NorAellian Concept Sketch
The NorAellians, as a race, worship knowledge above all else. They view all knowledge as worthy of seeking; should the price be deemed too immoral or costly to attain, then there must be another way to acquire that knowledge. Should there not, then all attempts to minimize the cost of pursuing the knowledge should be taken. It is very rarely that a NorAellian has stopped pursuit of a line of inquiry simply because they can't come up with a way of acquiring it that is objectionable to them.
The concept that 'some knowledge is dangerous' has been a hard one for the NorAellians to come to grips with. They have found out, the hard way, that this is a truth of the universe, but it feels alien and wrong to them. Instead they prefer to believe that if knowledge is too dangerous, that's a sign of immaturity as a race.
It is their deeply personal goal to be as mature a race as they are capable, and therefore, able to handle all knowledge. They recognize they have not achieved this status, yet.
¶ History
NorAellians are one of the oldest races in the galaxy. They evolved from near-reptile pack hunters. They grew and evolved alongside the GikDaa, who were the dominant sentient species at the time. As the NorAellians evolved, the GikDaa shared every scrap of information they learned, and the NorAellians quickly realized that as smart as their "Little Cousins" were, the NorAellians themselves could conceptualize and understand information much faster than the smaller mammals.
NorAellians were the community builders of their world. They did not have a nomadic phase like most races, instead they skipped right to agriculture. They had evolved significantly from their reptilian ancestors; they were omnivores capable of domesticating animals as easily as hunting them.
¶ Cities
NorAellians built the first cities on their planet, simply out of practical needs. As they developed, some groups did attempt to attack others, but the NorAellians quickly learned that given their penchant for destruction, if they every really went to war amongst themselves, nothing would be left. So, they united themselves behind the banner of civilization, seeing living in cities and houses and pursuing knowledge as an abandonment of their more animalistic side.
¶ Spaceflight
The NorAellians are cagey about the development of subspace travel. They claim that they were theorizing it long before they ever successfully orbited their planet. They were quick to build larger, more capable craft, and quickly built working subspace drives. However, their first drives were manual things; the NorAellians had realized they could mentally visualize 4th dimensional shapes, allowing the skilled among them to manually control the gravitic fields necessary for subspace travel. It was much later that they developed advanced enough computers to take over for them.
¶ Emissaries of Knowledge
As they expanded into space, they realized that most other races had not worked out subspace. It's unclear what races they encountered at this time, they simply say, "all that they were is sadly lost". It is believed that the galaxy was once much more populated than it currently is, and only the NorAellians remember this fact.
Regardless, they saw themselves as being destined to enlighten the other races. They would trade their technology for whatever unique knowledge a race had (including it's own history and folk lore), often giving away what other races would hold as tightly guarded secrets. These deals, unfortunately, lead to issues with these other races either making war with the NorAellians, or amongst themselves. The NorAellians tried to keep the peace as much as they could, but it seemed like a loosing proposition.
¶ The GikDaa
It was at this time when whatever happened to the GikDaa occurred. The NorAellians view this event as their fault, and often list it as the reason why they are less free with their knowledge than they once were. However, they have never explained further, saying it is too shameful to discuss.
¶ Meeting the Sooni
The NorAellians first encountered the Sooni long before they encountered the Lyndri. It was amusing to the Sooni that the NorAellian word "sooni" meant "gifted", and as such introduced themselves to the NorAellians as "The Gifted". Though a bit odd, the NorAellians didn't find this off-putting. Instead, this was their first encounter with Focus users. That made them wary; they had stories of locations their ancestors had found that "smelled of power", but never individuals who did.
The Sooni and the NorAellians stayed out of each other's way, and much to the NorAellian's frustration, the Sooni seemed unwilling to share knowledge with the same openness the NorAellians did. They were not used to being the ones lacking knowledge; though the Sooni worked really hard to hide their level of technology from the NorAellians, it was obvious to them how big of a gap there was. This implicit deception painted them as untrustworthy in the NorAellians eyes, and none of the events that ever followed did anything but confirm their initial impressions.
¶ The Lyndri
After the GikDaa and the Sooni, the NorAellians were a bit more cautious with the Lyndri. This time, they told themselves, they would guide this young race, and dole out only the information they could handle. They underestimated how self-reliant and stubborn the Lyndri were. They Lyndri ran with every new piece of technology the NorAellians gave them, all the while seeing the NorAellians as being stingy and overly cautious.
¶ The Lyndri War
(See: The Lyndri / NorAellian War)
The war with the Lyndri is considered the second darkest chapter of NorAellian history. Even after the Lyndri attack on their colony, it was suspected the Sooni were the driving force behind tensions. That didn't stop the NorAellians; if the Lyndri wanted war, they would give it to them, regardless of who was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Their failure to understand the extent of the Sooni manipulation is considered a cultural shame on all NorAellians. And their current inability to repair the damage they did only keep that shame fresh.
¶ Humanity
(See: First Contact)
When NorAellians had finally encountered Humanity, they were taken aback at first. They thought they'd found more Sooni, but it was clear that these people were not "The Gifted". The NorAellians watched for a while, managing to study Perseverance Fleet from a distance before making contact. After an unfortunate incident that resulted in several dead being jettisoned by the fleet, the NorAellians were able to confirm what they'd suspected: Humanity was the precursor race to the Sooni.
