Quraklhaw' Hierarchy (Nation, PC)

The Quraklhaw' Hierarchy, or Haseku Quraklhaw'leth, is a voidborn theocratic autocracy. Founded approximately four hundred years ago by the prophet Kaxurin, who overthrew the priest-queens, united her people, and led them into the void as they escaped the horrors of their doomed homeworld of Quxigh. It is currently ruled by her granddaughter, Hierarch Sekeshih, who has just ascended to the throne following a fierce succession crisis.
== Etymology ==
The Quraklhaw' (IPA: qurɑk͡ʟ̝̊ɑh̪͆) Hierarchy takes its name from its founder; technically it is "Haseku Kaxurinai", "the Kaxurinist Hierarchy". "Haseku Quraklhaw'leth" is something of a misnomer, but one that is widespread nonetheless, for it is a universal government within the race.
== Demographics ==
==== Population: ====
The Quraklhaw' hierarchy is at the time composed solely of a single species, the eponymous Quraklhaw'; the Quraklhaw' are serpentine beings, a feminine humanoid torso above a long, scaled tail. Their eyes can see deep into the infrared and ultraviolet spectra, and their senses of smell and touch are also extremely sensitive. All Quraklhaw' are hermaphrodites, with a highly flexible male member concealed by a fold beneath their vaginas. Quraklhaw' lay clutches of eggs, numbering fifty or more on average. Quraklhaw' can live for up to three hundred years without particular aid, and remain fertile throughout much of their lives. They reach adulthood around twelve years of age. Their current population is around 105 billion.
==== Language ====
On their homeworld of Quxigh', the Quraklhaw' were a diverse people, albeit with a common origin within the Voidmother's laboratories, descended from the language of their creators. The priest-queens themselves spoke a language that was much closer to this ancient tongue, referred to as Proto-Surai, but much of the older writings have been translated into the modern tongue of Suhai, spoken by Kaxurin herself and used in governance and sermons. Most Quraklhaw' are familiar with two or three different languages given the cramped and metropolitan quarters of the vessels they now inhabit.
==== Education ====
==== Religion ====
The Church of the Veil is both the governing body of the Quraklhaw' Hierarchy and its state religion. It espouses the semi-divine origins and shared nature of the quraklhaw' species, and is effectively an updated version of the religion followed by the priest-queens in ancient days, albeit with more populist leanings and a messiah-figure in the form of Kaxurin herself.
The Chuch of the Veil worships the sky, and space itself, as the Voidmother, and believe that the four ancient caretakers that uplifted them in ancient days and guided their progress were her angels. These beings left them to their own devices long ago, however, disappearing before their task was complete and causing complete social anarchy that led to the rise of the priest-queens. In the Church of the Veil's teachings, this was due to the priest-queen's perfidy; the angels, disgusted by their thirst for power and decadence, abandoned the entire race.
The most sacred site in the faith is an ancient precursor research facility, referred to as "The Cradle", to which pilgrimages were customarily made until it was lost in an earthquake sometime during the reign of the priest-queens. It was within its halls that the Quraklhaw' as a race were born. It was rediscovered, however, by the Prophet Kaxurin, and much of what was contained within used to overthrow the Priest-Queens; if nothing else, finding, much less controlling, such a sacred site was a massive boon to her legitimacy. Following their exodus from their dying world, the Cradle and the land around it were fitted with gravitic drives. It was since incorporated into the flagship, and remains a stark piece of natural beauty amidst the cold steel of the clutch-ships. It is tended by the Gardeners, an elite within the priesthood, who both care for the ancient ruins and surrounding wildlife and also plumb deeper into its secrets.
== History ==
=== Origins and Early History ===
Long ago, far longer than even the Quraklhaw's great minds remember
kaxurin claims virgin birth? Mother inseminated by the Voidmother? Messianic figure. Sudden death following exodus by her own council, lead to horrific loss of life, Kaxurin's daughter seized power.
== Government and Politics ==
=== Government Structure ===
The Quraklhaw' Hierarchy is effectively a state religion as well as a state, with all offices of high authority being occupied by the priesthood of the Voidmother. At the summit of this pyramid sits the Hierarch, descended from Kaxurin herself in an unbroken matrilineal line and head of the faith and nation by right of divine blood.
==== The Four Pillars ====
In order to understand the Quraklhaw' government, it is necessary to understand the basic concepts behind it. These are referred to as the four pillars.
