Difference between revisions of "Catalog of the Races of the Starmourn Sector"

no edit summary
Line 27: Line 27:
*Religion : If the Shen were ever a religious people, they abandoned their religion long ago.
*Religion : If the Shen were ever a religious people, they abandoned their religion long ago.
*Language : The Shen use two racial languages - [[Low Shen]] and [[High Shen]]. The former is what they use most of the time in day-to-day use. The latter is a dialect reserved for important events like the Ritual of Coadunation or the funeral of a Prime Elder.
*Language : The Shen use two racial languages - [[Low Shen]] and [[High Shen]]. The former is what they use most of the time in day-to-day use. The latter is a dialect reserved for important events like the Ritual of Coadunation or the funeral of a Prime Elder.
==Excerpt Regarding the Nath-el==
The [[Nath-el]] are a highly communalistic race whose members don't tend to place much importance on the needs of the individual. One of a handful of insectoid races known to us, they are ruled by a [[Nath-el Queen|Queen]] who exercises absolute authority over their territory.
*Homeworld System : [[Faleon]]
*Homeworld : [[Jerzah]]
*Capital city : [[Narisiriz]]
*Reproduction : The female produces an eggsac inside her body and is fertilized by a male. She then incubates those relatively small eggs for 2 months in her body before laying them. For 2 more weeks, the eggs must be kept warm and then the hatchlings break their way out. They then spend 18 months nursing and quickly growing.
*Lifespan : 85 years.
*Diet : Omnivores with a taste for anything sweet. Big fans of [[Fermented Vuu Honey|fermented vuu honey]].
*Temperament : By other race's standards, they can be a little intense and frenetic.
*Strong likes/dislikes : They don't tend to like being alone, and prefer to live with many other Nath-el around them when possible. Their youth has an unfortunate tendency towards drug addiction, leading to very strict anti-drug laws on Jerzah.
*Romantic relationships : They're serial monogamists, essentially, and rarely bond for life.
*Family structure : They don't have or recognize permanent families, as such. When a pair has offspring, they will usually stay together long enough for the offspring to become reasonably self-sufficient, at which point the community-at-large becomes responsible for the well-being of the youngsters. Parent/child relationships are much, much less important after that to the Nath-el than to other races.
*How do they treat the helpless? : Not well, but it's not out of malice. They're simply very communalistic, and if an individual can't contribute, what good is he?
*Notable rituals : The Nath-el do not place great importance on ritual. They're a highly practical race focused on doing something because it works and produces a desirable result for their culture, not on doing something for the sake of tradition.
*Entertainment : For all their perceived energy and sometimes frantic nature, they prefer minimalist entertainment. They have a form of staged live entertainment that consists of rhythmic thrumming combined with something like very slow dancing that involves transitioning deliberately between static, held poses that, when combined with the thrumming, tells a symbolic story. They call these, translated into [[Galactic Standard]], "[[Pattern Play|Pattern Plays]]."
*Government : While they are not telepaths, they share such a strong common understanding that there is no need to debate who should lead their people. It is simply known, and it is always a female, ruling as Queen. She wields absolute power over her territory.
*When did they achieve spaceflight? : 32,000 years ago.
*Allies/enemies : They hate the [[Sa'hak-ren]], who destroyed a budding Nath-el Empire about 1400 years ago. They're also not fond, at all, of the [[Nabia]], who have long preyed on the tendency younger Nath-el have towards severe drug addiction. They believe the [[Oteel]] - who are largely enslaved by the shapeshifting [[Fatar]] - are their evolutionary cousins.
*Economy : The Nath-el manufature some of the very best [[Artificial Intelligence|AI]] tech, particularly suited to massively parallel tasks like [[Missile|self-correcting missile]] flight path solutions or coordinating the operation of a [[Nanotechnology|nanoswarm]].
*Religion : The Nath-el believe there's a 'spirit', for lack of a better translation, that embodies everything that "is known" about their race. They call it the [[Nath-et]], meaning, roughly, 'All Of Us.' The Nath-et isn't a personified, personality-filled being, however. They view it as part of their spiritual existence. The Nath-et represents everything about the way things 'should' work in Nath-el society. It's viewed as the inevitable culmination of their race's evolution.
