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The Kuhneebo Conglomerate, commonly referred to as the Kongo, is an interstellar nation of galactic travelers who originate from the planet Zeconis and is mostly populated by the kuhneebo species. Despite only having two planets in two star systems, it is the most widespread nation in the galaxy due to the majority of its population living in city spaceships known as arks.
This galactic nation is corporate congress consisting of the nation-firms of Zeconis and Corrilia that represents the needs of their people, as well as their species as a whole, in the greater galaxy. Although the Kuhneebo Conglomerate was not officially formed until the 24th century, the term itself is used to refer to the sum total of the corporations of Zeconis and Corrilia for convenience.
People[]
The kuhneebo is the species native to Zeconis
The Kuhneebo Conglomerate is near-exclusively populated by the Kuhneebo people, as well as being the representative of the entire species. Due to the stark living differences between the kuhn and the other species of the galaxy, there are very few opportunities for permanent immigration or emigration. The heat, weight, lack of light, and toxic air makes living in the Conglomerate a nigh-impossibility for most other races, with only pet-safe sections of Arks being remotely suitable for most carbon-based species. While adults are capable of living abroad, the inability to successfully reproduce in low-alcohol, low-gravity, carbon-based environments causes long-term prospects to be minimal. This is often cited as a reason for why the kuhneebo push for other nations to expand, as while they reap the trade benefits of having relations with more worlds, they are unable to populate them anywhere close to the degree that humans, knotarians, snailians, and other species are capable of.
History[]
Early History[]
The Kuhneebo hail from the planet Zeconis. The trees of Zeconis grow tall and wide, often being kilometers in diameter as well as height, leading to the establishment of villages, towns, or even entire cities built into their wood. Due to a low abundance of bronze, iron, and similar metals, technology remained at a veritable standstill for thousands of years, with wood and stone being the technology of the era. Martial cultures dominated, and empires were razed and rebuilt hundreds of times. After the Wood Age came the Stone Age, when Kuhneebokind began to learn the secrets of manipulating rocks to their needs. Previously only used as arrowheads, slingshot rounds, tool heads, and blunt objects, advanced stoneworking began to expand the role of stone and made wood nigh-obsolete.
With this new requirement for technology, the role of crafters and thinkers expanded as well. In most ancient Kuhneebo religions, glory and honor through battle were held paramount to all else. An individual who did not fight for their people was seen as a coward. But with the advantage that stoneworking held over woodworking, many cultures began to realize that they could not afford to risk their limited number of experienced tradespeople as if they were common soldiers. Over time, the idea of glory and honor from battle was supplemented with the idea of glory and honor in the services one could do for their people, be it fighting or making weapons. This idea gradually grew to encompass newer fields of technology every few hundred years and the Kuhneebo were finally able to advance further, reaching the industrial age within a few thousand years.
Industrialization[]
With industrialization, the desperate need to have a technical advantage over their enemies grew tremendously for centuries. Once nuclear weaponry had been created, Zeconis entered into a cold war state for nearly a millennium. At first, total annihilation seemed likely. After a few centuries, all of the smaller nations were either annexed or grew too strong to easily manipulate, which cut down on proxy wars and opportunities to test military technologies against each other. As a result, the world found itself in an awkward state of false peace, and international competition was now focused on science and engineering achievements. Even shows of force between nations diminished as one international treaty after another was reluctantly signed. Eventually, with global annihilation so accessible, the nations resigned themselves to focusing on other means of competition - namely, economics. The military was and would always be a strong focus, as their size and readiness reflect the strength of a nation to support and finance their infrastructure, but there were few ways left to show dominance without risking mutual destruction. This focus lead to corporations becoming stronger and stronger until they could match the power of the governments themselves, and they in turn became the new governments of the planet.
Space Age[]
With economic and scientific progress being the new focus, eventually the nations of Zeconis shifted their efforts to colonizing space. For decades they searched for planets that were possibly habitable, turning up nothing. Some nations began to take to creating spaceship cities, called Arks, to ease their population issues. The Arks could sustain millions of individuals while exploring the galaxy for a habitable planet. Eventually, several spy agencies for other nations discovered that some of Corrilia's Arks had found a suitable planet several years before, and had secretly begun to colonize and terraform it.
