Eleanir Dominate

The Dominate's Impression

### History:

The Loud Dark [??? - 1692 ISC]The First Disarray [1692 - 1966 ISC]The Second Disarray [1966 - 2072 ISC]The Long Night [2072 ISC - Present]

## Misc.

### I.D. Code:

BUG

The *Eleanir Dominate* consists of the territory and resources at the disposal of Queen Eleanir of the *Illeptumiri Aristocracy*.

The **Illeptumiri** *(/il/-/ept/-/oo/-/mir/-/ee/)* are described as a race of tall, bipedal insectoids that come from their home-world of **Illeptumir**.

## Settlements therein

Homeworld Carrying Capacity: 27 Billion

Level of Industry: 7 / 19

Industrialization: 0 / 100

### **Illeptumir**

**Illeptumir** is located just outside of The Coral Belt's western edge, in the Northern Expanse of the Gothic Sector.

The second planet from its star, Illeptumir is a smaller size than that of Titan and has a weaker gravity. It possesses in its orbit a captured asteroid **Ilkatuun** *(/il/-/kah/-/toon/)*. The planet completes a single revolution around its star in a little over two Wessen years. Its days are longer on average than those of Titan, but lengthen and shorten with its seasons. During the day Illeptumir's temperature can vary widely.

Its atmosphere is composed of mostly nitrogen and oxygen, and its surface is covered by a myriad of mountains, crater valleys, forests and marshes. The bottoms of its shallow oceans are smothered by a layer of dark green moss, stretching across the planet's surface via broad canals and channels dug by its inhabitants. Its crimson vegetation grows tall and thin, and animals shed their pelts in the summer heat.

Its people are large and insectoid, clothed in fiber and conversing by thought and through pheromone. They stand seven feet tall on their hind legs, and construct large complexes of tall standing pyramidal shapes and deep triangular-faced burrows. They greatly enjoy music, games and food.

## **History**

*Illeptumir* has always been a savage world, even after the rise of intelligent life on its surface. Contemporary glimpses into the remnants of of the furthest recollections refer to much of its muddied history as the *loud dark*. Many Queens and their hives fought claw and mandible, squabbling over territory. To the ageless universe what little cooperation that existed between these struggles was brief, a blink beneath the unyielding gaze of a cosmic eye. Alliances were fashioned with scraps of tenuous threads. Opportune moments would present themselves and jealous Queens would attempt to secure their quarry, declaring themselves the most powerful.

These inklings of memory exist as shifting, nebulous foundations of stories passed through oral legend and grandiose murals, affirmed by the gene-memories of generations.

The largest and most authoritative of these immortal dynasties existed beneath the charge of **Kyjjikir** *(/kih/-/zhih/-/keer/)*. Her hive's fervent worship of the divine firmament that sat swirling above won them the favor of the Gods in a war against an ancient enemy. In a time of strife a fiery envoy was sent, striking down their foe. From the burning corpses Kyjjikir pried away the message of the Gods; a divine weapon, her claws gifted with the knowledge of their flesh.

She continued to abide by the whispers of her people's pantheon, her eyes transfixed on a visitor, another messenger entangled in the forbidden heights of the firmament's fabric. Generations passed in a desperate bid to reach it, her obsession prying her away from the looming threat around her.

*[1692 ISC]*. A powerful alliance formed between the hives of **Gaadria** *(/Gaah/-/dree/-/uh/)*, **Selenae** *(/Sell/-/eh/-/nay/)* and **Eleanir** *(/El/-/uh/-/near/)* sought to steal away her divine flames, to become the mouth of her mysticisms and claim the gaze of the envoy for themselves. Consolidating their powers the Queens did just that. After a long and bloody war Kyjjikir gasped her last breath, the last throes of *the great disarray*, her holy war against her usurpers dying away with little more than a whimper. Her broken people scattered or simply bent their knees.

After their campaign the three sisters' long harvest of victory followed. Their successes spread, reaping the benefits of their hard-fought battle and the flame of their peoples burning far brighter. Their children became firmly sown on other divine bodies within their newfound reach. However the claws of the Sisters' ravenous clutch on Illeptumir continued to dig deeper and tighter, their numbers steadily climbing and their bellies slowly starving. Their golden age was merely a thin patina over the looming crisis they would soon face, their minds quietly drawing plans against one another and biding their time.

*[1966] ISC*. Queen Eleanir's closing jaws struck first. Gaadria's voice was the first to suddenly fall silent. The majority of her children that had been safely tucked away on Ilkatuun could no longer hear her. Their voices searched and cried out, the echoing silence growing deafening. The *second* *great disarray* had begun. A generations-long conflict was waged between Gaadria's remaining children, Eleanir and Selenae. Each wrestled for total control of their small celestial pond. Across land, sea and the firmament's fabric they slaughtered one another until only the victor stood.

