When humans first traveled across the stars to Nova Satus, they had to do so in 0g. For the multi-week journey, they simply floated around, ate paste, and defecated into bags like early astronauts.
Eventually, we met the Lipals of Zuvuvi, and they introduced to us the Zuvuvi imleon varytis, better known by their common name, gravity lizards.
The imleon genus resembles lizards of earth, but with a few key differences. Firstly, they don’t have tails. Instead of using stronger balance to climb, they evolved with grippier toe pads and grasping hands; in turn their claws are also not as long.
The varytis species evolved with gravity magic. Their power allows them to force gravity downward in an immediate area around them. In their natural environment, this ability is used to trap prey.
However, Lipals observed an interesting behavior in the gravity lizards: They much prefer to exist in gravity. When placing them into a 0g environment, they will naturally force the gravity around them (in the direction they determine to be “down”) to match that of their home planet, that being about .9g. They can make it even stronger if you make them angry or let them get hungry, but if you’re nice to them and keep them well fed they shouldn’t act up.
Once this was discovered, a gravity lizard or two became a mainstay on every ship and space station built by the Lipals. Once they made contact with humans and other species, they began stepping up their breeding industries and selling them across the galaxy.
Gravity lizards, depending on the age and strength of the particular lizard, can affect about a 20 meter radius around them. For most passenger vessels, a single lizard placed near the middle of the ship is enough. Larger vessels will instead have multitudes of lizards placed at strategic positions around the ship to ensure everyone gets their gravity.
Of note is that their gravity affecting field, for reasons still being studied, does not extend into the vacuum of space. Meaning that if a breach were to occur in a room nearby a lizard, that room would lose its gravity along with all of its air and heat.