Xherari

"What wonder unfolds in seas of black, from great metal spheres we reach? What chains we forge that tie us back, what dogmas we write to preach? Without the discipline no hull holds air, and we must embrace bureaucracy to escape it elsewhere."
—Exan Novali Solaeri Cuberr, Avatar of the Machine and first Xherari interstellar pioneer

The Xherari [zɛ.raː.ri] are a carbon-water species hailing from the moon Pherran of the Perdition system, one of Azurullya's three native sapient species. Among the sopho-esoteric triad model used in some histories, their species is the great representatives of technology. Though they are widespread, their native system is kept in the Duchy of Oh-Semashk, under the watch of the Lady Doheniski Wondertsuki Azurade.

Throughout the 4-5000s CE, the Xherari engaged in some of the most rapid technological development of any known civilized species, uplifted not by another but by the symbiotic relationship their societies developed with Xeo Raqovia. In just under 1500 years, they went from basic metalwork to interstellar travel. In the modern era, they are still noted as the inventors and primary adopters of multitudes of bodily implants and clothing-integrated comfort systems, considered a luxury in most societies beyond their worlds. Their infrastructure in technological industries has had centuries of cultural centrality to build off of.

Historically, the Xherari have been most at odds with the colonial forces of the Theocracy of Silverstar. Their equally-strong religious culture but stringent materialism and collectivist pragmatic thought clashed with the Alecisist faith and the ethos of thaumaturgy from the beginning, when the Theocracy's founders landed on Oaliun. Of the wars since the Theocracy's arrival, the Xherari have been involved in all but one, usually on the losing side. Currently they are stereotyped as eggheads, computer-obsessed and rigid in ethics.

Physiology

The Xherari have physiologies shaped by the low-gravity and thick-aired moon Pherran, aided in their explorative pursuits by the common carbon-water media they depend on. Azurullya's many stars have a plethora of worlds in just the right places for their habitation, and with the advent of self-augmentative technology and less-intrusive terraforming strategies, they have been able to adapt to just about every challenge short of gravity.

Of the native species of Azurullya, the Xherari are by far the most widespread, existing in some amounts in every system but Tryptan and Estrebyss. Their frames are naturally built for gravity roughly two-thirds that of a standard Eossian G.

Appearance

Xherari walk with slender grace on their low-G preferred worlds, but their bodies are observed by many other species as an biological killing machine. Slightly reminiscent of the iconography of Actfurcht, everything from their size and speed to the teeth in their tails is purposeful and serves the species in their natural and civilized environments.

Xherari typically stand at about three and a quarter meters tall on their hind legs, making them the tallest bipedal species in the galaxy. Their natural stance, however, according to posture of least spinal stress and greatest comfort, is not upright. In their natural state, Xherari walk on four to six limbs, with up to three of the front limbs being available for environment manipulation.

Xherari once walked on at least three to four of their limbs in most places, but as high-demand and prestigious jobs began to require many hands, technocracy made bipedal posture a symbol of social value. This, furthered by the mostly-bipedal residents of Aylathiya arriving, solidified their natural stance as informal or even rude. The Xherari are now often forgotten to be anything but bipedal by other species.

Respiration

The thick air of Pherran is rare to find for worlds so small, though its composition is nothing out of the ordinary. As the Xherari are meant to be flight-capable, their respiratory systems maintain an incredible efficiency. To this end, their longer torsos have respiratory complexes branching out from the lungs proper into every vital organ they have.

Breath takes place in three stages, with the inhalation into the forelungs beginning it. The second stage is a closure of the trachea and compression of the forelungs, sending air out to the auxiliary complexes. The third phase is where gas exchange occurs, before contractions send air back to the forelungs to be expelled.

Thermoregulation

Xherari are mostly exotherms, with only important areas like the core exhibiting any trace of internal temperature regulation. Their robust chemistry allows them to remain active in a wide range of temperatures, comfortable from as low as -10°C up to about 30°C. Cooler temperatures do slow down their reaction time, however, and so much Xherari clothing comes installed with personal warmers to keep their cognition as fast as it will go.

