IRKEN BIOLOGY/LIFE CYCLEok im lazy but i still feel a need to put some outlines/headers up b4 anything lol. ill probably provide illustrations later
Irkens were originally creatures living on a "desert planet" with very few bodies of water beyond ponds and swamps. The atmosphere was thicker than Earth's, allowing for clouds of aeroplankton to proliferate and become a keystone in the life cycle of many creatures. A majority of sessile organisms on the planet were in fact akin to Earth corals and anemones. I'll be covering more of that in the planetary worldbuilding stuff.
DIET[WIP] The Irken diet is high in calories and low in nutrition. This is aided by their bodies being engineered to be as efficient as possible. Most Irken foods are starches and sugars, mostly breads and candies, with proteins and meats being the occasional treat rather than a staple, like for their ancestors. Sporadic snacking is more common than eating large, structured meals, which are typically reserved for important formal events and private occasions.
Before the Empire was formed and genetic modification also changed their diets, Irkens were omnivorous, eating primarily farmed "insects" (for the sake of brevity i'll be putting quotations on things im using the closest possible terminology) and sessile phototrophic organisms in sedentary civilizations, while the more prevalent nomadic cultures relied on livestock and gathering what was available to the region. Eggs were a staple of the pre-Imperial Irken diet as many livestock animals available to them were oviparous.
Meals usually consisted of shared dishes between many individuals and typically were made to serve more than one.
LIFE CYCLE
[WIP]
Modern Irkens start life as a synthesized zygote in large bioreactors within smeeteries. These bioreactors create smeets in "batches" using a genetic template either designed by the Control Brains or an irken with sufficient clearance and knowhow. Once the developing smeet is at a certain stage in growth, it is extracted and put into a tube for more individualized care. Then, after it is deemed mature enough to hatch, it is taken out of the tube and given a PAK.
Smeets are then directed to basic encoding, where they are given a base level amount of information. This usually is a brief history of the Empire, how to take care of one's body, protocols, etcetera. Now deemed cadets, they are then directed to one of the many underground training facilities on the Irken megastructure, where they will spend roughly 15 Earth years before choosing a career.
Cadets choose a career at 15 Earth years, where a mentor will monitor their progress and teach them how to function in adult Irken society. An irken can mentor more than one cadet at a time, and it is common among military tracks. It is often required an adult Irken mentor a cadet to advance their rank. Apprenticeship can take place off-planet, and it isn't uncommon.
At age 20 in Earth years, a cadet has graduated from apprenticeship and is considered an adult. They are given their first assignment, and shipped off to the location.
Pre-Imperial Irkens life cycle is a bit complicated compared to that. Smeets hatch from eggs, which were either kept in an incubator or an underground nursery. Community hatcheries were common, but more affluent families often had their own designated room in their house.
Pre-Imperial smeets weren't as smart as modern ones, acting more akin to a small animal. They were largely independent, some even digging burrows near their family's homes. Smeets hatched in nomadic cultures would often either be given to settlements or kept alongside livestock until they were old enough to speak, and therefore name themselves. Smeets around one year of age would name themselves- an event called a nameday, and be given clothing and status as a child of their parents' family. They would be taught basic skills by their family, or by a private tutor, and like modern irkens, they would be considered an adult at age 20 in Earth years.
Something unique about Pre-Imperial irkens is their ability to have children with more than just two parents. This was common among many animals on pre-imperial Irk, and this aspect caused many animals to have eusocial tendencies, including irkens themselves. Polyamory was prevalent across many cultures, and it was seen as strange to only have one partner. This is almost opposite to the culture of modern irkens, as marriage and relationships are banned outright, the punishment being the offender(s) being labeled defective. More on that later.
Also, a note, I don't really ascribe to the fanon that 100 Earth years = 1 Irken year, it seems kind of stupid. It doesn't really account for experience and how actual calendars are developed, and also it's usually just used to excuse shipping Zim, an obvious adult, with Dib, a canonical 12 year old. So yuck.
So my Irken calendar is more grounded in actual worldbuilding nonsense. Irken years are slightly longer than Earth years, being around 400-450 days, with "months" often being according to cold and hot seasons (respective to hemisphere). Many pre-Imperial calendars had different ways of dividing the year into months, however, and equatorial civilizations often had months according to what constellations were present rather than season.
PAK[WIP]CYBERNETICS
[WIP]
While the PAK itself can be considered a cybernetic implant in itself, being an all-in-one life support system for their manufactured body, I don't see why Irkens can't have more than that. There's likely a market out there for implants that increase an Irkens' sensory abilities, or cut out the microseconds of PAK-to-brain lag (there's not much of a difference, but some may swear it makes them work better), or even implants that replace body parts with better, more effective ones.
Height rank definitely plays a part in the accessibility. I don't see short people having the same access to dangerous body modifications as tall people, though there definitely would be a back-alley market for that kind of thing. Similarly, height rank might play a huge role in prosthetics and replacement limbs/organs.
One cybernetic implant I've thought about a lot is Tak's... tube thing. Whatever that is. I see tubes like this on some Irken designs, so what does it do? Give you psychic powers? Inhibit defective behavior? Look cool? I dunno. Everyone has their own headcanon.
? WHEREE ARE YOU PEOPLE....
