Eliksni

The **Eliksni** are an insectoid race native to the planet Riis, they are members of the United Stellar Alliance and were formally in a secret alliance with Vilgax.

## Physiology

The Eliksni are a hardy species, and can survive in a wide range of environments without heavy armor or complex modifications to their physiology. Eliksni have four arms with each hand possessing three fingers, partable mandibles and typically wear a helmet with a built-in respiration apparatus. Respiration is assisted by spiracles. The Eliksni can regrow their arms if removed from their body. Their blood color is reddish purple. Eliksni hatch from eggs and have soft and translucent shells when very young. It is believed that they molt at least once as they grow.

Eliksni depend on a substance called Ether to survive, which only Servitors and worlds terraformed to their suiting can produce. A single kilogram of Ether is enough to keep an Eliksni alive for a day. Ether also serves as a hormone for the Eliksni allowing to grow, mature, and regrow lost limbs when they molt. When traveling beyond their own worlds Servitors convert scavenged matter and energy, presented to them ritualistically by the Eliksni, directly into ether via unknown processes. Higher-ranking Eliksni that travel beyond their systems get a bigger ration of ether, and more ether allows Eliksni to grow in size; this is evident by their rankings Captains are taller than Vandals or Dregs, and why Kells and Archons tower over other Eliksni; the Kell of a House controls and distributes ether flow using their own personal Elder Cipher. When a Eliksni is killed, a quantity of ether escapes its body and dissipates.

Dregs and Wretches stand at 6'4 feet tall, Vandals are 7'10 feet tall, and Captains stand at least 9-12 feet tall. Some of their Barons, Archons, and Kells are at least 12 feet.

As it turns out, the Captain are actually the true form of the Eliksni. The distribution of Ether are a form social control for when their soldiers travel outside of their territory after first contact was made with the Gems. It was necessarily original before the Kells of the ruling Houses of Kings, Devils, Wolves, and Winter became corrupted.

## History

### Early History

For millennia, the Eliksni have expanded and control multiple star systems within their territory and in an unknown event, they made contact with the Stella Alliance and granted membership. However, the Eliksni's leaders secretly formed an alliance with the Chimera Sui Generis warlord Vilgax after he had repelled an invasion from the Cabal lead by their former leader Dominus Ghaul so Vilgax would not attack them, and in return they supply him with information about the current events going on with the Stellar Alliance.

## Culture

The Eliksni culture is a social organization separated into Houses each lead by a Kell. Their race is known for their privateer warfare tactics and cloaking devices, devices that were first developed as toys for their children. They have control of multiple star systems and have defended their territory for millennia. Should an Eliksni commit a crime or fail in their assignments in a way that would disgrace their own leaders they are to undergo "Docking," a ritual of humiliation that ensures their obedience by cutting off an Eliksni's lower arms and placing docking caps on the stubs to prevent them from regrowing making them Dregs and Wretches. They can get out of this if they prove themselves in a way that shows that they are still useful. It's not unheard of for higher-ranking Eliksni to be demoted to Dregs if they have failed their superiors in some way, if they are not killed outright.

A civil uprising is currently going on in Eliksni society. Citizens and minor Houses have grown tired of how the leaders of the major Houses (the Houses of Wolves, Winter, Devils, and Kings) have been ruling their race. This was caused when the younger generations of Eliksni left their home space and learned about other cultures and how they are far better than their old traditions that have proven harmful to their society. Many minor Houses have merged into new Houses and some Houses that once had a high standing in Eliksni society, such as the Houses of Rain and Stone, have rallied to fight against the corrupt ruling Houses. The Eliksni rebels have also gained the support of the major house the House of Judgment. Leading the charge is a former member of the House of Wolves named Misraaks, the Forsaken who now leads the new House of Light as it is Kell.

With Misraaks and the Eliksni revolutionaries victory over the major Houses in the civil uprising the practice of docking has been removed and all Eliksni venturing outside of Eliksni space are to have the same amount of Ether rations. The secret alliance with Vilgax has been ended with Misraaks handing over information he discovered on those who the former high Kells allowed to know about the alliance to the Plumbers. Many of the names on the list have been confirmed to be dead, captured, or missing.

### Houses

Eliksni society is divided into a number of Houses, each ruled by a Kell, who acts as the political leader and Supreme Commander of all of a House's fleets. Prime Servitors have been nicknamed machine gods because of their functions to produce Ether and installing programs on lesser Servitors in their lines to monitor their status and locations. Archons serve as both high priests and chief engineers of a House, mediating between the Kell and the Prime Servitor in addition to overseeing maintenance of the House's machines. Houses require all three to be fully stable; without a Kell a House becomes prone to infighting, without an Archon a House's Prime Servitor is vulnerable to attack, and without a Prime Servitor a House cannot program the codes all new Servitors possess and won't be able to produce the ether members of a house need for survival when leaving Eliksni territory.

As such, Eliksni do not take the loss of their leaders lightly. If a Kell dies without an heir or their heir is believed to be too weak the House's nobility will fight amongst themselves to claim Kellship. If any or all of these leaders were to be killed, then members of the House would panic and scatter, weakening the House to the point of being permanently broken.

Below the upper echelon of House leadership are the Barons and Captains and the individual crews they command. Captains are Eliksni who have managed to gather a following of Vandals and Dregs, who serve as the Captain's crew, commanding respect through brute force. Most Captains swear fealty to a certain House, but some operate independently. A step above Captains in rank are the Barons, whose authority are second only to the Kells so they command their own Ketches as well as their crews. Because of their rank Barons are allowed to take larger shares of Ether for themselves in expeditions outside of Eliksni space.

The majority of Eliksni Houses consist of Vandals and Dregs. Vandals serve as both seasoned infantry and skilled workers. They aspire to become Captains and one day lead crews of their own. Dregs are the lowest class in Eliksni society. Docked of their lower pair of arms in a ritual of humiliation and obedience because of crimes they may have committed or failing their assignments in a way that reflects poorly upon their leaders (such as loosing too many soldiers to kill one enemy leader), Dregs zealously fill the roles of shock troops and menial laborers in crews. The life expectancy of a Dreg and Wretch is notoriously short for the recklessly throw themselves into the danger of battle, but those few who survive to be promoted to Vandals are permitted to regrow their arms.

House politics pervades all aspects of Fallen society, with loyalty regarded as chief priority. Camps and villages fall under the authority of their House's fiefdom, with children raised communally, cherished by all, likely to prevent them holding bias towards individuals as opposed to the House itself. The particularly fanatical are taken at an early age and raised to become the personal guard for their Kell.

## Known Eliksni

* Rakis, The Spider (mentioned)
* Misraaks, Kell of Light
* Variks, the Loyal
* Eramis, Kell of Darkness (incapacitated)
* Atraks, the Wildcard (deceased)
* Kidrisk, Dark Priestess (deceased)
* Phylaks, the Warrior (deceased)
* Praksis, the Technocrat (deceased)

*(More to add)*

## Background information

The Eliksni is one of the alien races from *Destiny*, commonly known as the Fallen and has been known to fight over The Traveler for its technology that uplifted them the same way as Humanity upon discovering it.

## Trivia

* They were mentioned to be have been secret allies of Vilgax before the Eliksni's civil uprising which ended their alliance.