Centens

The Ce'Tennan, better known to the Alliance and the Thelean Dominion as the Centens, or Centensians, or to the Avikans as the Old Ones and the Uplifters, are an extremely ancient race that came from another universe, so old that many consider them to be the first sentient species to ever roam the stars. They are known by many names, but the Centens refer to themselves as the Ce'Tennan. The nation of the Ce'Tennan was known as the Cen'avath Anon, the Centensian Empire. The original Ce'Tennan homeworld, Centa'lachon, is believed by Dominus Creaton to be the place where all life originated from.

The Cen'avath Anon extended through much of the Galactic Core in their golden age, however, they've long since mostly disappeared from the galaxy, leaving highly advanced ruins behind. One of their best known individuals was Rhadeis, who saved and uplifted the reptilian race known as the Avikan. Vas Va'leih, an ancient Centen city was probably one of the better known works the Old Ones left behind, before it was destroyed in the Va'leihan War.

As for the Centens' agenda, no-one really knows. They visited out universe and our galaxy in their endless quest of exploration, but mysteriously vanished tens of thousands of years ago. They left behind all of their cities and other constructs without any real clue as to why they left.

Alternate names
Here's an overview of the various titles and names given to the Ce'Tennan thus far:
 * Ce'Tennan - the original name of the Ce'Tennan, and what they called themselves. Most nations know of this name, but since the true name is often discovered after the Ce'Tennan are already established in a nation's culture and history, it isn't always used.
 * Centens - the name most commonly used by the Union and the majority of the Alliance. It's a simplification of the true name, but how exactly it came to be is unknown.
 * Old Ones - the title bestowed on them by the Avikan.
 * Ancients - a common title used by various nations, including the Thelean Dominion.
 * Wardens - a title bestowed on them by the Theleans, who believe that the Ce'Tennan are protectors of the omniverse.
 * God-makers - a title bestowed on them by the Akkimari, who know of them primarily through their interaction with Kel'chis. The title obviously refers to the fact that they created Kel'chis, who is often seen as divine by the Akkimari
 * Gods - another common title, though primarily used by the Hymid. The Hymid encountered Ce'Tennan ruins quite early in their history, and while the Hymid don't hold many artefacts, their religions very often revolved around the Ce'Tennan. Obviously, this is the English translation: in the language of the Hymid, they are called something that sounds like 'Shavva'. (don't have the official spelling down yet)

The Disappearance
The Centens actually vanished from all universes they inhabited, not just ours. Their home universe was abandoned as well, although the major worlds are still very heavily guarded by autonomous defence forces. All that's known of their disappearance is that it was an event of their own design, but no-one knows why they left or where they've gone to. Even those left behind don't appear to know much about the disappearance.

Their fall wasn't something that happened overnight, but there were plenty of Centens who spent so much time in cryosleep that they missed whatever caused the Centens to vanish. The Centens have been (largely) gone from the universe for at least 10,000 years, and their ruins date anywhere from 10,000 years to 100,000 years.

The Centens definitely didn't simply die off. They vanished from our universe and many others, leaving behind no bodies. No one knows where they've gone to, but they haven't been found in any of the placed they previously inhabited, not even their home universe.

Their disappearace was of their own design, they're not quite extinct, though. Whatever drove the Centens' decision to disappear is more wide-spread and can definitely affect others too. It been hinted that it might be a potential multiversal threat. Where they went and why they went there is one of the greatest mysteries in the Elithian Alliance universe.

They all mysteriously vanished, leaving behind all of their technology and structures, although it should be noted that only very few spaceships have been found. It's unlikely the Centens took these with them wherever they went, but they did hide them before vanishing. They also locked down many of their structures before they left, so it wasn't sudden for them: they were planning for it. And there's been no sign of their return. A few stragglers were left behind though - amongst them Rhadeis (the "god" of the Avikan) and Rashaek (the one who uplifted Creaton) - who played big parts in the history of some of the modern civilizations, but they haven't revealed the fate of their species to anyone. Rashaek is the only one who's revealed a part of it, and Creaton is the only one who's ever heard Rashaek's story.

The Theleans have been around for tens of thousands of years. The Centens have been around for hundreds of thousands, likely millions: a modern Alliance fleet would be little more than a speck of dust to them. They spread not only across their own universe, but also expanded into others, which makes their disappearance even more mysterious.

It's possible there's a few resentful Centens left who would be hostile to any visitors, but if there are any, there'll only be a handful. There are Centens who are unaware of the disappearance, but most of those were in some sort of cryosleep or were otherwise unconscious during the time of preparation. There may have been some lone Centens or small outposts which didn't receive any sort of information on the event, but given how advanced and connected they were these would be extremely rare cases.

There's no way to know what the vanished Centens think about their act now - if they are even still around somewhere - but many of the Centens who stayed behind or were left behind for unknown reasons seek to undo the act, Rashaek being one of the foremost figures of that movement. Other Centens appear to have fully accepted and supported the act, though it's hard to say what the most common opinion is given that there are so few Centens left to have an opinion on it.

The Centens have a name for it, but the name reveals quite a bit about what happened. Other species have called it many names, though haven't been documented yet.

History
They were always an extremely diverse species, much like we Humans are. They have multiple nations and subcultures, all with their own ideologies and philosophies, but in general the Centens were more focused on scientific advancements than we are. They had trouble with pollution on their home planet as well, but eventually managed to solve these issues before taking to the stars and slowly growing into the largest nation known to us (before they mysteriously vanished).

Other than this, not much is known about it.

General description
Centens are humanoid creatures with a large, single eye, and possessing four bulbous appendages called "wings" that grant them psychic abilities. Cells within these wings have naturally formed crystals made of pure Hyverium inside them, granting the Centens a connection to the Xanafir which grants them their unique abilities. Whilst only having one eye, the Centens have an incredible awareness of their surroundings, utilizing additional senses to perceive the world.

The Centens would be closest to mammals, though they have no hair, and they don't have the same type of mammary glands as Earth mammals have. They do have two genders, and some of their organs share similar functions to ours, but otherwise their biology is otherwise very different from anything on Earth.

They are physically a bit stronger than humans, but not by too much. Definitely not as strong as a Remnant. However, the Hyverium cells in their wings give them the ability to supplement their physical strength.

The Centens were essentially unaging, but they can still fall prey to disease and injury. There can be many reasons for them to try and 'skip' time a bit, either to skip periods of time they deem useless, or to avoid conflicts and ensure they survive a war or some other calamity.

They have one single large eye, but it has multiple smaller eye-like structures built into it, allowing them great vision and depth perception. The eyes are very large and allow them to see a great field of view.

The Centens have a very soft voice, which is experienced as very calming to many species. But they can raise their voices too, which is very intimidating as the voice often has an echo to it that lends it an otherwordly feel.

Those are the "wings", yeah, but they don't function like wings. They're hard appendages with an abundance of those hyverium cells, and are thus the source of a Centens's abilities. As for the eye, that's just the way they evolved. Their eyes work a bit differently from ours: the big central eye is what allows them to see colours, while they have a number of smaller light-sensing organs which allow for depth perception.

Their wings are somewhat flexible, like cartilage. The Centens can control their wings somewhat through muscles attached at the base of each wing, but they can't bend them like arms or other flexible limbs (though theoretically, they could use the telekinetic properties of their wings to deform their own wings). If they are bend too much they'll suffer from fractures, but they are quite flexible. And their wings aren't like real wings, so no feathers or other membranes for actual flight or gliding, They're just elongated appendages on a Centens's back. The hyverium cells in their "wings" allow them to transfer energy into their surroundings (or onto themselves), which most Centens can use for minor hovering, and some can use for more powerful hovering and actually ascending to higher ledges and such.

Their hands are a bit weird, but actually allow them to manipulate their surroundings in a very precise manner. They have the central, hard 'spike' that can be curled up like a finger, but they also have four tendrils (two on each side of the spike) that are incredibly mobile. They're like the tentacles of an octopus, being able to extend, retract, bend and even change texture. Each hand has four of these tendrils, two on either side of the 'finger'. The tendrils allow them to grip objects, and since they are even more mobile than our thumbs they allow the Centens to perform many actions that simply wouldn't be possible with human hands.

Centensian tendrils feel somewhat 'slimy', and they can grow, shrink and bend in many ways, but they aren't quite as flexible as Thelean tendrils. A Centensian tendril is always present as a tendril, even when retracted into the hand.

Their 'feet' somewhat resemble hooves, but aren't quite like those of Earth animals. (as is the case for many things in Aegonian's aliens) They are hardened, but not bony, and have a few 'toes' which can be moved a bit to adjust ones footing. They aren't very flexible though, so the Centens would struggle picking things up with their feet.

Centens need to eat, but not as frequently as humans for example. The Centens need food in order to obtain the mass needed to grow their bodies, just like us, and they take energy from their food as well (just like us). Where they differ from us is in the fact that their hyverium cells can provide them with most of the energy they need to sustain themselves. Those cells can't provide the mass they need for their bodies to grow, and young Centens aren't capable of harnessing those cells to their full advantage, so food remains a necessity for them.

The Centens are omnivores, so they could eat almost anything that grew on their homeplanet. The Centens had pretty much perfected the art of creating artificial food though, so they generally ate artificial food built to provide all of the substances needed for them to properly grow.

Ce'Tennan blood is an odd shade of blueish purple.

The Centens do have two distinct genders. They don't have external reproductive organs - they reproduce through skin contact - but they have some other gender-based differences. Their proportions are slightly different, with females generally being a bit shorter and having wider hips, and males have two small appendages below their face that females lack. There's also slight differences in skin colour, with females usually having a slightly more pinkish hue to them. Male wings also tend to be slightly longer than female ones.

