Post by Dominion of Zabéara on Jan 11, 2014 23:40:16 GMT
Following Kaar, I thought I would post my Empire's game description for everyone else as well:
Physical Description
The Universal Edifice is a union of two sentient species sharing a single homeworld.
The Xin’halar are eight-legged arthropods that stand about 2 meters tall and 3 meters wide from back to front. The vast majority have jet-black carapaces, although a few historically isolated populations display different colours, as well as the rare individual with a colourful mutation (most commonly pink or green).
Despite their great size, the Xin’halar are not physically strong, although they do possess great dexterity. They have an incredibly slow and complex reproductive cycle, with a gestation period of decades with several complex and dangerous stages. They are incredibly long-lived; as they age, their metabolic system gradually slows down, until after 2 or 3 thousand years they fuse with the carapace and solidify altogether.
Through intense meditation, the Xin’halar have the ability to willfully slow down this process and enter what they call a “stasis trance.” In a stasis trance, which is a kind of hibernation, a Xin’hal virtually stops aging on a normal time scale, and its metabolic rate almost comes to a halt. Thoughts continue, but take years or decades to fully form. The ability of particular Xin’halar to achieve this varies greatly in relation to their mental fortitude and ability to focus.
Unlike the Guol-hag, who are clearly a native species of Khara-Khum, the origins of the Xin’halar are much less clear. They have no fossil record or evolutionary tree on the planet, and many of their creation myths speak of a great calamity and trek, but they have no definite knowledge of their true origins.
The Guol-hag are a species of ape-like creatures. Despite a common lineage, they come in a dazzling array of different shapes, sizes, and colours. Typically, they are 1.4 Meters tall, often but not always covered in fur ranging in colour from white to red to brown to black. They possess much of their wild, savage strength, not quite as strong as a Xin’halar, but still somewhat weaker than a comparative human. Hardly an intellectual or cerebral race, the Goul-hag do possess a certain kind of cunning and are surprisingly good with mechanical tasks.
Society
Universal Edifice “society” is strictly divided between its two member species. The Goul-hag make up the vast majority of the population, and inhabit the lands of their homeworld Khara-Khum in bands and tribes. Their society is primitive, savage, and violent, roughly comparable to some extent with pre-historic human hunter-gatherer societies. A Goul-hag tribe is usually ruled by the strongest or most cunning Goul and a coalition of allies until he is brutally toppled by a rival. They revel in violent deeds and celebrate aggression and bloodshed. Honourable single hand-to-hand combat is above all celebrated in their culture and central to conflict resolution, deciding promotions, marking important dates, or entertainment.
Most of the Goul-hag bands, tribes, and chieftaincies are ruled over by a nest of Xin’halar. Although “enslaved” may be slightly too strong a word, they are held in a universally subordinate position to the Xin’halar, whose much fewer members automatically are of a higher rank than even the most powerful Goul petty King.
A Xin’halar nest rules over a vast swath of territory and all of the Goul-hag within its borders. Each nest tends to be ruled by the eldest member, although this varies greatly. Most of Khara-Khum is divided up between these nests, which vary greatly in size, strength, and influence. Hierarchy in the nest is usually based on lineage. The actions of a lineage member raise or lower its value, and thus determine the relative position of the linage’s next generation in the nest hierarchy. In this sense there is little sense of a meritocracy for an individual Xin’hal, but rather for their linage instead. All these nests and lineages are united by the Xin’halar Emperor, more properly known as “The Abstracted Icon” whose social role is highly complex but could best be described as a constitutional monarch with very specific, mostly judicial powers. Legislative power is executed by the Nest Council.
When a nest grows too dense, a group are sent off to found a new one in a different location. Rather than build up highly concentrated population centres, The Xin'halar prefer to scatter themselves due to their relationship with the Gou-hag. Because the Xin'halar rely on the Goul-hag for most of their menial/maintenance tasks, they spread themselves out in order to facilitate a low Xin'halar to Goul-hag ratio. As such, there are very few true Xin'halar "cities".
The ultimate “purpose” of Xin’halar society is the transcendence of the individuals’ mortality by contributing to the construction of the “universal edifice”, a physical as well as metaphysical conception of greater transcendent Xil’halar civilization. For them, this is a sacred mission, and it has greatly contributed to the Xin’halar being a very inward-looking civilization and frequently arrogant in their dealings with others.
History
The Universal Edifice came into being about 3,000 years ago when the current Emperor concluded a series of conquests uniting virtually all the Xin’hala nests on the planet. Most of the Gloul-hag had long since been subjugated by various Xhin’hal nests, thus the “final conquest” by the Xin’halar Emperor united the vast majority of the planet and thus gave birth to the “Universal edifice”, the supreme transcendent authority over all creation, which at the time was understood to be the planet itself. Although the Xin’halar now know that creation extends beyond their home planet and thus their state is not truly “universal”, honour their original name given the purpose of their civilization remains the same.