Corrilian War[]
As a result, the first true war in centuries was fought for ownership of the new planet. Corrilia had too much of a head start, and was dug in too deeply to be kicked off the planet. However, their nation struggled to maintain itself and the colony, losing land on Zeconis to fortify Corrilia, and eventually a treaty was signed. Corrilia gave up its land on Zeconis, to be split between all the nations, in exchange for uncontested rights to the new colony, now named Corrilia, and hostilities ended. Once again the Kuhneebo were at peace.
Galactic Expansion[]
Several decades later, after they had failed to find another planet after Corrilia, one of the Arks sought to explore a system that had a yellow dwarf rather than a red giant. It was a longshot attempt to see if the theory that such systems could sustain life had planets they could possibly colonize. There were none. After a few more years of searching, an Ark from Zeconis jumped into a yellow dwarf system, and much to their surprise, found it occupied by the Knotarian peoples. Over the next few hundred years, the Kuhneebo established themselves as laborers and traders who wandered the entire galaxy.
Knotarian Imperialism[]
After first discovering the Knotarians, the Conglomerate began a corporate domination of Knotarian trade for centuries during the Dairy Wars, which would finally end with the Galactic Dark Age and Flare in the North.
Human Discovery[]
The Conglomerate first discovered and established contact with Earth in 2261, creating trade relations for technologies and resources that would be used to make the first human FTL drive in 2270, while unintentionally serving as a catalyst for the Grexian Empire. For the next several centuries, the Kuhneebo would trade with the various human nations that would rise and fall, and enjoyed a great profit from their dealings.
Post-Dark Age[]
Following the Galactic Dark Age, the Kuhneebo were not spared the rampant warmongering common to the other nations at the time. A few corporations attempted to continue the decreasingly-profitable policies of the Diary Wars, resulting in the Flare in the North. Later, the entire nation fought in the First War of Confederate Aggression.
Government[]
The Conglomerate[]
The Kuhneebo do not have a unified government, instead being made up of many nations - though the one unifying aspect of the Kuhneebo nations is that they are in actuality corporations. Cities, towns, and the like do not exist, instead they are branches, divisions, and other forms of subsidiaries, giving them a more business-like structure. Zeconis consists of five major nations and several smaller ones, and although they have peace treaties between themselves, they compete fiercely in the galactic stage economically. However, because of various religious desires to be able to travel to the homeworld, the planet Corrilia is not considered an independent civilization, instead agreeing to be part of the Conglomerate and helping to promote the needs of the Kuhneebo on the galactic stage. Thus, while independent rather than unified, for the purposes of peace and the Galactic Nations, the nations of the Kuhneebo have an international Corporate Congress of representatives from all the nations, similar to the United Nations on Earth. From this Conglomerate, decisions that effect the businesses of their entire race are made, such as electing their Galactic Nations ambassador.
Nations[]
With many different internal nations, the exact style of government of each one changes from country to country, but there are some similarities between them all. Simales have the strongest rights and legal protections in most nations, with males slightly behind them, and females tending to have limited rights in most countries. Generally, only a little more than a half of females at any one time actually meet all of the requirements for full citizenship. One of the universal methods of gaining full citizenship rights for females, and the one that is almost exclusively used, is military service. In democratic countries it gives them the right to vote (known as being a shareholder), and in other forms of government gives them the right to do things such as own land. Voting is not seen as an inalienable right, and in the democracies it means that the females who vote tend to be ones who are loyal to the state. In kingdoms and empires and the like, citizens of all kinds are considered to be employees. The reason this is used by all nations is that it serves as a useful way to always make sure the armed forces are of sufficient size without having to resort to mandatory conscription to sustain their Cold War state.
With dozens of nations, there are numerous types of government for the individual states. Corrilia, while originally a single democratic nation, after so many years of each state growing has turned into what is effectively a confederation rather than a federation.
Foreign Relations[]
As a strong trade nation, the Conglomerate has numerous trade agreements with the majority of nations in the Known Galaxy. The establishment of turbolanes to facilitate trade, as well as the creation of GAFTA, allows for improved trade with the rest of the galaxy. The Kongo has very little objection to selling weapons to foreign states, and exports massive quantities of weapons to the Levant, Kingdom of Knotar, and Bolaemia Bureaucracy. Additionally, their transportation services are employed by the Verandi Empire, United Stars, and Triple Alliance to sell their military equipment across the galaxy using Kongolese turbolanes.
