SPECIES GALLERY
One of the Galactic Coalition's four founding species, Torandians established a hungry inter-system society built on the subjugation of "lessers". Only when they encountered Serdins and corvids did they find themselves forced into a new, collaborative form of governance. Torandians are still by far the most influential species in the Galactic Congress, holding 43% of the total seats and chairing more than half of the committees.
Torandians are efficient hunters and terrifying combatants: difficult to harm due to their near-indestructible bone sheathing, and possessing remarkable strength and speed. Their diet is liquid; fluids are carried from their long, needle-like fingernails through their snaking vascular muscles and into the sac of organs kept within their chest. Unless killed, a Torandian will live forever. Their brains handle their indefinite lifespans by lacking emotional permanence—their memories eventually lose the emotions associated with them and become mere factual knowledge. Thus, Torandians cannot be counted on to act out of sentiment, obligation, or duty.
Torandians have a proud culture that glorifies conflict and struggle. To a Torandian, the greatest insult is to be called a coward, and the greatest honor victory in battle. On a more practical level, Torandians use conflict to cull their surplus population through bloody attrition, as no Torandian will ever die a natural death.
One of the Galactic Coalition's four founding species. Serdins and corvids are from the same star system, and discovered each other long before the arrival of the Eternal Autocracy—indeed, when the Torandians encountered them, they were already at war with one another. To combat the sudden Torandian invasion, both species signed a truce and formed an alliance, eventually forcing the Torandians into the Galactic Accords.
Serdin culture is repressed and repressive. Showing emotion of any kind is discouraged. Every Serdin’s life has been carefully mapped out in advance by the Moral Protectorate (the most powerful Serdin government agency) and deviation from the course is punished. Not all Serdins welcome the nature of their government, however. There are pockets of rebellion all through Serdin space, including on Serd 01 itself. Increasingly brutal crackdowns have thus far cowed any threats to the Moral Protectorate’s rule.
Serdin family units are not rigidly defined, with whole warrens acting as family to each other regardless of blood ties. Unlike most species, emotion is a voluntary process for Serdins—they can suppress their brain’s emotional responses at will. Before the rise of the Moral Protectorate, such a practice was infrequent at best; now, few have even met a Serdin who is open to their full emotional spectrum.
One of the Galactic Coalition's four founding species. “Corvid” was once the name for a subspecies of the broader avian inhabitants of Corvaar—dark-feathered, large, and clever. However, long before space flight, the corvids managed to conquer and subjugate the rest of the planet. In the aftermath, the other avians began to refer to each other as corvids as well.
In the short but brutal war against the Eternal Autocracy, corvid ingenuity and Serdin technology found common cause. This alliance was not popular among the corvids, and by the time the Autocracy had been dragged to the negotiating table, Corvaar was embroiled in civil war. Emboldened by the good news from the front, the pro-alliance faction triumphed.
Corvids are born rebels. Their history is a tale of revolution, with famous revolutionaries overthrowing the powerful and being overthrown in turn. Since joining the Galactic Coalition, these impulses have been largely curbed, but the individual is still at the core of corvid society—with predictably colorful results when individuals clash. Vanity is common in corvids, as is an overdeveloped sense of humor. Corvids often put their emotions on display by scratching, stroking, or drumming on their beaks.
Corvid drive, adaptability and cleverness have kept them afloat in the great game of galactic dominance. Many a high-powered executive is corvid, but they can be found in every area of the galactic economy, plying their talents with all the brazenness and subterfuge taught by the ancient game of krukki.
One of the Galactic Coalition's four founding species. Preceding the Galactic Accords, siari were a vassal species under the Eternal Autocracy. They alone among the Autocracy’s vassal species were allowed to sign the Galactic Accords as a founding member (more have since followed in their footsteps). To this day, siari remember their debt to the corvids and Serdins, whose stubbornness at the negotiation table won their independence.
Siari are peppered with small bioluminescent disks (known as lightlets) that change color to denote their current mood. Lightlet body patterns vary based on genetics. While siari bodies and minds stay sharp well into old age, their lightlets start to fade and eventually become inert.
Siari society values cooperation, trust, and social harmony. Decisions are made with a collective, utilitarian good in mind; selfish actions provoke judgment. To siari, colors are emotions and vice versa, making a siari’s mood easily affected by the color of their environment. Likely due to their affinity for color, siari possess an infatuation with visual art. Many of the galaxy’s most prominent artists have been siari. In the business sphere, their difficulty in hiding emotion as well as their general tendency toward openness, honesty, and trust have put them at a marked disadvantage.
