Sathraasian
The Sathraas as a Race
The Sathraasians are a tall, sinewy, reptilian race whose roots are found deep in the heart of an intensely active nebula. They have semi-scaled and leathery skin, a non-prehensile tail, short stubby clawed fingers and toes, binocular vision, and a maw full of deadly teeth. In addition, the race is noted for its above average strength and almost eerie grace in battle - both on the ground and in space.
The Sathraas are hatched from eggs, but only about two to four eggs are laid at any one time, resulting in a low racial birthrate. Gestation takes about 5 months, but each egg has only about a 65% chance of making the full gestation. Nebula interference is responsible for the early expiration of unhatched young. The typical Sathraas ranges in height at maturity from 6 foot 6 inches, to 8 feet tall. The male of the species tends to be taller than the female, but in contrast, the female has more coloration.
In fact, by humanoid standards it is difficult to distinguish between a male and female Sathraas, unless the observer is keen to the minor nuances or the individual under observation speaks. The female of the species has a notably different voice than the male. While the male voice tends to be low in the octave range, the female's voice has a very distinct, high toned clarity to it making females of the species the favored gender to serve as translators. Also, female head-ridges tend to be less spiked, the spikes are shorter, and the female has a wider variant in coloration across her body. In addition, the female has areas of scaling that are brightly colored. The males tend to be uniform in coloration from head to toe.
Color pattern for the species as a whole varies dependant on the region of the planet the Sathraas hails from. Rocky arid areas tend to be more of the gray hues, while those from tropic and temperate are the varying deep green colorations, while yet another variant, the browns and dark yellows, from the desert regions.
All Sathraas eyes are silted, and the iris is an almost luminous, reflective yellow-gold in coloration - though unlike alligators and similar night-predators, light does not cause a Sathraas' eyes to shine.
The race, as a whole, possesses average sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell. However, they have a unique almost sixth-sense when it comes to motion. The Sathraasians are extremely sensitive to any kind of motion, part of why they make such excellent hunter/warriors.
The tough, semi-scaled and leathery hide of a Sathraas has rendered them somewhat more resistant to the average pain that the "soft-skins" exhibit, but their development on their arid, rocky home world has left them somewhat more susceptible to low temperatures. The close presence of their sun has left them a tad harder of seeing in low-light conditions, such as dusk and twilight. Dusk and twilight to a Sathraas is as dark as night to a Human. Many a crew-mate complains when a Sathraas takes the con on the night shift. Invariably, the temperature will be raised a balmy 100 degrees F and light level upped to an almost uncomfortable daylight condition.
For the Sathraasians, the galactically-common, recreational beverages containing alcohol are poison to them. Alcohol, in just about any quantity, will kill even the mightiest of the lizard-race. Being reptilian in nature, water within their body is processed significantly differently than in most humanoids, and their genetic equivalent of a liver is simply unable to handle the toxins. Introduction of alcohol to the Sathraas' diet results in a very slow, painful road to death. First motor and speech functions are impaired, but within several hours as their liver attempts to process the alcohol, decomposition and recombination of chemicals within the blood-stream causes blood-toxicosis. Without immediate medical attention, consisting of a complete G.I. purge and blood transfusions, the brain and other major organs begin to suffer from Necrosis within 6 hours.
The Sathraas race cannot mentally handle most forms of FTL travel (with the exception of gravity "jump-drive" type systems), and must be sedated during "normal" FTL transit periods or they become extremely unstable, edgy and vicious - the primitive portion of their mind takes over and they become dangerous. The "normal" passage of time (relative to the crew) and discongruity of transit in warp-space (which is a continued point of interest for the Imperium: that a non-psychic race can sense a violation of the physical laws of universe on an instinctual level), causes an almost immediate break down of their stoic minds and the instability takes root in as short a time as the first 5 to 15 minutes into the voyage. Thankfully, their primary form of FTL, the Gravity "jump-drive" causes both time and spatial distortion and appears instantaneous to the crew, negating the need to sedate themselves when using their own drive technology.