When it comes to venting excess heat, Xherari are capable of using their large wings as surfaces to this end. Their skin produces various oils for self-maintenance, and one of these is released in high temperatures to evaporate away some of their heat. This special secretion has a specific heat capacity similar to water, but evaporates just as well in humid environments as in arid ones. Radiative cooling implants are relatively common to decrease the need for the oil, however, as it does draw on necessary lipid reserves to produce. Too much heat in a Xherari environment can make them burn through both their metabolism and their sweat reserves rapidly, starving them.

Sustenance

Xherari are primarily carnivorous, though what meat looks like to them has shifted drastically over the course of their history. The species' population limits have long been bound by food production more than anything else, with much of Pherran's land area being dedicated to livestock cultivation until the advent of more space-efficient sources of meat.

Xherari digestion has a two-entrance track, born from redundant back-front symmetries in the early ancestors of their phylum. Their head's mouth is more suited for smaller portions and has a greater ability to detect flavors and potential toxins. Their teeth within this mouth have a more varied shape, allowing rudimentary ability to process plant matter as well. Their other mouth, located at the end of their large tail, has a much more powerful jaw and larger set of teeth meant for tearing meat specifically. Closer to the base of the tail is a secondary network of stomachs and intestinal tracts that allow flexibility without compromising digestion. Both tracts merge before their end.

Xherari diets mostly consist of artificially grown meat and naturally grown fungi. Biotic growth tanks and mycocultural beds are standard for any starship built in Perdition, as life support for entire livestock-harvesting ecosystems is space-inefficient and limited to planetside farms and the few enormous cylinder stations throughout Azurullya.

The biotic growth technology for artificial meat was expensive and extremely limited before extended study of the Mycotic Jungle and the Red Forest of Entroph. Piggybacking off of harvestable aberrant material, the planet now serves as a vital resource hub for sustainability equipment, conveniently close to the Singularity Complex to aid Xherari settlements anywhere in Azurullya before total collapse ensues.

Reproduction

When one first learns about Xherari culture instead of biology, they may assume that the species is tri-sexed. This is an incorrect assumption based on the conflation of gender and sex. While the two are somewhat linked for most civilized species, Pherranite life is predominantly bimodal in its sexual reproduction.

Xherari are oviparous, with clutches of their eggs usually coming in twos or threes. The incubation process can be mostly automated with technology, but was traditionally rotated between parents in designated sunny areas. Xherari eggs take roughly 11 months to hatch, and the egg tooth present is always used from the tail mouth.

As a species, Xherari have extremely low sexual dimorphism. Oftentimes the only way to tell their sex is to directly inspect the genitalia, which themselves mostly differ by the presence of a protective set of "petals", as well as coloration and dimensions. The "petals" are very rarely removed as a personal aesthetic choice to eliminate boundaries and add ambiguity, making it nearly impossible to tell without specialized training.

Nervous System

The actual nervous system, insofar as proper nerves that affect the mind are concerned, is concentrated entirely in the spine and brain. The intense density of their nerves in these core regions is necessary to ensure that their vital organs maintain function and that their body's status is known on a conscious level.

Instead of cellular nerves, Xherari have a semi-metallic set of fibers maintained by their body's constructional system that reach out to various muscles. These nerve-like wires branch out through the body similarly to the circulatory system, but transfer electric current from the actual nervous system to trigger responses. The body is moved in this fashion without the need to spread precious information-dense synapses throughout. Acids released by cells as damage responses travel up the wires to transmit pain signals. Other information, such as temperature and humidity, travels through slower chemical responses if not damaging, sometimes taking almost a full second for the Xherari to notice changes.

Technological Resilience

Because the seat of the mind is extremely limited throughout the bodies of the Xherari, their resilience to the mental damage caused by technological implants is leagues above most other species. The mind need not worry about the different refractions it faces when contained in multiple media, so long as the augments do not touch the central spinal structure or the brain.

This resilience is culturally represented in the various prosthetics and cybernetic implants available to the peoples on Xherari-inhabited worlds. While most species have strict regulations around how much of one's body can and should be replaced with synthetic replacements or augments, their own are much lighter, simply prohibiting development of spinal replacements.

The major exception to this resilience comes with the Avatar of the Machine, who is capable of merging their consciousness with the internal computers of most machinery via Xeo Raqovia's influence. Over decades of usage, their thought patterns change and corrupt, stabilized externally by Xeo Raqovia instead of by internal measures. Old Avatars seem to have a "de-sync" with their bodies and brains, functioning normally only when inhabiting a mechanical body.