The sixth major signatory to the Galactic Coalition. Nordok originally did not meet the minimum requirements for representation in Congress. After the similarity of nordok to humans was discovered, humans saw kinship in them—kinship and opportunity. Humans helped modernize the nordok economy, funding nordok colonies on other planets, and providing massive loans of vital technology. The human-nordok alliance in Congress is comparable in influence to the Torandians, forming two great powers that keep each other in check.
Nordok have a fierce and savage past, once glorifying barbarism and brutality. Though they left these days behind long before the Galactic Coalition discovered Urd, some on the fringes of nordok society have kept the ancient ways alive. Ancient or modern, nordok society promotes honor, commitment, and accountability. These values lead many nordok, particularly those who follow the ancient ways, to take jobs in corporate security, contract as indepentent lawkeepers, or enlist in the Galactic Armed Forces.
The nordok economy is manufacturing/service-based, largely centered around the model introduced to them by humans. Some species resent nordok for the nature of their rise; the gifts bestowed freely by humans while other species were left to struggle. So long as the nordok-human alliance holds true, though, none dare speak their discontent too loudly.
The seventh (and most recent) major species to join the Galactic Coalition. Though only recently discovered, alvear have spread through the Coalition at an astonishing rate. Their rapid breeding cycle led to a population explosion after they were introduced to space travel. As the galaxy opened up before them, their shared memory let them rapidly adjust and they soon had a massive industrial and service-based economy, catapulting them into the halls of the Galactic Congress.
Alvear females (called hivemothers) are fleshy cocoons that grow outward into the contours of their hive, communicating with others exclusively through a mental link known as the Di-ro and relying on caretaking to survive. While within range of a hivemother (roughly 2.2 light-years), alvear are connected to all other alvear within range through the Di-ro, forming a hive mind through which they can freely share in each other’s memories. Each alvear chooses what to share, and with whom—though privacy signals untrustworthiness. Despite the authority hivemothers command, they rarely venture into galactic society, leaving the task of representing their species to the males.
The alvear brain can maintain up to six separate thought processes (one being their connection to the Di-ro), which can be used to experience multiple shared memories at once. This allows for a speedy growth period in youth (a necessity, as alvear lives are short and galactic society fast) and lets them multitask without the requisite division of attention.
Their rapid proliferation has worried many (particularly Torandians). Some within the Coalition are working against what many fear will end in alvear dominance over the galaxy.
One of the Galactic Coalition's subordinate species. Kirtians are communal, living in tightly knit large groups. Business is settled through democratic consensus, and children are raised by groups of adults. Kirtians have a strong genetic predisposition that manifests in one of two ways: roughly two thirds of the population is predisposed toward simplicity. These stay within their community, living in bucolic huts within forests, along riverbanks and in the shadow of hills. The remaining third are ill-matched for this lifestyle and strive instead for complexity. It is this third that ends up leaving their planet and representing their species to the rest of the galaxy.
Though kirtians are considered a less intelligent species by Coalition metrics, the occasional kirtian possesses a remarkable mind marked by an immense capacity for learning and deep, almost instinctive wisdom. Kirtian wisdom is in fashion at present due to its association with Central Pillar Frael, who is much beloved by the galaxy. Kirtians trend toward agreeability and mildness—almost to a fault—and so are disproportionately employed in customer service.
The Kirtian economy is small, though not insignificant. Frael’s tenure as Central Pillar has done good things for their image in recent years, but their representation in Congress fluctuates between two and three seats.
One of the Galactic Coalition's subordinate species: the first, in fact. Thralls were conquered and subjugated by the Torandians long before the Eternal Autocracy—so long ago that the oldest Torandian historical texts take thrall servitude as a given and the very name of their species is synonymous with captivity. The vast Torandian economy depends on thrall labor to function, with tens of billions of thrall slaves mining ore or working in factories on unnamed industrial planetoids.
Thralls are both bipedal and quadrupedal, with long, muscular arms serving as legs when needed. Their blood is gray and thick, clotting rapidly. Thralls possess the common, light-based sight shared by most Coalition species, but can also see thermal radiation. Cycles of Torandian eugenics programs have rendered thralls stronger, hardier, more fertile, and more accepting of harsh conditions.
Despite the Torandians’ best efforts, the spirit of rebellion still lives on within the thrall population. Terrible fates await most of the more openly defiant thralls, but a few manage to escape—and some areas of space offer sanctuary to escapees. “Free thrall” communities are often overlooked by law enforcement in clusters that oppose the practice of slavery. Many of these communities organize to rescue more of their brethren, sending raiding parties into "slave space" to assault Torandian outposts. A significant portion of Fiurn Hult's recruits are thrall escapees eager to strike back at a galaxy that has ignored their suffering for countless generations.