Their reproduction involves touching each other's skin and allowing for a transfer of genes. It's a very conscious effort on the part of both genders. They're viviparous. The Centens can have physical contact without reproduction. There needs to be consent from both parties in order to reproduce, as they need to open up specific cells to let genetic material in. But reproduction is a relatively rare thing for the Centens: given the fact that they can live technically forever, reproducing too quickly would grow their population far too quickly. Their population is always growing, which is part of why they keep expanding to new galaxies and universes, but the growth isn't explosive. It's a process called skin melding, where genetic material is exchanged through the skin. This exchange is only possible when both Centens are open to it, though: if the other doesn't 'open up' their skin to the skin melding process, nothing will happen.

Touching is actually not an issue to the Centens, since skin melding is a (mostly) conscious action. Would definitely be awkward if the one attempted a skin meld while the other one doesn't, but otherwise touching another Centens isn't odd at all. Skin melding also activates some other processes in the body, and through smell and other senses it's usually relatively easy to tell if the other intents to meld.

Baby Centens, like most baby animals on Earth and also the Avikan, Akkimari and some other alien species, have heads that are significantly larger relative to the rest of their bodies. The skull and the brain do not grow as much as the rest of the body, so they start out relatively large. For Centens, the same goes for their eye: it grows a bit as they age, but not nearly as much as the rest of their body. Centensian babies also have much shorter wings (the limbs on their backs that contain hyverium cells) as big ones would be troublesome when giving birth. Babies also have slightly thicker limbs: adult Centens look quite spindly, but their limbs are quite strong and more than capable of supporting the body's weight. If babies had similarly thin limbs, they'd have a lot of trouble moving around, so they look a bit chubby. They are also really small compared to an adult: the height difference between a baby and adult Centens is a fair greater than that between a baby and adult Human. The Centens take longer than humans to reach maturity, but I haven't defined exactly how long it takes yet. Babies are very much dependent on their parents, for a longer period of time than human babies are. The amount of hyverium cells in a Centens's body doesn't increase all that much as they age, so a baby is nearly as strong as an adult as far as telekinetic abilities and the like go. The difference is that babies and children don't yet have all of the neural connections that allow them to exploit these abilities, nor do they have much control over the abilities at first.

"Wings"
If a Centens's wings are damaged, the damage can usually be repaired: small cuts and scrapes heal like any other parts of the body, and other types of damage may be fixed using Centensian medical technology. If the wings are severed completely and not quickly reattached, it causes far more trouble. It's not fatal, and they don't lose all of their Xanafian cells - those are found all over the body, the wings just have the largest concentration of them - but it causes trouble still.

Their psionic powers are lost or drastically reduced, and they'll feel tired far more quickly and far more often. This can be helped with modern medicine to some degree, but they'll have lost a significant amount of Xanafian cells, which means less energy to feed on. They may need to eat more to compensate (they always have to eat actual food to get the resources needed for renewing cells, but much of the energy they use comes from the cells rather than their food). A change in diet may also be necessary. They can grow new wings artificially - they can easily take some genetic material and clone a new pair of wings - but the new wings will have no Xanafian cells in them. So cloned wings are purely aesthetic, not functional (though they can move as the muscles are all there, it's just the lack of Xanafian cells that means they won't be able to use psionic powers using the new wings)

The "wings" aren't actual wings: just stubby appendages attached to the back of a Centens. Some Centens can use their powers - which mostly come from the "wings" - to hover and even float up into the air a bit, though. ALmost all Centens can hover just above the ground for a bit like this, but only the stronger ones can use it to actually move about some more. Actual flight has never been achieved using these powers, though.

There's been no flawless biomechanical wing replacements thus far, though attempts have been made, and some were moderately successful. Bio-engineered Xanafian cells have been produced, but the body rarely properly accepts these. They are either rejected, or aren't as powerful as natural ones as the body isn't able to channel the Xanafir properly through the artificial cells. Another solution that's been tried many times was to create biomechanical wings with an actual Xanafian crystal as a power source. These proved hard to control, feeling very unnatural to the Centensian recipient of the replacement wings, but with enough training they could be moderately successful. The same principle has been used for power suits: they'd not only enhance a Centens's physcial strength, but by using a Xanafian Shard also enhance their psionic powers. These too worked better for some individuals than they did for others - it requires a lot of skill and training to properly use these.

Psionic abilities
Pure hyverium is far more common in their native universe - that's actually where it originates from - and the Centens evolved in an environment rich in hyverium. They have cells with tiny crystals of pure hyverium in them - most of which are concentrated in the "wings" - which allow them to draw energy from the Xanafir directly and apply it in various ways. The most prominent ability they get from this is basically telekinesis, or as they call it, force projection. Not all Centens are equally skilled/capable of it, but they can often move objects without touching them, start fires by projecting energy onto a flammable object, or even activate electronic devices by projecting an electric charge on the device. Centens can also use this ability to project their thoughts onto another Centens, allowing them to communicate without speech, but it doesn't allow them to read minds. Skilled Centens can often use this same ability on other alien species. They often use that ability to project their thoughts onto an alien at the same time they are speaking to them, which creates a very unreal feeling: the alien will hear Centensian words, which they are unable to understand, but at the same time, the meaning of what is being said gets projected into their minds, allowing them to understand what is being said without understanding the words.

The Centens have some telepathic abilities. They usually use them to allow them to speak with any other species, but they can use it in other ways as well. They won't be able to hide their identity if they're fully exposed, but when fully cloaked like that merchant is, they can subvert someone's attention away from details like their face, effectively hiding themselves. Their psychic powers could only be used to send information, not to read minds.

The Centens usually communicated amongst themselves verbally, as psychic communication was often seen as rude and intrusive. It was still used for internal communication though, especially when perfect clarity of ideas was needed, or in intimate relationships.

The strength of their powers is hereditary to a degree, though there are some external factors at play too. For example, Centens who were born outside of their home universe are generally a lot weaker than those born in their home universe - the strength is largely determined by the amount of hyverium in their bodies, and since they take in hyverium as they grow, being raised in a hyverium-rich environment increases their strength. All Centens are born with some amount of hyverium in their bodies - they gain this from their mothers - and their genes determine how well the body can take in more hyverium and integrate it into their cells.

The powers of the average Centens are strong enough to provide some level of (temporary) levitation, along with minor feats of telekinesis, telepathy and such. Many can also use their powers to create a source of light, project energy onto something flammable to start a fire, or use their telekinetic abilities to form a small shield in front of them to stop slower-moving projectiles. There's a lot of variation in how powerful an individual Centens is, though: there are many Centens whose powers aren't strong enough to do many of those things, only giving them access to telepathy and minor telekinesis. On the other hand, there's also Centens powerful enough to lift large objects, project energy from their hands to create dangerous energy beams, and lift enemies from the ground. As for enhancing a Centens's power, it's possible, but it's a dangerous procedure. The power of a Centens comes from the hyverium-rich cells in their bodies, which are mostly concentrated in the "wings" on their backs. The strength of a Centens's power is determined by the amount of hyverium in those cells, though training and ability to focus are important factors too. There are procedures which can artificially increase the amount of hyverium in those cells, but it's a risky procedure. The body can reject the additional hyverium, or might simply not be able to withstand the energy produced by the enhanced cells. The only way for a Centens to lose their powers is for their wings to be cut off, though there are hyverium-rich cells in the rest of their bodies too. While most of the hyverium is concentrated in the wings, the cells in the rest of the body can still be powerful enough to use some of the weaker abilities.

Psychic powers were often used in warfare, though usually only in warfare against other species as their usage was less effective against Centens who knew what the psychic touch felt like. Against other species, it could be used to cause confusion and to lower morale, boosting the Centens's chances of victory.

Centensian psionic strength is determined entirely by the amount of Xanafian crystals in their wings (and the bits in the rest of their bodies). The strongest Centens could lift a decently sized boulder, and could also float above the ground and fly into the air for a little bit. They have the ability to project thoughts and feelings onto others through their abilities, but mostly they use their crystals to project a kinetic force from a distance. They could harness other forms of energy too, though those were more difficult to control and were used less frequently. Think projecting electrical energy, or heat.

Culture
The Centens are incredibly diverse - much more so than humans are, simply because there were so many of them - but they were generally highly intellectual and some of them arrogantly so. There were incredibly benevolent Centens - like Rhadeis - as well as very selfish ones - like Rashaek.

They had the same, single leader for eons: Cense, though very little is known about him. Since the Centens pretty much eliminated aging and natural death, their society overall moved very slowly as there was never much reason to make haste (outside of wartime, of course). It also meant that their political climate didn't shift much, and so the same leader could stay in power so long as the people continued to support him. And since birth and death rates were so small for them, the same supporters could support a single leader essentially forever.

The Cen'avath Anon (the Centensian nation) was a geniocracy, where the leaders were selected for their intelligence, problem-solving capabilities and compassion. (This should give an idea of what kind of person Cense was.) That being said, controlling such a massive nation was far too large a task for any individual, and the council that led the Centens weren't able to exert control over the entirety of the nation. There were countless factions within the Cen'avath, various independent nations and many exiles (like Rhadeis and Rashaek).

Cense always had a council to support him. He stayed in power right until the disappearance of the Centens, and like with the rest of his kind, it's unknown what's become of him. Some Centens still remain here, but the vast majority of them have completely vanished from our universe (and many others) without a trace. The only ones who know what truly happened to the Centens are those stragglers, though there are also some Centens who don't know what happened to their kin. (especially those who were in stasis at the time of their disappearance)

There have definitely been colonies and populations that split off from the main nation, but these were always (relatively) small and many came back to the main nation after some time. Not all of them did, however, and it's possible that somewhere in another universe, there's still a large pocket of Centens who haven't vanished because they had split so completely from the main nation. To the Centens, these split-off nations were insignificant, however. The vast majority of Centens remained in the main nation, and their numbers aren't even comparable. Such individual nations would be like a speck of dust compared to the main nation.

The largest portion of a Centens's time is spent meditating or working. Having completely eliminated the need for citizens to engage in mundane work such as factory or cleaning jobs, most Centens spend their lives working on their passions and ambitions. For some, this lies in the exploration of the omniverse, for others, in the creation of grand works of art.

