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The Ae'thair are not of the Prime Galaxy. They came to the Prime Galaxy in seach of mana which is their primary power source and gives them powers which are considered magic by even the technologically advanced rages in the Galaxy. In their search for mana they encountered and fought the Elder. After using much of their mana for little gain, the Ae'thair move with stealth and secrecy instead of open warefare to complete their objective.
Social Structure
The Ae'thair are strongly divided into two camps, that of the Military and Priestesshood, and even a little more along gender lines as the Priestesshood is soley in the domain of the females of the race, making females in the military not fully trusted.
The sharp division of the population resulted from the Ae'thairs wars against the other races in its galaxy and the Sah'Villi's command to invade the Prime Galaxy. The Ae'thair, for its long history, has never had a extended time of peace and is acustomed to conflict against external threats.
The Ae'thair family unit is a strange mix of Matriarch- and Patriarchism. In matters of religion the female rules, while in most other cases it is the male who sets the direction. The gender of the childre is another heavy influence on which parent has the most control over the family. The more daughters, the more power the mother has, and vice versa for sons.
The division has never caused internal conflict or tension however, as the Ae'thair are very superstitious and subserveint to the Priestesses.
Society is run by a Diet of planetary and colony leaders who convene on the Ae'thair home world. The Sah'Villi is also a member of the Diet but rarely involves herself in such domestic matters. When she does appear at a meeting, it is considered a poweful omen, whether good or bad will be known whe she speaks.
Religion
The Ae'thair have a single Religion which is dominted by the females of the race. The chief Priestess is called the Sah'Villi and provides guidance for the Ae'thair and invididuals by conducting sacrificial augurs. The sacrifice is dependant on the type of augury being conducted. When an individual or small number of Ae'thair request an augur from the Sah'Villi the sacrifice will be a small animal. For matters of importance, a large animal, beast or captive is sacrificed. In the case of the augur which prompted the Ae'thair to invade the Prime Galaxy, the Sah'Villi conducted a sacrifice of forty victims - beasts and captives - with only a knife and in great perile to her own life.
The Ae'thair are devoted to their religion and follow the Sah'Villi's ommands as if they were law. The religion is very omen and superstition based, and Ae'thair form all walks of life wear talismans and specially crafted mana crystals for luck and to ward off misfortune.
The structure of the religion places the Sah'Villi at the head, she is served and protected by the Valkyries, an elite force of female Acolytes trained in combat. Next come the Priestesses. From the ranks of the Priestesses the Sah'Villi will choose her successor and train her in the role of being the Sah'Villi. The Priestesses are located throughout the Ae'thair worlds, there is at least one for every community and large communities have a dozen or more in the Temples. Below the Priestesses are the Acolytes who do the minor functions, administration work and other duties for the Priestesses. Finally there are Novices, young Ae'thair females who have been picked out of sponsored by families to join the Priestesshood and increase the stature of the family.
There are no male Ae'thair involved in religious activities in any way. The origins of the Priestesshood came about when the Ae'thair were fighting a war with a now dead race in their galaxy. The male population was involved in the fighting, leaving the females to continue and develop the Ae'thair society. A strong willed female made herself the first Sah'Villi and created the religion which was firmly entrenched by the time the war was over. The male population, tired of conflict, let themselves accept the first Sah'Villi's demands and the Priestesshood became an institutional religion that has had no competition.
Many males in the military however (which is still dominated by males) do not trust the Priestesshood but are fearfull of the Sah'Villi's power and do not speak out against her for fear of their lives.
Technology
Ae'thair technology is heavily based on mana. The power source is used for weapons systems and propulsion. Without it, or devices that do not use mana, while advanced, are only of moderate capability and are insignificant when compared to mana powered devices. Ae'thair equipment and weapons are extemely stylised, thin long and curved with few angles.
The increasing scarcity of mana deposits has caused a major shift in technological direction for the Ae'thair. Scientists are struggle to find alternative power sources or a way of synthesising mana from other elements. Und the command of the Ae'thair, most mana is devoted to the effort in the Prime Galaxy which has caused a substantial drop in living standards in their own worlds.
Military
The military is dominated by the males of the race, who have for the nine thousand years of Ae'thair civilisation, been fighting wars against the other races in their galaxy. There are many females in the military, but they are held in suspision as being agents of the Priestesshood and do not hold high rank.
The might of the military is, more than other aspects of Ae'thair life, heavily dependant on mana for its success. Mana powers the weapons and drives of their sleek warships. Without it, the Ae'thair are vunerable and posses low grade inefficient combat systems.
The military is highly regimented and follows a strong chain of command that is highly respected. Officers get their place through actions and deeds and constantly strive to out do each other for promotions and larger commands.
The Ae'thair navy maintains three standard ship types; the Schooner, a small but fast scout ship; the Cataracts, the most common vessel which is well armed; and the large Penteres dreadnoughts which burn a mana stone a day when on minimal power consumption. All three classes carry fighters which are quite deadly when using their mana powered weapons.
Ground forces are uniformly equiped with a tough armour, a large shield which houses most of the warriors medical and life support equipment, and a helmet full of communications and visual sensor devices. For weapons they carry a long spear which can fire either a standard laser bolt, or a mana enhanced shot. The shield is capable of deflecting a standard bolt but even Ae'thair defensive technologies have yet to provide adequate defense against mana enhanced weapons.
The Sah'Villi has her own elite bodyguard unit called the Valkyries. They are armed similar to the typical warrior but with more mana and finer equipment. They are also more mobile being all female and using their wings to fly short distances.
Habitate & Physiology
The Ae'thair originated from a mountainous world, tall thin spires that rose thousands of meters into the sky and created deep thin valleys and chasms below. Even so, their world was a warm one, close to a large sun that heated the air inbetween the spires although in the deep valleys it was bitterly cold and covered in ice and snow. In the role of hunter-gatherers, the males went into the deep chasms and over the tens of thousands of years through evolution lost their wings in favour for strength and resistance against the elements while the females retained their wings and need for a open warm climate.
The civilisation of the Ae'thair, strong in technology and advanced in knowlege has seen females catch up to their males while retaining their wings, a prominate cause of their control over the Ae'their society. They still prefer warm worlds and rarely occupy cold ones unless strategically important.
Architecture is open, with great use of arches and spires in buildings, replacing the mountain home of their civilisation. Corners are rarely used, mostly in militant buildings, corners being preferred to represent flight and continiouance.
Ae'thair are bidepal and look exactly as humans externally - the only difference being females when their wings are unfurled. Internally, the bone structure is the same although bones are lighter and thus easier to damage and break. The heart, small but very efficient and strong, along with other major organs are located above the hips at the small of the back, well protected by bone and tough muscle. The region of the shoulder blades are taken up by the wings, for males the area is just additional muscle and bone that otherwise has no function.
The Ae'thair are guite gracefull and a considerable portion of their population is ambidextorous. Skin tones range from pale white to light tans, eyes are usually blue, green being favoured and darker colours and hues unheard of. Hair colour is much the same, blue, aqua and green with purple rare and prized. Hence, green eyed purpled haired Ae'thair are considered lucky and will become very successful in life. The Sah'Villi has brilliant green eyes and aqua hair.
While these are the natural colours of the race, a full spectrum is used in daily life for clothing, design and construction. Ae'thair design is quite colourfull, using a large number of colours in swirls to represent air currents and thermals, and emotions.
Personalties
- Sah'Villi
- Vilnius
- Kilistra
