Well-Known Member
Name: Shikyu
Rotational Period: Being tidally locked to the Realm of Resu, the rotational period is the same as its orbital period, with slight eccentricities due to interactions with the gas giant and neighboring moons, allowing the the tidal forces necessary to heat a liquid ocean.
Orbital Period[SIZE=9pt]: Approximately 11 Standard Days around the Realm of Resu, and 29 years around the local star.
Classification: Moon
Diameter[/SIZE]: 7,268 kilometer diameter
Atmosphere: A tenuously thin atmosphere of oxygen rests on the icy surface of the lunar crust, though it is far from breathable. To anyone standing on the surface, it is essentially vacuum.
Climate: The entire world is enveloped in a sheet of ice several km thick, protecting a sub-surface global ocean warmed by the radioactive decay of its core, tidal friction, and tidal flexing all acting on it as it orbits its gas giant parent.
Gravity: Roughly 1/3 Standard gravity.
Primary Terrain: An entirely oceanic biome, with an ice sheet several km thick covering the entire glove.
Native Species: The Resu
Immigrated Species: N/a
Primary Languages: Resune, Galactic Basic (uncommon)
Government:
- Imperial Confederacy (Former) - The original government which controlled the system for hundreds, possibly thousands of years prior to the Moross Contact Event. It consisted of a Grand Emperor, who executed the agenda set forth by a Parliament of "Minor Emperor's" who ruled the 121 other moons in the realm, who in turned exerted their families dominance over lesser noble "monarchies" in their respective lunar territories. A Minor Emperor on any given moon was selected through a series of brawls between the great families, where the resultant winner then was represented (and often as a result pushed out the old regime through popular support among all lesser families against a single rival). In essence, it was a stratocracy with a loose connection and influence over all other Resu Empires. Notably, terrestrial colonies never gained representation.
- Theocracy of the First Convert of Moross Crusade (True) - In essence, an absolute Theocractic Dictatorship with Stone Hermes at its head. Through divine will Stone Hermes had become the First Convert of the Moross Crusade, and as such was ordained the Lord Resu of the entire Realm. It is by his word, that the Original Resu were allowed to survive on Ysraka upon learning about their inability to reproduce as a result of Neth's gift... it is also his will to bring forth a New Resu, despite his use of heretical pagan Yuuzhan Vong 'technology', to cure their infertility. It is unknown if this system holds true after the successful creation of the New Resu.
- Inquisition of the Stone Hermes Heresy (Insurgent) - The civil insurrection of Morossian Resu, who's main goal is to stop the Theocracy from allowing Stone Hermes experiments, and to open a discourse with the surviving Originals on Ysraka on a solution to their Infertility Crisis. They are the first documented instance, of Morossian Resu turning against, and possibly 'grudge-forming' against other Morossian Resu despite their virally shared faith.
- Resu Diaspora Protectorate (Insurgent) - The official entity headed by the CybeResu leadership (under provisional guidance of exile Iron Giant), which seeks to free any all Original populations from their confinement under Morossian rule, and to initiate the absolute genocide of the Morossian Resu. They have virtually no presence in, on, or near Shikyu, though given it is the ancestral homeworld of the Resu, they claim it as their own.
- Resuspawn Horde (Insurgent) - The unofficial entity which encompasses the irredeemably hyper-aggressive, swarm-like abominations which are the result of Stone Hermes experiments. It is unknown if there is a true government, or they all act as a collectively aggressive entity bent on the annihilation or conversion of all other life.
Population: 222 million Resu (Historically), ~200 million Morossian Resu (Current), Unknown Number of "New Resu"
Demonym: Shikyun
Major Imports: Hyperdrive material and schematics, as well as ship material and schematics, as well as an influx in cybernetic technologies and arms.
Major Exports: Advanced electronics based off of liquid metallic hydrogen mined from the native gas giant.
