Cindarite

Cindarites are a reptilian species prized for hazardous-duty work, shaped by generations of survival on the irradiated world of Cindar, a planet ravaged by an unexplained nuclear war. First contacted by smugglers and later integrated into Sol-Fed, they are known for their unique stoicism and communal tolerances, in addition to a particular pride in demonstrating their work and talents.

Quickstart Guide

• Cindarites are widely skilled and reasonably tough due to their hard upbringing. They receive +2 to biology, mechanical, cognition, and toughness. An extra +3 can be gained if their homeworld is chosen in character setup.
• Cindarites become cold much easier than humans but can withstand heat significantly better.
• Cindarites are adapted to highly toxic and dangerous biomes and are entirely immune to radiation while taking only half the toxin damage a human would.
• Cindarite scales are quite tough and resilient even to intense heat and take 15% less burn damage than others.
• Perk: Cindarites gain the perk "Purge Toxins", which allows them to purge their bloodstream of toxins and remove addictions, though the effect makes them extremely tired and may make them fall asleep as a result. This can be used every fifteen minutes.
• Perk: Cindarites gain the perk "Uncanny Resiliance", which allows them to cure their own diseases once every thirty minutes. (Really, they just give themselves a dose of spaceacillin.)
• Perk: Cindarites gain the perk "Second Skin", which lets them instantly remove their own clothing and ignore all slowdown normally caused by any clothing they wear.

Homeworld and Diaspora

Cindar is an irradiated, storm-raked world with orange, fallout-contaminated seas and radioactively charged weather that forced its people underground for generations in fallout shelters and government bunkers. A little known nuclear war rendered much of its surface uninhabitable for any extended length of time, even for the hardiest Cindarite. Analysis of the surface by Sol-Fed scientists suggest that the surface was already quite unfriendly prior to that war. Little information exists to illuminate scientists on its pre-war conditions, however.

Common hazards such as toxic sludge, mutated fauna and flora, deadly weather, prevented long term surface habitation efforts. Accounts from a handful of SolFed Technicians lucky enough to see inside a bunker, suggest they were hastily made, sharing core structural features. However, no two were the same. Many seemed to have extensions or expansions, to accommodate their extended survivability. Sol-Fed personnel on the front line-relations with the Cindarites noted that these differences resulted from the chaotic placement and hasty planning of these bunkers–leading to widely different needs and necessities. Alliances and conflict between surviving bunkers altered this further.

For decades, their star system slowly grew into a waystation for stellar traffic in a mire of resource rich nebulae.  Initially, this activity consisted mostly of smugglers daring enough to brave the region’s hazards.. This activity eventually facilitated a loose first contact.  After some tense, brief exchanges, the insular bunker dwellers saw the opportunity for improved survival, and opened trade to them. It was through this that Sol-Fed learned of the Cindarites and formally opened relations.  

Modern Cindar lacks the sprawling mega cities and urban jungles of contemporary homeworlds. The majority of its population centers consist of habitation domes on the surface, typically located in the smaller southern continents with focused terraforming activity. Orbital stations supplement the existing space, and also houses a local Sol-Fed Occupational Government.

Across the system and abroad, Cindarite communities tend to favor commerce and hard postings over political entanglement. They welcome trade with mercenaries and spacers yet remain wary of becoming military targets, and tend to reflect this in their everyday life.

Physiology

Cindarites, while largely uniform in terms of their reptilian characteristics, lack a consistent genetic conformity due to generations of insular bunker life and radioactive mutations. Some Cindarites are around 4'9” with two kidneys, while others are up to 7'3” with 4 kidneys. Efforts are being made to correct unhealthy variances, with mixed results. Despite their mutations, they still retain most of their dimorphic characteristics. Male Cindarites are often stockier, with  angular or blocky snouts while females are more lithe with slender figures and rounded snouts. Both seem to have the capacity for horns and feathers. These usually correlate with age and gender, with males possessing larger horns and/or plumage on average.

