This article defined the Sung, an over-looked alien race in the 2300AD universe.  Regrettably, they were never again covered in such wonderful detail, anywhere else in the game's other supplements and articles.  My thanks to Deb for granting permission for me to host it on my web site.  Additional thanks go to her husband, Rob Caswell, for allowing the inclusion of some of his accompanying artwork. - Kevin Clark - Oct. 10th, 1997.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Anatomy and Physiology
3. Culture
4. Political Geography

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 19: "SAPIENTOLOGY" - AN OVERVIEW

(Editor's Note: Only the information concerning the Sung is reprinted in this article.)

At the end of this article, we will summarize the types of studies conducted by sapientologists and will also make note of some of the more ground-breaking investigations which have been conducted in the field.

SECTION 19.1: THE SUNG

(Editor's Note: This was written before the Kafers were discovered.)

Since the end of the Slaver War in 2255, however, humanity has been on reasonably friendly terms with the Sung, which has resulted in significant amounts of information having been gained about the Sung and their cultures.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

A Sung possesses six appendages arranged in a bilaterally symmetric orientation: two forelimbs, a pair of wings, and a pair of back limbs.  The forelimbs are small and somewhat delicate-looking, and the back limbs are well muscled and sturdy in appearance.  Each of these four limbs terminates in a "hand" of sorts, with two middle fingers and two opposable thumbs (arranged thumb-finger-finger-thumb) on each hand.  The forelimb hands are not developed for strength, but, instead, are adapted more for a high level of dexterity.  The hands of the back limbs are sturdily built and well adapted for grabbing and holding large, heavy objects (enabling the Sung to transport sizeable loads via wing-powered flight).

The wings of a Sung are located roughly midway between the forelimbs and the back limbs.  Fairly long (extended wingspan is, on the average, about five meters) and slightly tapered, these wings enable a Sung to stay aloft, riding the air currents and winds for extended periods of time while expending minimal energy (much like terrestrial gliding birds).  While not in use, the wings can be folded flat alongside the spinal column to keep them out of the way and to allow more freedom of movement on the ground.

The Sung head and tail both possess structures facilitating flight.  A rigid crest (which has some internal bony support) located on the upper surface of the Sung skull has the appearance and function of a small "rudder."  The Sung tail, which is heavily muscled and almost as long as the Sung torso, possesses a fan-like extension at the tip.  This tail extension can be spread wide to serve as a stabilizer in flight or retracted to protect the membranes from damage while the Sung is on the ground.  When retracted, the membranes are protected by fleshy ridges surrounding the depressions and by the muscular leading edges of the tail itself.

Senses: The Sung have five senses similar to the five senses of humans.  As is common with many higher level species encountered by humankind, much of the sensory organs in the Sung are located in the head, where the neural sensory pathways to the brain can be short.  Sight, as with humans, is an important and well-developed sense in the Sung.  A Sung has four eyes (arranged in two pairs) located on the frontal surface of the head.  The upper pair of eyes is smaller and more closely spaced together than the lower pair.  These upper eyes are used more for short-range vision than the lower eyes, whose separation makes them more suitable for long-range seeing.  Although both pairs of eyes are sensitive to the same wavelengths human eyes can perceive, the lower pair, which has a larger diameter and aperture, is capable of seeing farther into the infrared portion of the spectrum than either the upper pair of eyes or human eyes.  Sung are thus able to perceive objects in complete darkness (in human terms) as long as those objects emit or reflect infrared wavelengths.

