The valsh_nar_empire is composed of several different types of species, each with their own cultures and traditions.

Though The same species, the karshvick are very easily separated by there different sets of culture. Though differnt sets of tribes may have a different custom or may have a different way of crafting a weapon, each culture can be divided up and sorted into one of the three clans; Sho, Toruk, or Va'Kip.

The Sho are the most warlike of the three clans, this is mostly due to the natural aggression that they possess as well as there larger general size over there Toruk and Va'Kip counterparts. With that being said many of there cultural ideologies revolve around fighting, some being adapted into a species wide doctrine.

When a dispute arises between two Sho karshvick arrises, the favored way of solving it is with a duel of sorts or in native valsh a Tazeel. The severity of the duel depends on who issued it, the tradition being the one who calls for one makes the rules. In all Tazeel there is a minimum of three party members, the two affected party members and a Judge/Referee refereed to as a Karsh Bak (Literally Translated to Warrior Judge). The Karsh Bak's main job is make sure all rules are followed, and that the overall end goal of the Tazeel is met (If for example the match is to the death, he will make sure one of the affected members is slayed by the other one).

Tazeel, and the rules issued, are taken very seriously and once the match has begun they cannot be changed or altered. In doing so will bring much dishonor and mockery to both sides, as well as whatever the end goal was to both sides as well.

The Tazeel is one of the culture specific things that have spread throughout the empire, most notably how the Clan Leaders are chosen though there is some variation to this depending on the clan in question.

Biased off of their constant warring on their home world, the Sho have developed a habbit of taking slaves or other mementos of the battle. For the most part the Kudah have curtailed the capturing of slaves for logicstical reasons but it still happens throughout the higher ranking Sho karshvick. The slaves that are taken are primarily used for forced labor, servitude or food. Other trophies that are normally taken are body parts (hands fingers heads etc) weapons or uniform parts. Fleet badges are a particular favorite.

The Long Journey is a right of leader ship for all Toruk karshvick, it has its origins dating back to when they were first settling their plant and had to traverse over its many seas to find a suitable place to live. Many of the Islands on their home planet are still uninhabited and the very dangerous fauna of the planet still thrive there. When a Karshvick of the Toruk rises to become a clan leader, they must first prove themselves worthy of the title by going on The Long Journey to one of the uninhabited islands (normally a tribe has a sacred island for this) and slay a large beast there and bring it back to the tribe as a sign of his power and ability to provide for his tribe.

Toruk tribes have their own set of tribal tattoos that vary with each individual tribe. To an outsider the lines and circles may appear alike but each Toruk karshvick can pick out the individual differences that marks each differnt tribe. The tattos resemble Maori tattoos and are primarily located on the karshvick face and arms.

Tribe leaders act as a science hive mind/council for Technology and Science Development and Discovery. The Tribal leaders of the Va'Kip karshvick are all geniuses in some way shape or form, be it a master scientist or a master weapons designer. The Va'Kip Leaders quickly realised that they could be much more productive, and better if they all shared there knowlage, or at least had a group that could do that. The Result is now the head of the Technolgoy and Science Development and Discovery Leaders, a hive mind of sorts that runs the TSDD as well as governs Va'Kip itself.

There is a saying in the Valsh'Nar Empire, “Nothign is Finished on Va'Kip” A saying that is in a way true. The Va'Kip pride themselfs of perfection of what they do, be it designing a new more powerful weapon or doing an intricate artwork on said weapon, and thus a 'finished product' is never truley finished to them until it is perfect. Members of the Va'Kip society strive to become masters at their chosesn way of life, and rivalry's between tribes is almost as fierce as those with the Sho, though conflicts are a lot less bloody and more productive.

Though names for individuals are rare, they do exist and normally belong to the leaders who adopt the name of the group their in charge of. The names are used as call signs to distinguish units during battle and the leaders adopt the call-sign as their own personal title. They keep the name as they advance in ranks, the new leader will adopt their own to apply to the previous unit.