As expected for most reptiles, Cindarites are cold blooded and most, if not all, of their body is covered in scales or a thick leather-like hide. . Popular depictions of Cindarites show them with green scales, however, collated studies suggest a near equal distribution of tropical greens, reddish golds, and muted woodland browns, among others.. It is still unknown whether these variations are inherited, random mutations, or as one popular theory suggests, generational adaptations.

One surprising facet of their biology is that they are not as agile as they are often believed to be and yet they don't seem to lose much agility when they wear various hardsuits. One SolFed observer has famously coined the term of calling it their "Second Skin" as they seem to be able to wear and shed the armor with ease just like their own coat of scales. This is undoubtedly because of the generations spent wearing such suits in harsh environments. Though this is not a biological adaptation, it is extremely rare to observe a Cindarite without this capacity.

Language and Naming

Traditional Cindarite nomenclature is perhaps one of the only things to survive from their pre-war days. Traditional names consist of a given name, a ‘face’ name, and a family name. As with traditional names, the ‘face’ name is the name usually given for general social and work purposes. The family name is also, likewise used for social purposes, albeit on more formal social occasions. Their given name is reserved for more intimate relations with family, spouses, and children. Many Cindarites abroad have adopted Sol-Fed standard names as well, the traditional naming slowly falling out of practice as they expand throughout the galaxy.

Cindarite Voc is a language that emphasizes clear communication with a distinct lack of metaphors and figures of speech to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. It consists mostly of a combination of various hissing noises and guttural roars. Generations upon generations of living in bunkers on a highly hazardous planet resulted in Cindarite Voc; devolved from a colorful descriptive language to a more rigid and functional tool to relay information.

Culture: Values & Everyday Practices

Cindarite culture has been irreversibly shaped by bunker life, very little survived the nuclear war that ravaged their planetary surface. Unpleasant necessary tasks, and the knowledge to complete them, became the mark of status, rather than leadership or wealth. Their pride is quiet, recorded in ledgers, logs, and other tangible records-even personal tool markings, rather than spoken word.

Cindarites possess a prevalent, almost obsessive ethos around trade and craft. Demonstration over faith is a marked consistency in their interactions. Merchants and tradesmen in frequent contact with Cindarites all report similar customs: Claims are demonstrated, on site. Tools, garments, and even repairs are studiously given a live trial, often before a witness. Some Cindarites take this to the extreme, and even keep logs of live demonstrations, and their witnesses. Workshops have been seen with stamped workplates or other signage showing such information, being more valued than slogans.

Needless to say, due to their bunker lifestyle, communal living is the standard. Barrack-style quarters are considered a comfort, not a compromise. A report from a group of mining contractors that hired a substantial number of Cindarites, contained an exhaustive analysis of their communal habits. Newcomers are offered a bunk, and assigned a minor task before further conversation or interaction. This initial interaction functions as their formal invitation and social initiation, and they will even ostracize an individual who refuses this initiation. Acceptance and completion of this task usually leads to further communal inclusion to the local social circles and households. Mess halls function more as commons than other designated social areas, another noted influence from their bunker constraints; privacy is found in routine rather than behind doors. Maintenance hours, watch rotations, the calm moments between activities. It would not be uncommon to see a group of Cindarites chatting in mixed voc and common before moving onto their next tasks.

Generations of utilizing hazardous gear for everyday survival has also shaped certain norms throughout their daily life, when frequently utilizing such equipment. Cindarite crews have been observed making time for periodic maintenance throughout their days, during which equipment is cleaned, serviced, and inventoried. This occurs even off-shift. This unusual diligence incidentally has led to them having a reputation for severely repudiating any attempts to steal or compromise their gear. Spacewalk teams have often been observed performing audible seal checks before exposure in hazardous tasks. While many aren’t zealous about enforcing these dedicated routines on others, they do not take lightly to having them disrupted.

