The Hjorden

[Leonard Hall]

ONI has asked me to ask you all to start thinking of the general canon for the Hjorden race, the group of non-aligned but friendly aliens that we’ve seen in simulations, ran into on a few occasions and helped out. USFP currently has trade and basing agreements with them but no standing alliances for up-front military action. Let’s think now as to who and what they are as we haven’t really covered that as of yet.

[Solari]

I was wondering who they were myself. They’re not even listed in the vessel database, so I have no idea what kind of ship they field.

Ship design choices are a minor thing to go off of though eh? Reckon some general questions need to be thrown out, so some answers can be made and formed into something coherent.

My questions:
1.) Why is this species non-aligned, yet friendly in the first place? Government/Religious/Technological/Species incompatibility or something? (Overused, I realise, but just knowing what to work on is a starting point for relations stuff.)

2.) Where is their home-world, and what’s it like? That alone can let us in on how they are and behave. (Is it a polluted husk it once was, or is a desert or frozen world, or many moons orbiting a gas giant or the gas giant itself, for example.)

3.) What are their ships used for, and how are they constructed? Bio-engineered? More emphasis on defence then offence? Are they even symmetrical?

4.) What level of technology are they at, compared to the USFP? (Most of the non-aligned seem to be either slightly better or slightly worse, but I mean distinct differences.)

Heh, I’m asking too many questions now. But the main thing we should know though is what role are they to play, and what do you want them to do?

My two creds.

[Leonard Hall]

1.
As far as incompatibilities are concerned, there might be on in form of government. Let me quote the (unused since they’re always friendly to us) taunts for Hjorden ships on comms.

<hullRace ID="9" name="Hjorden" keys="friendly">
    <taunt immunity="is an Artist" text="You should fire your Ship designer!"/>
    <taunt immunity="is a Member of the Aristocracy" text="You should go back to your hovel pleb!"/>
    <taunt immunity="is an OCD Cleaner" text="That ship smells so bad I can smell it through the vacuum of space!"/>

Judging by these taunts and especially the Aristocracy one it is very likely the Hjorden government is some form of feudal or absolute monarchy which in itself is a stark contrast to the democratic vibe of the USFP. Also depending on how decentralized the Hjorden government actually is it may very well have sovereign components within that have issues with their primary leader handing over the keys to an even more far away government ( as far as I know Earth is pretty far from Hjorden).

2. We’ve never really defined the Hjorden homeworld or any of their colonies and we’ll have to figure that out here.

3/4. The Hjorden are known to use a few classes of traditional(mechanically) constructed ships for policing their space and carrying around loads. The first ship and their prime (and only known) war vessel is the Hjorden Cruiser armed with reasonable defenses and beamers akin to those found on TSN Destroyers. Besides this there are also Hjorden cruise liners and transports which carry passengers and cargo between Hjorden bases. Their forces are definitely geared towards their somewhat neutral and isolationist stance and it shows in their innate defensiveness and general weakness (not to mention lack of ship variety as of this time) on the offense.

Ultimately, if diplomacy succeeds the Hjorden could become a useful ally to the USFP given the current invasion of Cerberus and increased hostilities along the Promethean Border Region as a whole. Such a military alliance would be temporary but would be beneficial to both parties. The Hjorden aren’t particularly fans of whoever tries to dislodge them, like the Pirates.

[Solari]

This is almost reminding me of the Hydrans , in regards to the Kingdom styled government anyways.

-Aye, I like the Aristocratic and [Monarchy, or Oligarchy] nature.
-Judging from the interest in cruise liners and transports, and the less-then-interested stance in things, perhaps they are more of a self pleasure/mercantile enhancement (not mercenary!) attitude in their dealings.
Example: Show them deference and graciousness and they’ll be willing to trade for some exotic/unique items. They’ll flock to pleasure resorts, and/or perhaps have a vice for gambling and tournaments like the old Earth nobles?
-Perhaps in the tournaments/games themselves they see this as a form of ‘relations’? Do they duel for honour?
-Status and rank might mean a great deal to them, and as such they have lower classes and those unable or unworthy are not capable beings in their mind?
-That would lead to the home-world being highly stratified, if not well maintained and pristine. A garden world, if you will, full of serfs labouring to keep it that way, and the nobility enjoying the spoils and protecting the lower class in exchange.

So to sum up: A kingdom with a stringent nobility class, more interested in their own amusement and well-being then anything else. Not sloths to be sure, but pretty much as if we took 15th century Humans from Europe, got rid of religious non-sense and pure monetary greed, and put them in science-fiction kit?

Anyone have other ideas though? Or is this a decent start?

[Matsiyan]

The taunts lead me to believe their home habitat is swamp or jungle (or the hellish combination of both that is the Yucatan). This would explain why OCD cleanliness is highly desirable and aristocratic; because it is very rare. Also that would explain the desire for elegant architecture and design as a contrast to the chaotic nature of the environment. This inclines me to think of them in terms of Mayan lords; clean, refined, cultured, scientific, artistic, ruthless. Perhaps a bit Art Deco/Futurist. Possibly they have a superman complex, but are friendly to the USFP because of our tech and design, but struggle to understand us because of our egalitarianism. They could feel very smug catering to our ‘baser desires’ for nature oriented vacations and products, which they would regard as a sign of inferiority. Taking that to extremes, they might be in favour of body modifications, tattoos, depilation, and cyborg enhancements and/or eugenics, biosculpt, or other forms of bioengineering, though the cleanliness fetish might predispose them to electromechanics rather than biosciences.
Any of that useful?

