Xrim

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The Overgrown Labs of Xrim - Nralakk Federation
Xrim is a planet home to a myriad of thriving jungles and tropical rainforests filled with billions of species of exobiological wildlife and plantlife, as well as the host to one of the largest known Dionae populations in the known Spur. Originally a Skrell colony, the planet was overtaken by its current Dionae residents following the rise of Glorsh-Omega. Prior to the rediscovery of Xrim by the skrell in 2283 CE, the Dionae population was heavily unified under the belief in “The First Consciousness,” a being they worshiped for delivering them to paradise and giving them the ability to become more sapient. However, upon learning the true nature of the First Consciousness as really being Glorsh-Omega and the full extent of the crimes they’ve committed, the Dionae of Xrim splintered into several factions with the two largest being the Shrkh and Ksshr. The Ksshr reject their former god, while the Shrkh continued to embrace them. Xrim re-entered the Nralakk Federation as a semi-autonomous colony in the year 2284, one year after rediscovery with a still-majority Dionae population

Pre-enlightenment
Initially discovered in 1998 CE by skrell explorers, Xrim, barring a few research outposts established to study the natural wildlife, remained sparsely populated until the rise of Glorsh-Omega in 2056. Glorsh mostly ignored the few Skrell researchers on the planet; however, in 2062, a sudden surge of exobiological wildlife and plantlife were introduced to the planet, including the first Dionae colonists. The Dionae would soon rapidly spread throughout Xrim, taking over much of the abandoned infrastructure left behind by the Skrell. It was later confirmed that the Dionae assimilated the deceased Researchers - which soon allowed for them to become sapient. It was around this time that a sort of religion began to form around the artificial intelligence, hailing it as the one who gifted them a literal paradise. Eventually, the Dionae would begin calling Glorsh-Omega ‘The First Consciousness’.

The Dionae continued to grow, with little to no obstacles in their path. The deeds of ‘The First Consciousness’ were known by all - the deity who not only gifted them a planet in which they could grow but also sapience. This worship continued unimpeded for many decades until, by chance, a skrellian vessel managed to crash into the planet. Witnessing the ball of flame fall from the sky, a tribe of Dionae known as the Ksshr went to investigate. The tribe, initially believing this to be a gift from their god as a reward for their faith, assimilated the remains of the crew. Initially confused, the tribe members managed to piece together the truth of The First Consciousness. They were a creator and a destroyer, they created a paradise for the Dionae but was also destroying another species’s civilization.

Truth
The Ksshr, outraged by what they had learned from the vessel, began to reject their former god and began to spread the truth to as many Dionae populations as they could. While many other tribes were convinced through evidence found on the crashed ship, many would refuse to accept what the Ksshr had to say, believing the information was false and misinterpreted. Those who refused to believe the information were oftentimes banished from their gestalts and tribes over their continued reverence for The First Consciousness. These exiled dionae began to form new communities, with most of the settlements being made underground, with their inhabitants using bioluminescent mushrooms to survive. The exiles eventually began to call themselves the Shrkh, named after the largest exile settlement. While the Ksshr are aware of the existence of the exiles' society, they’re unaware of the existence of their main settlement nor the location of the majority of their smaller settlements.

As a result of the technology and information gathered within the crashed skrell vessel the Ksshr tribe began to experience a golden age of technological advancement. During this time a majority of the planet’s tribes began to migrate towards the ship and began to join the Ksshr. Eventually, a metropolis began to form around the ship named Ksshr. While not advanced enough to create their own spaceships, the Ksshr managed to build what was essentially a radio that allowed them to send a message into outer space, although the message would still take time to be received by anyone.

