Selassian Update

The Selassian Dynasty

The Selassians are a strongly matriarchal race that physically looks as if a snake mated with a human. The aristocratic among the females decorate their faces with distinct black and white makeup, and favor elaborate headdresses. Male Selassians are smaller and weaker than females, and while there are exceptions, they tend to exist to serve the needs of the females.

Selassians lay eggs but, when their progeny hatches, they breastfeed for the first year or so. The females reach physical maturity in about 12 years, while the males take up to 19 or 20 years to reach it.

The Selassian Dynasty is a hereditary form of government, based on their racial home planet of Corryb III, with rulership passed from mother to daughter, and was established about 11,000 years ago in the wake of the War of Eggs. In this - one of the defining conflicts of Selassian civilization - one of the factions released a virus that caused infected females to lay eggs with shells far weaker than is typical, resulting in the collapse under their own weight of most eggs. With 90% of Selassian younglings perishing before making it out of the egg, the factions realized they had to come together and, after destroying they destroyed the leaders of the faction that had released the virus, the Dynasty was formed.

The Dynasty is, in terms of the pure area of space it controls, the largest sovereign state in the core of Starmourn Sector, though the Serene Empire of the Ait Benir contains considerably more populated worlds, as it's nearly the size of the Dynasty and is in an area of Starmourn with substantially higher system density, and both the Sa'hak-ren Empire and the Ibyssian Brotherhood, each extending past the fringes of Starmourn sector, appear to be quite a bit larger.

Adjacent to the Selassian's territory are the Fatar - a loathed changeling race - coreward from the Dynasty, the Zinari Imperium to the spinward, and roughly to the lagward they abut the forbidding borders of the Y'saari Covenant - the Elder Race whose currency, the Covenant Mark, is the main currency of Starmourn.

Aside from the Selassian people themselves, the Dynasty is also composed of the fierce Loroi, whom the Selassians conquered about 9,000 years ago, relatively soon after the Loroi began to reach out to neighboring stars. The Loroi are frequently used as shock troops by the Selassians, and are highly valued as such for their courage and willingness to die in battle rather than retreat. There are, however, bands of Loroi living outside of the Dynasty, typically making their living as mercenaries.