Affiliation: Moross Crusade (Former), The Kathol Outback
Major Locations:
- [SIZE=9pt]The Tall Tower (Capital) - Once deemed the pinnacle of Resu architecture, the Tall Tower is the tallest standing tower beneath the roiling oceans of Resu, and once stood as the Capital of the Imperial Confederacy, the former government of the current Diaspora of Original Resu. It is now occupied by the Morossian Resu, with Stone Hermes acting as the only effective leadership aside from a number of Shikyun Queens (who were later experimented on, to form: The New Resu). It is unknown if that leadership is still in place Post-New Resu.[/SIZE]
- [SIZE=9pt]The First Converts Stronghold - To what the Tall Tower stands as the symbolic capital of the Morossian Resu, the First Converts Stronghold acts as the effective capital of the Morossian Resu who are loyal to Stone Hermes and stand by (even if begrudgingly) his experiments. It is unknown if this leadership is still in place Post-New Resu.[/SIZE]
- [SIZE=9pt]The Inquisition Stronghold - The effective 'capital', or headquarters for the Morossian Resu opposition against Stone Hermes experiments.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=9pt]Culture: [/SIZE]As a species, the Resu are highly communal, especially of their youth. Interestingly, offspring often share many of the basic thought patterns of their parents, and are almost identical to the siblings of their brood in terms of actual thought, to the point they may as well be a disjointed hive mind. This communal thinking using parental mental patterns is expanded with each generation under the merge of families in monogamous reproduction (polygamy and multiple broods often create less stable offspring, as a side note). However this expansion is checked by the constant struggle of sibling dominance, universally leading to the fatalities of the physically weaker among those who survived birth, in which the dominant feeds on their sibling's carcasses in order to maintain strength. This is a ritual only seen in the beginning stages of Resu life, and just after a mother hatches her young. Cannibalism isn't usually practiced but there are instances in which warfare between families does lead to these acts. At any rate, there is a cultural number of off-spring that mothers are allowed to birth at once, according to the number of moons, squared. They are biologically capable of giving birth to a maximum of 26 offspring at once, but psychologically the mother for reasons unknown proceeds to eat some of her young, culturally allowing only 11 to live. This is the first test of strength among the Resu; whichever 11 offspring that escaped their mothers jaws would live on to grow. Then the second cultural/biological test of strength occurs, the father returns from a hunt to feed his new children, but it is not a benevolent matter.
He regurgitates individual carcasses, but it is intentionally less than enough for the 11 survivors. This ritual usually calls for 5 carcasses, in which the 11 fight over. The five who best their siblings will survive to live on, hopefully into adulthood. The remaining six if they are not already dead will be ignored by both parents. If by some miracle one of these abandoned children survive and return to their parents in their teens, they will be welcomed as the most favored child, and undergo a strange bonding unfamiliar to the rest of the Galactic community. If such a child were to arise, a ritual that can only be described as a marriage takes place between the parents and the survivor. This is in no way sexual, but it binds the child and parents together permanently, and when the parents die all titles, allies, and territory then belonged to them is now to that child. This is unusual from their common culture due to the fact that inheritance is viewed as taboo, making for weak children unable to survive without their parents. In the case of two miracles, the siblings are the ones to decide who shall inherit their parent's domain as their own. This usually ends up with one of them dead, but there have been instances where the siblings share in mutual protection, and others where the domain is split between them. In the combat ritual of inheritance the dead member is ceremoniously burned in sacred thermal vents, the Resu equivalent of paying respects to the deceased.
Lastly, only a few of the five survive afterwards, succumbing to extreme punishment from their familial peers when an important rite-of-passage hunt is failed. The margins for failure however are less strained, a hunt can fail and the juvenile can go about living respectfully, as long as it is clear that the quarry is exceptionally difficult, and was unable to be caught before it reaches a safe area where the hunter can not reach. Another such situation, is when a certain prey is particularly dangerous, and draws the hunters blood before escaping. The true and utter failures are left to rot, with no hope of restoring their honor.
Initially when the offspring are born, they are without gender, but they are not hermaphrodite's, they simply grow into their gender upon entering adulthood. They 'choose' their gender depending on the male to female ration in the population, to fill certain needs. If for some reason though the populations are unbalanced, a biological change occurs in which two females can participate in Parthenogenesis and repopulate the area, allowing for 22 children to survive feeding, and then after they inherit the male part of parenting and bring them the carcasses. Only 10 to 12 offspring survive to repopulate in unbalanced populations per each female to female pairing. Also to be noted, inbreeding never occurs due to the communal (nearly hive) sentience offspring share with their siblings that allows for the impersonal fight for survival, fully aware of their siblings impending deaths. It never occurs because the siblings would never think of it, having the mentality that it would be like breeding with oneself, and all offspring giving family members are monogamous. All members of the race are monogamous except in times of population, or genetic crisis. However, it is to be noted that Queens and Empresses do sometimes practice polygamy. Lastly, an unrecorded event is slavery; it appears this race found no use of slaves, seeming as the entire race is one large militant force, perhaps slavery was impossible, and thus never discovered. This may be the reason for their genocidal responses to aggression, expecting the same response from other races that they are provoked by and invade.