They longed to understand the nature of the omniverse and everything in it, and they managed to use this knowledge to manipulate the omniverse in a few ways too. Architecture was the greatest from of artistry for them, and they could spend centuries working on a single construction - they enjoyed doing as much as possible by hand, working in relatively small groups with as few large machines as possible. And others would study the evolution of life in other universes, as Rhadeis did. The Centens never had to worry about resources and could spend their lives however they wished, but art (and in particular architecture) was one of their most common interests.

They are often depicted as good and benevolent, and while there is truth to that, they can also be ruthless and absolutely unforgiving. The Cen'Avath Anon has likely been responsible for the extinction of more sentient species than any other nation.

Their nation is so gigantic that it can't really be considered a single nation, even though they preferred to present themselves as such.

The Centens were numerous, and their personalities were incredibly diverse. There were large groups of self-absorbed Centens, there were benevolent groups, ruthless and violent ones but also true pacifists: almost anything you can imagine, the Centens had it. If they could be described as only one single type, the most common one would likely be the artistic Centens who loved nothing more than creating their own structures and artwork, was generally peaceful but also unafraid to use incredible force to defend themselves and their values.

The Centens do have forms of monogamous relationships, but these often don't last a lifetime. After countless centuries or eons together, many pairs do eventually split up. There are some who do have life-long monogamous relationships, though! There's also many polygamous Centens, and Centens who never really commit to a relationship. Centensian culture is highly varied in that way.

The Centens are incredibly diverse in almost every aspect, and the same goes for their sexuality. There's likely still some groups that disprove of it, but they are a minority. Likewise, there's likely some communities that might be more connected to each other over this, but they too are a minority. For the Centens, there's always far more important things in life, and personal issues on this front are usually (relatively) quickly resolved compared to the average lifespan of a Centens. There's actually plenty of Centens who swap between the two genders every so often, for a variety of reasons, and some might not even remember what gender they had at birth. And with how advanced Centensian technology is, combined with their lifespans, it's impossible to tell through genetic research and such.

They kept countless species of animals as pets, though pets weren't quite as common as they are in human society. There were some species native to their home planet that they liked having around, but far often they'd keep alien creatures found on other worlds. These alien pets truly came in all shapes and sizes - anything they found and liked on the countless worlds that they explored was a potential pet.

They don't have paid jobs in the way that we have them, but they have occupations and roles in society, so there's still leaders, engineers, administrators etc.. They don't have any form of money - they have access to nearly limitless resources, and have long outgrown the need for money as anyone can get access to whatever resources they need Many Centens change their occupations over time - always doing the same thing gets boring, even for the Centens - and many are experts in multiple fields, as they had thousands upon thousands of years to learn new skills and professions.

They placed a lot of value on art, but being effectively immortal, a simple painting, statue or some other work that may take a few months to complete is seen as trivial. The Centens need more grandiose works of art to keep them busy, so building absolutely massive structures (preferably by hand) is a favourite pastime for many. The Centens take pride in creating things that look like they defy the laws of physics, and they use hyverianites extensively to create things that shouldn't really be possible. They had other forms of entertainment too - like sport-like activities (generally involving their kinetic projection/telekinesis abilities), but construction is the absolute winner for the average Centens.

The Centens loved art in all its forms. Architecture was the most popular, but there were artists of all kinds. Cooking was one such other art form, but they also had illustrators, musicians, genetic sculptors and far, far more.

Genetic sculptors were artists who would design their own DNA strands from scratch. Usually, they use it to create fascinating plants, as creating sentient life was frowned upon for ethical reasons.

Brewing beverages (and lots of other drugs) is certainly not common, and while the use of lighter drugs is fully accepted, some harder drugs (which include some beverages) are frowned upon. They certainly do consider brewing a form of art, it's just one that isn't especially popular.

Even the Centens had ancient myths, but most have been forgotten over time and no new ones are formed since the Centens now outclass almost anything they once imagined.

The early Centens did have some concept of magic and thus magic practitioners, but it was a bit different from our own concepts considering that they already have powers many would consider magic. Still, the early Centens did explain unknown phenomena as magic, and sometimes believed that other Centens (or some type of wildlife) was responsible. These beliefs are long gone, of course, and most stories of magic are long forgotten by the Centens as well, or otherwise are seen as ancient children's tales.

Language
Across all of their inhabited worlds and stations, they definitely numbered in the trillions. (For context, that over 50 more Earths worth of cultural drift and variance.) With such a massive population, they were incredibly diverse. They had countless different languages and dialects, but every Centens who was part of the Cen'Avatah (and that was most of them) was obliged to learn the standard language. They had the advantage of effectively living forever, so they had plenty of time to learn the standard language and with low birth rates, languages and dialects took a very long time to change.

Constructed over a very long period of time, taking bits of various languages and new words/grammar to make the most effective language they could think of.

Cense's official title was Vei'han (which has no real translation), but this title was hardly ever used and forgotten by most Centens. For the countless eons of his rule, he was simply known as Cense.

It is possible to learn the language, though there are some limitations. The alphabet, or at least variations on it, are used frequently by other species (including both the Avikan and the Theleans), and they borrow some words from the language too. The Theleans have been able to reconstruct most of the language, as the Centens left plenty of archives and other sources to study. Pronunciation may be difficult though, since all species have different vocal mechanisms and some may simply be unable to reproduce certain sounds.

The Centens also had a lot of telepathic communication, which you obviously can't learn without having those same abilities, but their language was fully functional without telepathic communication. Telepathic communication was often seen as highly intimate or intrusive, and was generally used in close relationship, as warning calls in times of danger, or in situations that required more privacy.

Clothing
The Centens don't wear a lot of clothing, but what they regularly wear are some types of skirts, capes and other outfits made of loose-hanging strips of cloth. They have robes too, which are usually used to display ranks/occupation and such, but they are usually very light robes which don't restrict their movement at all It's not uncommon for Centens to go around without clothes on, but usually they'll wear at least a small skirt like the one worn by Rhadeis in the statue the Avikan built of him (the same kind of skirt worn by Rhaiod priests) There are rare cases when they wear robes that are much less revealing, but these are only ever worn when they have reason not to reveal themselves to others around them.

They do have some jewelry. Especially for high-ranking Centens, it's not uncommon to have a Xanafian Shard embedded in some piece of jewelry, be it a kind of necklace, neckring, arm ring or a kind of sash.

Architecture
The most popular form of art in Centensian society was architecture, which is why so many Centensian ruins are spread across all of the omniverse. They especially enjoyed creating massive structures that seemingly defied all conventional laws of physics, always challenging themselves to create more and more extraordinary structures. In their terms, the crazier/more physics-defying, the more beautiful it is.

Centensian cities are almost always built in pairs: the main city would be Vas, while the city sized palace is Vhalas. For other Centensian locations title Vhos is used. Title applies to outposts, industrial complexes and more.

The architectural style is inspired by the Centens loving mathematical perfection: cubes, spheres and other primitive shapes fascinate them. Their building materials also allow them to create structures that would be impossible to build using modern materials. For the Centens, architecture is the most popular form of art.

They loved creating constructs that at first glance seem to defy all laws of physics. The materials are incredibly light and immensely strong, often Centensian constructs are many kilometers high and wide, yet supported only by a small anchor that is often off-center of the building's center of mass. To them, building such constructs was like a sport - they competed against each other, always striving to create even greater things than others did before them.

It's possible they have some actual floating cities too, but in such cases the atmosphere has to somehow be able to keep them afloat, and so one'd see different structures build to utilize such features.

Blue and Purple, these two colours are most common aesthetic choices. The blue light resembles the white-blue energy associated with the Xanafian and the Xanafian Shards, and is the more common light colour used to light all sorts of structures. The purple light resembles the light emitted by the Centensian liquid, which is an artificial substance that acts as a power conduit, data conduit and even data storage. The Centensian liquid is found throughout all Centensian structures as it connects most of their large-scale technology. Purple light would be more befitting of engine rooms and the like, but it's used as general lighting sometimes too.

Precious metals were still used sometimes, especially gold. Though it was mostly for their aesthetics and not their value: gold simply provided a nice accent for certain structures and tools, but the material itself was worth very little to them. Gemstones were a little rarer, though they did frequently use large crystalline decorations which looked a bit like hyverium crystals/Xanafian Shards.

They likely had some underwater facilities, but since that's not their natural habitat, they would usually prefer to build on land or in space. It's a good way to hide a facility though, so it may have been used for some more secretive projects. Technically they could alter gravity, but it'd be extremely rare. The Centens had little reason to modify gravity in their constructions, so if their ruins with distorted gravity, it'd likely be in a research environment or inside a high-security Vault which could use it as a means of warding off intruders.

Getting into those Vaults would be nigh impossible without an entrance key, though. Centensian vault keys are extremely rare, to the point where the entire Thelean Dominion may have only obtained a handful of them over tens of thousands of years. And every Vault needs its own key, so the Theleans are hunting for them quite zealously.

Ce'tennan would construct open-air centensian data liquid pools around other structures, these were mostly storage facilities and data monuments. The liquid is essentially their version of circuitry, although traditional circuitry was sometimes used when wires were more convenient than a liquid medium. Data monuments were essentially just monuments dedicated to some historical event or great Centensian figure, which featured both a physical monument (statues, pillars etc.) and a data storage part that documents everything there was to know about the topic.

The space encounter (one in the mod that has portal to Vhos Avha'las) isn't quite compatible with the canon lore, since there's no teleporters in the THEA universe, nor do those fields for keeping in the atmosphere exist, but spaceborne structures like these do exist. Most are a fair bit larger, but some smaller ones have been made. These structures are small spacestations, often unmanned and built for communications or to monitor activity in a region of space. These monitoring stations keep track of hyperspace activity in a region while also observing stars and other celestial bodies, feeding the ever-growing database of the Centens.

