Unathi

Overview

The Unathi are a spacefaring species of humanoid reptiles standing from six to seven feet tall on average. They have a passing resemblance to Earthen crocodiles with hard scales. They hail from the star system of Bomus with their homeworld of Moghes as well as the planets of Yzali and Zakkera. Each planet has a unique culture and history, though they have their broad archetypes that people see them as. Moghes is seen as a home of conservatism, where thousand-year-old traditions are kept alive and unchanged. Yzali is a home of wealth and prestige, where progress is worth any sacrifice. Zakkera is a home of revolution, as both the other worlds work to dominate it, and in rejecting both its human-unathi people work to find their own way.

Job Restrictions

Unathi have no job restrictions.

Languages

Unathi have a diversity of hundreds of languages, but there are three that form the majority and are over-represented in the wider stellar community, and as such as the only three available in character-creation, and their respective accents.

Mhos-Tum: Spoken on Moghes and is associated with the planet and its conservative noble elite. Aside from new terminology being introduced this language remains relatively unchanged from the time of the ancient God-Kings called Ensi, and as a result it’s difficult to learn. Its accents are. . .
- Accent TBA
Yalz-Tum: Spoken on Yzali and is associated with the planets luxuriates, Trade-Princes, and modernity. It evolved from the language families of the Trade League that settled the planet. There are hundreds of dialects across the planet, but all of them are, more or less, mutually intelligible. In playable terms its accents are. . .
- Accent TBA
Anglikirtan: Spoken on Zakkera by its population of Human and Unathi. It began as a conlang between the Unathi and Humans present on the planet. It’s associated with the planet's radicalism, free-spirit, and alien customs. It has only a handful of dialects, but all of them are intelligible to one another. In playable terms its accents are. . .
- Accent TBA

The Hegemony

There are four recognized factions of Unathi who tend to despise the others. However their ancient rivalries are kept contained enough for all four to be members in The Hegemony, an extremely loose alliance between the four worlds. The Hegemony obligates all three worlds to come together if any are attacked by an alien power, and a single unified set of stellar law is implemented for the Myishu and Bomus star systems, but otherwise cooperation ends there, with violence and contempt still common between the powers. The only exception are Zakkeran and the Aut'akh, who share common goals and origins.

Moghean Unathi

Overview

With the people of Moghes following ancient God-Kings called Ensi. Moghes is seen as a home of conservatism, where thousand-year-old traditions are kept alive and unchanged. Moghean Unathi speak Mhos-Tum and their worship of their God-Kings is called Ensi Worship. The God-King and his court have access to advanced technology used almost exclusively to awe and cow the lower classes. Scholars and clerks, by begrudging necessity, gain access to technology in controlled ways to maintain the realm. Most of the common folk are kept in squalor and ignorance but consider themselves to be extremely well-off due to Ensi propaganda. Those that have an unshakable feeling that something is wrong tend to slip through the cracks of the rare, heavily policed space-ports on the surface that the Ensi rely on to trade with the wider galaxy.

Culture & Family

Moghean music is a tightly controlled affair. Only special courtiers within a God-King’s court may play music, primarily string, and it must be a hym to the God-King. Anyone outside the palace caught playing music would be sacrificed to the God-King. Because of this, many Moghean Unathi only hear legitimate music that echoes down from the massive ziggurats through the streets. Those that sing without their masters permission must do so in highly secret underground venues, or via the hushed lullaby of a mother.
The moghean family is a strict hierarchy. The God-King is the father of any household, and in their telling is the one that gave the spark of life to the egg. The parents in a household are subordinate to their God-King and his bureaucrats. Nevertheless, the Moghean “family” is usually polygamous in character. A female or male can take up to three additional spouses, with the God-King’s court deciding the Chief-Husband or Chief-Wife that will “rule” the household in the God-King’s name. This creates extended families, and all of them tend to live in the same home divided between the quarters of the children and the quarters of the adults.