*What's their architecture like? : They're known for building [[Hive|Hives]], which are the favored dwelling places of those who can afford to live in them. Hives are essentially huge communal pods that sit above the rest of the city they're in.
==Excerpt Regarding the Elgan==
The [[Elgan]] are a race that had to fight to gain the acceptance of the other members of Starmourn Sector due to a combination of their relatively small size and their tendency to deal with most situations by finding something amusing to laugh at.
Make no mistake, however - they're as sophisticated and advanced a culture and society as most of the races in Starmourn.
*Homeworld : [[Krell]]
*System : [[Tethan]]
*Capital City : [[Biloxan]]
*Reproduction :Live birth with a gestation period of about 8 months.
*Lifespan : 80 years.
*Preferred foods : They're omnivores but tend to really enjoy fruit of all kinds.
*Temperament : Fairly cheerful generally, though they hold grudges like champions.
*Life priorities : Wealth accumulation, that they may leave the largest fortune possible to the [[Elgan Collective]] (see below) when they die. They aren't fundamentalist about this, and do seek to leave something to their children, but theirs is a highly communal society.
*Strong likes/dislikes : They're big fans of elaborate practical jokes and love to dance, incorporating it into many of their rituals. Yes, they look slightly ridiculous doing it to most other races, but you're likely to get a [[Blaster|blaster]] in the crotch if you mention that to an Elgan. They're also well-known for hating bullies and for possessing a strong work ethic.
*Romantic relationships : They're generally monogamous, but typically if one partner dies, the other marries one of the dead partner's sisters or brothers.
*Family structure : Big, extended families that live together in large, roughly circular buildings called [[Toh]], which often have spires on top. Many families will live in a single Toh.
*How do they treat the weak? : Very well generally. They always take care of their elders, and have great sympathy for the sick, the disfigured, and the differently abled.
*Notable rituals : Their marriage ritual translates to '[[The Binding Dance]].' It's a complex dance in which the guests whirl themselves through complicated patterns while holding silken ribbons. As they dance about the two participants, they end up tying a particular knot - called the [[Argisan]] - around them, symbolizing that their two lives are now bound together.
*What's their relationship with technology? : They are, generally speaking, big fans of tech, from the gadget level to the workings of starships. The [[Vyar]] - a dead Elder race - are a popular subject in their recorded entertainment, possibly a result.
*What do they like for entertainment? : Because their home planet - Krell - is notoriously rainy, and because their Toh are fairly crowded, their chief hobbies and past times have evolved from activities you can perform indoors. Gambling and dancing are probably the two most widely enjoyed among Elgan.
*Government structure : They're a representative democracy called the Elgan Collective, with a trio of leaders elected by the Collective called the [[Trinity]]. In practice they're highly socialist and it's said that "nobody goes to bed hungry on Krell."
*Current Trinity members : [[Poji Gawin]] (m), [[Trinoa Banmyn]] (f), [[Nici Triceli]] (f)
*How old is their civilization? : They achieved spaceflight about 22,000 years ago.
*Historical allies/enemies? : They've had a lot of conflict with the Nabia, whose drug-peddling they detest. About 125 years ago, some of the Elgan formed the [[Elgan Underground]] as a rival 'criminal' organization, with a mission to disrupt the Nabia's drug trade without open warfare.
*What are their major sources of wealth? : The Elgan are renowned as traders in rare goods and in the manufacture of handheld weaponry.
*What are their religious beliefs? : They believe that their ancestors - all of them - are gods, meaning that the more time passes, the more gods that exist. Of course, with so many gods, a god in their society is not considered particularly remarkable, which isn't to say it isn't to be venerated. They believe that as part of the same culture as their ancestor-gods, they enjoy participation in the divine while still alive. This religious belief is the core of their communalistic nature.
[[Category:Shen]]
[[Category:Shen]]
[[Category:Fatar]]
[[Category:Nath-el]]
[[Category:Elgan]]
[[Category:Art and Culture]]
[[Category:Art and Culture]]
editor
923

edits