Education
Centensian education definitely focuses on psionic powers. Young Centens are taught history, art, technology and far more - their education is far more extensive than ours could ever be - but are also trained physically, mentally and psionically. There are groups which dedicate themselves to the psionic powers entirely, too.

Cryosleeping
There's a few reasons for Centens to enter cryosleep. Some do it to skip time: for example, if they are waiting for some event that'll happen years into the future, they might choose to skip ahead to that time. Another reason is to heal from wounds: if they are fatally wounded and cannot be saved with a fast procedure, they can be put into a cryosleep to allow their body to regenerate and heal either on its own, or with the help of their medical technology.

Overseers
The goal of Overseers was mostly just scientific study: observe how a primitive species evolves, how it reacts to changes in its environment and document everything. Part of this was to monitor for any potential threats to galactic stability, although the Centens rarely intervened. A lot of it boiled down to the Centens just looking for something to do. Being practically immortal, the Centens were always looking for things to dedicate themselves to. Architecture was one of the most popular things to dedicate oneself to, but research was very popular too even if it didn't result in much in the end. The gathering of knowledge on its own was enough for most Centens.

Crime
Centens would most often be exiled or otherwise persecuted for breaking some of the core laws regarding alien interaction, which (amongst other things) stated that direct interaction with developing species was prohibited. Study and monitoring of such species was permitted and encouraged, and on some occasions direct interaction was approved for specific experiments, but overall the Centens were obliged to let alien species develop on their own until they developed some form of interstellar travel. Rhadeis and his fellow researchers broke this rule by directly intervening when a natural disaster threatened the young Avikan, and continued to defy regulations by acting as a guardian for the Avikan, intervening when necessary and granting access to Vas Vha'leih when the Avikan were in desperate times. Centensian outcasts were exiled from Centensian society, and unless they found a way to be accepted again (which did happen at times) they'd have been left behind during the disappearance. Not all of the Centens who stayed behind were outcasts, however.

Technology
One of their creations was the artificial planet of Darghoron, which is the location of the Xanafian Hand, a device that can manipulate the Xanafir itself. The Hand is also protected by mechanical proxies known as the Xanafian Guardians, who've successfully fended off any attempt to take over Darghoron and the Hand.

The Centens themselves have strong telepathic abilities as well - that's how the Avikan were able to understand Centensian speech, despite not knowing the words that were used. Centensian technology can do the same thing, allowing even recorded messages to be understood by other beings with a compatible mind (a mechanical being like a Trink likely wouldn't be able to establish that telepathic link).

Many Centens will use their own psychic powers to ascend and descend structures, but not all Centens are equally skilled at it, and a lot of cargo is too heavy to be moved this way. For those cases, the Centens generally use force lifts very similar to the ones the Avikan have. Those Avikan force lifts (which are extremely rare) are based on the force lift technology used by the Centens, by the way.

The Centens often still wear armour, since it is always reliable and accessible, but they have other ways of shielding themselves as well. Some can use their innate Xanafian-powered abilities to create a sort of kinetic shield around themselves, but they can't keep this shield up indefinitely, and it doesn't protect against surprise attacks.

Various types of personal shields suffice for them. There are places where such shield might not function optimally though - usually as a result of electric/magnetic field disturbances, forms of radiation, or vicinity to powerful Xanafian shards - so they have multiple types of kinetic armour that act as always-reliable fallbacks.

The swords seen on Centensian statues are mostly ceremonial, though they'd still make decent weapons in an emergency. Sometimes out of practicality, but sometimes because they just enjoy using them more. Centensian personal shielding technologies are powerful enough to let them close in on opponents without having to be overly afraid of being killed by an enemy's ranged weapon.

The Centens were able to use jumpgate rings to travel to any point in space with high precision, though even they sometimes made miscalculations and lost ships that way. Massive skyscraper-sized computers were used to calculate their jump paths.

Centensian holograms are pretty much indistinguishable from real objects and people. They can be interacted with and feel pretty much like a real equivalent of whatever is being projected.

The Centensian droids are relatively advanced, though not full AI. They are fully capable of detecting and identifying targets, and have a very wide set of conditions programmed in to guide their decision making. They are also able to learn, to some degree, and are capable of autonomous operation, so they can indeed form a new strategy when encountering new or especially dangerous opponents.

They had androids too, though they weren't used very extensively.

Centensian mechs were rare, and the majority were non-humanoid in shape. When it came to vehicles (especially those for ground, water or aerial usage), the Centens generally built incredibly smooth and streamlined vehicles as opposed to the geometrical design you often see in their architecture.

They had a type of hover/flight pod for personal transportation. Though, not much is known about smaller vehicles.

The Centens have used black holes to power more than just the Event Horizon weapon. (From Starbound mod) Not all uses of the technology are weaponized, but there are certainly larger variations of the same concept.

The large floating, spinning cubes are communication devices. They can handle incoming and outgoing communications over vast distances. Usually one of them would suffice for a single Centensian outpost, but they liked placing them for aesthetic reasons as well. (with the benefit of introducing back-up communication systems)

There's a few types of communication cubes used by the Centens, but most use some type of jumpgate system for communication across vast distances. They can either link directly to other locations or spaceships, or open a gate nearby a spaceship in the system and send out standard radio waves through that gate, allowing ships nearby the gate to pick up the signal. There's also a bunch of very powerful antennae in there for sending and receiving more conventional messages.

They could transfer a consciousness into the liquid, and in turn transfer it into machines and ships and such. It was a very rare occurrence though. The primary reason for most organic species to want to upload a consciousness into machines is to extend life, but lifespan wasn't really an issue to the Centens anymore.

While it didn't happen often, it also wasn't anything exceptional to the Centens: many Centens have uploaded or transformed their consciousness over time. They kept their citizenship so long as they still held to Centensian laws, and nothing much would change about the way the other Centens saw them. There were some taboos, though, like splitting a consciousness over multiple physical bodies. Centens found to be guilty of such acts were generally terminated, due to previous experiences with Centens abusing such things.

There have been cases where a Centens uploaded their minds into an army of machines, which is exactly why the practice of splitting a consciousness across multiple bodies was outlawed. Centens splitting themselves like that were dangerous and hard to eliminate, so the Centens treated such cases very seriously.

Most Centensian seating is pretty traditional, rooted to the ground (though often on absurdly thin legs, much like their towering structures). They have plenty of hovering seats as well though, especially in settings where comfort is the goal: those seats adjust perfectly to your height and weight, and are simply incredibly comfortable. They have some more unique seating too: force projectors that create a semi-solid space for you to sit in. Those are very comfortable too, and incredibly versatile, but they also feel a bit weird to sit in so they're not preferred by everyone.

There were small groups of Centens who became adept at cyborg technology and frequently enhanced themselves with implants, limb replacements and the like, but the majority of Centens saw this as heresy. The Centensian body was an almost sacred thing to them: perfected by nature over millions of years, and capable of great things thanks to the Hyverium wings, they saw augmentation as an affront to their nature.

They haven't built any dyson spheres, but they've created plenty of dyson swarms (those are much more practical and stable), but they have built ringworlds and artificial planets (Darghoron being one of those). They've also created massive superweapons, like the Regulus Station (which is the size of a large asteroid or small moon), and the much larger planet-sized Altharez Station.

Only the Centens are known to have created a number of ecumenopolises. The Alliance has no planetwide cities, nor do the Theleans - though their massive network of terraformers across Thelea definitely comes close to being one. There's no know ecumenopolises in the Milky Way, but records exist of Centensian ones in other galaxies/universes, and there's a good chance one or more are hiding in the Milky Way as well. There is Darghoron, though: an artificial planetoid covered in what's essentially a city, also built by the Centens. Most of the Centensian ruins (found in the mod) are either communication arrays, data storages, or monuments/art installations (the Centens are great fans of art, mostly expressed through ridiculous, seemingly physics-defying architecture). The ones with the monolith outside and a small room with a monitor in it are communication arrays, built all across the Milky Way to create a nearly instantaneous communications network across the galaxy.

The Centens could definitely build a mobile dyson sphere - it'd take a long time to construct and would require plenty of resources, but for the Centens neither would be a concern. They don't see much value in full dyson spheres, though. In general, a dyson swarm would suffice, and with their jumpfire conduits, nuclear fusion and hyverium-powered devices, such massive structures are generally unnecessary.

Psionic technology
They had technology that mimics psionic information transmission. Those small cubes scattered across the ruins are described as 'oddly enthralling' by many species. That's the result of psychic transmission technology affecting the minds of those who come close to the cubes. Telekinesis could also be reproduced in multiple ways. The Centens use Xanafian crystals in their bodies to generate that force, and they could manipulate larger crystals to do the same thing through technology.

Some of their technology relied on their psionic abilities, and could only be triggered by those abilities. An obvious example would be neural interfaces that make use of the psionic thought projection of the Centens, which could also be worked into the trigger mechanism of a weapon.

Every Centens projects their thoughts in a slightly different way, and one could store that unique pattern as a sort of password. Some Centens could mimic the patterns of other Centens, but never with complete accuracy. Locks using these though passwords would be very safe.

Emitters that induce a state of relaxation were common, as well as emitters that help you concentrate. The tiny cubes you see all around Centensian ruins in the mod are all forms of psionic technology too: they usually create soothing fields, but the effects vary between species. Centensian minds are more resistant to such manipulation, and as such they need stronger fields for them to notice the difference. 'Lesser' species, like the modern species, are often strangely attracted to these relics, as the effects are too strong or simply incompatible.

The Centens did build computers (and AIs) powered by Xanafian Shards (and which were capable of transmitting psionic signals/thoughts), so you could see those as psionic computers, though xanafian computers is a better description.

Weapons
The Centens, in general, used ranged weaponry more than they did melee weapons. Ranged weaponry is simply a lot safer to the user, and is general a lot more versatile than close-range weapons. That being said, the Centens had highly sophisticated personal shielding technology which often allowed them to ignore the ranged weaponry of less technologically advanced adversaries, and melee combat was seen as more graceful. If the Centens fought against other advanced species, and they felt that there was risk involved in combat, they'd resort to ranged weaponry, but in cases where they fought against less advanced opponents who couldn't penetrate Centensian shields they enjoyed melee combat more.

