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The introduction of the Cleax genes changed everything for them. Physically, of course, they no longer resembled natural beings, full of enhancements both organic and technological, but far more important was the change in their emotional and cultural makeup. They became an enraged, broken race. Violent crime rates on Dikamazi soared, and many of the new Bushraki simply hunted the old Bushraki down, who regarded their descendants with a combination of pity and horror. | The introduction of the Cleax genes changed everything for them. Physically, of course, they no longer resembled natural beings, full of enhancements both organic and technological, but far more important was the change in their emotional and cultural makeup. They became an enraged, broken race. Violent crime rates on Dikamazi soared, and many of the new Bushraki simply hunted the old Bushraki down, who regarded their descendants with a combination of pity and horror. | ||
Hate was now the byword of the Bushraki. Hate for the detested Sa'hak-ren. Hate for what they had become. Hate for what they had lost. Hate without hope. Hate without future. | |||
The new Sa'hak-ren were thrilled, and the Bushraki were used to help subdue the Xariel, who remain a client race of the Sa'hak-ren Hierarchy to this day. | |||
However, Life rarely deals you a good troom deck without making you pay for it later, and as the Sa'hak-ren discovered, you can have too much of a good thing. After tasting battle against the Xariel, the Bushraki largely ceased their in-fighting, turning their substantial aggression against them and steamrolling across their planet. None had ever seen warriors capable of withstanding what the Bushraki could, and with their enhanced strength, speed, and reflexes, they were more than just formidable. The Bushraki fought like madmen, taking incredible damage and continuing to battle, thanks to the wetwiring tech the Sa'hak-ren had created with the Cleax genetic material. | |||
When the conquest was over, however, the Bushraki lost none of their hate, none of their bloodlust. They began to fight each other again, and, in what should have never been a surprise, the Sa'hak-ren themselves, in increasing numbers. They became completely unmanageable, and so destructive (and self-destructive) were they that the Hierarchy eventually simply abandoned their millennia-long project and left the Bushraki to their own devices on Dikamazi. | |||
Enter the Nabia | |||
With the departure of the Sa'hak-ren from their lives, the Bushraki rejoiced, but their fundamental nature didn't alter. Though they had now left their planet, they only possessed a few ships capable of interstellar travel, stolen and hidden from their former masters. They had also learned enough about the technology used to alter Bushraki in the womb and then implant them with cybernetics that they were able to continue this practice, wishing to maintain their race's strength. Painkillers were now a key part of the enhancement process, of course. | |||
Some races in Starmourn sector had become aware of the existence of the Bushraki, but those that had knowledge of them were also aware of their nature, so largely ignored them. They were considered little better than violent, primitive beasts by many. | |||
One race, however, saw opportunity: the Nabia. Always looking for new markets for the wide variety of drugs they manufacture and peddle, they came to the Bushraki offering a trade: the rare hardwoods from your planet's forests for ships from the Nabia, and permission to establish trading posts on Dikamazi. The Bushraki leadership eagerly agreed, for what they wanted more than anything was revenge on the Sa'hak-ren, and building an armada would be required. | |||
The ships were really just a distraction, meant to keep the Bushraki from thinking too much about the Nabia's real motivations. The Nabia had, quite presciently, seen that a culture of broken souls filled with hate would be the perfect fit for their addictive products, and the cherry on top was this new wetwiring tech the Sa'hak-ren had built into the Bushraki. | |||
Wetwiring, as we now know, allows fluids stored in small containers to directly enter the relevant body systems. Though it was originally intended for use as the most efficient way to deliver the Cleax-derived healing meds, theoretically any liquid substance could be used. | |||
It was not difficult at all to begin to tempt and addict young Bushraki. The Nabia would begin by offering them performance-enhancing drugs like temereen and vitalis, which they would slowly start lacing with addictive drugs such as glitter, black nova, and whisper dust. | |||
Within two decades, Dikamazi was one of the Nabia's biggest markets, and addiction to recreational and performance-enhancing drugs was an epidemic. Few Bushraki abstained. This heavy drug use did nothing to civilize them or tame their tempers, frequently exacerbating their unstable and violent tendencies. | |||
Dikamazi became one giant drug den, and one of the most infamous places in Starmourn. Those of other races would visit seeking the secrets of wetwiring tech, and if they weren't killed in a random brawl or murdered for fun by a Bushraki high on glitter, they would leave disappointed. The Bushraki knew that their enhancements and the technology behind them were the only real bargaining chip they had other than natural resources. | |||
And so it went for several hundred years. The Bushraki failed to make much headway in their eventual goal of revenge on the Sa’hak-ren, instead spending their time high out of their minds. Their wetwiring and other enhancements ensured that the drugs didn't kill them or even seriously damage their health, addiction-aside, so they didn't suffer the kind of physical degeneration one would normally expect. | |||