Origins
Until recently (within the past 200 years or so), the Sathraasians had not achieved significant FTL spaceflight. The race had remained unmolested by the Imperium due to the fact that the main Sathraas Homeworld, referred to as Sathraas by outsiders, or simply Homeworld by the Sathraas themselves, and its outlying colonies (also referred to as Homeworld - but we'll go into that later), are nestled deep within one of the Galaxy's more ionically and magnetically turbulent Nebulae. As a result, detection of the planet was nearly impossible due to the interference exhibited with "conventional" sensor technology. It wasn't until the Sathraas' first significant FTL jump, rendering the ship outside the Nebula, that their existence was noted by a passing Eldar scout.
Habitat
(Larger image Here)
The racial birthplace of the Sathraas, referred to as Sathraas Prime, is approximately 2 times the diameter of Earth, with an overall arid global climate - only 50% of the planet's surface has water coverage. Approximately 20% of the landmass is barren, rocky, desert like terrain and fresh water on a whole is scarce. The arctic poles are non-existent. The planet boasts a surface gravity about 1.7 times that of Earth, and due to the rotation, axial tilt, and position toward its stellar body, the planet is subdividable not into hemispheres, but triaspheres - each with its own unique climates, flora and fauna. The planet has a total of 5 natural satellites, and an orbiting ring of rocky asteroid debris near its "northern" triasphere.
Due to the Nebula's interaction with life on the planets within Sathraas territory, the entire race has evolved, by Imperium Standards, as Psychic-Incapable. However, what they lack in mental expansion, the race has long, long ago made up for in keen battle senses.
All outlying colonies of the Sathraas Empire also lie within the Nebula. Most of which resemble the same planetary conditions as the primary Sathraas world, with the exception of the unique conditions, which result in the triasphere exhibited solely on Sathraas Prime.
Currently, the Sathraasians hold ownership of 5 colonized and well developed planets (2 in their home system), in addition to their capital homeworld, all within the nebula, spanning 4 star systems. Furthermore, on the fringes of the core 6 planets are an additional 5 low developed "colony" worlds consisting of settlements and planetary terraforming is underway to bring the planet around to a more habitable ecosystem, in support of major settlement and development in the future, also within the nebula.
Technology
One of the main reasons the Imperium has not moved in to crush this fledgling race yet (for "not being human"), is the fact that the Sathraas hold the patent on several unique technologies that have gotten the Imperium's interest. The most notable being the navigational sensor suites the Sathraas developed, that allows virtually unhindered navigation through Nebulae, near large gravitational bodies, Neutron Stars, pulsars, binary star systems, and high-interference portions of space where conventional sensor systems, energy weapons, certain types of propulsion and shields are rendered ineffective or reduced in capacity, at best. These technologies are currently a closely guarded secret of the Sathraas military, and the Sathraas restrict most of their military movements to within their nebula. Those ships leaving the nebula are typically not fitted with such "high interest" devices. When military vessels voyage beyond the nebula, typically they are in a convoy of significant enough size that an attempt at a forceful acquisition of such technology could prove formidable. In addition, outside the nebula Sathraas ship captains are under directive to immediately jump back to Homespace, in the event that a situation arises where ship security could be compromised.
The Sathraas' only means of FTL transportation is through use of a Gravity Drive system - or "Jump Drive". Their weapons systems also focus around gravity manipulation - Rail Guns, Gauss Rifles, Mortars, Direct-fire Rockets and other simple projectile weapons. Guided missiles are used to a very limited extent, but these types of weapons are typically seen as dishonorable, as it is viewed as taking away the responsibility of the soldier to be a capable warrior and face your foe on equal footing.
