The United Dominion [FT] [No posting]

[The United Dominion]

The United Dominion is the largest ixee state, home to tens of billions and containing dozens of systems. Other ixee nations are much smaller, most being no more than a couple of systems. The two mains states other than the United Dominion are the Systems' Cooperative and the Military Electorate. The latter is a small but powerful ixee-only state (with some exceptions) while the former is a large conglomerate of multiple species, most having just a single world to themselves. The United Dominion is the state that is the most interested in expansion and exploration - the other two and most of the minor nations are generally more isolationist - in the case of the Systems' Cooperative, they find like-minded small groups and species and wish just to be able to keep to themselves in safety and without completely shutting themselves out from the rest of the galaxy.

With many explorers and diligent scientists, the United Dominion actively reaches out to its neighbors and seeks to fully chart the galaxy and beyond, and sees to reason to not build itself into an entity that can do this with minimal effort.

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Contents

• Species
• Homeworld
• Geo-political Groups
• Important Figures
• Notable Ships
• Language (a vague guide to unpronounceable names)

[The United Dominion]

Physical Traits

They could easily be described as snakes with four arms, though this would be inaccurate - they have no relation to snakes and are in fact amphibians. They evolved around rocky islands with high coastal cliffs on an oceanic planet, and are vaguely similar to salamanders or newts.

They do not have teeth or tongues, but a series of five mouth tentacles capable of rather fine manipulation that pull in food. Anything they swallow is whole until it reaches their stomachs, wherein it is ground. They are not capable of choking, nor of speech like that of a human's - their own is very whistley, and has been compared to a "series of flutes." Two of the tentacles are reserved for breathing or manipulation, while three of them do that on top of being responsible for speech. Most ixee languages are taught to use a particular tentacle for a particular voice. The tentacles can be hidden completely within their mouths if need be, but at least a couple are typically sticking out for passive breathing. Ixee are also capable of drawing air into their stomachs to help with buoyancy, and can also be expelled forcefully into a loud, deep roar that their voices are not capable of.

They can support their weight and move (albeit slowly) on their tail but despite the fact that the tail looks like a large portion of the torso, it is actually an appendage. The bottom set of arms are fully usable as such but were once legs, and are often used for walking as well as it is faster than movement with just the tail. The top set are the primary arms and do not normally operate as legs, but they are capable of using all four arms and their tails to land sprint at upwards of 50 kph.

When swimming casually, they can use multiple appendages but they are built to swim at speed using on their tails. Their swim sprint speed can reach upward of 60 kph. The tail is flatter and broad, and can rotate to move either horizontally (like a snake; this allows for faster turns and better walking) or vertically (pushing through water, or bounding over land; this is faster and has more power). One of the four arms is generally weaker and with less agile digits than the other three, and this varies across individuals.

Females have less variation in size and strength, but their average (when removing male outliers) is slightly larger and stronger than the male average. Males vary more, specifically in the ability for a minority to make themselves extremely large and strong in comparison. These males are typically creche fathers. If raised up on their tails comfortably, an average female is about 230cm, while an average male is 210cm - a creche father is typically similar in height to a female, but height is not a deciding factor (nor, really, is a measurement that ixee care about). Heights differ greatly when ixee are using their lower limbs to walk/stand, or using all five limbs.

Ixee size is more accurately described by length while on all-five, which averages between 350cm and 370cm, which females generally being longer; females are also broader of chest and shoulder, which the exception of creche fathers, who are much stockier and proportionately stronger.

There are many variations in coloration, though most are hues of green, yellow, and orange. These are ethnic variations.

Speech

Speaking as they do through their several flute-like mouth organs, their language is nothing at all like that of most mammalian species (or for that matter, most species in general). It struggles to be transcribed into other writing systems or even translated in a way that maintains context and meaning. For this reason, they have attempted to build translators themselves and avoid putting that burden on the species with whom they deal - they can be more accurate than most others can.