Thaumaturgy

Xherari are very uncommon to see as magi. What few have aptitude for any clade of thaumaturgy are often disinterested, as the skills gained from it cannot be transferred to new generations without at least as much work as they put in. Simply put, thaumaturgy requires starting from scratch with every new individual with no persistent tools or methodologies. To the Xherari-dominant cultures, this is a waste of effort.

Even if a Xherari wishes to become a magus, their species' ousic legacy has not been built up for nearly the length of time that most others have. They first discovered thaumaturgy as an art when making contact with the Ski'pec, a species notorious for producing extreme numbers of magi. That was a mere few centuries before the Theocracy arrived and upended the thaumic culture entirely, focused not only on pylons but raw mental prowess and ability. Xherari have limited minds within their own body, and even less "inherited" practice using those minds separate from the brain. They struggle to keep up with the rigor of Esoteric thaumaturgical practices, and they take much longer to implement the theories of Classical thaumaturgy.

The Axilarynn and Elkandori citizens have a slim chance to be awakened by the Lady Haranae Auramest Azurade, but even this is an unreliable path to the same power enjoyed and actively developed by the rest of the Theocracy's member species. In this manner, Xherari will always be the outliers of their nation's culture.

Sociality

Xherari crave order, in some religious contrast to the chronic boredom of their once-god Xeo Raqovia and the chaos aspects of their current god Silverstar. Their society before the Theocracy arrived was highly structured and bureaucratic, and after the fact remains logistically optimized.

Behavior

Xherari organize into groups of mutually-recognized peers, something akin to cliques in workplaces but looser in definition. They prefer to have a concrete understanding of the hierarchies and dynamics within their peer groups and adjust themselves to "fit" into that role accordingly. Belligerence often takes the form of desertion, moving to a new location to try and integrate into another network for a chance at a more comfortable role.

When unable to determine relations between themselves and their peers, whether through isolation or simply interacting with much more socially flexible societies, a stress response like social prairie madness is triggered. No ability to socially orient themselves often leads to crises of purpose and identity. These episodes are usually not lethal, but they can impact a Xherari's mental health indefinitely until their circumstances change.

Gender

Xherari cultures have had many gender systems throughout their history, but a generalized trinary outlasted the rest during planetary unification. An analytical sort of gender framework, it is only adjacent to sex traits and places much more emphasis on social modality. Gender roles work in a cyclical manner, with each being thought of as a stage in a more complete process impossible for anyone to undertake alone.

The electric gender, natively called Mahhiya [ˈma.ħːi.jɐ] (Mahhiya), represents the spark and start of a process. It is associated with directionless proactivity, spontaneity, and energy. Mahhiya is inter-culturally associated with masculinity due to the externalizing culture around the gender. They are stereotyped as being prone to ephemeral and data-based careers, explorers or analysts or programmers. Mahhiyan are expected to receive from and be fueled by Manniryan and to provide for and defend Macleinan. For formalities, Mahhiya is often abbreviated as "Mh.".

The metal, or "mechanical" gender, natively called Makleina [mɐk.ˈleɪː.nɐ] (Macleina), represents the vessel and the body of a machine. It is associated with creation, reception, and stability. Macleina is inter-culturally associated with femininity due to the internalizing culture and the creative associations around the gender. They are stereotyped as being prone to physical careers, working on mechanical parts and wiring. Macleinan are expected to receive from and be provided for by Mahhiyan and to give guidance and energy to Manniryan.For formalities, Macleina is often abbreviated as "Mc.".

The thermal or "entropic" gender, natively called Mannirya [mɐn.ˈnir.jɐ] (Mannirya), represents the release and finishing of a cycle. It is sometimes derided as "waste" due to the underlying theme of waste heat, but is actually more associated with the hot winds that fuel storms. As heat leaks from machines and goes on to fuel storm clouds, Manniryan are expected to receive and be defended by Macleinan and to nurture, support, and give forward to Mahhiyan. Manniryan are stereotyped as being prone to careers involving energy, waste, and logistics, bringing the necessary glue to society that is nonetheless looked down upon as lesser work. Mannirya does not easily correlate with anywhere on the masculine to feminine spectrum, and is often thought of as the outlier or foreign gender by non-Xherari. For formalities, Mannirya is often abbreviated as "Mn.".

