Draft: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

• They have a biology similar to terran cephalopods, with a lithe, flexible body lacking bones and a singular, advanced eye
• Their culture focuses on peaceful, cautious advancement of the fields of science, with a rampant paranoia of both AI and death.
• Mar’qua come in a variety of shades, with some being able to alter their own skin colour in a camouflage-esque system
• The aquatic nature of Mar’qua make them resistant to the cold and better at seeing in the dark compared to a human
• Not only are the Mar’qua naturally intelligent and long lived, but through genetic manipulation these traits are further emphasized, resulting in a ponderous, wise race. They get +10 to cognition, biology, and mechanical stats. An extra +5 can be gained if their homeworld is chosen in character setup.
• 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

Mar’qua biology, although extremely alien in nature, can be more easily compared to the terran cephalopod class of terran animals. They stand on average from 5’2 - 5’8, with a slightly wiry and pliant gait that’s born from their lack of bones, with their body structure instead being supported by advanced lengths of cartilage and ligaments. Their most notable feature to humans lie in their singular eye, located in a similar spot that would be between the eyes of a baseline human. Their face lacks any distinct features outside this singular eye, with their mouth being perfectly sealed outside of it’s use for speech or eating. Where their mouth is rarely used for breathing, the Mar’qua instead use a mix of Cutaneous respiration and the use of gills that are located just below their jawline.

The eye in particular is an important part of the Mar’qua, both in a societal icon and biological significance. With multiple layers of eyelids that cover a wide variety of protection to the sensitive organ underneath and a horizontal ‘pupil’ which both serves to give them a much wider range of vision than one would expect from a singular-eyed organism and contains a sophisticated system for allowing depth perception by taking points of reference from opposite sides of the eye.

With their technological mastery over genetics, the average Mar’qua has little worry over old age, with their advanced treatments staving off death indefinitely to any of their species that have access to it. With this in mind, with their relatively slow metabolism, Mar’Qua naturally live to be between 100-150 years old.

Society

As cautious people born from their paranoia of the unknown, the Mar’qua, despite being far more ancient than other space-faring nations, expanded from their home system at an incredibly slow pace, taking every measure to minimize risk and rates of mortality.

Mar’quaran colonies tend to be low in number, with a stagnant population maintained by the cryo-freezing of fertilized eggs, only to be unthawed if an individual happens to die in order to replace them. These small ‘dens’ of Mar’qua focus on technological pursuit, observation and the maintenance of local ecosystems and life. The main exceptions to this sparsely populated trend are their massive ‘exploratory’ fleets and their home planet. The former used for both the colonization of new planets, scientific pursuit and the defense of their borders. The latter is their home planet of Mar’hal, an advanced, dense nexus of universities, laboratories and urban sprawls that collect and process data collected from their exploratory fleets and colonies.

The average Mar’qua will go about their day very similar to a human counterpart, but with an extreme level of observation and recording of data. Janitors will record the effectiveness of different chemicals, Botanists the speed of growth of plants in different types of soil and conditions, and even security personnel will meticulously record the performance of their arms and armor. Mar’qua take great pride in each contribution towards the sciences, with doctoral titles being absent in their vocabulary, as every Mar’qua consider themselves a scientist in one shape or another.

Mar’quaran culture outside the fields of sciences will always feel the curiosity embedded naturally in the race. An alien visitor to a Mar’quaran resturant would find a wide range of perfected dishes created in an attempt to appeal to the tastes of their race, curated by countless recordings of previous data as Mar’qua chefs find endless satisfaction in sating alien tastes.

Although one might expect hyper-practical and standardized architecture and aesthetics. Mar’qua find observations to be one of the most important experiences one can have, with a wide range of creative efforts and techniques used in their artistic fields to make sure an individual walking down one of their streets would never see the same sight twice. To an alien individual, some of the choices of colour theory and mixing would seem bizarre or even ugly, especially those lacking in more advanced ocular organs compared to the naturally complex and artificially enhanced Mar’qua ‘Ti’.

Relationships

Mar'qua have a few classifications for how they view themselves. Specialisations and Observances being the most notable ones. Whereas a specialty is how one views themself, and their plan for personal development, a observance is how one may view another individual, their relationship, or otherwise.

Specialties

Specialties are groups within Mar’qua society that denote expertise or authority in fields and positions, and those who have chosen to enter one are seen as dedicating one’s self to a practice - a great honour within Mar’quarian society.