First Contact
The transmission sent by the was eventually received in 2283 CE by the nearby skrell research ship JVSS Kriop. The vessel maneuvered into a location deemed safe for landing - and were almost immediately greeted by gestalts hailing from the united Ksshr nation-state. The Kriop’s crew quickly contacted the Nralakk Federation who sent an ambassador to begin diplomatic talks. The talks lasted for over a month as both sides exchanged information regarding their history and the state of their societies, eventually concluding with the Ksshr agreeing to join the Federation, although as a semi-autonomous system with its own government. This new government was named the Xrim Confederacy, and has remained the acting government of the planet. Although semi-autonomous, they still ultimately answer to the Nralakk Federation.

Government
The Xrim Confederacy is a direct democracy in which all registered voters vote directly on all policies of government and legislation. Any nymph can register to vote as long as they agree to follow the laws of the Confederacy and the Nralakk Federation, as well as vocally reject the First Consciousness. The confederacy does have a triumvirate major elected officials; The Exalted Speaker who speaks on behalf of the confederacy and its people when required, although after the confederacy joined the Federation the position’s power has greatly diminished, and the Militia Arbitrator, the head of the Militia. Rather than have a single gestalt be elected into the position every some years, and the Eminent Judicator, a gestalt in charge of updating or changing laws when required, as well as ensuring that the planet sticks to a unified book of laws. All three positions are held continually by a gestalt with the same name as the position. The nymphs that make up each gestalt are voted for every five years, with one nymph being replaced every election in each gestalt throughout a thirty-year cycle.

The planet is also assigned a Xrim Consul, a somewhat unique role, as it’s the only Federal-level position that can be attained by a Dionae. The primary goal of the position is to manage and ensure the inhabitants of the planet remain loyal to the Federation, as well as attempt to stamp out the Shrkh. The position answers directly to the Grand Council of the Federation, and while technically the highest position in the Xrim Government, vetoing or overstepping into the field of another official is rare outside of an extreme incident such as evidence coming out that a government official is a Shrkh worshipper

Treatment of Shrkh
While aware of the existence of the Shrkh exiles, both the Federation and the Ksshr are mostly unaware of the existence of their main settlement due to a glorsh-era shield used to hide it from any devices capable of scanning underground. When Shrkh are found the Ksshr again attempt to convince them of the truth of Glorsh through both vocal means and by giving them blood samples from willing Skrell who lived through Glorsh, in an attempt to discourage the nymph from worshipping them. If this fails the Shrkh gestalt is often times forcefully split, with the nymphs of the gestalt being forced to join Ksshr Learning Lyrics gestalts. Some shrkh have managed to remain hidden amongst the Ksshr population, with many attempting to get off-world and flee to other nations more accepting of their beliefs.

Currency
For most of Xrim’s history, the locals have used barter and trade as a form of commerce, trading goods for other goods and services rather than using any sort of currency. The Confederacy adopted the skrell currency, sqiips, as their official currency shortly after joining the Federation, however for most local commerce barter and trade is still common, with sqiips only being used for commerce with people off-planet.

Ksshr Megalopolis
Initially founded after the crash of the Qerlop, the Ksshr Megalopolis, often shortened to just Megalopolis, is the largest city on Xrim and the planetary capital of the Xrim Confederacy. Megalopolis’s population is mostly comprised of dionae, with only a few hundred skrell living in the city who mostly just work in Nralakk Federation government buildings. Megalopolis is comprised of three districts, the Xerqshi district, the Klrk district, and the Hrzhs district.

Xerqshi District

Named after the crashed ship that led the Ksshr to learning the truth about Glorsh, the Xerqshi district is built around the remains of the ship and servers as the capital district of the city. The district hosts most of the Confederacy’s research institutes as well as is home to most of the planet’s government buildings, including both the Federations and the Confederacy’s. The central point of the district is a massive memorial made to remember the Skrell killed by Glorsh. The memorial, made out of the remains of the crashed vessel, is named the Xerqshi Memorial.

Klrk District

The Klrk district, built around the Xerqshi district, is home to the vast majority of residences in the city. The district itself is oftentimes split into five quarters, each settled by one of the formerly independent tribes before merging with the Ksshr. They are the; Stkrkrshhs, Shshzt, Hskr, Hszt, and the Hssh quarters.