Physical Description
The Universal Edifice is a union of two sentient species sharing a single homeworld.
The Xin’halar are eight-legged arthropods that stand about 2 meters tall and 3 meters wide from back to front. The vast majority have jet-black carapaces, although a few historically isolated populations display different colours, as well as the rare individual with a colourful mutation (most commonly pink or green).
Despite their great size, the Xin’halar are not physically strong, although they do possess great dexterity. They have an incredibly slow and complex reproductive cycle, with a gestation period of decades with several complex and dangerous stages. They are incredibly long-lived; as they age, their metabolic system gradually slows down, until after 2 or 3 thousand years they fuse with the carapace and solidify altogether.
Through intense meditation, the Xin’halar have the ability to willfully slow down this process and enter what they call a “stasis trance.” In a stasis trance, which is a kind of hibernation, a Xin’hal virtually stops aging on a normal time scale, and its metabolic rate almost comes to a halt. Thoughts continue, but take years or decades to fully form. The ability of particular Xin’halar to achieve this varies greatly in relation to their mental fortitude and ability to focus.
Unlike the Guol-hag, who are clearly a native species of Khara-Khum, the origins of the Xin’halar are much less clear. They have no fossil record or evolutionary tree on the planet, and many of their creation myths speak of a great calamity and trek, but they have no definite knowledge of their true origins.
The Guol-hag are a species of ape-like creatures. Despite a common lineage, they come in a dazzling array of different shapes, sizes, and colours. Typically, they are 1.4 Meters tall, often but not always covered in fur ranging in colour from white to red to brown to black. They possess much of their wild, savage strength, not quite as strong as a Xin’halar, but still somewhat weaker than a comparative human. Hardly an intellectual or cerebral race, the Goul-hag do possess a certain kind of cunning and are surprisingly good with mechanical tasks.
Society
Universal Edifice “society” is strictly divided between its two member species. The Goul-hag make up the vast majority of the population, and inhabit the lands of their homeworld Khara-Khum in bands and tribes. Their society is primitive, savage, and violent, roughly comparable to some extent with pre-historic human hunter-gatherer societies. A Goul-hag tribe is usually ruled by the strongest or most cunning Goul and a coalition of allies until he is brutally toppled by a rival. They revel in violent deeds and celebrate aggression and bloodshed. Honourable single hand-to-hand combat is above all celebrated in their culture and central to conflict resolution, deciding promotions, marking important dates, or entertainment.
Most of the Goul-hag bands, tribes, and chieftaincies are ruled over by a nest of Xin’halar. Although “enslaved” may be slightly too strong a word, they are held in a universally subordinate position to the Xin’halar, whose much fewer members automatically are of a higher rank than even the most powerful Goul petty King.
A Xin’halar nest rules over a vast swath of territory and all of the Goul-hag within its borders. Each nest tends to be ruled by the eldest member, although this varies greatly. Most of Khara-Khum is divided up between these nests, which vary greatly in size, strength, and influence. Hierarchy in the nest is usually based on lineage. The actions of a lineage member raise or lower its value, and thus determine the relative position of the linage’s next generation in the nest hierarchy. In this sense there is little sense of a meritocracy for an individual Xin’hal, but rather for their linage instead. All these nests and lineages are united by the Xin’halar Emperor, more properly known as “The Abstracted Icon” whose social role is highly complex but could best be described as a constitutional monarch with very specific, mostly judicial powers. Legislative power is executed by the Nest Council.
When a nest grows too dense, a group are sent off to found a new one in a different location. Rather than build up highly concentrated population centres, The Xin'halar prefer to scatter themselves due to their relationship with the Gou-hag. Because the Xin'halar rely on the Goul-hag for most of their menial/maintenance tasks, they spread themselves out in order to facilitate a low Xin'halar to Goul-hag ratio. As such, there are very few true Xin'halar "cities".
The ultimate “purpose” of Xin’halar society is the transcendence of the individuals’ mortality by contributing to the construction of the “universal edifice”, a physical as well as metaphysical conception of greater transcendent Xil’halar civilization. For them, this is a sacred mission, and it has greatly contributed to the Xin’halar being a very inward-looking civilization and frequently arrogant in their dealings with others.
History
The Universal Edifice came into being about 3,000 years ago when the current Emperor concluded a series of conquests uniting virtually all the Xin’hala nests on the planet. Most of the Gloul-hag had long since been subjugated by various Xhin’hal nests, thus the “final conquest” by the Xin’halar Emperor united the vast majority of the planet and thus gave birth to the “Universal edifice”, the supreme transcendent authority over all creation, which at the time was understood to be the planet itself. Although the Xin’halar now know that creation extends beyond their home planet and thus their state is not truly “universal”, honour their original name given the purpose of their civilization remains the same.