While the whistling remains audible to listeners, they normally speak quietly and instead rely on the translators they have with them when they expect to be around other species - their translation technology is quite advanced, and they make an effort to include every new language they come across to their repertoire. Military helmets and gorgets have translators built in, while others wear them on their collars or lapels.

Society

Children and Family

Children are considered communal responsibilities. The community group varies in size and composition - as they socialized it became tribes and then local groups that were more fluid. With their nations and cities comprised of island chains, each island typically at least one creche depending on the size - some larger islands had multiple but single-creche island communities were always far more common. Islands were an extended family, and children often left for other islands when they came of age; they still do. Now with multiple planets and space-based assets, the idea of an island is still another word for that extended family, even on arid planets with little to no natural water. These Islands are tight-knit - many settle into one and rarely interact with others on more than a professional level.

Being a communal responsibility, there is no general tracking of parentage. For medical reasons, there are records, but they are irrelevant to regular life. Every child in a creche year is a sibling, and they are all the children of each contributing parent. Parental responsibilities are generally lesser than many other cultures since, for one, there are potentially dozens of other parents and two, the majority of the child rearing process is actually handled by the creche father.

Family units are, therefore, uninclusive of the children themselves. Many parents might not see the community's children for weeks or months on end, even if they are providing assistance to the creche. Some never see them. The average family is comprised of a "quad" - two sets of romantically-linked couples. These quads are usually tight-knit and often behave in a manner such that it is impossible to tell who is mated to whom by outsiders. In some cases, there may be three or five instead, but it is fairly rare to see just a couple by themselves.

Ixee breed in large numbers, each parental unit having an average of a dozen efts (the ixee larval form) and sometimes many more. Efts are born into water, where they remain until they grow limbs. As a society, Ixee do not consider water-efts as children - they are merely spawn and most do not survive to reach the land-eft stage. Once a land-eft, the spawn becomes a child and is considered to be such by the community. In some cultures, water-efts are a delicacy, and often creche fathers calculate how many water-efts must reach maturity for the good of the community, and will sell some of the "extra." As long as the community grows and a quota of new children is met, no one particularly cares what happens to the water-efts individually. Some creches typically have several hundred or thousand water-efts at any given time. Due to the seemingly limitless nature of ixee breeding, it is not uncommon for outsiders to see the species as callous toward the individual; at any point in time, even the most talented members of the ixee species can still be replaced rather easily.

Creche Fathers

The creche father is an exceptionally large and powerful male who can defend the children, can nurture them, and can afford to go long periods of time without leaving them. This is an earned position of respect that many males aspire to but few actually manage. Those who do are often ex-military (though still in their prime).

There is a training regimen for brood fathers that one must prepare for and even then, it is not uncommon for trainees to drop out. The entire species takes this role extremely seriously.

Creche mothers are not possible due to the demands of the role. The males that can handle it must essentially be bodybuilders who then gorge themselves on food so that they may be able to go for up to three months without a consistent food source, potentially starving for weeks on end, opting instead to ensure the children are well-fed. Females of the species are not capable of building themselves up the same way to do this due to limitations of their physiology. Of course, most males can't do it either.

[The United Dominion]

The Homeworld - I_xwa

On this highly volcanic, oceanic moon - almost 90% covered in water - ixee (ee-shay-ay) evolved as amphibious cliff-dwellers and inhabited tens of thousands of islands in smaller tight-knit groups as their civilization grew. The planet has a moderate level of air pollution still present, but its environment has improved over the last century. Civilization on the planet is still spread between the many islands, though now there are often ixee-made structures connecting them. Many of these are underwater tunnels and bridges that support a large amount of earthworks so create larger and more unified islands out of the chains.

Despite being a moon, its mother planet does not loom over it - it is relatively far away. Several other moons orbit relatively closely, which made the first ixee forays into space fairly easy. Ultimately, though, the gas giant itself made them harder to get to other actual planets.

