Thadrakos: Biology, Culture & Society

The Thadrakos; a species whose appearance resembles the mystical elves of human fantasy, tall & lean, exquisite craftsmen of all arts from painting & writing to singing, dancing & symphonies, sculpting and weaving. Their bodies are unmarked and perfect, their hair silky to the touch and the eyes glowing a golden hue; a cultured people who appreciate art in many forms but especially music and with a lesser regard for cooking than most other crafts.

No matter the differences between species in the galaxy there is always a welcoming hand from the Thadrakos so long as you are a being of culture. They speak with voices that please all who hear them, they charm with their wit and graces; jovial and happy almost always, their worlds are paradises to behold.

That is of course as long as they don't end up enslaving or eating you...

## Biology

### Appearance

The Thadrakos are best described as the elves from the fantasy tales of human literature, the Thadrakos and Elves do share a strikingly similar appearance and even some aspects of their culture; Thadrakos average around the heights of 170cm and there is little variance in this though if there is they tend to be taller rather than shorter, they also tend to weigh 70kg when fully grown (These statistic combine both male and female and meet in the middle, females tend to be just shy of 170cm and weigh shy of 70kg, the opposite holds for males)

Still holding true to elven stereotypes, they have pointed ears and unmarked skin and there hair is soft and silk-like; outwardly this is where the similarities end, their irises are all golden and they have no ethnic variance. On the inside many things are different yet much also stays the same.

### Inside A Thadrakos

Thadrakos have ears around four times more sensitive than humans yet also possess a duller sense of taste, their blood runs a dark blue and their metabolism is extremely high compared to others; this metabolism is almost insatiable by most types of food, only two methods can sate a Thadrakos appetite. The consumption of meat, the second best way for it brings the metabolism down around what would be considered average human levels for about a week, the best way though is the consumption of an intelligent species, the more intelligent the better (this is why meat also works as it often comes from a primitive animal and most animals possess a measure of intelligence)

The consumption of an intelligent being is the greatest source of food to the Thadrakos, the consumption of just a single meal made from an intelligent lifeform is enough to sate a Thadrakos for over three weeks, consuming said meal lowers metabolism to extreme lows and besides consuming small portions of food to occupy themselves they need not eat at all.

#### Other notable features inside a Thadrakos

Besides the blue blood the Thadrakos share a very similar set of organs to humans, the only real difference is that the Thadrakos have two stomachs that even put together do not equal the size of a human stomach, one stomach digests food at an astonishing rate and a slow eater could continuously eat forever if it wouldn't kill him while the other stomach can hold food for prolonged time periods without digesting it (though it to is capable of digesting food rapidly if needed)

The lungs are also slightly different, within the lungs are sub compartments, these compartments separate inhaled air into different gasses and absorb each separately; this makes the process slower and as the air gets thinner in their lungs it becomes very slow, so the Thadrakos breath in sharp amounts of air and exhale sooner so as to take in another large sum of rich air. The more rapid breathing is not noticeable though as at a young age the Thadrakos learn to do this quietly without effort. As a benefit though, if part of the lung is damaged it only effects the relative compartment while the others carry on, whereas the entire human lung is effected if damaged.

#### Healing ability

The Thadrakos can somehow supercharge their metabolism and convert the energy into healing properties, this is only achievable when the metabolism has been brought down though through the consumption of intelligent life, the healing is not a magical lifesaver though, wounds do not just seal up and limbs do not grown back. Really it is only useful to stop prolonged bleeding and to heal burns and scrapes before they become scars.

#### Reproduction

The method of reproduction is no different to that of humans besides a few timestamps, after conception the unborn child takes a year and a half to conceive but has a heightened physical growth between the ages 2-7 years old, by the time a Thadrakos is 8 it is the size a an almost fully grown human (if that human would be fully grown around the height of 170cm). Mentally the child develops faster than humans between the ages 3-8 but then slows from 9-15 which then reignites mental growth one last time between 16-19.