Sung hearing covers a broader spectrum range than does human hearing.  The Sung auditory ability extends from the subsonic (relative to humans) to the ultrasonic.  At subsonic frequencies, Sung hearing is limited to being just able to detect that subsonic sound is being produced (auditory resolution at this level is poor).  Throughout the normal human hearing range, Sung hearing is approximately comparable to human auditory perception, but Sung can usually detect sounds at a lower volume threshold than humans can.  It is at ultrasonic frequencies that Sung hearing surpasses human hearing by a significant margin.  At the higher frequencies of the human hearing range and at ultrasonic frequencies, Sung auditory perception is at its most acute, allowing a Sung to resolve accurately small changes in pitch at low volumes.  This ability proves useful in allowing Sung to communicate with one another while in flight and while not in close proximity.  The Sung ears, one on each side of the head for stereophonic sound, are roughly hemispherical in shape with a slightly flared outer edge, and they can be flattened against the side of the skull while in flight or fully extended to allow for maximum reception of sound.

The Sung senses of taste and smell are currently the least understood of all the Sung senses.  It appears that there is some significant overlap between these two senses in terms of Sung perception.  Both odors and flavors seem to be regarded as the same thing in the Sung mind.  Studies indicate that the oral cavity contains both taste buds and olfactory receptors.  These appear to be located in approximately equal proportion in several localized areas of concentration within the oral cavity.  This may partially explain the overlap in perception in the Sung mind of these two senses.

Tactile sense in the Sung is effectively the same as that in humans.  As in humans, the Sung have the highest concentrations of touch receptor cells in critical areas such as the hands, feet, and mouth.  Perception thresholds for the tactile sensations of pressure, temperature, and pain appear to be at a slightly more sensitive level than in humans.  The thresholds of discomfort for these sensations are close enough to those of humans that making special considerations for Sung tactile comfort in human environs is unnecessary.

Respiration: The atmosphere on Stark, the Sung homeworld, is thinner than that of Earth.  The Sung, having evolved to function optimally on their homeworld, are most comfortable in environments with conditions similar to those on their homeworld.  Atmospheres with higher air pressures than 0.768 atmospheres at the surface (that limit is the mean sea level air pressure on Stark) are taxing to the Sung.  Compared to Earth's atmosphere, Stark's atmosphere has a proportionally higher oxygen content although it is still within the limits of human respiratory needs.  Sung visiting Earth have found that fatigue tends to set in more quickly than on Stark since the higher air pressure and lower oxygen percentage result in somewhat more labored breathing along with slightly lowered blood oxygen levels.  On worlds with thinner atmospheres (but still with proportionally the same oxygen fraction), Sung have an easier time adapting since high altitude flight on Stark has acclimated them to a certain degree to such conditions.  Most atmospheric gasses that are toxic to the Sung are the same ones that are poisonous to humans.

Health: The Sung, as a whole, are generally a healthier species than humans.  The Sung immune system has evolved to a level of strong defense, enabling the Sung to remain virtually disease-free for much of their lives.  Those few seriously incapacitating diseases that could get past the natural immune system of the Sung have been eliminated by the advances of Sung medical science (which, in some respects, is superior to that of humans).  Minor diseases, of which there are a modest number, are generally of the annoying rather than the incapacitating variety and afflict the average Sung with a severity of symptoms comparable to the human common cold.  These infections are usually fought off by the natural immune system in a period of days after which reinfections are relatively unusual.

Cancer and cancer-like conditions, which were nonexistent in preindustrial Sung, have appeared on a very rare basis among industrialized Sung.  The radiation incident on the Sung homeworld from its sun is less mutagenic than that on Earth.  Skin cancer on the Sung homeworld is, therefore, virtually nonexistent (except in rare individuals with pigmentation deficiencies).  Sung living on other worlds where the ultraviolet radiation is more intense are highly susceptible to skin damage and cancer as a result of exposure to those alien solar radiations.  Even on Earth, where the UV radiation is safe for humans, Sung must be very careful of overexposure to the Sun's rays.  Skin cancer in Sung, however, generally does not develop into the all-invasive malignant cancer that occurs in humans.  Instead, Sung skin cancer tends to remain localized, spreading only into those immediately adjacent areas of skin and bone, rather than eventually invading the entire body.  If it occurs on the wings, however, skin cancer in Sung can develop into a severely disabling condition if not treated swiftly.

