The Khendros

[Caspoi]

Species Name: Axtromd
Species Adjective: Axtromd
Empire Name: Khendros (or the Khendros Empire if you will, but Khendros really just means "The State" and will do fine)
Empire Adjective: Khendros
Phenotype: Reptiles
Traits: Intelligent, Quick Learners, Slow Breeders
Ethos: Collectivist, Materialist, Militarist
Government: Despotic Hegemony
Leader: High Administrator Venromd
Homeworld: Khemenos (Ours)
Planet Type: Tundra World
Empire Type: Peaceful Expansionist

Species Description: The Axtromd have four limbs, two for standing and running and two for holding things or supporting the first two if speed is important, or they just want to rest their hindquarters. They have body proportions similar to that of an Earth bird or possible some of the prehistoric dinosoars with a body stretced forward from their legs with a fairly long tail as counterweight. They are small compared to humans, being 0.5 meters tall and 1.5 meters long, although this may differ quite a bit. Their outer body is encased with an exoskeleton which supports their body structure and gives them additional armour. Their hand and feet have long, crooked claws and their mouths have many teeth. They are entirely carnivorous. They lack a tounge and produce sound entirely from the throat and mouth. Their jaws are able to expand if necessary (similar to a snake) so as to eat bigger meals, although in these days they would probably just cut it smaller. They have four eyes, two at the front so as to give good depth vision and two on the sides (angled somewhat backwards) so as to see if someone or something comes up behind them. They are a monogendered species (although for the sake of ease I will refer to all members as he) who reproduce by gurgutating aggs holding their newborn. Assuming that they live a full life the Axtromd will on average produce two eggs per member. Due to their monogendered nature there is a great deal of genetical differences between individual Axtromd in terms of size, colour and proportions. They are however as a rule both intelligent and pragmatic, being adaptible to new scenarios. An Axtromd becomes fully adult at the age of five (which would be ten in Earth years).

Species history: The Axtromd originated on the Cold and harsh planet of Khemenos, a fairly desolate place with a low atmosphere and few plants and animals, most plants only being the size of grass and animals only reaching the size of the Axtromd with only a few surpassing it. Lack of food has always been the greatest problem and both because the Axtromd do not eat plants and also because there are not many to grow the Axtromd have never gotten agriculture, having countinued to live a fairly nomadic life even as they develop their technology. There are two main groups of Axtromd society: the nomadic clans who mainly herd around domesticated animals and the outposts, which are trading hubs for the nearcy Clans to meet and Exchange goods in. It is in these outposts that the craftsmen and people of similar professions live and in Exchange for food and raw materials they give the roaming Clans things like metalwork which they would not be able to make for themselves. However, due to the fact that they are entirely dependant on sporadic trade for food the inhabitants of these outposts never surpass a hundred and usually stay on lower counts. There is a third group if you will which is the fledgling clans. These are members of the nomads or outposts who leave, for overpopulation or other reasons, their home and survive mostly on hunting wild animals rather than herding domesticated ones. Through the generations they grow in numbers until they become a new clan of their own. While the different clans may fight one another for resources the outposts do not, both because they do not really have the capabilities or incencitive to attack others and they are themselves not attacked because the nomadic clans would fear reprisal from their neighbors if they did that as they in their greed removed the area's source of goods. In time this de facto state of affair would also become de jure, with the outposts becoming sanctioned as neutral ground were members of different clans, even ones in conflict with one another, could meet in peace. Due to all this the nomads and the outposts live in a rather symbiotic relationship where on the one hand the outposts are extremely necessary for Axtromd society to function and on the other they are completely dependant on the nomads for food and such and as both sides are aware of this they try to keep amiable relations with one another. In all of this the outposts developed more technology and even if the society never got pat the hunter-gatherer stage the technology did.

Empire History: While the Axtromd had never believed in gods or the supernatural they would at one point, comparable to the human late middle ages, go through a collective identity crisis as they had gotten great interest in the unanswered question about the meaning of life, particularly their own. While many things and ideologies crept up to give answer to this they never got very far. This is when Synomd came and developed the ideology that would form the Khendros. It placed great emphasis on the collective and said that the purpose of the individual is to contribute to the society in the manner best suited for them, depnding on their speciality. In this Synomd also proposed that all Axtromd would unite under one rule so as to best serve the society, arguing that one single society works better than multiple ones that may come in conflict with one another. This society would have a strong state (hence the name, and remember that an interclan state was a new thing, at best there would have been loose and temporary coalitions) which ruled wisely and fairly and would appoint people solely on basis of merit. This was all summarised in four words:
Order, fighting between oneself is counterproductive and acceptance of the rulership is preferable to the alternative.
Progress, the society should Always experiment on new solutions and more efficient ways to handle things and technological progress will help society become all the better.
Prosperity, while the betterment of society is the purpose of the individual this should go full circle so that the betterment of the individual is the purpose of the society. Sacrifices on behalf of the individual can be made but they must be for the greater good.
Efficiency, the more efficient a society is the better it is and the individual serves the society best by being as efficient as possible. New techniques are to be found and individuals placed in the position that they are most efficient in.
Synomd made a distinction between the enlightened peoples who had understood what he said and accepted it as the truth and the unenlightened ones who still lived in ignorance of his word. The society must, he argued, make it one of it's primary tasks to enlighten others so that they become part of it and can then contribute to it. This is then what he did. He and his message took over one of the nomadic clans and they quickly started to spread their enlightment, through peaceful or military means, to others. The other clans, those that did not willingly accept enlightment that is to say, were unable to properly respond to this growing threat as they had never faced anything that threatened their independence Before and while some did form alliances to counter the Khendros they were usually too small and came too late and on the battlefield they would loose against the Khendros discipline. Within only 50 years (Earth years, the planets own years are somewhat longer as it is further away from it's star) all of Khemenos would answer to the Khendros, at which High Administrator Synomd died, having lived a repectable 70 years which is about as long as most Khendros with that level of technology can expect. He had already set up most of the institutions that would make up the Khendros. After his death there would be a worldwide golden age where the technology flourished and in only a 100 (again, Earth) years the first spacecraft had been launched. It would take another 75 until the first practical wormhole generator was developed. At this point the existance of alien life had been concluded as "very likely" and it had been stated that if the aliens were intelligent enough to communicate then they would be treated as if they were Axtromd and enlightment is of the greatest priority. No aliens intelligent enough to communicate have as of yet been found however but some less intelligent ones have. As of yet four worlds have been colonized, although the apparant size of the empire is greater than this would suggest as there is a lot of space between them.