When it comes to love and courting, mates can only be chosen from an allied family until both families are effectively the same (thus necessitating the need for a new allied family). To the individuals in courtship, the females are the ultimate deciders in a relationship. The males with the largest tusks, largest fins with the best song, the spiniest back, and the greatest heat get the mate that they swim around to court. Males posses the privilege of choosing who they court though, meaning a given female only gets to select a mate from suitors that are attracted to her; males look for females with the largest size, the most blubber on their underbelly's, warmest eggs, and largest claws tend to be the ones courted. Also, exceptionally fast females who create the most alluring mosaic of thermal heat trails to linger in the water, are regarded with incredible enthusiasm from the males, a trait more seducing than physical attraction. Females often race each other in the mating preseason, and show off for the males. Similarly, the males engage in duels, and sometimes larger brawls in which they ram each other with their tusks, and "scream" at one another electrically, sending females in a frenzy, although not quite as powerfully as the males sympathy for female races. Once they have mated however, their life is bond to each other, and it is rare that they produce offspring twice, even more rare is polygamy; only practiced during times of population crisis, and if a Resu is particularly important. However these important female Resu maintain a soul mate, whom she does not mate with after their first brood. This male counterpart would often be the "leader" of her domain however, leading her Nation under her specification, entitling him to a false sense of power.
During parthenogenetic female pairings, females search for females of a similar caliber to themselves as far as physical attraction, and will likely not pair again if the population crisis necessitating their pair is averted. Though a similar relationship closer to the standard idea of a single brood monogamous relationship can exist between two females. Though such a relationship does not seem to exist similarly for males with male partners, as the social interaction either does not exist, or is a taboo largely stomped out by extermination or exile.
In adulthood, all members of society are natural warriors requiring no training in warfare, as they grow up, and train through their natural process of life. Their true careers enter two specific fields, astrophysics which was discovered for their expansive purposes and curiosity of what lay 'beyond the ice' of their lunar home, or they go into advanced biology, being able to easily identify, and often cure disease that are found in nearly fallen warriors. Before adulthood, they learn a general overview of all the science's that they know, under the tutelage of Veterans, when they are not on a battlefront. They possess excellent underwater (obviously) surgeons, and doctors, along with incredible life saving medics on the battle front (cultural alternative route than compulsory military service).
Scientist/engineers don't often mingle with the warrior 'caste' due to their being older, more mature, than the younger more aggressive counterparts; they are referred to as Veterans, having already gone through the aggressive warfare of their youth to pursue intellectual studies. Warfare is for the young and the great, those in between or unsuccessful with mating become successful in a life of science. Despite their lack of modern weaponry, they have a vast arsenal of poisons, antidotes, and cures to various disease that they provide on a constant basis. In warfare, it is not taboo to fight a Veteran as they are experienced warriors, however, explicitly targeting Veterans is consider the greatest offense to civilization, and those who do are shunned by all surrounding families and/or nationalities, branding them as barbarians. At this they are then quickly overwhelmed by an invasion front from all directions. Veterans of barbarian families/nations are given the choice of assimilating into the conquering family/nationality or to be honorably killed in combat (this includes female scientist, as females were also bound by the Veteran rule and military service unanimously compulsory without statement). After the Veteran rule, becoming a scientist is not the only option anymore. With the colonization of new celestial bodies, astronauts, explorers, and now with the galactic community, early ambassadors were common careers.
That though was before the Morossian Contact Event, which virtually destroyed the entire culture of the Resu, wish an Infertility Plague threatened them with extinction, while the Morossian Resu held them hostage on Ysraka as a "breeding" population (converting Veterans into Morossian Resu after producing offspring, or they became to old to do so). Luckily, with the advent of the CybeResu, their cybernetic heroes with the assistance of the Underground in the Kathol Outback, they are attempting to flee the system and cure their disease to ensure the survival of the Resu race. The age of ambassadors is over, and only those who survive and endure will be able to decide how the Resu culture will move on from these tragic events.
Technology: In many areas, the species does not quite fit terms by outsiders that might deem them as 'primitive' or advanced. Due to their unique and wholly separate development path from most other known sentient species, they have a blend of technologies which ranged from simple melee weapons, to crude interplanetary spacecraft. They do not have such technologies, like projectile launchers or advanced artificial intelligence. To break down their 'level of technology', here is a list of things one would typically see within the civilization:
- "Tusk Swords" - Essentially metallic extensions of the Resu tusks for increased combat capability.
- "Speaking Orbs" - Crystal matrices which generate pre-programmed electrical frequency, that literally voice words to the Resu "reader".
- Electrical Field Disruption Mine - Used to scramble Resu natural communication capabilities, and disorientate Resu in the vicinity of these often anchored and floating mines.
- Thermal Towers - Large obsidian towers built over system of large thermal vents, which act as residential "skyscrapers", utilizing the heat energy of the moons lunar core as a power source.
- Trauma Foam - An organic substrate utilized to seal open wounds, and act as a medicinal accelerator for any desired chemical injected into the foam.
