McNellen     B441000-E     S   An Ba Lo Ni Po       -- Dakin Burdick (9/96)

McNellen is a small, dry planet with only a thin tainted atmosphere.  
Nevertheless, it would be easily inhabited by humans if not for the 
presence of a native sentient race known as the Glidersnakes.  The 
Glidersnakes (aka. McNellan's Snake, or "Glidips") are descended from 
a 50 kg. flying omnivore (eater).  The Glidips have a rough green skin 
that counts as jack armor.  A small head and snakelike body are supported 
in flight by a trio of small overlapping frilly wings on either side, with 
the rear set of wings meeting behind the body proper.  The Glidips are not
true fliers, but rather specialize in gliding from great heights.  When 
they land, they land hard, and they use this as an attack to stun 
land-bound prey.  Along the bottom of their body are two rows of legs, 
like those of a centipede.

The Glidips were originally mistaken as nonsentient animals when the 
planet was first discovered and were exterminated in great numbers, as they
tended to attack human children in their search for food.  The Glidips
have only a rudimentary language, so normal translators are of little 
use.  The human explorers were puzzled by the existence of beautiful 
works of representational art on the cliffs near the lairs of the 
Glidips, assuming them to be works by a now-vanished race.  Eventually 
the appearance of new art was noticed, and the value of the Glidips 
reappraised.  It has now been generally accepted that the Glidips are 
sentient, and that their contribution to art is valuable enough that their
planet should be left in peace.  There is usually only a small human
scientific team on planet, along with a technician trained in holographic
acquisition who beams copies of the art to an orbiting megacorp guardian
satellite.  The same megacorp funds a TL12 System Defense Boat to protect
their investment.

Glidip art is created by dyes and paints generated internally by the
creatures.  Originally their art was almost purely representational, 
showing the gliding and hunting habits of the Glidips, with an occasional
exaggerated illustration of a mother Glidip tending her young (believed
to be of religious significance to the Glidips).  After the massecres, 
much of the art instead represented the dead and dying Glidips or 
occasionally a gun-toting human.  Some of the Glidips dwelling near the 
human settlement now create peaceful scenes of human life.  The primitive 
pieces remain the most valuable.

