Welcome to Gaia! ::

1.) Race Attributes:

Homo Quoriens is a humanoid species that differs from Homo Sapiens in the sense that it has 6 limbs rather than 4-- two legs and four arms.

The Izani (homo quoriens) people are, on average, about 2 inches taller than humans, as their chest/ribcage is taller and more complicated. The two pairs of arms are actually quite close together; the lower pair attaches to the body at a point only slightly lower than the upper pair, so much so that there is but an inch of space between the shoulder of the lower arm and the armpit of the upper. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the average human would find that his shoulder is neither above nor below the double-shoulder of the Izani but right about in the middle. The Izani have larger lungs and a much larger heart than humans, filling up the extra-large chest cavity and maintaining the extra limbs.

The Izani are about as intelligent as humans, and have about the same variety in skin color and other attributes.

The Izani are able to operate their four hands with the same skill as a human uses his two, though this comes at the price of more helpless babies (it takes longer for Izani babies to learn how to use their limbs)

Having only two eyes, accurate shooting with multiple weapons, while possible, is not easy. Most Izani soldiers use only one weapon at a time, though extremely skilled individuals can dual-wield rifles or even fire four pistols at once.

Izani soldiers have an advantage in combat when it comes to cover. Holding and shooting with a rifle in their top hands, they can use their lower arms to crawl forward simultaneously. This enables them to lean around corners and fire even while lying down.

Close combat is also a forte, because they can wield their rifle and at the same time hold a sword and a pistol, and because when knocked over they can more easily spring to their feet.

The major weakness of Homo Quoriens is speed, though not slow necessarily they find themselves with too many arms to swing and not enough legs, so to speak. Top speed for Izani is about 90% of that of humans, and when distance running Izani can only make it about 30% as far.

3.) Territory:

The Realm of Zaan consists of Zaan itself, and 14 other planets. The star system of Zaan contains Zaan, an earth-like planet, and two other planets, Charos and Marathea.
Charos is a small, red planet with very little atmosphere that orbits relatively close to the Sun and has a small population that lives mostly underground. It is a manufacturing and testing center for the military.
Marathea is a heavily forested moon that rotates around one of the system's gas giants. Marathea has the climate of northern europe and contains a large and varied population.

Outside Zaan there are 8 star systems and 12 colonized planets in the Realm.

Of those, approximately 4 once contained alien civilizations. (one civilization had three planets) Of the original natives, only a few sorry specimens remain, the others having been driven from their homes and/or wiped out by diseases.

Each of the planets in the Realm of Zaan operates under the same system of government previously mentioned, with a local Capitol for each planet. All planets, however, fall under the ultimate authority of the Capitol on Zaan itself.

For purposes of the Supreme Commander's authority, "In-system" is defined as all space inside the star system of a planet belonging to the Realm. Planets recently conquered and therefore not part of the Realm operate under provisional governments until the legislature deems it fit to accept them into the community, at which point they get their own official Capitol and become "In-system."

The Realm of Zaan is located on the fringes of known space (to the IPU) and has only recently come into contact with the other races. None of the planets in the Realm of Zaan have Stargates.

4.) The Renegades (recent history)

For the past two or three centuries, the world of Jared Prime (alone in a solar system adjacent to that of Zaan) has been home to a strange segment of the Realm's population. It began as a monastery-world, an untamed and undeveloped place to which the religiously-minded would go, often to live out their lives in solitude.

The Cathedral of Hope became the center of a huge church-city complex that housed almost a million theologians. Those working there sought to deepen their understanding of Esarhaddon, to know how best to communicate and channel His power. Even more than that, they sought to understand His holy nature: where his power comes from, why he is greater than all the other gods, how he created the Izani, etc.

As the years wore on, and as more and more people immigrated to the verdant planet, Jared Prime became a center of learning as well: Great and respected universities sprung up, passing down the knowledge of God that the theologians, in their communications with Esarhaddon, had divined. The universities, as they expanded, began to broaden their course lists until theology was only a small part of their extensive repetoire.