- Fungal Poison - A deadly toxin utilizing fungal compounds to send a Resu into an exhaustive insanity which attacks all everything insight until the body is physically worn to death, at which point spores will sprout of its head with a chance of infecting others. Antidotes do exist, but each family typically has their own strain to prevent curing the weapon.
- Crude Interplanetary Spacecraft - Although they no longer use rockets, their spacecraft are sub-par compared to the rest of the galaxy, especially since they lack any interstellar capabilities.
- Hatcheries - Advanced facilities which accelerate the growth patterns of many species for selective breeding processes being tested by the Resu. These were a recent development prior to the Morossian Contact Event.
- Metallic Liquid Hydrogen Extraction Factories - Blimps on the surface of their gas giant put down gigantic tethers designed for the atmospheric stress of the massive giant, which then extract the exotic degenerate mater for use in cold fusion reactors and high-functioning computers. The material itself was in the process of being commercially exported out of the system in exchange for other technologies, while the reactors and computers were recent developments not yet established across the civilization. After the Morossian Contact Event, these developments have stalled, and have not seen progress since. Though under Underground guidance, this feature could make the system a strategic attraction...
History:
Silicon Genesis
The Resu species began and evolved in the roiling subsurface oceans of the largest moon in the Realm of Resu, known as Shikyu. The moon was of almost planetary size at 7,268 kilometers in diameter with a global ocean frozen over by the harshness of space, seeming as it has little to no atmosphere. Its core is kept warm by tidal heating from the compression of the entire planet when it comes close to its Gas Giant in its oval orbit and its interaction with the many other moons the Resu civilization would some day inhabit. The resulting molten core often spewed out magma to the ocean floor, creating the necessary energy for the unique genesis of life on the moon. In the primordial soup that surrounded these extremely hot thermal vents, silicon and carbon cellular forerunners began to develop... though with the unusual excess of silicon "biomaterial", the ecology took a different turn to their genesis than of most all other life in the galaxy; the early primitive ecosystems were dominated by silicon life from the very beginning.At the time, these cellular organisms found energy in what to most other places would be considered exotic... but in the ocean of the ice moon, many of those energy sources were the only energy sources available. Taking nutrients directly from the crust of Shikyu's ocean floor, digesting bizarre chemical compounds spewed out of thermal vents, or absorbing thermal energy closest to the vents themselves; these name only a few of the manners that life took early in the history of Shikyu. At some point however, a very special kind of life mutated, and learned a new trick: the biological generation of molecular hydrogen though the breakdown of other components used for energy generation. Up till that point, molecular hydrogen did not exist in their oceans (which is to be expected given that it is a very light element which escape most atmospheres with the exception of gas giants or protostars), but from then on the microscopic organism seemed to thrive and absolutely dominate the ecology of Shikyu. Carbon life at that point, had a hard time competing against the suddenly super successful silicon life, and eventually tapered away with the increase of competition, until finally carbon-based life was all but non-existent. Though some carbon based bacteria do remain, they are a rare find.
As evolution continued, other milestones would be reached, complicated life would form which began to use the now plentiful hydrogen present in their waters, thanks to the nearly over abundant plant life nearest to the thermal vents. Thus begins the tale of how the primitive Resu began.
Civilization
Their modern civilization was only several thousand years old, estimated to have risen at about the time during the middle of the Great Hyperspace War. For the Resu though, War as we understand it, was always constant and never ending, even to this day. The only difference between then and now, is back then the Resu were organized and stratified much less. their history is marred by the countless battles conducted between the Great Families, and the many Lesser Families below them. Emperor's, and Lunar Empires were nonexistent, and would not come into fruition until much later in their history.The professions of that time fulfilled the same curiosities they posses today, from the curious Scouts and Explorers, to the intellectual biology interests undertaken by Healers, and researchers looking for remedies to disease. Magma was a useful tool to the Resu, especially when they learned of the particular properties of metals and how they were formed, giving rise to increasingly useful tools, allowing the conquest of Great Families to extend with even greater reach, until the first fledgling monarchies and Empires were formed. After many centuries of primitive warfare, with both moderate and extreme technological innovations which pervaded the biological, architectural, and electrical sciences, eventually the entirety of Shikyu was inevitably under the control of a militant hegemony, under the control of one singular Empire: the fledgling roots of the Imperial Confederacy.
Eventually, the scouts and explorers of this massive imperial commemorate of Families both Great and Lesser, as well as monarchies, would find that there is nothing left to explore, all the universe had been traversed... except for what lay above them. Of course, for many centuries of warfare, the territories of the Resu and their families increased ever more to the heavens, their deep fish physiology soon giving way to an adaptability of pressure. Inevitably, they discovered that the endless ocean... had a very distinct limit. After discovering the ice roof which encased their entire world, the insatiable curiosity of the Resu lead them to continuously mine their surface, digging ever deeper into the kilometers thick ice shell. Finally, the Resu had broken the confines of their watery world, and stepped into the cold unforgiving vacuum of space. Or they would have, if they had legs to step with, though the first ones to reach the surface undoubtedly died.
