OTHER CONCEPTS | SPACE WARFARE | PART 5 - HARD SCI-FI x STARFLEET

PITCHING A GREEK TRIREME AGAINST A WW2 WARSHIP

THIS POST CONTAINS QUITE TECHNICAL DETAILS AND SPECULATIVE COURSE OF ACTION

MEET THE COMBATANTS

Galaxy-class USS EANES, NCC-1434

(After Gil Eanes, portuguese sailor from the 1430s which ended the myth of sea monsters in the northwestern African coast)

In the Star Trek universe, Galaxy-class starships were put in service around the 2360s into the 2370s by the Starfleet, crewed by between 1000 to 6000 people; these 641 meter behemoths were usually designated as explorer ships. Like most Starfleet vessels, it is composed of a large saucer, a neck, and two warp nacelles.

The average speed for cruising can be around warp 6, though at times warp 9 is possible but risky for long periods.

Armaments include a total of 26 phaser arrays (halves above and below the saucer), 2 torpedo launchers (250 photon torpedoes), and antimatter mines, and of course the staple deflector shields.

There isn't much information about how powerful phasers can be, citations say it takes several seconds to melt through granite, for further strength calculations 1 second will be considered for 1kg, for a total power estimate of 1.7 MJ/s, or roughly 2MW. In the TNG series throughout episodes we can estimate that typical firing power for ship-to-ship combat is between 40 and 400 MW, the latter of which is more than enough to overpower the ship’s shielding.

The TNG manual says phasers travel just under lightspeed with an effective range of 300 thousand kilometers.

Photon torpedoes get their power from matter/antimatter annihilation, which releases great quantities of radiation. Photon torpedoes are warp-capable depending on model, traveling up to 0.17-0.2c, they have an approximate range of some 300 thousand kilometers, but this can be extended at the expense of torpedo yield to 3.5 million km. 

The series speaks of setting levels for torpedo yield, which commonly go from 1 to 16, called isotons, and at one time is said that a level 25 warhead could level a city, so I'd imagine they'd have the yield of tactical nukes overall, is implied that these levels are not linear, since a 54 isoton could blow up a planet. The Star Trek Next Generation Technical Manual page 129 says that about 1.1-1.5 kg of anti-matter are carried by your typical photon torpedo, and conversion parameters set the explosive yield at a maximum of 64,4 megatons, it could be less if the annihilation is not total.

So basically this ship's capabilities are taking out a ~4 km wide asteroid with a single torpedo (from the gravitational binding energy equation), and particle beans able to vaporize through up to 200kg of rock a second.

On the other side of the ring, we have a fleet designed by me:

All ships follow the same construction rules as the blog's flagship the Scitalis, including the camouflage pattern

SCITALIS-class Support Cruisers
(The Scitalis is a medieval beast that is said to possess beautiful shiny marks)

Each vessel is about 320 meters long, I calculated, given an overestimate of the density of submarines, for 400-600 kg/m³ to account for the plates, reactor and skirts, that each ship would have a dry mass around 50 or 60 thousand tons, or the weight of two moderately-sized battleships, it could be way less if it can be manned by a small crew, or none at all, which is why I'm counting on a computer to crew the ship.

 

In the last post I calculated that a decent spin for the ship would impart over 60 G of acceleration on the ends of the ship, and knowing that the tensile strength of steel is between 400-800 MPa, and that the ship has an overall cross-section of the deck of some 24-35m, the stress shouldn't be above 20 MPa per square meter, and so the ship wouldn't rip itself apart unless it is spinning anything over 160 rpm (as fast as the blades of a fan).

No warp drives or superluminal travel capabilities, minimum artificial gravity, top speed just about solar escape velocity at 50 km/s, no in-atmosphere flight capabilities. No energy shielding, relying on inclined and thickened steel plating for projectile protection, which can be as thick as 1 meter in the most critical parts, with effective thickness of 2-3 meters due sloped armor.

For weapons, each broadside is equipped with 75x 80mm 7,4 ton fast paced artillery guns (40 rounds/minute). And 6x 7,0 ton kinetic kill dispersers (basically a shotgun with 300kg of pellets a shot), firing in a 30° cone.
Making this ship 2% cannons by mass, muzzle velocity at ~850m/s for 10 kg artillery and 100g pellets.

The typical barrel life for WW2 warships was between 200 to some 300 shots depending on what cannon, while allowance (typical/minimum ammo carried) was up to half as much, with less than 50-60 shots fired per battle. By the same standards, since we have 150 cannons across the ship, our allowance is about 100 rounds per cannon, and our typical munitions cache is under 15 thousand rounds (150 tons of shells), had one vessel have to empty their stockpile, it would take approximately six minutes using a single broadside, costing us that whole set of weapons.

If the cannons on one side concentrate fire inside a 10 meter wide area, each salvo would impart over 270 megajoules of energy, or >1.73 MJ per m². 

Jaculus-class Gunships

(The Jaculus is a medieval beast, a flying serpent that hides on top of trees and strikes from above)

While the Scitalis-class hulls are pretty scary for their suppressive fire capability, a Jaculus-class ship, as the name suggests is intended to attack directly with a powerful strike. Because Jaculus ships are a big collective of heavy weapons, they must be scouted by lighter and faster ships which give them space and time to aim their salvos.

The frontal hull of the Jaculus possess parabolic geometry to deflect incoming shells, the main array of 7x 120mm cannons is endearingly called "Trumpets" as a reference to the trumpets in the book of Apocalypse, each shell weighing 20 kilograms, fired at 1,7km/s and 10 rounds a minute. With 1000 shells aboard, the ammunition types are broken in ¾ shaped explosives, and ¼ shredder rounds which break apart to maximize structural damage. The main arsenal in a Jaculus gunship are 24x 100kt plutonium fission warheads, these are usually kept unarmed and separated at different parts of the ship, in extreme situations the three-man crew will initiate the assembly which takes a few minutes, and then deploy the weapon.

The Jaculus cannot maneuver its individual Trumpet cannons, since they are mounted on the ship's structure. The whole vessel has to be pointing directly at the target as the small face size of the ship grants all cannons greater accuracy regardless of distance, for this reason it possesses greater turning capability than its companions.

A full Trumpet salvo can deliver >202 MJ of energy at once, making it as powerful as a Scitalis-class ship. Each side of the ship is lined with 15x 80mm cannons like the ones used in Scitalis-class ships, their purpose is purely defensive at first.

