Species/Empire Name: The Great Arlwak Federation
Species Description: The Arlwaks are an avian-like race known for their natural tendency of unchecked aggression yet infallible sense of honor. Standing at a unimpressive average of 4'10'' for females and 4'8'' for males, Arlwaks have a wingspan that reaches nearly the same size that they are tall. On the left/right tips of their wings lay three fingered talons, in which Arlwaks use to grasp tools. They also have taloned-feet, with four toes, which allow them to grip onto bark and climb. Owning to a carnivorous diet consisting of the flesh of any animal they can ambush, their rudimentary beaks contain sharp teeth to tear meat apart from the bones.
Arlwaks are covered in a thick plumage of feathers. In both males and females, green is the most dominant color, allowing them to easily hide within the dense jungle foliage of the planet. On the tip of their wing feathers, there is an accent color which easily allows Arlwaks to tell the gender of the fellow bird. Males have a bright red accent, presumably evolved to attract mates, while females have a more muted blue which also easily blends into the jungle environment.
Arlwaks can fly, but only a few feet off the ground. Traversing the jungle is usually done by a combination of climbing trees/vines, and then quickly gliding from branch to branch. Traveling in the air is much safer this way, because less predators exist in the canopy than on the ground. On the food chain, Arlwaks are surprisingly only mid-tier. As pure carnivores, they clearly do eat herbivores, but much larger beasts will gladly and remorsefully snack on an unsuspecting Arlwak. This biological fact is often the reason why researchers believe Arlwaks are so aggressive and often psychotic; any sign of weakness would lead to them becoming the next meal to a predator. Arlwaks also do engage in cannibalism; although only of the corpses of other tribes (the victors of a battle will generally eat the corpses of the slain enemy, and bury their own dead).
Arlwaks tend to be an extremely aggressive species. They are a social species; Arlwaks conglomerate in hunting groups known as tribes (although "murders" are sometimes used by disapproving foreigners). A tribe is simply a group of Arlwaks that are lead by a Chieftain, aka the strongest Arlwak in the tribe. As long as the Chieftain can consistently prove his or her (Arlwaks never evolved any sense of gender roles; as long as you are strong you can lead. In fact, owing to their larger average size, female Arlwaks tend to be in authority more often than males) might to the tribe by leading them into victory and winning honorable duels, his authority is unquestionable. However, if they stay at peace for too long, or keep on losing battle after battle, the Chieftain's authority will crumble, and ambitious Arlwaks might try to take his title.
Arlwak titles are always tribal, not feudal, based. A Chieftain is never a Chieftain of a geographical place; he is a Chieftain of a tribe of people that occupy a place. Arlwaks do not believe in heredity titles. Instead, there are two common ways a title is passed down. If a Chieftain is to die of old age or disease, he will usually nominate a heir based on who he personally thinks will be the most effective leader. However, getting a title this way is usually considered illegitimate; anyone who fancies themselves stronger than the nominated heir can and will fight for it, generally leading to a period of instability as they fight to see who is the strongest.
The second way is killing the Chieftain honorably, in battle. Upon slaying the old Chieftain, an Arlwak becomes the new Chieftain of the Tribe. Ironically, this tends to be the more peaceful resolution long term, as the new Chieftain immediately establishes his right to rule by winning a fight. With these two systems of succession in place, it is very easy for a particularly strong Arlwak to unify scores of smaller tribes into one large force, only for it to rapidly crumble upon her death, when no one can best her in combat.
Arlwaks, due to the constant bloodshed they participated in, have a strict sense of honor that defines their culture (often suspected to have been developed as an evolutionary response to not kill each other to extinction). For starters, to be a craven is the utmost dishonorable, but so is engaging the art of subterfuge. Only in direct battle can an Arlwak prove her legitimacy in a socially acceptable way. Another quirk is the rejection of the Klingon promotion. While it is true that titles are passed by killing the former occupant, an Arlwak is supposed to faithfully follow anyone who proves himself stronger than them. That is, as long as your Chieftain is capable, you should never plot to kill him and take the title for yourself. In general, killing outside of battle or duels is considered abhorrent and cowardly.
Native Arlwak technology is very rudimentary, and would be classified as stone age at best. Traditionally, Arlwaks live in semi-nomadic villages on the treetops, where they migrate wherever game goes. They will build rudimentary wooden huts called xezth, which are easily able to be packed up and set down. Ever since first contact with the Malyr, some Arlwaks have experimented with permanently settling down in grand stone buildings on the jungle floor. Instead of hunting for food, they instead attempt to practice the art of husbandry and raise docile prey for long term consumption. It is not the most efficient food source in the world, but the lack of need to migrate means more specialized labor is possible.
Arlwak weaponry is also stone based. Perhaps the most famous weapon is the sharp Jut. Forged from sharp volcano rock (OOC: Obsidian), a Jut is a double-edged "sword" carefully carved in a way so that it has a set of sharp "teeth" on one side, and one singular edge on the other. The side that has the teeth alternates on each blade. The Jut can be used as both a stabbing and slashing weapon, and offers a perfect between offense and defense.
