Vaurca

WARNING: This page is undergoing serious revision. Read at your peril.

Vaurca (Vaur'uyit'zir)

V. esseli / V. sapiens

Home System: Sedantis (Ske'hazik'staza, "Blinding Light.")

Homeworld: Sedantis I (Vaur'azek'uyuz, "Home.")

Language(s): Vaur'uyit'yaza.

Political Entitie(s): Zo'ra Hive, K'lax Hive.

Overview

The Vaurca (sing. Vaurca, pl. Vaurca, Vaurcas, Vaurcae) are a bipedal arthropoid race hailing from the unknown star system Sedantis. They are notable for their virtual-reality and brain-uploading technology, as well as their strong caste division between the robotic Bound workers and virtual reality-dwelling Unbound intellectuals. The Vaurca appeared in known space on the 21st of December 2456, and have since begun to spread throughout human space. Although barely tolerated on Nanotrasen Corporation facilities and in Biesel, they are generally unwanted and marginalized in the Sol Alliance, and face discrimination even in places they're welcome. In addition, they have been shadowed from across light-years by the mysterious Li'idra Hive, whose purpose remains unknown but whose tremendous power is beyond question.

To apply to be one of the insect-like Vaurca, apply here

Heads of Staff

Vaurca can't be any Head of Staff. Their employment opportunities are strictly limited.

Mechanics

• Global hivemind, accessible via ,9 and heard only by other Vaurcae and stationbound synthetics.
• Pressure & Cold resistant, allowing them to survive in space with internals.
• Unaffected by Phoron gas.
• Have natural insulation.
• Immune to slipping.
• Can only healthily consume food consisting of K'ois paste and byproducts.
• Require phoron to breathe. They spawn with an internal phoron tank they can refill by consuming plasma reagent, k'ois, or k'ois byproducts.
• Cannot wear normal shoes or gloves.
• Cannot wear normal helmets. (Can wear hats.)
• Cannot wear most spacesuits.
• Do not self-heal from most damage types.
• Takes 2x the toxin damage.
• Suffer from additional blood loss.
• Vulnerable to EMPs.
• Can be permanently rendered blind by flashing them several times in a row.
• Cloning tanks will not clone their non-organic organs.

• • Vaurca Warriors are more resistant to fire than their Worker brethren.
  • Vaurca Warriors are faster than their Worker brethren, and can sprint for longer.
  • Vaurca Warriors can bite.

• • Vaurca Workers are more resistant to brute than their Warrior brethren.
  • Vaurca Workers are more resistant to radiation than their Warrior brethren.
  • Vaurca Workers are more resistant to suffocation than their Warrior brethren.
  • Vaurca Workers are slower than their Warrior brethren.
  • Vaurca Workers cannot bite.

Non-mechanic traits:

• Dislike light.
• Generally very specialized, often no inter-department knowledge.
• Face severe discrimination in human space.

Coloration:

• Vaurcae exoskeletons are typically coloured depending on the type and hive of the Vaurca specimen in question. Individuals can vary from the normal color by 10 or fewer points.

Zo'ra Hive

Unbound of any type: (RGB 51, 0, 0)

Bound Warriors: (RGB 71, 0, 21)

Bound Workers: (RGB 71, 21, 21)

K'lax Hive

Unbound of any type: (RGB 51, 51, 0)

Bound Warriors: (RGB 51, 71, 21)

Bound Workers: (RGB 71, 71, 21)

Lii'dra Hive

Lii'dra can be any colour, to permit them to masquerade as Vaurca from other hives.

Information for Whitelisted Players

Playable Factions/Types/Castes

Vaurca can come from the Zo'ra, K'lax, or Lii'dra hives. Vaurca from the Zo'ra hive may also choose a brood. The Lii'dra are exclusive to antagonists and events, though an antagonist Vaurca can be from another hive, or pretend to be from another hive while being from Lii'dra.

Playable Vaurca can be either Bound or Unbound, and their playstyles are drastically different.

Personalities: Playing a Vaurca

Playing Bound

Playing a Bound (Viax) is very similar to playing a station-bound synthetic; your first responsibility is to obey orders and do as you're told. Hive-bound Bound are completely lacking in any sense of self-preservation and obey orders at any consequence to themselves, but the Bound distributed to Nanotrasen through the labor lottery have a special 'subordinated locus,' a set of root-level directives that keeps them from being too dangerous or untrustworthy. These 'subordinated' Bound are expected to flee from combat rather than fight, and must return to safety if they feel they are in mortal danger. This doesn't give them a lot of common sense, but it keeps them from being a threat to others. (An antagonist could absolutely give a Bound a bomb-detonator and tell them when to press the button.)

Bound Vaurca are notoriously poor at dealing with complicated or overlapping chains of command, or with standing regulations, and generally can only recognize a single supervisor at a time to the exclusion of all others. They are thus a point of weakness for any antagonist seeking to cause damage to the station; any ne'er-do-well who gets control of one can generally rely on it to further their wicked cause without resistance.

While Bound are loyal servants, they are not completely mindless and may have subtle character quirks and even interests though these are usually very simplistic such as collecting cans or have a preference for a certain color. Bound may even find themselves with what an outsider may consider friendships though it is doubtful the Bound themselves see this as anything more than returning to somebody who produced a positive outcome for them in the past. Though they may differ from each other in some ways all Bound, first and foremost, follow orders without question and care should be taken not to act in a way more complex than they are actually capable of.

Bound are barred from the security department. They are free to take civilian jobs (except Quartermaster and Chaplain) or engineering jobs. They are also free to be menial lab assistants, or orderlies in the medical department. They do not need to be formally promoted before taking these jobs. Because Za bodies are only for combat, and because Bound cannot join Security, playing a Za'Viax is not recommended.

Playing Unbound

Unbound (Akaix) Vaurca are people; there is very little within the realm of human experience that an Unbound cannot encounter. They are capable of learning any skill and performing any job, and indeed can do any job well, but due to prejudice and discrimination, they are limited to the lowliest professions – civilian jobs and internships. Promotion comes only on a limited basis.

Unbound can either be unique individuals having spent time out of their Virtual Reality for some time, or can be similar to drones; fresh off a hive and from their VR, barely knowing anything. They can hate their bodies or others around them, because they were torn from the VR they call paradise. When playing an Unbound one has the freedom of individuality present in most other species though it should be noted that most Vaurca remain extremely loyal to their hive or brood and Unbound are no exception to this.

Unbound are currently restricted to assistant roles (lab assistants, security cadets, medical interns, engineering apprentices, and generic assistants), cargo technicians, shaft miners, botanists, bartenders, cooks and any other civilian roles. NanoTrasen has introduced a "Peer Review" system to accommodate promotion to higher positions - Read the "Avowal of Responsibility" form available in form dispensers for more information. Even with an AoR form, a given Unbound may only take the single job for which they've been cleared. Unbound will generally have an above-average level of skill in their general field, and will be wildly over-qualified for their internships. An "above average" level of skill will be the norm for them.

Unbound Career Paths

There are three major reasons why an Unbound descends from the Virtual to go out into the Material world.

Black Numbers: In order to pay their debts, the Vaurca have agreed to a system of forced corvee labor. Nanotrasen, the Biesel government, and other corporations can submit their labor requests to a special body of the Biesel government, which in turn forwards them to Zo'ra Hive. After distributing these requests (though by this point they have become demands), the Zo'ra broods each hold a lottery among all their members capable of doing that work. Those Unbound who draw the Black Numbers are required to go out and work for whoever requested them, for whatever length of time the government requires. Jargon and the Unathi have similar systems for the K'lax.