Archer-class Ranged Battleship

(I didn't find a beast cool enough to name it for its ability)

The Archer-class ships have very similar hulls to the Jaculus-class, but the Archers exchange caliber for range and speed, in place of 120mm cannons they sport 90mm with superior muzzle velocity, at 3 km/s, 20 rounds a minute, and 15kg shells. Most of their arsenal are shredder and cluster rounds. The ordinance that gives the ship hull its name are curved trajectory missiles and flashbang/flare charges, which are designed to fly along a predetermined curved path in the hopes of striking the target from an inconvenient angle, at adjustable speeds up to 5 km/s.

If Scitalis-class ships are in the middle of the battle, and Jaculus aim for the citadels, Archers rely mainly on taking down moderate value targets, like enemy ordinance, fighters, and peripherals as well as providing field intel and combat interference from a distance.

THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

2372.74, Omicron sector

Unknown presence detected moving across the UFP-Romulan neutral zone. The Federation fears another Borg threat. As of a few years ago, Starfleet has sent Galaxy-class USS EANES to verify the strange movements last seen near the Iconia system…

 

From the crew’s point of view the readings of the potential hostiles are not threatening, the detection of no shields and minimum vital signatures inside the group would raise curiosity but proceeding with caution is the order. The bridge would transmit their salutations and warnings in the name of the United Federation of Planets, but they answer with a negative, claiming the Iconia system and the ancient technology within it under their control.

The first encounter fleet is composed of two archers and two scitalis ships, captain Leonhardt from the USS Eanes orders the shields to be activated, and that the rebel fleet surrenders to the UFP. To no avail, the two archers strike first with a full cannon salvo against the starfleet ship, just to be stopped by the energy shield, an immediate surprise for the home side.

The Eanes crew is slightly less worried about the aggression capabilities of the enemy, as their attack didn’t even scratch their deflector shields a bit.

 

 

Their science official onboard is rather confused with the primitive armament they are being attacked with, the crew considers transmitting again, as the rising of a new spacefaring civilization sounds of importance to the Federation. Still, they are received with aggression, no known language in either side's catalog makes for a stable communication. As the weapons seem of no effect at all, the squadron starts to maneuver around the planet for a retreat.

I'm not sure about other captains, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be fair to fire back at such puny threat at first, as it had occurred several times across the series. Yet the Eanes follows the group around the planet, and as soon as the initial report from the fleet is analyzed in the next dozen minutes, a small object crosses space at some 10 km/s, from beyond the horizon in the direction of the starfleet ship. The collision with the frontal shields reveals that the object was a small 100 kiloton fission bomb, doing a small dip in the shields reading like those created by phasers in typical combat situations. Now this is the signal the crew needed to get ready for combat, despite less advanced, the civilization clearly sees them a threat to be dealt with, and so the crew decides upon showing who's boss, maybe this opens space for negotiation.

 

A 20-kiloton device can irradiate up to 100 R in a radius of 50km, using the inverse square law, we can say the explosion released 250 kR/km² at 1km from its center, this means that any nukes we launch at the Eanes here will be harmless to our computers and crew even at distances as close as less than 20-50km, as they are protected by 1m thick steel plating and possibly water as well (to get the radiation dose down to a billionth of the exposure), however, the radiation released by a photon torpedo would be so high, that the radiation would be lethal from as far as probably 500-1000 kilometers without some even thicker shielding. Although the starfleet ships have windows that would allow the radiation to penetrate, the deflector and cruising shields are good enough to deal with it during warp as usual, so I'm not even counting on giving the crew radiation sickness from a few nukes near the bridge.

THE SECOND ENCOUNTER

A few phaser beams are shot against the nearest battleships, cutting through the 1m thick steel plating and the ship's internals in less than 1 minute, depending on what exactly are phasers made of, it might not be very effective at all because of the shapes and structures of the hulls, but had it operate maximum effectiveness it would easily vaporize through 5 tons of steel in some 30 seconds, the rapid expansion of the material still causes explosions along where the beam hits. A ship hit with this sort of weapon for more than a pair of seconds anywhere will be taken out easily. No amount of nukes across the frontal shields of the Eanes will stop it, the fleet stops and regroups in a point far above the planet.

 

With the mutual silent cease-fire the two sides maneuver in space and observe each other.

The surviving scitalis ship relays the result of nuclear attacks as it retreats past the organizing defense fleet, composed of seven scitalis-class ships, four archers and four jaculus gunships, all of which start dispersing at full speed around space. The longer ships start to spin through space while the manned ships skim behind, keeping themselves locked with the Eanes on sight. The captain orders immediate response to the detected new wave of attacks. The scitalis ships cannons light in sequence like Christmas lights as they fire towards the pilons of the warp nacelles and neck of the Eanes, as they are seemingly the weakest structures of the ship, the rain of shells does not do much being promptly stopped by the shielding, the enemy crew orders the computers to concentrate fire on the closest of the warp nacelles to try and overwhelm the shields, maybe it could lower them on other parts of the Eanes. Seeing the shield lecture dip down little by little prompts the Eanes to start attacking the support cruisers but the phaser banks can't get a good reading nor straight shot through the erratically spinning ships, defensive sprays of buckshots also partially block the phaser beans that do manage to hit the ships for a fraction of a second at a time.

So here where the course of conflict diverges in two scenarios:

1. The release of single photon torpedo annihilates the whole enemy fleet, as I'm not counting they would be much further than a few hundred km from each other.
   
2. The crew agrees to not use PTs for their large destructive power, and because they still intent to establish dialogue. It is possible that the Eanes sustains significant damage if nothing is done about the aggressors.

- M.O. Valent, 17/07/2026

i forgot from when is this original draft

HUKAT, A TRAVELLER'S ACCOUNT

LANGUAGES OF THE DOMINION

HUKAT, A TRAVELLER’S ACCOUNT

“Hukat”, they call it. I was told by Chase (spelt Sha-Se, written as XSE), their medical officer, that it would be better this way, if I learned it and fast. If I ever wanted to complete my mission with Ayrio.

I’m still struggling with old Marsi, so I don’t even fully understand what Chase tells me half of the time, but, whatever this strange human, or Chelok language is, it is close enough to what I know to be useful. From what I understand, it's an old liturgical language of “my people”. He is rather surprised that I don’t know it nor hukat. Apparently a second-language to many of my kind.

I explained to him I am not Chelok. Though he very patiently nods at it, I know he is humoring me. Mind you, for a Specter, he is quite of a strong will and humor.

