Grakatetorus

The Grakatetorus[Trans] is the primary government body for the Ishkalai people and the worlds they inhabit, centered on their homeworld, Razzan, an astronomically short distance from the borders of the Titanbornes Roost and the Conglomerate itself.

Compared to the Magdoran Conglomerate, the Grakatetorus is a technologically comparable, but much older and much more aggressive- at least when acting in perceived self-defense- stellar empire, most apparent in how much of a fight they put up for the duration of the Magdoran-Grakatet First Contact War. The Grakatetorus is also known to occupy an extensive region of space, but exact borders are not known by the Conglomerate, aside from those directly shared.

## Society

Like with the Ishkalai itself, the Grakatetorus is particularly communal in both structure and behaviour- every individual is representative of their pack, and every pack is representative of its individuals. Socially, an individual is expected to uphold the standards of their pack as best as they are able, to both earn their keep within their pack and to aid in uplifting the collective among its competitors.

While packs are generally under the guidance of larger managerial packs, present for the express purpose of aiding individual packs be represented and supported at larger scales, a pack is solely responsible for matters within its own territory, and matters such as disputes about said territory rarely see outside intervention. As such, while the greater Grakatet culture is present in all packs, everything from artistic stylings to specific shared philosophies can vary wildly between individual packs. The fact that there can be such difference between their collectives is something often touted by the Grakatet at large as a sign of their strength as a nation.

### Asa-Qitet

Commonly seen as both an essential piece of their technology and a sign of an individual having earned their place in their pack, the asa-qitet[Trans] is a small device capable of projecting extremely high-voltage arcs out of a specified node, which in greater Grakatet culture is then incorporated into a larger mechanism to serve a desired purpose, be it as a tool, a weapon, or even an artistic piece.

Whereas larger pieces are used for industrial or military purposes, the most recognizable asa-qitet is the size of a Magdoran fist, and is gifted to individuals who have performed a noteworthy task in the favour of the pack they live with, typically as part of coming-of-age rites, competitions, or simply for an extraordinary feat. For freshly adult Ishkalai in particular, these devices are often incorporated into a signature item related to their lifestyle or profession, as frequently seen with Ishkalai hunters.

## Structure and Economy

Furthering the point of their highly pack-oriented nature still, the Grakatetorus is economically structured around a form of meritocratic communism; every individual and pack provides to their neighbours as they are able, and they are repaid in turn by the same neighbours according to the value of what they provided. Packs themselves are led by the "most capable" members of their territory, with the precise definition of this shifting with the individual focus and philosophies of the pack in question, with the exception of packs that exist to monitor and maintain order between other packs, such as those responsible for individual planets and star sectors.

On an individual scale, trade is typically done on the basis of barter and debts, if the trade is at all exceptional- common trades such as food and shelter are often done without any direct form of exchange, with materials and property provided simply on the basis that an individual is performing their duty to their pack. For anything less typical, the trade is performed either with an immediate exchange of agreed upon items, or with the expectation that the individual not immediately providing anything either will, or has, performed exceptionally for their collective, or otherwise owes the provider in some manner. While matters such as currency have been known to appear in Grakatetorian society, none have seen any significant widespread use.

## Technology

Compared to the Conglomerate, the Grakatetorus is roughly a thousand years more advanced in every significant way- however, they lack any major Ucrylium-based technology employed by the Conglomerate- not the least of which being their faster-than-light and computational systems.

Of particular note is the technology involved and stemming from their *asa-qitets*- with the added danger presented by life on a storm world like Razzan, the asa-qitets initially started as culturally-significant lightning rods, but as their culture and technology developed, the significance of *controlling* lightning became quite large, stemming both from and significantly further into more developments for this branch of their technology. The first modern form of the asa-qitet arrived with the development of advanced electrical capacitors and delivery systems, and were themselves responsible for the second half of the Ishkalai's industrial revolution.

With abundant fossil fuels and later weather-based power sources, the asa-qitets would become a commonplace item well before reaching the space age, while larger-scale devices of the same nature would be developed. By the time they were just leaving their home system, the Ishkalai would already have offensive and defensive energy projectors comparable to first-contact Magdoran ones, and some of this would later stem into Ishkalai plasma-grid shield systems.