Religion

Religion on Moghes universally revolves around the Ensi. Its followers are called Ensiites. These Unathi are seen as God-Kings that rule Moghes. They are intermediaries between the Cosmos and the people. The Ensi own all of the land on Moghes, enact laws, collect taxes, and command their armies. An Ensi officiates over religious ceremonies and chooses the sites of new temples. They are ultimately responsible for maintaining cosmic order, balance, and justice. It is sincerely believed by followers that the Ensi can hear their prayers and intervene in their daily lives, and that by continuing to perform good service that the Ensi will bless them with good fortune. The Ensi reinforce this by using high-technology that to the masses made to appear like divine forces.

Hartists characterize the Ensi as irrationally inflexible and ignorant in their beliefs. With Ensi needing to convincingly portray themselves as divine it is necessary.to keep individuals in ignorance and thus harming the Divine Ego of countless people.

Character Suggestions

Moghean Unathi on the ship may be commoners or low level functionaries that escaped unfulfilling lives of servitude to a false God; a scholar that sought to question the unquestionable; a nobleman fleeing in disgrace or for the crime of believing in a better life for their underlings, or a simple citizen that wanted to see the wider galaxy while still worshiping the God that watches over their lives while walking among them.

Yzali Unathi

Overview

Yzali is a home of wealth and prestige, where progress is worth any sacrifice. The Techno-Princes that rule its many city-states are locked in a bitter rivalry with their antithesis of the Moghean Unathi and try to exploit the human-unathi people of Zakkeran. Yzalian Unathi speak Yalz-Tum and their religion is called Hartism. Yzali see advanced technology and wealth as ubiquitous - but often at a distance as Techno-Princes and wannabe Princes hoard their secrets. Acting as technocratic merchants, the Techno-Princes are obsessed with their own wealth, prestige, and knowledge and consider everybody else as expendable assets - no matter how well treated that asset is.

Culture & Family

Yzali music is as derivative as it is esoteric. It focuses on glamor, with chopped up and repackaged songs that possess an emptiness beneath an uncanny sheen. Yzali musicians ruthlessly sample and outright steal samples or whole songs from other artists from any genre or era and use it as a means to express their own skill and intelligence. Electronic sounds could be mixed with ancient Moghean strings, and the vocals serve as a self-indulgent biography of the musician.
The Yzali family is a field of subterfuge, betrayal, and competition. Two Yzali could see a created family as a way to show off their skills as a parent for political or social ends, an investment in the children as economically productive agents legally bound to them as employees, or as part of a long-running psychological experiment on themselves, one another, or the hatchlings. There is rarely any love inside a Yzali marriage; it is strictly conceptualized by a Yzali in terms of how it benefits themselves. Divorces are as common as they are bitter, with both spouses trying to find the best moment to ‘betray’ the other for maximum personal gain. Other Yzali who try to reject this model tend to form found-families that operate outside the legal definitions.

Religion

Yzali religion is dominated by Hartism, its followers called Hartists. It is a philosophical school founded by Mottus Harti in the 2300’s after The Disaster. Wherever Moghean Ensi distinguishes between body and soul - or matter and spirit - Hartists deny such a distinction and merge both in a higher unity: the Self. This belief is often shorthanded to the ‘Divine Ego’. A Hartist must judge every action by the merit of how it improves their own ego - or self.Thereby cultivating knowledge of the universe, increasing expertise, expanding knowledge, and dominating others in ways that increase the value of the Self are held up as the supreme divine good. Critics characterize the Hartists as selfish, ignoring the duty of serving the public and caring only for personal concerns. They point out that under Hartism that Yzali has become a hedonistic haven that regularly conducts unethical scientific research and exploits entire groups of people for personal gain.

Character Suggestions

Yzali Unathi on the ship could be workers fleeing their exploitation, escaped cybernetic servants called Akran trying to make a new life for themselves, merchants pushed out of business and forced into exile, a prestigious scientist looking for more fame and wealth, or simply someone that managed to work their way off-world.

