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- | ====== The World of the Sesheyan ====== | ||
- | |||
- | From the stone age to the space age, they | ||
- | are savage hunters from a night-bound world, enslaved by a powerful stellar nation and thrust into the | ||
- | light of the 26th century. Fighting to sustain an ancient culture amid the scientific wonders of galactic | ||
- | civilization, the sesheyans are held by many as an | ||
- | example of humans’ unfair treatment of alien species. | ||
- | Primitive aboriginals | ||
- | living on the largest moon of | ||
- | Gamma Leonis III, sesheyans | ||
- | were discovered by VoidCorp | ||
- | explorers. The corporation | ||
- | took advantage of the seshey- | ||
- | ans’ primitive nature and ar- | ||
- | ranged a contract placing | ||
- | them in service of VoidCorp in | ||
- | perpetuity. In effect, a stellar | ||
- | nation turned an entire alien | ||
- | race into its slaves. The | ||
- | sesheyans have learned a | ||
- | great deal about the galaxy | ||
- | since signing that fateful com- | ||
- | pact more than two hundred | ||
- | years ago, and many have be- | ||
- | gun to work in secret to free | ||
- | their people. | ||
- | |||
- | ===== Physiology ===== | ||
- | Sesheyans are perhaps the most “alien” | ||
- | species encountered thus far by humans. They aver- | ||
- | age 1.7 meters tall with sleek, whipcord muscles. | ||
- | The sesheyan skeleton is composed of light, strong | ||
- | cartilage, so sesheyans weight only an average of 40 | ||
- | kilograms and have extraordinarily flexible joints and | ||
- | posture, allowing them to crouch and bend for ex- | ||
- | tended periods of time without discomfort. | ||
- | Sesheyans are hexipedal, having six limbs. | ||
- | The upper arms end in four fingers (including an op- | ||
- | posable thumb), and the lower legs end in three | ||
- | splayed toes. Both of these sets of limbs have short | ||
- | claws, allowing sesheyans to climb trees and perch | ||
- | on branches in their native jungle. The two middle | ||
- | limbs are slim and end in six long slender “fingers” | ||
- | with flaps of leather skin stretched between them, | ||
- | forming a pair of wings with a span of six meters. | ||
- | The wings allow sesheyans to fly on their homeworld | ||
- | and other worlds with Earth-normal or lighter gravity | ||
- | and sufficient atmospheric pressure. | ||
- | The sesheyan head is wide and round, with | ||
- | four small eyes on each side and topped with a pair | ||
- | of elongated ears. Their eyes are highly sensitive to | ||
- | light, having adapted to the twilight environment of | ||
- | the jungles of Sheya. The blunt snout covers a wide | ||
- | mouth filled with sharp, bony | ||
- | ridges rather than teeth. | ||
- | Sesheyans have a voice box | ||
- | capable of producing a wide | ||
- | range of sounds, and they | ||
- | have no trouble learning and | ||
- | speaking human or other | ||
- | alien languages. | ||
- | Sesheyans have long, finned | ||
- | tails used for balance and | ||
- | flight control. The tail ends in | ||
- | a series of spines connected | ||
- | by leathery skin. The spines | ||
- | can flex to widen or narrow | ||
- | the “fan” at the end of the tail, | ||
- | providing steering while in | ||
- | flight. Sesheyans also open | ||
- | or close their tail fans to dis- | ||
- | play emotions: those in an | ||
- | excited mood open their tail | ||
- | fans, while those in a quiet, | ||
- | contemplative mood close their tail fans. | ||
- | |||
- | ===== From the Stone Age to the Gravity Age ===== | ||
- | According to sesheyan fable, their race origi- | ||
- | nated in what is known as enoshai, or the “Twilight | ||
- | Dream,” a timeless state of being connected with the | ||
- | vastness of space and the night sky. The first seshey- | ||
- | ans were created by Vec’t’lir, the Brood Mother, | ||
- | whom the sesheyans associate with the second- | ||
- | largest moon of Gamma Leonis III. Her twin sons are | ||
- | Tal, the Hunter, and Neshii’en, the Trickster, associ- | ||
- | ated with the gas giant’s two smaller moons, which | ||
- | chase each other endlessly across the sky. | ||
- | Sesheyans were created to be the greates15 | ||
- | 15 | ||
- | 15 | ||
- | 15 | ||
- | SESHEYANS | ||
- | hunters of Sheya, “the hunting land.” (The name | ||
- | sesheyan means “hunters of the land.”) In the days | ||
- | of the Twilight Dream, great heroes like Tal and Ne- | ||