After decades of research, and constant maintenance of the dig sight (suffering from the tectonic shifts of the ice plates, adjustments were always needed to create a continuous path, in addition to the tendency for the ice to refreeze quickly), the Resu began to design metallic suits which housed a miniature environment for an individual. Luckily, their designs were adequate, and they survived the harshness of space... to be exposed to the dwarfing beauty of the infrared radiation of the Realm in which the Resu lived, as well as the star which they orbited, and the innumerable swirls of light dotting the entire sky. It was as if, the sky was its own ocean, truly without definable limit. They had entered a new era.
Lunar Empires
With the reduced gravity of a lunar body, and and the insatiable curiosity of the Resu, innumerable measurements of their local system were produced before finally a module worthy of achieving escape velocity was constructed. Under the allowance of the Shikyun Emperor (and the Shikyun Empress he belonged to), a number of Great Families were allowed the privilege of pioneering what was considered, "The Deep Dive". Some members of the Great Family obviously fell into the pull of the Realm, and vanished forever beneath its oppressive clouds. Others, never reached their calculated destinations, overshooting to whip around the entire Realm, and launched into corners of the galaxy unseen. Yet a lucky few, managed to survive the ordeal, and land on a new moon...... so few were prepared for the possibility that these other bodies were lacking in water, and many died to "hypoxia" once their hydrogen distilleries ran dry, or from starvation from a lack sufficient food supply. To put it bluntly, hundreds died needlessly as the Resu tireless perfected their system through trial and error. There was little emotion shed for those lost, the Resu were used to loss and knew with each failure they had done their race an honor. Sacrifice in the name of their race was foremost the most desirable death a Resu might ask for, though only if it produces the progress necessary to push the race forward.
As they learned more about their system with its innumerable moons within the influence of the Realm, eventually the Resu were able to determine what moons had liquid water, or if failing that, a sufficiently sized moon from which they could burrow into and fill with their necessary liquids and distilled gases.
After countless centuries, they had settled the entire realm, and the wars between them never ceased, the colonies all fighting over control of Shikyu as the Grand Emperor, and forming agendas in their Parliament all the while fending off their rivals and adversaries. To chronically that ancient history of the Resu is to step into a madness only they seem capable of comprehending: despite their warrior culture, their politics are more complicated than most would expect.
Then, the "Other" arrived.
The "Other"
The "Other" is best described to other Resu, in the following:
"It seemed to glide across the surface of the ice, like a Tall Tower, but with limbs that behaved as the crustacean do. Only two limbs seemed to support the frail looking body, whose heat was damped by a suit similar to our own used beyond the surface, nonetheless they seemed very cold. Frighteningly, whenever they moved it was almost as if gravity did not act on them, essentially swimming through space not at all dissimilar to the manner which we move through our waters... but with an eerie stillness of the body no Resu could replicate in water. Further frightening... this being, did not recoil from us, until we in our surprise attacked it. It seemed to retreat to a vessel of some sort, though we did not allow it to flee alive. Examining the ship, we could not comprehend how the being had lived on such a vessel. Water was not present, though a minimal amount of pressure was... at least temporarily. The to our bodies horror, all who entered seemed to feel crushed into the floor, and death was feared for those who prolonged the exposure. Nothing indicated the technology belonged to a living being." - An anecdote of a Resu's thoughts concerning a near-human landing on the surface of Shikyu, if said Resu was capable of saying all of that in perfect unabridged basic.
To non-Resu, the anecdote perfectly described THE first contact of the Resu. A humanoid, who is likely the one to have named the various moons of the system to fellow compatriots, as well as the species themselves, before tragically being attacked by the Resu, whose aggression likely caused a failure of his life support suit, killing him nearly instantly in the near-vacuum surrounding Shikyu. All mention of the noble explorers who stumbled upon this Resu Lunar Homeworld, seemed to have gone quite, missing, or dead. Their ship however, despite being laden with Resu tampering, is likely to hold most if not all the information of those tragic explorers. However, after they died, a different sort of tragedy took place which might have changed the Resu forever... as the galaxy so often has.