Overall by the age of 20 a Human and Thadrakos have had an equal amount of development and are of roughly the same intelligence (though humans are natural engineers and pull ahead in these fields)

## Society & Culture

Thadrakos society exists perpetually in a feverous state of compulsive obsession, every Thadrakos lives to become a peerless ideal, an unachievable state of absolute perfection; any action that deviates from this path is harshly ridiculed or outlawed, in example life-prolonging healthcare or cosmetic surgery is totally outlawed as the perfection must come from themselves.

To achieve this state, all Thadrakos are taught from the days they are able to learn the ways of art; singing, dancing, sculpting... but this peerless ideal is something none can achieve and so forever the Thadrakos are locked within themselves, more concerned with painting art or writing books; In the age of space exploration this obsession did not extinguish but fuelled it, with access to millions of slaves the Thadrakos need never bother with menial tasks ever again.

### The Society

Ruled over by The Five Thadrakos Families, the Thadrakos are an oligarchic nation that blends a feudal type system with commerce & industry; the rulers are considered regal and the highest of nobility but not kings or queens, the Thadrakos who work beneath their respective ruling family are also considered nobility but not considered a regal family. While it is alike a vassalage system there is not the usual infighting as the great houses are aligned in unification and enact an act similar to an old earth structure called 'the separation of powers'. By separating all industry at its most basic level the families are dependent on each other for mutual benefit, over time the trust system has become more established and mutual so cooperation has only increased since its implementation.

The Thadrakos are, on one hand the cultural centre of the galaxy, on the other they're also the largest and most prominent slavers; almost the entirety of Thadrakos species lives as upper or upper-middle class citizenry, to this nation there is no such thing as a lower class. There are just two classes in their minds, the Nobles and the slaves.

To make this description a palpable one, a quick demographic does the talking.

Figures taken when Thadrakos Pop numbered roughly 120 billion

* The 5 Families: 0.00833333333333...% of total Thadrakos Pop
* The Upper Classes: 43% of total Thadrakos Pop
* The Upper Middle Classes: 38%
* The Middle Classes: 19%

The figures relay that the Thadrakos are all generally an affluent people, this wealth is only sustained though the use of billions of slaves; to sustain the wealth of the decadent citizenry, billions of slaves labour tirelessly for no profit besides the clothes they wear and the food they eat, there are at this point more slaves than there are citizens (1.5 or even 2 slaves for every Thadrakos).

With more slaves than citizens their is no need for Thadrakos to do any sort of work in the typical sense, even the middle classes do not occupy their day (in-fact most middle class citizens are simply younger families that have not yet fully established themselves on the new colonies). Now with no need to work they spend their days listening to opera, dancing and practicing to better themselves to achieve the peerless ideal.

#### The Thadrakos

There is surprisingly little to say besides what has already been said, the Thadrakos occupy their time by ether: watching art in its various forms, discussing art in its various forms or practicing art in its various forms; unless the Thadrakos is inside military ranks or performing vital state work (like discussing art with emissaries) then their is little deviance from this.

#### Thadrakos Law Enforcement

Among the Thadrakos there is little need for it, they are all wealthy and have no need to steal or vandalise, murder is rare as most Thadrakos do not dare get into even minor scuffles from fear of ruining their flawless skin with a scratch; also most small and large families generally get along and any bad blood is settled through other paths, what little authority they do use are simple peacekeepers, Thadrakos concerned with mastering more athletic paths often pick this. The peacekeepers are generally unneeded and spend their time practicing with weaponry or athletic courses, most work they actually do is keep the younger and thus more rebellious Thadrakos out of trouble. Occasionally they may be called upon to arrest Thadrakos who break market rules or healthcare regulation.

A second enforcement unit is used but not for any real purpose other than to look pretty and scare children out of doing silly things like climbing fences (and thus potentially falling and scaring themselves) or generally being brats. This enforcement unit is simply called the clock-men, basic machines with very simple programmes that detect and oversee children in public places, rudimental in design they can only detect the most obvious behaviours such as climbing walls or running around. If it see's a child up to trouble then it can only follow the child and obstruct it, it cannot grab them or literally stop a child if it tried to pass, instead it gives a stern recorded warning and appeals to adults to take the child back to its parents.