- | shii’en lived among the sesheyans, teaching them. | ||
- | Over time, they became a part of the history and cul- | ||
- | ture of the sesheyans, their names invoked by hunt- | ||
- | ers and shamans. | ||
- | For millennia, life on Sheya was largely the | ||
- | same. The tribes hunted (and warred occasionally), | ||
- | shamans kept the wisdom of the past, families mated | ||
- | and grew, and the cycle of life went on. The seshey- | ||
- | ans existed in the timeless realm of the Twilight | ||
- | Dream – until the arrival of VoidCorp. | ||
- | |||
- | ===== Aikeita: The Day of Ghosts ===== | ||
- | On July 13, 2274, a VoidCorp exploratory ves- | ||
- | sel landed on the largest moon of Gamma Leonis III. | ||
- | There, project leader JT795 42IWQ (Erim Ollander) | ||
- | made contact with the sesheyans. To the primitive | ||
- | sesheyans, the arrival of the explorer ship was noth- | ||
- | ing less than the appearance of ghosts from the | ||
- | night sky, as in their ancient fables. The visitors dis- | ||
- | played magical powers: Their weapons spat fire, | ||
- | blinding light spilled from their instruments, and their | ||
- | bodies were tall and strange. Sesheyan shamans | ||
- | called the arrival of these strangers aikeita, “the Day | ||
- | of Ghosts.” | ||
- | The VoidCorp crew had little difficulty mak- | ||
- | ing peaceful contact with the sesheyans, who consid- | ||
- | ered them visitors from the Twilight Realm. Under- | ||
- | standing the value of their discovery, JT795 42IWQ | ||
- | decided to remain on Sheya and conceal her discov- | ||
- | ery, even to the point of not sending transmissions to | ||
- | VoidCorp management, lest they be overheard by | ||
- | agents of another stellar nation. | ||
- | Immediately after translating their language | ||
- | enough to converse with the sesheyans, JT795 42IWQ | ||
- | negotiated the Sesheyan Compact with the leaders | ||
- | of the most powerful tribes. The Compact granted | ||
- | the sesheyans right of passage off their homeworld | ||
- | and access to advanced technology. In exchange, | ||
- | the sesheyans agreed to serve VoidCorp in perpetu- | ||
- | ity. In essence, every sesheyan became a VoidCorp | ||
- | employee, subject to VoidCorp rules and authority. VoidCorp now owned the sesheyan race. | ||
- | |||
- | At first, the sesheyans were delighted by the | ||
- | Compact, since it seemed to them a religious experi- | ||
- | ence of unprecedented proportions – a chance to | ||
- | share in the power and wisdom of the ghosts and to | ||
- | serve them faithfully. As time passed, the sesheyans | ||
- | began to discover that their visitors were not all they | ||
- | appeared to be. | ||
- | |||
- | When news of the Sesheyan Compact ar- | ||
- | rived, VoidCorp management was supremely | ||
- | pleased. They immediately ordered the exploitation | ||
- | of this valuable new resource. VoidCorp ships ar- | ||
- | rived on Sheya and established bases to handle ad- | ||
- | ministration of the population for the maximum utility | ||
- | of the company. Sesheyans were displaced from | ||
- | their long-held territories without consideration. | ||
- | They company assumed supreme authority on | ||
- | Sheya, and any disagreements on the part of the | ||
- | sesheyans were handled swiftly and forcefully. | ||
- | Thousands of stone-age sesheyans were thrust into training programs designed to test their | ||
- | capabilities and make them useful employees. Void- | ||
- | Corp discovered that the sesheyans were remarka- | ||
- | bly intelligent and adaptable. They were able, even | ||
- | eager, to learn new languages and technologies, | ||
- | which the sesheyans considered magical. VoidCorp | ||
- | decided that the sesheyans would serve the com- | ||
- | pany in several ways, especially in handling menial | ||
- | or difficult tasks. In a matter of years, sesheyans | ||
- | were being shipped off their homeworld by the thou- | ||
- | sands to serve their new employer. | ||
- | To those who remained on Sheya, the | ||
- | sesheyans taken by VoidCorp became aikaya, | ||
- | “Ghost Walkers.” From their point of view, Ghost | ||
- | Walkers had left the living world behind and entered | ||
- | the Twilight Realm. For all intents and purposes, | ||
- | they had died and moved on to a new life elsewhere. | ||
- | Sesheyans held funeral rites for family-members | ||
- | chosen to leave Sheya and travel with the ghosts; | ||