Kingdom of Knotar[]
For the first several centuries of their contact, the Conglomerate exploited the knotarian planets economically, using their advertising campaigns to play the various governmental factions of the knotarians against each other, though the Galactic Dark Age finally put an end to their interference. Over the course of hundreds of years, relations became less tenuous.
United Stars[]
Though initially adversaries, over time both nations began to work more closely due to their inclinations for trade. In the aftermath of the Far Space War, it was the Kongolese arks that were used to deliver the newly-developed Eluril drives to the rest of the galaxy.
Military[]
Policy[]
Because of the unique vulnerability of the Arks, the Kuhneebo are reluctant to take military action and frequently speak against hostilities to the Galactic Nations. They hold a position of strict neutrality when it comes to galactic politics. However, due to the various nations of the Kuhneebo that exist in place of a unified government, they have a Cold War mentality to military strength that focuses on displays of strength despite rarely seeing actual combat. They have a larger per-capita reserve force than most standard nations, but tend to have a smaller "professional" army. Roughly 1% of their population is considered active duty in the military, and they spend approximately 1.4% of their GDP on the military.
Armed Forces[]
The military is almost exclusively female for combat forces, with males and Simales only serving in non-infantry roles. Males in particular tend to have a disproportionately higher representation in the bridge crew of starships, as their brain, developed for flight, makes them ideal for quick-thinking in that role. Citizens who live on Arks and join the military are still technically in the military of their nation, and gain the benefits that come from that status, but serve in a role more akin to national guard and military police. The Buried Legions offer employment and opportunity for all citizens, and are never lacking for recruits.
Space Fleet[]
Space combat has a lack of energy weapons and shielding, instead relying on armor, kinetic weaponry, missiles, and fighters. Large capital ship guns can further improve weapon effectiveness by firing rounds that are able to maintain their shape while being superheated, firing the closest thing the Kuhneebo have to a capital ship energy weapon. Despite their lack of shielding, their ships are made with non-metal armor in a manner that makes them thrice as effective against energy or thermal weapons, but only marginally stronger against conventional weaponry.
Their navy is built for peacekeeping rather than aggressive action against other galactic states. It consists of only a few dozen FTL capital ships that are used to patrol and defend sectors: enough to deal with patrolling for local pirate and mercenary threats, but incredibly small in comparison to other active navies, and not enough to initiate a war. Many of their space navies rely on converting purchased trading vessels into light patrol and scout craft, as building their own ships for that duty is prohibitively expensive.
[]
Another difference they have from most nations is their strong investment in blue-water navies, land armies, and air force, who serve not on enemy worlds, but on their own planets. All of the nations of Zeconis still utilize aircraft carriers, battleships, fighter jets, tanks, and the like in large scale on their planets. They are mostly for show in the modern age, as no nation wishes to be seen as weak and unable to afford their upkeep. These are enormous burdens on their economies, so their forces tend to be highly conservative, maintaining equipment for decades if not centuries.
Weapons Technology[]
Kuhneebo stonethrowers utilize pneumatic action rather than gunpowder, which causes personal weapons to be bulkier, larger, and slower than comparable weapons of other nations, but the lack of individual powder and primer gives them larger capacity and power. Plasmers are the second most common infantry weapon class, lacking the efficiency of stonethrowers but providing greater power and variation. Infantry are meant to be mobile, and as such tend to carry grappling hooks and jump packs. The majority of infantry are equipped at the minimum with unpowered armor, known as husks, with powered variants being less common.
Infrastructure[]
Science and Technology[]
The biggest difference between Kuhneebo and the rest of the galaxy is the lack of electricity. Due to the low abundance of industrial metals on the surface of Zeconis, the Kuhneebo never developed a strong metallurgical field, and in turn never went anywhere with electricity and electronics. In the place of metallurgy, they focused on using non-metal compounds. When it came time to industrialize, instead of making the leap to electrical engineering, they continued down the path of mechanical engineering and developed highly advanced mechanical sciences. The non-metal composite materials that they harnessed during their development are every bit as effective as metals in terms of structural strength, but their minimal thermal conductivity allowed them to create efficient steam-powered systems. The advancements they made in that field lead to nanoscopic steam systems that, while not as efficient as electrical circuits, far surpass other mechanical devices. In general, most of their civilian information technology is comparable to mid-20th century Earth, and seen as being quite "manual" to other races.