I’ve been his shadow since I’ve been forcefully “invited” to this settlement by his people. He’s the oldest among them, but repairs and spare parts have kept him good as new for almost a century.

There is something deeper about the language I still can't quite grasp. The spelling rules I can learn. Which syllables take stress, when to write K or Q, those are merely habits. The speech itself is another matter entirely. It seems their faces and nasal structure echo and blow some air in ways my flat, human, face cannot. So I’m left to fare with this strange idiom with whatever mother-nature has bestowed upon me.

Chase told me that I shouldn’t be afraid of not being able to say it. It’s a well known fact that Chelok, I mean, Humans, can’t really do it. So it is okay as long as I get the syllables right, I will be understood.

I at least learned how to read well. Well, spelling out loud I mean.

Just enough that through some educated guesswork, most words reveal themselves before me. The base roots are pretty simple, but the more specific a word gets, the concept behind a word becomes more abstract. The ancients had words for water, rock, and silver - but they couldn’t ever foresee something like gasoline or computer screens. Which they call, if translated literally from the compound words, “fastwater” and “bright canvas”, which sounds crude when worded like that, but I personally find it quite helpful for my hoku education.

It took me embarrassingly long to realize the letters weren't merely letters. Each one used to mean something before it became part of the writing system. Not every word still uses those meanings literally, but enough do that you begin to notice patterns. Two symbols together often suggest a broader idea, four or five may describe something surprisingly specific. Sometimes I can guess an unfamiliar word simply by recognizing two of its older roots.

The letters for “ground” (D, de) plus “measure” (G, gue) together make the word “short” (DG, dege). As if you are physically measuring the distance from the ground up.

Which is deceitfully simple to grasp at first. Until you arrive at something like “nation” (ZAEXOKU, zaaexoku). It is, simultaneously, wonderful for my education and terrible for my sanity, very stackable in the way it produces words from simpler concepts.

I still have some difficulty figuring out what parts of words are the actual roots and which are descriptors or specifiers. I'll word it like that. Though the order of the compoundings seems rather consistent most of the time.

And don’t get me started on valency, placeness, intensity, and verb direction. Heavens, what a nightmare.

The hoku. Perhaps safer to say, these hoku, in my current ignorance. Refer to MOST concepts in what Chase has explained to me as “positive” or “affirmative” direction. Which, as far as I could research from old magazines and books and even an old hard-cover dictionary, means that ABOUT HALF of the words in this god-forsaken tongue don’t formally exist anywhere.

Sure, they ARE USED, in writing, and speech. But they don’t exist the same way it exists in Marsi, Anglis, or Franque, or even Latin for all I know. Every verb seems convinced reality comes in directions.

"Flow" (FXF, fixafi) exists.

"Not flowing" (MVFXF, mevifixafi) exists.

"Reverse flow" (MNFXF, mnefixafi) also exists.

Same word, three completely different verbs. To go, to go nowhere, and to return.

Apparently every action wants to know who's doing it, who's receiving it, and whether either of them ought to exist in the sentence at all. Chase called it Valency. The Hoku seem perfectly comfortable with this arrangement. I am not.

Then comes what Chase calls Placeness. A thing isn't merely a thing. It's also somewhere, becoming somewhere, belonging somewhere, or existing in some state I still haven't figured out. Which I think gives the language some poetic liberty, but also makes me look either uneducated or insane when trying to speak, alongside grammatical genders and imperatives.

I find Intensity, alongside direction, the most important part of the language in the sense that it produces more words with recognizable meanings at a glance. In crude terms, it's how large your subject is.

Think of “animal” (QIUK, qiuko).

A very small animal, such as a vermin or small bug is a qiukegi (KIUKEGI), but a large beast is an aaqiuko (AAQIUK), while a mythical monster is a qiukosage (QIUKSG).

I won’t even delve into derivational morphology and determinant articles because even though my notes are still incomplete, after almost a year among them, it seems pretty standard to them, of course it is. But they often get the memo when I say “drink”, “eat”, “you” or “us” anyway. Some gestures and mime often help bridging the gap, they seem to do the same to me when speaking.

I must admit that, because learning hukat seems more convenient for me at the time, it is beginning to be an intuitive bridge between Titan and whatever is this Chelok language. By simply looking at the way the Hoku translates these strange words.

I can’t wait for you to have a crack at it, Galileo. I’m sure you and Chase would do well with one another, and hopefully, give me some subtitles in my helmet visor soon.

The big day is tomorrow. I’ll see you in the desert, my friend.

Ian, sol 181, whatever year you reckon it to be

 Last updated: July 4th 2026

THE ARRENE CORE

The Arrene Sphere | Formerly known as the Luminary Combine

The signet of the Arrene Combine flies muted over government installations and stamps official documents, but its use has fallen more into tradition than pride

OVERVIEW

The Arrene Core is the informal designation given to the interconnected administrative, commercial and demographic regions surrounding Argost and the historical territories of the former Luminary Combine. Although commonly treated as a contiguous polity by outsiders, neither the Treaty of Forzai nor subsequent Foundation legislation provides a universally accepted legal definition of where the Core begins or ends.

Infrastructure is primarily administered through the Arrene Combine, whose responsibilities overlap with those of several Dominion Foundation offices and associated commercial entities. Jurisdiction frequently depends on whether the matter concerns Dominion law, Arrene law, inter-domain commerce, Foundation precedent, or treaty interpretation.

EXTENT

Most contemporary surveys broadly define the Core as the region extending approximately 45 to 75 light-years from Argost, encompassing the oldest Arrene settlements, the principal Dominion institutions, and the greatest concentration of Foundation offices.

Within this volume are found:

• 7 major inhabited worlds, plus Argost.
• hundreds of orbital habitats and industrial stations.
• the largest concentration of interstellar freight traffic in the Dominion.
• the headquarters of the Arrene Combine.
• the principal administrative centers of numerous Dominion institutions.

Despite occupying around 25% of the Dominion's central volume, the Arrene Core remains the economic and bureacratic center of the Foundational Dominion.

Outside this region, Arrene influence becomes increasingly indirect, usually exercised through commercial agreements, legal precedent, Dominion offices, and transportation infrastructure rather than direct political administration.

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS

Unlike most interstellar states, the Arrene Core possesses no singular executive authority.

Political administration is instead distributed across an accumulation of commercial entities, civic administrations, treaty obligations, Foundation offices, standing commissions, and historical jurisdictions whose responsibilities frequently overlap and whose legal competencies have gradually expanded through over three millennia of precedent.

The largest and most influential of these remains the Arrene Combine, successor to the former Luminary Combine following the Treaty of Forzai.