*[2072 ISC]*. Queen Eleanir surveyed what remained and pondered, lording over smoldering ashes. Other Queens bent their knee and listened to her voice, patiently biding their time. There were those who foolishly tried to kill her. But Eleanir was ruthless.

Her children spread across the Illeptumir system, preparations made to prolong their existence through the conquest of new ones. Their journey into the long night beyond their pond began, their colonies spreading in the space between stars.

## **Demographics**

### **Population**

Approximately 21 Billion Illeptumiri exist across the settled celestial bodies in their home system, with the majority of their population dwelling on their home-world of Illeptumir and its captured moon Ilkatuun.

### **Biology**

The Illeptumiri are evolved from large, burrowing bee-like insects that were pervasive on their home-world. On average they stand seven feet tall on two hind legs and possess six limbs, two of which are smaller than their forelimbs and are seated on their lower thorax. Parts of their body are coated in a thick brown fuzz above their natural chitin, and their backs are concealed by a large quartet of thin transparent wings. Both the male and female sex share these features while females are shorter on average, with longer wings and a distended thorax. Males have more pronounced spines on their forelimbs, and are often stronger than females. Both possess natural markings that serve to discern between them.

A small hive reproduces through a single Queen, who lays many eggs. A Queen may ritualistically permit other females within her hive to lay eggs, creating more members. From these eggs hatch genderless larvae, who pupate into adulthood only after one year. Within their cocoons their bodies develop, their limbs grow and their chitin shells harden. Their sex and niche in society are determined by the diet that these larvae are fed with.

They have no vocal chords with which to speak, and instead communicate amongst each other by way of body language and pheromonal signals detectable by a pair of antennae upon their heads and tiny hairs upon their limbs. Between members of their own hive, they share a telepathic 'imprint' with their Queen that allows them to noiselessly speak with one another. Different Queens possess unique psychic imprints.

Different members of Illeptumiri society are genetically predisposed and bred to fill certain roles within the larger super-organism. Some are naturally stronger soldiers or drones, others are vastly intelligent and conduct research for the benefit of their hives, and others still serve as powerful beacons to extend their Queen's psychic connection to her hive.

### **Education**

After pupating from a larval stage, adults are hatched from their cocoons already possessing an instinctual, rudimentary knowledge of their basic natural role within Illeptumiri society. However, there are a myriad of finer applications branching from these natural roles that are taught by both sanctioned tutors and through generational experience. Because of this every facet of society is by nature artisanal and, as a result, highly respected.

### **Religion**

Throughout their history Illeptumiri have maintained Polytheistic beliefs with regards to the natural world around them, and view their Queens as valuable bridges between the material world and these Gods. Offerings of eager, altruistic self-sacrifice are not uncommon and in fact certain sects of Illeptumiri are genetically tailored to curtail to the needs of specific rites and ceremonies. These ceremonies vary widely in length and complexity depending on either their purpose or the materials and practices required to complete them. Rituals and other prayer invoke the will and favor of Gods of harvest or war, of the firmament, or even the forces of the heavens that lay beyond it.

**Language**

Illeptumiri language is tied closely with their biology and is incredibly complex. Communication among members of a single hive takes the form of an ethereal psychic 'voice', linking together thoughts and basic intentions as unique as the thoughts between any two humans in order to form a conscious 'super-organism' comprised of individuals. Members of and between different hives are also capable of conversing via patterns of pheromones and physical gestures, as well as a simple system of pictograms and writing; commonly impressed upon a dried stone-like resin produced from between their mandibles.

**Family Structure**

A single Illeptumiri hive could be described as akin to that of a large 'family'. Organized hierarchically with its Queen at the top, her children assume numerous roles as intelligent consorts, drones, soldiers, nurses and a myriad of other invaluable and important responsibilities crucial to its function. It is also not uncommon for a bond to form between individuals or groups who hatched alongside one another, either within generations or among certain functional castes. Bonds between individuals of separate hives are not unheard of despite their more limited communication.

## **Government and Politics**

### **Government Structure**

The governance of Illeptumiri hives are that of a absolute Monarchy, its Queen sitting at the highest position as dictator. If her hive is large enough she is usually advised and assisted by consorts, viziers and other nobility who aid in decision-making, supervising and the administration of any territory. Law is tied closely to the decisions of the Queen as a result of this and can vary between hives.