Instead of electrical transmission lines, steam pipes form the backbone of power distribution. Power plants - typically fission, fusion, or vacuum-powered - heat up massive amounts of water, alcohol, or other substances depending on the implementation, and cycle the steam through the system, where citizens can use it to power all manner of devices.
For small devices that need a "battery", they use specially-built thermal batteries instead of electrical batteries. The batteries are engineered to have a core with an enormous specific heat capacity and a shell that prevents it from cooling off naturally. They are 'charged' by superheating them, and the thermal battery dissipates heat to the device as needed, powering its mechanical circuits.
Telecommunications[]
The Kuhneebo do not have an Internet that is as interconnected as the rest of the galaxy. Global telecommunications exist, but are not as broad in scope as other spacefaring races. Barring a few exceptions, globally-networked computers are mainly limited to government and military buildings, and similar locations. FTL ships or large sub-light ships utilize a relatively expensive high-frequency wireless connection device in order to coordinate docking. A civilian Kuhneebo will typically only carry a hailer - a cell phone analogue for their culture - that allows them to make and receive calls from others. Hailers are point-to-point like a walkie talkie, rather than tower-based like a cell phone, and have a finite range of several miles, but this limitation is only truly noticeable on planets, as Arks are small enough that hailers can reach the majority of the ship. Televisions are virtually non-existent, with the radio serving as the main source of entertainment and information in the home. Physical media is still the dominant form of music and audio playback, as it provides the greatest sound quality. This makes Kuhneebo daily life resemble a pre-television culture that has access to cellular telephony.
Public libraries are quite common, though they focus more on records and other audio files rather than books and videos, of which they carry comparatively little. Unlike human libraries that focus on silence for reading and study, Kuhneebo libraries are loud, energetic places. It is also here where the majority of video entertainment takes place, as devices and media purchased from other nations, which require technology not commonly available in the office, are shown in screening rooms.
Transportation[]
Due to their vertically-inclined culture and lifestyle, cars and trucks are as uncommon to them as boats are for most species. The majority of land vehicles are used to haul goods, or as public transportation, with single-occupant vehicles being incredibly rare. Instead, the main mode of transportation is the Hook. Special zip-lines are laid out all across and between Kuhneebo cities, and Kuhneebo who decline to climb to their destination utilize a mechanized hook that clasps onto the line. Gravity is used to provide downwards horizontal movement, while various mechanisms are used to increase altitude. Similar to highways, there are several lines connected in parallel to allow bidirectional traffic, as well as to separate types of traffic.
They use a unique variant of FTL technology that differs from the other races. It is a purely mechanical system that does not require the same fuel as other FTL drives. It also requires a series of enormous tubes to operate, and as such the smallest FTL ship they can produce is approximately 3 kilometers long. The unique thermal properties of their ships allows them to refuel on the gas it uses to operate by briefly entering a sun to suck up hydrogen, then fly out and engage their FTL drive.
Arks[]
As a result of this requirement for large vessels, they have very few dedicated FTL military craft. Instead they focus their space-faring efforts on the construction of large city ships, known as Arks. Each ship holds between 1 and 50 million Kuhneebo depending on how long it has been since a population split, and are at least 15 kilometers in their longest direction, with some approaching 30 kilometers or more. These city ships, true to their name, house an entire self-contained city. Due to their size making them appealing targets, each ship carries numerous escape pods, fighters and small craft, as well as several non-FTL capital ships, and are equipped with thousands of point-defense turrets and hundreds of missile tubes. But even with these defenses, the sheer number of non-combatants onboard makes the risk of being destroyed in a fight too great for them to be used in any offensive measure, and they are careful to only stop in well-patrolled or relatively "safe" sectors.
These Arks roam the galaxy, stopping at inhabited planets to trade, and uninhabited planets to extract materials. The ships tend to operate on cycles approximately nine days in length, with each stop they make lasting about that long, or multiples thereof. Arks are mostly self-sufficient, but still require food and related goods to operate, and as such spend the majority of their operating expenses on supplementing their own stockpiles. These ships sustain themselves economically by providing massive amounts of migrant workers to the system they arrive in, as well as contracting for delivering massive amounts of oversized cargo across the galaxy. Every Ark is considered the sovereign territory of the nation that created it, but after a few generations these ties are in name only. Each ship is required to return to its home nation once every five years or so, but the majority of intergalactic trade involving the Kuhneebo planets are conducted by purchased FTL haulers, or Arks less than fifty years old, as those Arks tend to stop by their home nation more frequently.
