Sirkan Nomads (PC)

 OVERVIEW 

73 years ago nuclear war sent what remained of the Sirkan people into the icy oblivion of space to escape from the desolate wasteland of the homeworld. Since this time the Sirkan nomads have spread far and wide, creating, destroying, raiding, trading and making all manner of impact on the galaxy at large. And though there have been times of great hardship, there have also been times of great prosperity. Will someone come to unite the disjointed tribes and lead the helm of a great and terrible fleet, or will they be forever doomed to squabble among themselves and the powers at be for a pittance?

Etymology
The term Sirkan literally translates to "Sky-Born" or born under the sky, in Læsi. This comes from the primarily nomadic lifestyle of the Sirkans on the homeworld, and the eventual colloquialism was adopted as the official species name.

History
For millions of years the Sirkans lived simply on the homeworld, rearing cattle, and moving from place to place in massive mobile cities. Eventually with the discovery of oil and oil refining, the massive ox and cattle driven tent cities became massive super-fortresses powered by great engines driving across the surface of the planet. After which the many hundreds of nomadic nations that dotted the landscape competed for the dwindling resources of an already very difficult to live on planet. With the discovery of nuclear weaponry, the first nations that managed to acquire these weapons made usage of them without studying the consequences and what little of the magnetosphere and atmosphere that protected the Sirkans from being bombarded day and night by 100% of their dual suns radiation faded into memory, leaving the planet uninhabitable. 73 Years ago the first ships capable of FTL were completed in the orbital station the Sirkans had been living on for upwards of a hundred years, and they took to the stars, nomadic once more and never looking back.

Population
592,155,699 Sirkans

1,245,351 Imperials

5,561,512 Wessen

240,386,247 Gaijix

Sirkan
The Sirkans are a large (7-11 feet) omnivorous, bi-pedal race of live birth reptilians who posses four arms, and a split mid-brain allowing for simultaneous lines of thought and intakes of sensory info without the brain getting overloaded. It is possible for a Sirkan to independently use all four of its arms to complete different tasks with ease simultaneously. The Sirkans have had a foray recently into genetics and associated technologies as a result of their contracts through The Empire in Waiting. Some Sirkans depending on lifestyle choices and usage of redundant organs and transplants can live upwards of 220+ years, but the average lifespan for a simple grease monkey is anywhere from 80 to 120 years.

Religion
Tarøda'Ka- The largest practiced religion in the Sirkan culture, is the worship of the many faced god represented by the Dual Suns of the Mother system. This religion preaches about prosperity through strength of knowledge and being as multi-facted as one can realistically be in a lifetime. The more things a Sirkan knows how to do the more respected they are among the general population.

''Imå- The second largest practiced religion in the Sirkan culture, is the worship of the great purging fire that brought destruction to the Mother-world, and the resulting improvements it forced the Sirkans to make in order to survive. It is a religion entirely focused around the destruction of ones enemies, the bathing of ones ego and sense of self in the great flame, forgetting ones own mind, in order to adapt and overcome all situations, and to once again eventually find yourself again in the embrace of the great flame after having proved yourself worthy through glory in the mortal coil.''

Language
 Læsi-  This is the official "Standard" Language of the Sirkans, a mishmash of the most spoken languages from the home world combined colloquially into one usable language for the entire culture. It is incredibly hard for other species to speak this language in any meaningful capacity, due to the strange array of voice cords and hissing noises required for proper pronunciation. However with the use of translator technology secured from the Mortem, this has been easily overcome in recent decades.

Family Structure
The Sirkans by nature are polygamous with "Clusters" of 2 or 3 males being simultaneously romantically involved with one another and upwards of 4 or 5 females not being uncommon. This is due to the once feudal nature of the Sirkans and the marrying of many daughters off to many sons in order to secure alliances with various squabbling nations. Despite the fact that marriages hold no significance nor are practiced currently by any Homefleet, this custom has carried on and is encouraged to try and keep population growth steady since they were decimated by nuclear war.

Education
The Sirkans are entirely educated by mentors and trade programs/apprenticeships, from age 10 a Sirkan begins learning a trade and will likely try and pick up a few more depending on personal drive and religious orientation throughout the course of their lives. This makes for a highly specialized working class with a multifaceted and fairly utilitarian social structure, but without large scale standardization its unlikely the the son of mechanics will be a great scientist or general without some inordinate effort to escape his current cast of behalf of the person in question. It is however... Not unheard of....

Government Structure
-The Sirkan Government is autocratic and led by the strongest member of any given fleet at a time.

-The political deadlock of the Sirkan nomads is held by multiple descending parties of equivocal strength in a caste system, the only way you can ascend above your caste, is to acquire more weapons or followers than the people above you.

-The Virkul Fleetmaster is currently a young upstart by the name of Gokæda-Naid, Only in command for 4 years and already making waves with advanced trade policy and educational doctrine, he is well liked among the youth and progressives of the Virkul homefleet, and not disliked by traditionalists due to his strong military stances.