Due to their cold blooded nature, seeking sources of heat remains a necessity, basking being the most common. As such, communal warming areas and arrangements have been seen with various configurations, ranging from heat lamps to entire rooms dedicated to the need. Their basking is noted for more rampant socialization, yet is often scheduled like any of their other routines. Secondary methods are utilized to great effect, though many Cindarites still adhere to more traditional arrangements. Heating packs, element-lined clothing and gear. Heated pools also serve as alternatives, increasing in novelty as traditionally resource-conservative Cindarites would have never used so much water for such activities. 

Their language and communications tend to reflect an innate caution, influenced by the limitations of their bunker lifestyle. Preference is given to short-range, low power channels. Substantial Cindarite populations have been observed using so-called ‘hush maps’, so-coined by a Sol-Fed anti-terror unit when discovering a network of Cindarite communications initially suspected to be coordinating smuggling activity for a local group of anarcho-pirates. To their surprise, these networks were merely an efficient hierarchy of communications, to facilitate critical information often related to power and life support systems, personnel requirements, and resources. Tracking with the challenges of severe fallout weather, Cindarites tend to observe radio silence during severe weather or interference. Face-to-face briefings and hand signals are preferred when feasible. It is noted, Cindarites found Jive extremely useful.

Disputes among the more traditional Cindarites employ an almost ritualistic practical trial. “Make the repair last a week”, etc, decides a matter faster than any verbal argument. In factional scale politics, Cindarites tend to avoid taking sides, more to avoid being a target than to avoid any constraining ties, and relying on their value as laborers, tradesfolk, and their desire and pride to work the most unpleasant jobs to maintain that neutrality.

It is noted, Cindarites have been observed departing from many of these traditions and customs, most frequently in the new spacer generations from the quickly growing Cindarite diaspora–their willingness to work harsh conditions and jobs sees them scattered throughout Sol-Fed space. Some tensions have been noted between the habitats, orbital stations, and bunkers; older generations express concerns of the loss of their heritage or cultural identities as younger generations depart from closely held practices.

Reproduction: Selection, habits, and care

Bunker life shaped Cindarite society into tightly knit communities that valued reliability, conservation, and prudence. Early shelters rationed necessities to preserve resources. Offspring were scheduled against filters, food cycles, and weather patterns. Some of these habits persist among the dome and orbit habitats alike.

In traditional bunker life, pairings were typically proposed by seniors or quartermasters who track work records and lineage. Private choice was common, but a pairing rarely proceeded without approval and a compatibility check to avoid genetic complications. Early observations of Cindarites in the initial Sol-Fed habitats found that this went as far as compatibility ledgers and other practical records.

Shortages in equipment or other necessities could trigger a period of time where no offspring could be conceived. Once the critical event had passed, pairings were once more considered by the designated authorities. In modern domes and abroad, this custom survives as an informal one, in the form of calendars and other scheduled formalities and services, if observed at all. 

Being cold blooded, shared warming rooms and incubation cradles are standard for egg and childcare. Temperature control, care, and tutelage was all treated to the same routine scheduling like all other duties, and shared by the bunker. Abroad, this custom remains among more traditionally minded Cindarite communities. Extended family apartments, barrack-suits with multiple households pool and redistribute resources and work as needed.

Custody is usually practical, a cohort ensures continuity of care throughout any complications the parents face, often resulting in deep familial and community ties.

The Sol-Fed Occupational Government’s ongoing efforts towards genetic standardization usually involves itself through pre-conception and registry consultations.

Presence on Nadezhda

Cindarite work crews are a routine sight along the colony’s maintenance tunnels, docks, excavations and more. They frequently display manifests or billets that seem to reward and note discipline in Air handling, power distribution, pressure doors, waste reclamation, hazardous cleanup, and more. Barracks-style suites near maintenance and industrial sections remain their preferred quarters much of the time. Logs indicate shared warming rooms and periodic maintenance activities are adhered to even while off-shift.

Common(but not exhaustive) factional presences:

Marshals: Scene security coordination, repair cordons, special care with anything regarding critical infrastructure or Cindarite work crews. Frequently seen in quartermaster roles, maintaining and upkeeping equipment for when it’s needed, and instilling strict gear discipline into the ranks.