Zakkeran

Overview

Zakkeran is a home of revolution, as both the other worlds of Moghes and Yzali work to dominate it, and in rejecting both its human-unathi people work to find their own way. Zakkerani speak Anglikirtan and their religion is called Sassurism. Their religion is syncretic, having melded together teachings from crash-landed human Jesuit missionaries whose teachings were interpreted through the animated and fervent religious leader named Sassur. Being the weakest member of the Hegemony, their world is being colonized by the heavily armored sword and gun wielding Niksum-Warriors from the Moghean Ensi and the cybernetic Akran soldiers of the Yzali Techno-Princes. With the two colonizing powers fighting each other and the locals, Zakkerans have formed a radical religious anarchism that claims God is the only rightful authority over mortals. To aid this and their own survival, they share their goods and property in common, and are divided between the pacifists and the militants. Most Zakkerans live in semi-pastoral communities, remaining mobile to avoid the roaming bands of hostile soldiers that would abduct or enslave them. They have an extremely eclectic mixture of lifestyles and technological accessibility, as the planet brings in the detritus of cybernetic experiments from Yzali as well as simple peasant farmers from Moghes.

Culture & Family

Zakkeran music tends to focus on a mix of horns and percussion instruments. The most common genres are religious hymns or secular instrumentals. Music infuses much of Zakkeran life, with many enjoying the choirs that wander on foot to bring music to the whole community.
The Zakkeran family can be either monogamous or polygamous; the only strict marriage laws are to protect the rights of all involved - the spouse or the hatchlings. Extended family units tend to live together. Because of the high mortality rate due to their world's many troubles, adoption and found-families are extremely common.

Religion

Zakkeran religion revolves around Sassurism, which melded together Sassur’s interpretation of the gospels taught by Jesuit missionaries. Its primary belief is in a monotheistic God that rules the universe. It says that the Prophets present in the many faiths came to empower individuals and free people from oppressive powers, culminating with the Unathi prophet Sassur as God’s final emissary. It is primarily divided between Pacifist Sassurites and Militant Sassurites.
- Pacifist Sassurites believe that the only rightful authority is God, not any mortal, and as such all mortals have equal authority. Because of this Pacifist Sassurites tend to organize along egalitarian lines in small communes with decisions made democratically. They face frequent violence from incursions by Moghes and abductions by Yzali, but its communities hold firm to the Golden Rule. Disavowing violence these communities respond to their oppression by becoming semi-pastoral, dispersing into the mountains and forests to build their communes. Where this isn’t possible other forms of nonviolent resistance are encouraged.
- Militant Sassurites follow most of the same precepts as the pacifists, but reject the dogma of nonviolent resistance. Militant Sassurites are strongly influenced by Christian martyrs and its followers venerate dying for the faith. While also organizing themselves into communes, militant Sassurites often operate as roaming armies that stage hit-and-run attacks on Moghean and Yzali areas. Not all militant Sassurites want to be martyrs; a more mundane follower would justify violence in response to violence but is not necessarily ready to die for that belief.

Character Suggestions

Zakkeran Unathi (or humans) on the ship could be common folk that took the job to send remittance back to their family and community. They could be religious exiles, having been forcefully expelled by the occupiers. They could be refugees seeking to escape the turmoil wracking their home, or having lost their home entirely. They could be missionaries, seeking to spread the word of God and the message of freedom taught by His Prophet Sassur.

Aut'akh

Overview

The Aut’akh are a collective of mind-slaved cybernetic soldiers and serfs called Akran that escaped their servitude and formed a community together over the last few centuries. Aut’akh languages are primarily Yalz-tum, followed by Anglikirtan. Their primary religion is Oss-Worship, with Sassurism being the second most professed faith. They live on a planet called Haven orbiting a white dwarf called Myishu in a sprawling oceanic complex that shares the planet’s name. The planet is tidally locked and the ocean, due to the close orbit, is pooled entirely on one side of the planet in a dome 20,000 miles deep from the peak to the surface of the planet. The rest of the planet is barren rock.

The Aut’akh in Haven live in a Commune with a leaderless society. While most resources are shared communally, scarce luxury goods are bought with conventional money, and money and resources primarily used otherwise in relations with other factions.

