Post by Horizon on Mar 12, 2007 20:06:09 GMT -5
This was originally going to be an invisible background race whose sole effect on the story would be to influence the Kalorbi, but Dulci encouraged me to start a thread for them, and I had so much fun brainstorming them at work today that I had to flesh them out a little. So, on the off-chance that we need an antagonist race for the Kalorbi, or just a gang of alien weirdos thrown in somewhere, I present:
The Sovereign Hegemony of Panrelvia
Physiology: Stiff spines stick outwards from a spongy center, to an average diameter of two feet. Relvians glow slightly as part of their metabolism; the normal color is white, although they can become slightly tinted as a result of sickness or extreme emotion. Simply put, they look like white, glowing sea urchins. They use their spines, which can bend slightly, to manipulate their environment; when they are feeling sleepy or affectionate the spines become floppy and flexible.
Culture: Panrelvian culture is based on relationships between objects, between concepts, and between individuals. Their language is 85% composed of simile: "As A is to B, so C is to D" (or, more succinctly, A:B::C:D). Their social structure is unbelievably complicated, with four genders and 35 social classes, each of which has a carefully-defined relationship to all of the other classes. Violation of any of these relationships automatically puts the violater in the 35th and lowest class: "Outsider." Because of this steep learning curve, every single diplomatic envoy to Relvus Prime has ended in failure or disaster; the Relvians are now an isolationist race who deal with the rest of the galaxy only through appointed representatives over a/v (audiovisual) links.
Government: The planet Relvus is the fourth planet in the Relvus Prime system; it is populated by Relvians and ruled by the Sovereign Hegemony of Panrelvia. ("Pan" meaning "all", as in "ruler over all the Relvians".) The core of the Hegemony is the Locus, which is a collection of Relvians voted into "office" by other Relvians around the planet. When assembled, the Locus consists of a giant ball of Relvians all connected by their spines into a kind of groupmind. Mind-linked in this way, the Locus is vastly more intelligent, wise, and knowledgeable than any individual Relvian could hope to be. This is where the decisions are made which affect the Panrelvian Empire and by extension the galaxy as a whole. (Similar and often larger groupminds are often formed at universities and think-tanks, but entrance into the Locus is very carefully controlled, and it represents the best political minds Panrelvia has to offer.)
Technology: The Relvians are a young race, but they are very intelligent and working busily to catch up with the rest of the galaxy. For the last 70 years, they've been slowly colonizing the worlds nearest their home system using a group of electromagnetic slingshots which they've constructed at various points in their star system. Their standard colonization model is:
1) Load up a ship full of colonists, techology, and supplies.
2) Load ship into EM slingshot. Point slingshot (very carefully) at target star system.
3) Fire slingshot, accelerating colony ship to about 85% of the speed of light.
4) Ride the ship to target star, making minor course corrections as necessary. (This step may take several years.)
5) Upon coming in range of target star, flip the ship around and fire the deceleration rockets. In order to fully decelerate, a six-stage high-powered rocket will be expended, lightening the ship by around 75%.
6) Settle on target world. Inform Relvus Prime of successful colonization via radio, which will take almost as long as the original colonization trip.
Until their contact with the Lataxians and their subsequent introduction to the Kalorbi, the biggest Panrelvian innovation in many years was the introduction of the hyperspace anchor, which fit underneath a desk and was used to induce "continuum drag", obsolescing the six-stage deceleration rocket. However, when the Kalorbi leased them usage rights for the famous Kalorbi Waterdrive, nearly all the EM slingshots and colony ships were decomissioned in favor of Kalorbi-based ships which were far cheaper and made the same trips in days instead of years.
That all changed last week, when the Hegemony activated the first Link Gate between Relvus Prime and Rexica Prime, their second-largest system 30 lightyears away. True to their focus on relationships between important things, the Link Gate effectively makes the two systems "next door" to each other--ships or communications passing through one gate emerge instantly through the other. This is an immense leap forward for the Panrelvian Hegemony--not only have their two most valuable systems gone from being a 30+ year journey apart to a morning commute, but they are now in a position to challenge the Kalorbi monopoly on interstellar travel. The Hegemony has always hated the fact that a race which can't even tell the difference between a Male+ Third-Level Squire and a Male- Type-3 Personal Servant can hold their entire system of trade and communication hostage if they so choose. The Kalorbi have wisely never abused their monopoly, but, like everyone else, their relationship with the Panrelvian Hegemony has always been strained at best; the Hegemony is very much looking forward to striking out on their own.
