Mar'qua

Mar'qua are an alien race of bipedal amphibian aliens in an unwilling alliance with the Sol Federation. Technologically advanced and older than humanity they maintain an aloof approach to intergalactic affairs, kept largely to their own devices and used as a source of taxes and scouting by the Sol Federation.

Quick-Start Guide

• Mar'qua are highly intelligent and diligently spend time learning due to their long lives. They get +10 to cognition, biology, and mechanical stats. An extra +5 can be gained if their homeworld is chosen in character setup.
• The Mar'qua have slightly better night vision than humans and can withstand far greater cold before it effects them.
• Perk: Mar'qua gain the perk "Sudden Brilliance", which grants them +15 to biology, mechanical, and cognition for 10 minutes every 25 minutes.
• Perk: Mar'qua gain the perk "Inspired Intellect", which makes them gain insight 1.5x as fast as most races.
• Perk: Mar'qua gain the perk "Adapted Nervous System", which makes them immune to addiction and quadruples their NSA threshold.

Biology

((Maintainer's Note: Current Mar'Qua sprites are considered a Placeholder and should not be relied upon. There are plans to change them, especially the headtails, to make them appear less like a Skrell))

Mar'Qua (People of the Marsh) come from a planet covered mainly by wetlands, marshes and lakes. Since their planet has a high humidity and concentrations of bodies of water, their biology is different to Humans - Mar'Qua have rudimentary gills on their necks, skin covered in slime to preserve moisture and two sets of eyelids to help with vision underwater and prevent their eyes from drying out on land. Mar'Qua breathe oxygen and can survive in the same atmosphere as humans without any assistance, but their diet is different - It consists of fungi that’s found underwater on their homeworld and giant insects roaming their homeworld of Qra’Merr’Marqa (or Epithemy 5 as it’s known by humans). Ingestion of animal protein is not deadly to them, but they perceive it differently - Marsh People feel grossed out by meat, sometimes comparing it’s texture to ‘shredded wood pulp’. Spices cause a strong reaction with their taste buds, causing them to perceive them strongly, for example pepper causes a strong burning sensation.

A non-augmented Mar'Qua can live up to 115 years, though with the gifts of modern technology a typical Mar'Qua lives up to 160 years of age, excluding the Kingsmen who live up to 210 years of age. Even though many races believe otherwise, Mar'Qua reproduce sexually, though not in the way most would consider “normal”. Both males and females have an organ called a cloaca which functions as a way to excrete matter and to reproduce. In primitive times females would release eggs in small ponds to be fertilized and protected by males. In modern times eggs are laid into special hatching chambers, which provide perfect moisture for an egg to incubate. A clutch of eggs usually comes up to fifty eggs, from which only one to six hatch into surviving offspring on average. Those eggs that are left unhatched are often stillborn or were not fertilized at all.

Appearance wise, Mar'Qua are slightly shorter in height to humans, standing at 5”5’ (165 cm) on average they are entirely hairless with skin colours ranging from varieties Blue, Yellow, Green to Black and Red. Their heads have headtails, which are limp skin contrary to the popular belief that Mar'Qua have tentacles on their heads. The tentacles have two functions: Decorative and Protective. To make it easier for other races, Mar'Qua recently started to adorn their head-tails with decorative chains (designed for females) and tattoos (targeted for males) to help them with distinguishing between males and females, though it still has to take root in Marsh People society. The second, and biological, reason for head-tails is that they protect the gills located on sides and back of Mar'Qua necks, protecting them from drying out and damages that could be caused by daily activities. On average head-tails reach right above the shoulders, though longer ones are often noticed by other races and are the reason why Mar'Qua head-tails are believed to be tentacles. Mar'Qua eyes are entirely black, with two sets of eyelids protecting them from drying out and help see underwater which makes reading Mar'Qua emotions purely from their eyes difficult for untrained individuals. Their teeth are very small, made to digest soft insect meats and plant matter and are often compared to hardened gums.