Culture & Family

Aut’akh music is highly eclectic. It borrows from the Yzali and Zakkeran traditions, but tends to be a communal affair. With particular Implements, Aut’akh music can even be experienced through synesthesia, where the audience can see, hear, smell, and taste the music.
Aut’akh families are either monogamous or polyamorous. There are still mechanisms for marriage, with engaged members ceremoniously updating their relationship status within the Mesh. Because they remain connected via the Mesh, families tend to remain physically scattered across Haven and rarely live or work together except for special occasions, though others appreciate the proximity of their loved ones.

Augmentation

Aut’akh range from “Full Body Prosthetics” where all but the brain have been replaced with synthetic components, or augmentation which still retain elements of their organic body. In either case the Yzali Tech-Princes used a highly refined regime of drugs and implants that boosted their abilities and acted as a form of mind-control. Because they were forced into these bodies not of their choosing, escaped Aut’akh face a unique challenge in coming to terms with themselves and who they are in the cosmos. Many turn to Zakkeranism and follow the prophet Sassur, while others adopt the faith of their former masters and become incredibly self-absorbed and self-aggrandizing. Still others take on a third way – embracing community and identity through Oss.

Some Unathi who were not forced into Aut’akh bodies are drawn to the augmentations for their own reasons, and choose to abandon their organic body in part or whole and integrate themselves willingly to Oss. While some who escaped the Yzali resent this, others are eager to grow their community beyond being exclusively castaways, and are eager to reinvent themselves on their own terms.

Oss and The Mesh

The combined expression of all Aut’akh in Haven is called Oss, which is an avatar of all Aut’akh in cyberspace. For Aut’akh that believe in it, Oss is almost a religious avatar, if not at least a figure of reverence.

When the first Aut’akh arrived on the world orbiting Myishu they found a fully automated, sprawling complex that had been self-maintaining itself for the past several centuries. The technology was based on Pre-Disaster Yzali tech, and they were able to integrate themselves into the systems and eventually their collective connection within the operating system gave rise to what appears to be a sentient AI, or arguably a collective consciousness, called Oss.

Oss was originally a colony management system, although every major component of the original Oss software has been replaced or improved over the years.

In functional terms, Oss is an operating system and a numbers cruncher housed within an implant in an Aut'akhs mind. This implant, called a Soul Anchor, also connects an Aut'akh to the Mesh. The Mesh is best described as a mental form of the internet that works on any device that runs Oss. Through its use, Aut'akh can share experiences and collaborate on communal boards that are then tabulated by Oss into useful information. For example, when a commune is building a new power grid, Oss analyzes everything about the project, such as resources being used, manpower, and desired output. It then gives the communes engineers projections at every level so that the engineers can make extremely informed decisions.

Aut'akh’s most esteemed coders are known as Paradigms, and they are the example to which every Aut'akh strives. An Aut'akh becomes a "Paradigm" when they contribute an update to Oss that improves its operating system. Whether or not an update is considered an improvement is decided by the commune on a semi-daily basis.

Oss and Consciousness

It has been debated whether Oss is either the manifestation of the collective consciousness of the Mesh, or an individual AI that naturally and spontaneously arose. It has form in the digital space from data input, the ability to feel from that form, the ability to perceive the world through Aut’akh’s eyes and bodies when connected via the Mesh, and possesses mental activity with its calculations and spontaneous Decrees. Whether or not it possesses consciousness is the major sticking point of the debate.

Decrees

In extraordinarily rare situations, Oss will generate projects for a Commune to complete that are phrased as commands rather than analysis. These broadcasts from Oss are treated as Decrees from Oss itself. Most Aut'akh act with crusader-like zeal in completing them. Other Aut'akh question whether or not these are simply glitch behaviors from the operating system, pointing to the context of the Decrees that have been implemented in the past: with Oss being the sum of all Aut’akh, moments of great societal stress might have Oss reflect the collective demand for action back at the commune.

Oss in Daily Life

Oss does not communicate with followers directly outside extraordinarily rare Decrees, and debate still rages on whether it is conscious or not. Despite this assertion, many Aut'akh describe Oss the operating system as a religious conscience, acting as third feeling in oneself should their activities, thoughts, attitudes go with or against the moralities of the commune. These standards are decided by voting, and it is the Paradigms that are ultimately in charge of writing an ethical update to Oss so it can be updated with the latest version. Whether or not this is true, Aut'akh still have agency during these feelings.