Blackshield: Outpost upkeep, fortification, perimeter checks, rapid breach response. Cindarites with military experience often favor this faction for its more defense oriented operations, finding its lack of an outward military impetus attractive to their more conservative views around war and large scale conflict.

Soteria: Special care towards life support standards, materials handling, medical clearance and logkeeping. Cindarite doctors are greatly favored by other Cindarites due to genetic complications. Also often embroiled in the politics of gene clinic operations within the lower colony.

Lonestar: Dependable Miners, warehouse operators, and technicians.

Artificers: Especially with more traditional Cindarites, they are often at the forefront of audits around hazard gear, infrastructure, and maintenance cycles. Traditional Cindarite workshops retain ‘live trial’ records.

Prospectors: Found more frequently within the salvager circles, especially for controlled demolition, recovery decon, inventory management and upkeep. Cindarites with military or mercenary experience also find their way into the combat roles more often. It’s very rare to see them filling in as Hogg’s underbosses or Foremen.

Church of the Absolute: Found most often among Factorials, the path aligning heavily with Cindarite maintenance and work culture. They are also found among Tesselates, aligning with their more communal habits. Divisor and Monomial Cindarites are seen, but are rarer due to clashes with their more esoteric practices. Cindarite lemniscates are rarer, the role contradicting their traditionally reticent nature. Cindarite Addends are far rarer, the path counterintuitive to multi-household communal arrangements. Cindarites electing to not disrupt their community related functions often opt to remain Vinculum.

History

Early historical accounts of Cindarite civilization are near-impossible to find, as much of the planet remains significantly altered as a result of a nuclear exchange and subsequent war. Significant numbers of Cindarites survived in a myriad of bunkers and shelters with a remarkable degree of success.

These underground habitats often contained just enough to sustain a small population of Cindarites, with many showing evidence of expansion, modification, and repurposing. Many enclaves, as they called them, would raid others in order to sustain their own bunker. Many became dens of Cindarites who existed at odds with each other, controlled only by the strongest, meanest in the crowd. Other enclaves managed shaky alliances, the ones close enough to project any kind of force or influence, often sharing the burden of repair work, surface patrols and scavenging.

Due to this, most bunkers became extremely insular, and ultimately oriented towards pragmatism and utilitarianism. There were exceptions however. Accounts from the initial Sol Fed arrivals spoke of bunkers that were found far later while shuttlecraft mapped the planet. Larger, better fortified bunkers were found, better hidden and better sustained. These held somewhat larger populations of Cindarites, only faring marginally better than others. It is assumed these structures were built in preparation or anticipation of this war, perhaps for the upper classes of Cindarites who could “read the writing on the wall”. These bunkers fare only little better, because they seemed to have been involved in the extended war, after nuclear weapons were employed. Anecdotes suggest that these larger, more fortified bunkers attempted to track and command the lesser ones.

Cultural norms differed only slightly from bunker to bunker, save for the few larger, well supplied bunkers. Communal hatcheries were a notable constant. The raising of young in such an extreme situation forced a delicate care on population growth, becoming heavily controlled. Pairings between Cindarites varied greatly in duration. With the arrival of Sol-Fed, their birth rate increased by several orders of magnitude.    

Today, while much of human civilization thinks of them as primitive for failing to pass the great filter, the Sol Federation values Cindarites quite highly for their eagerness to leave their homeworld and apply for work aboard fuel tankers and transports that navigate the nebulae surrounding their home. This reputation among SolFed officials has largely been cultivated by Rear Admiral Almir Paiva of the Sol Federation Merchant Marines, who began a practice of recruiting Cindarites to reinforce manpower losses aboard military supply ships during the last of the pre-crash wars. Today nearly every SolFed naval Depot and waystation has a dedicated cadre of Cindarites who maintain the facilities with their dedication, going so far as to bring their families with them.

First Contact and Integration

First contact with the Cindarites departed from the usual glamor holos and historical anecdotes grant such events.  Smuggler groups such as the Delirium Syndicate, who used the storm ravaged surface of Cindar to hide their goods, made first contact with the cautious reptiles.  These reptilians would become known as Cindarites by the smugglers, used as a means of concealing their business dealings from Sol-Fed auditors who were beginning to grow suspicious of the legal and less than legal goods the local ‘traders’ were selling.