- | their lives as hunters of the land were over. | ||
- | |||
- | ===== The Twilight Realm ===== | ||
- | When the other Stellar Nations discovered | ||
- | the Sesheyan Compact, there was an outcry against | ||
- | VoidCorp. Many denounced VoidCorp’s exploitation | ||
- | of the species. For their part, VoidCorp officials | ||
- | pointed at the primitive conditions on Sheya and all | ||
- | the humanitarian aid, education, and technology that | ||
- | VoidCorp had devoted to assisting the sesheyans in | ||
- | becoming galactic citizens. They also pointed out | ||
- | that the sesheyans were considered full VoidCorp | ||
- | employees, with the same rights and responsibilities | ||
- | as employees of any species. VoidCorp defended | ||
- | their actions and ignored protests from other Stellar | ||
- | Nations who called for them to renegotiate or sus- | ||
- | pend the Compact. | ||
- | As the years passed, sesheyans in the em- | ||
- | ploy of VoidCorp learned to function in a technologi- | ||
- | cal society. Their children were born as employees | ||
- | of VoidCorp, often away from Sheya itself. Sesheyan | ||
- | breeding was originally limited by the delicate bal- | ||
- | ance of their ecosystem and the relatively harsh liv- | ||
- | ing conditions on Sheya. Now, the sesheyans were | ||
- | limited only by the requirements of VoidCorp corpo- | ||
- | rate breeding programs, which encouraged employ- | ||
- | ees to produce even more employees. The sesheyan | ||
- | population exploded across numerous VoidCorp | ||
- | worlds as the sesheyan lifespan was greatly ex- | ||
- | tended through modern medical technology. | ||
- | Billions of sesheyans have grown up never | ||
- | having touched the soil of their homeworld, hearing | ||
- | only legends of the hunting land where their people | ||
- | originated. Some of the new generations of seshey- | ||
- | ans threw themselves into the corporate culture, | ||
- | serving to the best of their ability and seeking ad- | ||
- | vancement where they could find it. Others, edu- | ||
- | cated and raised by VoidCorp, began to see flaws in | ||
- | the Sesheyan Compact. | ||
- | |||
- | ===== The Galactic Concord ===== | ||
- | |||
- | In the more than two hundred years | ||
- | since the signing of the Sesheyan Compact, some | ||
- | sesheyans have turned against VoidCorp. The | ||
- | chaos of the first and second Galactic Wars allowed | ||
- | a few million sesheyans to escape from VoidCorp | ||
- | space to other stellar nations or unknown frontiers | ||
- | like the Verge. VoidCorp maintains that all seshey- | ||
- | ans remain their employees, and it works to hunt | ||
- | down any “absentees” (as they are known). The dis- | ||
- | covery of the sesheyan colony on Grith in the Corri- | ||
- | vale system of the Verge has led VoidCorp to lay a | ||
- | claim on the colonists before the Galactic Concord. | ||
- | The Grith colonists maintain they have been on Grith | ||
- | since long before the Sesheyan Compact, trans- | ||
- | ported there by a precursor race that once inhabited | ||
- | the planet. Thus far, the Concord has upheld the | ||
- | sesheyan claim. | ||
- | There have been occasional upris- | ||
- | ings and rebellions of sesheyan employees on Void- | ||
- | Corp worlds. Rogue sesheyans who attempt to re- | ||
- | turn to their homeworld are detained by the Void- | ||
- | Corp authorities. Even if they manage to slip unno- | ||
- | ticed into the sesheyan population, their former | ||
- | friends and families consider them dead or – if born | ||
- | off-world – complete non-entities. The majority of na- | ||
- | tive sesheyans refuse to have any dealings with these | ||
- | Ghost Walkers and do not listen to what they have to | ||
- | say. Still, there is some discontent on Sheya about | ||
- | the Compact, and some native sesheyans have real- | ||
- | ized that VoidCorp does not have their best interests | ||
- | at heart. | ||
- | Perhaps the greatest opportunity for | ||
- | the sesheyans since the Day of Ghosts came when | ||
- | VoidCorp agreed to recruit half a billion sesheyan | ||
- | employees to join the Galactic Concord. Although | ||
- | they remain employees, these sesheyans have | ||
- | greater opportunities for interaction with people from | ||
- | other Stellar Nations and societies. Many sesheyans | ||
- | hope to plead their case to the Concord and gain as- | ||
- | sistance in overturning the Compact, but the Con- | ||