Personal shield generators have been built by various species, but those usually project a spherical shield around the user. Centensian shield tech could create dynamic shields that are worn almost like a second skin, allowing far greater protection. Bubble (or rather obloid) shields were certainly more common as they were much easier to produce! They had some form-fittings shields as well (often built by combining obloid shields on every limb, with some additional modifications) but these were far rarer and usually the standard shields sufficed.

Most shields were only partially effective against melee weapons. The kinetic barriers don't stop all movement - that would be very troublesome when the Centens are just moving around, and you wouldn't want to block out fresh air either - but rather get stronger the more kinetic energy you put into the system (up to a limit, of course). So a very fast melee strike or stab may get blocked, but slower ones could get through more easily. Each shield could have a slightly adjusted sensitivity though, so there would be some shields that can block melee weapons entirely (at some cost to the user, like reduced mobility), while others might not block melee strikes at all.

The shields are better at dispersing plasma and energy than they are at stopping kinetic energy. A normal assault rifle or the like couldn't pierce their combat shields, but a handheld railgun could. Their armour was especially sturdy, made of the highest qualities of metals. They had both partial armour and full-body armour, and both basic armour and powered armour (with a built-in exoskeleton).

Some shield systems are relatively basic, controlled by electric circuits that could be harmed by an EMP. But much of Centensian technology runs on Centensian liquid, Xanafian Shards and other exotic systems that wouldn't be disrupted much by an EMP.

Centens had a military and it was called Avhan'cen. Jumpweaponry was quite commonly used by them (it is often found all over their ruins), but also railgun-like weapons, and all sorts of highly unusual weapons that utilized Xanafian shards in some way.

Jumpweapons use the jumpgates/wormholes to warp projectiles closer to the target. Regulus Station uses this technology extensively, since it needs to fire at targets from lightyears away.

Projectiles fired from jumpweapons are bits of plasma pulled directly from a star, so they can reach a few thousand degrees Celsius. Those would be beyond painful: they might well kill you instantly. Jumpweapons have some tech that contains the heat in the projectile, but anything around the projectile will experience significant heat as well. You may even set fire to some flammable materials without needing to hit them directly. If the plasma was completely uncontained, yeah, the weapon could potentially kill the user and anything nearby. However, the weapon only extracts and fires very small amount of solar plasma, and contains them within a field that keeps some of the heat trapped inside until the projectile makes contact. A single projectile - extremely hot but with a very short duration like lightning - wouldn't do too much harm to its surroundings, but a constant stream of projectiles from an automatic jumpweapon could be more dangerous, hence the containment field.

As far as personal firearms go, the Sundrainer is amongst the largest of jumpweapons ever built. There were a few instances of even larger personal jumpweapons, but those were all truly unique while the Sundrainer was simply a very rare model. There were even larger jumpweapons installed on some ships, however.

Jumpweapons have built-in safety measures that prevent the flow of solar plasma from escalating too much. During a supernova, these measures may not be sufficient to save the weapon's internal systems, but the user should be relatively safe. They'll unleash a more powerful and less controlled jumpfire shot and fry the internal systems, but the weapon won't explode in the user's hands. They'd have to replace the internal jumpgate after such an event.

Centensian fighters also relied quite a bit on the abilities they get from having Hyverium cells in their wings. (mostly force projection abilities, which are basically telekinetic pushes/pulls and such) They had incredibly varied weapons, from railgun-like weapons to jumpweapons and beam rifles, so their equipment varied greatly between various units.

The Centens built a few mega-structures in our galaxy. The most notable of these is Regulus Station, a superweapon capable of destroying a planet's bio-sphere. It can't outright destroy a planet - no Star Wars levels of superweapons here - but it can be used to make a planet uninhabitable. The Centens had many enemies in their own universe, as well as in other universes they visited, some of which were powerful enough to warrant the use of weapons like Regulus. They were never forced to use it here, but they had it around as a precaution.

There are instances of Centensian drones equipped with more exotic weaponry. The standard weaponry is actually already based on Xanafian technology, but void and jumpweaponry have been used on drones as well.

The Deathseeker is definitely unusual, but then the Centens had many unusual weapons. Many weapons were one-off designs that were produced in only small quantities by some creative Centens. Jumprifles are common mass-produced weapons, but most of the Unique weapons in the mod are strange designs by some individual Centens with a knack for weaponry.

Not in the traditional sense, but the Centens did create highly advanced interactive simulations that one could well describe as games. They primarily used these simulations to help them solve scientific issues or to explore new concepts, but there were simulations that were more like games too. There were groups who disliked these systems because they could distance someone from reality, but with such a massive nation and population there were still plenty of Centens regularly using such simulations.

Time dilation tech
Centens have access to time dilation technology, which allows to either speed up or slow down time, but never stop or go back in it. This is far beyond the technology of any of the modern races possess.

Speeding up time in a construction zone (to speed up the construction of, for example, a dreadnought) would technically be possible, but there are a few issues. The workers inside the zone won't notice the time dilation - their perception of time remains the same - but they would age relatively quicker, which some workers may not agree to. Getting a powerful enough device to slow down time in such a large area for an extended period of time would also be quite costly, and they'd still need time to gather resources and transport them into the time-dilated zone. The technology was sometimes used by the Centens instead of cryo-sleep, which is still one of the more popular uses for the technology.

Centensian metal
Centensian tech is usually made of a special alloy that combines various hyverianites, which are common elements enhanced with hyverium to strengthen their characteristics. Ferroverium (hyverium-enhanced iron) is one of the most common ingredients in Centensian metal.

The exact composition hasn't been yet, but it'll contain largely ferroverium and aluminiverium, some carboverium and a bunch of other hyverianites in lesser quantities.

Centensian metal can be smelted into new shapes, but no-one's been able to discover how to craft more of the metal. Stripping down a single decently-sized ruin will get aliens enough metal to craft armour, weapons or other equipment for a large group of people (though stripping the ruins can be quite difficult due to the toughness of the metal).

Centensian metal is inconceivably strong and lightweight. Entire floating cities can be supported by a beam no wider than a house. Vhos Aval’has, for example, rests above a perpetually stormy wasteland world where most life forms would most likely be killed. Several races reference the strength of the metal, saying things about not being able to put a scratch in the stuff.

Jumpweapons usually draw plasma from the edges of a star, where temperatures are relatively low. Centensian metal can definitely withstand this type of plasma, but prolonged exposure may cause issues, and there's other parts in the weapons which can't withstand such temperatures. As such, the plasma is generally contained within magnetic fields, to prevent damaging the weapon.

The surface of a star isn't too hot, and Centensian metal can withstand that. However, as you dive deeper into a star (or venture into the corona) temperatures increase significantly, and Centensian metal won't be able to withstand such energy. It will definitely melt or even vaporize if exposed to the hotter parts of a star.

Centensian Liquid
Centensian liquid acts as a power/data transfer platform (and sometimes as a data storage platform too). The liquid is an artificial substance intricately designed by the Centens, and the violent reactions are a feature by design: they keep the liquid pure by burning away imperfections and preventing pile-ups of junk from hindering the liquid's performance, which is useful in open-air pools which are prone to getting contaminated. The Centensian Liquid is only found within Centensian structures, unlike Hyverium and the Hyverianites. The 'burning' reaction includes any organic matter, like living creatures, which means that it contact with it would be hazardous. A Centens would also be seen as an impurity, and would suffer the same damage as any other creature that comes into contact with the liquid. Most metals (and many other materials) are immune to the liquid's purification measures - they need to be in order to allow the liquid to be stored and used inside technology. A full exoskeleton could allow one to touch and wade through the liquid without suffering any damage. It's organic matter that's most vulnerable to the purification measures, so if alien covers themselves up with metals, they should be safe.

Many of its base components are substances native to the Centensian universe, and they can't be naturally found here. There's a few Hyverianites in there too, but it's an incredibly complex composition that no-one's yet managed to properly dissect.

The liquid stores data in much the same way that an organic brain does: memories and mental images, but with far greater clarity, allowing any type of data (sound, imagery, video, text and far more types) to be stored and delivered accurately. The liquid can store all types of data at the same time. It all merges into an impossibly complex web of information. So mixing liquids with different data on won't corrupt either of them, they'll just fuse.

The data stored in the liquid is shared across almost the entirety of the liquid, so there's no single physical place where any bit of data is stored. Certain volume of the liquid is necessary to properly read and store the data, though, so taking out and reading very tiny bits will result in incomplete data.

There are ways to use the liquid for data storage, but the "usually" was there because the Centens don't always use the liquid to replace wires. In some cases solid wires are more reliable, though in the vast majority of cases the liquid is used. It's a substance not normally found in our universe, since it (like hyverium) originates from the home universe of the Centens. It's a great electric conductor, obviously, but in large quantities it can react quite violently with some organic materials.

It doesn't mix with water, but if one created an artificial solvent (the liquid itself is artificial too) tailored specifically to the liquid, they could dilute it. At temperatures nearing 0 Kelvin, some of the liquid's components start to crystallize and the liquid loses its functionality. At extremely high temperatures, some components will eventually evaporate and it'll lose it functionality too. It's returned to its basic components, and so it won't really be the same composition anymore and can't be considered Centensian Liquid any longer.

If it is heated up or cooled down too much, the liquid will break down into its various components, which evaporate and solidify at different temperatures. That'll result in a loss of information that can't be restored when changing everything back to the liquid state.

They've got absolutely massive data storage centers, some of which are planetary, while others are huge spacestations that could easily reach the size of small planetoids. The data can't be easily accessed, though, as it isn't stored in electrical bits. It's not compatible with our own computer technology, so for an Alliance nation to read the data they need some type of converter, but none of the modern species have managed to perfect the skills and technology just yet. There have been some partially functional prototypes, however.

