
   

• The Elder of Gaia​, often visits the library, being a known associate of Master Chan.
   

• Some xeno-scientists speculate that the Ven may be far more advanced than they wish to reveal, as hinted at by the rumoured solar flare weapon. Others believe the Ven could push the current standard of galactic technology forward by several generations but refuse to do so, for fear of the people of the galaxy destroying itself.
   

• There is a theory that what is said to be the Ven homeworld is not their true place of origin--there are systems not far from Ven with life sustaining, but otherwise barren worlds with great ruins of former civilisations showing hints of Ven written language. In some cases, these worlds possess ruins of good condition, so intact are they that other species have adopted them for their own use.