Alien Factions

[Mizagium]

The K'orm Technocracy


The K'orm race began as a desert faring, nomadic race. Humanoid and similar in appearance to humans save their pointed teeth and hair, as well as their natural body tattoo-like markings. These marking are a type of organ that projects a k’orm’s thought patterns and will into matter and become able to be “one” with that matter. In later centuries this ability became the K’orm’s legendary ability of “technomancy”. It is speculated that K’orm and humans, being similar in appearance and genetic makeup, may have descended from the same genepool, though this is widely rebuked and most K’orm refuse to acknowledge such.

The K’orm Technocracy is composed of roughly 60 worlds. There are ten “core worlds” that make up the central seat of power in K'orm space. The Technocracy is run through the electing of Senators in an overall council. This council is run by a more clandestine Inner Council, much like a Presidential leadership, presides over the Council and conducts matters of military and foreign affairs. Inner Council member is required to not only have served military service, but be elected through majority vote of their constituents as well as the majority of the council.

The K’orm are a proud, ambitious race who believe that their superior advances in technology will lead them to greater existence. While as a whole the K’orm are a unified and strong race, there exists a rift within the ideology of the K’orm. Many believe that the K’orm are the true rulers of the galaxy. The radicals (as an extreme example) are fiercely nationalistic and xenophobic, viewing the other races as “lesser beings”. They embrace the idea of the Singularity of the K’orm race, willing to all but merge their existence with h=their technology. On the opposite side is the more conservative faction, which tries to maintain the K’orm’s already great civilization through reason and relations with the other races. They prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to further investment into their embracement of new technology. As such, while no open conflict has ever appeared between the two “sides”, there are often needs to suppress terror cells or nationalist groups. In recent times, the appearance of K’orm corsairs on the edge of K’orm space and beyond has become a rising problem.

The K’orm military structure can be divided into roughly 6 separate branches.
The K’orm Army is the basic infantry and foot soldiers of the K’orm military. Tasked with the primary ground fighting and combat deployment of any military operation.

The K’orm Navy is an armada of thousands of battleships that patrol the borders of K’orm space. K’orm spaceships are often assigned to house cadres of Technomancers as well.

The K’orm Sentinals are the special forces and heavy combat specialists of the K’orm military. Sentinals are specially trained pilots who commands high-tech battlesuits into battle. A

The K’orm Technomancers are a legion of K’orm who have tuned their mind into the inner working of the K’orm technology. They are capable of syncing their minds to technology and commanding it. Chapters of Technomancers are housed on board K’orm ships, and use their abilities to disrupt enemy ships. Most technomancers are rather radical in their political views, seeing the Singularity of K’orm as a chance to advance their own abilities.

The K’orm Shadow Cult is the most secretive and feared branch of the military. It is a highly selective and specialized cadre of assassins and special forces soldiers who devote their entire lives to the elimination of enemy targets.

The K’orm Castellans are the most honored and mysterious branch. They are the Honor Guard and personal soldiers of the Inner Council. They wield deadly Pulse Glaives and the command of all other branches if the need arises.

Core Worlds:
-Kor’kallin
-Kor’danis
-Kor’vran (The home world and seat of government)
-Kor’in
-Durhein (colony with human populous)
-Havalon
-Urqral (satellite nation with lizard-man populous)
-Ithras
-Korvaan
-Theta

[Mizagium]

The Ske'ar

They are a bipedal avian race that no longer possess the ability to fly, though they still have beaks and talons. Their feathers are short and packed together so as to prevent heat loss in cold, but with enough space to relax and vent heat in warmth. Their vision is many times greater than humans and K'orm, although certain genetic and bionic enhancements in the Union are catching up. Their language is a series of shrieks and clicks that are difficult to reproduce with the human mouth, just as they cannot speak most of our languages. In place of that, translators learn to understand the other language for both species, so that when two leaders meet, the leader speaks to a translator, who speaks to another translator, who speaks to the other leader.

Individuals are Ske'ar. the clan suffix is added after an apostrophe to indicate which they belong to. It has been stated that the Mageru clans once had multiple languages, but later consolidated them. There are still some rumors of a secret language they speak when humans are not around.

The most immediately notable thing about the Ske'ar is that, even as a spacefaring race, they maintain extensive use of bladed, close range weapons. Their ranged weapons are small coilguns, but these are used mainly by assassins. Rather, they were, until encountering the Humans. Ske'ar and K'orm were already well acquainted before contact with the Union, but as the K'orm could manipulate their guns, they fell out of favor. With the appearance of Man, most Ske'ar now carry a coilgun.

Ske'ar bladed weapons are a marvel of engineering. Nothing is sharper, more durable, or as lightweight. They staunchly refuse to divulge their secret, as their blades hold something of a religious context to them.

Comparisons are often drawn between the Mageru and the Samurai. While their system of honor has many parallels, the Ske'ar are not a feudal society, among other details in their society that are overlooked or frankly ignored by most people. It doens't help that Ske'ar swords resemble katanas.

War, in the sense of humans, is rare among the Ske'ar. Tribes are not bitter rivals as the nations of Men often are, rather they are large family groups, stretching across many generations and distant lineages. Legends trace each clans ancestry back to a founding figure and his/her mate, which means that everyone in a clan are related, however distantly. Only three times in recorded Mageru history has a clan been eradicated, and two of these took place in the pre-industrial era. The last clan extinction happened at the dawn of spaceflight

War is a hideous thing to the Ske'ar, and they take it with no pleasure - but battle is another thing. Small clan battles and personal duels are common ways of settling disputes. Only serious insults end with death. That is not to say they would be defeated by the K'orm or Humans. In truth, the Mageru technology level exceeds even the Union in terms of strength and efficiency. Most of it was developed during the meeting between them and the K'orm, and then perfected during the disputes with the early Separatists who landed on their planets. While not all groups were defeated by the humans, they at least proved able to withstand Ske'ar force, and earned the right to coexist with them.

The number of planets under Ske'ar control is unknown, partly because of the tribal divides, an accurate number is impossible to reach, and partly because the Ske'ar deliberately disguise their own numbers - either overestimating or underestimating - creating a wide margin of error that makes any sort of data collected useless by human standards. This dates back to ancient times, and is often cited as evidence that the Ske'ar lie habitually. This is untrue. the Ske'ar lie to protect themselves; in most social matters, they are brutally honest by human standards - if they do not like you, they will tell you.

A common nickname for the Ske'ar among humans is Scare, the subtle difference nearly impossible for their ears to distinguish, which leads to use of the term in their presence.