Meritocracy

Gender is a flat layer in the order hierarchy, informing subtle interactions between Xherari more than anything substantial. The bulk of actual hierarchy within society is a result of the emergent meritocracy that the species fell into in the 5000s CE. Careers socially stratify individuals, with researchers and field-broadening experimentalists at the top of the order. Innovation and diligence are valued above most other career specifications.

What ends up resulting from this is a culture that values the social quirks of the most prestigious jobs, and one that treats scientific fields almost like a secondary set of genders. There are an intricate web of social expectations for how to present and carry oneself depending on field, and those emulating them in the "lower order" jobs of similar families. Lethal loyalty to one's institution or organization is not uncommon for Xherari to have, taking on somewhat religious qualities in the name of science. It mirrors their reverence of the machine god Xeo Raqovia, and likely arose as a direct result of its interference in their history.

Language

The Xherari, before Azurulleyan Laytongue became the new standard, primarily learned and spoke Eka-Xenadin, their species' own international standard language. Concerted efforts to preserve their previous local languages have actually been aided by Eka-Xenadin's waning, keeping linguistic drift slow and allowing the translations to go longer without refreshing. Eka-Xenadin is still spoken in many places around Azurullya, and its names for many star systems and planets remain in place today.

Eka-Xenadin is re-analyzed mostly as a technical language and engineer dialect in the modern era, as its thousands of words for mechanical parts and processes are oftentimes more efficient than Azurulleyan Laytongue even before the grammatical idioms are taken into account.

As only their head's mouth is connected to any vocal-capable organs, Xherari speech is not complicated by two different manners of speech. Their phonology is well-understood and is flexible enough to be learned by a variety of species.

Phonology

Consonants
	Labial	Coronal	Palatal-Velar	Pharyngeal
Plosive	p, b	t, d	(c), k, (g), (q)
Nasal	m	n	(ŋ)
Trill		r
Fricative	ɸ, f, v	s, z, ʃ	(x)	ħ
Affricate	t͡s~k͡s~x͡ʃ, (d͡zʰ)
Approximant	w	l	j

The vowels in Exa-Xenadin originated from a six-vowel system, with vowel length heavily emphasized in speech. As speech quickened with rising rates of information transfer, this mostly replaced itself with a system of stressed and lax vowels, with the former long vowels retaining the syllable stress. Historical spelling and long vowels still exists, such as in the name of the planet Eenxham, but they are much less common. Stressed and lax vowels are forgiving for pronunciation, but fully relaxing into [ə] is phonologically disallowed in native words.

Vowels
	Front		Central		Back
	Stressed	Lax	Stressed	Lax	Stressed	Lax
Close	i	ɪ, (ʏ)			u	ʊ
Mid	e	ɛ		(ə)	o͡ʊ	o
Open	a	ɐ

Eka-Xenadin has a singular widely recognized diphthong as well, representing a glide into a vowel found nowhere else. The vowel "ae", sometimes written æ but natively transcribed as j, represents the diphthong [e͡ʌ]. All other digraph or trigraph vowels are analyzed as containing separate vowels, though some speakers believe them to still be valid combinations for single syllables.

Orthography

Notably, the uncommon digraph [ae] is written "ae", but stylistic transcription of it as "áe" is present in some texts to disambiguate between "ae" [ae] and "j" [e͡ʌ]. Some educational texts add accents to all stressed vowels to indicate their position with greater clarity. The diacritics are considered the mark of a beginner, however, as understanding context is necessary to get by in Xherari circles.

Vowels
Grapheme	Romanization	Sound (IPA)		Examples
Grapheme	Romanization	Stressed	Unstressed	Examples
A	a	[a]	[ɐ]	anxa [ˈan.t͡sɐ] "star"
j	ae, æ (rare)	[e͡ʌ]		glaedur [ˈgle͡ʌ.dʊr] "lake"
e	e	[e]	[ɛ]	komeen [ko.ˈmeːn] "screw" dinen [ˈdi.nɛn] "below"
q	varies	N[A	[ə]	Only used in loanwords or foreign spellings Perdition [ˈpɚɹ.dɪ.ʃən] "Perdition"
i	i	[i]	[ɪ]	blixaf [ˈbli.t͡sɐf] "descent" tremic [ˈtre.mɪk] "to escape"
o	o	[o͡ʊ]	[o]	dova [ˈdo͡ʊ.vɐ] "to laze about" saeso [ˈse͡ʌ.so] "food"
u	u	[u]	[ʊ]	cuunan [ˈkjuːnɐn] "to magnify" pukeem [pʊ.keːm] "unfinished"