The Sathraasians do not employ energy shield technology. Early on during its development and exploration, it was found to be ineffective. The scientists could not explain why, but the shields would never attain the calculable strength they should and often times test-bed projects would collapse after a period of instability. As a result, the project was abandoned in favor of something attainable, and the Sathraas shifted their focus, exploring high-density hull-armor. Having finally left the Nebula, the Sathraas now understand why their shielding projects never reached fruition. Current hull-armor and other means of protection are at sufficient enough advancement, that to resume the shielding project would be a significant step back for them, technologically, and as such the project has remained low on research priority.
The Sathraas do not use cloaking technology either. For the same reasons as shielding, the project was abandoned early on - light bending technology will not function in a nebula - too much interference. However, the advanced sensor suites they employ for their ships grant them a unique advantage. As a result of the comprehensive scans their sensor suites conduct, a cloaked vessel is as easy to detect as any other ship outside a nebula.
Sathraas power systems, both planetary and in space, employ Fusion, fueled by the vast quantity of hydrogen around them. Other similar technologies have been explored, such as matter/anti-matter reactions; however, Sathraas scientists remain fearful that there remains an immeasurable galactic impact of causing localized matter/anti-matter annihilations. As a result, Anti-matter reactors remain a largely unexplored and guarded tech.
Currently, the Sathraas Empire has several secret projects in working. As the race began its expansion to the stars, it was discovered that despite the low birth-rate inside the Nebula, outside the Nebula eggs that were laid were born sterile. As attempts at recreating the environment of the nebula were made, it was quickly discovered that this same project could be turned into a potential weapon. Coined "The Nebulizer", the Sathraas are now working on a device to mount on their larger ships, which will recreate the effects of the Nebula in a radius around a Sathraas fleet. In theory, enemy ship sensor systems will be reduced in range and capability, shields will fail or be reduced in capacity, and cloaking devices rendered ineffective. This project is currently a closely guarded secret, and is known only by the highest military and scientific officials. The exact level of completion for this project is presently unknown, but rumors circulate among the Sathraas population, that a new capital-ship and unmarked fast-interceptor fleet has been seen operating in-between Sathraas Prime and Sathraas II. Fueling this rumor, certain merchants claim that unexplainable phenomenon have swept across their ship-sensors while transiting star-lanes in that area, and they were left blind for several thousand kilometers.
People
The Sathraas are, on a whole, a semi-xenophobic race. While they do not believe they are a superior race compared to others, they have a unique pride in their Homeworld and all things Sathraas, that makes them seem distant and isolated from others. The race views their home planet much like the early Native-American tribes viewed Earth, as a Gaea-like Entity, though the definitions of "God" and "Spirit" are blurred in the case of the Sathraas. Each Sathraasian feels an instinctual connection to their individual planet as their birthplace and can tell just by presence when they are on the planet of their origin. It is not uncommon that when a Sathraas dies out in deep space, the ship's crew of that individual will transport the body of their fallen comrade back to the appropriate Homeworld for burial.
The Sathraas do not see a distinction between planets. If you are a Sathraas born on any of the colonies, it is as much Homeworld to that individual as a different colonized Homeworld is to another Sathraas. The meaning of which planet the individual speaks of is understood in their native dialogue, which is frequently lost in translation and serves for much confusion with the other humanoid races. The Humanoid use for a proper-name of one's home planet escapes them. For you would not name that which gives you birth, naturally, for it already has a name - Homeworld. Why name it something different, something that it is not?
It is every Sathraas' duty to serve in the military for at least one 4-year term. As a result of their military experience, and keen racial battle-senses, many a ship captain vies to employ the services of a Sathraas in some tactical form, be it Security, Piloting or Weapons. The Sathraas have about them an almost unique ability to outmaneuver any same-classed ship piloted by a different species. Their accuracy with weapons systems is higher, they are fierce and loyal warriors, and considering the bulky, hull-armored nature of their space-craft, they move about space with deadly speed, efficiency and precision.