The Combine is primarily responsible for maintaining infrastructure, regulating commerce, administering Core logistics, and coordinating many of the administrative functions necessary for the operation of Dominion institutions. Although frequently described by foreign observers as "the Arrene government", this characterization is generally regarded as an oversimplification.

Authority throughout the Core is largely precedent-driven. Determining which institution possesses final authority frequently depends upon the specific matter under consideration rather than upon any universally recognized chain of command.

Consequently, the distinction between government, commerce, and infrastructure is often difficult to define in practice.

Higher Foundation offices rarely intervene directly in routine administration.

When such intervention does occur, it is generally regarded as final, though the legal reasoning behind these decisions is not always made public.

CULTURE & SOCIETY
Among all Dominion civilizations, the Arrene remain perhaps the most difficult to characterize socially. Visitors to the Core frequently remark that ordinary Arrene appear remarkably... unoccupied.

Unlike other members' domains, there is remarkably little visible evidence of a conventional labor force. Outside observers often describe the Core as resembling a civilization permanently enjoying a public holiday. This impression is misleading.
Office districts exist, ports operate continuously, immigration authorities process millions of travelers, public transportation runs with remarkable punctuality, and critical infrastructure remains functional around the clock, but the average Arrene citizen is far more likely to be encountered dining, shopping, studying, traveling, attending cultural events, or simply living an apparently leisurely existence than performing conventional labor.

A longstanding subject of speculation concerns the apparent workforce responsible for maintaining the immense infrastructure of the Core.

Although Arrene are publicly observed serving as immigration officers, emergency responders, military personnel, medical professionals, engineers, and numerous other essential occupations, outsiders have for centuries remarked that these individuals often appear strangely interchangeable. The widespread Arrene acceptance of human cloning technologies, together with historical precedents established before the Prime Foundation, has led to persistent speculation that a significant proportion of these public-facing workers may in fact be cloned individuals specifically cultivated for institutional service.

Neither the Arrene Combine nor any recognized Foundation office has ever formally confirmed or denied these claims.

LANGUAGE & IDENTITY

Regarding language and identity, the Arrene Core has historically used Norrina, commonly known abroad as Standard Arrene, as its principal administrative and literary language. For most of the Dominion's history, it served as the language of legislation, interstellar treaties, higher education, and communication between Dominion institutions.

Since the Prime Foundation however, increasing concerns regarding accessibility, immigration, and interstellar commerce have gradually shifted the Core toward an increasingly multilingual model. Government buildings, transportation hubs, public services, and commercial establishments routinely display information in a dozen or more major languages, while automated translation has become effectively ubiquitous throughout the Core.

• Arrene Standard, the official language of Dominion institutions and legal documentation.
• Nagiv, the principal language of the Ygiv peoples.
• Corespeak, a Chelok-derived creole that emerged among the numerous human communities living throughout the Core.
• Hukat & Sidessian, by far the most spoken idioms among hoku and chelok communities living abroad in the core, particularly Argost.
• Rolian, also known as Guildspeak, maintained by the Voyager's Guild and considered indispensable for commerce beyond the reach of the Arrene-backed Lodestar Accord.
• Numerous local dialects, community languages, and immigrant creoles maintained by the many populations living throughout the Core.

Paradoxically, although Standard Arrene remains the official language of government, relatively few residents require it in their daily lives. The Arrene themselves are believed to constitute only a minority of the population on several of their own developed worlds, including Argost, where immigrant communities from across the Dominion collectively outnumber the native population.

As a result, learning Standard Arrene, or even familiarizing with traditional Arrene customs, is generally regarded as unnecessary for most foreigners. Outside legal, diplomatic, and institutional settings, everyday life in the Core is conducted overwhelmingly in the many common languages shared by its inhabitants.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER POWERS

THE PANCALESTIA

Relations with the Chelok sphere have remained broadly stable since humanity's admission to the Dominion as an extra-signatory civilization. Although cooperation in commerce and scientific exchange is extensive, historical grievances continue to influence public opinion on both sides.

Within the Core, these events are generally regarded as belonging to a fundamentally different political order whose institutions ceased to exist following the Prime Foundation.

THE HOKU & NAN-NAN

Relations with the Hoku are generally pragmatic.

The Hoku remain one of the Dominion's most important commercial and transportation partners outside the Core, particularly through the activities of the Kahiko Moku and the numerous freight organizations operating throughout Hoku space.

Institutionally, relations are cordial despite recurring political disagreements concerning jurisdiction and frontier administration.

THE SAFFI

The unusually favorable relationship between the Core and the Branch Coalition has long attracted speculation, particularly in light of the Qire's historically positive attitude toward the Saffi. No official explanation has ever been published.

Saffi personnel are disproportionately represented within salvage operations, brokerage services, independent commerce, and frontier logistics.

Official Arrene attitudes toward the Coalition are generally favorable, though often tempered by concerns regarding jurisdictional ambiguity and informal clan networks.

THE QIRE

Foundation records recognize the continued participation of Qire offices within the Dominion. Public documentation concerning their responsibilities, internal organization, and decision-making processes remains limited.

Higher Foundation intervention is historically infrequent.

Compliance, however, is effectively universal.

YGIV PEOPLES

Ygiv (neutral vulgar, nonfaction specific)

Qesaxakuho (Whisperers, by the Hoku)

Iurr'nakai (Whimpering Ones, by the Raydee)

Aa'Ruhuhassar (Blue Ones, by the Arrene)

Yig-Yith (Smart Ones, by themselves)

Last updated: June 24th 2026

COLLECTIVE SUMMARY

[missing icon]

The Ygiv civilization had just started to use radio waves when they were detected by the Arrene. The Thosuo ultramarine fleet arrived within 30 years for first contact, circa 11,088 CE. Joined the Luminary Combine in 11,155 CE (3500 BdF)

Joined the Dominion in 14,650 (0 AdF), with the defeat of the Luminary Combine in the Battle of Argost (extra-signatary).

Origin

The planet Aa'rihuteshqatar (Arrene name, often shortened to Rihuta or Serenity by others), in the Osuna system (-114, -17, 49), a double-K binary about 54ly from Argost, 25ly from Thosuo.

Rihuta is a tropical oceanic world surrounded by small moons, it has a characteristic blue color from space given its shallow oceans, bluish vegetation and blue inhabitants, the Ygiv. The other Ygiv population center is the colony world of Kaegaels, a neighboring star system that the Arrene had later populated with them (initially as cattle, later employed as a workforce). Though nowadays, the Ygiv are mostly ubiquitous to the Arrene Core and its dozen worlds.