Consonants
Grapheme	Romanization	Sound (IPA)		Examples
Grapheme	Romanization	Normal	Rarely	Examples
p	p	[p]		prowust [ˈpro͡ʊ.wʊst] "counter-clockwise"
k	k, c	[k]	[g]	keriin [ˈker.iːn] "(a) precipitate" glaxis [ˈgla.t͡sɪs] "silt"
kk	q, kk (rare)	[kʲː], [cː]	[qʲː]	hjaqo [ˈħja.kʲo] "to incite" yeqivia [jɛ.ˈciv.ɪ͡ɐ] "median" auloqyhan [ˈau.lo.qʲʏ.ˌħan] "held in cryonic stasis"
kh	ch, kh	[kʰ]		char [kʰɐr] "expanse, sky (liturgical)"
ky	ky, kj, c	[kj]		cuos [ˈkjuː.os] "synthetic"
x	x	[t͡s~k͡s~x͡ʃ]		xahir [ˈt͡sa.ħɪr] "tanzanite" eoxan [ˈeo.k͡sɐn] "humble" daexera [ˈde͡ʌx͡ʃ.ɛrɐ] "conference hall"
z	xh	[z]	[d͡zʰ]	xherari [zɛ.ˈraː.ri] "Xherari" areoxh [ˈa.rɛ͡od͡zʰ] "claim"
g	ph	[ɸ]		phaerres [ˈɸe͡ʌ.r̊ɛs] "iron"
f	f	[f]		fluxha [ˈflu.zɐ] "cable"
l	l	[l]		looqish [ˈlo͡ʊː.cɪʃ] "pressure"
r	r	[r]		ravan [ˈra.vɐn] "thrust"
rr	rr	[r̊]	[r]	shrrouban [ˈʃr̊uːbɐn] "torn up" alvrrecht [ɐlv.ˈrekʰt] "ellipse"
v	v	[v]		vacuet [ˈva.kjʊ.ɛt] "open"
m	m	[m]		lummen [ˈlumː.ɛn] "crag"
h	h	[ħ]		ihl [iħl] "six"
n	n	[n]	[ŋ]	naenn [ne͡ʌnː] "ghast, specter"
d	d	[d]		theud [ˈtʰe.ʊd] "spool"
b	b	[b]		ynba [ˈjn.bɐ] "cupronickel"
w	w, u	[w], [ʊ]	[ʋ]	axhwen [ˈaz.wɛn] "fortune" aekiwm [ˈe͡ʌ.kɪʊm] "sleek, aerodynamic" wuphras [ˈʋuɸ.rɐs] "even, balanced"
t	t	[t]		apte [ˈap.tɛ] "to bite"
th	th	[tʰ]		thotem [ˈtʰo͡ʊ.tɛm] "data"
y	j, y	[j]	[ʏ]	tjemed [ˈtjɛ.mɛd] "taxes" lanys [ˈlan.ʏs] "axle"
s	s	[s]		saetter [ˈse͡ʌ.tːɛr] "welding"
c	sh	[ʃ]		unush [ʊ.ˈnuʃ] "gratitiude"

History

Xherari history is quite compressed for a species, usually matched in speed only by artificially created species. While defining a species or civilization's development by the technology they use is often reductive, the Xherari focus around technology as a core part of their society makes it an apt measurement.

Emergence

The earliest archaeological records of Xherari civilization are from roughly the start of the 4000s CE, a time period before historical records were a concept. The Xherari population of this time is estimated to have been only a few tens of thousands. They lived in general peace, diplomacy serving their own anxieties better than warfare could in most cases. Though intercultural boundaries prevented large empire from occurring, technology such as basic bronzework and sailing spread across Pherran for several centuries.

The Xherari had no concept of thaumaturgy at this time, no framework for the cosmos, and little interest in the galaxy. The bright twilight of Pherran's nights, illuminated by the rest of Entroph's moons, blocked out much of the azure expanse they would come to call Charybdis. The clouds and waters of Mahuerran, Entroph, and Aulotum incited many stories, and for a time their oral and written traditions focused primarily on the other "grand kingdoms".