Aside from when they are ferrying goods specifically for their nation, the ships receive minimal to no monetary support from their country and need to sustain themselves, and as such will trade for their own needs. Among both planets and Arks, some of the most prized goods for purchase (aside from food) are FTL ships. The Arks are sources of ultra-premium alcoholic beverages, which sell for high prices on most human planets.
Law Enforcement[]
Police[]
The Kuhneebo have a police force, but it is not as general as most law enforcement agencies. It consists mainly of females with military training who handle serious matters that require overwhelming and usually-lethal force. Most misdemeanor-level matters are not handled by the police, with the Kuhneebo seeming almost lawless in that regard. Instead, nearly every citizen is armed, most with a pistol of some sort, sometimes two, sometimes a knife, and minor transgressions are handled on the personal level, and something akin to a citizen's arrest is commited.
Legal System[]
Their legal system reflects their barbaric origins, as they do not have prisons for civilians, only for prisoners of war who need to be held in times of conflict. Criminal justice is dealt with using two options: Punishment, consisting of flogging and fines, or execution. For the vast majority of crimes, the guilty party is taken to their local flogging station, their crimes are listed to the onlookers, any fines are publicly stated, and then they are given their sentence - a certain number of lashings. A number representing the lashings received is then marked into the skin of their back. Crimes that are deemed too heinous for redemption by flogging are met with execution, a certain amount of the convict's possessions are given to their victims, and the rest is reclaimed by the state.
Crime and Punishment[]
Crimes that are small enough to not instantly merit a flogging or execution are handled by a mediator. Following a citizen's arrest of the guilty party, a mediator - usually a female law enforcement agent who has risen through the ranks and taken on that duty, or else otherwise experienced in law - is responsible for overseeing the negotiation of reparations for the crime, and if need be, escalating it by sending them to the flogging station.
Culture[]
Lifestyle[]
The Kuhneebo lifestyle is best described as "short, but fast." The average Kuhneebo lives to be around 36-41, almost four times less than what many other species are able to achieve with modern medicine. Kuhneebo mature and learn rapidly, though, and have no biological need to sleep, so they are physically matured and have the equivalent of a high-school education by the time they are around two years old. They are a very healthy race and don't suffer the external effects of old age, instead simply dropping dead. Though because of that, medicine is an underdeveloped field, and healthcare is focused on injuries and expensive.
Males and Simales engage in a practice similar to marriage, though there are a few key differences. Each time the couple decides it is time to give birth, they interview females who make offers in exchange for the right to be one of the child's parents. Usually this is a material offering of some sort, such as money, but sometimes other arrangements are made, especially if the female happens to be one of the few with political influence, or is well-known or famous. Children are raised not in nuclear family units, but in commune-like groups.
Kuhneebo do not have the biological need to sleep and are seen as energetic by most other races, but require larger amounts of energy to sustain themselves. Males and females need between five and ten times more calories to live than a human, respectively, with simales needing fifteen times the calories. During the Kuhneebo day - a 31 hour period - they have six meals, or about one meal every five hours. Cooking and eating together is a component of the Kuhneebo lifestyle, and each meal usually takes about an hour. One meal in particular is especially lavish compared to the others, with the time of day varying depending on religious beliefs, and is translated loosely as The Leisure Hour.
The Kuhneebo do not have a concept of a home. Due to their lack of sleep, such a location was never developed. Instead, they have offices. There is no such thing as school, instead children are 'interns' for the corporation they are being raised in. When children are born, they are instantly indebted to their father and sother. This debt is designed to be paid off when they are roughly twelve years old, and provides extra income and value to the parents. When a citizen dies, all of their assets are returned to the government, with the total amount of net capital they perished with being recorded in the archives of their city. The more wealth one perishes with, the more prominently their name is recorded.
A major part of female culture is pet ownership. It is incredibly rare to see a female of the race not carrying a pet under one of her arms, having one follow her, or at least letting it roam nearby while she tends to other business. These pets are seen as a status symbol, with the wealthiest females seeking the most exotic ones to display. Trade and labor are critical aspects of Kuhneebo life. Heavily capitalistic, Kuhneebo society runs on money, as the possessions one owns or is capable of buying dictates how successful one is in their life, and their social standing. Record collections, home location, children, pets, and the like are all used to demonstrate their status. Retirement is an idea that does not exist in Kuhneebo culture, and working until the day you die is the norm.