The Sovereign Hegemony of Panrelvia
Physiology: Stiff spines stick outwards from a spongy center, to an average diameter of two feet. Relvians glow slightly as part of their metabolism; the normal color is white, although they can become slightly tinted as a result of sickness or extreme emotion. Simply put, they look like white, glowing sea urchins. They use their spines, which can bend slightly, to manipulate their environment; when they are feeling sleepy or affectionate the spines become floppy and flexible.
Culture: Panrelvian culture is based on relationships between objects, between concepts, and between individuals. Their language is 85% composed of simile: "As A is to B, so C is to D" (or, more succinctly, A:B::C:D). Their social structure is unbelievably complicated, with four genders and 35 social classes, each of which has a carefully-defined relationship to all of the other classes. Violation of any of these relationships automatically puts the violater in the 35th and lowest class: "Outsider." Because of this steep learning curve, every single diplomatic envoy to Relvus Prime has ended in failure or disaster; the Relvians are now an isolationist race who deal with the rest of the galaxy only through appointed representatives over a/v (audiovisual) links.
Government: The planet Relvus is the fourth planet in the Relvus Prime system; it is populated by Relvians and ruled by the Sovereign Hegemony of Panrelvia. ("Pan" meaning "all", as in "ruler over all the Relvians".) The core of the Hegemony is the Locus, which is a collection of Relvians voted into "office" by other Relvians around the planet. When assembled, the Locus consists of a giant ball of Relvians all connected by their spines into a kind of groupmind. Mind-linked in this way, the Locus is vastly more intelligent, wise, and knowledgeable than any individual Relvian could hope to be. This is where the decisions are made which affect the Panrelvian Empire and by extension the galaxy as a whole. (Similar and often larger groupminds are often formed at universities and think-tanks, but entrance into the Locus is very carefully controlled, and it represents the best political minds Panrelvia has to offer.)
Technology: The Relvians are a young race, but they are very intelligent and working busily to catch up with the rest of the galaxy. For the last 70 years, they've been slowly colonizing the worlds nearest their home system using a group of electromagnetic slingshots which they've constructed at various points in their star system. Their standard colonization model is:
1) Load up a ship full of colonists, techology, and supplies.
2) Load ship into EM slingshot. Point slingshot (very carefully) at target star system.
3) Fire slingshot, accelerating colony ship to about 85% of the speed of light.
4) Ride the ship to target star, making minor course corrections as necessary. (This step may take several years.)
5) Upon coming in range of target star, flip the ship around and fire the deceleration rockets. In order to fully decelerate, a six-stage high-powered rocket will be expended, lightening the ship by around 75%.
6) Settle on target world. Inform Relvus Prime of successful colonization via radio, which will take almost as long as the original colonization trip.
Until their contact with the Lataxians and their subsequent introduction to the Kalorbi, the biggest Panrelvian innovation in many years was the introduction of the hyperspace anchor, which fit underneath a desk and was used to induce "continuum drag", obsolescing the six-stage deceleration rocket. However, when the Kalorbi leased them usage rights for the famous Kalorbi Waterdrive, nearly all the EM slingshots and colony ships were decomissioned in favor of Kalorbi-based ships which were far cheaper and made the same trips in days instead of years.
That all changed last week, when the Hegemony activated the first Link Gate between Relvus Prime and Rexica Prime, their second-largest system 30 lightyears away. True to their focus on relationships between important things, the Link Gate effectively makes the two systems "next door" to each other--ships or communications passing through one gate emerge instantly through the other. This is an immense leap forward for the Panrelvian Hegemony--not only have their two most valuable systems gone from being a 30+ year journey apart to a morning commute, but they are now in a position to challenge the Kalorbi monopoly on interstellar travel. The Hegemony has always hated the fact that a race which can't even tell the difference between a Male+ Third-Level Squire and a Male- Type-3 Personal Servant can hold their entire system of trade and communication hostage if they so choose. The Kalorbi have wisely never abused their monopoly, but, like everyone else, their relationship with the Panrelvian Hegemony has always been strained at best; the Hegemony is very much looking forward to striking out on their own.