• Lar’Mar: Those who learn through experimenting. - Mathematicians, Physicists, Teachers, Painters, Graphics Designers, and Developers.
• Lin'Mar: Those who learn through acting. - Government Officials, Military Officers, and Civil Servants.
• Kar'Mar: Those who learn through duty. - Engineers, Construction Workers, IT Professionals, and Shop Owners.
• Kan’Mar: Those who learn through doing. - Soldiers, Doctors, Police Officers, and Frontline Professionals.
• Len’Mar: Those who learn through watching. - Miltiary Intelligence, Civil Service Operatives, Covert Positions, Scouts.
• Ne’Mar: Those who learn in their own way. - Wanderers and Drifters, those that do not fall into an above category.

Observances

Obsevanves are classifications within Mar’qua society that denote a relation to another individual, such as familial, platonic or romantic relations. This section is largely incomplete, but serves as a guide for how relatonships should be approached and seen in character. They can be categorised into positive or negative.

• Lai’Lar: An extremely close bond between individuals. This is often used to describe someone to whom you feel romantic, platonic, or familial love towards.
• Ne’Lar: An intense hatred of an individual, one with you having an intense rivalry. Often used to describe those you despise, or hate, in the most extreme manner.
• Lai’Len: A valued friend, one whom you’ve known for many years - perhaps your entire life - and have grown attached to in a bond like none other.
• Ne'Lin: This is a rival or someone you dislike, and whom you might express distaste for, but not to the point of complete and utter hatred.
• Lai’Nal: A familial relationship of any kind. It can be used to refer to any member of your family that you have a deep bond with.
• Ne’Nal Any form of familial-like bond with someone you hold hatred for. This type of bond is very uncommon, save for conflicting fields of study.

Technology

Due to the early discovery of bluespace technology and their prolonged contact with a technologically advanced empire early in their history, the Mar’qua had an advanced kickstart into their own technological progress, particularly in the areas of bluespace, genetics, physics and biochemistry. The paranoia caused by their superstition and history with AI, the Mar’qua very reluctantly rely on artificial computing systems out of very basic machines. Instead, the Mar’qua’s advancements in biomachinery allow them to use complex MMIs (man-machine interfaces) to interface and control machinery or computers directly, rather than using algorithms or machine learning.

The field of genetics is also a vast and specialized field to the Mar’qua. Their avoidance of artificial intelligence in all forms and superstition around death pushed them to pursue genetic augmentation in order to increase their own mental capacity to replace any need for computing power. The average Mar’qua will slowly accumulate more and more modifications during their lifetime, with their access to Mar’quaran genetic treatment facilities artificially extending their natural lifespans indefinitely in all but the most destitute dens and colonies. The resulting eldars from this society, especially the Lar’kan possessing mental ability easily rivaling minds such as greyson AI. These elders are possessively kept secret away from the federation, being held safely on Ti’qua, away from prying eyes.

A large part of Mar’quaran culture is the celebration of historic and modern breakthroughs in science, ones of note are those who’s accomplishments can be attributed to the idealistic nature of their solar system, these particular holidays are as follows:

• Lai’nim Day: 18/04 - Celebration attributed to cooling and laser systems advancements
• Nam’ril Day: 22/10 - Celebration attributed to gas processing and macroengineering
• Nal’ril Day: 03/12 - Celebration of the advances in extraction and mineral processing
• Tel’hal Day: 15/05 - Celebration of the xenofauna and xenoflora sciences
• Mar’hal Day: 01/01 - Celebration of life
• Rai’hal Day: 05/07 - Celebration of MMI technology and Genetic Augmentation
• Ne’ril Day: 11/02 - Celebration of Optics and Sensory technology

Religion

Although the Mar’qua as a people and a culture lack a religion as humans would see it, they hold a superstition or paranoia of the afterlife. With even their advanced sciences they’ve failed to figure out what happens to the living consciousness when they pass over, leading to a split in thought between the Mar’qua people.

One group, colloquially known as the “Introspectors (Len’Qua)”, look to advance Mar’qua life past the possibility of death, avoiding the paranoia altogether. This is usually done through genetic advances, leading to the majority of the Mar’qua people being biologically immortal, lacking a death from old age.