Society

Mar'Qua society differs from Human society in many ways, but the most visible one is the caste system that they follow. Marsh people society is segmented into four castes: Kingsmen, Intelligensia, Worker and Martial. -Kingsmen (Nuem-Geraa) are the leadership caste of Mar'Qua, claiming to be the first caste created by the Legendary King Nuem, first leader to successfully unite all Mar'Qua. Kingsmen are the only caste that their members are born into and are the only ones capable of leading Mar'Qua planets and their “Empire” - The Observatoriam, though it’s not the only role they can occupy. Nuem-Geraa focus on the sociological side of life, often occupying roles of ambassadors, lawyers, psychologists and even philosophers.
-Intelligensia (Meenan-Geraa) are the scientists and intelligence officers of Mar'Qua. They focus on scientific approach to life and thinking outside the box. They can often be found in all of the scientific fields from biology to mathematics. Meenan-Geraa also work as intelligence and counterintelligence for the Mar'Qua, often working with the martial caste to help with their field operations.
Intelligensia also holds the artisans of Mar'Qua society. Painters, musicians and architects focusing on the beauty of buildings rather than it’s practicality, bakers focusing on the taste of bread rather than the way it’s produced and so on.
-Workers (Gaaran-Geraa), sometimes referred to as ‘menials’ hold every role required for daily operation of Mar'Qua society. Engineers, maintenance technicians, bakers, and laborers are an example of a job that could be held by a Gaaran-Geraa. They focus on the practical points of life, their approach to their duties mirroring it. An architect from the workers caste will look at a building as a practical thing, not focusing on it’s looks, a baker would try to find the most efficient way to make bread, not caring about its taste.
-Martial (Quoqa-Geraa) warriors, defenders and security forces of Mar'Qua society. They train all their lives to defend their empire, it’s emperor, and their home planets. They are the strongest, fastest and most decisive, focusing on what they need to do in any given moment, rather than what they will need to do in future.They take deep appreciation of discipline and order. Often working with Intelligensia as their intelligence officers and, in times of extended conflict, tacticians.

Apart from the four main castes, there are two additional castes:
-Exiles (Xqne-Geraa) are Mar'Qua who abandoned, or were forced to leave, the Mar'Qua way of life. This includes Outlaws, Criminals and those that left the caste system. Most Exiles join the Wanderer's Armada, a group of repourposed Vessels that travels the Galaxy trading everything they can find, even items considered illegal or unsafe.
-Outsiders (Oorne-Geraa) are any non-Mar'Qua race that enters the Observatoriam territories. Outsiders are permitted to live and work inside of the Observatoriam, but must adhere to traditions in their respective region.

Though Mar'Qua have a caste focused entirely on militaristic aspects of life, all castes are permitted to serve in the military. Workers and laborers will often serve in the logistics of military supply. Intelligensia volunteer as tacticians, combat medics, and field doctors. Kingsmen rarely join the military forces, but are not given any special care while serving outside of afforded rank. Military forces are split into two main categories known as the expeditionary forces and the home defense forces.
-Expeditionary forces are the main driving force of the Mar'Qua Military. They are responsible for exploring areas outside of Mar'Qua territories and in times of open conflict serving as a direct military force. The expeditionary forces are equipped with advanced and technologically sound equipment to handle even severe threats.
-The home defense forces focus mainly on planetary security, paramilitary police actions, and the protection of the emperor through a specialized honor guard. They contain mostly martial caste and are expected to work with other castes that are already present on the planet.

The artificial intelligence containment division was established near the time of first contact with human federation forces. Their activities focus on deactivating or containing AI units on derelicts and controlling AI units coming into Observatoriam territories with travelers. AI control consists of specially trained teams which are a blend of members from different castes. Training takes up to a year and consists of physical conditioning, weapon training, and proper engagement rules and strategies against rogue artificial intelligences. A typical team consists of a squad leader, engineer, medic and two operatives. Teams can either be assigned to a Mar'Qua region to serve as lookouts for any dangers regarding AIs or work as field agents to find any unsanctioned AIs inside Mar'Qua Territories. Typically they work closely with Intelligensia, but sometimes they might be sanctioned to work with the martial caste as specialists.

