Totnu

The Totnu are a highly aggressive, parasitic species that live in the milky way, they're extremely dangerous and are considered by most to be one of the most brutal and relentless species and are recognized for their numerous war crimes and massive destabilization of the Centaurus Arm of the Milky Way's major empires.
The Totnu are rather unique as they were not originally one species but instead have been the result of a highly adaptive group of polymorph species that mutated their genetic DNA to create a self-replicating species that could attack other species similar to a virus turning other species into their own and adding useful DNA to the overall Totnu species over time. Due to this they're often compared to a plague or zombies.
==Behaviour & Society==
The societal behaviour of Totnu's within their own territories is that of domination through the parent organism, Totnu's hierarchy is entirely based around age as Totnu DNA allows for differences between Totnu no matter how minor to become homogenous within a matter of hours making most physical differences irrelevant. A young Totnu is often enslaved in some manner to its parent along with its usually numerous siblings to expand the parent's territory, as such the eldest of all Totnu are generally the leaders of the race with power going down each of the millions of family lineages, this is also why the Totnu are one of the fastest reproducing species in the milky way although also have one of the longest maturity periods to prevent division of power to occur too quickly, as such most Totnu die before they reach a mature age as they're sent to fight on the numerous wars the Totnu are continuiously engaged in.
Internally the leader of the Totnu is known as the Firstborn and generally rules from deep within the Totnu territory extremely rarely has a Firstborn come out to warlines and is usually able to keep control through sheer manpower over their siblings and children. Interestingly outside of the Firstborn's relation with their siblings, most siblings within Totnu culture are highly co-operative and sometimes competitive with one another, usually due to the amount of power one might inherit as their parent dies, usually of old age or disease. One of the most common occurances during a parent's death especially with older Totnu are civil wars as massive ammounts of territory are fought over between siblings vying for control, this somewhat prevents the Totnu from having taken over the Milky Way as the ferocity of these civil wars has escalated over time and so many minor skirmishes between smaller families prevent rapid territory growth.
External conflict with other species is however where the Totnu earn their reputation as warmongerers and a scourge on the stability of the Milky Way, aggressively fighting on many fronts often due to the numerous smaller families looking to gain more power through militaristic methods. Usually the smaller Totnu families are unsuccessful in their war efforts although do cause remarkable war fatigue for some species as they're also known for being excellent at sieging star systems. The Totnu generally will integrate a species into their own once defeated absorbing any useful DNA and turning the species in question into more Totnu, this often results in power upsets back in the home territories of the Totnu which usually halt other war efforts for a few hundred years while the Totnu sort out the new power one family usually obtains.
Not all of Totnu society is based around war however as the Totnu are internally heavily economically driven, always looking to provide and receive resources to increase their power in other ways, the Totnu interestingly have a very strong relationship with neighbouring galaxies to the Milky Way and have never directly attacked another galaxy's species perhaps to conserve their war efforts in the Milky Way, as such most inter-empire trading for the Totnu occurs to places like Andromeda where the Totnu are known for having one of the highest imports of Steel, Plasma and Copper of any species in the known empires of the universe. They also have remarkable exports for most basic necessities such as Food, Wood, Stone & Water, many attribute this to the incompatible Hydrogen & Silicon based species the Totnu have enslaved that can't be absorbed into their species and instead are used to produce the Stone and Water the Totnu export.
==Biology==
The Totnu appear rather strange biologically, due to their Polymorphic origins their species appears to have a central torsal region with a leech-like mouth located on the upper section and two limbs which end in nubs, usually with mechanical implants that act as legs, the creatures have two eyes although often to conserve energy will have one bolted closed or sometimes removed, reportedly this is why the Totnu are currently in an aggressive war with a Cycloptian Race to obtain their DNA for one eye.
Aside from their physical appearance, internally the Totnu are a biological mystery, Totnu tend to combust rapidly upon death making it near impossible to know if they have any notable internal organs, what is known however is that the Totnu are able to adapt to nearly any environment excluding Gamma Radiation and the Vacuum of Space, this is likely due to the numerous species they've absorbed DNA from allowing them to effectively create an internal biological catalogue from which they can adjust their biology to suit most environmental hazards.