The concept of a "boss" is also different for the Kuhneebo, as their organizations are structured around having two different leaders, as opposed to the tendency of other civilizations to put one person in charge of an organization. This boss-pair can be traced back male and simale pairs in ancient times, but in modern times these two can be any combination of males, simales, or females.
Holidays[]
Due to their highly commercialized lifestyle, many foreign holidays are celebrated or otherwise observed by the Kuhneebo, especially among females. Due to corporate influence the traditions established in the Conglomerate for holidays, such as Christmas and Valentine's Day, have little in common with their origins.
Food and Drink[]
Jennessy, one of the many drinks produced in the Conglomerate
Due to their biology utilizing alcohol instead of water, they are the heaviest drinkers of liquor in the galaxy. The variety and quantity of alcoholic beverages they produce per-capita dwarfs the human average by a wide margin, and to them the different types of drink are akin to soda and flavored waters. These beverages, being close to pure alcohol, are diluted significantly to make them suitable for human consumption. Rather than becoming intoxicated from liquor, lactose triggers a similar response in their bodies, as their biological differences mean that lactose does not exist in the breast milk of any mammal from their homeworld. Milk is the most commonly-purchased form of lactose when trading, while cheese is considered more of a designer intoxicant. Ice cream is the most-desired form of obtaining lactose, though, as its temperature, texture, and lactose content are optimally suited for their taste buds and digestive systems. Water is broken down and converted to alcohol in their bodies, allowing them to enjoy the cuisine of other carbon-based races. By itself, it has a rather sour taste, but that is masked when in food. Smoking is another popular and common aspect of Kuhneebo life. Practically everyone smokes in one form or another, in cigarettes, cigars, pipes, or other devices they carry around. Because of their biology, combined with the properties of the plants used, smoking is not a health risk like tobacco is to humans. It's more akin to tea-drinking, providing flavor and minor chemical stimulation while acting as a social lubricant.
Language[]
Because of their ears and tongues, Kuhneebo language is far more complex than most others. They can hear and produce sounds in a much wider range of frequencies at a faster rate than other organics. Additionally, instead of just attaching meaning to the wider range of frequency, speed, volume, and intonation of their language, meaning can vary depending on other factors that their ears can pick up, such as direction. As a result of this language difference, many parts of the Kuhneebo's language are not even audible to many species, and it is impossible for most races to learn without cybernetic augmentation. When 'down-shifted' to another language, things such as planet and person names are translated based on the audible frequency range only. Kuhneebo names tend to be represented by fourteen components, including their: base name (akin to a first name or Christian name in other cultures), name of their sother, birth rank for their sother (whether they are the firstborn, seventhborn, etc. of that particular parent), sother's birth rank (the birth rank of said parent), name of father, birth rank for their father, father's birth rank, name of mother, birth rank for their mother, payment given by mother, city (or Ark), nation, and deity.
Entertainment[]
The Kuhneebo treat audio entertainment in the same way that most other species treat video entertainment. Live performances are considered superior to recordings, and the live music and entertainment businesses are large and competitive. They do not have many videogames, instead they have "audiogames" that utilize sound, rather than video, as their main form of feedback to the player.
They do not have many two-team games like humans and other races have. Their games involve three teams. Additionally, their games utilize the mechanics of climbing vertically rather than running horizontally. The most popular Kuhneebo sport is Headstick, which involves three teams attempting to dislodge the opposing team's stick from its cradle, with players only allowed to use their head to touch it.
An oddity of the Kuhneebo when they play games is their tendency to cheat. It is not out of malice, as they are no more likely to try breaking a boxer's kneecaps than any other culture, but rather because the majority of the games on their planet utilize someone known as the "Overwatcher". When playing their games, if someone breaks the rules, but is not caught by the Overwatcher, then the move is considered completely legal. Experienced Kuhneebo who have been dealing with outsiders for many years can overcome this instinct, but younger or less-traveled members tend to cheat out of instinct.
Sports[]
Competitive sports are immensely popular broadcasts in the Conglomerate, with certain promotions and sports, such as Extreme Combat Wrestling and spark hockey are two of the most widely-observed sports media. Arkball, which is legally different from Archball, is most popular among interns rather than adults. E66 is a popular exercise routine.