It was only after this that the whole situation with the Lyndri made sense; the Sooni were clearly trying to prevent the NorAellians from Humanity. They had no intention of respecting the Sooni's wishes. First Contact was made, and the rest is history.
¶ Galactic Diplomats
Given the NorAellians' history with all current races, they've naturally become go-betweens. They have positioned themselves as a neutral party capable of defending (or enforcing) agreements. Among Freelancers there is a saying, "The deal doesn't count unless a NorAellian says it does."
¶ Biology
Despite appearances, NorAellians are near-mammals. They give birth to live young, and secret milk. Their reptilian appearance is caused by their reptile ancestors, but as they developed they picked up mammalians traits.
NorAellians are eight to twelve feet tall, and they continue to grow as they age. Very young NorAellians are roughly Human size, as they mature, they become much larger and heavier. This size discrepancy leads most elder NorAellians to cease space travel and settle down on a planet somewhere, where space isn't as much of an issue.
¶ Lifespan
NorAellians live about 1000 years. They age slowly; adolescence for them can last a century. They are considered adults around the age of 200, and elderly around 800 - 900.
¶ Focus
The NorAellians are not capable of using Focus, however they have been studying it for generations. They have, perhaps, the greatest working knowledge of it from a race not born to it.
¶ Focus Sensitive
Rare NorAellians, despite not being able to use Focus, are "focus sensitive". They can perceive the use of Focus as either a noise, a smell, or a taste. They can also detect large stores of willpower, such as an object that's been imbued with a Focus user's will.
¶ Society
NorAellians are evolved from pack hunters, and even though they are far removed from those ancestors, they have maintained a high level of "cultural consensus". It's not unheard of for an individual NorAellian to disagree with the group, but it's almost unthinkable that a single NorAellian would act counter to what the race as a whole has decided. Their societal ties are the strongest of any race, so much so that group consensus appears to be hard wired into their psyche.
¶ Language
- See NorAellian Language for details.
¶ Government
While the NorAellians have a government, it's main purpose is to handle descent among groups of NorAellians, or to act as a central authority in dealing with other races. As a culture, NorAellians don't feel the need for laws and regulation the same way other races do. If a member of NorAellian society is causing harm, then it is the duty of those around that individual to handle the situation. Thought rare, it can result in what other races might see as "vigilante justice". To the NorAellians, that's simply "civic duty".
In modern times, the government has become mainly a facade for other races. They're more a group of NorAellians that cosplay as a government, building up departments and groups and comities that sound fascinating to them, though they have about as much power as the King of a Renaissance Fair has. That isn't to say that treaties and accords and agreements with the NorAellian Government are moot; just the opposite. Any actual agreement (be it verbal or written down) is taken serious, and as a rule NorAellians feel a need to abide by agreements made by others; in the case of their faux government, that goes doubly so, since they don't any anyone to feel they've been lied to or take advantage of.
¶ Current Government Organization
The current form is a two chamber Parliament where the Commons votes on representatives from the top five most popular "parties" to form the Head of State's ministers. Those ministers are given grandiose (and relatively meaningless titles), often made up by the minsters themselves. Their duties, however, are split amongst each other in a relatively logical way, primarily based on who wants what job.
The Commons is where any NorAellians can come and voice concern, or address Parliament. Other parties can also bring topic for discussion. Speeches are made, votes are held, and debates are moderated, with their results being brought to the Ministers, who form the second chamber. They vote to either affirm, or reject the opinions and votes of the lower house. Once the ministers vote to affirm, it goes to the Head of State for final ratification.
¶ Head of State
The NorAellian Head of State is known as 'Alpha Prime', due to a misinterpretation of how Humans named their heads of state, and an unfortunately recent introduction of NorAellians to the concept of constantly disproven 'alpha male' theory. Prior to that, they had been modeling themselves as a matriarchy to make the Lyndri comfortable, but they'd gotten bored with that style of government anyway.
¶ Parliament
NorAellian Parliament is, perhaps the most real part of their government. It actually does provide a place for individual to come and voice their concerns and many great NorAellian speeches happen on the Parliament floor. Their votes, also, carry weight, as they view it as a convoluted (but fun) way of reaching consensus.
¶ Justice
TODO: Rewrite this in the proper style; what follows was an explaination form discord.
So, NorAellian justice is one of those weird things. They will rehabilitate and reintegrate people into society that we never would. But to them, 'capital punishment' isn't a thing to be debated; it's a moral and ethical requirement. If you can't be brought back into the fold, then you die. They value life, but they value the whole more than the individual.
As such, 'crime' among NorAellians is very different. To them, laws as we understand them are like the rules of a board game, and it doesn't make you a bad person to "cheat" and see what you can get away with. But when it comes to morality, they're pretty hard line. Murder people without a socially accepted reason (war, defense, etc) and your life is forfeit.
So, while theyre's probably some NorAellian crime bosses out there who are just playing real life GTA and thinking of it as a game; the're more about the smuggling and the illegal deals and information brokerage than murder. They'd have a pretty hard line stance against it, in general
¶ Plot
The NorAellians are important simply as allies who have been preparing for the Sooni for generations.
¶ Behind the Scenes
The NorAellians were created when I realized I wanted a Wookie analog; a rather animalistic, physically intimidating race that everyone warned not to anger. But, what if I based them off of western dragons, and made them all nerds? And there you have it, the NorAellians.