Alastrans

Alastrans ('*The Starborn*' in their tongue) are a humanoid race of the Triangulum Galaxy. They are governed by a theocratic council of priests who are the leaders of a star-focused religion called The Path ('*Ad-Korsar',* "The Path Towards Ascension"). This council, called The Conclave guides the Alastran civilization through their exploration of the Galaxy.

Alastra believe they are born into a collective destiny for their race, and the actions of each contribute to the whole. They are governed by a priest class who have control over the rest of their society. The priests are motivated by seeking out and discovering new constellations which add to their broader mystical knowledge of their celestial powers. Each new constellation pattern that they discover unlocks new powers which they use in warfare against other races.

The Starborn believe they are the descendants of the Unnaki, a no-longer present race that is evidenced by remnants of their ancient civilization across this part of the universe. They are motivated by exploration of far-off planets, moons, asteroid belts and other celestial objects where this Ur-race have left behind knowledge and sources of power in their ancient structures. The Starborn seek out these temples and other places of power in search of new constellation patterns to follow what they believe was the destiny of the Ur-race: "Ascension" into a higher realm.

### **Locations / Geography**

#### **Homeworld**

The home world of the Alastrans is called *'Opir'* (which means Jewel). This name is a holdover from the early mythology of the ancient tribes that believed their planet was a jewel in the crown of the Creator Deity. While these earlier pagan myths are no longer followed or believed, the Alastrans like to maintain this connection to their ancient history to remind themselves of their humble origins as a primitive race in the cosmos.

Opir is a small, watery planet with a single supercontinent that stretches around the midst of the planet, far from the planet's icy poles. It has two even smaller moons, of equal size, called the Twin Brothers which cause constant eclipses with the nearest sun, called the Father Light. This regular but dramatic celestial activity caused the early tribes to be unduly preoccupied with astronomical phenomena, which eventually led to the founding of their global religion.

#### **Other Locations**

Alastrans maintain a number of other planets and points of interest in the surrounding star systems to their own. (Write more later.)

### **Biology**

Alastrans are biped humanoids in appearance. They have fair skin with a slight color to it depending on which part of Opir their ancestors evolved on. Some are in the blue to purple range, while some are reddish or orange-yellow. While this used to be a source of tribal warfare, Alastrans have long since abandoned their tribal structure and thus do not see skin color as anything other than a mark of geographic origin of their ancestors on Opir.

Alastrans are very sensitive to artificial light, preferring natural sources of light (particularly that of stars, which are sacred in their religion). Their eyes have a thin film of white over them and their hair has no pigmentation to it.

### **History**

Alastrans began as a fragmented, tribal society across their home world, Opir. A global culture did not emerge until the shamanic practices of various tribes emerged into a unified system of religion. This led to a unification of the tribes in the single-minded purpose of pursuing the ultimate destiny of their race, as told in their religious texts.

With greater cooperation between the various tribes, societal and technological progress was greatly accelerated until they reached the level of being a spacefaring civilization, maintaining Opir as the sacred center of their civilization, but branching outward to other worlds in search of the knowledge they desire.

### **Culture**

Alastran culture is heavily dominated by their religion, Ad-Korsar. It is both a religious belief system, and a political structure for society. It also informs their exploration of the mystical force known as "magic". Certain sages in the early years of Alastran history claim to have received visions from stargazing, a divinatory practice in which the early shamans of ancient Alstran tribes spent hours in trance communicating with the 'spirits' of stars in particular constellations. Through this visions, they received scriptures known as the Star Texts (*'Ket-Alast'*).

The Star Texts are a complicated library of revelations which cover a broad range of topics, from philosophy to politics to religion. The open-source nature of the Star Texts means that they are continually updated with 'new' revelations gained from the Seers, the inner circle of the Conclave. Seers are often sent on expeditions to find new 'constellations', arrangements of stars in particular patterns from specific angles, as the perspective of the cluster of stars seems to unlock prophetic and magical powers in the Seers.

The Star Texts talk of the ultimate destiny of the Alastran race, which is to follow the Ur-race into "Ascension", a shift into a higher realm where physical death does not occur. The Seers are obsessed with discovering locations and artifacts of the Ur-race which may provide further clues as to how they achieved "Ascension" so that they may replicate the process themselves, and take all Alastrans with them (supposedly...).