Journeyers: All Unbound are equal, but those with age and great accomplishment are given pride of place and their words are more important. In order to become a person worth listening to, Vaurca must prove themselves by going out into the Material and working for the Hive by managing their public property and public affairs. This custom persists even as the Vaurca are in captivity, and while many remain in the Hive to maintain it, volunteering for the Black Numbers is a valid journey.

Vagabonds: Some Unbound want to Descend willingly, with no expectation of repayment from the Hive itself. They may be doing so because they desire a little solitude or breathing space, or they may want to study humanity and the outside world specifically. These Vaurca are no less loyal to the Hive for Descending on their own accord, truthfully Unbound who act under their own ambition and desire are needed to keep Vaurca society running in real space. If anything the term Vagabond is a rare one, usually restricted in use to those who can no longer imagine a world beyond the Virtual and refuse to understand those who leave.

Speaking like a Vaurca

The native Vaurca language, at least among the Vaurca on Tau Ceti, is called Vaur'uyit'yaza. It is synthetic, fusional, agglutinative, conjugative, and cased, and is extremely different from Tau Ceti Basic. Some Unbound are quite literate and fluent in TCB, but others still struggle to express themselves in it - they are still thinking in the old language and have odd sentence structure and syntax. Bound have a lot of trouble with Basic, but then again they have a lot of trouble with Vaur'uyit'yaza.

Natural Vaurca voices are completely unable to speak Tau Ceti Basic, and they use cybernetic implants to make up this shortfall. This is still a rough new technology to them, and their robo-voices are harsh and buzzy. They have not yet settled on a single design for these implants, so speech impediments still flourish. The most common element of the Vaurca 'accent' is replacing s with z and any velar consonant with a hard clicking k, but they generally have problems with unvoiced consonants (p, t, s, f, sh) and put too much voice into them (b, d, z, v, zh). This can lead to a situation where they can't pronounce their own names.

Help with naming

Vaurca names consist of four components – form, caste, designation, and residence. The first syllable of their name will be Ka, for a default body, or Za, for the common ‘warrior’ or ‘VIP’ body. Other prefixes exist, but are much rarer. The second syllable will be Viax (pronounced vee-YACKS) for a Bound or Akaix (pronounced ah-kah-YEEKS) for an Unbound.

The third component is their given name, usually in the form of a number. Names should be unique and limited to one or two syllables. Their language makes great use of crunchy double-consonants, like TL, TZ, KS, KT, and the like – but no C's and Q's. Older and more important people sometimes take on three or four syllable names, but doing so in a workplace environment is cause for laughter - if you're so important, then why are you out here?

Names are not very important to Unbound; it's trivial for them to identify themselves and each other by their accomplishments and affiliations. When speaking to one another over the Hivenet, Vaurca can transfer their greater resumes in only a moment - or, in the Virtual, their entire lived experience. Besides, everyone in a particular Brood knows everyone else in that Brood, and the Zo'ra hive circulates lists of who's who.

Finally, the last component of their name is their home. Zo'ra or K'lax although very rarely some Unbound choose the names of the Lesser Queen they most directly serve as a status symbol and a sign of devotion.

A few examples:

- Ka'Viax'Zeku Zo'ra: Zeku, A lowly Bound worker.
- Ka'Akaix'Zili Zo'ra: Zili, an Unbound, in a worker body.
- Za'Akaix'Perek K'lax: Perek, an Unbound, in a warrior body, from the K'lax hive 

Among themselves and in writing, Unbound have a sophisticated system of post-nominal letters and numbers describing their personal achievements. For the interested, more information can be found at the end of this document, but it is not necessary for ordinary play.

Biology

To the average human, the Vaurca seem to have the appearance of terrestrial ants, and in many regards this isn't an absurd assumption. Their biology follows a similar structure to something like a termite; scientifically, this description is largely superficial.

Life Cycle

The cycle of life and death in Vaurca society is at first glance relatively simplistic. Each stage of a Vaurca's development is clearly regimented by either biological developments or the introduction of augmentations.

When a larva is hatched, its purpose is determined by a Type CB. Larvae destined to become Bound are lobotimized and begin augmentation immediately, reaching maturity within six months. Once they fully mature, they are implanted with a neural socket, and begin work immediately. Bound lifespan is theoretically infinite, provided that the Hive keeps its Bound labour force well-maintained. In this modern world however, where the Vaurca tend to be held as refugees, Bound are rarely maintained and thus can expect an operational lifespan of ten years, provided they experience no work-related injuries. Upon the death of a Bound, the augmentations they possessed are removed and repurposed, and the body is typically "recycled" in the form of incineration.

If a larva is destined to become Unbound, it is given six months of organic development, which allows for its brain to mature fully. After this six month period, it is implanted with a neural socket, and is filled with information at a steady rate by the hive for another six months. At the conclusion of this one year period, the Unbound is fully matured, and prepared for whatever purpose it may have been given by the hive. It will receive several augmentations depending on circumstance throughout its life, unlike the Bound who receive all their augments at birth. Unlike Bound, Unbound are always more flesh than augmentation, and thus they cannot simply be "maintained". An Unbound experiences a lifespan of around twenty years, at the conclusion of which their augmentations are reclaimed by the hive, and their body is also recycled. Years spent in VR tend to not subtract from this lifespan, meaning that an Unbound could be several decades old, if it spent most of its time in VR.

If a larva is destined to become Type C, whether it be CA or CB, it is fed special hormones produced by the Lesser Queens that inspire organic growth that diverges from the typical model. Type CA are lobotomized much like other Bound, however they are not augmented until the end of their growth period. Their sexual organs fully develop, and their carapace hardens in several places, forming ceremonial crests. Wing growths sprout along their back, which will fully develop during periods where the Type CA is fertile. The CA is then augmented to fulfill their role as consort, breeder, and representative of a Breeder. A Type CA will live as long as it remains virile. Once it become sterile due to natural or artificial causes, the Type CA is recycled and a new one is bred to replace it.

A Type CB will be nurtured for a whole year organically, allowing the royal growth hormones to take maximum effect. Their carapace will harden in several places, becoming generally thicker and growing further ceremonial crests. Wings will sprout along the entirety of its back - unlike the Type CA, CB wings are fully developed for the entirety of their life, however during designated breeding periods the CB will typically be to heavy to generate lift. Throughout their growth period they will be given all the information they need to act as representatives and leaders of the hive. Type CB's will then have neural tubes implanted along the back of their head, allowing them to interface with the neural sockets of any Vaurca assigned under them. A Type CB will typically live for twenty years like most Unbound, excluding years spent in VR (which traditionally isn't often as they are required to maintain the population). When a Type CB dies it is incinerated along with its augments.

Whenever it becomes necessary, a Type CB larvae can be morphed into a Lesser Queen through the injection of additional royal hormones. A Lesser Queen is biologically different from most organic Vaurca in that it naturally has several limbs and a clearly distinct thorax and abdomen, permitting the creation of several eggs at a time. A Lesser Queen is typically created when another Lesser Queen dies, or the hive needs to undergo massive expansion - to the point where a retinue of governing Type CB is not sufficient. For this reason several Type CB larvae are typically kept in cold storage, should an emergency arise. A Lesser Queen will fulfill many roles in its lifetime, typically overseeing millions of Vaurca at any given time. They are responsible for directing any Type CB under their command, and typically manage entire hive complexes when possible. A Lesser Queen is also expected to relay the whims and orders of a hive's High Queen. A Lesser Queen can also live for a very long time under the proper circumstances - all Lesser Queen's present in human space are the same that embarked from Sedantis I 2,000 years ago. When and if a Lesser Queen does die, however, its body is preserved and stored away for posterity.