The Resu in their insatiably curiosity attempted to discover as much as they could of the alien vessel, eventually indirectly discovering some of the controls around the ship through trial and error. Many mistakes were made, but luckily their situation never worsened too gravely given their innate sense of electricity, giving them clues which allowed them to reverse engineer their mistake, and correct it before it grew too large a problem. It would be quite some time and incredible amount of research until they finally learned of how to pilot the ship, which influenced how they created their life suits. Inspired (though perplexed) by the seeming ease by which the "Other" had glided across the ice with only the use of two limbs touching the surface, drove them to discover how to walk mechanically. Soon then electrically commanded legs were found to be standard among many life suits, though usually regarded as a "Pilot-Suit" for many generations until the most recent era, given that one wearing a legged life support suit was likely one who operated the mysterious machinery of the alien vessel.
They modified much of the original design, and reverse engineered as much of the ship that was no longer rendered inoperable but their incessant curiosity of its inner workings. Some of these design changes seemed to be more aesthetic than truly useful, such as seating arrangements that more suited the Resu in place of those dedicated to the smaller humanoids, who possessed no tails to be concerned about. Though gradually, some changes were functional, such as the introduction of the Resu-Specific Life Support System, which filled the water proofed deck with hydrogenated water. In addition, the original cargo bay the ship was re-outfitted into a micro-ecosystem to support their food supply on longer voyages, considering that the ship's sub-light systems were far faster than any Resu technology. In addition, the advanced technology seemed to open up the Resu's "eyes", as it were, to other advanced technologies and resources. Most notably, it brought them means necessary to create special refineries capable of extracting resources directly out of their gas giant... until they discovered the metallic liquid hydrogen hidden beneath the raging storms of their massive gas giant.
There was one apparatus on the Other's vessel however, that they could find no use for, and did not understand: the Hyperdrive. Opting to remove it entirely (likely for further study elsewhere, where it wasn't weighing down on the ships energy supply (upgraded through the use of Resu Super-conductive electronics). Unfortunately, fate had other plans, and the Resu on-board the ship would accidentally activate the Hyperdrive, sending it on a pre-programmed course all the way to Corellia for reasons no one has been able to determine.
This is how the Resu were discovered, in a dismembered and mutilated freighter ship whose original design could not be identified due to the Resu "modifications", along with it being completely filled with water, and any exterior holes in the hull were covered with ice. The ship it seemed, had blasted off into hyperspace before exhausting the rest of its energy and dying in Corellia. This then forced the Corellian government to meticulously study the mysterious ghost vessel and its contents until they had a vague understanding of what was inside of it, given it did not respond to signalling, did not project a distress signal, and made no other motions upon entering the system. It would take several years after discovering an unidentified life force was on board, to determine how best to contact them... though by the time they had come up with a plan, many of the original Resu who had "piloted" the freighter had already died off and produced children, possessing no hope of returning home. The same rituals that had been preformed on Shikyu were similarly preformed on the ship, and they taught the survivors everything they knew, possessing no community for their children to learn from, effectively stunting their mental growth. Anything they weren't able to pass on to their offspring, was all but lost to them, except for the few meager book records they had brought along. The humans had implanted many devices all over the craft in order to discover their communication, once it was clear that audio transmission seemed to have no effect, and direct contact was impossible given their reduced gravity making impossible for them to tow the ship planet-side, and many of the hatches to enter the ship were ice up and pressurized with water. In addition, they were worried the ship was a remnant of the Four Hundred Year Darkness, likely possessing the Gulag Plague, thus their caution was understandable.
The first decade they tried tireless to discern any kind of language being communicated behind the silent walls. It would take years within that decade to discover they instead communicated through electricity, and electromagnetic frequencies, which took almost half a decade in which to interpret in the most basic manner. Eventually, the Corellians found a way to make first contact, allowing an almost literal flood of information to pass between the two. Eventually the ship was escorted back to the last recorded coordinates of the vessel, where they were finally brought back home after nearly two decades of being away. Although the pilots of the cursed ship died away, their children were left behind to continue their lost legacy... though they would forever be unable to leave their "home" seeing the universe was too large for them to handle. So the ship was left alone to be ignored, and left to its own devices. It is said that the ship remains in the system still, confined to a secluded area of space Resu would dare venture, for fear of something "Else".
As for the Corellians, who discovered the language of the aliens (vaguely), they were able to communicate and provide refined hyperdrives for the Resu to use. Soon the Imperial Confederacy had a Corellian ally, importing hyperdrive and custom order ships along with translators, and exporting their pressurize liquid metallic hydrogen, an excellent super conductor that is being experimented with today in order to make a faster processing computer for ships and droids alike across the galaxy. The sight of an ambassador Resu had been excitement to many in the know across the galaxy, a new race with an interestingly exotic charm, with strange technologies.
That though, was the past...