Military: 2 As there have been a long time of peace for the Khendros they have not made great investments in the military, this will probably change as they encounter alien civilizations. They are still made sure to be state of the art so don't underestimate them,
Land: 2 while they can muster some well equipped guerilla forces and artillery pieces they suffer from being undermanned as the Axtromd population is not that great.
Naval: 4 A greater naval focus (he who controls space wins the war) as well as the fact that they do not suffer so much due to being undermanned means that their naval capacities are greater than their land ones.

Economy: 3 While they do have a developed industry it was only achieved fairly recently and once again they suffer from having a small population as well most of it being nomadic, a great deal of robotisation in the latest decades has started to compensate for this.
Industry: 4 While the Khendros have an abundance of natural resources at their disposal they have not yet truly realised their potential, industry is an exponenital curve however as more industry means greater capabilities to develop more industry.
Tertiary: 2 while the individual is meant to serve society there is the other side of the coin and some effort have been made to make the lives of the individuals easier. There is Little difference in economical terms meaning that there are few people who are really poor.

Technology: 5 Developing technology at an incredible rate is one of the hallmarks of Khendros society and a way for them to keep improving it and give it an edge against potential enemies. While they have still yet to develop some things, like shielding, in others, like AI technology, nuclear power, etc. they are far more advanced that their youth would indicate.
Researched: 6 No precursor technology has been found and all has been made by themselves.

Diplomacy: 2 Diplomacy was always limited on Khemenos and they have yet to test it on aliens.
Understanding: 5 While they can see the worth and intelligence of other species they consider those who have not yet been enlightened and accepted their values to be little more than uncultured barbarians, making them look somewhat down upon them not for ethnical but ideological reasons.
Espionage: 1 While some spies have been used during their history their societies have generally been to small for this to be an effective tactic. Add to that the fact that they would obviously stand out in an alien crowd and this is not something that they plan to invest in.

Culture: 3
Internal Stability: 5 All dissent within the Khendros has been crushed and all now accept the rulership of the State. Peace and prosperity has not hurt matter either.
Marketability: 1 While the Khendros themselves would claim otherwise as they want to spread their ideology the ascetic nature of their culture, both by nature as they are a very pragmatic species and circumstance as they can not afford to waste resources means that there is no art or such within them and while they can boast of a very efficient society, they are still quite poor everything considered. Add to that the above mentioned low understanding of aliens and it is unknown how many would accept peaceful enlightment.

Quirks: Semi-Nomadic, while I did not find it big enough to be one of the primary traits (for one thing they don't move that much between planets) a large part of their society is still nomadic.
Quirks: Practical, appreciating things only for their usage the Axtromd are very calculating.

[Vagrant Hero]

It seems the Imperium finally has a neighbor with whom, ethics wise, is almost guaranteed to come into conflict to. Both Militarist, with one Collectivist Materialist, the other a Individualist Spiritualist. Yeahhhh, there are going to be problems.

Welcome back to Space, Khendros.

[Caspoi]

The policies:

Slavery: Disallowed, all members contribute in an equal manner to the society and one owning another is not accepted.

Purge: Allowed, the removal of undesirable members of society is an acceptable if regrettable course of action. However this power is rarely used and they usually try to intergrate them properly.

Orbital Bombardment: Full. Any and all bombardments necessary for victory are accepted as ground invasions have a hard time otherwise.

Native Interference: Unrestricted Studies. It is not only considered acceptable but downright morally required to annex natives for their own betterment.

Native Enlightment: Allowed. As said above the enlightment of all non-Khendros is of the utmost importance.

Migration: Prohibited. The state will determine where an individual can serve best.

Resettlement: Allowed. If there is a Place and a role that the state has found the individual suitable for then they will put them there.

Voting Rights. No Voting. Voting is considered a suboptimal way of solving things and a beurocracy of individuals knowledgable in the area is preferable.

Leadership: Allow All. Assuming that they have been have been enlightened aliens and synthetics alike will be granted the same rights and responsibilities as Axtromd.

Leader Enhancement: Natural Selection. There is no aristocracy ruling the Khendros which is entirely meritocratic. There have been some experiments around the idea of Capacity Boosters but it is far from fully implemented.

First Contact Protocol: Peaceful. If the alien lifeforms have not proven themselves overtly hostile there is no Point in attacking them, yet.

Artificial Intelligence: Citizen Rights. If an AI has been found intelligent enough to fully understand what it says and hears then it will be treated as a citizen of Khendros. Otherwise it will be treated as a domesticated animal.

[Caspoi]

It seems the Imperium finally has a neighbor with whom, ethics wise, is almost guaranteed to come into conflict to. Both Militarist, with one Collectivist Materialist, the other a Individualist Spiritualist. Yeahhhh, there are going to be problems.

Welcome back to Space, Khendros.

Yes, they might very well be considered superstitious fools by the Khendros. Thank you by the way. However I Think that you have a more iminent conflict with the Xengari.

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