The Sathraas are a very direct people - espionage is seen as dishonest and despicable. If a Sathraas wants something, you take it. Since criminals are not tolerated in their society, the only things that are taken are things that would warrant the backing of the community, the City-State and the Military - there are no armies of one or rebels for a cause. The military body typically sides with that of the people on popular opinion, though it is still controlled by the government - and so armies break and reform based on sides when a dispute is at hand.
Sathraas are territorial, but not initially hostile when meeting one another, or those of other races. They have a refined sense of territorialism, that is akin to fervent loyalty. As long as the individual does not pose a danger or make any threat to city-state, community, or home/crew (ship's crew included) the Sathraas will tolerate the new individual - though remain leery of the person, until such time as the Sathraas is convinced that the individual is not a danger. In these cases, the burden of proof lies with the new individual to prove that they are not a threat.
The directness and seeming distance Sathraas exhibit make them poor traders with other species, but on the same hand, a vendor that deals with a Sathraas can rest assured that they are not being swindled - and usually the intimidating size of the Sathraas, as well as their fearsome demeanor and unique cultural view on acquiring desirables, tend to make merchants think twice about trying to deceive them.
Government & History
The Sathraas governmental form is one of a Galactic Republic - much like the Greeks and Romans of the BC Era of Human History. Wars are frequent on Sathraas worlds, but usually of a minor nature such as border disputes, control of resources, or a disagreement between the handling and execution of common laws shared between the city-states. Each planet is, for the most part, self-governed - and the Sathraas learned early on in colonization that too much involvement from one planetary capital to another causes interplanetary wars which benefit the race none. However, small battles still occur from time to time when an agreement cannot be reached between worlds on matters of racial importance, like sharing of strategic resources or the development of technologies.
The Sathraas were not always so prosperous however. The solar system the Sathraas now call home, as well as several other neighboring solar systems, did not form in a nebula. Nor was there a nebula enfolding them as life evolved and gained sentience on their planet. In fact, the Sathraas homeworld had been green and luscious - a veritable Gaea-world. Paradise by many.
Even so the race evolved and communities of Sathraas gathered for mutual protection from their own violent nature. Due to the intrinsic territorial nature of the lizards, tribe-communities would war constantly. With each war, the death count would rise. Naturally during this early point in Sathraas history, technology was almost stagnant and civilization was advancing at the slowest rate possible. The race seemed blind to what they had.
As time continued to pass, the race was drawing towards extinction as the death-toll continued to rise faster than the birth-rate of the species. By this point, even with the warring, the Sathraas had managed to achieve a crude medieval civilization, dominated by Feudal Lords and rife with slavery. Something had to be done or the species was destined to fade away.
It was at this point, early in Human History as the Human species just began space-flight and exploration (around .M2 in the timeline), that far out elsewhere in the galaxy, a cataclysm occurred on a level far greater than anything imaginable.
In a nearby star-system to the Sathraas homeworld, a relatively young red super-giant spontaneously and unexplainably went super-nova, violently ejecting massive chunks of flaming stellar matter out into the depths of space, leaving fiery finger-like streaks stretching out across the stars. Within a few days, another star near to the first suddenly winked out of existance, and then a third again a week later.
The Sathraas witnessed this event on a global scale, and initially war broke out on a global scale in the name of the Serpent-King, before they became fearful as the third Star-God ceased to shine. Everyone stopped to take in what they were witnessing. It wasn't long until the event became known as "The Great Turning" - an event which to them marked the loss of their primary diety, the Warrior God "The Ever Angry Serpent." They thought it was the End Days - and they were almost right. Suddenly the "Angry Eye of the Serpent" had winked out of existence and set the night sky aflame, having lost the battle with their two other Star-Gods, known only as "The Siblings" now, who also perished in the conflict. Little did they know that what they saw with their eyes was only the first in a wave of events that almost completed their extinction. A decade later, the first of 3 waves of destruction hit their planet. The leading edge of the wave bombarded their planet with high energy particles from the now-dead stars when they went super-nova. The atmosphere was almost burnt off on the facing side of the planet and almost 1/4 of the planet died within the first minutes. Suddenly the night sky had changed from its black depths to a fiery red-orange. Atmospheric storms, dry lightning, tornados, hurricanes, blizzards and other natural phenomenon, some of which they had never seen before, wracked the planet. The upper stratosphere arced with energy and crackled with an unseen force out into space.
