Tiyanki Territories (A1-0)
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The Tiyanki Territories are a region entrenched deep within the center of Sector A1-0 characterized by the extensive Badlands and the many small star nations that exist within it. The Territories are a hub of two special resources, Seffra and Taseri Crystals, which shape its economy and politics significantly.
Astrography
The Tiyanki Territories are unique for their structures of badlands along their perimeter, which makes them incredibly hard to enter and navigate- but they have large expanses of traversable space within. Most Badlands tend to simply be a large region filled completely with badlands. It is unknown whether this happened due to some unusual process of formation, or due to some biological process of the megafauna that reside there. The unique structure of the territories has contributed to the fact that no one group has ever taken full control of the entirety of them, as well as providing defense from larger star-nations with the capacity to do so otherwise.
Megafauna
The Tiyanki Territories contain a multitude of Megafauna, large creatures that survive directly in space. Many of these species have the ability to traverse through badlands, and some rely on badlands for feeding, respiration or breeding purposes. It is unknown whether the large amount of megafauna has something to do with the Territories' unique badlands structure, or whether the unique structure could have been impacted by the megafauna themselves.
Tiyanki
Tiyanki are the namesake of the Territories, and are by far the most important culturally and economically. They are large, whale-like organisms that seem to feed off of exotic gasses on certain types of gas giants, and respirate by entering badlands, similarly to how a dolphin or whale breathes by entering the air periodically. They have been recorded holding their breath for decades on end, and the upper-limit seems to be around 50 years of holding their breath before needing to return to the badlands. The badlands are also seemingly where they breed, as there has been no recorded instance of them breeding- yet new specimens routinely appear. Tiyanki have middling levels of self-defense measures and tend to rely on herd tactics and movement speed to escape danger, although large herds are known to be able to overrun even small fleets.
Tiyanki, when killed, release a special gas called "Soketa" from their bodies. Soketa happens to be water-soluble, and when mixed with water and other ingredients, it becomes a potent drug called Seffra. Seffra is an important cultural touchstone among the Territories, and is unique in that its effects are similar even among species with vast biological differences. As such, the hunting of Tiyanki is very important economically- however, it is generally regulated due to religious reasons as well as bilateral agreements to prevent widespread depopulation of the species. The most prominent regulations are typically the preventing of killing the lead bull and cow of a herd, and the killing of any juveniles.
History
Formation of Ho'seri (2500 BBT)
One of the biggest cultural touchstones in the history of the Territories is the foundation of the Ho'seri religion. Starting in the world of Akkad in the Grand Kingdom of Kenai, it was said that an Akkadian noblewoman had seen a vision telling her to go outside, and when she did he did she saw the Crystal Mother, a large Tiyanki female made entirely of Taseri Crystals. She told the noblewoman that she had seen the sin of the nations within the "Great Border" (The Badlands surrounding the Territory) and stated that, if the noblewoman was able to take up arms and cleanse the sin of her planet, she would grant her a boon of Taseri and "Teach her the knowledge of forbidden travel" to allow her cleanse The Noblewoman shared this with her closest advisors and was successfully able to make huge strides in Akkadian politics and was able to spread her initial beliefs about the Crystal Queen on the planet. By 2451 BBT, the majority of Akkad was under Ho'seri influence and the Ho'seri were able to successfully win in a war against the king of the planet, sending shockwaves through Kenai at large as Akkad declared independence. The noblewoman styled herself as the "Hosarch" and declared the "Hosarchy" ruled out of Akkad. Soon after, the Akkadians were recorded with ships that were able to traverse through Badlands, and they established several hidden settlements within planets there. The Akkadians were able to gain large amounts of Taseri Crystals out of the Badlands, and started making the first Taseri-based ship weapons.
The "Unjust War"
The Kenaian leadership was horrified by how Ho'seri had been able to spread across Akkad and lead to an independent state. They also felt that Ho'seri had violated their own religious "Grand Hierarchy" by uplifting peasants and prosecuting many nobles, and so declared war against the "Hosarchy." The Kenaians were able to levy about 10,000 ships, an extremely large force for the time, and declared war on 2429 BBT.
The Hosarchy had a fleet of about 2000 ships, and was majorly disadvantaged in sheer numbers. However, their ships were armed with Taseri weapons and they had political advantages, as lower-classes had learned of Ho'seri and it had created great unrest in Kenai. The Hosarchy's fleets therefore decided to push, and performed a surprise attack off the planet of Kema. Against a fleet of 4,000, the Hosarchy was able to obliterate the Kenaian fleet while only taking about 100 ship losses in the process, and many planets, including Kema itself, had small Ho'seri revolts take place. By 2420 BBT Kema had fallen as troops of the Hosarchy brought the Ho'seri revolution planetwide.
The shockwave of the battle of Kema led to fear among the largely disorganized forces of the Grand Kingdom, who split and focused on the defense of their worlds. Due to their split and the growing power of Ho'seri revolutions, the Hosarchy was able to defeat the forces of the rest of Kenai by 2410 BBT. The leaders of all of these worlds were Ho'seri leaders who answered two the Hosarch and her government.