Internal Organs

Internally, Type A are very similar to that of an Earth insect. They have an open circulatory system, with their blood covering their digestive system, dual hearts, lungs, and other organs. Their two hearts provide a significant sloshing motion to prevent the blood from stagnating. The Vaurcae's blood is a copper-based hemoglobin, with a high dependency of sulfur, which causes their blood to adopt a yellowish color instead of the red prevalent with other species. It also emanates a very potent stink, particularly offensive to mammals. This open circulatory system, however, can lead to wounds that pierce the exoskeleton and minor layer of skin to bleed out quickly unless treated.

Vaurcae lungs are totally organic. However, they cannot naturally process oxygen without there being phoron present in the mix. Pure oxygen is toxic to the Vaurcae, and pure phoron will suffocate them. As such, most Vaurcae in human space are equipped with a filtration system above the lungs, which injects phoron gas into the oxygen they breathe, allowing for safe respiration.

Vaurcae posses in their head a neural socket that allows interface with the hive network FTL communications. The exact mechanics of a neural socket, and how it processes data and keeps information secure is based off of biological processes in the regional Queen, who possesses instead of a neural socket a neural rod.

Senses

Vaurca senses are generally comparable to those of human beings. Their eyes are better in low-light conditions but have less color-definition; they have more rods but fewer cones. They have two dichoptic compound eyes, pitch-black in appearance and used for distinguishing colors, and two additional 'simple eyes' below them that have only rod cells and thus provide high-contrast black-and-white vision. Vaurca are much more comfortable in what a human would call 'low light conditions,' and normal indoor lighting can give them headaches. Their hearing works on similar limitations; their range is narrower (60Hz-12KHz) but better with faint sounds. They hear with their antennae, but also use them for sensing air pressure, temperature, and even fine touch. A Vaurca with a missing antenna has a similar connotation to a human with an eyepatch.

Because of their hard carapaces, their sense of touch is very weak and they can sometimes seem rather clumsy. A stubbed toe in the dark is not nearly as awful for them as it is for us, but they can have trouble touch-typing on a human-spec keyboard or rooting around in their pockets. Their sense of smell, however, is far beyond that of humans, though weaker than a Tajaran’s - they can reliably differentiate each other based on smell.

Augments

While virtually all Vaurca look identical in an augmented state, aside from various shifts in colour, virtually all Vaurca are augmented in some manner, the degree to which depending very much on their caste and purpose.

Bound Vaurca typically undergo the most augmentation. Much of their organic mass will at some point be replaced with machinery, so they can fulfill one specific task to the best of their ability. Worker Bound will at the completion of their development look more like construction machines than Vaurca, with variable amounts of limbs and a plethora of tools at their disposal. Warrior Bound will assume a variety of forms, varying from simple infantry with weapon and targeting augments to assault vehicles. The more complex the caste name of a Bound, the less recognizable it is as a standard Vaurca.

Unbound however will never undergo such severe augmentation. The great limitation of such heavy modification is that it eliminates versatility, the entire purpose of the Unbound caste. Their augments will typically be performance enhancing instead of alterations of the form. Most Unbound are today equipped with at least basic communication augments which make them versatile assets to communication with extra-hive entities.

Ultimately, all Vaurca currently employed by NanoTrasen aboard the NSS Exodus or NSS Aurora are of the least augmented tier - either Type AA or Type BA. Their carapace is almost totally unmodified. Bound and Unbound alike will have a neural socket and oxygen filtration system, and may utilize full-limb prosthetics. Bound may have several augments designed to increase work efficiency or general survival, while Unbound will typically have very few augments to ensure that they can fulfill any task assigned to them by NanoTrasen

Sleep Cycle

The sleep cycle for bound is a very hard to one to predict. Their natural sleeping cycle seems completely random and is more in line with SSD that plagues other species. They simply go into an inert state and remain unresponsive for a few minutes or hours at a time before suddenly being roused and getting back to work.

Body Types

Workers (Type A or "Ka")

The Ka are the most common and can be seen as the 'backbone' of Vaurca societies. Their most prevalent feature is their hardened exoskeleton, varying in colors in accordance to their hive. This exoskeleton provides protection against harsh radiation, solar and otherwise, and acts as a robust pressure-suit to seal their soft inner core from the outside world. This allows most Ka Vaurca to have extended, several day-long EVA expeditions, assuming they have internals. They are bipedal, with bird-like talon toes. Their hands consist of two middle fingers with small talons at the end, and two opposable thumbs, a left and a right, on either side of their hand.

The Ka are the baseline; they are the closest to the original, unmodified Vaurca. They are much easier to get than Za bodies.

Warriors (Type B or "Za")

The Za are the second most prominent of Vaurca society, taking the form of heavily augmented warriors. Designing new and weird Za bodies is a constant hobby among the Vaurca, and they have a history of some truly wild designs - quadrupedal, hexapedal, guns for arms, laser-eyes, rending talons, and more. Despite their creativity, in modern times they generally have to stick with the basics. The Zo'ra have a history of being a warlike and martial Hive, so even in times of peace they maintain a force of warriors as large as they can feed and breed.

The 'basic' Za body, unchanged for millenia, covers their vulnerability to lasers to the best of their ability. It's also faster, allowing them to close to melee range as swiftly as possible. As a last-ditch weapon, their mandibles have been strengthened so that they can bite their enemies and do horrific ripping damage. With a tiny handful of exceptions, this is all the modern Hive has to offer. Even if they have no violent intention, VIPs will often choose Za bodies as a show of their status.

Nanotrasen has experimented with employing Bound Warriors, but these experiments have not borne fruit - they're too difficult to corral and direct without Unbound officers, and impossible to truly control with them - the Unbound could accept or reject directions as it wished. As such, employment of Bound Warriors is exceptionally rare.

Breeders (Type C or "Tche")

The Tche are the rarest among Vaurca, in that they make up around 2-3% of their entire species. They are the only individuals in Vaurca hives that are fertile except for the Queens and Lesser Queens themselves. The males are raised as bound while the females are raised as unbound, and both of them generally serve little practical purpose in a hive except to fertilize eggs or to replace a dying Lesser Queen or to even become an additional Lesser Queen if the hive needs more growth. The males are considered CA and the females CB.

Others

There are 11 other 'body-names' in circulation, but most are obsolete - nobody living has ever had occasion to use them and they only live on in dictionaries. If any exist in Tau Ceti they are closely guarded and never shown to outsiders.

The Unbound

While the bound excel in their simplicity the Unbound are very much sentient and thoughtful beings with acute self awareness due to their added privilege, care and responsibility.

The Unbound make up the upper castes of Vaurca society and form the only sentient and self-aware parts of its greater population. Their eggs and larva are given more graceful care by bound workers and they are spared the lobotomy, though Unbound not meant to become Lesser Queens are still sterilized. They are perfectly capable of making rational, thinking decisions, and are naturally intuitive and curious, much like a human. However Unbound are not raised in a traditional manner. While in its early years VR was meant as an escape from reality, for modern Vaurca in known space it's become every aspect of their lives. Unbound are hooked up to the greater VR network or their own VR chamber. They are raised in their own virtual world while their physical body is tended to by Bound workers. Being removed from their VR paradise requires weeks or even months of transition, but eventually Unbound are capable of functioning completely normally and on the same level as a human.

Although Unbound are sentient and self-aware, they still typically maintain unwavering subserviency to the respective hierarchy of their hive, due to a combination of pheromone excretion and indoctrination methods imposed during the growing process of an Unbound. However when they are not under the direct instruction of a Lesser Queen, they will typically pursue their own interests.