Days are I_xwa are 46.1 Earth hours long, and the moon's orbital period around its planet is 28.5 local days (54.74 Earth days).

The moon has many similarities to Earth, with very slightly higher gravity and atmospheric pressure, though it is somewhat less dense. It is, however, significantly warmer than the Earth, with an average temperature of 304 Kelvin (30.8 C, 87.5 F) and is somewhat larger - it is also the largest moon of Xe_ioh.

Its Planet - Xe_ioh

A medium gas giant, Xe_ioh has twelve moons, including six close-orbiting moonlets, 4 major moons - one of which is I_xwa - and two distant moonlets in eccentric orbits. It does have thin, barely-visible rings but these are not spectacular and are often invisible even on I_xwa. Xe_ioh has a year length of 247 local days (474.44 Earth days), which corresponds to 8.67 orbits of I_xwa

Its System - Xeⁱoh

Xeⁱoh is the star's - and system's - name. It is so named for its traditional duality with the gas giant around which I_xwa

[The United Dominion]

The United Dominion

The largest nation, formed around the home system. Its systems are located into the Gamma and Delta Quadrants.

Systems' Cooperative

A small collective of systems formed between Ixe_ze settlers and several other local species.

Military Electorate

The Military Electorate is comprised of two of the stars that are a part of what is translated as the Third Chaos Constellation

Coming Soon!

[The United Dominion]

United Dominion Government

Coming Soon!

United Dominion Military

Coming Soon!

[The United Dominion]

Ixee ships

The ships built by ixee governments and organizations are generally spheroid in appearance, with aesthetic touches often modeled off of worlds within their purview or which they have particularly found interesting. Ships types - which can be more or less translated as frigate, destroyer, cruiser, and battleship analogs - are primarily defined by their size. There are, then, destroyer analogs which are fully capable of going toe-to-toe with battleship analogs since armament and capabilities may vary greatly.

Combined, the ixee fleets would outnumber most species and nations within their local volume but they are not so united. At the very least, the three main states formed by ixee are hardly interested in working together in situations short of a xenocidal attempt at the species.

Notable Ships

All ship names are translated from Ixe_ze - these are mostly poor translations, with attempts to catch the same content of the complex language. They may be almost universally bad translations, but they are the best ones. Some translations were, fortunately, easy enough that they're actually not far from the intended meaning - these are usually the shortest.

Celestial King in Red Terror - Coming Soon!

Elegance, with Locks of Emerald and the Diamond Sword - Coming Soon!

Ever-Changing Secrets - Coming Soon!

Flute of the Enchanted Church - Coming Soon!

Haunted Ending Fathered by Pain - Coming Soon!

Heart of Sapphire That Conceals Ghastly Fortune - Coming Soon!

Inheritance of the Bloodstained Monolith - Coming Soon!

King Atrocity - The King Atrocity regularly runs between the largest ixee settlements in several of their states. It is an armed industrial mover, classified as a battleship-analog, and primarily concerned with the transfer of sensitive and critical technologies and peoples between the three, facilitating what is likely the closest relationship these states have with each other.

The Living Duke Bound by Unknowable Deception - Coming Soon!

Lunatic With Hands of Brass - Coming Soon!

Silver Always in Forgotten Destruction - Coming Soon!

[The United Dominion]

Uplifting

Ixee scientists have long been interested in uplifting species and guiding their societal evolution. Their first true attempt, and most resounding success, was the uplifting of the Hroa'agh people. First contact was made nearly one thousand years ago, thus beginning the process of learning Hroa'agh societies and cultures inside and out and slowly introducing different states to new ideas and technologies. The experiment in the full uplifting of the species began approximately 800 years ago, and was judged to be completed after 300 years - when the Hroa'agh reached a stable and near-equal technological level. They have since formed their own state, the Grand Empire of the Thousand Suns.