#### The Slaves

Slaves are generally purchased by the Thadrakos, whether it be official trade or shady underground dealings; when the Thadrakos dare to invade a planet and come out the victor, the inhabitants can expect the same fate. Once a 'servant' though the treatment of the slave is surprisingly civil and non-harsh, many beings from the conquered minor nations or taken from their hovels by slaver almost feel better as a slave than they were free; this doesn't come from the kindness of Thadrakos hearts though, a Thadrakos surrounds itself in beauty and elegance... slaves cannot be expected to be perfect as they are too far lost in comparison to the Thadrakos, but they can at least work efficiently, be civilised and look less disgusting; this means that the slaves often wear fine attire and decently fed enough to not shake with hunger, content slaves are obedient ones which is important when they're expected to work in mines, serve food for guests and generally be around the citizens.

That only holds for slaves that work in the presence of their masters, for the miners, farmers and general maintenance the slaves are a dime-a-dozen throwaway resource expected to last through a good decade of hard labour, have children and then die; its body ether served as food for other slaves or used as fertiliser (the slaves do not know this though) Even their treatment is better than average though, there is no crack of whips or cries of pain, even these slaves are treated decently (by galactic slave standards at least) even most of the super heavy lifting is done for them, slaves are not expected to cut rock with picks or dig with shovels, automated robots do the generic work... these robots are unrefined though and will kill slaves in their way.

#### Slave Enforcement

Again this isn't from the kindness of their hearts; Thadrakos cannot stand to look upon the sight of lesser races in such number, they would rather leave the slaves to themselves to be governed through invisible action, many stronger slaves are turned into enforcers and gifted food and housing privileges in exchange for the obedience they distil…these enforcers are encouraged to be brutal and vicious to stir hatred of each other within slave ranks and keep them disunited. Mistakes are also heavily punished; entire families of slaves have met their end at the hand of Thadrakos unpleased with the work done, rarely though is such a course taken.

Part of the enforcement simply comes from separation, slaves are not bunched together into a massive centre location but spread out; many house-slaves actually live alone in a single room of a Thadrakos house, the miners and farmers also receive housing near the place of work and are often jumbled around between many places to stop slaves forming friendships or plots.

If a slave rebellion ever were to occur though; this is not the days of old, back in old times slaves were stuck with sticks and rusted tools against swords and spears, these days they're stuck with rusted tools and perhaps the odd old ballistic weapon... against laser guns, energy shields, artillery, air superior fighters, orbital fleets, tanks, mechs and professional terror assassins.

#### The 'other' slave purpose

All in all the slaves believe they are treated fairly... that's because they don't know what the Thadrakos eat, people. Though the Thadrakos do not eat slaves every day they do on an almost weekly occurrence, slaves who are known to be loners and alone are generally picked out so that none will miss them; their appetite is largely just a rumour with slaves for they never really see any proof of it, there are no cattle farms for slaves anywhere and they are not bred for tastiness. Because of the Thadrakos dull sense of taste they do not particularly bother to fatten up slaves or make them tender, generally they just pick out who they want to eat based on what they think they fancy, this especially includes Thadrakos unfortunate enough to be slaves as they are particularly more flavoursome than other xeno... but due to the availibitly of other xeno meat and the lack of Thadrakos slaves this has become a rarer delicacy

### Culture

Perfectionism. Is. Everything.

The above encapsulates the culture of the Thadrakos, anything they do is for this goal to be perfect and become a peerless ideal. Long ago the Thadrakos held member of its society in such high regard that they were believed to be flawless, now though the families tell the Thadrakos that they had become contempt and weak and thus none could be flawless. It is now the duty of all to reached again for perfection.