Spacecraft
They had many ways of powering their ships. Jumpgates were definitely one of their ship core designs, meaning that they drew power from the stars/solar radiation.

They weren't very commonly used as spaceship weaponry, but plenty of ships did have some sort of jumpweaponry installed. Most Centensian spaceships were armed with larger versions of the Oculus's beam and projectile weapons, but like the Centens's varied personal firearms, there was a lot of variation in spaceship weaponry too. Oculuses, Keepers and other drones were also commonly found on their spaceships, to be deployed if a ship ever got into close-quarters battle or if it had to fend of multiple smaller enemy ships at once.

The Centens have multiple architectural styles, and also have various spaceship styles. Some look similar to the cubic architecture, with large cubic structures attached to the main body. Others use softer, rounder shapes, and actually feature articulated parts that allow the ships to function like an oversized mech on a planet's surface. Others still feature a completely different style: there's no single defining style for Centensian spaceships, but rather a handful of common styles.

Their designs are wildly varied, but most of them make no use of external thrusters, instead relying on internal drives that bend spacetime or propel the ships in other ways. These particular spaceships were able to use the "arms" of the ship as actual arms, allowing operations on a planet's surface. There was an ancient derelict Centensian ship covered in a kind of space-moss.

There are segmented ships that could use the arms and tails to walk or attack. They could attach itself to enemy vessels or asteroids, and on the surface of a planet it could use them to move around. (almost like a massive scorpion) There are weapons hidden in the tips of each limb, with the most powerful one sitting in the tail.

Ce'tennan dreadnoughts were rare, but absolutely massive and holding extreme destructive power. Think miniature versions of Regulus station's weapon systems, and all sorts of other exotic weaponry combined with regular railgun/projectile weaponry.

AIs
The Centens created many sentient AIs during their long reign, but usually only built (sentient) AIs with specific tasks, like how Kel'chis was a navigational AI. It had no real citizenship, but it was always treated with respect, and the same went for other AIs with similar functions: they were unable to operate as citizens due to their programming and their physical restraints (being part of a larger ship), but they were treated well. They generally had no desire for freedom either: performing their intended duties was what gave them the greatest satisfaction. The Centens were skilled at creating sentient AIs that still held to a base set of programmed principles.

True AIs in humanoid/mobile bodies were rare, as the Centens saw the complications those could bring about. That's not to say they didn't exist, however: the Centens were around for so long that they created many things they didn't fully support as a species. Some of these AI were destroyed for the trouble they caused, but some AI that proved their worth were given full citizenship. These were very rare, though!

The Centens felt very much responsible towards their AIs, and would generally treat any AI with respect. However, they also wouldn't hesitate to destroy an AI that caused issues.

As for how the AIs saw their Centensian creators, in general, they looked up to them. The AIs were almost always built in such a way that they longed for the approval of their creators: it's one of the primary directives built into almost every Centensian AI. There are always exceptions and dysfunctional AIs that managed to break these directives, though.

They definitely used wetware as well. A wetware-based AI would be hard to classify, but many would see it as alive. Many Centens considered advanced digital AIs to also be alive, though - it depends on the individual's concept of what life is. The Centens generally disapproved of creating artificial life, but AIs (including wetware-based ones) were always in a grey zone.

Regulus station
Regulus Station latches onto asteroids and small planetoids, drilling into the surface and anchoring itself to them. Once anchored, Regulus can start converting some of the mass of the planetoid into energy, part of which is stored for powering the thrusters and other internal systems, while the rest of the energy is utilized by the weapon's beam when it fires. The solid particles in Regulus's beam are shard of the planetoid, too. Essentially, it destroys planetoids and harvest their mass and energy to power the station and the weapon, which in turn is used to wreck larger planets. They had powerful enemies, and they needed powerful weapons to fight them Regulus wasn't originally constructed in the Milky Way, but was transported there to act as a security measure should they encounter opposition in our galaxy. Regulus isn't the only one of its kind, though it is the only one in the Milky Way at least.

Superweapons similar to it in strength or function could be found across the universes inhabited by the Centens. Several such superweapons were used in the war against the Remnant, too.

They also built Regulus Station, but they had larger variations on that type of weapon too. Altharez Station is one such example: Regulus Station dwarfs in comparison to it. Altharez never entered our universe, but the Centens used it in other universes.

Altharez uses Xanafian energy: it has one of the largest known collections of Xanafian Shards in its core, capable of producing insane levels of energy. It's built to be capable of destroying entire stars - accelerating their lifetimes to cause them to go supernova within a relatively short amount of time (but not instant) - but it was usually used at lower power to lay waste to planets or fleets. Destroying a star takes so much energy that the weapon becomes inoperable for a long time afterwards. Regulus Station feeds off of asteroids and small planetoids, latching onto them and converting the planetoid's mass into energy. It then opens a jumpgate and fires a massive beam of energy and chunks of the planetoid to lay waste to a planet.

Access to Xanafir
The Centens have used the Xanafir in some manner in the canon storyverse (and the others too), but not to change what already existed. In addition to finding a way to even approach and control the Xanafir without it tearing one apart is something with which even the Centens struggle greatly.

They didn't create the Xanafir, but they did build the Hand (which is technically the most powerful weapon/tool in existence).

The Centens have managed to extract Xanafian Crystals (which are really just pure hyverium) from the Xanafir through artificial means, but they can't create them without the Xanafir. The Xanafir is the condensed form of all of existence - each and every universe is contained within - and shards of the Xanafir (i.e. hyverium) are parts of that whole.

Still, the ability to extract additional shards gives them unimaginable power. These shards can be used to power anything if you have the tools to extract the energy, and it's a technically infinite source of energy as all energy you get out of it goes back into the universe somehow - and thus back into the Xanafir.

General description
The Ce'tennan seem to have vanished almost entirely, leaving behind all of their structures and even many spaceships, though almost all of it is in lockdown. There hasn't been a trace of any living Centens for thousands of years, although there are rumours and legends of interactions with the Centens. So most of the interracial opinions in this sections are from what-if scenarios, which were pieced together from various answers by Aegonian.

They haven't had direct contact with any of the modern races, including Starbound and Elithian ones, though individual Centens who didn't vanish with the rest of their kind have had minor dealings with modern nations.

The Cen'Avath Anon's standard procedure was to observe newly discovered alien species carefully before engaging with them in any way. Less advanced species, especially those who were in their early space age or hadn't ventured beyond their planet at all yet, would be monitored but contact was forbidden. Rhadeis is one of many Centens who broke protocol in that regard, and he (along with his accomplices) was made an outlaw of the Cen'Avath Anon as a consequence.

More advanced civilizations would also be observed, and an approach would be selected based on the results of those observations. Some species that showed promise were approached with friendly intentions, either to engage in the sharing of knowledge and resources or sometimes even to be offered a place in the Cen'Avath Anon. Civilizations that were deemed dangerous or unstable could, after extended observations, be subject to immediate extermination. The approach always depended on those initial observations, and the results of any first contact. The Centens have been responsible for the growth of many civilizations, some of which were allowed to rule over their nation and territories freely, whilst others were annexed. The Centens were also responsible for just as many civilizations that were forever wiped from existence, most after a fast extermination through overwhelming strength, others after a more lengthy war like the Remnant were.

The Centens were very much aware of the many alien civilizations they met, and were generally of a benevolent nature. They did what had to be done to protect their own species, and those species that they deemed worth saving, but they also met countless other species like the Remnant that were hell-bent on eradicating other alien civilizations. The Centens have eradicated more species than any other civilization to date - even the Remnant's expansion pales in comparison to the bloodshed of the Centens - but they equally saved and uplifted countless alien species.

They couldn't see or predict the future reliably, though they did have countless years of experience which gave them far greater insight into alien species than most others would have. And yeah, there are many instances where some Centensian factions would try to uplift an alien species, while other factions opposed them. Especially in the final eons of Centensian civilization, they had adopted a habit and law of letting alien species develop and evolve on their own, at least until those aliens developed interstellar travel. If a sentient but primitive species was likely to go extinct of some natural cause, the Centens wouldn't intervene. Not all Centens agreed with this practice, however, and many Centens were exiled for breaking those laws. A famous example is Rhadeis, who saved the early Avikan from a natural disaster and who acted as their guardian angel ever since.

Ce'tennan themselves have a massive influence on most of all modern races, despite their absence. Mostly via ruins.

The Centens weren't the only sentient species in their home universe, and while they had friendly relations with some, they weren't part of any large alliance. They have fought countless wars against others from their universe too, hence why so much of their technology is of a military nature.

They had many enemies, though there's hardly any traces left of those enemies now. That's why they'd made things like Regulus Station or Altarez Station. Most nations that could have challenged or beaten the Theleans were ancient ones that existed alongside the Cen'avath Anon. Most of them didn't manage to stick around for long after meeting the Centens. In many cases the Centens were attacked by others, but at times the Centens would be the agressors themselves. They've likely destroyed more nations than any other nation ever has, though warfare wasn't something they enjoyed But they made many enemies, and every one of those enemies has been completely eradicated. Making their sudden disappearance even more mysterious.

There are a number that they had relations with, but they were never allies on the same level that the Elithian Alliance is (at least not during their trans-universal lifespan). They had some true allies very early on in their development as an interstellar species, but all of those allies have been wiped out at some point and the same is true for most of the other nations they had friendly relations with later on.

As to who would they ally with really depends on what group of Centens you'd approach: many of them would support an interstellar organisation like the Alliance, while others would seek the strength of the Dominion.

Alliance
Difficult to say, since all Centens will have their own opinions on it. The general consensus would probably be (mild) impression: while it's something the Centens will have seen plenty of times before, successful interstellar societies comprised of so many different species aren't very common, and compared to many of the other major powers in this galaxy, the Alliance have achieved incredible things without relying on the knowledge of past civilizations.