They have gone on to uplift various other minor species, though some have petered out or destroyed themselves and others have been subsumed by various ixee factions (most notably, the Systems Cooperative). Generally interested in both the mechanics of creating equal cultures and in guiding societal evolutions both directly and indirectly, without the knowledge of the society in question, there have been any primitive societies that have felt the effects of ixee science.

The most current experiment is being done by the Military Electorate: it consists of early ape-descended sapients and the ultimate goal is to see either what it takes for ape-descended sapients to not develop extremely aggressive, genocidal tendencies, or if they always tend toward those impulses.

The United Dominion-Grand Empire Co-Prosperity Hypersphere

Since uplifting the Hroa'agh to a similar level of technological advancement 800 years ago, they have been staunch allies of the United Dominion, if not the other ixee states.

[The United Dominion]

Language

Ixee are incapable of producing the same kind of speech that humanoids do, and vice versa. There have been many attempts at romanizing ixee languages but all are generally poor. There are often three simultaneous "voices" occurring at once, which can often be difficult to hear for the untrained ear. In writing, these three "voices" are generally represented by regular, sub- and superscripts. The main voice, where the bulk of the sounds/letters are, is written out as regular script, and additional sounds are notated by the subscript (a continuous sound that made until the next continuous sound/subscript, or until the end of the word if there are no further subscripts) or a superscript (an interjected sound which is not continuous, and may be interjected every other letter if the two voices are splitting the work). The continuous voice is typically of a lower pitch, while the interjected sound varies but is often higher.

Names

Commonly, simplified names are provided to species without the capability of speaking similarly. This, while an ixee name may be A^wsha, she is likely to introduce herself to others as "Awz-ha" or "Az-ha" or even simply "Asa"

It is worth noting that in the above example, the name has two syllables "As" and "ha" and does not contain the "sh" sound - the "sh" sound is always denoted by an X.

Other examples:
- O^wfox - an ixee leader on Talos Station, introduces herself as Ofosh to people she doesn't expect to be able to create the interjected sound or remember that an X is a "sh"

- Aw_ssaos - another ixee leader on Talos, Aw_ssaos has a hissing sound throughout much of his name. He might simplify his name to "Asa-os"

Some ixee simply drop all super- and sub-scripts, but it is personal preference. Around humans, most ixee do tend to simplify, since they do not believe humans will be able to distinguish their names otherwise.

Ixee names contain an identifying given name such as A^wsha (from the above example), an identifier for their creche of origin and the generation of that creche they were born into. The creche and generation identifier comes before the given name, which in turn is followed the least important part of the name, an identifier for the world they came from. The world identifier is a fairly recent addition to ixee names, less than twelve hundred years old, and only became included once several off-homeworld settlements had been created. Some cultures reversed the order the of given name and the creche/generation identifiers (or had the generation identifier precede that of the creche of origin), but with the formation of the United Dominion, this has become the official order and appearance:

[Given Name] [Creche of Origin]:[Creche Generation] [World of Origin (Endonym)]

Some ixee names:
- A^wsha Mzizima:

Numbers

Numbers are an important part of ixee languages (as any other) but are specifically very useful to know due to their prevalence within ixee naming conventions - they are how the creche generation is identified within that portion of an ixee's full name.

Arabic Numeral	Ixeze Word	Derivation
0	Ixume	Literally "Nothing"
1	Moxa	Literally "Whole"
2	Mili	Derived from word for "the minimum desired"
3	Fanee	Combination of the literal words for "Less (than) perfect"
4	Nee	Literally "Perfection"
5	Kano
6	Xifa
7	Xaa
8	Nane
9	Fisa
10	Kumi
11	Kuxe
12	Kuili
13	Uxau
14	Kune
15	Kuxane	Literally "Entirety" but not meaning the same as "whole"
16	Kuxawamoxa	"Fifteen and one" or "One more than the entirety"
31
32	Faneixumi	"Three zeros"
47
48	Neixumi	"Four zeros"