### **Military**

Soldiers and drones serve to enforce the rule of law underneath their Queen. As a people, Illeptumiri are very prideful of their intensely selective breeding with regards to both civilian and military needs. They are in no short supply of strong genetically enhanced soldiers, naturally armored organic tanks, or even the likes of living aerospace fighters. That same prowess extends to the stars in the form of immense space-faring ships composed of a conglomerate of both biological and inorganic materials, housing their own atmospheric pockets and functioning as veritable micro-ecosystems.

## **Economy**

Primarily based upon an established system of bartering between the trade of crops, exchange of services or materials, and boons between members or organized bodies.

### **Agriculture**

The Illeptumiri have thrived off their relatively distant discovery of agriculture. Large networks of carefully cultivated crops are irrigated by the sprawling network of aquatic canals that they have excised throughout and between their densely populated hives. Grains, cereals, reeds, fungi, vegetables and fruits are harvested before the onset of the colder season. Their flocks of meticulously domesticated livestock serve their needs as both food and as offerings of sacrifice to their numerous Gods.

### **Industry**

Illeptumiri industry has relied heavily upon the production of food, metals for war, and the organisms they use to wage those wars. The destruction of any fertile land with which to produce food is disastrous, and their ever-growing population and hunger for conquest ensures homeostatic stability is only a luxury to be dreamt of.

Illeptumir's oceans are home to an array of several massive centers of production, dedicated to the synthesis and use of raw materials. Large refinery organisms are employed to manufacture supplies, from the breeding of living war-machines and starships to the smelting of metals within their numerous red-hot stomachs. Purposefully bred to do so, they are the figurative and literal crucibles of the Illeptumiri's industrial backbone.

### **Energy**

Like any organism, the synthesizing of energy takes place via the consumption and digestion of food. This is shared between the Illeptumiri or any of their other biological machines. The supply of available food directly determines the supply of energy.

**Transportation**

The primary method of transportation on Illeptumir is by boat. Immense canal-faring vessels consistently trade between hives along their routes, their hulls filled to brimming with food, goods and materials as they travel from place to place. Journeying to space is a matter handled by gigantic living craft, bred and launched from the planet's oceans to orbit before preparing to set a course between stars.

## **Culture**

**Cuisine**

Illeptumiri are omnivorous and have an immense appreciation of food. They are just as versed in the culinary arts as they are in their genetic arts; though their species' palate may vary from hive to hive, their dishes as well can vary widely. Despite their opportunistic cannibalism, they regularly serve many dishes from the lowliest of cereal gruel to delicacies reserved only for the mandibles of their Queens. Soups and stews, baked goods and pastries, and the fruits borne of their livestock or of their oceans are all on the menu.

**Literature**

Illeptumiri literature is lacking, mainly due to the fact that their psychic hivemind enables them to possess a cultural memory 'imprint', and that they are incapable of telepathically communicating with individuals or Queens from other hives. History is largely transposed through this memory, or orally through their hive's voice. What remains is a rudimentary script comprised of arguably universal symbols and pictograms, often employed through the use of murals or other more grandiose appliques. In other cases it is more than capable of enabling communication between individuals that involve more nuance than would otherwise be possible through the supplanting of physical or pheromonal exchange.

**Philosophy**

To an Illeptumiri, their existence is owed solely to the efforts of the Gods and their Queen, on their behalf. Duty and service to their hive and their Queen is a primal urge that takes precedent above all other interests, and is both deeply noble and fulfilling to enact. Their deeply held sense of this purpose is the fuel that carries them through their lives whether it be through the throngs of battle, the grasses of fields or the halls of royalty. While Illeptumiri are a conscious super-organism, their collective individuality serves a greater whole.

**Music**

Music is a nearly universal communicator among their race, and they revel in it. All manner of instruments including woodwinds, percussion and strings are artisanal both in the nature in which they are made and played. Vast collaborative, generational compositions tell a myriad of stories. Battles of yore and times of strife, bountiful harvests and passionate tales are all represented in their musical tongue. If there are two aspects of Illeptumiri culture that could be considered crucial pinnacles of their society, food and music are among them.

**Cinematography**

What can be traditionally thought of as 'cinematography' is an utterly alien concept to an Illeptumiri, but they are certainly no stranger to dramatized recreations of stories through stage-play. While not as evocative as their music, it is an excellent accompaniment and is typically an affair reserved for observation by those among the higher strata in society.

**Sports**

Colosseum Blood-sports and Gladiatorial combat are both honorable and entertaining. These are more generally regarded as affairs enjoyed by all castes, despite the fact that their participation is almost exclusively dominated by lower-class or prisoners of war.