Partially due to their excellent health, the Sung can expect a productive life span of approximately 150 Earth years (from hatching to death, the average life span of a Sung is about 165 Earth years).  Almost all Sung, however, do not live their full, natural life spans.  As a Sung approaches an age of about 165 Earth years, a rapidly progressing syndrome, similar to the human condition known as Alzheimer's disease, develops.  Very little is understood about this condition, which seems to be part of the natural aging process of the Sung, since the Sung have tied it in with their religious beliefs and have refused to allow humans to study it extensively.

Called Cho-sorrah (literally, "The Sea Calls"), this syndrome starts out as a mild mental confusion accompanied by some memory loss in the aging Sung.  These symptoms rapidly become more severe: the Sung becomes disoriented most of the time and is unable to remember anything significant.  In the latest stages observed, the Sung also begins to lose muscle coordination, eventually becoming unable to fly or walk any real distance.  It is unknown how the syndrome progresses after this point since Sung usually undergo euthanasia just as the muscle coordination starts to deteriorate.  In known history, no Sung has been allowed to live past the point where self-powered flight becomes impossible.

Mutual infections shared and transmitted between humans and Sung are quite uncommon.  Such infections are usually of the mold or yeast variety and are rarely serious when present in either species.  Most bacteria and viruses present in the Sung seem incapable of infecting humans, just as human infections seem to stay completely out of the Sung body systems.

Genetic Basis: Sung body chemistry is DNA-based like that of humans and other terrestrial organisms.  Also like humans, the Sung (like all of the life on Stark) have carbon-based biochemistry, with left-handed amino acids being used as the building blocks of the body.  Twenty-nine pairs of chromosomes carry the genetic material, with one pair being the sex chromosomes.  Genetic analysis indicates that the sex chromosomes in the Sung may carry more genetic material than those in humans, which possibly results in a larger number of sex-linked traits in the Sung than in humans.  The Sung sex chromosomes appear to function in much the same way as they do in humans, with female Sung having two sex chromosomes of the same type (SX-SX) and with male Sung having one of each type (SX-SY).  As with humans, the Y-Y (in Sung, SY-SY) combination does not result in a viable offspring with normal characteristics.

Reproduction: With two sexes, reproduction in the Sung is sexual rather than asexual.  Fertilization is internal: gamete exchange occurs within the female, and the male of the species possesses the more penetrative genitalia (which, unlike human males, is completely retractable).  The embryo develops with the female during the early, critical period of growth.  After a period of approximately seven months (Earth-standard months), the young Sung leaves the mother's body.  At this time, when it enters the outside, the young Sung is encased in a leathery-surfaced, egg-like shell, within which it continues to develop for another three and a half months.  The young Sung, after hatching when mature enough, devours the shell as a first meal.  Newly hatched Sung are capable of eating many of the more easily digestible adult Sung foods and can usually eat just about any adult food by the time they first begin to fly about a year to two years (Earth-standard) after hatching.

Locomotion: The preferred method of locomotion among the Sung is flight; a Sung that is permanently incapable of flight often undergoes voluntary euthanasia rather than living flightless.  The Sung are, however, perfectly capable of walking on their hind legs, albeit at a slower pace than the average adult human.  Most Sung have a tendency to hop rather than stride when speed is a necessity since the powerful hind leg muscles on the Sung are capable of propelling a Sung a considerable distance in one hop.

In flight, the Sung is quite graceful.  With the right atmospheric conditions, a Sung can stay aloft for hours with only a minimal expenditure of energy.  Getting aloft from the ground, however, can be rather strenuous, especially on worlds with surface gravities greater than Stark's 0.763 Gs since the Sung's flight abilities are slightly more suited to achieving flight from heights rather than the ground.