Further spread
After the "Unjust War," The Hosarchy declared the lands, formerly of Kenai, to be the "Core lands" of the Ho'seri faith, and declared that the Hosarchy's direct expansion end there. However, the new nation was eager to spread the faith, and when trade came in from other star nations, they also traded their religion. Ho'seri's faith did not require singular worship of the Crystal mother and could modularly coexist with many faiths, and the Hosarchy made beneficial trade deals to those nations who allowed its worship. For planet that had an established Ho'seri temples, they even traded very small amounts of Taseri Crystals for the temple's use, providing the planet an elite Ho'seri fighting force. Many tenets of the faith, including use of Seffra, general hunting regulations on Tiyanki, and its focus on trade and mutual well-being were popular among both governments and citizens alike.
By 2200 BBT, Ho'seri had mostly been spread across all of the Territories. While it was rarely the exclusive religion, it was very powerful and the Hosarchy was by far the most influential organization in the Territories.
The False-Emperor
During 467 BBT, a split came within the Hosarchy. When the 51st Hosarch was to be elected, there had been an unresolvable split in the vote. Half of the electors voted for the Hosarch of the West, who existed in the primary Ho'seri territories, while the Hosarch of the East resided in a branch in a foreign state. Eventually, they resolved this split via vision after taking seffra. The Hosarch of the East saw a vision of the Cystal Mother, while the Hosarch of the West saw nothing, which was rare for any Seffra vision. As such, the Hosarch of the East was elected Hosarch while the Hosarch of the West remained in his position.
The Hosarch of the West did not take this lightly, and on his planet, Kema, he declared that he was the True Hosarch. However, he was part of a growing fundamentalist group within Ho'seri- he belived that exclusive worship of the Crystal Mother was the true goal of Ho'seri, and that all planets in the Great Border needed to be under the control of the Hosarchy. Therefore, he declared the True Akkadian Empire. Many planets joined him, and the True Akkadian Empire challenged both the Hosarchy and the nations that had not fully converted to Ho'seri. Those who aligned with the Hosarch of the Hosarchy declared the Hosarch of the West the False-Emperor, and denounced the idea of an Akkadian Empire
The War of the Great Border
The War Great Border was the largest war fought within the Territories, and consisted of the "True Akkadian Empire" against all states that refused to adhere to the strictest forms of Ho'seri. In the beggining, the False-Emperor made massive pushes, but coordinated efforts as well as a large amount of Taseri Crystals led to their ultimate defeat in 321 BBT.
Hosarchy splits
After the War of the Great Border, the power of the Hosarchy was nearly destroyed. While the Ho'seri faith remained rather popular, the opinion and influence of the central Hosarchy was diminished. Furthermore, factional infighting led to many small conflicts within the core territory. By 200 BBT, the Hosarchy was all but collapsed, and those who held the secret of traversing the Badlands fled into it- the top ranking officials of the Hosarchy- fled into them in 5 factions. Without support, the last Hosarch declared the end of the Hosarchy during 195 BBT.
The Five Orders
The Five Orders represent the five factions of the Hosarchy that collapsed around 200 BBT. While the Hosarchy as a religious institution remains weak, the Five Orders maintain a strong influence due to their large military forces and control over Taseri crystals. Each order has a distinct ideology and different views on the prospect of outsiders to the Territories. Each Order is generally ruled by a leader called a Grand Archon.
The La'seri Order
The La'seri Order was founded by the more fundamentalist branch of the Hosarchy. Despite this, their modern ideology is less about conversion and more about the protection of the Great Border. The La'seri are dogmatic about preventing any military incursions into the Territories. They find particular value in those nations which have less antagonistic foreign policies- but they also value those that have the strength to defend their own nations. They tend to use a sword and shield for their Taseri weapons.
Relations
Conflicts
The Mavrian Order
Founded by a member of the more fundamentalist branch of the Hosarchy, the Mavrians learned to prize secrecy, stealth, and assassinations. They believe that the enemies of the Territories, but also those within who would oppress the lower classes, should be cut down. They tend to favor those nations that have a very strong lower class, and they tend to scorn those that have large militaries, wbo oppress them, or who uphold complex codes of honor like the Paragons. They have a tendency to use Taseri knives, disguised as normal objects.
Relations
Conflicts
The Koph'mek Order
The Koph'mek Order was a splinter from the less fundamentalist faction. They leaned into Ho'seri's want of commerce, and support trade throughout the Territories and abroad. They despise piracy, but do not mind crime, slavery or anything else- as long as they can maintain trade. They tend to use a Taseri weapon similar to a quarterstaff.
Relations
Conflicts
The Davian Order
The Davian Order was founded by a less fundamentalist faction. They are gatherers of knowledge both religious and non-religious. They like to catalog information about strange phenomena, especially about those related to the various "Hyperspace" dimensions, and will engage in trade with those that have such information or resources.
Relations
Conflicts
The Hortek Order
The Hortek Order is less an order and more of a collection of people who became disgruntled with Ho'seri. They took their knowledge and abandoned the tenents of Ho'seri, using it to become criminals and supporting piracy across the Territories and Sector. They despise those who would try to cull their lawlessness, which also comprises the other orders.