Description

Being 2’2” to 4’0” tall, 4 to 6ft long, and 40 to 60kg, the Ygiv are lizard-like hexapods in a centaurine posture. Their most prominent feature besides anatomy are their two pairs of pitch-black eyes dominated by one much larger pair, and their deeply azure or sky blue skin pigments. They possess several appendages on their heads that serve sensory and communication purposes, flushing with blood and picking up bright red colors, which means they very visibly blush and bruise, which means they are commonly seen in armor or protective clothing/uniforms not unlike humans.

Their speech is akin to whispers and raspy vocalizations, with some high frequency notes, their languages are popular vulgata among travelers for their ease of learning, mainly Common Nagiv.

Their multiple appendages mean they are very skillful artists and builders, that combined with their genius actively worked in favor of them when faced with becoming food or a slave caste of the Combine. The Treaty of Forzai largely liberated up the Ygiv population, although it hasn’t necessarily freed them.

Spacetravel

Common proton rockets for in-system travel.

Proprietary interstellar mode nonexistent.

Often accompany other species' crews during interstellar travel as a workforce.

Relations

Officially friendly to foreign powers. Non-territorial, social collectivistic, curious anc creative. Largely exploited, second-class citizens across the Dominion.

Fleet size numbering the hundreds.

Population estimated at 50 to 100 billion across the Dominion core.

No civilizational goals, aligned power.

Hostile relationships with qire, positive relationships with the humans, neutral with hoku and arrene.

Civilization has been long assimilated, the Ygiv live for about 70 years.

OTHER LINKS

The Osuna System (homesystem)

SCIENCE&ARTWORK | THE HOKU | STELLAR ERA

FINAL YEARS OF THE PRE-STELLAR ERA

At the time of the Great War, there were six great nations at odds with one another.

• Ent'Shelari Republic
• Dahetian Republics
• Hukatian Empire
• North and South Sidessia (in civil war)
• Kalopan Empire
• Farkade Union

Heavily disputing control of the globe at least for the past century or two.

Thrown against each other in dirty resource wars to feed their ever expanding industry and war machine, regional conflicts soon had these powers meet with each other. Fully bloomed world war. Each fighting on multiple fronts against multiple declared enemies - both deploying terrible weapons against one another, just as soon as they were developed live on the frontlines.

The armsrace had made it so the sun hadn't shined in half a decade. Records of this time are rare and sparse, often removed from context by the movements of the tribes that remained. Legend has it, a small circle of generals accorded to finally put a stop to the massacre. It is unclear if the technology was intentionally leaked, or if it developed independently. But someone had finally split the atom. It didn't matter to that circle who had it, they knew it had to be used if they wanted to fix the world, if they wanted to reset the cycle of violence. If the world had to be burned so it could truly flourish again, if all flags had to be burned to unite everyone, so it had to be done.

It was the last day of summer, 92 PSE.

600 million gone in an instant.

The ash, the radiation, and the scavengers, claimed the remaining 6 billion in the following decade.

YEAR ZERO

The southern regions of the world, mostly a vast sea populated by a single continent, were largely unaffected by the exchange and its effects. Without global trade or ultramarine enemies left to fight. The handfull of organized groups and states that remained in the south continent coalesced into the Commonwealth of Sidessia.

Though, the reality of the aftermath of the nuclear war is that most of the northern lands were far too razed to occupy. Though nature always found a way to creep back in. And so the Commonwealth learned quickly. They too had to adapt.

Engineers, doctors and ecologists alike worked to create variants of known crops and cattle, resistant to the radiation, resistant to the terrible climate that slowly waned... Then it occurred to them, if designing was the key to survival in a new world - then why not redesign themselves?

The result of these decades of research, questionable, inhumane, but deemed VITAL research, were the Kahikōpafi (better translated as "divine servant", or crudely "angel"). The Angels were a mass-produceable workforce designed to clear and re-settle the northern wastelands. Greater resistance, greater strength, superior intellect, balanced by constant work-load, constant oversight, and short lifespans. Easily spotted by their characteristic looks, it was almost impossible to miss those 'elite slaves' amidst the public - and oh they tried.

As the employment of Angels grew. So did the public sentiment that these beings were something else, something more than mere tools sent to work in no-man's-land, something more than lead-soldiers to be cast and mowed down by conflict.

Each generation of Angels meant a different conflict between demand, performance, and the public perception. Different skillsets, different lifespans, different patches in behavior patterns and social skills. Even limited breeding generations for the farthest reaches of the land.

Them Angels fought hard to earn a spot. And a well deserved spot indeed, they had brought that world up from the ashes almost entirely on their own. By the time of the Somoga Event, it had been almost three centuries the Angels had become the Hoku's right hand.

And the promise of freedom came with one last pharaonic task - run for the stars.

Within a few years of building the Somoga Square Zaega Array (Okuiuka Zaaega Iutso det Somoga, O.Za.I.So. literal for Plateau), a radio telescope range, the Somoga Event happened. A stream of radio, gamma rays and radiation all across the high energy spectrum. Peaking on a cluster of stars in Hokushoku's celestial south. The energy levels required to produce such an event from this distance - the physicists reckoned, would require destruction on a planetary scale - compatible with the deployment of a theoretical superweapon, a relativistic missile. No other explanations satisfied the case.

They had barely any chance to ask themselves if they were alone. The forest echoed a roar back at them.

GOLDEN STELLAR ERA

Sending Angels and Hoku to nearby planets in their own system was quite above ordinary - compared to what they had previously achieved on the surface of their homeworld. Settling their neighboring ice world of Namenza with a permanent Angel and Hoku population. But looking up at the stars, require some far more sophisticated leaps.

The Specter, as the Chelok call them, was a natural step in manning missions sent to distant moons, planets - and then stars. The specter chassis varied with the designated tasks, from being simple cores operating whole factories, to UAVs and UTVs, down to being more avipodomorphic with recognizable and relatable faces and expressions, working as police, healthcare, or assistant units worldwide and offworld.

The development of better and even more autonomous AI allowed the hoku to dare sending precurssor missions at various extra-solar planets during their first stellar era, both habitable and uninhabitable worlds, these robotic missions had the same intent of their first efforts, pave infraestructure and acquire intel for the upcoming organic population, once they figured how the hell one does safely traverse interstellar space.