The Blood: The Quraklhaw' consider themselves the chosen people of the Voidmother, for they were uplifted, created to share in the glory of the universe by her angels. Every Quraklhaw' has, within herself, a minor shard of the divine, even the lowest of the Un-Caste. All Quraklhaw' come from a common ancestry, the Fifty Bloods (ie, the first fifty Quraklhaw', the first clutch), and from the same home, within the Cradle. The Quraklhaw' are not only a chosen people, they are a united one. To challenge this assertion is to challenge the basis of the faith.
The Mandate: If all the Quraklhaw' are of divine origin, the Hierarch is the highest amongst them, claiming the divine blood of the Voidmother in her veins. There exists no form of representative government, or even constitution, for what purpose could this possibly serve other than to interfere with the Divine Mandate?
The Debt: If it were not for Kaxurin, every single Quraklhaw' would have died on Quxigh', starved, poisoned, or killed by their own kind. Kaxurin was the savior of the entire race, and it is only right that the race as a whole owes her and her lineage for this great gift of salvation. She brought them out of civil war, brought them out of extinction, delivered them from their end. Thus, it is fitting that they and their descendants should give their lives, literally and metaphorically, to their savior and her descendants.
The Sacrifice: The Quraklhaw', despite their salvation, once again live in a time where luxuries and even essentials become increasingly scarce, as their population grows and more and more of their solar system is consumed with every passing day. Sacrifices must be made so that the race as a whole will survive, and perhaps even more importantly, the Faith. Almost any action to provide new sources of food, water, and raw materials must be considered, from slave labor to cannibalism, no matter how abhorrent it may be.
=== Administration ===
The Quraklhaw' no longer live on planetary bodies, instead living aboard their massive nest ships, enormous vessels that dwarf the capital ships of most other races. They are powered by the Gravitic Engines of their Angels, and house millions, if not billions, of Quraklhaw' within their halls. A nest-ship is led by its W'usuq (usually translated to either "captain" or "deacon"), who wields absolute authority over the ship unless overruled by his superiors. Nest-Ships are grouped into clutches, much like the Quraklhaw' themselves, groups of up to thirty and administrated from an Arc, a particularly large nest-ship. The Arc, and thus the clutch as a whole, is led by a Klhaisurex (usually translated as a "bishop"), who appoints the W'usuq of their subordinate nest-ships and has absolute authority over them, unless someone higher up the chain intervenes. All of the clutches together form the Hierarchy itself, which is, of course, led by the Hierarch, or Hasek, who appoints all of the Klhaisurex and rules with absolute power; the Hasek's whim is law.
The Hasek is aided by her court, referred to as the Diw'an, composed of the highest priests, her family members, friends, etc. Power is an entirely personal thing within the Hierarchy.
The Hasek herself is aided by several divisions of government, referred to as Orders.
==== The Order of Monasticism ====
The order of Monasticism is in direct control of all aspects of scientific and theological endeavors, for to the Quraklhaw' these are one and the same concern.
==== The Order of Crusades ====
The Order of Crusades is entrusted with military endeavors; the prosecuting of war, the training and arming of recruits, and all other aspects. The Sekurew', the individual in charge of this organization, is not actually a priest, but rather one of the Fangs, an entire caste subordinate to this Order. Priests do still fulfill many roles in its hierarchy, but those of direct military planning are left to the fangs themselves. They are perhaps the most closely tied to the Order of Production, for without the Order of Production there would be no warships or weapons in the first place. Because of this, the Sekurew' is constantly engaged in a struggle, whether hidden or open, to acquire manufacturing capabilities for her own order, and the pushing between Crusades and Production is perhaps one of the issues that eats up most of the Diw'an's time.
==== The Order of Morality ====
The Order of Morality is perhaps the closest in function to what others would call a "church". It oversees rites and rituals, marriages and deaths, and is in charge of making sure that individual Quraklhaw' do not stray from the path that their prophet has guided them to. They are, effectively, the practical side of the Order Monastic, putting into practice their doctrines and theology, and as a result the two work closely together, and could conceivably in the future be merged into a single Order. The Order of Morality also serves as something of a secret police, although this is only a specific branch within the Order as a whole and it is extremely controversial within the Diw'an. Potentially they might be split into their own order have that duty, likely to be called the "Order of Intelligence", as many feel that a confessor and a police officer being the same person is simply put, a terrible idea. Lastly, the Order of Morality, is also, effectively, the legal system of the Quraklhaw'.
==== The Order of Production ====
The Order of Production oversees agriculture, power production, resource extraction and refinement, and construction in all forms. They are second only to the Order of Morality in power amongst the Diw'an, even if a good portion of their lower levels are made up mostly of un-castes, which severely damages the prestige of the entire Order.