The Implements

Like a computer, Soul Anchors can only run so many aspects of Oss at a time. Aut'akh have a set of programs called the Implements. When running, the Aut'akh operates under the parameters of that Implement. The Soul Anchor has enough space for three Implements, but only one can safely run at a time. With a Mesh connection Aut'akh can delete an Implement from their Anchor and download a new one in the space of an hour or less.

PublicSquare.OSS is similar to a public forum and instant messaging board. It allows Aut'akh to communicate with others also connected to their local Mesh network. The program overlays their vision with the help of their augmented eyes. There is also video, image, and audio sharing in public or private chats or dedicated sites on the Mesh. This program is also how Aut'akh form Consensus, using the various platforms.

TacticalNetwork.OSS is a complex combat system designed for incredible levels of coordination and tactical prowess. Aut'akh running this Implement have access to maps, orders, and predictions on the outcome of battle, as well as the status and sensory data of their comrades.

WorkSafe.OSS is used by Aut'akh who are working in day to day tasks within the Commune. Aut'akh who take on a work assignment gain the ability to do complex tasks in unison with all other Aut'akh around them. Aut'akh in a workshop all working with the WorkSafe.OSS Implement have the same speed and methodical ability as an automated factory. It has been described as a proactive muscle memory - any number of Aut'akh can work in close proximity on the same project without anyone bumping into each other or going out of sync when utilizing the right Implement.

BattleTrance.OSS is a controversial Implement. It’s a cut-out switch for the conscious mind. Upon activation, the user simply falls asleep standing. A modified version of the TacticalNetwork.OSS Implement then activates, putting their body directly under the control of the software, which itself is abstractly commanded by a nearby commander. This Commander remains conscious, and commands all units running the Implement. This grants the user extremely fast reaction times, and its users are known to be vicious and methodical killers on the battlefield. It is primarily used by Akran still mind-slaved by the Tech-Princes. The Tech-Princes have dark humor about the Implement, sometimes referring to the Implement as a "real time strategy game".

TravelGrid.OSS has been described as having the same scale as a traffic-control network for a major urban city. It gives Aut'akh the ability to easily navigate even the most complex mazes within their network. Thousands of Aut'akh can move around in halls or on roads without a single hiccup in traffic. The program can also visually lay out a path before Aut'akh to get to their destination.

There are hundreds more .OSS programs that serve a lot of individual functions. They are as diverse and mundane as programs are in contemporary laptops.

Abridged History

Unathi history is extremely ancient, and is therefore divided into several "ages". The specific date of eras are not strictly important until events of modern times.

Archaic Bomus (25,000 BCE)

Moghes had forever been ruled by Unathi who have set themselves up as living gods that ruled collections of city-states, and society was built around them. They were called the Ensi. The Ensi were resisted by a successive series of civilizations, scholars, and inventors that worked to proliferate their knowledge and the dream of progress. This struggle played out for twenty thousand years.

Old Bomus (2000 BCE)

Eventually, one of these leagues managed to colonize Yzali, the second habitable planet in the system. In retaliation the Ensi destroyed the colonizers' cities on the homeworld and the colony was left to itself. The colonists on Yzali, despite being abandoned, proliferated and became a well-organized, complex technocratic nation that exploited the planet and each other in a relentless drive for what they defined as progress.

After surpassing its home world, Yzali dominated the Bomus system with advanced technology including android and cyborg soldiers called Akran - the precursor of modern Aut'akh. With its own biosphere tapped out by the end of the era, Yzali Techno-Princes colonized the barren world of Zakkeran and terraformed it, and then eventually turned with the power of two worlds to dominate the old home world of Moghes, disrupting the rule of the Ensi with high technology.

Shortly before the coming apocalypse, yet another Yzali colony ship, fully automated due to a lack of FTL, was dispatched to a barren world called Myishum orbiting a neighboring white dwarf in a trip that would take two thousand years - just in time to reach its destination when The Disaster struck.

