The Aurelian Kh'uunate: Politics and Culture

Subject: The Aurelian Kh'uunate: Politics and Culture Thu Nov 08, 2012 5:54 pm

Politics

At the fundamental level, all families are organized into Kh'uuns, or Clans as the human vernacular may refer to them. With a typical family size of eight individuals, one Kh'uun can easily boast upwards of one hundred individuals, each of whom are specialized since the start of adolescence to perform a particular task: At any given moment, roughly three percent of all individuals in a clan are trained in the peculiar arts of stealth, guerrilla tactics, and unusually-advanced degrees of melee combat.

For an Uli'khuun- or Higher Clan- to form, tradition holds that at least three clans are to be present in a region before a Uli'khuunari may be appointed by popular vote. Uli'khuunarin tend to be selected from the warrior class due to the role's expectations of the Uli'khuunari to lead bands of warriors aboard cramped, unsaitary bioships into battlefields of pernicious nature; however, it is not too uncommon to find a weaponsmith or even a replication-vat elder in charge of three Clans' affairs.

Uli'khuuns are responsible for codifying, amending, and distributing sz'taatutin, or laws, to their subordinate clans whilst also providing rudimentary law enforcement to carry out legislation dictated by the Uli'khuunari. In some instances of emerging democracy, Uli'khuunarin have been noted to delegate authority over judiciary matters to a crude court system, though this level of democratization is extremely rare among the next tier of government: The Kio'tin, or Grove.

For a Kio'tin to be established with a Kio'tinari, or Chieftain, at least two Uli'khuunin need to be present, though it is yet again to be uncommon for the bare minimum to be followed verbatim. Kio'tinarin are accountable for delegating duties to Uli'khuunin, which in turn subdivide tasks to Kh'uunarin to distribute to families. The equivalent of a mayor, lord or vassal, Kio'tinarin administer to their Kio'tin's infrastructure needs by overseeing public works projects (Carbon-fiber catwalks, anyone?) and housing-hollowing demands. In addition, Kio'tinarin may also summon forth Xu'tharin and duty-ready Tihn'tharin at the demands of their sovereign, a Ulikio'tinarin, should a conflict of medium importance break out.

---

At the epitomes of power reside Ulikio'tinarin, equivalents of regional kings whom command entire continents, and the Dei'korari: An individual accountable for one whole planet and its gala geopolitical survival. Perhaps as a result of some ancient revolution millennia ago, Aurelian tradition stipulates that there can be no single ruler of a star system, let alone all Aurelian-controlled systems- and thus exists a competition between planetary rulers which not only prevents a single military strike from annihilating a centralized leadership, but may also make provisions for friendly interplanetary competition which may stimulate technological evolution.

Culture

The social structure of the Aurelian Kh'uunate is rather linear and easy to follow: Holding sway at the epitome of society are the Kh'uunarin and their superiors, followed by the Nou'tark- or the natural philosopher (Scientist-Priest) caste: Trained in the literary, spiritual and scientific arts at a young age, Nou'tarkin consist from no more than two percent of the population and make for superb bookkeepers, chemists, witch doctor-like shamans, and administrators. It is in this caste that the legendary Aurelian, Zij'kutherak A'sargi, made her debut as the developer and matron of the Ssykist-T'luri Warp Gate System; a series of warp gates which link systems together with near-instantaneous travel times for trips which would otherwise take multiple generations at subliminal speeds. Also renown are A'sargi's (Trans. Galactic Standard) The Chronicles of S'katho and The Spikefruit Tales ( Huzzah for ripping off The Chronicles of Narnia and The Canterbury Tales. Razz

), two tomes which are widely read among the educated castes.

At the top of the middle-class are biological replication workers who mass-clone bio-organic components which are then assembled into a myriad of simple tools, bioship components, and chitin-layer armor accommodated for the bestial physique. Weavers, artisans, planters and foragers reside just below the replicator caste: Constituting over 85 percent of the population, these individuals are the single largest socio-economic group and are accountable for fueling the pre-Industrial economy with whatever they have. From loincloths to calorie-rich fungi, the bazaars of these middle-class citizens are packed with bartering stations nestled in the fluorescent canopy of forests.