Finally, within the last 50 or so years, Jared Prime became home to the finest research laboratories in the Realm. It was a natural process; there had to be extensive facilities to train the population of students there, and those students often stayed on after graduation to conduct professional research with said facilities. By the year 0010 F.E., Jared Prime held almost a billion souls, of which roughly 30% were students and a further 40% were involved in some sort of research, either scientific or theological.

It was at this point that the scientific and the theological fields of research began to mingle. The two had traditionally kept separate from each other, so much so that scientific advancements were not widely known outside of the scientific community and theological advancements were not widely known outside of the theological community. Leaders in both fields, however, came to the realization that both studies were converging.

Theology was learning, with the help of Esarhaddon, how and in what ways the Soul worked, how and in what ways God watched over and communicated with people, and how and in what ways people could learn to use their own latent power.

Meanwhile, the scientific community was involved in the latest round of breakthroughs which dealt with the physical nature of the Soul, (when it comes into being, how it attaches itself to a body, etc.) the psychic signature that Esarhaddon uses to identify and communicate with his creations, and the manner in which the Energy dimension can be accessed by ordinary souls.

When the knowledge of both fields was added together, some disturbing conclusions were reached. With the help of theologians, scientists were able to create devices that could detect the presence of God. To their great suprise, they found that Esarhaddon was not the only "true" God or even the most powerful. To the theologians, this meant that Esarhaddon had lied to them.

The final straw came when a controversial theory began to gain acceptance on Jared Prime. Leading scientists and theologians agreed that the most likely reason the gods had for creating the sentient races was to gain power to eventually dominate each other.

The news of this revelation spread like an infection through the Realm. Most recoiled in distaste at the notion, and began to call it a heresy. Some, even those in high places, began to secretly believe it. Jared Prime itself, being home to a huge collection of academics, was almost entirely converted to the new belief.

Esarhaddon responded by manipulating public opinion; the legislature voted to declare the conclusions of Jared Prime a heresy, and ordered the local military garrison to arrest leading proponents of the belief.

The local military garrison came up against masses of protesters, gathered to protect their leaders and to shout curses at the gods. The military tried to take action, but was paralyzed by heretic sympathizers in the ranks. The inactivity of the military emboldened the protesters, who mobbed the vehicles and stormed the docked starships. Blood was spilled, but not very much; the garrison did not have the heart to shoot their own people.

These events led Jared Prime to declare itself independent of the Realm. In the social upheaval that followed, the planet was converted from a place of learning to a manufacturing base, as millions of students quit their studies to work towards the rejection of the Gods.

It took them two years, but eventually the legislature in the Capitol put together a large fleet to reconquer Jared Prime, which was officially deemed Renegade and therefore no longer "in-system." It was headed by the Supreme General Thiaphus. The fleet traveled to the planet, loaded with riot gear and crowd-suppressant weaponry. They boldly landed on the planet, spreading their ships out to cover the major cities and docking those too big to land at the massive orbital elevator-station.

They did not find what they expected; rather than peaceful protesters or even angry mobs, they found fanatical but disciplined, well-equipped teams of fighters led by ex-soldiers. Holding back until the fleet was overextended and vulnerable, this army of ex-students managed to capture almost the entire fleet in confused close-quarters fighting, thanks to good timing and excellent leadership. Losses were heavy on both sides. Thiaphus died fighting, leading a spearhead towards the Cathedral of Hope with the intent of capturing some of the Renegade leaders.

The Realm up to this point had been divided as to what to do about the Renegades. It was considered a valid position to think that Jared Prime should be accepted back into the Realm as a self-governing territory, so long as they used the perfect form of government. Two things changed this situation:
1.) The bloody capture of the Supreme General's fleet.
2.) The new and vile technology that the Renegades developed. Soul weaponry, Psi-amplifiers, and God-shrouds were considered vile, unholy, immoral developments. They were a dark mark on the Izani race that must be rubbed clean.