In contrast to their technocratic brethen on Vo'tel, Arlwaks tend to be extremely superstitious and still following their old gods. Shamans, who pass down oral stories from generation to generation while leading their avian cousins in religious services, almost wield as much authority as Chieftains do. However, thanks to many parts of their folklore being proven outright false (Vo'tel, the planet their moon orbits, was supposed to be the afterlife where dead Arlwaks spend the rest of their days. This is clearly not the case), many Arlwaks have been questioning the faith of their mothers and fathers have any validity at all. About 70% of Arlwaks follow the old gods and the shamans, while 30% are atheists.
Homeworld Details: Qu'tol (Maylr name: Unknown) is the only moon of Vo'tel (Maylr name: Unknown), a fairly large oceanic planet. Vo'tel's atmosphere is huge (And Qu'tol is also dangerously close to Vo'tel, although is is actually heading away from the planet); it extends all the way up to Qu'tol, allowing it to support life as much as the planet's surface. Thanks to constant water vapor surrounding Qu'tol, the moon is extremely damp, creating favorable conditions to the growth of a bountiful tropical forest that covers the majority of the surface, only sparing mountains above the treeline (and even then, cloud forests are a thing).
Qu'tol has no major ocean on it, but it is bountifully dotted with lakes across the entire surface, some reaching to the size of Nebraska. No animal or plant life on Qu'tol is naturally found on Vo'tel, or vice versa. While the orgion of life on the two bodies do have a common origin, they split off so far in the past that they barely resemble each other. Regardless, Qu'tol is a hotbed of biodiversity, with an expansive range of bountiful flora and fauna, most of which are extremely deadly.
Recently, chunks of the once-proud jungles have been clear cut by the Malyrs in a botched attempt to colonize their moon. A deep reverence for the forests that they called home means Arlwaks rarely cut trees to such a large scale, and therefore after the four-limbed aliens were evicted, the jungle is starting to slowly recover. Still, the scale of environmental damage remains a sore spot between Arlwaks and Malyr
Species History: The idea of Arlwaks even having a written did not exist until the current generation of Arlwaks. One oral tale of the Arlwaks consist of a star falling out of the night sky, crashing into Qu'tol and causing an inferno that lasted for seven (Qu'tol) days, until a great rain washed it away. The Malyrs linked this story to the meteor that hit Qu'tol, knocking it off balance and causing great floods. However, there is no way to actually verify it, although rudimentary deceptions of the event on rock paintings do carbon date back to the general timeframe of the meteor,
Once the Malyrs developed space technology, they quickly turned their eyes on Qu'tol. They remembered the great meteor more than the Arlwaks did, and feared a second meteor causing more catastrophe. Further observation of the moon revealed the green "rock" wasn't even naturally green at all. Instead, it was covered in some tall green and browm... substance that enveloped the entire moon. The Malyrs quickly concluded this unnatural coating was a negative side effect of the meteor, and had to be destroyed.
When they landed, the Malyrs did not expect to find lifeforms on the surface, let alone sapient life. The efforts to clear the jungle reached heavy resistance from a native avian-like stone age species; the Arlwaks. With the Arlwak's stone weapons in hand and guerrilla tactics taking full advantage of the jungles, the Malyrs had difficult time subduing the native population, even with their advanced technology. Venturing into the brush was a death sentence for a Malyr; they could jumped at any second and have no warning whatsoever.
The death sentence to the Malyr's invasion came when a resourceful chieftess known as Xaos started to equip her warriors with the Malyr's own weaponry. With stolen guns and transportation, the Malyrs lost the one advantage they had. Xaos even started to find out how to capture space-capable aircraft, and ingeniously started to prioritize capturing those craft. After receiving heavy causalities and fearing the Arlwaks stealing their technology, the Malyrs simply gave up and left.
However, Xaos wanted revenge for the defilement of Qu'tol, and she knew she alone had the capabilities to do so. Turning her captured Malyr weapons on her Arlwak brethren, she start to conquer tribe after tribe, adding their titles to her own. After blitzing through most of the moon, Xaos declared/renamed herself the Great Arlwak (which would be like Obama declaring himself Emperor of Humanity). With no one left to challenge her rule back on Qu'tol, Xaos turned her attention back to Vo'tel. For attempting to destroy her homelands, The Great Arlwak would do the same to the Malyrs.
Captured Malyr slaves explained to Xaos that, if she was to take control of Vo'tel, she must first capture SC-435, AKA Stylo. Not only did it serve as an effective fortress to protect the planet, but its hangars contained many ships that she could steal and use to transport her armies to the surface. It was do or die. Loading her few transports with the strongest, most loyal troops she had, the Great Arlwak was about to change history for both races forever.