Akkimari and Kel'Chis
"Really depends on the individual (like in many cases, there's not really any consensus as the Centens and other intelligent species are extremely varied). Some would be amazed by what Kel'chis achieved, while others would think of him as an issue to be resolved. And as such, some Centens might try to help the Akkimari get Kel'chis back, while others would try to get Kel'chis back for their own purposes, and others still wouldn't care at all about a single stray AI."

Avikan
"It'd really depend on that particular Centens, but one thing they most likely wouldn't be is surprised: the Centens have a lot of experience with less-advanced species regarding some or all of their kind as gods, and Rhadeis has done more to earn that title than most (even if many Centens don't agree with what he's done). Some Centens may view the Avikan with pity, others would consider them ignorant, and others still wouldn't even spare the Avikan and their religions a thought."

Rhadeis and Rashaek
"Both are exiles, though they don't belong to the same groups of exiles and may have never even met."

"Both Rhadeis and Rashaek were fully aware of the situation their nation found itself in. Both were outcasts, but both still had plenty of connections with the Cen'avath Anon. And both were opposed to some of the ideas pursued by the Cen'avath Anon. Hence them being outcasts."

"Not all of the Centens who were with Rhadeis agreed with his decision, and a few left before he executed his plans, unwilling to be exiled for saving the Avikan. The others all looked up to Rhadeis and agreed with his intentions, so no vote was needed. Cases like Rhadeis's breaking of the law weren't common, but they did happen every now and then. They'd always be an interesting bit of news throughout the Cen'avath Anon, but nothing major in the eyes of most citizens. Plenty of Centens did agree with him, but far more Centens condemned him for his actions, exactly for the reasons you proffered. Interfering with an alien species' evolution could cause unforeseen issues, and robbed that species of their own future, guiding them along the path of the Centens instead. Even if an alien species was threatened with extinction, that was the natural path, and the Centens should not interfere. It's always possible for a species to survive and grow even stronger because of such events, and if not, then that's just nature taking its course."

Remnant
The Centens actually wiped out the vast majority of Remnant, from every universe that they occupied, many thousands of years before the Centens themselves went missing. Their war with the Centens lasted for a very long time, and the Centens were very thorough in their extermination campaign.

In the end, some Remnant did try to run from the Centens. Not necessarily out of fear, but rather as a strategy to try and allow their species to survive. Most Remnant would fight to the bitter end, however. The extermination campaign was the period directly following the Centens-Remnant war. Once victory over the Remnant was assured, the Centens chose to eradicate the Remnant completely and erase the threat they posed to sentient life across the many universes.

Theleans
"As for how they feel about the Theleans, most of the Centens disappeared before the Centens grew into the galactic power they are today, and so have no knowledge of them. Rashaek and any followers he may have obviously approve of them - he set the Theleans on their current path in the first place - while Rhadeis would disapprove of them.

If the other Centens were still around, they'd likely have a lot of conflicting feelings about the Theleans: they won't fully approve of their methods, but they'd likely praise the goal the Theleans are pursuing, and they'd also commend their achievements."

"It'll vary from Centens to Centens - every Centens will have their own opinion on it - so some will be disappointed in the Theleans, while others are indifferent to them or even admire their work and their zeal. That last opinion might be the most common one for Centens still active in our universe today, whilst the other two opinions are more common for the Centens that are no longer here."

"It really depends on the individual Centens, there's not really a single answer here. Some Centens may just ignore them, some may despise them while others admire the work of the Theleans."

Trivia
This section is for both trivial notes and quotes by Aegonian, that might not seem to fit anywhere else. "Not necessarily - it's a very powerful weapon, but the mass of those solar projectiles is minimal and so there's not all that much knockback from the projectile itself."
 * They might have had a base(now ruins) hidden in layers of gas of either Saturn or Jupiter. Though, that is an element from old roleplay, so this might not be the case anymore.
 * Aegonian doesn't want to spoil it, so only things we know about Centensian disappearace was that it was of their own own design and that it happened for reason far more benign and ruthless than we might imagine.
 * ["The sun drainer seems like a weapon that would cause a bit of knock back when you fire it"]
 * It's possible that the Centens visited Andromeda as they travelled to other galaxies as well, they have so far only been known to inhabit the Milky Way.
 * [What would happen if someone found Centa'lachon?] Depends on what they'd try to do there. They'll likely encounter a LOT of automated Centensian defence systems. Possibly live Centens too.
 * Xanafir is supposed to be located at the very heart of the Cen'avath Anon (the Centensian nation).
 * The Vaash won't be able to do anything with the Centensian liquid, but the liquid could react with the Vaash and cause an explosion. Explosions will only occur when large concentrations of the liquid are used, though.
 * Of the three known Centensian figures: Rhadeis, Rashaek and Kel'Chis, only the last one is confirmed to still be "alive".
 * [Asked if Centens would be interested in research of Precursors and Elders from FU] "The Centens may have found some of their ruins, but they were generally more interested in studying the living beings present in our universe. Their technological superiority meant they had no need for further technological knowledge, and they had seen the fall of so many other ancient civilizations that the Precursors and Elders were likely of little interest to them.