Nutrition: Although the evolutionary ancestors of the Sung were predominantly carnivorous, the present day Sung are omnivorous (much like humans) with a dietary emphasis on processed plant products.  Sung nutritive requirements have not yet been extensively studied; however, it does appear that an adult Sung needs to ingest a variety of good types in order to maintain good health.  The Sung and humans have not yet found any foods that both species find mutually palatable and nutritious, but work in this area has barely begun.  In situations where Sung and humans must live together, each species takes care of its own food supplies and production.

CULTURE

The written language of the Sung uses a phonetic alphabet system, with each distinct consonant or vowel sound being represented by its own symbol.  Again, as with the spoken language, the Sung written language is virtually the same in all the regions of Stark.  The numbering system of the Sung is base 16, similar to the hexadecimal system of humans.  With four limbs, each with four digits, the Sung naturally developed a base 16 system.  Each digit, from one to 16, has its own distinct written symbol.  The Sung also have separate symbols for zero as a place holder and zero as the number zero (meaning the absence of quantity).

Technology: In general, the technological level of the Sung is comparable to that of humans.  In some respects (such as medical technology), the Sung are more advanced than humans, yet in others (such as spaceflight technology), humans clearly hold the edge.  The Sung are skilled at manufacturing, materials fabrication, and automation.  Food processing by the Sung is done at a high level of sophistication and quality.  When first contacted in the mid-2200s, the Sung had achieved a regular schedule of interplanetary spaceflight using ships equipped with solar sails (for out-system travel) and ion drives (for in-system travel), but they had not developed any means of interstellar travel.  Land, sea, and air transportation technology on Stark is similar to human methods, but short-distance personal transportation vehicles are generally not used by the Sung due to their natural flight capabilities.

Architecture: Most of Sung architecture is designed along vertical rather than horizontal expansion.  Skyscraper-like structures are very common in Sung cities.  With portals to the out-side located on most floors, Sung skyscrapers differ from their human-designed counterparts.  Since Sung can fly up to any floor in skyscrapers (and actually prefer to do so), internal elevators in these buildings are constructed and used almost exclusively for freight transport rather than personal transport.  Instead, open air spaces extending from the top floor to the lowest floor are often built into these skyscrapers, enabling Sung to travel between floors and still remain inside the building.

Careful consideration of wind conditions around these Sung skyscrapers is taken into account by Sung architects.  Dangerous eddies and currents in the winds around tall buildings can have fatal results for Sung attempting to fly near such structures.  Care must be taken by architects to prevent such fatal conditions.  Consequently, Sung architects and designers have a much better understanding of the interaction between structural design and wind effects.

Religion: Sung religion is another area of Sung culture that is not yet fully understood.  It seems that there is some variety of beliefs from region to region, yet all religious beliefs appear to have in common the view that the seas and oceans of Stark hold some sort of divine presence.  Also held in common is the belief that life (including some form of divine spark that produces sentience) originates in the sea and that one must return to the sea at the time of death (Sung funeral rights usually involve the dumping of the body into the ocean).  Most, although not all, of the Sung religious faiths believe that the harmony of life must be maintained.  Irreversible disruption of the environmental balance is frowned upon in these faiths, and a number of them seem to believe that the sea will reclaim all the land and the life upon it if such a disruption were to occur.  Beyond these few insights (which may not be entirely accurate), little is clearly understood of Sung religious beliefs.

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

Political boundaries are rarely disputed on Stark.  When such disputes occur, a neutral committee of the World Council (similar to a more powerful version of the United Nations of Earth and made up of representatives of all the Sung nation states) is appointed to mediate and resolve these disputes.  The hierarchic system, however, also prompts much rivalry (albeit non-violent) among the nation-states as each state tries to achieve supremacy.