The invasion started with a boarding of the hangers, and, with the moment of surprise, the Arlwaks made great strides in securing portions of the facility. However, as security was able to mount a response, the invasion became a bloody stalemate. The Arlwaks, even with the stolen guns, were now the foreigners in a bare, plantless facility with narrow corridors and no places to climb and fly around. However, the Arlwak's pure warrior tradition made them better fighters than the Malyrs; one Arlwak could easily take down ten Malyrs.
Still, Xaos needed a quick victory; she knew she could not the Malyrs on their own turf. Over the PAs, she challenged whoever ran the facility to face her in a duel with their species's traditional weapons over territorial rights of Stylo. She expected the coward Malyrs would never face an Arlwak in a duel, and by showing their cowardliness, her own troops would be inspired to pres son harder. To her amazement, however, Xaos's interpreter claimed that the person running the facility, Executive Neid Dan-radis, agreed to her demands. The fighting instantly stopped, and the two leaders agreed to meet on neutral ground to fight.
When Xaos saw a scrawny, out of shape Malyr holding a screwdriver, she almost broke down laughing. The Great Arlwak was going to face this? If she knew Neid was this dumb and weak, she would have saved the lives of her troops and demanded the duel earlier. Grasping her Jut, passed down from her father and her father's father, she knew she was invincible in this one moment.
She knew nothing.
With one powerful leap, Xaos soared at her foe, Jut out, hoping to kill him in one blow. At the last second, Nied in desperation did what not Malyr ever attempted before in a charge like this. Using one of his spare arms, he reached forth and grabbed Xaos by the throat. By some miracle, he managed to get a firm grip and started to choke the invader. Nied knew he had to finish it now. He took the screwdriver and jammed it at her skull, drilling into her body. The Great Arlwak screamed bloody murder in pain, until her brain was punctured and she was no longer Great nor an Arlwak.
And by Arlwak law, Executive Neid Dan-radis was the new Great Arlwak.
The war ended inconclusively with the new regime change. The Arlwaks did not like that one of the aliens that tried to destroy their home was now their leader, but honor dictates they must follow whoever proved themselves in a honorable duel until they showed weakness. The Malyr's, confused by this strange tradition at first, welcomed what they believed was an alliance between the two races. Meanwhile, the galatic community at large regarded the situation as the Technocracy outright annexing the primitive, savage Arlwaks.
It's only been a short few years since that fateful day. The Technocracy, while mostly disapproving of the superstitious, psychotic cousins from Qu'tol, did not attempt to assimilate them into Malyr culture. Instead, they were allowed to live however they want on Qu'tol, as long as they don't become a problem for them. Meanwhile, while Arlwaks generally fail to fit in the Malyr chain of command (too many incidents of Arlwaks attempting to assert authority over drill sergeants they viewed as weak), traditional Kags, or war parties, serve as auxiliary forcers for the Malyr Technocracy.
Starting Situation: The Great Arlwak Federation is not particular great as of right now, and it barely even classifies as a federation. Theoretically, the Maylr Neid Dan-radis continues to be the undisputed Great Arlwak, but a policy of statutory neglect by the Technocracy means the chieftans have been growing in power steadily. They still swear allegiance to him, mostly because they find having a source of modern technology useful, but push comes to shove the embolded chieftains could overthrow the Maylrs if they wanted to.
That involves them getting united, though. The tribes, fighting over claims of land and glory in general, are still constantly attacking each other. Qu'tol continues to remain a battlefield, and the introduction of modern technology means the battles are far more destructive than they ever have been. Few, if any Arlwaks, are actually worried about the increased death tolls with infighting, and so the fights rage on.
However, with inter-solar system flights now possible, Kags are being put into use in ways they never have been before. Adventurous chieftains, instead of fighting another over land on Qu'tol, instead elect to raise a small fleet and attempt to claim a moon or planet for himself. While owning Qu'tol would be far more prestigious, making your own little kingdom wouldn't be bad either. However, kags unfortunately have no sense of the Prime Directive; if they find natives, they will enslave or kill them. To make matters worse, a truly ambitious chieftain wouldn't even mind raising his own colors and attacking a planet of any nearby space empires. While in Arlwak society, it would clearly be implied only that chieftain is attacking you, other empires might not get how decentralized the "government" is, and consider an invasion of one chieftain adventure as an invasion of the entire Federation.
Meanwhile, back home, the adoption of Maylr technology by Arlwaks is changing society in general. While no one is suggesting to become a four armed pansy, there is calls to emulate their city building, their ways of growing food, having modern luxuries such as electricity and medicine, etc, etc. However, there are traditionalists who shun the idea of going back on the Arlwak way of life, which served them well since the beginning of time. And don't forget the growing atheism of Arlwak society, also fueled by the Malyrs
The Arlwaks are in a rough situation, but if they can adapt, they might become one of the most feared empires in the Milky Way's history.
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