Unbound disconnected from their VR can still connect themselves to the 'internet' of a hive, called the Hive Network, where the Unbound all connect their consciousness. Unbound Vaurca can share their knowledge, memories, and even feelings through the Hive Network. The Bound are barred from most non-utilitarian aspects of the Hive Network, due to biological constraints.

The Unbound take up jobs that require more critical thinking skills or greater abstract thought than simple worker drones. Unbound Vaurca can simply be considered on the same level as any human. Integration in Tau Ceti or other limited human communities has some of them living alone in their own apartments like any other citizen, and work to support themselves, rarely having monetary aid from their Hive.

In a move worrying to human authorities Unbound make periodic trips back to the aging Titan Prime to upload information or experiences gained and learned in Tau Ceti into the Hive Network, and secondary sources have verified that the Vaurca are attempting to transfer their Hive Network into a new facility on New Gibson, in a formerly abandoned biome granted to them to use. After sealing the holes the bound Workers have been constructing complex machinery and computer networks. While the specifics of these machines confound visiting officials sent to verify that none of them can be use to send communications back to Sedantis I, it's nevertheless proven extremely difficult to reverse engineer the technology and the Vaurca have proven unwilling to share blueprints on them.

Social

Language

With the learning of Tau Ceti Basic and other languages, some Vaurca have been forced to simplify their names. Naming is based of a numbering system, determined after birth. This name includes a caste and biological designation, the number they are, and finally what hive they are from.

Vaurcae language structure, to non-Vaurca ears, sounds extremely archaic and cryptic, like simple clicks and grunts more than a language. However, to a creature that knows the language, all types of Vaur'uyit'yaza is extremely complicated and each syllable has many thousands of different connotations it could convey. Combined with subtle antennae movement and pheromone release, it is not hard to say that it is a language that can never be spoken or understood by another species. While each hive has their own small variations of Vaur'uyit'yaza, the language can be universally understood.

It is produced by clicking the mandibles and mouth pieces together, while sending air through the mouthpieces as well as the vocal chords. It is described as sounding like clicks and high pitched squeals. The Vaurca, however, utilize synthetic throat implants that synthesize a very alien-sounding, but intelligible, Tau Ceti Basic or any other language.

Inter-caste Relationships

The Unbound regard the Bound as furniture, and use them up with callous indifference. Provided that there's a reasonable expectation that any valuable or unique implants in a given Bound can be collected and recycled, the Unbound show complete bravado in throwing away or discarding Bound lives. Due to the recent period of starvation, it has become fashionable to make handicrafts out of their dead bodies. Every Bound is theoretically attached to an Unbound supervisor, and must obey their supervisor's demands without question or hesitation - but they will accept orders from any Unbound in the same Hive who gives them. It is only social understanding that keeps Unbound from poaching each others' Bounds. Bound generally prioritize orders from those they can see.

Worker Vaurcae tend to be esteemed more highly than Warrior Vaurcae, especially in Unbound circles, and especially in these difficult times when the value of labour to the Vaurca is more important than the value of defense. Unbound Breeder Vaurcae are esteemed very highly, especially those at the top of the hierarchy. Bound Breeder Vaurcae tend to rarely interact with other Vaurcae, except for Bound caretakers.

Inter-hive Relationships

The Zo'ra and K'lax hives have very tense and even aggressive reactions to one another, while the Lii'dra hive is universally hated and feared by both. The Zo'ra percieve themselves the rightful rulers of the K'lax, and the K'lax resent this greatly, distancing themselves from their more numerous cousins. The Bound of each hive serve other Vaurcae of their hive exclusively, and are completely subservient to the will of their hive's rulership. The K'lax Bound however will never serve a Zo'ra Unbound and vice versa, the increasing tensions emanating throughout the hives to a point of complete distrust. Given the stressful induction into civilized space and the struggles endured by both the Zo'ra and the K'lax most Unbound of one hive view the other to be competition for their resources and survival. This leads can often lead to violence if K'lax and Zo'ra Unbound meet, though verbal disagreements or sabotage of character is more common when also in the presence of Non-Vaurca. Given their heightened senses and regular use of pheromones many Vaurca may experience headaches or nausea if forced into a confined space with a member of a differing hive.

Inter-species Relationships

Most local Vaurca live in human space, making their relationship with humanity of the utmost importance. This relationship is extremely frosty and unpleasant; humans tend to view Vaurca as an invasive species that can displace and corrupt them - literally corrupt them unto sickness, in the case of poisonous k'ois-fibers. Despite all their assurances to the contrary, there is still a wide-spread human belief that the Vaurca want to contact other Vaurca to come as a conquering force. They also find the whole system of Bound and Unbound hierarchy to be terrifying, especially when coupled with the Hivenet - there's simply no way to know, outside of expensive and complicated interception equipment, if a given Bound is going to get new orders from its Unbound masters, drop its broom, and go ballistic on any humans in grabbing distance. This combined with the increase of violence and squalor in the slums of Mendell City and other Vaurca settlements many humans view the Vaurca as untrustworthy and even disgusting.

For their part, the Vaurca return the favor by viewing humanity as heartless and uncharitable. Some individual humans have won the respect of the Vaurca, but only by foreswearing and apologizing for the actions of the race as a whole. They view the Skrell as more-disciplined humans, the Tajarans and Unathi as fellow victims of human ambition, and Dionaea as interesting novelties. On the whole, Vaurca believe that there is something unique about biological intelligence, and do not believe that robots, IPCs, or positronic brains can ever be people - they regard synthetic life as objects, and assertive synthetic life as defective objects.

K'lax Vaurca differ from Zo'ra here in that they have a unique affinity for the Unathi that allow them to settle. As such many K'lax view Unathi with admiration and a small number often find themselves mimicking their mannerisms in an attempt assimilate more thoroughly with them. This positive response to the Unathi has also crossed into mannerisms of the Bound who will accept orders or requests from Unathi more readily than they would from any other Non-Vaurca species.

Culture and Society

Values

Vaurca values tend to be very simple and singular, compared to the diverse values experienced in human culture. All Vaurcae considered civilized respect the authority each Hive has over its own Vaurcae, for example in times of war the abduction of other Vaurcae is frowned upon, and the killing of another hive's Lesser Queens or ultimate Queen is especially taboo. In concerns of war, Vaurcae society is not martial in any respect. Warriors are a tool and little more to the Vaurcae, and combative prowess is not regarded highly among Unbound Vaurcae. Vaurca society has no concept of dueling or wrestling, or really any competitive sportsmanship. As a result of this, Vaurcae tend to be rather passive. Aggression between Vaurca from the same hive tends to be rare and subdued, while aggression towards outsiders tends to be masked from other species. Vaurca do not typically go around 'picking fights' unless they are extremely offended, or in danger. Although rising tensions and the poor living conditions in many of the settlements provided by the humans of Tau Ceti as created a heightened irritability among the Zo'ra who reside in them. This has resulted in a large increase of in-hive violence as the refugee Vaurca struggle to survive comfortably in the harsh conditions. The Vaurcae concept of loyalty differs from humanity's in that it is not ideological in any respect. Loyalty to one's hive is not considered unique, and is not flaunted, due to the simple fact that all Vaurcae are loyal to their hive - disloyalty is an anomaly. Loyalty is furthermore purely biological, the result of pheromone excretion, augmentation, and indoctrination. As mentioned above, while Vaurca Bound are exploited by their Unbound brethren, they are not typically discriminated against. Their value is apparent to the hive, and except for extreme and rare cases of excess Unbound Vaurca will treat Unbound with the same regard one might treat a hammer - a tool and nothing more, nothing less.