The other are known as the “Extrospectors (Lin’Qua)”, with the Mar’qua’s obsession with observation, these people look to find out what happens after death, this obsession with observation grows passed this and outward to the rest of the universe, in some held hope that they will find the answers if they understand enough.

Politics

The politics of the Mar’qua is mostly focused on technological advancement and pursuit rather than economics, war, or even personal ideals. The closest thing the Mar’qua have to a governing body is the Lar’Kan and Lar’Kar. The Lar’kan being a group of 20 individuals who hold seats in the capital of Ti’Qua. Each seat of this governing body is an expert in a particular field of science, covering the entirety of scientific basis. The Lar’Kar is a particular individual who is both seen as the ‘face’ and ‘leader’ of the Lar’kan. This individual appoints the leaders of new colonies, fleets and important operations after thorough debate with the seats of the Lar’kan. The Lar’kar is expected to be knowledgeable in all fields of knowledge in order to avoid the bias that a singular field of knowledge would result in.

Outside of technological matters, the Lar’kan do not interfere or dictate how colonies and ‘den’s operate. The only exception to this being Mar’quaran holidays, where a particular subject of a holiday may be changed if a new innovation of technology replaces the subject matter.

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.

History of the Mar'Qua

Early Contact

The Mar’quaran hate for AI can only be speculated to a theorized event thousands of years in their history that surpassed written and oral tradition, instead sowing a seed of fear deep into the very culture of their race. During the early atomic era of their history, before they even had ventured into their stars, they discovered bluespace technology, namely communication using bluespace crystals that had grown upon a meteorite that crashed narrowly into their home planet. Using this newly discovered form of communication, the Mar’qua contacted an unknown alien empire, forming a budding friendship between the two over the following years, this empire sharing technological secrets that would be the base of their advanced technology they use today. This all came to a sudden halt when communication between the two was ended following a brief message warning them of the dangers of advanced artificial intelligence, cutting their moment of alien contact short, never to be heard from again.

Expansion

Space flight and FTL travel was quickly achieved shortly after the rapid advancements following the discovery of bluespace crystals, harnessing the power of space-bending technology. Despite their ability to cover lightyears of space in a matter of days, the Mar’qua took their usual curiosity and caution driven approach to their colonial era. Not following a traditional colonial approach, the Mar’qua took to the stars only to colonize their local system, making great use of the natural resources and phenomena before approaching any extra-solar expansion.

Rather than colonizing every habitable planet they came across, the Mar’qua took to building complex, non-invasive satellite stations orbiting the planet, sometimes including a space-elevator for quick surface-to-space transport. These ‘nests’ would house from 100,000-2,000,000 individuals, with facilities for asteroid mining to research, to zero-g construction to leisure. These stations would perform extensive observation, testing and setup of communication infrastructure before the related exploratory fleet would move to the next system, creating a daisy chain of observatories that gave them unparalleled sensory data on their borders.

Human Contact

With their advanced optics and extra-solar sensors, the Mar’qua were made aware of the Sol Federation tens of years before making contact with them. Their rapid expansion and growth piqued both a rampant curiosity and morbid paranoia. Heavy debate occupied the Lar’kan up until their impending contact with the humans, with this being the first signs of alien existence since their ancient cousins who’s time with the Mar’qua was lost to archaic written history.

The Lar’kar came to an agreement only a few years prior to their initial contact with the Sol federation, a passive, but cautious approach was taken, avoiding any sparks of senseless war that could cinder between the two powers. With the Sol Federation’s immense numbers, economy and overall ambition to conquer matched up against the Mar’qua’s steadfast infrastructure, accrued data that had already been gathered on their movements and tactics alongside their far superior advancements in numerous fields of technology, it became obvious that any conflict between the two races would create untold catastrophe on both sides.

Reluctantly, the two powers entered a series of trade, scientific and defensive pacts, with the science of the Mar’qua and the expansive resources of the Sol Federation sending the two groups into a miraculous golden age for both sides. Despite this, the Mar’qua kept many areas of technological research hidden away from the humans, notably their genetic manipulation to prevent an abhorrent mix of Mar’quaran intelligence and Human ego and ambition.

