HOME | DD

Description

Book 6 and 8 mention the Yeerks conquering the Ssstram, the Mak, and the Nahara, but they don’t show up even in the Chronicles. They must be Class Two or Three, either having drawbacks or being few and hard to replace. I’m not saying I’ll design the others, but I decided to completely make up the Mak.
The homeworld of the Mak is mostly shallow, silty oceans studded with floating ‘islands’ made of tangled vegetation, including the roots of immense bamboo reeds. The Mak had a level of sophisticated plant-based technology, carving the reeds into the parts for some rather elaborate mechanisms, but as metal was essentially unknown and even stone very rare, and as Hork-Bajir Controllers towered over them, they were easily overwhelmed. After Dracon-ing some populated islands most of the rest surrendered to Yeerk rule.
The Mak are the smallest species Yeerks are able to infest, with the very largest of them being about three feet tall and many never growing large enough to be viable hosts. The others can be bullied into working and so have not been exterminated. Mak navigate via echolocation and by using chemosensitive whiskers at short range; their rear-mounted eyes are mainly useful for watching for predators. With feet adapted to grasping and climbing rounded bamboo reed stalks, they struggle to walk on flat surfaces. Mak-Controllers are very capable pilots in ships adapted for them but they’re not so much better than Taxxons that it’s considered worth implementing.
The primary utility the Mak offer to Yeerks is their homeworld as a ‘breadbasket’. Fish from Mak farms are flash-frozen and compose some sixty percent of an off-battlefield Taxxon’s diet. Bamboo reed products completely meet the nutritional needs of Hork-Bajir. The tall stalks and isolating nature of the ‘islands’ also make ideal Hork-Bajir breeding grounds, though some always seem to vanish, presumably drowned. Theories that sympathetic free Mak are responsible have been dismissed due to the improbability of shared communication; Mak voices are so high they cause pain and discomfort to Hork-Bajir ears, while Hork-Bajir voices are so deep it is difficult for Mak to hear them properly.
Being assigned to the Mak homeworld is widely regarded in the Yeerk empire as a career killer, but it’s fairly popular in the short term. Yeerks visiting the world frequently take a Mak host on a temporary basis purely to experience flight.

Description

Book 6 and 8 mention the Yeerks conquering the Ssstram, the Mak, and the Nahara, but they don’t show up even in the Chronicles. They must be Class Two or Three, either having drawbacks or being few and hard to replace. I’m not saying I’ll design the others, but I decided to completely make up the Mak.
The homeworld of the Mak is mostly shallow, silty oceans studded with floating ‘islands’ made of tangled vegetation, including the roots of immense bamboo reeds. The Mak had a level of sophisticated plant-based technology, carving the reeds into the parts for some rather elaborate mechanisms, but as metal was essentially unknown and even stone very rare, and as Hork-Bajir Controllers towered over them, they were easily overwhelmed. After Dracon-ing some populated islands most of the rest surrendered to Yeerk rule.
The Mak are the smallest species Yeerks are able to infest, with the very largest of them being about three feet tall and many never growing large enough to be viable hosts. The others can be bullied into working and so have not been exterminated. Mak navigate via echolocation and by using chemosensitive whiskers at short range; their rear-mounted eyes are mainly useful for watching for predators. With feet adapted to grasping and climbing rounded bamboo reed stalks, they struggle to walk on flat surfaces. Mak-Controllers are very capable pilots in ships adapted for them but they’re not so much better than Taxxons that it’s considered worth implementing.
The primary utility the Mak offer to Yeerks is their homeworld as a ‘breadbasket’. Fish from Mak farms are flash-frozen and compose some sixty percent of an off-battlefield Taxxon’s diet. Bamboo reed products completely meet the nutritional needs of Hork-Bajir. The tall stalks and isolating nature of the ‘islands’ also make ideal Hork-Bajir breeding grounds, though some always seem to vanish, presumably drowned. Theories that sympathetic free Mak are responsible have been dismissed due to the improbability of shared communication; Mak voices are so high they cause pain and discomfort to Hork-Bajir ears, while Hork-Bajir voices are so deep it is difficult for Mak to hear them properly.
Being assigned to the Mak homeworld is widely regarded in the Yeerk empire as a career killer, but it’s fairly popular in the short term. Yeerks visiting the world frequently take a Mak host on a temporary basis purely to experience flight.