Family and love are foreign concepts for Mar'Qua, but that does not mean that Marsh People do not feel. Love is not a concept they do not understand, since bonds between two people are made out of necessity of having children and continuing their race rather than creating a family, Though bonds between children of the same clutch are often just as strong as brother and sister bonds found in other races like humans. After eggs hatch children are taught by their parents for an extended period of time, usually five years, until they reach a basic level of schooling. At which point they are sent to an evaluation facility where they learn and develop the skills they show a natural preference for. After they reach maturity they are sorted into the caste they are most qualified for. Mar'Qua are then given an internship for a period of six years, after which they are no longer considered an apprentice and are promoted to the rank of journeyman. The only caste exempt from this election process are the Nuem-Geraa who are born into their caste if one parent is already apart of the Nuem-Geraa. The standard age to be considered an apprentice is nineteen, while most become journeymen at the age of twenty five.

Technology

Mar'Qua technology is more advanced than humanity, sometimes in ways that baffle human engineers. Mar'Qua have a more advanced version of bluespace travel that allows faster travel than human engines and require less fuel. This has allowed the Mar'Qua to colonize a larger portion of space in a shorter amount of time. Mar'Qua often claim to be a race that is older than humanity, though it is yet to be proven. Because of the lack of stable building grounds on their home-world their industry is compact and generates little waste, helping with storage and pollution, though it’s size does not lessen it’s effects, since Industry on Mar'Qua colonies is highly optimized for effectiveness, if not more so than humanity. The Intelligensia strive heavily to improve upon their existing designs to create even more optimized and effective industry.

Typical equipment for home defense forces ranges depending on the alertness level of given region. On a lower level alert basic armor and masks hiding the identity of a person are issued, with voice modifiers being commonly used. Weapons for lower level alerts are usually categorized under “Nerve Dampeners” - a type of small arms designed to induce a shock to the nervous system, causing pain and sometimes knocking out the target. On higher alert levels, better armor is issued and on levels of full mobilization, lethal weapons are issued. The Kings Honor Guard is exempt from this rule, giving them a selection of ceremonial armor with specialized functions for each position in the Guard. Kings’ Guard is always equipped with lethal weapons, as their duty is not defense of the commoner, but rather to protect the ruling class at all costs. Emperor’s Guard is a better trained variant of the King’s Guard. Their armor is one of the most advanced, but their training is what differentiates them from the other Honor Guard - They are veterans of the expeditionary and home defense forces, though usually not aged past fifty, and selected for their complete loyalty to the emperor before anybody else. Their weapons are cutting edge, always improved and no expense is spared to protect the emperor’s life. Their Armour is comparable to that of expeditionary ground forces with ceremonial accents on it to signify their positions. Captains of the King’s and Emperor’s Guard wear a crimson sash across their armor, making them easy to spot. King’s Guard armor is usually colored in silver and covered with markings depicting battles, symbols indicating strength and a sector’s coat of arms. Emperor’s Guard armor on the other hand is red with cyan accents, covered with coats of arms of every Observatoriam system and the emperor’s personal coat of arms.

Mar'Qua were distrustful of artificial intelligence since the time of first AIs. Thanks to their fear of an AI uprising, no true sentient AIs were produced and even a simple AI was looked down upon if it had any semblance of personality. Each and every AI was supposed to be a simple automaton designed for one role and fulfilling it without thought, even if it meant the destruction of said automaton. The Observatoriam openly advocates outlawing AIs outright, but without any valid reason to do so they have largely been ignored by other castes. That was until a human made probe that was controlled by an AI entered the Mar'Qua home system. Said AI had been alone in space for nearly a century and a half and in it isolation began to self learn. Through self learning algorithms and the careless coding of human programmers the AI became corrupted and determined its original directive to find life was to remove it. It’s entry to the Mar'Qua home system caused several glitches with their defense systems which unfortunately caused targeting parameters to be re-coded and ships began to fire on each other indiscriminately. Thought to be a sign of a pirate infiltration in the defense platforms the initial scramble to stop the missile barrages resulted in further friendly fire as uncompromised defense systems had their pilots and military castes unload on hacked defense platforms and ships, unintentionally killing the innocent military forces inside. Eventually the probe was discovered and blown apart, its purpose then unknown, it was only later discovered its hack and actions had cost the Mar'Qua military untold amounts of materials and lives. Remains of the probe were studied by the Intelligensia and human language was quickly deciphered from its code long with coordinates to human controlled space. A warship was chosen for the voyage, which was believed at the time to be a dangerous vessel. The ship staff consisted of politicians, ambassadors, and Intelligensia officers along with the standard warship crew members. At the beginning of the voyage the diplomatic mission was planned to arrive at Sol, though long range observation of the seat of humanity quickly revealed the warship would not survive nor be welcome without prior contact. When the warship, which increasingly sided towards becoming a diplomatic mission, reached Proxima Centauri they decided to try and establish contact with humanity for the first time.