The Morossian Contact Event
A civilization that has stood for centuries is driven into apocalypse at the coming of an alien threat- The Moross Crusade. It all started with a wandering Morossian ship harboring within it the founding "God" of Moross, Aesir Neth ([member="Soliael Devin Talith"]). He from that distance had felt the disturbance of roiling life within the system that contained the Resu, and intrigued by their presence entered, he the system, but no sooner had he enter, had the excitable and aggressive Resu began to signal the foreign ship.
For the past several years after the Resu made contact with Corellia, they began to redouble their research into sensors, pointing them at the sky in the hopes of determining what civilizations were out there. They discovered the interplanetary chatter between the Republic worlds hundreds of lightyears away, still in the infancy of their new civilization in the wake of the 400 Year Darkness. Even farther, they discovered the horrified distress of the worlds under the conquest of the early Sith Empire newly arisen to terrorize a galaxy fresh from their bleak memories of the Darkness. So many other communities all so far away from the Resu... until the looked closer to the stars surrounding them. They were surrounded by a community themselves, and that frightened the Resu... threatened them. Relying on their instincts, their aggression grew to a point any ship that happened to fall into their system, was spotted, questioned, and usually boarded. What happened to those poor unfortunate souls after that should be obvious, given the capital nature of the typical Resu punishment.
A heated discussion between the Grand Emperor and several of his aids with their apprentices, could not decide how to respond to a creature that seemed to promise some divinity towards them. It appalled the Grand Emperor the prospect of alien religion, determining for certain it was a work of vile deceit, an art Resu are shamed for in disdain of the dishonorable deeds it implies. The response to this claim of divinity was ultimately decided by the wisdom of a young cripple, known as Stone Hermes. A hero and early Veteran of war due to his grievous debilitating injuries. He reasoned that the aliens trusted their eyes more than their blood, and because the Resu were born in the absence of light, then their darkness would show the aliens the enemies they would be making out of the Resu if they meant ill. History was made, as an ambassador convoy was dispatch to meet with the dignitary of the alien vessel.
The Resu represented their race, with several in life support suits, but notably two within specialized tanks of water allowing the aliens to witness the naked form of the Resu. When Neth asked permission to demonstrate the faith of Moross to them, it was the unlikely Stone Hermes to whom a decision that would change an entire civilization over night, would fall. Stuck between two dreadful choices, exile for his lack of cooperation with the alien dignitary out of fear of death, or render his life forfeit to the mercy of the supposed "god", that would undoubtedly lead his civilization either to preservation... or utter destruction.
As many of his kind would have chosen, Stone Hermes forwent the choice of becoming an exile, a fate to him worse than sealing the fate of his race to extinction. Thus, the cripple stepped forward submitting to whatever power Neth possessed, manipulated by the Aesir control of the techno-virus, physically changing the body in the shell it was contained in until he became unrecognizable to even himself. The Resu was reborn into the First Convert, a creature of the deep and now a creature of steel. The life support suit he had relied on to even meet with the Morossian living deity, shrunk around his body and pierced through it as it infected his bowels along with very nearly all his living tissue. The Blade of Moross grew from the very flesh of his new metallic hands, a sensation to even have hands foreign, until now. The head that had contained his gills from the poisonous atmosphere ripped itself apart and formed a new jagged maw which would serve as the beasts mouth, and his tusks grew and protruded from the jaw as curved pointed metal poles. His entire body arced with electricity as the spines on his back erupted from his new metallic form. Silicon flesh merged with his new steel carapace, and the tanks of hydrogen keeping him alive merged with his gills, holding metals vessels of water to hydrate the inner skin of this new abominable hybrid of flesh and metal. Skin and bone as strong as durasteel, an electrical voice that could kill, and a blade that would be bloodied in the name of Moross and its infectious virus.
Quickly the mind of Stone Hermes became deranged with the need to swing the blade of Moross upon the flesh of his own kind, and so quickly the others of the assembly had become in the image Neth and the Force had chosen for them. Neth was proclaimed the One True God (before they learned of others, and even after such a revelation he was claimed the Truest One), and a new war was fought between the kin of Resu: The New Blades of Moross, and The Old Tusks of Resu. The waters of Resu were turned silver, the color of Resu blood, should that have mattered to them. But few Resu truly died, as the blades of Moross did not often slice through the water to kill his kin, but to graze him, wound him so that the bloods taste of the alchemical metal would boil it to change, forcing a metamorphosis into the image of the blade and its wielder. The more the Resu fought, the more they converted to what they had been fighting against. Not all Resu reacted to the virus uniformly however, and there were some Infected Resu who maintained their sympathy for the old ways. The fight continued on, but the civilization of Resu that had been was no more, the confederacy they had created in the alliance empires had been eradicated. The small community that remains now has been left to be preserved, as the Morossian soon realized, mating had become difficult for them in this mechanical form, as well as they had formed a sympathy for their ancestors. They felt guilt towards the destruction of their own, they realized they had forgotten who they were beneath their metal skin. The last uninfected Resu swam in confinement upon the "sister homeworld" Ysraka, to remain there forever, and to breed more Resu for the Moross Crusade.