Bluespace Crash

The bluespace crash came as a sudden catastrophe to most races. The Mar’qua on the other hand, with their advanced knowledge of the nature of bluespace, predicted a chance of such an event happening due to the excessive use of bluespace drives. Due to the growing chances of such an event occurring, the Mar’qua began experimental testing of advanced FTL drives, slowly retrofitting their ships and defunctioning their bluespace drives, even beginning to look into advances in quantum entanglement communication technology.

This led to speculation that the Mar’quaran Technocracy managed to mitigate much of the logistical and infrastructural impact the bluespace crash had on them. It also brewed rumours among the xeno races that the Mar’quaran Technocracy directly caused the bluespace crash itself, perhaps to give themselves an advantage over the other bluespace-reliant species.

Despite this, even with their predictions, not all Nests and Exploratory fleets believed the hypothetical event, with heavy debate stalling any mass mobilization of said retrofits. This left many, especially fringe worlds bordering the Sol Federation stranded along with other xenos. With such a logistical breakdown, and despite the autonomy and self sufficiency of nests and fleets, this led to a growing reliance on other xenos. This change exposed many homogeneous groups of Mar’qua to the diverse and alien mindsets of xenos, causing a radical schism and division between the cautious and methodical Mar’qua and the ones open to the ideas of xenos.

Relations between other races and the Observatorium

Human

Their relationship with the Sol Federation is one of hesitant cooperation. Despite their lower numbers, the Mar’qua’s advanced technology would make a war between the two nations catastrophic for both sides, resulting in a series of peace deals and reluctant trade agreements for mutual benefits. The Mar’qua refuse to give the Sol Federation their more advanced and perhaps even esoteric technology, knowing full well what it would be used for and how it would jeopardize their own leverage towards the imperialists.

Sablekyne/Kriosan/Akula/Naramad

The more militaristic races are mostly seen as a biological interest rather than a cultural or diplomatic one. Usually this ends with basic, short-term deals involving supplies, testing and passive support rather than any long term relationship between the two races, with the Mar’qua wanting to avoid any chance of violence, war or otherwise unnecessary risk.

Cinderites

The Cinderites proved themselves to be a surprising ally to the Mar’qua. With their war-torn history, the Mar’qua expected a short term, simple trade of resources and information. This was quickly proven wrong with the Cinderite’s aversion to war and willingness to work in hazardous conditions. Their dramatically affected and wide diversity of genetics also hold a constant curiosity of Mar’quaran geneticists. To this day the Mar’qua and Cinderites hold a long-lasting alliance through the trade of labor, goods, research and military assistance, with most Mar’quaran exploratory ships hosting a wide number of Cindar individuals used especially for reconnaissance on planets with hazardous weather, terrain or hostile fauna/flora.

Opifex

The Opifex are viewed with a mix of endless curiosity and primal horror. Their advances in technologies mirror something completely parallel to the Mar’qua, with cybernetic augmentation and a reliance on artificial machinery and computing. Their more esoteric nature and rivaling levels of intelligence prove themselves to again and again be a hot topic of debate within the Lar’kan. Contact between the two races has been sparse and usually resulting in heated arguments behind the ideal approach to science and research.

Cht’Mant

The Cht’mant were originally discovered through second-hand accounts of Soteria’s brutal testing on the race. This series of events did nothing but reinforce the Mar’qua in their cautious approach to science. Directly, the Mar’qua had very little interaction with the Cht’mant, with their homeworlds being so far apart and the Mar’quaran desire to avoid friction with any other bodys of power. Despite this, the Mar’qua do show interest in the cht’maint, Their ability to biologically both alter their own anatomy and communicate through such vast distances without the aid of technology has proven to be a wildly interesting concept to the Mar’qua, who require advanced technology to modify their own genetics.

Language Snippets of the Maq'Qua

• Hal = Home
• Kan = Keeper, Holder, Maintainer, Guard
• Kar = Giver, benefactor
• Lai = Light
• Lar = Knowledge
• Len = Inward
• Li = Sky
• Lin = Outward
• Mar = Observe or to Observe
• Nal = Rich, Precious
• Nam = Older Sibling
• Nar = To sleep, dream
• Ne = Distant, Vague, obscure
• Nim = Younger Sibling
• Qua = People
• Rai = Calm, peace, solace
• Ril = Orb, Sphere, Circle
• Tel = Green, Plants, Life
• Ti = Eye
• Thal = Short, Near, Intimate
• Thil = Long, Far, Formal
• Kor = Weapon, Arm

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