Bound Vaurcae do not have any complex values or morals beyond serving the interests of their hive.

Lii'dra tend to follow a perversion of typical Vaurca ethical codes, if they obey an ethical code at all.

Work and Jobs

For 2,000 years, Unbound have descended to the Material in order to work for the Hive. These are some of the jobs that they do.

Transmission: The lowest of the low, as discussed elsewhere. Transmission is important, but it's also mind-crushing - the strain of repeatedly ascending and descending is exhausting, to say nothing of giving up your whole brain to memorizing messages.

Planting: Supervising Bound agriculture. Only the most developed or space-constrained Hives will build harvesters, threshers, seed drills, or the like; it's much cheaper to have hordes of Bounds do all the work by hand. For Unbound, this is pitiful make-work; they sit atop their Zazla'ka and keep watch for hours, on the off-chance that something will happen that requires their attention.

Obstetrics: Another lowly job. Even the brain-dead Tche bodies have the instincts to care for their eggs and feed themselves, meaning that this job mostly refers to supervising the Bounds that do all the heavy lifting. This work is physically dirty and disgusting; on occasion you have to reach up into an ovipositor and pull out an egg with your hand. Obstetrics becomes more interesting when it comes time to care for baby Unbound, though.

Supervision: This job refers to watching over worker Bounds in other contexts. Common examples include machine shops, assembly lines, and construction. They are higher-class than planting and obstetrics, and require a decent resume.

Medicine: Vaurca medicine is much easier than human medicine, because there's no need for anaesthetic or for bedside manner; Unbound with damaged bodies just go back into the Virtual while the doctor works on it like a car. Treating the Bound, on the other hand, is just like being a vet; you just hold them in place and do what you need to do.

Security: Unless a war is coming, this is the only job that requires a Za body. "Security," in this case, exclusively means being a border-guard; the sight of two Unbound coming to blows over a private disagreement used to be so rare that they have no fixed procedure for it. In human space, this is extremely important work, and calls for both martial mastery and for de-escalation - much as they'd like to, the Hives can't simply order any human trespasser up against the wall on general principle.

Dispatch: The Dispatchers really are the "hive mind" of the whole Brood, the generals and viceroys of the entire Material. Their job is to disseminate Consensus among the Bound and Unbound, to give their very brains over to serving as network hubs and information routers. It's draining and exhausting work, to say nothing of how difficult it is; Dispatchers get Unbound helpers to wait on them and they can get whatever concessions they want. One of the main Dispatchers of the Zo'ra, famously, always has an Unbound by its side to play soothing music, although this "music" would be considered harsh and discordant to other species. To be a Dispatcher is one of the highest honors the Unbound know, it is their version of being a retired Consul in ancient Rome.

Reconnaissance: This refers to the study of humans and other Non-Vaurca species. It is now so important that every Unbound working alongside humans is expected, upon their return, to draft a full report on what they've learned, and anyone who can put together a half-baked plan can get permission to go out and study them.

Laws and Rules

The Vaurca do not have laws; they have no need for them. Other than spreading rumors and defamation of character, it is impossible for Unbound in the Virtual to harm one another - they don't steal because they have nothing to steal, and they don't assault or murder because they literally can't. Within the Virtual, they know only one punishment - the Shun. When an Unbound is shunned, other Vaurca - perhaps a single person, perhaps a group, perhaps the whole Brood - simply refuses to interact with them. This can last for a fixed period of time, or it can last until the one so shunned has shown remorse and begs to be re-admitted to polite society. This is the usual punishment for being antisocial or disagreeable. A life shun is essentially a death sentence, not only because the culprit may as well be dead to the Hive but also because being shunned reduces your life-expectancy.

In the Material, all bad deeds fall under a single umbrella that they name malfeasance. Malfeasance is any behavior that goes against the terms of their mission; it includes wasting time, a flagrant lack of Discipline, doing a bad job, causing trouble for others, or actively making things worse. The punishment for malfeasance is usually not being allowed to descend to the Material again, maybe for a long time and maybe forever. If the behavior is really bad, then it might be combined with a shunning. Unfortunately malfeasance has becoming the rallying word under which much of the new in-hive conflict centers. Groups of Zo'ra, far from their Lesser Queens and corralled by particularly dominant unbound use the term as an accusation and a reason to force other Vaurca away from the limited food and shelter humans provide, in these high stress environments existing and maintaining groups of Bound where other Unbound feel they should has become malfeasance.

Arts and Entertainment

Art is a strange subject when it comes to the Vaurca. While not possessing any form of written art - that we currently know of - their art comes in a virtual sense. This art-style goes hand in hand with the Vaurcae caste system. They view their Virtual Reality as a paradise, and can simulate anything and everything. Due to this Virtual Reality, they have never had the need, since uploading themselves to it, to draw, write, or anything else.

This Virtual Reality also acts as an information data hub, so as long as the Hive-Network remains active, all unbound Vaurcae knowledge can still be accessible without the need for written or typed documentation.

Beyond Virtual Reality, and perhaps as a result of it, Vaurcae tend to express themselves through sensory language and with elaborate imagery and oration. This oral tradition is typically lost upon humans due to Vaurca ineptness with human languages.

According to Vaurca sources and records they've allowed human researchers to, art took a more important role in their pre-VR history, mostly in the form of grand works of masonry and architecture in subterranean projects.

Fashion & Cuisine

Throughout Vaurca history, fashion has remained nearly non-existent. Lacking any kind of genitalia they have nothing to be embarrassed about. Often going nude or with small garments covering their mouth. However, some Vaurca prefer to wear thin blindfold-like cloth over their eyes to prevent the 'extreme light' from giving them headaches or discomfort, and human fashion has exploded into a major fad for Unbound Vaurca.

Vaurca that venture EVA, despite their natural tolerance to high/low/vacuum pressure environments, are usually seen wearing soft-suits that allow them prolonged times in space for construction, operations, and other EVA activities.

Vaurca cuisine is viewed upon as extremely bland and tasteless to the other species. Generally consisting completely of their genetically engineered fungus that they grow en masse, it is grinded down into a paste, boiled, or eaten raw. It is describes as tasting chalk-like or like iron to Humans, and if eaten too much, some humans can get nauseated.

The fungus, K'ois ('The Substance'), is a translucent, bulbous mushroom that thrives in any environment it is placed in, apart from overly wet. While it appears this fungus is genetically bred to be so adaptable, it is also presumed it was naturally abundant over the Vaurcae home planet. It glows a sickly yellow, and this gives the entire plant a yellow hue.

Religion

The Bound Vaurca have no concept of religion, faith, or a belief in the afterlife. They are focused entirely on fulfilling orders given to them with no capability of abstract thinking.

Unbound Vaurca often view their Virtual Reality as paradise. While their physical body (or at least the brain) needs to remain functioning in order for them to live in the VR they can still experience paradise while inside it.

Alongside this, Vaurca have a universal adoration and mystical reverence for the Queen of their respective hives. Ranked higher than the Lesser Queens who's duty is to keep the populations of Hive-Ships stable, the highest Queen of the Hive functions as a living deity with a cult of personality around them. Beginning with Vaurca in their early history viewing their queens as bringers and keepers of blossoming life in their otherwise dead world, thousands of years of separation from this High Queen has allowed the Vaurca of the Hive-Ships to elevate her to the status of bringing life to the entire galaxy. To many Unbound Vaurca their queen is the Goddess of Life, and the Lesser Queens are direct extensions of her power of bringing life, making them important religious and political figures.

