The Valethske (pronounced "Vay-leth-ska") were a race of carnivorous humanoids native to Valeth Skettra.
Biology[]
The Valethske stood, on average, around seven feet tall and were extremely strong, being able to rip off a motor vehicle's door with ease. Their torsos were generally humanoid in appearance, save for having a head resembling that of a fox and they had a similarly fox-like bushy tail. They were largely covered in fur, which in younger individuals tended to be red or orange-brown, but the colour often faded in older Valethske to be close to yellow. Their faces had a muzzle from which grew whiskers. Their pointed ears tended to be black on the outside and white on the inside. Vixens sometimes sported a blonde plume of long hair on their heads, a trait considered highly desirable. Their hands were covered in black leather-like skin with fur on the backside while the palms were hairless. Both their hands and feet bore sharp retractable claws which could easily tear through flesh with minimal effort. Older individuals could no longer retract their claws and sometimes preferred to go barefoot. Their eyes varied in hue from yellow to green. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
Valethske had excellent night-vision, being able to see in conditions too dark for most humans, however their eyes did require at least some light and they would carry lanterns fuelled by animal fat in subterranean environments not equipped with electric light. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
They had a keen sense of smell and could sniff the tiniest hint of cleaning chemicals (PROSE: Superior Beings) and even whether two individuals of their own species had recently mated. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) They could not tolerate artificial scents such as perfume, which offended their noses. (PROSE: Superior Beings) They instinctively loathed alcohol, considering it 'poison'. When nervous they involuntarily gave off an embarrassingly bad scent which was even noticeable to humans. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
Their teeth were blue-white in colour, extremely sharp, and clustered closely together, a distinction from foxes that was quite jarring to humans given their otherwise highly vulpine-like attributes. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
Valethske were almost entirely carnivorous and ate little other than meat. By nature, they preferred to hunt prey that would fight back or run, however they did practice animal husbandry and reared cattle for meat on their homeworld. (PROSE: Superior Beings) One group of Valethske stranded on Earth raised pigs for food. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) Cooking was a matter of personal taste, meat could be eaten raw, cooked, or cured. (PROSE: Superior Beings) While dismissive of fruit, they would occasionally eat grass to stave off hunger until they could secure meat. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
Valethske had the typical mammalian male-female sex binary. Females were known as 'vixens' and males were called 'dogs'. Vixens particularly struggled with their instincts when in heat and when deprived of the opportunity to hunt and run free would become stressed. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) Pair-bonding, referred to as being mated, between Valethske was very strong and mates often spent many decades of their lives together, remaining deeply in love. When a Valethske's mate of many years with whom they had cubs died, they would usually die themselves soon afterwards within days or even hours, something which their religion explained as the yearning of a mate to join their partner in the great hunt after this life. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) However more recent bondings between couples who did not yet have cubs could be terminated at will. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
Valethske usually referred to their father as 'sire' and their mother as 'dam'. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
Valethske generally lived for around 90 to 100 years, referred to as their 'full span' (equivalent to the human reckoning of "three score years and ten"), with older ages being uncommon, but not unknown. They matured more slowly than humans, still being considered adolescent even at 30 years old. Valethske hit the peak of their sex drive around the age of 50. Vixens were usually infertile by age 60, but remained physically capable and able to hunt, only beginning to slow down and become more sedentary in their late 70s to early 80s. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
Technology[]
The Valethske possessed technology far in advance of that of 20th century Earth, having developed faster-than-light travel, hydroponic gardening, television, energy weapons, biomass energy generation, helipacks, and computers by the 19th century. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) They were however highly envious of time travel technology, implying they had yet to gain a grasp of temporal physics. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
Their biological technology was highly sophisticated, making use of medical nanites, advanced mechanical prosthetics to substitute missing or diseased body parts, and were even able to halt (though not reverse) terminal cancer. They were also able to produce artificial meat grown in vats, however this was considered a survival food of last resort and was unappealing to most Valethske, who considered it 'pallid' and 'tasteless' or even 'disgusting'. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
Culture[]
The Valethske had a rich oral tradition encompassing ritualised storytelling, poems, jokes, and words of wisdom from the Great Vale. Elders would customarily tell a story after a communal feast. They had many sayings and turns of phrase related to the oisk, a creature native to Valeth Skettra. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) They cultivated a herb known as Skiryll weed which they would ritually smoke after battles, after mating, or in old age as a folk remedy for aches and pains. Skiryll was a standard-issue supply aboard Beleaguerer-class military vessels. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
Valethske society was clan-based, with descent from the Azresken clan being particularly valued, much more so than membership of the Skarvine clan. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) Clan membership was patrilineal, although the Valethske generally had a relaxed attitude to gender roles, and some positions of command such as that of Hunt Marshal were generally considered best filled by vixens. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
The word of a Vale Commander was considered law, and they were permitted to pass punishments ranging from imprisonment, to banishment, (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest) and even to execution. However their authority was not absolute, and anyone could challenge their command by right of ritual combat. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
Valethske mythology stretched back hundreds of thousands of years and incorporated creation myths and ancestor veneration. The heroine Azreske, who had reputedly rallied the clans to defeat the Khorlthochloi and rebuild Valeth Skettra, was an especially esteemed figure. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
The Valethske have a cultural blind-spot when it comes to humans, finding it very difficult to consider them to be anything more than food animals. They consider human flesh to be delectable and hardly distinguishable from pork. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
History[]
The Valethske were one of the most ancient advanced peoples in Mutter's Spiral, evolving before 1,000,000,000 BC, and were among the races shepherded by the Khorlthochloi, whom the Valethske thought of as gods. Even after coming to understand that the Khorlthochloi were extraterrestrials rather than divine beings, they still typically referred to them as 'the gods'.
The Valethske rapidly proliferated throughout the galaxy, conquering system after system with their war fleets. The Khorlthochloi eventually decided the Valethske were becoming too dominant and engineered a virus that killed millions of them. This attempted genocide left a collective trauma on the Valethske. Stories of the Khorlthochloi were passed down among the surviving Valethske for aeons, transforming them into wicked and vengeful beings who envied the Valethske. (PROSE: Superior Beings)
After many thousands of years of rebuilding their society the Great Vale sent a crew of technicians and hunters on the Great Mission, a centuries-long quest to find and destroy the Khorlthochloi for their crimes against the Valethske, (PROSE: Superior Beings) however by the 19th century many Valethske considered the Great Mission to be 'discredited'. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
In the late 19th century, the Valethske fought a war against the Mengoxtran Stratocracy, however the outcome of the conflict is not known. (PROSE: The Secret of Foxfell Forest)
Other references[]
At some point prior to 1969 the Valethske suffered a military defeat to the Dominators. Vaar kept the skull of a Valethske general among his belongings as a trophy. (PROSE: Mutually Assured Domination)
A Valethske was taken to the Realm of Light with Gordon Conall Lethbridge-Stewart to aid in the fight against the Nixxine Horde. (PROSE: The Man from Yesterday)
The Valethske were among the species Professor Hamilton Smith proposed theories on. (PROSE: Dry Pilgrimage)
Behind the scenes[]
According to an interview with Nick Walters on The Power of 3 podcast, the Valethske are inspired by his personal opposition to fox hunting (with the roles reversed: "alien foxes hunting humans") and by Planet of the Apes. The "Great Mission" depicted in Superior Beings was a Valethske "B-arc", consisting of "nutters" who the Great Vale wanted to get rid of and that nobody in broader Valethske society thought they would succeed and just wanted to banish them on a pointless quest.