The Renegades now had a large fleet of assorted ships, and were well equipped with weaponry. Over the next two years, as the Realm prepared a second, even larger, fleet, the Renegades worked feverishly. They repaired and refitted their captured warships, equipping them with the latest abhorrent technology. (soul weaponry) The population of Jared Prime, to the last man, was implanted with God-shroud and Psi-amplifying bionics. (more on those later)

When the second fleet of the Realm arrived on Jared Prime, they found it a deserted, ruined planet. All inhabitants had vanished, burning the cities behind them as they went. The motley fleet they had collected, though large, was not enough to hold the entire population, so the dockyard-station at the end of the elevator had been dramatically expanded, equipped with hyperspace engines, and detatched from the elevator. It formed the core of the fleet.

How had this happened? Esarhaddon himself was unable to sense the evacuation, due to the God-shrouds. No one in the Realm had any idea where the Renegades went. The retributive Fleet was broken up into search parties, which scattered to the farthest reaches of the Realm to make contact with neighboring civilizations and search for the presence of the Renegades. One such search party was successful; they came across a minor alien civilization that had given the Renegades passage through their territory. The exact location of the Renegade fleet was not known, but the direction of travel was.

The Realm of Zaan was, for a short time, stricken by social and political upheaval. The Capitol became embroiled in the blame game, as someone had to take responsibility for allowing the Renegades to escape. People at all levels were suspected of being closet Renegades, defiers of God, and many were unlawfully inspected and interrogated. In a free society such as the Realm had, this kind of witch-hunting generated massive backlash, which died down over time but served to delay the rebuilding of the fleet.

About two years after the failure of the first Retributive Fleet, the second Retributive Fleet was launched. It was larger than even the first and well-stocked with supplies and troops, and it was lead by the Supreme General Ferroussa.

As of this time, the Second Retributive Fleet is making first contact with the IPU. The Renegades, having landed on Newhaven, already are members of the Hall. The Second Retributive Fleet declares it's intent to destroy every last Renegade as the Renegades are an abomination. Supreme General Ferroussa demands that all nation turn over their Renegades to him, and warns that any planet found protecting or hosting the Renegades may consider itself at war with the Realm of Zaan.

As of yet the location of the Renegade fleet (Newhaven) is not known to Ferroussa. Only the Renegades themselves, in their embassy at the Hall, plus various intelligence agencies of the other advanced races know. The public does not know.

Renegades living apart from the main fleet have spread throughout society on many planets, wandering through cities in search of a place to stay, often driven out of town by those afraid of retribution. Many major cities have their "Quorotown," usually a seedy area where Renegades live close for mutual protection.

Different governments have taken different stances towards the Renegades; some declare them criminals and actively hunt them, while others accept them and vow to protect them. Many simply cast a blind eye over them, pretending for all official purposes that they do not exist.

How the major races react is yet to be seen.

Side note: Cloning and the Population Growth rate

The Izani have perfected the process of cloning babies through a process that results in a wide variety of new people, not all the same. (they use samples from literally billions of gene combinations, and then mix-and-match to create a diverse pool of clones.)

In fact, most new Izani babies are born this way, manufactured by the government. They are then adopted by families or corporations or else raised in state or military boarding schools.

This means that the Realm of Zaan (and the Renegades) have almost unlimited capacity for population growth; indeed the growth rate can be increased by the government until economic limits are reache, and usually is.

Overpopulation is not so much of a problem because of two factors: Technology for underground robotic farms, and plentiful power and materials to build the farms. The power comes from the sun or from fusion reactors, and the materials come from the ground or from asteroids. There is almost unlimited space under the oceans of Zaan for construction of these farms, and construction is ongoing, exponentially increasing with the population.

These factors combine with the Izani longevity and robustness to create a population growth rate that hovers around 8% but could be increased even more depending on the circumstances. This means that the population of Zaan doubles every 10 years, even after massive emigration is taken into account. (every year, about 1% of the population migrates to new colonies)

Zaan is not the only planet like this, though it is the most advanced. All the other 12 worlds of the Realm are involved in a similar growth rate.