Krask

The Krask are a primarily crustaceanoid species hailing from the planet Tekarani, and are today found in a diaspora across the Falacian nations and concentrated in the Krask Hegemony. They are widely renowned for their commitment to pacifism through the Great Law of Peace.

In 326 BC, their homeworld of Tekarani was bombarded, destroying much of the population and sending the surviving inhabitants of the Krask Confederation into a diaspora across local space. In 43 AC, centuries later, the Krask Hegemony was finally established during a succession crisis of the Falacian Dominion, and today the bulk of the Krask species has migrated to this small territory.

Appearance

The Krask have a largely crustaceanoid appearance, with twelve clawed limbs extending from an generally polygonal exoskeleton. Their entire body is less than a meter across, including the extent of the limbs, and thus they are on the small side for intelligent species. Their eyeless exoskeletons are generally covered in various warm colored pigments, from red to yellow to burnt sienna to rarely a bright white.

Physiology

Respiratory System

The Krask respiratory system, evolving in the high-oxygen environment on ancient Tekarani, can take this necessary gas in directly through gaps in the exoskeleton, expelling carbon dioxide in the same way. The layer of skin beneath the exoskeleton is highly supplied with blood, allowing it to rapidly transfer dissolved gases across the body.

Digestive System

A Krask is an obligate herbivore, feeding on the various nutritious grasses and thistles common to the deserts of Tekarani. Their relatively small size and cold-blooded nature helps counterbalance the relatively low energy density of these foods, bringing their food intake down to reasonable levels.

The process begins with the mouth, filled with flat, grinding teeth designed to take apart tough plant material before swallowing. The food is then taken into the stomach, which can contain various rocks and sand to assist in further grinding. The stomach operates through the secretion of powerful acids, which break down the long fibers of the plant material into something that can be absorbed and utilized. Once the stomach has finished its job, its walls then absorb the slurry of digested food, before excreting any remaining waste out the back.

Nervous System

Unlike many species, the Krask rely on a distributed nervous system, with no central brain. Rather, the neurons which make up the central nervous system can be found across the body, with thoughts flashing from either end of the exoskeleton. Neural cells transmit information through their long appendages, and single cell bodies can be up to half a meter in length to extend down a leg.

Senses

Krask have five main sensory inputs: Touch, smell, taste, hearing, and electric sensing. Touch is sensed through the highly ennervated outer layer of the exoskeleton, sending a message to the rest of the nervous system whenever something makes contact with it. Smell can be sensed through a series of miniscule holes near the mouth, identifying smell molecules in the air. Taste is similar, identifying similar molecules on the surfaces of food. Hearing is facilitated by a taut membrane vibrated by sound waves, which is highly ennervated to communicate that directly to the brain and connected to the air through a focusing ear canal. Finally, a series of proteins known as chryptochromes found in the front of the body can orient themselves to align with magnetic fields.

Reproductive System

Mating takes place, and eggs are produced, on approximately a yearly cycle based on the seasonal cycle of Tekarani. While no Krask reside on Tekarani in the modern day, the biological cycle holds and the vast majority of the species become able to engage in this process during that period. In a surprising biological twist, gametes from all four biological sexes are required to conceive.

Conception and the growth of the eggs occurs in the ponds in oases, over the course of approximately 17 days before the hatchlings rise to the surface and take their first "breaths". The child-rearing process is strongly communal, and the nature of gestation makes it impossible to determine which four individuals are the parents of a given child without genetic testing. Thus, it is considered taboo to mate with members of the same "clutch", even if some of them might have no genetic relationship to you.

History and Politics

Rising from Tekarani in the distant past, a variety of interstellar Krask states existed around 1,000 years before the present day. Around this time, the legendary Keuremaske the Peacemaker, alongside Eisaskere the Mother of Nations and a mysterious Other, began to travel across space between the perennially bickering Krask nations in search of a path to peace. Expelled from their homes on Pasynea for being "traitorous" to the warmongering goals of the Cularpin Empire, they were further emboldened to bring together the Krask in peace. After years of travel, Keuremaske and his team called the Eight Nations to the negotiating table on 7.1, 781 BC. Most of them were prepared to sign their new Great Law of Peace, but Akotarko, the ruler of the Cularpin Empire, had to be persuaded to cease her raids upon the other nations. After his assent, Akotarko was named the director of war of the newly established Krask Confederation.