Interestingly the Totnu have a well-known critical weakness to viruses as their rapidly changing bodies cannot create effective white blood cells to attack a virus without also attacking the Totnu's own cells, as such viral outbreaks of even what most would consider harmless diseases can prove lethal to the Totnu who are known to blow up planets and self-destruct whole fleets of star ships to rid themselves of any outbreak.
==History==
There are a number of distinct eras that can be identified in the Totnu Empire, and are generally separated as such due to defining events in each era.
===The Dawn Era (~45,000 y.a. to ~21,000 y.a.)===
Initial reports of the Dawn Era were for a long time hazy for most investigators mainly due to the secretive nature of the Totnus however with a stroke of pure luck a species known as the Jarallel one of the most celebrated species in the Milky Way for discovering the weakness of the Totnu to viruses was able to capture territory belonging to a family of Totnu known as the Ildriana whom were known for being one of the most obsessive and protective families until their dissolution roughly 1,540 years ago.
During the Dawn Era according to Idriana manuscripts the Totnu were fairly frail and weak, having only recently homogenized into a society from the original Polymorphic species the Totnu mainly controlled a very small territory and lacked the raw power they have now to make noticeable impacts in warfare, mostly they were known for being reliable traders and their documents state that initial society had started off fairly peaceful with them only sending a ship or two to help others in war rather than engaging in war themselves.
Most species near the Totnu during this time would've known them more so as the Redbare Traders a small merchant group that traded the fur of a creature known as a Bare (not to be confused with the English term for the numerous Ursus Species, Bear). Totnus did not apparently engage in any of their defining characteristics during this time instead mainly focusing on gaining a strong foothold of their own territories as they were often threatened by Space Pirates.
In addition the records show that during the Dawn Era there was a massive divide of power as three families all were vying for the original throne of Firstborn, as due to the Polymorphic fusion the species didn't have a firstborn at the time, so three families known as the Galbrate, Esamana & Ykiron fought for power, although this would eventually end when the Ykiron had been able to use a rogue asteroid to greatly amplify their numbers that crashed into a major Galbrate colony causing destabilization in the Galbrates giving the Ykiron a massive boost in political power allowing them to completely destroy the Galbrate and subjugate the Esamana as their servants. This enslavement of the Esamana would play a major role in later eras.
===Coercion of Research (~21,000 y.a. to ~16,000 y.a.)===
Over the next several thousand years records of the Totnu are poorly kept, mainly due to a lack of interest and concern from the species, like the Dawn Era, the Totnu were still fairly weak, not so much lacking in manpower but more so in the technology and industrial resources to amass a notable army, during this time records state that the Totnu had become somewhat more involved in others' wars often helping out by sending huge ships known as Patient Zeroes due to the Totnu beginning to test their abilities on other species to varying success.
A major war the Totnu were engaged in was the one between the Rahili a species of jungle-dwelling simians that had refined a special type of EMP able to penetrate most metals known at the time, the other species, the one that the Totnu aided were the Ragengar, strange reptilian-humanoid creatures that are covered in large spines that were known for being a driving warmongerer force prior to their religious schism 14,520 years ago. During this war the Totnu were reported to have found a non-sentient species on one of the Rahili planets that was a parasitic creature able to sap blood from other animals, the Totnu, adapted this DNA that they recieved from the species to create one of the most fearsom aspects of the Totnu species, their ability to turn other species into Totnu.
From this point onwards the Totnu gained a massive foothold in helping the Ragengar win their war as once a Totnu was able to gain a sizeable population on a planet and get in close range to the Rahili and their allies, they would be able to take over parasitically, this did on occassion cause them to take planets and scare off the Ragengar with threats of engulfing their species into the Totnu as well.
Over time the Ragengar were noted for having increasing distrust towards the Totnu and would eventually sever all ties as the Totnu had become remarkably unstable due to the massive amount of DNA flux in the species at the time due to the recent addition of species absorption to their biological arsenal.
===1st DT Era (~16,000 y.a. to 15,344 y.a.)===
Due to a critical weakenss that'd been forming within the Totnu Empire the society erupted into a race war between the major families whom had not been sharing DNA with one another resulting in the Totnu becoming radically different biologically within their own species, during this time several major families rose to prominence and this was one of the few times in history that the Totnu had multiple Firstborns.
