Taupoians and Other Life Forms of Taupoi
The Taupoians are the cat-like humanoids of the planet Taupoi. Just as we inhabitants of Earth call ourselves Man, the Taupoians refer to themselves as Taup.
At some point in the distant past of Earth and Taupoi, the star systems had a close but mostly benign encounter. Comets from the Oort clouds bombarded the inner planets. Microorganisms splashed from the surface of one planet and fell on another, giving rise to life based on the same biochemistry and genetic code. Where this life started--on Earth or on Taupoi--no one knows. (Red Sky in Mourning)
The Taupoians are humanoid, but resemble cats in appearance and some behaviors. They have fur on their dorsal side and are primarily bare on their ventral. They have cat-like whiskers and lynx-like tufts of hair on the tips of their pointed ears. The hair on their heads will grow longer than their other fur and they style it much like humans.
At the time that the Taupoians developed an industrial civilization their lifespan was around 100 - 150 years. However, in 1557 BCE their science developed a genetic modification that extended their life spans to 1500 to 2000 years.
Although they appear very feminine to humans - they have two pairs of humanoid breasts - the Taupoians are neither male or female, but monosexual (intersexual or hermaphroditic). Their penis is concealed at the tip of their prehensile tail.
Their breasts are in a permanent state of lactation and they relieve each other's potential discomfort during their frequent sexual encounters. The individual who gives birth is the "mother." The one responsible for getting the other pregnant is the "mother prime." Partly due to their promiscuity, there is no formal marriage, although informal pairs are not uncommon. However, the formation of a pair does not alter a Taupoian's promiscuity.
Taupoian fur comes in a variety of colors: brown, white, black, orange, blue, and gray, as well as coming in striped or other patterns.
Most adult Taupoians do not like to get wet (go swimming) but orange-striped ones do, and may have pools at their homes. (The Meeks Shall Inherit) Young Taupoians readily play in the water of streams or lakes.
Skin and fur/hair come in a wide variety of colors and patterns. Fur/hair colors are sometimes modified by bleaching or dying, as is done by humans. Blue skin and fur is characteristic of the Taupoians from the western coast of Taupoi's larger continent.
The Taupoians have a mythology in which The Great Writer controls their lives, although The Critic attempts to interfere and brings about unpleasant experiences. They have not seriously believed in The Great Writer and The Critic for thousands of years, but their language often contains references to one or the other (in some ways analogous to our talk about Mother Nature.)
Except for a period of about 850 years after The Great Dying, Taupoians have been exploring and trading in the galaxy since about 2500 BC and were one of the instigators of The Stellar Economic Community. They discovered Earth during the reign of the Egyptian Pharaoh Thutmose III but did not make contact. (Red Sky in Mourning)
Casual attire for the Taupoians is an open vest or a halter-top, shorts and shoes or moccasins. Formal-wear and some uniforms require clothing which covers more than these. They also sometimes wear attire characteristic of some of the planets where they trade. When they came to Earth to warn us about the approach of the rogue planet, Nemesis, they deliberately wore some of the sexier fashions of human females of the day.
Unlike some of my other alien races, Taupoians do not have a pattern of nomenclature that they follow except that, like some human societies, they have a first (personal) name and a last (family) name. The family name is generally the same as that of the mother. (The identify of the mother-prime is not always known because of the Taupoians' promiscuity.) When born they are given a personal name by their mother and when they come of age they are allowed to choose an adult name.
I am including here Taupoian names that I have used in some of my chapters/stories:
* indicates a first or last name that was not given
Rogue Planet/Nemesis: Liz Embwallah, Eustan Chi'Kilts
Red Sky in Mourning: Carmen
*
The Great Dying: Brittany Fawddom, Asta *, Brandi Donnata, Valera *, Lana
Bertani, Sparta Fawddom, General * LeeGran, Captain * Montomas
Use Discretion: Lynette Portomon, Kandi *
The Meeks Shall Inherit: Boretta Brom, Darci Brom, Sergeant/Chief Inspector
* Conna, Sandi Dean, Annetta Pleshetta
Transit: Captain Bobb/Bobbetta *, Chuka *, Jazzy *, Gam *
Other life forms of Taupoi include:
Dramadon, Western Blue: The blue form of the pig-like animal found near the west coast of Taupoi's largest continent. It was susceptible to infection by the hilted sow virus. They were hunted to extinction by the Taupoians' ancestral hunter-gatherers. For an image of the Western Blue Dramadon, click here.
Dramadon, Common: The reddish-brown form of the pig-like animal. It is completely immune to the hilted sow virus. They were hunted for food by primitive Taupoians and eventually domesticated. The wild form was used when taupiforming planets. A suckling or newly weaned dramadon is known as a "donnie". For an image of an adult Common Dramadon, click here.
Fruit Frie: Aquatic animals, maturing at about 3-inches, often used in genetic experiments because of their 20-day life spans. For an image of fruit fries in an aquarium, click here.
Hilted Sow Virus: The DNA virus which infected the Western Blue Dramadon. For details on how this virus was involved in transferring genes to the Taupoians and humans, click here.
NOTE: "hilted sow" is an anagram of the random word "dish towel" produced by WordWeb Pro.
Meek: Meeks are furry, green natives of Taupoi. Wild ones fill a niche like rats or mice on Earth. They are also commonly used as lab animals. They resemble ground squirrels, but have a body about 3 inches long and a tail also about 3 inches long. For an image of wild meeks among the hay of a barn, click here. For an image from my “The Meeks Shall Inherit” chapter of my “Beyond the Windward Sea” novel (in progress,) click here. The scene is in a warehouse with wire cages containing meeks and an aquarium. The two Taupoian characters are Annetta (brown) and Sandi (orange).
Page updated: 08 January 2026
Page created: 18 January 2012