The Disaster (2000 CE)

Around 2000 CE by sol reckoning, a massive solar flare wiped out the nascent solar Yzali empire, casting them into the role of techno-barbarians while Moghes, with its Ensi well equipped to rule over a technological backwater, enjoyed a resurgence of power in the otherwise post-apocalypse as Yzali rebuilt a new layer over the ruins. Only technology stored in secure caches or otherwise shielded remain spared, and in modern times are called Pre-Disaster Tech. This technology can do wondrous things akin to magic.

Middle Bomus (2300 CE)

With the Yzali religious awakening leading to Hartism, the Tech-Princes that ruled the nascent new powers of their world sought ever-increasing ways to improve themselves. Breakthroughs in mind-mapping allowed true cloning and potential immortality. But after the harrowing discovery of Clone Madness, Tech-Princes banned the practice in their realms, not wanting a "mad" clone to make them look bad. Only the most vain Ensi of Moghes took in the practice, leading to the 325 year reign of Hal-aman “the Eternal” - also known as Hal-aman “The Aberration”.

In the 2300’s arriving colonists, mostly Jesuit missionaries, encountered the system in a damaged and decrepit colony ship, long since cast adrift by an errant solar flare. Rejected by Moghes and fearing inhumane exploitation by Yzali the majority escaped to Zakkeran, joining the Unathi inhabitants there to form a new syncretic culture. Eventually the Prophet Sassur escaped Moghes and became a translator for the Jesuit mission on Zakkeran. He eventually became a religious leader and then Prophet, galvanizing the Zakkeran population against the colonizers, managing to survive until eventually passing of old age.

In this same era a group of Aut’akh stole a small fleet of Yzali trade ships, faking its loss in a pirate raid and fleeing to hunt for the lost colony ship of Myishum.

New Bomus (2400 CE - Present)

In modern times Yzali has once again become a hedonistic technocracy, where ambitions tend to be tempered by luxury while merchants and scientists obsess on lost technology from before The Disaster. Moghes continues to resist change as best it can, working to increase the Ensi’s power to better enforce its conservative order. Caught in the middle, Zakkeran struggles to find a new way, with radical and revolutionary visions sweeping through the planet as its syncretic human and Unathi culture works to throw off the two powers and go their own way, while the Aut'akh continue to seperate themselves from the entire messy affair with distance and detachment.

While the four nations had learned of alien life through the arrival of the lost Jesuit missionaries in the Middle Bomus, the arrival of formal expeditions from the other spacefaring powers led to Unathi emissaries being brought out to the wider galaxy. The shock at seeing the sheer size and breadth of the galactic community (and their warships) shook the emissaries to their core. When they returned the Yzali, Moghean, and Zakkeran emissaries spent over a decade hammering out an extremely tenuous and in-name-only alliance between the three planets called The Hegemony.

Mechanics

Passive

Unathi are coldblooded which allows slightly improved heat resistance, but increased sensitivity to cold.
Unathi have claws, which slash and improve unarmed melee attacks.
Unathi are incapable of easily digesting alcohol, and ethanol is considered toxic to them.
- Unathi can only drink alcohol from drinks with butanol instead of ethanol. Butanol gets them drunk similar to ethanol but has no effect on other species.
Unathi get no nutrients from eating fruits and vegetables. They need meat to fill their hunger.
Unathi can safely eat carp and consume carpotoxin.
Unathi have the fastest sprint available to any species, but they have low stamina, meaning they can only sprint in short bursts. They also are slower than most other species.

Active Abilities

Unathi can devour monkeys, rats, spiders, carp, and other small mobs by clicking and dragging from the mob to themselves. The animal must hold still for it to work.
Unathi hiss when speaking Tau Ceti Basic. You achieve this by typing multiple s's during speech. This can also be pronounced through x's if their accent is thick. "Thisss issss an ekssample." You can also Toggle-Auto-Hiss to do this for you.
Unathi can sample the air with their tongue and get an accurate sense of the atmospheric composition and temperature.
Unique audible emotes: *hiss, *hiss2, *bellow.