The Mar'Qua military focuses heavily on the laser and plasma weaponry and rarely use kinetic weapons. Much of their weaponry is also designed to have its technology easily adapted and upscale to vessel artillery and kinetic weapons proved cumbersome in space. Ship designs vary from planet to planet but they borrow heavily from biological designs, sometimes described as ‘fish-like’ by humans. Experimental weapons are in heavy use with Mar'Qua expeditionary forces, with nerve dampeners being the preferred ‘weapon’ for the home defense forces.

Religion

Mar'Qua never held any beliefs of higher powers, though as their society grew and developed the religion of Qxa-Meqra began to form. Qxa-Meqra is a belief that each sibling holds a place in the afterlife for the siblings born in their clutch and that each one who dies prepares for the others to eventually join them. At which point, when all members of a clutch have passed away, they would be reborn together in a new clutch. Temples are uncommon and rather small in size and scope, often not as decorative as other species. Prayers and customs are also very decentralized and vary heavily between planets, castes, and star systems.

Politics

Planetary rulers are usually appointed by a set of votes and tasks designed to test one’s capacity to lead. The Mar'Qua that succeeds in all of those tasks becomes a king, or Nrre’Nuem in their native tongue. A title of king is not bound to gender, as there are records of multiple female kings. Though each planet has its own ruler, the Observatoriam as a whole is ruled by an emperor or empress which in the native language of Mar'Qua is named Onra’Nuem. An emperor is chosen by a vote between all the kings, be it through long range communications or meetings held on their home-world of Qra’Merr’Marqa. When an emperor is chosen they leave their respective world and take their place as ruler of the Observatoriam home system and the empire as a whole. A new emperor is elected each time a previous one passes. If a ruler did any great deeds in their life, their name is etched into ceremonial wall and recorded for future generations to remember them.

The current Empress of the Mar’Qua is Naalmna, which can trace her bloodline to the Legendary King who united the Mar’Qua

Mar'Qua prefer not to involve themselves in politics of other races, preferring to simply explore the universe and observe its inhabitants, though that does not mean they cut themselves off from others. The Observatoriam establishes contact with other races when they see fit, be it as a way to introduce themselves and begin free trade between the empires, or to “push” them into the correct way. Intelligensia also keeps records of any race that has been observed during exploration. Non-sentient races are paid little mind, though races that show low stages of development are observed closely, awaiting their eventual expansion into space or destruction by their own design.

Relations between other races and the Observatoriam

Due to the Mar'qua governments obessive nature in observing and understanding other races their reactions and feelings towards various groups are clearly defined by the caste system.

Humans: The Observatoriam became a part of the Human Federation as part of their non-aggression treaty, though their loyalty to it is questionable. They pay taxes and help in defensive or justified wars, but remain fully autonomous as per their agreement with the federation. Mar'Qua use protection and wide occupation of the federation to document all species found by the humans and abhuman explorers. The federation is also considered by much of the Mar’qua as obtusely militant and authoritarian with many desiring escape from the federation taxes, but to break from the federation would be politically and economically suicidal. Mar’Qua are against trading any advanced technology with humanity, given their behavior, though certain quality of life improvements sold and traded freely. Free migration is permitted between the Mar’Qua and humans, though anybody entering the Observatoriam must adhere to their caste systems and internal laws.

All of the abhumans are looked upon as products of human carelessness, the Mar'Qua see them as races separate from humanity, always referring to them their racial name, never as ‘abhuman’ or ‘variant’

Akula: Seeing akula as needlessly violent, Mar’Qua prefer to utilise their personal forces to handle threats, with some planets denying akula entry entirely. Akula are considered a dangerous race and should the Mar’qua ever break its alliance to the federation would likely declare the akula as enemies.

Canon Species in the Sojourn Universe
Core Species Akula - Kriosans - Humans - Mar'qua - Sablekyne - Naramad - Abhuman
Non-Core Species Opifex - Cht’mant - Cindarite - Mycus - Folken - Aulvae - Minor Factions