The Ykiron Family had collapsed during this era as the at time ruling Firstborn was killed by her thirdborn child causing the family to splinter into 6 lesser families; Hirona, Makanto, Dosmanne, Kiresette, Poltarona & Grandana. Due to this destabilization of the main Totnu family the territories were divided up greatly as only a few families returned their massive wells of power, most notably the overall winners of the 1st DT (Destabilization Turnabout), the Esamana whom had reportedly been causing tensions to escalate between the Totnu families for some time, and unifying their own forces, remaining deep within Totnu territory to prevent losses on the battlefield.
While the Esamana rose to power remarkably quickly following the first few decades of destabilization they enacted the first of the three defining rules of the Totnu empire, the Law of Terms. The Esamana pushed to reduce internal tensions within families to prevent another assassination like what happened to the Ykiron and as such a parent would have to retire after a certain amount of time and would have to have their children more involved in their overall power, this also created what would be for a brief period of time, the Parliment of Totnu a relatively short-lived multi-ruled system that replaced the Firstborn system for some time, the Totnu eventually went back to Firstborn after corruption of Genetic Supremacy was discovered in the Parliment.
===Skulltaker Era (15,344 to 13,821 y.a.)===
Considered one of the most brutal and relentless periods in Totnu history, the Skulltaker Era is known for the ferocious tribalistic splinters of Totnu that appeared during this time and notes the first major expanse of Totnu territory. After the rise of the Esamana Family the Totnus focused on a Southern Front against a species known as the Anglodanada whom were a musically inclined species that the Esamana had targeted for a distinct ability they had known as Skulltaker which allowed the species to replicate the vocal systems of other species including non-sentient ones like Robots similar to many other Songbird species.
This war was one of the most ferocious for Totnu numbers however as the Anglodanada had Anti-Matter technology that allowed them to destroy Totnu in their entirety making it very difficult for the Totnu to make significant headway after the Anglodanada mobilized their military force.
During this time the Totnu had to move incredible numbers of soldiers from their northern territories to the southern territories to prevent capture of land and space from the Anglodanada and their allies whom had amassed together to fight the weakening Totnu, it was during this time that rebellions broke out as the Northern Territories were subjugated to extreme restrictions and argued that the Southern Territories used them as cannon fodder, thus the tribal rebellion occured where Totnu took on ferocious appearances in an attempt to invoke fear and panic in the Southern Territories that aside from the frontline families hadn't really had to deal with much of the war.
Accounts from neighbouring species described these Totnu as impossibly aggressive attacking everything and anything with weapons of unspeakable parallel, and their appearance had become both grotesque and fearsome taking on attributes commonly seen in Ursus and Pantheran species but also mixing in those from one of the most disturbing group of carbon-life forms, the Arachnia. These tribes heavily ravaged the central territories of the Totnu which forced their war with the Anglodanada to go into stand by as the Totnu for one of the few times in recorded history surrended, losing a great amount of territory.
During this conflict with their tribal uprising the Totnu massively improved their technological divisions as the need for more powerful weapons to overpower a group that was in every way as powerful as them eventually lead to the Southern Territories regaining power allowing them to take control back from the Northern Territories and enforce a strict Family control that many Southern Families most notably the Makanto, a splinter of the old Ykiron family used to respark their war with the Anglodanada, with the new technologies developed most notably an affluence for stealth, something that was for a long time considered irrelevant to the Totnu and has changed dramatically over the eras became their main method of taking over the Anglodanada species and attaining their Skulltaker ability.
In time the Totnu would also gain control of the Anglodanada's allies' territory giving the Totnu pressure on the very edges of the Centaurus Arm while also beginning to make progress in their first Arm Jump.
===Golden Road Era (13,821 to 12,906 y.a.)===
During this brief period of peace the Totnu had achieved after their conflict with the Anglodanada, they remained relatively stable, having the major families of the empire trade land and people allowing for better cohesion between the Totnu Empire as a whole.
The Era is named as such due to a trade that the Totnu had with a species known as the Hottilia in the Sagittarius Arm making it their first proper Arm Jump, although not for war purposes. The Golden Road traded with hundreds of species and greatly benefitted the Totnu whom were massive suppliers and inherited great swaths of technology and culture from other species willing to trade while the Hottilia were able to amplify their strange form of government helping them to gain more allies in the Sagittarius Arm during this period.