Auot'zae never became habitable again in its full extension because of the still radioactive zones, but the fallout had thinned enough in areas which could be treated and recovered with work. Because many northern cultures and technologies were lost, groups of kahikopafis adopted the ancient languages, and custoums of these lost civilizations as their own, while some created entirely new ways to have a sense of ownership over their fates, hence why we see the reapperance of old tongues such as Hukat and Entselari throughout off-world populations later on.

The Dominion is densely populated with stars, however, many of these harbor dead or gaseous worlds. Very few were deemed high-priority targets for the Hoku's purpose: Escape the Dominion grasp, whatever it was.

The closest of such worlds was aptly named Muhori (in Sidessian mythology, it is an island where demigods reside), some 20 light-years from the Paza system. A brand new, barren and young, oceanic world.

In their early attempts to settle this distant jewel, the Hoku also independently developed what they would later recognize as the modern Starlane. An excavated "tube" in the interstellar medium that allows for safe relativistic travel.

The first crewed ships to cross the void were egg-ships, which incubated an Angel crew in the final two decades of their century-long trip to settle Muhori. Though specter crews were sent to that and other likely target at close to twice that speed.

In the 1000 years since the last great war, the Hoku Expanse (Azapaxako Hoku) had already set foot on five new worlds beyond its home system. But not all worlds were as welcoming as Muhori.

FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH THE CHELOK

One world called their attention heavily. Qekohoshoku - the golden world. A tropical world with golden vegetation reminiscent of their own homeworld. When the Expanse got there in 734 SE (7,929 of the Ecumenical Era, by Chelok reckoning), they met a local population of Chelok. Their first contact with alien society which they weren't aware existed at the time.

The locals received their extraterrestrial visitors with warm, and told stories of the greater Chelok domain, a string of 'island nations' that crossed straight through the Expanse's claim to the heavens. The population of Qekohoshoku however, was an estranged strain of the Chelok Empire, the presence of the Expanse would be tolerated, but deals and commerce would probably have better success dealing straight with the administrative core of humanity, at Dheghom.

And so the Hoku did use what they had learned on Qekohoshoku and took their case to Dheghom - albeit on a cautious foot.

Meeting the Chelok was a far more underwhelming event than what the tales and the allure for the strange would have you believe. Very few trips, mostly letters through beamed lasers. To the Hoku, they seemed far too firmly planted in place, far too preoccupied with themselves, far too unconcerned about whatever it was they witnessed almost a millenium ago.

'The Dominion'. It had a name, and the Chelok knew of it, had dealt with it. They were there at its founding. With a concerned expression, they told the Hoku what they knew. From what they understood, they had little to fear for themselves in the time being, but they also didn't condemn the Expanse's posture about keeping their distance of it, lest they did not cross humanity.

The exchanges between the Chelok Empire and the Hoku Expanse marked the end of the golden stellar era, and the start of the lower stellar era.

LOWER STELLAR ERA

In 1739 SE, an Expanse expedition mission stumbled on another silent civilization around their north celestial hemisphere. The Nan-Nan of Anaya. A world just shy of 25 light-years from the Expanse colony of Voliloshoku. A race of stout water-adjacent reptilians, highly empathetic, idealistic and curious beings, just getting the hang of launching their first satellites. Peacefully integrated them into the Expanse via various technology trade accords. A significant fraction of Nan-Nan now lives in multiple hoku worlds and trade routes.

It had been almost a thousand years since their meeting with the Chelok.

During a uneventful winter night of 1977 SE, a strange object pierced the comet cloud of the Muhori system at a hyperbolic trajectory.

Ground telescopes looking for comets spotted a very long streak registered across multiple photographic plates worldwide that night. The conclusion, given the light signature and how long the streak appeared compared to the exposure time of the plates... An unknown artificial object traveling close to 8% of the speed of light. It was not fast enough to be considered a relativistic missile heading into their direction, it was not large enough to be compared to anything they knew about starship building, too small for a crewed vessel. Its trajectory vector indicated the rough direction in the sky as the origin point of the Somoga Event, a millenium and a half prior.

Local authorities kept the existence of this object hidden and hoped to study it in complete secrecy. It wouldn't be long before someone spotted a 752 meter hunk of extraterrestrial metal hurdling through their star system - it had already been a miracle it passed nearly unnoticed in its flyby through the system, estimated to become beyond range in little over six months.

With vetoed access to the use of said telescopes at certain intervals of the following weeks, the Expanse Navy managed to send a rendezvouz mission with the foreign object, nicknamed Kooratalil - in classic sidessian mythology, the great serpent that guards the gates of the Underworld. Images from the robotic probe revealed it be a fragment of a presumed larger object, like the lower deck of a starship. It spotted what it seems to be part of an engine module, damaged antimatter storage units, and a bundle of 2-ton ballistic ammunition of an unknown composition. No crew in sight, and barely enough samples in the cloud of dust and debris to make out any organic composition of whatever was inside the ship at the time of its fragmentation.

The derelict continued its flyby through the Muhori system mostly undisturbed as the probe decoupled and launched itself in a four-year return orbit... Until the crew of the Pearly Tear IV, a comet-mining vessel doing routine harvesting of Muhori's comet cloud, spotted a head-on collision of said object with a small asteroid. An event that was just the beginning of a very dramatic series of events.

Actually going up to investigate said relativistic object, the crew of the Pearly Tear IV started to register and stream their process of interception, coupling, and exploration of the derelict ship, hoping to be rewarded for their discovery. They hooked their ship's power supply to the thing, and upon trying to jumpstart it, the derelict screamed into the void with a distress signal, the 'ping' was brief, but it was already too late. Upon meeting up with the Expanse authorities, the crew of the Pearly Tear IV was trialed and summarily sentenced to execution for high treason in situ by the navy.

"THE PING"

... As the event would come to later be called by the public was a day of panic worldwide, for centuries the consensus was that the we were safe for as long as they kept moving away from the Dominion, and now that the Ping was sent, it was only a matter of a century or two before They showed up inside the Hoku Expanse. Although the panic was quickly settled out by the authorities, various commands and investments were issued in further developing weapons and combat ships for a possible disastrous first contact with the races of the Dominion, this Lower Stellar Era had its development focusing on faster and smaller maneuverable starships, energy-based and relativistic weapons.

The intent of miniaturizing combat-able ships and starships was to ease in the manufacturing effort and the formation of potential resistance militias across Hoku space. This wasn't much of a problem due the common traditions of the spacefaring peoples, there was no shortage of work and technological niche opportunities in the industry, and the time for the outsider's arrival had been set into the foreseeable future, thus infighting almost completely ceased.