Technology

Vaurcae technology on a whole is very advanced, owing to their venerable age. While inhospitable life on Sedantis I and fierce hive rivalries tended to inhibit technological development severely, over the past 60,000 years it has developed to a level believed to be superior to that of humanity, especially in a few specific areas. However most of this technology was left behind on Sedantis I, and most technology utilized by Vaurcae in known space tends to be deteriorated. The most prevalent and advanced Vaurca technologies are of course their readily accessible Virtual Reality systems. Beyond this, they possessed robust industrial technology, allowing them to conduct extreme feats of construction and excavation in a relatively short amount of time - this is visible in how rapidly they developed their Ark-ships. Most of the time spent in creating the Ark-ships was consumed by research into the specifics of long term space-travel. The actual construction of the vessels was relatively simple once the specifics were ironed out. Vaurcae biotechnology is also rather advanced, with almost all Vaurcae possessing basic biomechanically systems and augments. Some Vaurcae, especially warriors, possess very exotic augmentations that are currently unmatched by human technology in that field. Small arms weaponry is another field which Vaurcae have developed extensively, owing to their intrinsic desire to make conflict a simple and quick affair. Heavier ordinance is rare due to the cramped fields of battle which Vaurcae armies engaged in, typically in hastily excavated tunnels, and similarly Vaurca technology tends to be short-range and relatively simplistic in operation. Vaurcae research into artificial intelligence is virtually nonexistent, due to their expansive Bound labourforce rendering themselves without the need for AI slaves.

As stated above, Vaurca technology available in known space tends to be lesser to the reported technology enjoyed by Vaurca on Sedantis I. Most of it has deteriorated due to 2,000 years of neglect, and there are currently no means available to Vaurca to produce equipment of similar calibre. As such, most advanced Vaurca technology is defended fiercely by the respective hive hierarchies, and any technology fielded tends to be the most decrepit and least valuable of its kind. While Vaurca technology is comparable perhaps even to Skrellian technology in theory, in practice Vaurca are still limited by their dwindling supply.

Hives

There are three Hives in human space. The Hives are like ethnicity; during the Sedantene period, they were countries with borders, governments, and treaties. At the end of the period, they sent out separate evacuation missions to different star systems, and a lack of contact with other Hives has sharpened divisions within each Hive. The Broods are constantly in the process of division and multiplication; they send a splinter to a new planet, and that splinter eventually grows, divides, and sends its own splinters off to new ones.

Zo'ra

Zo'ra - "Unstoppable."

Zo'ra, the largest and most powerful hive, and also the first one discovered by Humanity following their Hive-ship 'Titan Prime.' Information gained through contact with Vaurca present in Tau Ceti has lead to unconfirmed projections putting their population in Vaurca space at 77 billion (6.2 million in known space). Zo'ra believe themselves to be the Alpha of the Vaurca and the face of their species. They make up the majority of the Vaurca present in Tau Ceti and human space.

Zo'ra have cold relations with other hives. In Tau Ceti, this has lead to confrontations between them and other hives arriving in the system.

They are ruled by 5 Lesser Queens who organized a ruling caste shortly after contact with humanity, due to the necessity of someone representing the Vaurca in the Hiveship. They all claim to be direct representatives of the Zo'ra High Queen, and periodically claim to have received direct communication from Her to give legitimacy to their own authority.

K'lax

K'lax - "The Deceivers."

K'lax, the second most powerful hive and second faction discovered by humanity after an additional Hive-ship Kloxa'xia appeared in the Jargon Federation system Glorashi. The K'lax hive was a client state to the Zo'ra, but since contact with the Vaurca homeworld has been lost, both factions in known space are completely cut off. This has lead to a sort of fuel for independence, with most K'lax now outright rejecting the claims of leadership the Zo'ra in known space have over them. Based on secondary accounts it is believed that they have 33 billion individuals in Vaurca space. (4.3 million in known space.)

Similar to the Zo'ra, the K'lax Hiveship is represented by three Lesser Queens who claim divine and direct connection to the High Queen of K'lax. This claim is disputed by the Z'ora, who claim to be the only rightful rulers of the K'lax.

Lii'dra

Lii'dra - "The Scourge."

Hive Lii'dra, is a potentially gargantuan hive with a projected population of over 150 billion (4 million in known space), match Zo'ra military might with cunning and tact in Vaurca space. Based on information gathered from Vaurcae in human space the Lii'dra and Zo'ra were engaged in a devastating war that seems to have followed the Zo'ra to known space. The Vaurcae present are currently unwilling to divulge the reasons for this war, but it's become apparent that reconciliation between the two hives may be completely impossible as any excessive questioning related to the Lii'dra results in both anger and fear responses by both Zo'ra and K'lax interviewed. The Lii'dra were encountered after their own Hive-ship Klo'xzai arrived in the Sol Alliance system of Lalande. Original contact became open hostility almost immediately as the Hive-ship's automated defenses opened fire on investigating Alliance patrol ships, sparking a brief skirmish that claimed the lives of 12 Alliance servicemen. Since then the Klo'xzai moved into deep space, and similar to Vox and Unathi raiders the Lii'dra in known space operate as feared raiders and killers. No successful communiqué has been reached with the Lii'dra to date.

The rulers of the Lii'dra are suspected to be Lesser Queens similar to other Hiveships, but this has yet to be verified.

History

Early Nomadism

The earliest records of Vaurca civilization gained from limited access to Zo'ra records range from some time starting between 500,000 and 550,000 years ago. Due to the hostile climate of their homeworld caused by the thin ozone allowing radiation to blast the planet daily, many Vaurca were forced to live nomadic lives inside the vast underground cave networks to gain access to edible fungus.

Almost all conflict originated around control of food. Warfare was a matter of survival after a hive exhausted its food supply. Warrior castes became the most dominant caste within Vaurca society and nearly all hives were in constant conflict with one another. Due to the innate deadliness of Vaurca mandibles and claws warfare was fought in melee. Prisoners of war tended to be decapitated by the mandibles of the victor while the surviving hive was enslaved. The mindset appears to be an unwillingness to spare extremely limited resources with enemy warriors.

The Agricultural Revolution

Approximately 60,000 years ago agricultural methods that allowed hives to cultivate fungus had proliferated throughout the planet. No longer a resource that could be easily exhausted, many hives found an abundance of food to be a boon. The population exploded as the hives continued to operate as they always had. Unfortunately fertile territory (in the context of cave fungus) was uncommon and conflict still broke out between hives.

Other avenues of change proliferated through the Vaurca hives, as well as an explosion of art. For understandable reasons living in caves constantly grew tiresome for many unbound Vaurca and they began to experiment with ways to spruce up the place. With an abundance of food Vaurca were able to spare manpower to begin ambitious feats of masonry and architecture. According to secondary sources the Vaurca Homeworld eventually developed elaborate and massive feats of subterranean engineering, with aqueducts, sewage, and entire cities being carved out of the rock. The walls and floors of the cave were smoothed out and covered in engravings, creating a form of art that wouldn't be blasted away by radiation. Thousands of years of trial and error with countless incidents of cave-ins in the early years have allowed the Vaurca to become masters of masonry and architecture.

Along with traditional warfare, queens of many hives had begun an arms race of architecture to show up one another. Massive engineering projects would be undertaken for the glory of the queen of the hive, such as a huge subterranean temple, the rerouting of an entire underground river, or a subterranean road being carved out to connect dozens of spread out subterranean cities all being commissioned. Queens at the time had also begun to develop a cult of personality around themselves, with the queens that managed to succeed becoming the most powerful and influential on the planet. Information on this is difficult to gather due to obvious bias or mixing of legends and facts within Vaurca records. However xenoarchaeologists are in agreement that Vaurca queens managed to retain a vital position in Vaurca society by inflating their status as mothers to a spiritual level. As the only ones in Vaurca society that could give birth to new generations, they had become mystical gardens of life and fertility in an otherwise dead and barren world.