With great misfortune comes the Vzi'kutin, or slave class. Given that "only" seventy percent or so of labor comes from the Aurelians themselves- most of which are idyllic, enjoyable skills-, the dirty labor has to come from somewhere. And thus comes in the menagerie of Gol'Azkhorzin- bipedal insectoids whom hunch around 1.42 meters- and the various, unidentified sentient species whom toil away in subsurface mycology plantations and sulfur-infested mines. In addition, many of these unfortunate thralls are forced into domestic servitude among the high-ranking leadership caste, and quite a few number of individuals are bred and sold into captivity off-world for foreign, oftentimes illicit markets where survival rates are dismal at best. Otherwise, a scarce number of "Aurelianoid" slaves of similar phenotype (Humans, etc...) are handpicked at birth, tattooed with clan markings, and separated from their families in military roles where hostile atmospheres require an alternate species to complete a mission. Jun'ikin, or servant-slaves (Janissaries), tend to endure somewhat tolerable conditions, but a constant threat of abuse from their Aurelian captors means that Jun'ikin have to be on the lookout for interspecies violence and such.

---

Literary development in the Kh'uunate is rather limited to Kh'uun-centric wonder tales concerning the Aurelian domination over neighboring alien species and why Aurelian females are relatively... Fecund. Nevertheless, at least two masterpieces are renown throughout the Aurelians' realm: The Spikefruit Tales and the Chronicles of S'katho.

The Spikefruit Tales is a collection of parchments bound into a crude tome which depicts a pilgrimage of various Aurelians of differing classes and their thralls as they cross Gol'Azkhorzi space. Situated within an unnamed space-worthy vessel of mediocre capacity and quality, each of the thirty aliens tell four tales- 120 in total- which satirize each and every discrepancy found in the pilgrims' voyage to the Odwin system. Lauded by lovers as an accurate depiction of Aurelian society whilst criticized for impinging upon an Old Terran tale of a similar name, The Spikefruit Tales is one of the most widely-read scrolls in Aurelian history due to its status as a literary work that depicts not only the Aurelians but also their captives in a fantastic collection of parables.

The Chronicles of S'katho is a children's tome which portrays a group of aliens whom come upon an abandoned warpgate which leads directly into the nanomechanical constrct of S'katho, an entire entity forged by an unapparent entity "some centuries past." Assembled as a trilogy, The Chronicles of S'katho combines fundamental scientific principles with elements of what Terrans recognize as hardcore fantasy to teach that the line between reality and fantasy is merely the tenth dimension: There are no limits to what Aurelian youth can do.

---

The Aurelian religion has no single noun to describe it due to the lack of a centralized deity following among the sparsely-spread populations. Nou'tarkin have had repeatedly tried - and failed - to catalog their village deities, and a controversial essay written by G'haarth D'sjink has even stipulated that the growing mass of information renders any single database "impossible for upkeep." Regalia, too, is rather diverse with varying degrees of elevation and submission before the hoi polloi: Some Kh'uunate natural philosophers wear nothing other than their tribalist garments, whilst others wear a tunic-like D'saji which covers both the undergarments and upper chest. On occasion, a well-renown priest/priestess will adorn his or her D'saji with the image of a local pantheon sewn into the fabric, and some of the wealthier Ulikh'uun natural philosophers wear elaborate electrum amulets etched with geometric patterns commemorating certain events: Given the limited development of a consumer goods industry in the Aurelian realm, though, such status symbols remain out of reach for more than 70 percent of all Kh'uunin.

---

Situated ten degrees and five minutes north of the Gol'Azkhorzi equator- twenty degrees and forty-five minutes west of the prime meridian- sits the most elaborate arboricultural megastructure within the Aurelian realms: The Phot'unin C'did (Tree Grove of C'did [Sid]) is a canopy-level hanging garden of sorts where miniaturized ferns, shrubs and vines thrive within crude suspension cradles bound by rope to the utmost branches of the Aurelian canopy. Watered through osmotic-pressure hoses in the soil and nourished by nutrient monomers present in the bioengineered soil, one suspended Phot'unin can easily boast several tons of biomass which are prevented from falling through the canopy bottoms by having each suspended garden floored over with carbon-fiber weaves. Though at least two accidents have occurred in the last several Terran decades whereby improper weaving of the carbon-fiber substrate resulted in the pitfalls of several hundred people, the Phot'unin C'did is extraordinarily resilient to onslaughts of infections and mechanical stress thanks largely to an extensive network of pheromone glands which alert farmers to possible wounds and an ever-abundant supply of Gol'Azkhorzi insectoids bred to commit self-sacrifice in order to patch up any rotting husks.

Due to the abundance of food grown at the Phot'unin C'did, there exists a small spike in infantile and- to a lesser degree- juvenile obesity resultant of irresponsible patronage from senior-ranking adults. It is also at the Phot'unin C'did where the doctor-sage M'hisist D'sarji first discovered the cause of Phot'un Distemper by isolating the microorganism in a neighboring shack.

» Tantalan Provisional Domain: Politics and Culture
» Moral Politics Quiz
» Culture and Social Welfare of Rutianas
» The Aurelian Kh'uunate: Economy
» The Aurelian Kh'uunate: Biology