Kahel

The Kahel (or Kahil) are a non-human humanoid species — a colony of the Ahel Lyran race — settled on the first planet of the Epsilon Eridani star system, which they named Arnmakha ("the boggy place"). They terraformed this damp world and evolved into a peaceful civilization, playing an active part in the Galactic Federation of Worlds.

Appearance and culture

Humanoids with fair skin, the Kahel have long hair of various colours — though the original Ahel race is uniquely blond — and they preserved the Ahel Lyran cultural traditions, including its education system, castes, spirituality, and scientific knowledge in genetics.

Lyran heritage

The Kahel are a colonial offshoot of the Ahel branch of the Lyran race. The Ahel are the original blond humanoid species from Lyra from which numerous colony populations radiated across the galaxy; the Kahel represent one such colony, having settled Epsilon Eridani and adapted to its boggy first planet while preserving the core cultural transmission from Lyra — including its caste system, educational traditions, spirituality, and advanced genetics knowledge.

While the original Ahel are uniquely blond, the Kahel have diversified into a range of hair colors — a natural variation resulting from millennia of isolated development on Arnmakha, separate from the genetic pool of their Lyran parent population. Their fair skin has been retained as a common trait across the population.

Terraforming

Arnmakha — the name translating as "the boggy place" — was not initially hospitable in its natural state. The Kahel terraformed the planet to make it suitable for their civilization to flourish, reshaping its damp environment to sustain the population and support the development of a great and peaceful civilization over time. Epsilon Eridani is one of the nearest star systems to Sol, approximately 10.5 light years away, placing the Kahel among the closest established GFW-aligned humanoid civilizations to Terra.

Relations with Earth

Due to their close resemblance to the Terran human species, the Kahel have infiltrated Earth society as groundwork operatives for the Galactic Federation of Worlds, working quietly within human populations in advance of and in support of broader GFW engagement with Terra. Their physical near-indistinguishability from Terran humans makes them uniquely suited to this role among GFW species, alongside other blended or near-human types such as the Taal and Ahel. Their ships, by contrast, do not blend in: the Kahel vessels are described as of an extremely elegant shape.

In We Will Never Let You Down

Elena Danaan's 2021 We Will Never Let You Down references the Kahil on two occasions. First, describing the atmospheric conditions aboard GFW orbital fortresses servicing multiple species: "There are many of these floating fortresses in faction in our star system, recreating the life conditions adapted to each species. Terrans, Ahil, Taal, Noor, Meton, Selosii, Kahil and other similar carbon-based humanoids, are breathing a similar air composition." Second, in a survey listing the principal humanoid groups with a presence in the Sol system during the GFW engagement period, the Kahil are catalogued as one of the prominent groups — specifically listed as "Kahil from Eridani" — confirming their Epsilon Eridani origin and placement among the nine most prominent species groups engaged with Terra during this period.

See also

• List of non-human intelligent beings

References