Xeo Raqovia

In 4322 CE, the Aberration known as Xeo Raqovia entered Pherran's atmosphere and landed like a small meteor. It tested its assimilation on the nearest Xherari, harmonizing with their body quite well. Technology, the power it could grant in exchange for the host body, was extremely limited at the time. Mechanical constructs were at best simple assemblies of wood and rope with metal bracings, and so not much could feasibly be done. Fortunately, the Aberration had come from an encounter with a team of Aberration-studying Ski'pec, themselves in the midst of colonizing what they could of the galaxy, and had taken with it memories of thousands of years of mechanisms.

Xeo Raqovia was much more talkative at this time, the weak logic and will of the Xherari allowing free pseudo-religious contact with its mind through more of their life. Over the decades, it led the governments of nations and restructured society, presented as the Machine God, to facilitate technological development. The Moon-worshipers slowly fell behind, trade not quite keeping up with native development and education. The Avatar of the Machine was often an educator and an architect as much as a living temple.

By 5000 CE, most Xherari nations had vast scientific departments, struggling to keep pace with the ever more rapid and independent movement for the Machine God. Xeo Raqovia was venerated and reified in its chosen home nation, and space travel was beginning to seem feasible. Rocket testing, landing in oceans, was innovated on for the first planned mission beyond Pherran, to its closest body and submoon Mahuerran. At this point, the industry and study of machinery was advanced enough to give the Avatar of the Machine tangible power. As this progressed, the "voice" of the Aberration grew quieter, drowned out by its Avatar's logic and the scientific corpus of the people.

Civil Unification

As spaceflight became viable, exploration to Entroph and its other moons began, and a sort of overview effect by governors scrambling for more land and resources sparked movements for civil unification. The Machine God, prevalent in faith worldwide, had contributed immensely to history and accelerated development often in spite of the national boundaries. At the time, the different states were locked in economic races and warfare to expand more and faster. Especially with the study of sister-biospheres on Entroph and Mahuerran, exploitation of the grand wide beyond came into conflict with ecology. Industry and research, two branches of progress often closely related, split on the issue of space colonization.

The great tribulations came not from the military, not from the issues of religion or identity, but from these disjointed interests of creation and exploration. Governments mobilized what forces they had to quell the rioting and vigilante warfare against settling industrialists on Entroph and Mahuerran, and even on Aulotum. Ultimately, referendums from international scientific organizations and the largest manufacturing conglomerates were given resources and authority to act on behalf of the people.

The conclusions of these organizations were backed both by sociological data and economic plans. Competition and boundary-pushing had long been the essence of progress, but its damaging effects were making themselves too prevalent in the era of interlunar travel. Unification and decentralization of various industries were proposed, as well as the dissolution of all national borders. Collaborative free-travel development was projected to enhance society and its progress towards better quality of life by 160%. About half the free states of Pherran implemented some version of this plan immediately, before conferring to discuss unification.

Tensions dropped between the settlers of Entroph and the people of Pherran as the industrial presence was reduced to sustainable levels. The great question of why for space travel had been given a definite answer. Study and exploration were the top priority, with resource exploitation reserved for uninhabited worlds. There was plenty of space, after all, but so little left untouched once the first waves were followed.

The wars that followed on Pherran, called the Second Iron Age, were alight with nationalism. Independence was a cultural idea long held sacred by the nations that resisted, and they fought to the very end to secure their own identities. But they fell over the course of decades, and unification under the banner of sustainable progress was achieved. The Pherranite planetary coalition, called Vuerraxhanti, took over as the de facto administration for many nation-type tasks.

Aexan Charybdya

A little over a decade before the Torratolys collided with Entroph, study into the Singularity Complex halted. Its occasional gravitational ripplings seemed only to right itself in Pherran's orbit, dormant since the three hundred year old event of an asteroid being skyrocketed through it at a measurable fraction of c. The Complex had long been known to astronomers, assumed to be an Aberrant structure of the same kind as Xeo Raqovia. The Avatar of the Machine at the time, Mc. Alraes Voland Gesteril Chirinn, wished desperately to solve the puzzle of it and harness the Complex's power to open up the stars to the Xherari.