Eventually the Sol Federation discovered the smuggling operations and arrested a number of pilots making ‘surface runs’–including the infamous ‘Slipspace Jones’. Most of the pilots kept silent, with Jones being one of the few exceptions. He regaled the local authorities with tales of hidden, populated bunkers, of ‘shy aliens’ that were starting to buy and sell goods with the smugglers who were visiting the surface, all for a reduced sentence and the chance to keep his flying license.

The Delirium Syndicate was quickly dismantled by the Sol Federation, but the discoveries made by those smugglers proved to be a turning point for the system, as SolFed explorers and ambassadors were quick to capitalize on the good relations the smugglers had established with the Cindarites, leading to a full integration of the reptilian people into the Sol Federation with relative ease, and virtually no bloodshed.

Present Day

-"I have two hearts and the man next to me has one, what does it matter if it's a room full of xenos and a room full of Cindarites?"

Today the occupational governor of Cindar is attempting to pursue a policy of 'Genetic Standardization' among Cindarites by increasing the amount of genetic tailoring available to the population. The stated goal of this is to make it easier for medical professionals to treat illnesses without needing to worry about the various mutations each individual Cindarite might have. This has however drawn a large amount of ire from Cindarites currently working aboard various SolFed ships in poor conditions and oftentimes for very little pay compared to their xeno crewmates.

-"Oh yeah, the Buyan will get you wherever you need to go. It's Cindar–Rated too."

Cindar is located on one of the primary SolFed trade routes, nestled among a large swath of difficult to navigate nebulae. It is for this reason that it has a well earned reputation for being a hotspot for pilots trying to prove their worth and while being 'Cindar–Rated' isn't an officially recognized qualification for pilots or ships, it's a rare occasion when a spacer- military, civilian, or criminal, would overlook a pilot that had such a trip in their logbooks.

-"A military shipyard? Here? No, we have had too much war already and refuse to see Cindar destroyed again."

One current issue dividing Cindar currently are SolFed plans to construct a shipyard in the system to be paired with the major supply base. While this has a myriad of logistical benefits for the SolFed Navy and economic benefits for the system, it is meeting a large amount of pushback from the Cindarites who are concerned that such military installations will make them a designated military target. While most Cindarite communities enjoy the benefits of buying and selling mercenaries, they are largely apprehensive about the idea of participating in a large-scale war, and more importantly, being a target in a large-scale war.

Holidays and Observances

Cindarite ‘holidays’ seem to have emerged from their various practices around their tight resource and life support limitations.

Ledger-Review: Year end management of work and household ledgers. Tools are thoroughly tested and examined for functionality, maintenanced, or replaced.Work rotations are reviewed, and altered if necessary according to maintenance records, fulfilled duty rosters, and other work related documentation. Commendations are noted with their customary subtlety. This is usually followed by a simple communal meal, though the simplicity of it usually contrasts the lively manner in which participants enjoy this meal. 

Bunker Rememberance: A memorial for those lost to the nuclear conflict and subsequent trials. Names are read from surviving registries. Kitchens and households host warming rooms and candle-light vigils. On Amethyne, this is often held in lower galleries, with the Church sometimes assisting with auxiliary services.

Seal Vigil: A sort of rite of discipline. Novices mock out a ritual suit inspection and maintenance. Maintenance crews run extended hours. Failed gaskets, plates, seals and other components are retired and displayed.

Lamp Day: Scheduled maintenance of thermal infrastructure, longer periods scheduled for communal warming spaces.

First Clear: Marks the initial safe passage from bunkers to the first habitats built by the Sol Federation. Among Cindarites abroad, it’s held as a time of remembrance, observed through shared anecdotes and communal maintenance. On Amethyne, there is a growing practice to traverse to the surface of the colony as a symbolic remembrance of that initial safe passage. 

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