Hierarchic System: The guiding principle of Sung governments (and, in fact, Sung culture as a whole) is Soon-Atkacharr, which translates as "Flight of Superiority".  Sung nation-states are always vying for cultural and, mostly, technological superiority.  A state which feels it has a strong claim to superiority may challenge other nation-states (those presently marked as Kacharr (superior) to the Charr-to-sah, which is a series of mutually agreed-upon tests or competitions designed to determine which group has superiority.  The winner of the Charr-to-sah is acknowledged as the superior group and is entitled to control and dictate policy to the loser of the Charr-to-sah, as well as being entitled to control any and all other groups deemed inferior.  Those in the inferior group (or groups) are known as Taka-soon ("lesser flight") and are obligated to obey and serve the superior group (Kacharr-soon: "greater flight").

It has been commented that this is essentially just a master/slave relationship, but this is not entirely the case.  In return for the servitude and obedience of the Taka-soon, the Kacharr-soon are obligated to "uplift" the Taka-soon to the new standard of superiority.  Usually, this involves a gradual education of the Taka-soon in the new area or areas of superiority, with funding assistance for educational programs and/or construction of new technological facilities being provided by the Kacharr-soon.  Additionally, the Kacharr-soon must ensure the well-being of the Taka-soon during the learning process.

Once the Taka-soon have been advanced to the new standard or superiority, they are designated Tassacharr-soon, or "equals," to the Kacharr-soon.  The Tassacharr-soon are then no longer bound to the obligations of obedience and servitude, and the Kacharr-soon are no longer obligated to assist them.  The determination of Tassacharr-soon status, however, must be made by the Kacharr-soon (the Taka-soon can petition to be considered for such advanced status, but they must pass tests devised by the Kacharr-soon designed to assess the competency of the Taka-soon at the new standard of superiority).

The system of Sos-Soon-Atkacharr ensures that most of Sung civilization is at, or close to, the same level of advancement and culture (the most "primitive" Sung states are always taken under the wing of a more advanced state to be brought up to the level of everyone else).  Sung society, therefore, tends to be relatively homogeneous, with minor cultural idiosyncrasies being the major differences between Sung nation-states on approximately the same level in this world-wide hierarchy.  This system occurs on both the large-scale level of nation-states and the small-scale level of Sung cities and towns.  The delineation of the hierarchical structure can often be very complex, for various groups find themselves newly-uplifted into a superior position while others find themselves on an inferior level after one group makes a breakthrough to a new and better way of doing something.

This system has also resulted in strained relations at times between the Sung and the human species.  The attempts of the Sung to deal with the perplexing Xiang within the framework of Sos-Soon-Atkacharr (the observing humans did not understand or even know of this aspect of Sung culture at that time) are what caused the misunderstanding of the Slaver War.  The outcome of the Slaver War, in which the human's technology of stutterwarp spaceships was demonstrated to be markedly superior to the ion drive/solar sail technology of the Sung, has resulted in the human species being placed at the top of the Sung's Sos-Soon-Atkacharr hierarchy.  The entire Sung species is therefore required by their cultural code to serve and obey the human species.

From the Sung perspective, the humans are now obligated to advance the Sung to this new technological level and present the Sung with some test to pass to assess their new equality.  The humans, not knowing of their obligations at first, made some serious cultural blunders in the eyes of the Sung.  This situation has become somewhat better as humans and Sung have grown to understand each other to some extent.  The Sung still feel that the humans are obligated to give them stutterwarp technology (along with some other superior technologies the humans have) and feel that the humans are being abnormally slow in fulfilling their obligations to the level of the code.

The Sung involved with humans have proven both exceptionally helpful and obedient to the humans - to such an extent that some of the humans involved think that the Sung cannot possibly be sincere in their attitudes and actions and must be hiding something.  These suspicions are dangerous to successful interactions with the Sung; thus humans interacting with Sung are required to study and understand the Sos-Soon-Atkacharr system so that these suspicions can be put to rest.

Although we have been in contact with the Sung for almost 50 years, there is still much that is not yet known or understood about Sung biology and society.  With two human enclaves on Stark and several human-Sung cooperative space ventures, however, the information gathered on the Sung grows daily.  Hopefully, the day is not too far distant when humans will understand the Sung as well as they understand their fellow humans.   - Deb Zeigler

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