Soon enough, many of the hoku born into the LSE were enrolled into local militias, interstellar patrol groups and radar stations across known space, waiting for the Dominion to respond to the ping.

The Chelok at their nearby homeworld of Dhéģhōm were the first to detect the ping some 50 years later, and immediately frowned upon the trading with us, because they were bringing the Dominion closer to them and such an encounter could have unpleasant consequences.

At the time being, the south polar star of Auot'zae, Kuoosate'zapa (or Forzai, by its arrene name) was the nearest Dominion system and the first to respond the Ping. The message took 78 years to reach Forzai, a decade-long discussion resulted into an escorted First Contact fleet with ten vessels. Which weren't noticed until their decelleration plume shone at the edge of the comet cloud like a nova directed at them.

THE HOKU JOIN THE DOMINION

It was then, in 2239 SE, that the Dominion revealed themselves to the Hoku, not as a monolith. But as multi-race 'colaborative framework'. Chelok members, the Ygiv, a few Saffi, the Arrene, and ONE Qire science officer.

They refuse to elaborate on the nature of the events that created the Somoga Event, testimonies are hard to cross - but they do make it clear it was not going to happen ever again.

The Dominion has plenty of space and resources for both civilizations thousands of times over, there was nothing the we personally had that was of interest to them, except our known biospheres, which as arguably non-negotiable given the scale of the Arrene force. Private groups however had great interest in trading and learning the ways of the hoku to sell their culture and artifacts as novelties back in the Dominion's capital worlds.

Many Hoku, mainly as researchers, opted for returning with the diplomatic fleet to the heart of the Dominion to learn more and establish a viable pacific presence within, in such a way as to have a representative seat within the community. This was quite a historic moment for both parties, for the arrene, it would be a chance to start pacific relations from the start with a new race. Given the first encounters with the Chelok and Qire were pretty disastrous, not to speak from the outright oppressive way they colonized the Yigiv people before they became a spacefaring civilization as preemptive action.

The Hoku are considered to have joined as soon as the diplomatic fleet knocked at their doorstep, although bureocracy held that a few decades to be effected. Shortly followed by the Nan-Nan, a century after. Though more like an alternate arm of the Dominion, a distant neighbor state rather than part of it, nonetheless given the power and technological disparity, many saw the relationship as a creeping assimilation. It was not without reason, the hoku had clear motives to gulp, being under a Qire Duke's command at times.

DOMINION ERA

With a population of 40 billion at the time, the Hoku Expanse had no shortage of work to be done, though many repetitive tasks were acomplished by machinery, we were reaching a near post-scarcity societal stage, with very few places struggling with obtaining sustenance or resources and only for a lack of heavy equipment, since the off-world colonies needed vast amounts of supplies and tech coming from the core worlds in order the keep productivity and growth rate. The terrible weather and acessibility meant many of those colonies would make it cheaper to manufacture machinery in nearby asteroids, moons, or simply import it from the Dominion's merchant flocks and scout ships. So while the core worlds and capital colonies across the Expanse concentrated the Hoku tech and prowess, the Dominion basically taught colonists how to survive in those extreme environments in which the we were just barely able to settle, given the greater reliability in delivery times by the faster Arrene and Qire ships.

Because of the political reasons behind the expanse, colonies never had any necessity of rebel against the Hoku domain because they weren't really being pressured to produce any goods, their only goal was to be there as a backup in case of catastrophic fail of mainland society, of course, from time to time, companies, private groups, and the navy would bring new technology, goals, and gratifications to the most succesful settlements. Over time, several moon, belter, and farmer colonies were simply abandoned by succeeding generations, because of lack of greater opportunity and goals, with populations migrating towards the core worlds and even venturing into the dominion.

Though the Expanse did not posess any goods that peaked further interest within the Dominion, apart from the occasional novelties, the paved starlanes were still of importance for Dominion scouts and researchers because it signified safe paths to reaching further regions of space of particular interest like nebulae and potentially habitable star systems, without risking slow and dangerous trips across the frontier. Allowing them to remain close to civilization in case of emergencies while they venture into uncharted space.

This state of peace lasted 1000 Chelok-years, and were recorded as one of the most prosperous periods in Hoku history. A period before the 'Unrelenting Force' came upon us...

HOKU EXPANSE

Hoku (vulgar neutral, nonfaction specific)

Atu-Hoku (Person, vulgar ethonym?)

Gebazaat'ru (Bright Ones, engineered collecitve)

Kahi'koopafi (Angel, derogatory ethonym???)

Azapaxako Hoku (The Hoku Expanse, their polity)

Last updated: July 4th 2026

COLLECTIVE SUMMARY

The Hoku Expanse flag, the lotus and their seven member worlds

Most Hoku align themselves with and work for the Hoku Expanse, an outworld governmental entity responsible for resource administration and development of the hoku interstellar diaspora. It was assembled after the Somoga Event sometime between 190 and 140 BdF.

Despite posessing offices of administrative districtal authority within certain territories in the Dominion's Arrene Core, these do not constitute one contiguous-state outside the Expanse's sphere of influence.

First contact with the Dominion in 2548 AdF.

Joined the Dominion in 2553 AdF, as an aligned neutral power.

Origin

The binary star system Paza (86, 36, 75), ~120ly from Argost.

The Hoku homeworld is an oceanic tropical superterran with one small moon, with a circumbinary orbit around the system's suns. Outsiders and foreign Hoku alike call the planet 'Hokushoku', but the natives call it Auot'zae. The geography and atmosphere are similar to that of Earth's, with a hyperoxic atmosphere due higher atmospheric pressure - its most striking feature however, is the autumnal-colored vegetation - often golden, due an alternative pigment to green chlorophyl.

The Hoku naturally have a strong preference for Earth-like oceanic worlds with a warm climate, but their forced early diaspora has pushed them towards many worlds on the edge of their species adaptability threshold.

Description

Although the Hoku identify and classify as one single species, it must be noted that they can be (and will be) subdivided into two main types of hoku, which themselves can be subdivided into various subtypes, or races. Questions of lineage, ancestry, and "race" occupy a far more prominent place within Hoku society than they do among most Dominion civilizations, due to millennia of deliberate artificial selection and comparatively permissive attitudes toward eugenics.

These main types, in broad terms, are the Atu-Hoku, and the Geba or Gebazaat'ru Hoku. But they share pretty much the same baseline build.