Th strive to be perfect makes Thadrakos skilled at any task if that is what they choose to perfect. To ensure that all Thadrakos have hopes of achieving perfection they are tested around the ages of 23-25 in a series of trials. The first year of trials tests their noble skills; art, sculpting, dancing and singing... these tests are compared to the work of veteran and respected Thadrakos in the tested area. (This means that their is almost always a better product to compare the candidate work with)

One of the tests is singing, the aspect of art held most highly in Thadrakos regard, due to this regard the test is actually extremely high standard even for Thadrakos; while all Thadrakos sound like amazing singers to us, to them a single note ever so slightly mispatched or mistimed and the song is ruined, this means that this test is actually has a large fail rate. To accommodate the extreme standard (that ensure over 93% of Thadrakos fail this test) a second standard was put in, the new standard was called a merit pass, an official recognition that the singer had the natural talent and grace of Thadrakos but not enough to be considered a professional singer.

There is nothing that cannot be perfect or beautiful, otherwise it is trash. Buildings must be crafted from the finest stone and sculpted or built by a Thadrakos hand; out-rightly obsessive beyond all practicality, this even translates to their own bodies. Newborn Thadrakos are inspected for physical flaws and any genetic disease, if anything is found then the baby is killed, as the child grows up it is constantly re-inspected for any developing flaws or defects.

A single scar or loss of hair can drive Thadrakos to exile as their appearance has taken leaps back in progress to perfection; fortunately due to their rapid healing ability and more resilient bodies, many minor scratches a child obtains in youth are healed over completely and wounds that may leave a permanent faint mark on a human will totally heal for a Thadrakos. The extended healing is not magic though and doesn't erase deep wounds, so fighting is still generally avoided... except in the initial trials which involve a high risk arena like environment that could leave a scar (but part of the point is to come out of the 'Drakos' trial unscathed, because you obviously aren't perfect if you do) the trial also involves a final duel with other candidates but the weaponry is fake and non bruising to avoid scaring.

##### Laws as result of culture

It is illegal to unnaturally prolong lifespan or enhance yourself ether cosmetically or generally, this is cheating in the Thadrakos mind and all achievements towards perfection must be obtained through your own genes within you naturally, this thinking has greatly set back many technological developments as researchers fear prosecution for creating technology. Most notably healthcare is rather backwards as any unnatural treatment is a crime, but what is an 'unnatural treatment'?... if mixing plants together for a drinkable healing concoction is natural then why is it unnatural to take the chemicals from those same plants and use them to create a vaccine for a genetic disorder?

The same goes for scars and slight skin tone variation; if the body cannot fully heal a scar and all it needs is lotion made in a high tech lab rather than by hand (though still with the same ingredients), then why is the lotion made by hand legal, but the same lotion made much better in a lab, illegal?

The backwards notion seems to think that somehow technology is unnatural despite the fact that a simple mortar & pestle and some brewing used to be the cutting edge of technological knowledge. The ingredients are the same, they're just taken apart at a biochemical level with lab tech rather than at a physical level with a knife.

This has however given the Thadrakos a strong immune system as they have barely touched pesticides or anti-biotics and after effectively using selective breeding on their own populace by killing defective children they have bred themselves into disease resistant machines... at least until other aliens delivered crippling diseases to them and they were forced to roll out vaccinations en masse or face extinction... also the slight problem of lacking genetic variance is rearing its head in Thadrakos society, with almost all Thadrakos being killed for feature such as naturally green hair or non-golden eyes the gene pool is becoming very linear. Though the problem will not be as bad as inbreeding it is still an upcoming one.

With all that has happened the Thadrakos have begun reconsidering the notion of what is natural... the humans can live around 300 years now and they have not fallen any further and still look and act the same; the whole surgically replacing organs is obviously unnatural, as is replacing parts with mechanical arms... but, is one round of gene therapy taken from plants we already consume daily really unnatural...?

