S'aploves

In the upcoming novel, The Milk Run, we are introduced to the K'val, an entire race of walking, talking plant people.

To make the aliens more alien, I had them designed so that they all look exactly the same and sound the same. It is impossible to tell one from another. So how do they know who is a member of their family and who is a perfect stranger?

I gave them some genetic markers, hormones that circulate in their bodies, that tell them who are their relatives. This is called their "sapline" which is analogous to our bloodlines. It is their lineage. I gave the K'val a new sensory organ called a s'aplove and it resembles a small sunflower that emerges from the sides of their head. This organ uses chemical, electromagnetic and psychic elements so that it can lock onto the sapline of other K'val.

Unfortunately, Molokai, not quite a villain, has been the god-like power behind their evolution and he has worked tirelessly to make sure the K'val are of uniform size, shape and color. He also built the s'aplove so that it can transmit pain. So if he wishes to torture one family member to force another to do his bidding, the s'aplove enforces this. As Sh'ev, a K'val plant-man who becomes Aason's friend notes: "It is a very powerful tool to ensure obedience."