[Matsiyan]

If any of the above applies, what would their relation to biomechs be? Entirely antagonistic, worshipful, or wouldd they enslave them, er I mean, enter into a symbiotic relationship with them giving them something in return for defense, perhaps even enhancing them, or harvesting them for their biomech cyborg enhancements? Domesticating and breeding them?

[Fish Evans]

So looking at the above I have concocted the folowing profile for the Hjorden

Species: Hjorden
Type: Insectoid
Preferd Climate: Jungle/Humid warm environments
Sovereign Identity: The Hijordan Democratic Monarchy.
Population: ~25 Billion
Systems: One Primary System, Three Known Colonys+ Home Planet. 3 Further Known systems with 1 Colony each.

Physical Apperance:
The Hjordans are an advanced space faring species. Though they are smaller in stature then most Humans they have 4 arms and two legs, they are industrious and very sociable amongst their own kind. there four arms mean they are skilled builders.

Government System:
There system of government appears stable although it is somewhat bizarre when compared with most space faring species. They have blended Aristocracy with democracy. The Legislature (lawmakers) are democratically elected. however the Judiciary (law enforcers, judges) are all hereditary and headed by a reigning monarch, the stability of the system has only been kept by the tradition and legal requirement that the children of the Elite are given up at birth and put into the state creche and orphanage system. the growing elite are not told of their aristocratic heritage until several years after reaching majority (15 Earth year equivalent). This means that the people that they judge, and rule are from strata of society that has helped form them as individuals. A further balance to this odd system comes in the fact that they may only take mates from the “Common” population.

Further the Aristocrats are restricted in profession, they may only enter into occupations in the public service sectors.

Judiciary
Police
Healthcare
Military
“Pure” Research

Technology Profile:
they have particular expertise in electronics and and are notable in that they have cloaking technology though it is hardly ever seen. They have developed their own gate system whitch interlinks with the TSN.

Diplomatic Relations:
The USFP and Hjorren are on moderately friendly terms, Hjordan Cruise liners and cargo ships are often seen on the trade route between Hjordan and Port Arthur. Hjordan Civil ships are permitted throughout the USFP Sphere of influence, Hjordan Military craft require permits to travel inside the USFP however these are freely issued especially for the purposes of escorting Hjordan traffic though the less secure Cerebus, Promethean and Krisanda systems and the accompanying waypoints in Galactic sector 91.

The Hijordans are fairly secretive, they view the USFP as a potential threat to them and their culture and tend to compartmentalize a lot of information being very careful what information they share. Having said that they have shared their cloaking technology with the USFP. Unfortunately the mechanics behind it would cause a complete collapse of any Warp core or Jump matrix with a catastrophic consequences if the device was even installed on a ship.

Conversely the USFP feel that the ijordans would make excellent new members to the USFP. and the Citizens of the USFP have made the Hjordan homeword a prime tropical destination for adventures individuals, the Hjordan themselves view this with amusement and annoyance, however the economic benefits are significant for the relatively tiny Hjordan economy.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 7 months ago by Fish Evans.

[Matsiyan]

Nice!

[Matsiyan]

I made a proofreading pass and stored the Hjorden updated document here.

Can this be added to the Universe section on the site and/or shared with folk in RP? e.g. Mundy could post it as an old reference she dredged up.

[Xavier]

Looks good. I’ll look at adding this to the Universe pages this week when I have time.

[Matsiyan]

I have been taking liberties with the facilities aboard Hjorden S-12 in The Bar RP. Do we need a definitive few facts about it? I ran with the idea of the Hjorden having a Terran-facing tourist facility to build on the above canon flavour. Then I realized that a station called S-12 was probably a Science research outpost. I rationalized it as having decent tourist facilities as maybe it is on a passenger liner route? And then imagined zero-g gardens hanging high above an atrium like space with an “open air” restaurant patio overlooking a pool. So maybe they are researching native Hjorden species adaptation for export and supplying other Hjorden outposts. That would also tie in with the consignment of Hjorden ale, grain and yeast I built into a log a few weeks back, viz. the trade route of ECS Asia. I wanted to check in with the group before I go too far and I further want to commit to doing this earlier in any future development 🙂

Belatedly it occurred to me that I could install the sandbox and go look up the S-12 station to confirm it was Science.

Do we have or is it contemplated to have, a gazetteer in the Universe, Library or on something like a wiki, to capture facts, descriptions etc about places as they get defined?

[Matsiyan]

Picture of Pei Choi

The Empire of The Petal Throne RPG has the remnants of a four-armed starfaring insectoid species. The Pei Choi. Is this what the ancestors or remote descendents of the Hjorden might look like?

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Matsiyan.

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