- | cord is far too new and still testing its authority in civi- | ||
- | lized space. It will be some time before the Concord | ||
- | can challenge VoidCorp’s claim. | ||
- | |||
- | |||
- | ===== Culture & Society ===== | ||
- | |||
- | Before VoidCorp’s arrival, sesheyans main- | ||
- | tained a simple, tribal culture based around the ex- | ||
- | tended family unit. Even two hundred years after the | ||
- | Sesheyan Compact and their introduction into galac- | ||
- | tic civilization, some sesheyans maintain their old | ||
- | customs. | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Families & Tribes ==== | ||
- | |||
- | Sesheyan families tend to be quite | ||
- | large, mainly due to the sesheyan definition of | ||
- | “family.” They do not limit family ties to biological | ||
- | connections; sesheyan families include extended | ||
- | clans with many relationships. Sesheyans do not | ||
- | mate for life but instead have many mates and many | ||
- | children over a lifetime. A group of sesheyans involved in mating – along with their children, close | ||
- | friends, and other relations – make up the whole of a | ||
- | family. The sesheyan language includes many terms | ||
- | for relations that do not translate into human lan- | ||
- | guages. | ||
- | A tribe is composed of a group of | ||
- | families. The structure of the sesheyan tribe is fluid, | ||
- | shifting according to the needs of its members. | ||
- | Tribes split when they’ve grown large enough, break- | ||
- | ing into two or more tribes that go their separate | ||
- | ways. Likewise, sesheyan tribes encountering each | ||
- | other might exchange families as a sign of friend- | ||
- | ship, strengthening the ties between them before | ||
- | moving on. In this way, stories and history are | ||
- | spread among widely dispersed tribes. This practice | ||
- | also serves to maintain a healthy gene pool. | ||
- | Tribal and family loyalties are sup- | ||
- | pressed by VoidCorp, which emphasizes loyalty to | ||
- | the company above all else. Some tribes on Sheya | ||
- | are allowed to maintain their traditional structure, but | ||
- | they can be broken up by VoidCorp officials at any | ||
- | time to serve the company’s needs. Ghost Walker | ||
- | sesheyans do not maintain tribal ties. | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Aikei ==== | ||
- | |||
- | Sesheyans have as broad a range of | ||
- | emotions and expression as humans, if not more, but | ||
- | they do not change moods as quickly or as arbitrarily | ||
- | as humans do. | ||
- | To the sesheyans, every state of be- | ||
- | ing is embodied in a mythic archetype from their fa- | ||
- | bles, known as an | ||
- | aikai | ||
- | , meaning ghost or spirit. | ||
- | When a sesheyan needs or wants to experience a | ||
- | particular state of being, he or she calls up the ap- | ||
- | propriate aikai. A sesheyan on the hunt calls upon | ||
- | the ghost of the Hunter and, for him, nothing other | ||
- | than the pursuit and capture of the prey is important. | ||
- | On other occasions, a sesheyan might call upon the | ||
- | ghost of the Dreamer, the Dancer, the Traveler, or | ||
- | the Maker. Each basic archetype also has dozens, if | ||
- | not hundreds of variations associated with particular | ||
- | situations. So there is a Patient Hunter, a Feral | ||
- | Hunter, a Hunter Who Speak With Spirits, and so | ||
- | forth. | ||
- | Each of the hundreds of aikei is | ||
- | strongly rooted in sesheyan myth. Some are spirits | ||
- | or animal totems, while others are based on great | ||
- | heroes from legend. Instead of saying, “I am sad,” a | ||
- | sesheyan says, “the ghost of sadness is upon me” to | ||
- | express sorrow. The elaborate rituals and myths as- | ||
- | sociated with various aikei makes it seem – from the | ||
- | human point of view – as if a sesheyan has many dif- | ||
- | ferent personalities. A sesheyan embodying the | ||
- | Brood Mother can be tender and nurturing. The | ||
- | same sesheyan can call up the Feral Hunter and kill | ||
- | prey with savage abandon. | ||
- | VoidCorp officially bans the practice | ||
- | of aikei, but it is so strongly rooted in the sesheyan | ||
- | psyche that it is nearly impossible to eradicate. Mod- | ||
- | ern sesheyans continue to use aikei to express them- | ||
- | selves, but the mythic elements have faded almost | ||
- | completely. | ||
- | |||
- | ==== Clothing and Decoration ==== |