Bipeds with marsupial-avian-reptile traces, standing 5'0" to 7'6" tall, weighing 60-120kg, with a lean, athletic, and top-heavy build, for running and agility. They have sturdy short-shinned digitigrade legs, which end in zygotactyl feet plus one spur-like toe in the inner part of the foot. Their arms are long, ending in hands with five fingers in a 2-3 arrangement, meaning they have two thumb-like fingers on the same side of the hand - giving them unmatched grip strength and manipulation. Individuals are often ambidextrous with remarkable precision.

Their head is long and conical, giving them a "beaked" profile, though they have small mouths with small teeth located near the lower "base" of their long face, not much unlike sperm-whales. They have two pairs of eyes, both of which sport rectangular-ish vertical pupils. A smaller pair positioned towards the front, and a larger pair positioned further back on the sides of the head, allowing for incredible depth perception and a wide field of view. Their ear-like appendages are three pairs of long, fleshy and furred (?) structures on the back quarter of their head, giving them a near supernatural sense of tridimentional hearing - also used for emotional communication though color, movement, and orientation to convey mood and intent.

The tough skin of a hoku covers only a thin layer of fatty tissue, their thermal insulation is mostly done through a coat of fur-like plumage. That plumage comes in a variety of earthly tones plus black, white, and at times, bright oranges and reds - and it plays heavily on their sexual dimorphism, where males display redder exposed skin, bright neck plumage, and gold, scarlet or vivid feather displays. Females generally posess lighter skin, with muted browns and gray blues, with accents in orange, blue, or green in patterns such as around the eyes.

Their diet naturally consists of insects, small animals, fruits and vegetables. Industrialized large-scale food products are consumed on dietary, economic and social constraints.

The Hoku are known to be viviparous, with a gestation period of 48-52 days, their young are bean-like Joeys. Their early development phase is energy-intensive, growing into adults at a similar rate to that of Chelok young. A quirk that often results into individuals of these two species into being likeminded at similar ages, fomenting rivalry and friendships alike.

COMMON HOKU - Avipoda sapiens cer, or Ur-Hoku / Atu-Hoku (vulgar)

The Atu-Hoku are the decendants of the naturally occurring species in their homeplanet, though not fully natural due social and artificial selection. They can be dividided into hundreds upon hundreds of micro-groups delineated by culture, language, and overall physical traits, often divided on a race or clan basis.

Though common stereotypes would have you deem the Atu-Hoku the "emotional" counterpart to the Geba Hoku, this image is deeply exaggerated through the lens of foreign contact and unfamiliarity of hoku customs. Though it could be said they are relatively more 'traditional' culturally speaking than the Geba Hoku, in relative terms.

In general, any hoku individual is both emotionally and rationally as intelligent as any Chelok individual, with a very strong personality.

GEBA HOKU -  Avipoda sapiens sidus, Gebazaat'ru (proper), Kahikoopafi (derogatory?)

For starters, Geba Hoku is an umbrella term utilized by members of this group to designate any decendants of former artificially created slave-caste to the Atu-Hoku during their civilization's early-spacefaring days - it encompasses a dozen or so races with distinguinshing features and cultural traits that share this common history and present-day social problems and stigmas of that era. Originally designed to be very proficient at specific tasks and problem solving, they are fundamentally wired differently from your baseline hoku.

Physically, they are also deliberately made to stand out in crowds from looks alone. They usually landing on the taller or the shorter side of the spectrum depending on their specific ancestry. Though their most striking feature in comparison to common hoku is that they come in very "unnatural" colors - the sclera on hoku eyes are often reddish, brown or amber-like, Geba eyes can show in white, golden, blue, green, and hazel colors - their feather patterns are also very particular about their designs, often sporting bur not limited to white/black/orange streaks, sometimes plain white or pale golden. Anatomically, they generally enhanced in lung capacity, strength, of either a leaner or stout build depending if they were made for high or low gravity environments. An important and perhaps curious ability certain groups of Geba learn, is the ability to read microexpressions amongst each other, a technique developed in ancient times by their monks and scholars, called 'nonspeak', that to the untrained eye, looks like plain 'telepathy' between the parts.

Psychologically, Geba Hoku are, on very broad terms, neurodivergent savants. Often noted for their cooled, calculating demeanor and occasional apathetic and psychopatic tendencies - which makes them excellent and dedicated workers when on site, but socially awkward, emotionally detached, and often depressive or hyper-expressive about their life and interests, depending on their cultural upbringing and health quirks. Nowadays, Geba Hoku are both the most competent and most volatile individuals amongst the hoku species, often resorting to substance abuse, tradition, religion, and dedicating their lives to a specific line or work to cope with the fact that their lives, brain and body are definetly mismatched.

In general, Geba Hoku societies at any scale are a coin-flip between being isolationist or marginally operating within the boundaries of both the Expanse and the Dominion. From gangs and clans, to art and hobbyist circles, to large scale contractor groups of any kind. It largely depends on who they're dealing with and their specific views on existence.

Nevertheless, mixed lineages are far from uncommon, demonstrating that social conventions have never fully prevented relationships between the two populations.

Cybernetic augmentation is common place but deemed largely optional and cultural.

Hoku languages like Hukat, Sidessian and Entselari are common for Pankal chelok to adopt as a second language due their vicinity and long trade history.

Spacetravel

Hoku technology across space can be found at various states of development despite efforts to modernize its fleet and arsenal all across known space.

Interstellar vessels range from lightsails, ionic and proton rockets, up to the latest proprietary Pionic A-M/AM drivers. The hoku are one of the oldest client species to Chelok tech since around 1130 AdF (2400 years!). Typical travel speed between γ~1.025 and γ~6.5 depending on available proprietary transports.

Relations

Officially neutral to foreign powers. Non-territorial (?), politico-social clan-based society, curious. Fragmented, individuals exhibit a variable degree of risk averse/affinity, amicability/volatility, and xenophobia.

Fleet size numbering the hundreds of thousands.

Population currently estimated at least 50 to 60 billion across the Dominion, could be a lot closer to ~80bi as of 3350 AdF due census imprecision.

No other civilizational goals than reorganizing, power for hire.

Faction-dependent loyalties, historically unanimously friendly towards Chelok and negative towards the Arrene.

OTHER LINKS

The Hoku Expanse (domain)

The Paza System (homesystem)

Hokushoku (homeworld)

Hukat Mythos (worldbuilding)

The Starpilot (worldbuilding)

The Fall of Hokushoku (short story)

History Overview (worldbuilding)

- Pre-Stellar Era

- Stellar Era