As the years went by, the council of elders gradually began to calcify, falling back to conservatism and attempting to do what Keuremaske would do, forgetting his warnings to continue adapting. The ascendant Falacian Dominion formed in 439 BC, beginning its conquests beyond the ancestral space of the Falaci. In 328, the Krask Confederation is invaded by Falacian war fleets, reaching the Kelpur-Meranath System only two years later and bombarding the Krask homeworld of Tekarani. Much of the species was wiped out during the invasion, and the survivors were scattered across the territory of the Dominion as second-class citizens.

Over the years, they retained their culture and most of them refused to assimilate into the dominant. Those who did became known as the Tekaranfalaci, and were shunned by the remainder of the species. Some of the other Falaci species found themselves drawn to Krask culture, and began to practice the Great law of Peace alongside them. As the ages passed, the Krask were gradually pushed into the resource-poor Krask Special Territory, a region lacking any worlds which could be habitable to them.

In 42, the last emperor of House Kor'ann finally died without naming an heir. This began a major succession crisis in the Falacian Dominion, and the Krask Special Territory declared independence the next year in 43 as Chief Taurekran took up arms against the Falacian occupiers. The Krask Hegemony was thusly established at Vadren, and the Krask people finally held self-determination for the first time in almost 400 years. The Falaci who joined the Krask in practicing the Great Law of Peace found a welcome place there for themselves after being shunned by the wider Falacian society.

Today, the Krask have remained largely neutral in most conflicts, with the sole exception of the War of the Broken Bow. During the Alliance invasion through the wormhole, they successfully fended off their war fleets, preventing them from crossing the border entirely.

Society and Culture

The Great Law of Peace

The most widespread aspect of Krask culture is easily the Great Law of Peace. Established by Keuremaske the Peacemaker, Eisaskere the Mother of Nations, and a third figure known only as The Other in 781 BC, the Great Law of Peace unified the constantly raiding, feuding, and warring Krask nations into the Krask Confederation. Forming the constitution of the ancient Confederation as well as a more personal moral code for the Krask as a people, the Great Law of Peace persists to this day as a guiding principle of life for uncountable numbers of people.

The Great Law of Peace also lays out the principle of the Balance of the Stars, the idea that if any one group were to amass too much power, they must be counterbalanced or possibly face collapse. The current conservative regime in the Krask Hegemony interprets this to mean that they must remain neutral in all conflicts that are not directly instigated against them, but in the past and by much of the modern population it is interpreted as moral imperative to support the causes of the downtrodden.

Fundamentally, the Great Law is a realization of pacifism and a reaction to the needless violence of Keuremaske's time. While it does allow the taking up of arms in the last defense of one's life, offensive battle is strictly forbidden by its text. The Great Law also holds a variety of positive mandates, including the moral good of fighting for the oppressed and downtrodden. In the modern day, the Great law is interpreted much more loosely as the Krask culture adapts to the needs of the modern era.

Spirituality

Most of the Krask lack organized religious belief and theism is not particularly common. Prior to Keuremaske the Peacemaker's creation of the Great Law, many of the warring nations of the Krask species were fighting in the name of their gods, and this collective memory has led to a stigma of needless death being attached to most manifestations of religious belief. However, the Krask hold several other spiritual beliefs, including the concept of a bas (the unique essence of a person) and the importance of meditation.

Demons exist aplenty in Krask literature, but it is rare indeed that they refer to anything literal. Rather, they are used as metaphorical manifestations of the ills of society and the Krask condition, and personifications of concepts like violence, famine, disease, and imperial oppression which must be battled without and within.

Demographics

Roughly 60% of the Krask population can be found within the territory of the Krask Hegemony, with half of the remainder across the fractured nations of Falacian space, particularly the Falacian High Rule and United Planets. The remaining 20% resides across the Vernarca Nebula, particularly within the welcoming environment of the Vernarcan Federation.

Notable Individuals

Keuremaske the Peacemaker, originator of the Great Law of Peace
Eisaskere the Mother of Nations, Keuremaske's right-hand man on the quest to unify the Krask
Taurekran, leader of the modern independence movement from the Falacian Dominion in 43 AC