Religion[]
Their religion, the Branchway, consists of five "paths", with each path adding onto the philosophies and beliefs of previous paths - while not identical, it is somewhat similar to the relationships between the Old Testament, New Testament, Apocrypha, and Book of Mormon. A key difference is that the oldest paths are not individually believed in like a religion, only the newest path. Older paths are not taken to be fact, so much as they are interpreted metaphorically or philosophically. Much of the violent tales from their ancient paths are treated like allegories and applied to modern business practices. The Kuhneebo only have one religion, but they are still fragmented between which gods and goddesses they follow.
- The Path of Fury: Those who do not swim in the river of blood will drown in it. The oldest path, it concerns itself with the origins of the world, the pantheon, and tales of the oldest heroes.
- The Path of Battle: All must battle for the benefit of the gods. Another ancient set of lore, it lays out the guidelines for how a tribe may win favor from the divines through righteous battle. Like the previous one, this path is mostly swept under the rug by modern Kuhneebo culture in regards to literal interpretations.
- The Path of Service: He who slays with the spear of his brother brings glory to both. The first Path that can be considered to have traces of "modern" thought, it discusses how there are ways to favorably serve the gods without serving in battle.
- The Path of Knowledge: An spear thrown true is worth a dozen made new. One of the newer paths, this one expanded the role of service from solely trade skills to include scientific thought.
- The Path of Profit: The sweat of one's brow stings foes as a spear. The most modern path, it less like a traditional religious view and closer to a governing philosophy.
Their pantheon consists of several main deities, including Astaria the Huntress, Odros Uorednac the Unslain, Khosynth the Silent King, Morelegarr the Corrupted, Alitsab the Repentant, Oavnoissim the Shadow, Gorlagg Twice-Slain, Annairbdnah the Maiden, Zarchron the Carpenter, Odnib the Elder, and the Unnamed One. They reside on a large mythical tree that stretches the universe and leads to the heavens, with many branches surrounding it.
Language[]
The three primary languages of the Kongo are translated as the Tongue of the Sun, the Tongue of the Moons, and the Tongue of the Stars. They are usually referred to as Sunspeech, Moonspeech, and Starspeech. Starspeech is the most widely-spoken language, as it is used by Corrilia and Aux Sedonis.
Territory[]
Zeconis, the original world of the Kongo
The Kuhneebo have 87 systems in their possession, though 85 of those systems have no colonized planets. By standard galactic definition, they have 2 systems, and only have "claims" on 85. They have their homeworld, Zeconis, as well as one colony, Corrilia, and the rest of their territory is uncolonized. Zeconis is in the Nee system, and Corrilia is in the Adango system. Most of the other systems have one city ship in-sector at any given time - usually two - stopping by to conduct mining or gas extraction operations. The reason for their limited number of worlds is because they are adapted to an incredibly rare type of planet. They require a planet with about 73% more surface gravity than earth, in orbit around a red giant at a specific distance, with oceans made out of both alcohol and water, and an atmosphere that contains more alcohol and argon than galactic standard. While adults can operate mostly-normally on the majority of inhabited carbon-based planets, low-gravity planets have grave effects on pregnancy and childhood development, and as such they are unable to populate the vast majority of planets in the galaxy. Aside from their homeworld, only one other planet in the known galaxy met the criteria for their unique combinations of sun, gravity, atmosphere, and ocean. Their Arks, though, pass through those other 85 systems for extracting materials, refueling, and other such matters.
Systems[]
- Adango System
- Corrilia: Originally known as Adenicer until it became the capital of Corrilia. Due to their complete control of the planet, the Corrilian corporation is the largest in the Conglomerate.
- Nee System
- Zeconis: Home to 29 corporations, Zeconis is the homeworld of the Kuhneebo Conglomerate and the Kuhneebo people, as well as its most-populated planet.
Population[]
Males and Simales make up about 10% of the population each, while females constitute the remaining 80%. Their total population is around 30 billion, with 6 billion on their homeworld, 4 billion on their colony, and 20 billion who reside in their Arks.
Trivia[]
- The stereotypical worthless college/university degree for the Kuhneebo is not Art or English, but Law, as their society is already flooded with lawyers.
- Their currency is called "Soil".
- Because they see in a different spectrum, the majority of viewsceens and holographic projections made for eyes in the "visible" spectrum look like meaningless masses of colors to them.
- Because of minimal use of their eyes, they have no lighting on their ships, so people visiting are advised to bring flashlights or visors. Assuming they can survive the toxic atmosphere.