## Additional Notes

Thadrakos cities blend old world aesthetic with technology. On the surface many cities are old world type in architecture but also slight robotic, this appeases the more militaristic minded as they associate much of their tradition with pastime military that existed at the same time as this...

But times also demand change and more modern cities have sprung up in the space age.

There is also a native species of the Thadrakon home-world called the Drakos, a once closely related ancestor that boasted a brutish strength but lacked intelligence, as the Thadrakos pulled ahead and began to strive for absolute perfection they genetically lobotomised the Drakos and confined them to a small island as a breeding ground for the first slave labourers.

## Post Series

Before the series ended the Thadrakos are a people divided, both in culture and in state; the once united Thadrakos realm is split three-way, the ruling Thadrakos could not see in their ignorance the seeds of rebellion. The proverbial ivory towers burned as slaves and more liberally inclined Thadrakos rose up, the security of the Thadrakos Families was lacklustre and their heads rolled for it. Due to these events, all the information above applies to the Thadrakos who live under the flag of the families.

### Security

However this sudden shift of power did foster a much needed sense of paranoia in the next generations of the ruling five families, from 2350 onwards a greater emphasis was put on internal security; the security measure now included a standing army, less slaves, anti-smuggling efforts and the once redundant 'clockmen' were fitted to be capable of incapacitating others if a remote switch was flipped. By the standards of other nations this internal security could still be considered sub-par but for the Thadrakos this was a radical change, they went from literally no committed security to having actual professions in duties similar to 'policing'

### Reform ?

Besides a recognition that slaves could actually be dangerous, especially when supplied by others, the Thadrakos under the flag of the five families did not change; these Thadrakos thus continued as they had always done, albeit, this time with more vigilance. The only *reform* you could consider was a redraft of the act of unification, or more precisely several clauses were added to give more power to the forces that now hunted dissidents... unity enforced through secret police and threat of death was now officially recognised.

### Immigration / Emmigration

Even 4000 years past the events of the unbidden invasion, the Thadrakos of the five families still outlaw the movement of people between themselves and the Thadrakos Star Union; for this nation built itself from the flame of revolution and would stand against the ideals that many had held all their lives. However a more amicable approach was given to the Thadrakos Dynasty, as the star union had joined the entente the balance of power was locally upset, to counter this a more harmonious relationship was established. Many times a second unification was considered, a sort of feudal monarchy system was proposed (the king of the Thadrakos Dynasty would be the ruler of the reunited Thadrakos, the five families would become the equivalent of dukes with a seat on a council) but often fell through as both sides clutched firmly to the power they had and any unification would have to include the relinquishment of some power on both sides.

### Time goes on

The Thadrakos of both the Five Families and Dynasty slowly slid off the stage, becoming less relevant as the superpowers around them set their gazes on galactic expansion; by the time the Thadrakos of the Five Families had the vague interest in expansion the Eternal Empire had already established themselves on the other nearest galaxies, and aggressively hunted down the few Thadrakos who did try their luck. While they did eventually set foot into other galaxies, they never truly established a presence in any of them, on the galactic stage the Thadrakos were still recognised though... and for no other reason than the art they made, it seems that even across the galaxies, the Thadrakos really are the most artistically driven (other species were good artists but none rivalled the absurd fanatical devotion to creating art that the Thadrakos had)

The Thadrakos of the Star Union were the ones who kept the Thadrakos species on the galactic map, being one of the few species in the Entente to not have a majority synthetic population (Most of the Entente was a synthetic population after the Commonwealth created the technology capable of making themselves fully synthetic). While they had taken a sharp path away from their 'regressive' Thadrakos brethren, the ideals of remaining largely pure / natural held its sway; they were not fanatics and some still did opt for synthetic bodies, but the majority of the Thadrakos Star Union is still organic. This has actually proved useful though, as the Galactic Entente began galactic expansion they found many feared them due to their largely robotic nature; the Thadrakos, who remained largely natural, became important diplomats and ambassadors as their natural charisma, charm, and the fact they were not a 'robot' where key to smoothing over many first contact situations.