Lunthera

General
The Lunthera are a species of partially humanoid beings that live on oceanic planets all throughout the galaxy and are believed to originate from the system of Sigma Scorpii. Despite their humanoid appearance, they lack any genetic Relation to Humans, or any other human related species.

Appearance
The Lunthera have a humanoid torso and their whole body is covered, with exception of their head and chest, in several layers of overlapping scales. Their lower body sprouts two large fins to move through the water and a backfin on the hight of their pelvis, for more efective steering. However their most prominent feature, is the abundant use of cybernetic implants and augmented limbs, which they use to enhance their bodies to better suit their given task within their society.

Biology
Despite their simmilar appearance to Humans, their biology is far different. The species posesses three lungs, with two of them suited to process the oxygen out of salt water and the third intended to process sweet water. Their digestive system is unique in that it stores the consumed food over a long time, digesting it very slowly over time. The rate of digestion is related to the ammount of energy the body is using at the time. Due to this Luthera can often spend several weeks without food, without any significant drops in the body's supply of energy, if the last consumed meal was particularly big.

Although the Lunthera are theoretically capable of reproducing naturally, they prefer in vitro fertilization, within artifical wombs, so the most basic cybernetic implants can be easily implanted at the earlyest stages of life, to lower the chance of the body rejecting any of the implants.

Military Organization
Although the Luntheran societies throughout the galaxy are different in each system, they all share roughly the same military organization, which is based around elite troops, specialized in sabotage and guerilla warfare. Due to this the Lunthera are highly requested mercenaries, since they perfectly fulfill a role that is otherwise only played by rather costly vehicles, this role is underwater warfare.

Mercenary troops of the Lunthera are tasked with specialized missions, such as erecting and disarming minefields, destruction of ships and carryers, the sabotage of harbours and raids on naval supply lines. Due to their biology and cybernetic enhancements, they are are able to fulfill all these tasks, without getting noticed, with the same efficiency, but at the fraction of the price of a submarine.