The Era of Augementation

The development of Vaurca continued down paths similar to the development of other space-faring species. The major split from the norm occurred around 2,000BCE Galactic Standard Time. The Vaurca had managed to achieve a technological level similar to Earth in the late 20th century. However the Zo'ra, who had emerged during this time, had a breakthrough in augmentation technology. Zo'ra began augmenting its drones with simple cybernetic enhancements. Worker drones would have their limbs replaced with more sturdy prosthetics, and later advancements in genetics had even more Vaurca hives beginning to experiment with altering workers with genetic and cybernetic enhancements.

This technological advancement continued until the Vaurca achieved a version of technological singularity with the technology in 50 CE. The technology had become minaturized and advanced enough that Vaurca hives could cybernetically engineer any aspect of a Vaurca drone. By this time Vaurca drones had become Bound, creating the early forms of the Vaurca we see today. While Vaurca records make no mention of it, human and Skrell xenoarchaeologists theorize that Vaurca drones had incidents of rebellion or insurrection against the mass augmentation and prosthetics, which explains why today bound are all lobotomized, mostly mindless drones.

By 100 CE the working caste of bound drones could work 24/7 stopping only to eat. Soldiers were augmented with all sorts of experiment weapons and abilities. However the augments and genetic alterations forced those altered into very specific castes. A worker raised and given augments for battle wasn't an effective mason or diplomat. While previously Vaurca society was stratified, the 'worker' Vaurca of old at least had a chance to enter into different fields. The modern Vaurca society saw a caste system where Vaurca were literally defined from birth and built into that role. This also created the modern definitions of bound and unbound: bound vaurca are members of the worker caste, literally bound to their role and station. The unbound are Vaurca above the working caste that would be allowed to seek their own destiny in society, forming a form of noble caste.

Eventually the Unbound, supported by a limitless supply of slave labor, began to form a more and more secluded society seperate from the working caste. Unbound scientists and artists eventually unlocked the technology behind virtual reality, and specialized it to create entire virtual worlds for themselves. Unbound with access to VR would lock themselves away for hours or even days at a time, sometimes leaving VR for only a few minutes at a time to let their bound workers feed them without having to even having to leave their seat.

Eventually the technology expanded to the point that Vaurca developed their 'Paradise' we see today.

The Great Evacuation

The proliferation of VR and bound labor created a lull in conflict on Sedantis I. Farming techniques had become advanced enough that the populations could be reasonably fed, and all other desires were being filled in virtual worlds. By all accounts it would have been completely possible that the Vaurca never left their homeworld due to the development of VR. However a combination of push factors forced the great Vaurca hives to embark on extensive plans to expand into space.

The extremely thin ozone layer of Sedantis I had begun to be measured since the start of their modern era in the early CE era. By 150 CE the Vaurca's version of a scientific body between hives had conclusive evidence to show that the ozone would be completely stripped off the planet within another 200 years. While the planet had been bombarded with radiation, life had still managed to etch out a living, but when the ozone layer was completely gone all life on the planet would be killed by the excessive amounts of radiation, rendering it a barren, lifeless rock.

Hives took different approaches to the impending apocalypse. Many hives felt they could simply increase the depths of their subterranean cities to avoid the increase of radiation, and that the subterranean eco-systems would continue to thrive beneath the surface, while other hives began to try to look past the taboo of the deadly sky and consider expanding their hives into space.

Hives devoted massive amounts of bound labor to both projects. For the next 50 years some Vaurca hives constructed the massive hive-ships we see today. In another display of the sheer ingenuity of Vaurca engineering and architecture they had managed, after very heavy losses in early failures, to create and utilize an orbital industry to work on the hive-ships. These ships are also called ark-ships, and were used to transport thousands of Vaurca to other star systems. While fusion power was available to Vaurca at the time they did not yet possess warp or bluespace capabilities, meaning travel to other systems was extremely slow.

This reality meant that hive-ships had to be capable of supporting a population in deep space for hundreds or even thousands of years. They became battleships, colony ships, mobile incubators, carriers, refineries, and production facilities all in their own. They spread through space similar to the Vox, as nomadic wanderers occasionally settling on habitable worlds, but the pace of it was was incredibly slow due to the lack of bluespace technology.

Despite being years or even hundreds of years apart bound drones were still unquestionably loyal to their original queen, and followed directives given by her during their travels to the letter and without compromise. Lesser queens were brought on the hive-ships to help keep the population stable, and others left on habitable planets with a group of Unbound and Bound to settle on the few habitable planets they passed along the way, but the original High Queens of the hives on Sedantis remain legendary religious figures, with the lesser queens taking on a ceremonial role as mothers. Unbound present in the hive-ships were almost entirely connected to VR, which allowed them to function in their worlds, which may have been the only reason they managed to function as a society in deep space for so long.

The ultimate fate of Sedantis I is unknown to Vaurca encountered in human space in 2458, as contact is still impossible.

Contact with humanity

None of the civilized species of the galaxy had any idea that the Vaurcae existed until an eventful day in November, 2456, when the drive plume and heat signature of a massive ship burning its engine in order to slow down for an approach was detected near the Romanovich cloud in Tau Ceti. While the galaxy was taken aback by this information, the Republic of Biesel acted immediately. A small scout vessel was dispatched to the ship, which was revealed to be a 30 kilometer (18.23 mile) vessel, mostly engine and radiator. Dubbed 'Titan Prime' by the media, Tau Ceti and news places over the known galaxy were bubbling with excitement as the object approached its apparent destination: Biesel.

After a few weeks, the object passed the Romanovich cloud and dispatched over twenty drones to key locations in Tau Ceti. Some of these locations included the NMSS Odin, the NSS Von Braun, NSS Arcadia, NSS Aurora, NSS Exodus, and NMV Retaliation, and one to each planet. Although all drones dispatched to the location turned back immediately, one did not. The one that was headed for the NSS Aurora stayed, and in fact, contacted the station through use of the station's own intercommunication system; displaying a single, unintelligible message. After a period of three hours, the crew were dispatched to the probe and entered, finding a hollow vessel. In the middle was a single alien computer, and in a corner of a room were Vaurca eggs, presumably for use in early colonization.

Research crew of the NSS Aurora, including Dr. Phoebe Essel and team were able to interact with the computer, painstakingly finding ways to translate the cryptic language it was attempting to speak in, and after usage of a pAI, were able to teach the machine Tau Ceti Basic. After some conversation, the computer detached itself and was brought aboard the NSS Aurora for first contact. It had been sent in order to document the indigenous species of the solar system. The computer tapped into the bluespace connection of the Artificial Intelligence of the station, uploaded core data files onto its hardware, and then departed, causing a minor panic on the station as the security forced feared an intelligence leak.

First radio contact was established with Tau Ceti President Joseph Dorn and Titan Prime, which was filled with Zo'ra. It was learned that the vessel was sent approximately 2 thousand years ago and had only now entered human space to find habitable planets to colonize. It was also learned that Titan Prime housed six million Vuarca on it, a staggering number.

Titan Prime eventually reached Biesel, settling into a stable orbit around the planet. Observation showed that the ship was worse for wear after traveling for 2,000 years, launched from Sedantis in 400 CE. Many of its systems were failing or had already failed. The life support was barely working and the hull had lost most of its integrity. After heavy negotiation with the Tau Ceti government it was agreed that in exchange for being allowed to settle on Biesel the Vaurca would agree to 'pay rent' in the form of providing Nanotrasen and the Tau Ceti government with a quota of their bound and unbound for Nanotrasen's workforce. Due to the complexity (and pointlessness) of paying bound Vaurca they would instead earn 'credit' towards their continued stay on Biesel to pay back the cost of housing them.