There will have been some research into them - the Centens don't like to leave anything completely untouched - but it'd be a very minor concern to them and they wouldn't invest much time or resources into that research." And while Rashaek and Rhadeis have both not been seen for thousands of years, they aren't confirmed to be dead: they may still be around somewhere." "Typically lush worlds, but they've settled all sorts of planets." Yeah, there's no force in this galaxy that could stand against the full strength of the Cen'Avath Anon in their prime, though there's obviously not much left of them now. Centensian forces in this galaxy (before their disappearance of course) versus the Theleans in their current state would be a more equal fight. The Centens would have a very substantial technological advantage, but they never had large numbers in the Milky Way so the Theleans would greatly outnumber them. The Theleans are also more military-minded, while the Centensian forces here were mostly exploration, scientific or civilian in nature. "Only the Centens were ever able to fully control jumpgates to the point where they could safely weaponize the technology." "Yeah, it should still be possible to repair it if you have the right technical knowledge. The mechanism that creates the gravity distortion is the most complex part of the weapon, so as long as that stays intact, a skilled engineer should be able to repair it Unlike jumpweapons, void weaponry isn't connected to a star or even a black hole: the gravity wells are created by the weapon's internal mechanisms." "The idea for an ancient, highly advanced species came pretty early, sometime after the Aegi, Theleans and Dremeton were first created, but before I started creating in Spore. However, I didn't sketch them for quite a while, and the idea for the Centens (including their name) came a lot later. They were first detailed when I was already comfortable creating things in Spore, so that's after the Hymid were built and detailed." "A lot. It never entered our universe - and is thus pretty much unknown here aside from some ancient stories and brief mentions of the name - but back in the universes that it was used in, many alien nations tried to either take control of the station, or just destroy it. The station survived hundreds, possibly thousands of all-out assaults and invasions." "Absolutely! The Centens are generally very mentally sound, but any intelligent species can go insane under enough stress. An insane Centens could be quite dangerous, but they could never cause truly significant trouble for the Centensian nation simply because they'd always be outnumbered, and even a large tragedy is tiny relative to the massive size of the full nation." "Not quite like traditional DnD, but they have extensive simulations in which they could become whoever (or whatever) they'd want to be and roleplay using that." "They did have some data on the planet! They were aware of Earth - it's one of countless worlds they documented in their search for planets with complex lifeforms. The Centens vanished a very long time ago relative to a human lifespan, but on the scale of evolution their vanishing was quite recent. Home sapiens were already around at that time, though it was long before any human civilization popped up. They certainly collected data on the planet from a distance, but it's also possible they visited at some point. The Centens have a very strict policy of avoiding interaction, however, and so won't have left any significant traces." "Certainly! The ship that Kel'chis was on may have been one such ship, since the Akkimari haven't reported finding any biological remains on the crashed ship. The ship most likely encountered some kind of power failure, though it's also possible the ship was damaged in some way causing it to crash on Akris. Most spaceships would have been stationed at a space station or space port when the Centens vanished, but there's bound to be a decent number of them still flying around for whatever reason. They tend to be very hard to find, though. Centensian AIs running ground-based structures and such are often still active too. Some may have been shut down intentionally, others may have had their commands change, while others have just kept running like nothing changed. It's rare to actually encounter one of these, mostly because Centensian structures important enough to be run by such AIs are difficult to enter, but they do exist!"
 * [Asked about what Centens' home universe is like] "It's hard to describe the entire universe as a whole - it's even more varied than our own - but overall it is quite similar to ours. The Centensian home universe is home to the same kind of matter as ours, and all of our elements exist there, too (otherwise the Centens wouldn't have been able to travel into our universe without destroying themselves). That being said, the big difference is the abundance of hyverium: where it's an incredibly rare substance in our universe, it's pretty much everywhere in theirs. This means you'll find strange things there that would be almost impossible to find here, such as seas of liquid hyverianites, planets filled with electrically-charged lithioverium (creating floating island) and other odd formations."
 * They do have pets, though I haven't defined any of them yet.
 * [Starbound note] "I have plans to implement the Centens as a playable race, but you'll play as a Centens who was left behind in a cryo-sleep facility when the rest of the Centens vanished. Centensian players will be just as oblivious to the fate of their species as the rest of the galaxy, though you'll find more clues to what happened throughout the story quests I have planned for them. If there are going to be any Centensian NPCs in the mod, they'll be few and far between, and will likely be in the same state as the player Centens. There won't be any large return of the Centens anytime soon."
 * [Asked about Hand of Rhadeis' classification(mod weapon)] "It's a pulsar pistol, which doesn't use jumpgates but rather fires electrified projectiles. I should note that Starbound weapons (especially the unique ones) aren't always the most lore-friendly weapons, since I focus on fun mechanics first and lore second for those. So a pulsar pistol in the mod may not function exactly as one in the roleplay would."
 * "There was an interaction with live Centens in the old RP, though they turned out to be imposters and that encounter is no longer canon. Within the new RP, there have been no direct interactions with live Centens, other than historical events like the meeting between Creaton and Rashaek.
 * [What sorts of planets do centens like to settle down on?]
 * [When asked about Centens being communist] "Yeah, the word communism has gotten rather twisted and conjures up the wrong image for many people: the ideals are generally sound, but so far no-one's been able to create a society that really follows those ideals. Quite a few of the nations in the THEA universe follow some variation of communist ideals, but they're nothing like the flawed "communist" nations we've seen thus far."
 * Centens might have some humanoid mechs on long-forgotten planets. Possibly even ones of Pacific Rim level of giant, though they were likely abandoned before they saw any use in combat.
 * [Are there anything like the Reapers from Mass Effect in the lore? As in something that could wipe the universe clean and basically reset everything kind of level] "I don't have everything documented yet, but there are definitely threats that are as dangerous as the Reapers. The Theleans are a massive threat, but not quite to that extent, but some of the enemies of the Centens would classify as Reaper-level threats. There are also natural calamities on that scale, but I don't have all of the details ready yet and don't want to reveal it all until it's finished. The disappearance of the Centens is intimately related to some of those threats."
 * Many of the species in the THEA universe use the same name for singular and plural forms, and Ce'Tennan is one of them.
 * If all of the modern races (including the Ventrons at their prime) combined their forces and faced off against the Centens, it'd depend on the state of that Centensian army. If they'd fight against the Centensian forces present in the Milky Way, the combined modern races could win. If they were facing off against the Cen'avath Anon in its entirety, so including the forces not currently present in our universe, even the combined power of all Milky Way races wouldn't be enough. The Centens spread to various universes and many galaxies within them, and the combined forces of a single combined galaxy would be severely outnumbered against such numbers.
 * The Mysterious Merchant is indeed a Centens, and although it isn't Rhadeis himself, he/she is associated with Rhadeis in some form. The Centens use their Hyverium cells for kinetic projection - essentially telekinesis - but also for mind projection - a sort of telepathy. They usually use this to share thoughts with other Centens, or to project the meaning of their spoken words onto other aliens, allowing an alien to understand what a Centens says without actually having any knowledge of the language. A well-trained Centens can use that mind projection for deceit, making their targets think they just passed another Avikan instead of a live Centens. The cloak helps prevent technological recognition through cameras and such, since the mind projection doesn't work on an Avikan who might be watching security footage.
 * Vhos Avha'las is located in our universe: it's an outpost built on an unidentified planet in the Milky Way, with massive pillars going down to the (uninhabitable) surface to support the city in the skies. The surface of that planet is quite hostile, with an incredibly dense atmosphere and violent storms. Deep down below the thick clouds of the planet Vos Avha'las was built on, you'll find a lifeless rocky world, with fog so thick you'll not even be able to see you hands in front of you, and an atmosphere crushing your lungs. There's a lot of water down there too, but you'll find no (complex) life there. A few single-cell organisms at the very most. It's not a very hospitable planet, but the Centens simply built far above the dangers with massive pillars stretching many kilometers down to support the outpost. It's very stormy there too, so not exactly a place you'd enjoy (or be likely to survive) visiting.
 * The Centens can never fully explore the universes they visit - even one universe is so unfathomably gigantic that even the Centens could never explore it all - but they've visited countless galaxies across many different universes. Some of these were completely devoid of life, simply because life never evolved there. Other galaxies were almost entirely devoid of life, but showed signs of prior habitation and massive conflicts that wiped out entire worlds by the dozens. In others still life seemed to have died out naturally, with burned-out stars all over (these were quickly abandoned by the Centens as well since these were completely uninhabitable). There have also been attempts at entering universes that were very different from theirs and our own, with laws of physics that opposed our own, but such attempts were always short-lived as gateways would instantly collapse and anything that did manage to get through was likely torn apart in an instant as well.
 * If the Centens participate in combat - which isn't very common - their equipment will be determined by the enemy they fight. If they fight an enemy that's woefully underpowered (which is usually the case), Centens often go for melee weapons even in a gun fight. Swords, spears and similar weapons are more graceful and personal, and the Centens take pride in being elegant during battle. Their personal shield projectors are advanced enough to allow them to walk onto the battlefield and largely ignore projectile weaponry, so they can get up close and personal. If their enemy is powerful enough to pose a serious threat, the Centens usually just deploy drones, and otherwise use ranged weaponry like jumprifles, railguns and many other types of ranged weaponry.
 * Centensian armour, which mostly included personal shield generators, is an incredibly rare find, far more so than functional weaponry. The Avikan and Theleans have found some functional armour pieces, but haven't had much luck in using/replicating it. The Alliance doesn't have any official records of encountering Centensian armour tech, but the official records aren't always complete when Centensian technology is involved... The Akkimari found a piece on board the ship that Kel'chis was found on, but they too haven't had any success replicating it.
 * "There's no similar teleportation technology in the THEA canon, they only really exist for gameplay purposes. The Elithian Alliance universe does feature jumpgates, which are essentially wormholes linking two distant places, allowing for instantaneous travel between the two points. These jumpgates are generally only used by spaceships, because of the risks they pose when used in atmosphere. The modern nations also don't have full control of the technology, so jumpgates are usually large and bulky, unsuited for personal transportation. You'll also need an entrance and exit gate (linked using quantum entanglement), as computers still aren't powerful enough to calculate destination coordinates with enough accuracy to be safe. A millionth of a degree inaccuracy can send you to a completely wrong destination, or even into the surface of a star." [And below that note]
 * They left behind almost everything they had built, though their spaceships are a pretty rare find. Ruins litter the galaxy (and many others), with no sign of where the Centens have gone.
 * [About Ce'tennan progression in Starbound] "Current plan for them is to have a very unique kind of progression, linked directly to their outpost (which will open up new sectors over time as you complete story missions). A lot of the crafting and progression will be done in the outpost, though you'll get compact crafting tables to place on your ship as well. Haven't fully determined how the progression system will work yet, but I want their outpost (which is also the location you wake up in) to be heavily involved in it."
 * [If a void weapon, for example got the trigger broken and the power source lost, leaving only the void mechanism functional, would it still be repairable?]
 * [When exactly, in this set period of time, have Ce'tennan come into being?]
 * There's a codex entry in the mod in which a supposed madman Avikan claims he encountered a Centens who gave him instructions to prepare for a Thelean invasion. This was in fact a holographic projection, with a psionic emitter that transmitted the essence of the Centens's speech to the Avikan. It allowed the Avikan to understand what the Centens was saying, despite not knowing the language. The Centens use that ability themselves too for communication with aliens.
 * Many people could be found hoarding Centensian cubes and other artifacts for their psionic effects. The Theleans are interested in them too, of course, but there's random Akkimari and such with massive stashes too.
 * [Does that mean that one could create a faux centens with enough psionic artifacts and an advanced enough AI?] "A powerful AI that can interact with and fully control these psionic devices could create a very true-to-life interpretation of a Centens. Getting those devices to work properly is hard though, and you'd need knowledge of the Centensian language to properly fake a Centens. (at least if you want to fool someone who's studied the Centens - an unschooled alien likely wouldn't recognize that the Centensian speech is off)"
 * Centens did not augment themselves with bioengineering at any point in time. Their abilities are completely natural.  Unlike the Aegi, who have done some major bioengineering. (before also banishing the practice after they settled on Elithia)
 * [How much war has been fought for Altharez? It seems like the Remnant forces would want to take it as soon as possible.]
 * [Can Centens go insane?]
 * "As for Centens dedicating themselves to becoming superbeings, that depends on your definition of a superbeing. Many would consider the Centens superbeings just the way they are: effectively immortal and having access to psionics makes them gods to many other species."
 * [Better yet, were there any Centens who devoted their existence to becoming a sort of superbeing, like something on par with Leto II, with or without the physical changes?] "Been a long while since I read Dune (and never finished it, sadly) so I can't fully remember the details of Leto II's powers. A regular Centens definitely wouldn't be close to it, but then there's no such thing as prescience in the THEA universe, which I think is a big part of what made Leto II what he was. There's definitely some Centens who artificially increase their own physical strength, and some who try to increase their xanafian powers, but I don't think they'd come close to Leto II. Most Centens stick to their natural bodies, and increasing your xanafian powers is hard - you can increase them somewhat, but never by massive amounts."
 * [Do centens have their own version of dnd? (dungeons and dragons)]
 * [Starbound] "Void energy is a poorly understood phenomenon, but it's very closely linked to gravity. Only the Centens have ever managed to harness it in the weaponized form. It creates gravity wells that affect creatures, projectiles and other entities. Nothing is immune to the effect, but ghost-like enemies are weak against the damage type. A bit counter-intuitive maybe, since ghosts aren't affected by gravity, but ghosts don't exist in the THEA canon so this made for a nice contrast to some other effects, creating something that's mostly neutral but very strong against a pesky type of enemy. So mostly a gameplay choice."
 * "In Spore, the female Centens didn't have whiskers, but rather had some shallow tubes on their chins. These were made a long time ago though, and haven't been updated in years. I'm likely going to rethink the biological purpose of the whiskers a bit, which could mean that females also get them. They'll still be different in size or shape from male whiskers, though."
 * If a Centens was to stay with a species for the entire duration of their development, they'd likely reach a space age very quickly. If the Centens was just as generous as Rhadeis and Rashaek have been, they'll share a lot of Centensian technology, and the chosen species would quickly develop incredible technology. They'd probably do so at a rate that might cause problems, as the technological advancement would be faster than the societal development. Might actually be harmful to the species in the long run, as they evolve faster than they can handle as a society.
 * [Did the Centens have any data on Earth whenever they existed? Were they aware of humanity/semi-intelligent apes?]
 * "Centensian architecture is at least partially inspired by the Vex, but there's many more sources of inspiration too (mostly individual artworks found all over the place)"
 * [Since Ce'Tennan ships (and other structures?) have highly advanced AIs to run them, would it be possible in theory to stumble on Ce'Tennan "ghost ships/buildings"?]