The Sathraas did the only thing they could, and retreated underground. Suddenly their own home had become the enemy. Unfortunately only about 3% of the race managed to seek out underground shelter and survive as the years turned into decades and the planet continued its violent upheaval.
For many centuries the race cowered in the face of this cataclysm, hiding deep in the caves. Civilization was reduced back to nomadic hunter-forager ways. They were convinced that their constant warring had brought about this slow and painful death.
The second wave hit near to a century later after the first. The slower moving matter from the three stars entered and passed through their solar system setting asteroids free and bombarding all the planets. Fortunately, the race had grown accustomed to living underground and had set up crude communities again. Most of the 2nd wave came and went with few witnesses. So there was no one was there to witness the destruction of one of Sathraas Prime's natural satellites. A massive chunk of cooled star-matter was hurtling towards the planet to do the race in, and almost as if by divine intervention, one if its moon's swung in like a billiard, sacrificing itself as it deflected the matter out harmlessly into space. The only remnants of this glorious act remains as asteroid debris in low orbit over the northern pole of Sathraas Prime.
The third wave was the resulting geological upheaval from the planet as one of its major moons was lost. Again just as the race began to think they could leave the darkness, they retreated deeper into the caves. Earthquakes, volcanoes, magma shifts and the like blanketed the surface for decades until, at last, things came to an equilibrium.
During their time dwelling in fear from their own planet, a cultural paradigm shift occured. For those that did not fall into anarchy and destroy themselves in an attempt to survive, infighting stopped, communities were reinforced, accords were made, and ironically, peace descended over the people as the planet waged war against itself and the depths of space. Eventually they fell into dark-age like communities and stagnated that way. As the species replenished their numbers, they were eventually forced out of the caves as space ran out. What they saw when the light of the day reached their eyes, almost 8 centuries after their retreat into darkness, was totally new. The entire planetary ecosystem had changed to the now arid, rocky world it is now.
Thankfully having fled into the caves kept the species adaptive, and even this hurtle was able to be overcome. What they saw on the surface was still a welcome change to the cave dwelling. The species had to adapt again though and was set back to square one as they fell into existance on the surface again. Slowly the race began to crawl its way out of the grave it had dug for itself.
Years passed, becoming decades, then centuries and continued to strech further into millenia as the race recovered and adjusted to an environment which had nothing left from its previous life. They were aliens on their own world.
During these years religion continued to whisper that the cause of this near apocalypsee was because of the incessant warring of the species millenia ago which had angered the Father God, causing him to close his eyes upon the people. Leaders urged the people to resist the impulse to fight. In additon the race now had to deal with the lowest birth-rate the species had ever seen. It was a slow, grueling crawl back away from the brink of destruction.
Finally as the race grew in number, civilization and technology advanced forward again. This time as people began intruding with each others territory, ponderance, revolution and philosophy were used with only the occasional small war breaking out. At last the species came to an agreement that an adaptive Republic would govern the race - continental at first, and eventually planetary as the population kept growing.
Once the race achieved space-fairing technology, yet more revolutions, wars and debate sparked as to how to handle colony planets. However this time the disagreements were fierce, between planets. Tensions rose, outbreaks of revolution sparked as people sought independence, and again, the race was trust into a violent war; this time on an interplanetary scale. Sadly, the war for planetary independence raged for decades in the vast darkness between planets - and again the race began to tip the scales towards extinction with newer, faster, more devastating machines of death. Never before had the race achieved as effective a way to kill as they had at this point in history.