Return of an Exile
Iron Giant was a Resu, crippled since birth, but resilient enough to survive on her own after an early childhood divergence from her brood (effectively becoming an individual which comprehend her situation). That same resilience was a form of intelligence few other Resu had at her age, and while she did fight for a solid year... eventually she was pushed into a support position where her brilliance shined as a weaponsmith. Though like all those who carry a significant enough intelligence, endlessly churning out metal tusks was a repetitive task she began to loath. She refused her duties as a weaponsmith, and for her divergence from the unspoken laws and traditions of the Resu, she was banished. A fate worse than death, she was no longer considered Resu.Where most Resu would confine themselves to death, or take their own life... Iron Giant had proven since the moment she was born, she would be different. She survived, stowing away on a foreign ship which landed her in the hands of the South Systems Syndicate who, not to her knowledge, took advantage of her. They put her into a metal suit of armor, which was more of a vehicle or droid than a true life support suit (because it had been intended to be a droid), and she became the first Resu Mercenary: The Iron Giant. Eventually the SSS collapsed, and Iron Giant was left alone, until discovering the Vagrant Fleet. It was a fleet of ships all carrying the misfits, outcasts, and exiles of the galaxy, all finding a place among themselves. At one point, the exiled Resu met with @Jorus Merril, who adeptly understood her enough to work with her. For him, she assisted in the creation of a new weapon suiting to his character, and for her, he compiled the components necessary for her to posses an interpreter, instructor, and friend in the little droid known as C.O.M.O.. Feeling indebted to him, for many years she served on his ship and beside it as one of his crew, even after the Vagrant Fleet finally disbanded. Eventually, she would hear the rumors surrounding her home, rumors of the Moross Crusade and their new batch of elite alien warriors... from the Realm of Resu.
She left Jorus, though not because she did not wish to stay... rather it was to her continuing loyalty to the Resu, even though they had shunned her in exile. She needed to find out for herself what had happened, and as she was confronted by fleeing Veterans... she learned the incomprehensible, horrifying truth. The Resu had been effectively destroyed, leaving in its wake only the abominations of the Moross Crusade and their "gods'. This was also when she learned the treachery of the South Systems Syndicate. The 'suit' they had put her in, had been the beginning of a droid they were attempting to developed, which required an advanced artificial intelligence to become threat worthy, to allow them to contended the forces more orderly governments would use to stop their criminal influence... though lacking the resources for such an endeavor, settled for live bait which had flopped into their greedy hands. Disturbed by this revelation, she used her resources and intimate knowledge of her own people, to cybernetically enhance those refugees who had found her. She would not allow them to face the fate she had know, and would not allow the to face the fate they had fled from. The CybeResu had been created, and the beginning of their operation to free her people from the tyranny of disease began.
Eventually, after the fall of the Moross Crusade, and the long silence in the system that follow... Iron Giant had reached out to her former contact - Jorus Merill. Requesting his help, it eventually resulted in the Underground present in the Kathol Outback to organize a new mission to contact the Resu. The threat since the fall of the Moross Crusade, had grown since the CybeResu had formed. New experiments were taking place, and the Resu had never been more at war... more at threat with extinction. The Original Resu were endangered and plagued with an infertility they could not find the origin of or cure, while the Moross Crusade tyrannically fought its own against an insurgency among their own kind over the solution to their own cybernetic infertility, while the highest echelons of their leadership experimented with forbidden technology to create a new abomination unmatched by anything else in the galaxy. It was all the CybeResu could do to rescue small numbers of the Original Resu from the reservation the Morossian's had created on Ysraka.
It was not until [member="Neelig Waawat"], [member="Bryce Bantam"], and their entourage of Kathol Tech students to establish "First Contact", and uncover an insidious plot surrounding the plagues of the Resu. Attempting to find a cure, the two forces now work to assist the CybeResu and their Original people exodus out of the Realm of Resu to a form of safety, while abominable creatures raged within the bloody oceans of Shikyu.
Notable PCs: Silver Sentinel (Defunct), [member="Stone Hermes"]
Intent: To expand on the Realm of Resu with extensive lore.
Links:
NOTE: Some of the things mentioned in here, while canonical to the Resu's story, have yet to be submitted as only three submissions may be open at a time, and both the Resu and Realm of Resu are currently opened for editing purposes. As such, it is ask that if there are any issues concerning the existence of the "New Resu" be overlooked until such a time that the "New Resu" are submitted and reviewed independent of this submission.