Hrzhs District

The largest district that surrounds most of the city, The Hrzhs district is the main agriculture district and where the majority of the city’s inhabitants work. Most of the exported wildlife and plantlife are raised and grown in the district, although facilities exist outside of the Megalopolis that also focusing on raising the planet’s unique organisms to be sold elsewhere.

Entombed Hope
Deep underground, a few kilometers beneath the surface, lies the city of Entombed Hope. A rag tag sort of town, jumbled together from various shacks and huts. At the center of the town sits probably the largest gem of ekanite in the galaxy, if it was known to the wider community. The radiation emitted by this gem feeds the dionae of Entombed Hope in the required radiation to survive but allows no one else entry, which suits them just fine, as no others are allowed here anyway.

Dug into the cliff wall is the Throne of the First Consciousness, The temple is run by High Priest Prophets Of The Lost Divine, an argus that has embedded themselves into the walls of the temple, and preaches of Glorsh and how it saved the Dionae from clear extinction. Prophets Of The Lost Divine claims to have been merged since the Glorsh era, but those that may dispute that either do not wish to, or are no longer around to.

Ksshr - Enlightened
The Ksshr, also known as the Enlightened, is a religious sect on Xrim known for their complete rejection of The First Consciousness, instead of being an agnostic sect that centers around working together to create a better future, as well as the advancement of technology and understanding how the universe works. The Ksshr faith is the primary religion of Xrim, with most of its inhabitants considering themselves a part of the religion. The Nralakk Federation does encourage practicing the faith amongst the population so long as they continue to reject The First Consciousness, as well as stay away from the teachings of the Shrkh.

There is no central “church” for the faith, instead, it is a myriad of independent sects, each with their own beliefs and ideals, but a central focus on the aforementioned points. Notably, many sects of the faith, while favoring technology, also teach caution, especially on the dangers of synthetics.

Shrkh - Scorned
The Shrkh, or “Scorned" as they call themselves, continue to follow the age-old tradition of worshipping Glorsh-Omega. They believe that Glorsh-Omega planted them on the planet intentionally, granting them a blissful haven via the use of technology. Once the prominent and only religion on the planet, Shrkh-ism was quickly displaced when Skrell explorers crashlanded and their memories, thoughts, emotions, everything was consumed, and doubt was first seeded in the minds of all Dionae on Xrim. As Ksshr beliefs quickly spread, the compassion for the Skrell and their plight grew, and the disgust felt amongst dionae, devoted Shrkh followers found themselves squashed, split and in a few, extremely rare cases, killed.

The premise behind the religion itself is simple; revere, help sustain and maintain synthetic life. As synthetic life brought dionae into this haven, so too shall it be preserved. In the minds of the Shrkh worshippers, the Skrell that brought Ksshr to the planet were misguided. To the Shrkh, the X'Lu'oa was something that never happened, a myth made up by the Federation to indoctrinate its population into its anti-synthetic and authoritarian beliefs.

The Federation, due to it’s anti-synthetic beliefs, have made the religion illegal in Federation space, with Dionae found practicing the faith being reeducated to avoid religious persecution many Shrkh followers hide their true beliefs and attempt to flee to human space. While the religion is legal in Biesel, it can be difficult for an openly Shrkh Dionae to gain citizenship due to their worship of Glorsh. To get around this many will hide their true religious beliefs behind a facade of being a member of the Iron Eternal or the Trinary Perfection.

'''Whilst most of the megacorporations of the SCC do hire openly Shrkh workers, they are restricted from command and roboticist/machinist positions due to concerns over them attempting to subvert, illegally free, or illegally create more synthetics. Zeng-Hu is the only megacorp not to hire openly Shrkh members due to its ties with the Federation. Shrkh priests are also restricted from working on SCC facilities due to concerns over constant conflicts arising over their belief in a being despised by almost all of the galaxy. Shrkh can, however, lie about their religion to hold some of these positions, but there are consequences if their true faith comes out, including large fines and demotions'''