Avatar Chirinn was old, having long built a connection to Xeo Raqovia enough to now somewhat hear its thoughts. And in desperation to solve the issue, the design of the Singularity Complex so robust and self-circular that no technician alive could even begin to try overriding it, she decided to throw away her life. While an Aberration, the Complex was technological in nature. Metal, data, energy. And the Aberration within her granted the ability to connect to all things of that class.

Candidates for the next Avatar of the Machine are chosen every so often when the current Avatar feels ancient and close to death, and Chirinn's candidates were the cream of the crop. Elite types specialized in a variety of field work careers, impressive resumes, top-class education, the usual. She discredited all of them before seeing them, and Xeo Raqovia agreed. They were boring, unlikely to be able to succeed her. And so she interviewed them, all eight, expecting nothing.

The fifth candidate, a young spaceship engineer and engine design specialist by the name of Mh. Cuberr, caught Avatar Chirinn's eye. He was thoroughly unambitious, only reluctantly formal, and had the posture of a homebody who was just itching to leave the room every second. Passionate about his work, yes, but entirely averse to the privilege and responsibilities of the Avatar of the Machine. Seeming relieved when Mc. Alraes Chirinn looked down on him, Xeo Raqovia within her started to pay close attention. And so the old macleinat turned the interview personal, a peer-to-peer informal conversation about their jobs. And clicking, she explained her plan. Even if he wasn't cut out for it, Chirinn wanted to give him some sort of opportunity in the new age, whoever would pick it up after her. Cuberr questioned the logistics of this exploration, particularly the return, and the shells of the ships that would be sent out. Nothing to do with data or power. Unbalanced, feeble. Data and power were the locus of the operation, the very beginning of it, the whole point.

Xeo Raqovia decided silently to take Cuberr as its Avatar once Chirinn passed. Before her uneven attention became an issue, Avatar Alraes Chirinn ended her life. In her most disposable and worn-down exosuit and the smallest space-accessible ship available to her, she left Pherran's atmosphere and approached the Singularity Complex, announcing to the worlds below and beside that this would be the end of an era. The plan was simple and poetic, and required her successor to have quick recovery from anesthesia. Plugging herself into the Complex itself, Chirinn downloaded the blueprints of the whole structure, overloading her brain and killing her. Xeo Raqovia, connected to her but significantly more durable against cognitoflooding, internalized her memory of the blueprints and returned to Pherran in the ship, leaving the former Avatar's shredded body to burn up in atmosphere.

Exan Novali Solaeri Cuberr was chosen as the next Avatar of the Machine, tasked with using the brief mental connection to Xeo Raqovia to write out and communicate the plans for controlling the Singularity Complex while he could hear the Machine God's voice. This would only last a couple of hours post-assimilation and surgery, the pain of which normally leaves new Avatars bedridden for weeks. Cuberr, understanding the utter disgrace that denying Xeo Raqovia's demands would bring, reluctantly allowed the Aberration to enter his body and shred his organs to assimilate into his nervous system.

High enough on accelerants and painkillers to start blurring senses together, Avatar Cuberr recounted into a recording device the exact thoughts spilling from Xeo Raqovia until he could no longer detect them. After this, he was sedated for the better part of a month and the information held confidential. Once reawakened, Cuberr continued the work swiftly, drawing up blueprints for a ship that could use the moon's rare reserves of hypertryptine (about 80% of what the entire world had collected) to make an efficient ion engine for interstellar travel, cutting time down to only a few weeks for the return trip.

The controller station was a marvel of engineering, and in the time it was built, the new Avatar of the Machine was able to construct the first truly interstellar starship, a barebones expeditionary vessel called the V1 Pecyuos. It was launched to Axilarys with Cuberr and three crewmates, sent in search of resources and as a proof of concept.

The Axilarys-Anwwn survey, done primarily for the system's proximity and the habitable world, turned up wealth unimaginable to the Xherari. Hypertryptine, entire comets of it, was abound in the system. Interstellar travel's main issue, the bulky fusion drives and long travel times, could be feasibly solved by Cuberr's Hypertryptine--Ion engines, provided they had enough in stock. A secondary vessel with supplies to build a station was scheduled.

