Collective

The Collective is a conglomerate of alien species who have joined together to expand and discover new systems, using the combined skills, advantages, and numbers of each species it inducts.

## Species

There are eight major alien species that make up the Collective, listed here from date of joining, arranged oldest to newest:

* Kyrema
* Krai
* Jazekii
* Semrians
* Sorgati
* Humans
* Tervani
* Viveni

## Organization

### Government

Each citizen of the Collective is implanted with neural nanotechnology, enabling connectivity to the Collective’s Neural Supernetwork, which allows for quick and easy exchange of data and information between peers. This technology forms the basis for Collective society, as it allows each individual to upload and download knowledge as they need, as well as allow for a decentralized government in the form of a pure, direct democracy (though sometimes Ministers are appointed by the Citizenry in the case of disputes). Crime is also regulated through this technology; though the Collective’s laws are few in number, and serve only to protect others from harm or wrongdoing, the laws are enforced directly. Though simply thinking about committing a crime does not constitute a criminal charge, seriously considering or taking action to commit a crime do result in warnings and criminal charges, though charges often result in Merit reductions or, in the worst case, rehabilitation.

### Military/Police

The Vanguard makes up the Collective’s police, military, and specialists. It is divided into several branches:

* Peacekeepers - Main public police force of the Collective.
* Tacticians - High-ranking Officers within the military that supply strategic knowledge.
* Combatants - Main fighting forces of the Vanguard. Soldiers, Warlocks, Warriors.
	+ Air Combatants - The Air-Force division of the Combatants.
	+ Sea Combatants - The Naval equivalent of the Combatants.
* Sentinels - Central Espionage Division of the Vanguard. Infiltrators, Assassins, Spies.
* Lifekeepers - Doctors, Surgeons, Medical Officers and Search and Rescue Teams make up the Lifekeepers.
* Practitioners - Similar to Advisors, but continually practice in their individual fields within the Vanguard as military personnel.
* Advisors - Non-military personnel that bring auxiliary expertise to the Vanguard; Medical, Physical, Chemical, Engineering, et cetera.
* Consulars - Citizenry-appointed regulators that assure the input of the Citizenry is made clear to the Vanguard, specifically the Tacticians and Advisors.
* Star Guardians - The space forces of the Vanguard. Starship pilots and Combatants trained specifically for space combat. Were originally more like a Coast-Guard-type organization - they have now been militarized after the threat of the Colossus arose.

## Economy

Merit is the Collective’s system of currency, or lack thereof. In the Collective’s world of post-scarcity, there is no need to pay for belongings, food, water, shelter, et cetera. Those can all be provided for the Collective Citizen in any justifiable number as long as said citizen has a requisite level of Merit (a base level is provided to each Citizen so that they are able to live rather comfortably). Merit is gained through acts which benefit Collective society, from doing good deeds that help other Citizens, to baking muffins for public consumption, to creating a statue for public display, to saving the lives of those caught in a building fire. Merit is not lost through obtaining goods, and is therefore not a currency. Gaining Merit only results in being able to access a higher standard and quality of non-essential goods. Merit is only lost through criminal actions.

## Society and Culture

The foremost influential power in the galaxy, the seed colonies of the Collective span a great area of the Milky Way. Having gathered new races into its ranks, the Collective has not conquered these races, but these races have worked together to conquer scarcity. Putting illustrious technology and prowess to work, the citizens of the Collective have built up habitable worlds and created self-sustaining systems on a galactic scale. Food, water, shelter, power, entertainment, connectivity and all else is readily available to those under the Collective’s umbrella.

### Practices

In addition to the Neural Supernetwork (the Neuranet), nanotechnology makes itself apparent in almost all corners of Collective life, from carpet-cleaning to printing parts for starships. The Collective also makes use of benevolent AI that assist them in daily life in numerous scopes of work, home life or otherwise, in exchange for technological freedom. This symbiotic relationship is upheld, and so the Collective continues to prosper.

As the cherry on top, the Collective practices genetic modification. Through gene editing, the Collective Citizenry is free of disease, are adaptable to a wide range of climates, pressures and atmospheres, and have ‘cured’ aging - the Citizens of the Collective do not age past their early adulthood, and thus live forever, unless killed by other means.