Names are often short, or are a combination of two short individual words. Most names start out with a hard consistent such as a 'K' or 'Z' and end with one as well. Vowels in the name however are usually long, for example a name such as 'Kuz' would be pronounced as Kooz not Cuz.

Sample Names

• Tork
• Zar
• Tof'ket
• Bar'kul

Leaders amongst Karshvicks are easy to spot, as leadership is based off of size, The larger the Karshvick the more importance they have. However, though they can easily dwarf their companions there is little tension between the ranks. This is another byproduct of the Psychic Hive Mind as well as an internal knowing that they are all striving towards the same goal. The only advantage that the leader has is that it gets to eat more, which is beneficial to the species as a whole because of the Karshvicks ability to absorb knowledge by consuming the flesh of its prey. When a leader dies or is killed, the next largest steps up to take control, if there are two or more Karshvicks of equal size however, a small controlled fight will ensue to see which one claims dominance.

Though the Kudah do not fight directly on the battlefield, they do however wage a constant war with each other politically. Each Kudah knows exactly where they stand in line for the throne and will spend their lives trying to be next in line, the result being a near no holds bar of political sabotage, underhanded dealings, assassinations and almost out right war between individuals and factions. This dealing also flows over with the Kudah ambassadors when dealing with foreign dignitaries weather they know it or not. The only individual safe from the game of political chess is the Queen herself, seeing as killing her would be treason and also would deter from the overall goal of advancing the empire.

Kudahs act as a hive mind for A valsh_nar_empire colony or military force, communicating with the 'lesser' species within its ranks to further the advancement of the Empire. With their shape shifting appearance and higher intelligence, they also act as ambassadors when dealing with species outside of their empire, though it is usually with the accompaniment of a dozen or so karshvick retainers.

The Zazeku have two primary purposes in the valsh_nar_empire, manual labor and Military support. The natural home for a Zazeku is a hole in the ground with a covering it can ambush passing prey from, the Valsh'Nar used this to their advantage and use them to help dig large burrows or hives that the karshvick and kudahs live in. With their thick natural armor and strength the karshvick have adapted them for use in combat as well. Many karshvick will attach additional plates to them as well as attaching a weapon system on top of it where a karshvick can ride on top and use it as a large mobile weapon platform. Furthermore karshvick Commanders have used them as large shock troops, unleashing them with there regular military force to punch though fortifications or tough armored targets/vehicles as heavy support. Additionally another tactic is to use the Zazeku's burrowing ability to tunnel under an enemy position and emerge within it/behind it, letting a sizable force of karshvick to follow behind in its tunnel with devastating results.

Though used for war Zazeku are relatively docile behaving much like regular crabs unless provoked. Because of this the only effective way to use them is to have a team supporting them. A regular team consists of 1-3 Zazeku with about 10 karshvick retainers for manual labor, or 30 for combat. If its retainers are lost its natural instinct will be to return to where it can be connected with the Hive Mind presence, as its natural range is far shorter than any karshvick or kudah, only a few hundred meters as opposed to the light-years of the kudah or karshvick.

The Pakoli are a nomadic group of people, moving from place to place instead of living in established settlements (the only exception is Darlath Montar, which is a trading hub). In order to survive on their travels, the Pakoli have developed a system of bartering and trading with each other as well as the other species in the empire. Most Pakoli travel alone so the trading is normally between individuals for small nessities such as food, water or ammunition. However, some Pakoli chose to travel in small groups (usually genetically related) and scour the desert and mountains of Zeddaos Prime for oddities and other materials to trade. These small groups act as a natural guard for the planet, investigating anything that happens to fall out of the sky onto their planet in hopes to find something to trade or eat.

The Pakoli do not have much of the role within the empire out side of the occasional expeditionary force or personal assassin. The nomadic culture coupled with their small group sizes make them a very difficult group to unite. However they do act as a sort of home guard for The valsh_nar_empire due to their constant roaming they have a tendency to find anything out of the ordinary, such as other races attempting to covertly operate on the planet, and will either capture them to trade to the kudah for needed supplies and weapons or keep them for themselves for trading or food.

riko created this article on 2015/01/03 22:07.