The Era was shortlived however as the ruling Firstborn passed away at the end of the era leading to the death of the Rangulla Family, unlike most Firstborns this one was infertile, due to a high dosage of radiation they were unable to reproduce or even change form, often getting them the nickname the Stone Queen as while the rest of the species changed, she did not. With no heirs the society once again fell into turmoil and although trade would survive from this era there would be a great deal of internal conflicts the likes of which would be just as fierce as the first DT.
===2nd DT Era (12,906 to 11,088 y.a.)===
Considered even more devestating than the first DT, the second DT occured following the death of the last in the royal line of the Rangulla Family, due to tensions that had arisen between the Northern and Southern Families the internal wars that broke out were brutal and vicious for many involved, only the Easternmost families whom focused on trade stayed out of the war.
Initially the war appeared to be going favourably for a Southern Family known as the Injino whom had annexed the capital territory and were making a major push northwards however an assassination on their leader cause the family to split in half between the two eldest siblings into the Zymbol & Haquin families, while the Zymbol Family retained power of the capital territory they did not have control of the southernmost territories of the old Injino family which had fallen to the Haquin Family instead, as such the Zymbol Family was completely surrounded in numerous fronts with other families.
Over time a family from the west, a strange family as it was known for its intense devotion to a religion that'd been influencing some aspects of Totnu society made a major push into the Capital Territory, creating what would be known as the Beruvian Hook, named after the Beruvian Family that made the push. This family was able to sever a major front between the Zymbol and a rival family from the north known as the Singrina. With this hook the Beruvians were able to make extreme profit from the war between the Zymbol and Singrina by selling both sides weapons and using the Beruvian Hook as an agreed no man's land for the two families to fight.
Whilst the Capital Territory was fought over by numerous families the Beruvians made a tactical move to annex the Westernmost territories of Totnu Space and in perhaps one of the most unique aspects of Totnu society the Beruvian Family married to a South-Western Family known as the Kihali whom were recognized for having distinct Genetic Advantages in the field of Bio-Adaptation allowing them to survive on less hospitable planets than most sub-groups within the Totnu empire. With this alliance and intermingling of genetics the Beruvian-Kihali Alliance effectively seized the remaining families of the Western territories either slaughtering them in entirety or integrating them into the alliance.
With this alliance the Beruvian and Kihali leaders deliberately killed off their children excluding one that was shared between the two Families whom would then take the place of both leaders creating the Beruvian-Kihali Family whom controlled most of the Western Territories as well as a decent amount of the Southern Territories as well. Over time the Zymbol Family was defeated by the Beruvian-Kihali Family and they gained control of the Capital Territory, due ot the defeat the Singrina agreed to ally with the Beruvia-Kihali effectively giving the alliance domination over the Northern Territories as well, with more than 60% of Totnu Space occupied by the alliance the rebel families eventually agreed to peace and the war concluded with the Beruvian-Kihali Leader taking the throne of Firstborn.
This also lead to the second of the three great laws enacted, that of family intermingling. By permitting families to combine together and even encouraging this with Economical bonuses the Beruvian-Kihali Family ensured greater stability in the Totnu Empire for the next 10,000 years as another DT would not occur due to these incredibly powerful families controlling great swaths of territory. With the territories once again united together under a Firstborn the Totnu focused their efforts northwards, where the badly damaged Northern Territories had lost planets to enemy species and what would be a bloodbath of other species was about to unfold.
==Trivia==
*The Totnu do not have a formal language although usually a first-generation of transformed species will retain some degree of their old language, instead the Totnu communicate through nerves located on the underside of their stubs which can send electrical messages to one another.
**Apparently this has been used a few times by the Totnu to kill off rival families by sending a kill message to the brain of another Totnu, however the effect in turn kills the Totnu sending it as well so while somewhat common in Totnu society this double suicide never has much impact.
*The Totnu are a fairly young race as the first recorded existence of the species in something akin to its final state was only 45,000 years ago, prior to that most agree that the species was likely still separate polymorphic species.
**Supposedly the reason the polymorphic species are unable to form something like the Totnu without other Polymorphic species is due to something that's become referred to as DNA Breakdown, which is where a Polymorph stores too much foreign DNA for their being causing them to be unable to hold form and thus collapse usually into a biological sludge. The Totnu are able to sustain this due to the expanded and refined Polymorphic structure they have from the initial Polymorph species that contributed to their creation.
Category:Species