Military
The Sirkan Nomads have no formal military, any member of the fleet is expected to fight at any given time if called upon by a war leader to do so. However the number of well armed and dedicated warriors or "Vundfəľ" in the Virkul Homefleet numbers at just under 10% of the total population. There is technically no rank structure in the Sirkan Military. However within individual ships and clusters of Sirkans an unofficial command structure is generally enforced with those able to best the most opponents in single combat or tactically minded games and training being generally regarded as "officers" with the fleetmaster and his chosen council of captains being the final say in what goes where and why.

Industry
-Various companies/warbands specialize in industrial capacities for either military applications or for civil production capacity.

-The life onboard a Sirkan ship is flush with the sounds of metal welding and technological advancement. Weapons that are produced rather than found are made en-masse and sold off to other surrounding powers in exchange for agricultural supplies and stores. Despite the perceived generally warlike nature of the Sirkans the ships they inhabit are surprisingly filled with creature comforts and ease of access transit routes.

-The Jui Homefleet is the largest producer of Sirkan styled ships in the Gothic Constellation followed by the Virkul, and then the Sograns.

-The armor the is used by the Sirkans is created using mortem carcasses and various materials scavenged from the surfaces of deadworlds.

-Most of what is used onboard the Sirkan ships is either recycled, up-cycled, or outright scavenged as opposed to created. Its rare to find items in use that follow one standard pattern without improvements, or to find an item that is just a single item at all, instead of the cobbled together mess that most of the equipment is. This saves the Sirkans on material usages, and due to the nature of the lowest (and largest) caste, most people at some point in their lives have had experience in engineering and or tinkering, and as a result of this there is no shortage of laborers.

Agriculture
-The agriculture of the Sirkans is mostly handled through trade of goods and services, but the ships that are dedicated to raising animals and crops are highly advanced. Massive self sustained ecosystems contained onboard large ships where some of the richest and most important Sirkans live. The Sirkans often times have lean periods where anything is done in order to feed the fleet.

Energy
Massive cold fusion reactors onboard the ships provide power for anything and everything the Sirkans could want or need to do.

Food
The Sirkans eat an assortment of cuisine and a large portion of their daily life revolves around food. The average Sirkan must per day consume about 15-20,000 calories a day in order to maintain a healthy body weight. As a result of this crackhead cooking has become somewhat of a standard past-time among the Nomadic people. Every Sirkan knows how to cook something, how it tastes on the other hand is entirely a matter of what is on hand, and how experienced the cook is. Common foods among the nomads are soups and stews that are kept preserved with a naturally ocurring mineral known colloquially as Mirsak. This also has the unintended side-effect of making food incredibly spicy as the mineral gives most average dishes the scoval unit level of jalapenos, and things that are well preserved like jerky and packaged meals the scoval unit level of ghost chili peppers. This makes Sirkan food inedible to the majority of races baring humans, which have taken to eating it as a strange right of passage.

Alcohol
The various types of brewed Alcohol in the Sirkan culture come almost entirely from an animal known as a Mejð, this animals milk has a naturally high amount of yeast and ferments very well and with various additives like Mirsak and fruit mash, Sirkan alcohol takes on an entirely different flavor profile to the majority of other races booze. Spicy, sweet, thick, some find it gross, others love it. But no matter who you are, if you arent a Sirkan, it'll get you fucked up beyond recognition. The weakest of Sirkan drinks "Muzðok" which is a breakfast and lunch drink equivocal to beer for them has an alcohol by volume content of almost 19%.

Recreational Drugs
There are many different drugs grown and produced by the Sirkans as it isnt frowned upon in their culture to be fucked up off your shit by the end of the day.

Jusgi- Combat Stimulant, a synthetic inhalant causing similar effects to meth allowing for increased endurance, stamina, invulnerability to pain but at the cost of melting the brain causing eventually slowed reaction times and a disease similar to Alzheimer.

Weþa- Social drug, similary effects to psilocybin (Magic mushrooms), for the Sirkans this drug is grown and smoked as a matter of religious importance, and is used to calm the mind and body after a battle or great emotional pain.

Nugnam- Social drug, a tea brewed from the leaves of the Nuga plant, causes intense hallucinations and physical sensations become mind blowingly vivid. This is used by priests of the Imå faith in order to induce ego death into the most devout of the warrior cult.

Mogapni- A synthetic opioid used both as a medicine and a recreational drug. It induces intense physical warmth and arousal as well as activating the natural stem cell production within Sirkans bodies to heal wounds exceptionally fast. Over-usage causes muscle atrophy and severe eye-sight deterioration.

Literature and Philosophy
The litany of written books and documents on training and tradesmithing are mostly non massed produced or published hand written things passed down between families and around as trade commodities. Information and experience is one of the only other ways to rise above your current caste, so it is highly valued, and not easily obtained.

Music
Sirkan music and dancing takes on a life all on its own with massive parties forming circle dances and raves of sorts being a common if not daily occurance on the ships of the homefleet. Instruments similar to guitars, drums, fiddles, and horns are used to create soothing and electrifying beats and rhythms that can carry dances in many different directions.

Sports
Martial arts matches are widely practiced and one way for a Sirkan to make a name for themselves, however these matches are loosely regulated with the rules in place to stop opponents from outright killing each other on purpose and sometimes it still is just a fight to the death depending on the circumstance.