Lyeens are engineered beings created to serve as domesticated beasts that can thrive in the harsh arid landscape of Luyten b. They are the first of their kind: a hybrid of alien and Earth-born DNA - a multi-functional creature that can serve as a dairy animal, workhorse, guard dog, and even a domestic pet.

Luyten b orbits the red dwarf Luyten's Star, located some 12 light years away in Canis Minor. It is a tidally locked super-Earth, meaning the half that faces its sun is a solar-irradiated desert, and the half that faces away is a dark, frozen hellscape. The only habitable zone is a ring between the two halves that is permanently shrouded in dusky red sunlight. Gravity is roughly twice that of Earth's, making it uncomfortable but still within the limits of human habitability. Luyten b's "year" is only 18.6 Earth days.

Luyten b was not always humanity's first choice for exoplanet colonization. There are far closer planets, like Proxima Centauri. However, once remote probes confirmed the existence of alien life on Luyten b, it triggered a corporate "gold rush" of pioneers looking to trailblaze a brand new field of xenobiology.

Manned space travel to Luyten b only became possible after the construction of an orbital station called an interstellar catapult, which accelerates spacecraft to 0.98 c (there must be one at both ends of the trip to "catch" and slow the craft at its destination). Once remote probes finished construction of the catapult in 2338 AD, the space-faring equivalent of trucks, busses, and other commercial craft began to make the long distance across the stars. Since colonization, Luyten b was discovered to not only have a thriving xeno ecosystem, but massive deposits of rare and valuable exotic metals, and large-scale mining began. The colony currently stands at roughly 5,000 inhabitants, though more is needed. Finding colonists willing to live on such a remote and inhospitable planet proves to be difficult.

Lyeens were created by the genetic engineering company GenSyn. Their goal was to produce a domesticated offshoot of the dominant predator on the planet - the scaly, monstrous Luyten Howler. Using advanced gene editing technology, the Howler's genome was spliced with various earth animals, including the dog and goat. The hybridization process vastly changed their appearance and temperament - producing fur, mammaries, and a "more marketable face", among other traits. Ruminant mammals such as cows and goats cannot thrive in the rocky landscape or harsh gravity, making lyeen milk the only form of dairy on Luyten b. Lyeen cheese is known for its rich, savory flavor. Lyeens are omnivores (meat preference) and are paradoxically lactose intolerant - their milk is meant for human consumption, so GenSyn never gave them the gene for it. As Lyeens are not used to day-night cycles, they sleep anywhere between 8-14 hours of the standard 24 hour human day, often taking cat naps. Lyeens have a distinct scent that colonists describe as "musty" and "earthy".

Lyeens are genetically sterile: GenSyn holds a monopoly on all of their engineered species. Lyeens are quite expensive to buy, and are something of a status symbol among colonists. The Planetary Administration is the largest buyer of them, spreading them into the security workforce to keep the colony's borders and heavy metal mining sites safe from aggressive fauna. There is also a single dairy farm on the outskirts of the colony.

Lyeens are engineered to recognize the scent of humans and innately consider us to be "friend-shaped". They are highly intelligent, social creatures with considerable strength due to the planet's high gravity. Lyeens have an inquisitive, mischievous nature and tend to create mayhem if mentally under-stimulated. They can learn to understand human language remarkably well, but lyeens cannot speak ... though they often like to try (they sound like huskies)! They otherwise communicate with yowls, yips, growls, and expressive body language.

As curious as a child, Lyeens explore the world through their prehensile tongues, picking up objects to examine them ... and covering them in thick saliva in the process! Although incapable of conventional speech, it is possible that these "xeno beasts" are more intelligent than even GenSyn is comfortable admitting (they pass the Harkness Test with flying colors ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ).

The lyeen's progenitor species - the Luyten Howler - is a tenacious and clever pack hunter that can scale walls with their hook-like claws. Howlers communicate through throat vibrations, but in the genetic hybridization process, lyeens lost that ability. Howlers have been responsible for over 400 deaths since the colony's foundation. They form large matriarchal packs of 20-70 led by a cohort of older females who share pup-rearing duties regardless of the parent. Due to the lack of day-night cycles, they sleep and hunt in shifts. Females choose their mates and are polyamorous within the pack. Non-reproductive sexual behavior is practiced freely among the pack in order to de-escalate aggression and strengthen pack ties.

This same "social bonding" behavior has proven quite difficult to discourage in lyeens. The scope of the problem wasn't fully understood until the first generation of lyeens were already in the hands of colonists. In laboratory setting, lyeens were kept in a large social group to better replicate their natural environment. They spent most of their time bonding with each other than making advances toward researchers. But out in the colony, lyeens are kept in small numbers surrounded by many humans. And lyeens adapted.

GenSyn highly recommends to keep lyeens together in male/female pairs so they focus their social bonding activities on each other rather than humans. However, only the females are highly sought-after, since their milk is precious - the Planetary Administration offers reimbursement credits to colonists for every pint of milk rendered! Males are far less popular, leading to a severe gender imbalance in lyeen populations (many lonely females!). But some prefer males for pest control and colony defense. Lyeens assigned to security wear armored vests with spiked neck guards that protect their vitals from Howlers and other xenos.

As colonization of Luyten b has only been progressing for roughly 50 years, there is still much to learn about the planet. To date, there is no evidence of higher life forms on Luyten b other than its myriad of wild and dangerous fauna.