The Ishvana and the Bushraki War | |||
And then, one day, the Ishvana made contact with the Bushraki. It offered them two things: Technology called the 'mindsim' - effectively a tiny processor array with huge local storage capabilities wired directly into the brain - that would dramatically increase the efficiency of both their wetwiring and their other cybernetic enhancements - and a pledge to help them exact revenge on the Sa'hak-ren Hierarchy. | |||
In return, the Ishvana required the Bushraki to help it war against the races of Starmourn sector, which the Bushraki were only too happy to do, while it searched for technology to transcend and seek out the Empyreal it believes lies on the other side. Along with the Vendal, the Bushraki stormed into central Starmourn in the First Bushraki War, beginning in 18 A.E., named as such because the other races of Starmourn did not yet know that the Ishvana was the driving force behind the war. | |||
For the next 16 years, the Bushraki threw themselves with gusto into the war, but they and the Vendal were finally overmatched by the combined might of the newly-formed Song Dominion, and its hired Free Fleet, led by an aging Admiral Mezer Juul and seconded by Maddox Khan and Akari Lane. | |||
The First War of the Ishvana | |||
Somewhat confusingly-named to the layman, the First War of the Ishvana is really the second of the Ishvana wars in the modern age, after the Bushraki War. Regardless, this war, launched in 72 A.E., was fought much as the Bushraki War was, but with even greater numbers of Bushraki and Vendal. After the Bushraki decimated the planet Song in a final assault, the war was essentially over, the Ishvana having failed, again, to find what it sought. | |||
The Second War of the Ishvana | |||
By now, over 200 years after the Ishvana had given the Bushraki the mindsim tech, and pledged to help them exact revenge on the Sa'hak-ren, the Bushraki were angry. Though they had benefited from mindsims, they felt it was long past time for the Ishvana to help them attack the Sa'hak-ren. They demanded a fleet of their own in recompense for their assistance, and the Ishvana agreed. | |||
Unlike the First War of the Ishvana and the Bushraki War before it, this time the Ishvana was seeking to capture as many kith-using individuals as it could, which, as we discovered later, was how it created the Vihana. | |||
Unlike those two wars, however, this time the Ishvana had recruited new allies, and unfortunately for the Ishvana, it dramatically underestimated the Bushraki's reaction to this. On the new Bushraki fleet arriving at the first battle against the Celestines and the Song, they find the Ishvana's forces consisting of the Vendal, as expected, but also its new ally, the mighty Sa'hak-ren, and their client races, the Xariel and Inori. | |||
The Bushraki are furious, and contemplate simply attacking the Ishvana's other forces on the spot. Instead, they bide their time, battling the Ishvana's enemies during those initial battles, waiting for the right time to turn against the Ishvana and begin slaughtering Sa'hak-ren. | |||
That time came when the Jin, fleeing their mad Godking and his alliance with the Ishvana, entered Starmourn, and this war like a hammer striking a forge. The Ishvana forces were heavily damaged, and the Bushraki took this moment to betray the Ishvana, secretly negotiating with the Celestines and Song for amnesty in return. | |||
The Jin and the Bushraki additions began to turn the tide of the war. Further, in a surprise, fleets from both the Selassian Dynasty and the Ibyssian Brotherhood arrived. Together, they were able to push back the Ishvana, though as was later discovered, the Ishvana had succeeded in its plan to kidnap thousands of kith users. | |||
The Aftermath | |||
Unfortunately for the Bushraki, the cost of their betrayal was very high indeed. The Ishvana asked the Sa'hak-ren to exact revenge for it, and the Hierarchy was happy to oblige, disgusted by the race they had effectively created. They devastated the Bushraki homeworld, leaving it a ruined mess, as the Bushraki had done to the planet Song, and the only survivors were the deployed military forces on the fleet given to the Bushraki by the Ishvana. The Bushraki were now homeless. | |||
Though they had been given amnesty by the forces opposing the Ishvana, the Zinari, the Ibyssian Brotherhood, the Song Dominion, and the Celestina Ascendancy all declined to permit the Bushraki to settle in their territory. Though they may have been temporary allies, most of Starmourn still viewed the Bushraki as dangerous, drug-addled savages. | |||
The one place to essentially shrug and give them a half-hearted welcome was Scatterhome, perhaps because the unexplained physical resemblance between Humans and Bushraki made the Human-dominated Scatterhome more comfortable with them, perhaps because Scatterhome is simply a place much more tolerant of deviant behavior, including both drug use and violence. | |||
And so they settled in Scatterhome, and became part of it, sometimes for the worse, such as those who haunt the slums of Oldtown, preying on the weaker, or the better, such as those who joined Scatterhome’s defense forces and have kept it safe from potential predations by both the Song and the Celestines. | |||
With time, many of the Bushraki became valued, if somewhat untrustworthy, allies with the others in Scatterhome, and inevitably, the Bushraki gave up the secrets of wetwiring and mindsim-brain integration to their allies. With Scatterhome’s somewhat anarchic nature and weak ‘border’ security, the knowledge of how to produce and integrate that tech spread to the commsphere, and from there it became common knowledge. Today, only the poorest beings don’t possess a mindsim, and most who expect to face real physical danger have wetwiring installed. | |||