=== Military ===
The military forces of the Haseku Quraklhaw'leth are confined almost entirely to the military caste, the Kusur, and are overseen by the Order of Crusades. Quraklhaw' warriors do not enlist, they are born for war, raised for it from a young age; it is all a Fang knows. This gives the Hierarchy a highly trained, loyal, and disciplined military, and while it restricts active long-term service to a specific subset of the population the Quraklhaw' are populous enough that this still allows them to compete, if not overmatch, their opposition numerically. These highly professional soldiers are bolstered by members of the un-caste, used in sacrificial roles. 
The military has somewhat languished throughout the past few centuries following the final wars on the surface of Quxigh; however, the recent power struggles following the ascension of Hierarch Sekeshih, the attempted seizure of the throne by her sister Sukerai, and the disloyalty within the Diw'an have given them ample opportunities to maintain their form as of late.
* The Navy: The hierarchy's only truly significant military force is its navy, for they believe that an army would effectively be pointless given their void-bound nature; any attempt to threaten them would be in space, and on the offensive, even against planet-dwelling peoples, orbital superiority presents such an immense advantage in the form of orbital bombardment as to render actual ground action obsolete. The navy is directly commanded by the Sekurew', the head of the Order of Crusades.
* Marines: While traditional ground warfare has been abandoned by the Quraklhaw', boarding actions have not, and the marines exist both to initiate and repel them. They are the closest thing the Hierarchy has to an army, but even then they lack any form of tanks or similar vehicles, the closest thing being a rare few models of exosuit used in defensive operations.
== Economy ==
=== Agriculture ===
Traditional agriculture has long since been abandoned by the Quraklhaw'; arable land is not exactly common in the cold void. Patches of arable land were removed to the nest-ships during their construction, but these are jealously guarded. For the most part, hydroponics have replaced traditional agriculture, allowing large quantities of food to be grown in the minimum amount of space. Some nest ships place their gardens on the outsides of the ship, allowing them to receive the light of the sun directly; meat is rarely grown due to its inefficiency as a food source. Regardless, agricultural production cannot keep pace with demand, and strict rationing is instituted across the Hierarchy; this rationing is enforced on a nest-ship level, allowing for peculiar demands to be dealt with without compromising the food supply of the Hierarchy as a whole, although food itself is stored on a hierarchy level, enforcing loyalty with the tacit threat of starvation.
The only source of meat in the average Quraklhaw's diet is, interestingly enough, the Quraklhaw' themselves. The Quraklhaw' are a cannibalistic race, and the bodies of the dead are ritually consumed by their kin and the priestesses.
Some food stores remain, but they will be completely depleted within a few years.
=== Industry ===
The Hierarchy could be simultaneously considered both an industrial powerhouse and a backwater. The massive workforce and strict caste system provide amounts of labor that are practically unfathomable to any other power, and in sheer production in almost any sector the Quraklhaw' have no equal. However, their production itself is very inefficient, as due to the surplus of labor there is essentially no automation within the Hierarchy; everything is made by hand. This keeps the Quraklhaw' working almost at subsistence levels of production. This is further incongruous with the technology of the Quraklhaw', as in almost all other areas they are equal or well ahead of the general technological curve of the Gothic constellation.
The other limiting factor in Quraklhaw' industry is raw materials; the factories, forges, and shipyards of the Quraklhaw' are ravenous indeed, and while every effort is made to recycle what remains of defunct goods, this only slows the hunger rather than sates it.
=== Energy ===
Energy is perhaps the one area that does not face shortage within the Hierarchy; power is generated by "Divine Engines", massive arrays of gravimetric harnesses that somehow seem to capture the gravitational forces of the void itself for later use. These were discovered by the Quraklhaw' within the Cradle, and it was their discovery that allowed the race to leave the doomed world of Quxigh'. They are large and bulky affairs, however, and as such only found for the most part on nest-ships and larger warships; other vessels must rely on batteries.
== Culture ==
=== Caste System ===
Quraklhaw' society operates off of a strict caste system. While it is possible to move between the castes, this is extremely rare, requiring appointment from the Hierarch herself.
Priesthood: Administrators, scholars, and interpreters of divine will. Formed of the children of priests, and those children of the Hierarch who will not inherit.
Kusur: The warrior-caste, literally "fangs". Generally unseen. Often refered to as "the Hierarch's fangs". The (relatively) small size of the caste limits the offensive abilities of the nation as a whole, and as such they are mostly for self-defense and policing.
Laborers: Those destined to toil that their society might live.
Un-Caste: Those from other castes that have disgraced themselves, or descendants of those who sided with those priest-queens that did not bow to the prophet Kaxurin. Slaves and chattel, nothing more.