Sathraas II was the first planet to utilize WMD's; with the completion of a massive ground construction project, the first rail-gun weapon was completed. On 8118547.M41, Sathraas II authorized use of this weapon as it became evident that Sathraas Prime was unwilling to negotiate. At 2:14 in the morning, the first shot from this new weapon was fired. The gun launched a solid-metal projectile that hurtled through space - careening though the depths on its calculated course. As it approached Sathraas Prime and entered its gravitational pull, it again began gaining speed, entered the atmosphere and impacted the ground. The capital city of Sathraas Prime disappeared in a flash. Hundreds of thousands died instantly; the only testament that there had been a great city now lay smoking in the bottom of a mile-wide crater.
Initially, the war intensified and as troops rallied to the cause. Ships were launched en masse in an attempt to attack Sathraas II from low orbit and destroy their gun, but Sathraas II had been prepared. The biggest space engagement in recorded history took place between worlds in that span of weeks. The death toll continued to rise.
The Sathraasians had not learned from their past - their stubborn-headedness and pride were only feeding into their sense of territorialism and "strong enough to own it" mentality. The millinia had clouded their minds and blurred the pages of history from what they had been through to get where they are now.
Again, Sathraas II sought negotiations as they did not desire to take more lives, and again they were left no choice but to fire their weapon, twice this time. Two more of Sathraas Prime's major cities disappeared in a heartbeat. Sathraas II had the upper hand. As the threat of more widespread destruction lurked, panic began to sweep the population of Sathraas Prime. Finally, negotiations were opened.
As both planets stepped back during negotiations and took a look at the death-toll, they realized quite quickly that they had almost pushed their race to extinction again, and an accord was reached, introducing self-governing planets - independent bodies of government with one supervisory capital planet, the birthplace of the race. This is the government used today.
Between Sathraas Prime and Sathraas II is a vast graveyard of wreckage from their inter-planetary war; from the wave that was launched in an attempt to destroy the city-killer weapon - the number of souls claimed within its black borders staggering. The race quietly and with heavy-heart refers to it only as "Remembrance". On the surface of Sathraas Prime, the three cities which were so swiftly erased from existence have remained untouched since their destruction - visible from space, the three craters have now been named "Respect", "Temperance" and "Survival". Each an eerily silent tomb, in space, and on the ground, that will forever serve as a reminder to the race of how destructive they have the potential to become, and how easily life can fade into blackness.
Outlook
On the ground, the People share a very strong bond to community. Each Sathraas takes pride in his or her city-state, and the Rights of the Individual are given less focus than the importance of community and regional government. Criminals are NOT tolerated within the community, and as a result, those that would go against the Status-Quo have reason to be paranoid. Occasionally, infighting can break out within a city-state, but usually it takes the form of a military coup to oust a power-hungry political leader or depose of a would-be despot. Because every Sathraas has military experience in one form or another, many of the political figureheads have strong ties to the armed forces - which can cause for some rather violent battling when a revolt occurs.
If the people are dissatisfied with their leader, it is let known, so that the leader may attempt to correct their deficiency before fighting occurs. If that leader still falls short of desire, they are ordered out of office by the people, usually with a majority military backing (though as stated above, there will be resistant military factions). If he or she refuses to relinquish control of governmental body, civil war does break out within the city-state. However the Sathraas recognize the races low birthrate, so oftentimes the battles are few, and short. Armies march to the place of battle - skirmishes are very infrequent - and the fight ensues. Once defeated, the governmental leader is allowed to gracefully step down and the people's choice for new leader takes their place. If the ruler still refuses to relinquish control and surrender, that leader's palace guard, any military that still refuses to surrender or re-side, and the leader himself, are eradicated in one final, fierce battle. This typically results in the need to rebuild several city blocks as the sweeping wave of destruction to eradicate the opposition is very, very destructive.
