Helianx
The Helianx are believed to be one of the few still existing species to have been created on a planet in the second of the seven vast Superuniverses that together comprise the Multiverse. Since the superuniverses are said to be formed and seeded with life sequentially--and we currently inhabit the seventh-this suggests that the Helianx are the most ancient race of intelligent beings yet encountered. It should also be remembered that movement between these seven superuniverses is all but unknown. It was the general presumption of this extreme unlikelihood that has allowed the Helianx to keep their presence in the seventh superuniverse a secret for so long.
The use of the phrase "technologically proficient" in the text needs to be understood In a very specific sense when describing the Helianx, since almost all their technology was the result of the direct control they had over their own biology. Think of them as the original gene-splicers--except they preferred to do it internally. Using their proficiency at quantum bioengineering, they were able to assemble organic nanobots that cruised the veins of their massive bodies, cleansing, repairing and ending up by rendering the Helianx virtually immortal. Amongst the more practical applications of this biological manipulation was the ability to create tools as physical appendages of their limbs. This could be a time-taking affair, with the nanobots working directly on the individual's messenger RNA building a functional implement, cell by cell. This allowed a Helianx to interact more fully with hir environment. With these tools, and the skillful use that they were able to make of modulated sound waves, the space gypsies were able to craft their magnificent underwater world.
The original evolutionary impulse on the Helianx planet of origin was in many ways very simple, but also very different from the techniques used in the development of intelligent life in later eras of Multiverse organization. The approach used was known to be very reliable, but unlike planets on which a wide variety of creatures predated on one another, it was also exceptionally slow. After the successful seeding of the life plasm on the planet, a process of molecular aggregation was triggered that led to the formation of cooperating cells. Over time, these contributed to the structure of rudimentary underwater vegetation and then, after many millions of years, to simple aquatic creatures.
Through further cellular aggregation, and countless small acts of mutual symbiosis, a species eventually emerged that was a fusion--a single species comprised of many different collaborating life-forms. Evolution then appeared to focus all its attention on this one species and over the course of its history individual beings went through an astonishing array of different physical forms as their size increased and their ecological space opened up.
It has been suggested that some of the properties of DNA, created as the basic organic code linking all life in the seven superuniverses, can be seen most clearly delineated in the persistently helical physical structure of the Helianx.