Settling in Tau Ceti

Ferries, re-purposed cargo ships, and civilian shuttles evacuated 2 million inhabitants of Titan Prime, ferrying them mostly to New Gibson and Biesel, respectively. Evacuations are still undergoing, and most Vaurca live in refugee camps or state-provided housing in special sections of the two planets. The Interstellar Aid Corps has performed most of the work evacuating and housing Vaurca, and they are critical of the government's treatment of them.

Today, roughly 2.5 million Bound and Unbound Vaurca live in refugee camps or slums in New Gibson, 4 million live elsewhere on Biesel, and 1.7 million live on New Gibson. After NanoTrasen's forced eviction of the majority of Vaurca living on the Titan Prime in June of 2458, the slums of Biesel experienced an influx of almost half a million additional Vaurca. Officials are extremely worried about the cost of continued evacuation of Titan Prime, and integration of Vaurca into the system is confounded by the growing hostility towards them, inflamed by the recent discovery of even further Vaurca hive-ships entering known space. Many fear that the Vaurca are attempting a cultural invasion and will grow to become more powerful than the human governments housing them.

This fear has lead to Tau Ceti and the Sol Alliance working to actively suppress attempts by Vaurca to construct FTL capable communications or ships to contact their fellows and potentially spread the information to more Vaurca hives in their home systems. While the Zo'ra of Titan Prime managed to leak secrets of these technologies from the Aurora, they remain unable to build FTL communication that's capable of interacting with the STL communications presumed to still be in use in other Vaurca systems. As well, many Vaurca are unsure of the ultimate fate of their homeworld, as their two thousand year travel has had them pass the time predicted to have brought the ultimate death of Sedantis...

Glossary

Literal

Black Number: The Unbound labor lottery. Whenever the Brood’s host (usually Nanotrasen) demands Unbound with a particular skill, all the Unbound who have that skill will participate in the lottery to see who has to go out and work. Those who draw the Black Number are pressed into service. In actual fact, there’s no way to forcefully ‘conscript’ an Unbound in the Virtual, but any Unbound who drew the Black Number and refused to honor it would be the lowest of the low.

Bound: The slave class of Vaurca. Bound are essentially organic robots.

“By your command, wise master:” The traditional affirmation a Bound gives in response to an Unbound’s order. In Vaur’uyit’yaza, it’s written as “Tzu’ikak’xa, tla’akaix.”

Consensus: Consensus is a state where everybody who cares about a specific topic has agreed on a course of action or conclusion for it. It means the same thing for them as for us, but it’s one of their worship words.

Descend: To go from the Virtual into the Material; to enter a physical body and cease to exist in the Virtual until returning.

Descenders: The Descenders are those Unbound, Descended, who are in charge of preparing bodies and supervising the process of Descent. This is an extremely important and sacred role; only the most important and honored of Unbound are eligible to do this work.

Discipline: Unbound who are Disciplined keep their eyes on the prize; they eat k’ois without complaint, sit on the ground, ignore bad smells, and otherwise fit themselves, physically, into the same spaces that Bound use. More importantly, they save their love for noetic things and resist the allure of sensory stimulation, and keep a healthy disdain for actually being in the Material.

Hive: A “Hive” is a Vaurca nationality or ethnicity. All the Hives have their origin on Sedantis IVc - someone with a map of the old homeworld could draw lines, borders, and capitals for them. Each Hive has a distinctive coloring and scent, allowing Vaurca in the Material to instantly distinguish one another. There were 17 Hives on Sedantis I.

Hive Ship: A mighty space vessel designed to support a few Broods in perpetuity. All the Zo’ra Broods in Tau Ceti came from the Hive Ship “Titan Prime,” which was in really sorry shape by the time it arrived.

Journeyer: An Unbound who descends as a rite of passage. Every Unbound who wants to become a respected elder of the community must serve some time in the trenches, demonstrating their ability to think on their feet and work independently.

Material: The real world outside the Virtual.

Noetic: Meaning ‘of or pertaining to the intellect,’ “noetic” is the best way to describe the inside of the Virtual. This means that it doesn’t really look like anything; it exists purely as information with no “shape.” The opposite of noetic is “sensory,” meaning that it’s interpreted through the five senses.

Shun: To Shun an Unbound in the Virtual is to take them off all Brood-wide message lists, isolating them completely. This is their ultimate punishment, and it can last for a fixed period of time or it can last until the one shunned shows contrition and is forgiven.

Unbound: The intellectual class of the Vaurca. Unbound are people, with all that entails. They live primarily in the Virtual but also descend in order to interact with the Material. Because they are born in the Material and have slightly different experiences as babies, they develop different personalities as adults.

Vagabond: An Unbound who genuinely prefers the Material to the Virtual. Some Vagabonds go so far as to get jobs directly with employers, to accumulate money, and to buy property. These are not generally the actions of older or more established people, so Vagabonds are treated like impetuous adolescents who need to get this phase out of their system.

Virtual: The digital space where Unbound reside when not in the Material.

Linguistic

Akaix: The Unbound, The Masters, Those with Souls. Millenia ago, the word meant “Collector,” and was how feudal peasants would address their landlords.

Ckho'miji: Literally 'table objects.' A catch-all term for plates, bowls, and cups. A bit of gallows humor; Vaurca facing failure joke that they'll be made into this stuff, ie they will be killed and their bodies fashioned into flatware. Usually a joke, but sometimes a deadly serious threat. Bound are sometimes actually made into plates if there's no use for them.

Ika’te: A common insult among the Vaurca. It literally means ‘four dots,’ and is an abbreviation for the longer phrase ‘a rotted brown kois with four dots drawn on for eyes.’ A stupid or undignified person.

K’ois: The food of the Vaurca; the word actually just means ‘food’ but refers in metalepsis to their single staple crop. Not particularly nutritious, even to them - but it’s easy to grow in huge quantities, making it the perfect food for Bound. K'ois is also the defining symbol of Vaurca hubris, for it more than anything led to the destruction of Sedantis and forced the Great Migration. A hundred generations have lived and died without ever eating anything else.

Tl’iti: An affectionate and infantile way to refer to the Hive Queen; in archaic times, it’s what children would call their mothers.

Vaur’uyit’yaza: The spoken language of the Zo’ra, K’lax, and a few other hives. Nowadays mainly used on the Hivenet, in Transmission, and for writing poetry and literature. Synthetic, fusional, sporting 17 tenses and 41 genders, and drowning in allusions and references, it is brutally hard to learn. Written in phonemic blocks, kind of like Korean - the word “Vaur’uyit’yaza” would have three blocks, and the apostrophes mark off the boundaries between them.

Viax: The Bound, Those who Serve. The word actually comes from the archaic Zo’ra Vi’eka, which means ‘a dead person’ or ‘a corpse.’

Zazla’ka: A traditional Vaurca palanquin. To the Bound, height makes right - they are much more responsive when they can physically see their supervisors. In fixed spaces, like workshops and construction sites, Unbound build tall platforms to perch on. When they’re on the move, they rely on the Zazla’ka - a platform borne on the shoulders of four Bound, on which the Unbound will sit cross-legged. The zazla’ka might also have some kind of slot or mounting for a staff of office. Particularly aggressive or lively Unbound will stand on them, like Abraracourcix on his shield.

Zulza’kakya: A person who rides in a zazla’ka - a person of high rank, or perhaps somebody playing general in a war. Shades of the milles gloriosus, of someone who thinks they're much more important than they are.