The haul of hypertryptine brought back by the V1 Pecyuos was enough for sixteen ships of the same size, though it was consolidated into larger drives for four cargo haulers, sent back out to Axilarys to capitalize on the sheer interplanetary abundance of hypertryptine and begin the reign of interstellar travel. The new period was called Aexan Charybdya, "The Taking of Charybdis".

Throughout the next few decades, Dexotrau, Promekea, and Elkandor were surveyed extensively. Aeris and Rhen were charted and visited, but not permanently settled. Gwerddon, at the time called Antiphoros, was given little attention, not having the abundance of necessary resources like Axilarys and Elkandor, the study material of Dexotrau and Promekea, or the life of Rylehkastra, Annwn (at the time Anwwn), and Gladyrus.

Fifty-five years after the Torratolys collided with Entroph and began subsuming its biosphere, the Xherari were heavily spread across the galaxy, and first contact with the Ski'pec was made. The two species began a magnanimous partnership, chartering worlds for cohabitation and trade based on their different chemistries and temperatures. Vuerraxhanti became more decentralized, a Perdition-based governance sphere overseeing the new municipalities across the stars as they thrived.

Aexan Charybdya was relatively unchallenged before the meeting with the Ski'pec. Abberance was understood as a natural phenomenon restricted to specific masses or bodies, but the Ski'pec magi changed the worldview regarding souls, minds, and the ability to harness such forces rapidly. Models of physics and metaphysics were restructured, and for the first time in centuries the power of the individual was brought into serious consideration against the goodwill of the collective.

Alecis' Subjugation

The Avatar of the Machine to witness the disappearance of the notably quiet Deagami Nebula known as the Ravenfogg was named Xheon Phirris-Eastil Kharimn, a restless and superstitious geologist before his ascension. Seeing the newly emerged spirit heading toward Aylathiya, Avatar Kharimn spent the majority of his career writing about the potential dangers, directing study to the oft-neglected and distant mainland Cosmoria.

Kharimn's successor witnessed Azurade's only historical manifestation, the spear of light hurled in the same Aylathiyaward direction as the Ravenfogg, and the relatively rapid reappearance of the Ravenfogg. Sentiments among Xherari literature were that anything distinctly beyond Azurullya may be dangerous, a threat, under the agenda of the Ravenfogg and Azurade.

When the Theocracy of Silverstar practically crash-landed onto Oaliun and claimed the planet as the new refuge and temple of their god, heralded in by their immortal leader, Vuerraxhanti's sociological committees could not act fast enough to quell the resistance and outcries. Immediate disdain for these foreigners had been primed by two generations of Raqovian literature, and the belligerence of the theocratic sovereignty that arose against the combined free-travel states of the Ski'pec and Xherari brought back sour memories of pre-unification history.

The Xherari despised Alecisism in most places, with only the Antiphoran citizens being slowly converted until the attacks on Faestir. The first signal of the end. Throughout the next seven centuries, Moonmoon and his Theocracy appealed to the Ski'pec and brought their magocratic zealotry down as the new order in Azurullya, garnering planet after planet and trade after trade to corner the Xherari, their only immediate threat. By the 6800s, they had been subjugated into the new hegemonic power.

Modern Life

Xherari now live as well-respected but distant pieces of a vast empire. Their social inclinations and history are so far removed from the core ethos of the Theocracy of Silverstar that they can't help but act in ways skewed from the dogma they live under, but their skills are well appreciated. Serving much the same roles as they did before subjugation, their people are still heavily associated with technology and oneness with it.

It would not be wrong to say that the Xherari are oppressed, though the ways in which it manifests are subtle, like most of Moonmoon's schemes. Their genders are correlated to the "accepted" binary most other civilized species in the galaxy use and are otherwise misintepreted, their personal augmentation is viewed with a corruptive lens in comparison to thaumaturgy, and many of their major worlds have been politically renamed. Their worship of Xeo Raqovia has been whittled down to mere historical reverence and respect as one might give to another powerful spirit.

In the duchy most likely to have some sort of cultural revival and respect for the past, Ghesr-Ís, Xherari are still just an afterthought. Their home system is under the governance of a Cerulean King who refuses to disrupt Moonmoon's hegemony. And yet still there may be cells quietly convening, against the nature of social cohesion, against their governmental principle of unity, to reclaim what was lost to Alecis. A hope for a slow and distant revolution.