Occasionally there is an exception. Sometimes a political leader has such a destructively aggressive position in office that military action is taken extremely quickly and very brutally to quell possible threats to that leader's position. These are the rare times when the military coup begins to form in the "Underground" and once sufficient power and backing has risen from the people and the military, they attack by surprise in an attempt to overthrow said leader. These battles are always brutal, bloody, and destructive on a wide-scale, and always results in the complete eradication of one side or the other, oftentimes even those that surrender. Their have been recorded events in Sathraas history where entire city-states have risen to overthrow their warlord leader. In some events, the warlord leader controlled the military with such an iron fist that entire cities were been wiped off the map from fighting.
Religion
The Sathraas maintain a loose religious following. While a vast majority of the population has some degree of piety, it is nowhere near the blind, fervent and zealotous religious followers of the Imperium. The Sathraasian cultural and planetary past has had a significant impact on the degree to which their main religion was followed and its change of hands following the near extinctionary cataclysm that wracked their past.
Before the "Great Turning", the Sathraasian primary god, known as "The Ever Angry Serpent", was deified as King of All Sathraas. Two minor dieties, only known as "The Siblings" now, were also followed, but to a much lesser extent, being sons of the Serpent-King. The three great Red Supergiants in their night sky was proof to their existance - a trio of fierce and brilliant red dots that dominated the night sky, the largest of all being the King-Serpent (likely the closest). Always jealous of their father's power, the sons would constantly war with him in an unseen stellar battle only God's could percieve, in an attempt to usurp his throne and steal up all his power for themselves. This had great impact on the cultural outlook of the Sathraas People, and stirred them to war often in much the same manner, in "Honorable" struggle for necessity and possession. In much the same manner, Greed, Trickery and Deception were the embodiment of The Siblings.
The day the Serpent-King perished in the night sky, almost immediatley the planet was thrust into the largest religious war ever known, spilling across entire continents and oceans. Cities were reported to have marched on neighboring cities where the primary worship was of one or both of "The Siblings". Followers were villainized and hunted, exterminated brutally and swiftly, for they had wished the overthrow of the Serpent-King and as a result were indirectly responsible for His death.
Several days later when one of the Siblings ceased to shine in the night sky, the Followers of the Great-Serpent-King took this as a sign that their fighting had not been for naught. Their victory was impending and they simply needed to continue their religious purge. The death-toll was staggering. More lives had been claimed in those few days than in all Sathraas wars before, combined.
A week after the first Sibling perished, the second also ceased to shine in the night sky. This was initially seen as a victory to be heralded in the name of the Warrior-King. The People believed that very soon their Father would begin to shine in the night-sky anew. Gradually, as time passed and their prayers went unanswered, the grim possibility set in that they may have been duped by the Siblings into carrying out their plan. Greed and Trickery had done in the Father, and soon after the Siblings had set in on eachother, each delivering a fatal blow to the other while planetside, the Sathraasians went to war. Tricked by the very Gods they were fighting against. They too had fallen in on themselves and were on the brink of a planetwide decline. The remaining religious&world leaders declared an end to the warring, citing the battle in the heavens and what it had done to The People. Also, the names of The Siblings were wiped from the records of any and all references to them or their actual name - at times entire libraries were burned destroying all literary material. At this point, a philosophical trend emerged and as that spread through the culture, a much more passive following of the Serpent-King was adopted.
After the Sathraas were forced to retreat underground and remain there for several centuries, the Race came to revere their home planet as a primary Diety. Sheltering her children from the catastrophic events that would have otherwise erased the Sathraas from the Cosmos, a more Gaeacentric shift gradually occured, and is now the predominant religion of the planet. Simply calling her the "Sheltering Warrior Mother", she is revered to the highest level for allowing her children to retreat within her depths while she alone fought off the death-throes of their dying Father and his greedy Sons. The race still acknowledges and pays homage to their long dead Serpent-King, but very little is mentioned of The Siblings, except as a lesson to those to do well in avoiding Greed, Deception and Trickery.
Picture Below of a Sathraasian Artisan's Depiction of the Shelting Warrior Mother.
(Larger image Here)
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