Hacien

Though small and lacking any notable biological traits besides their thick head crests, the **Hacien** are adept at agriculture. Being the main herder of tramels and other farm animals, Haciens are some of the main exporters of food across the galaxy. Despite their importance in agriculture, most Haciens instead fight amongst themselves, forming steadfast families to maintain control over farming territories. Larger families resort to full scale war, hiring mercenaries and staging daring raids on each other. Outside of Dantaine, Haciens are content with simple farming, staying isolated and relying on effective traditional Hacien farming methods.

## Biology and appearance

The Hacien specie developed on Dantaine. Due to the abundance of staske grass and a lack of natural predators, the Haciens, along with other herbivore species, flourished. The Haciens developed a symbiotic relationship with the native tramel species; Haciens protect and lead the tramel herd in exchange for scavenging and strength in numbers.

Haciens borrow a variety of traits from multiple animal groups but can overall be classified as a mammal. Haciens are diminutive and weak when isolated. As such, they rely on relationships with other species to maintain and gain strength. Consequently, Haciens tend to live in large groups, even outside of a nomadic lifestyle.

Haciens are unable to grow hair; instead, their follicles develop into keratin structures located near their joints, claws, and bony face protection. These plates develop as the Hacien ages, but if damaged or removed, are unable to grow back. The keratin acts as a limited protection for the Hacien, largely serving as eye protection during Dantaine's rainy seasons.

Haciens have bloated crests ranging from the back of their heads. These crests are divided into segments: the first segments contain the Haciens brain, the rest only protect nerve points. Despite serving no apparent purpose besides protecting internal organs, some rumor that Hacien crests gives them their famous agricultural flourish. Hacien crests can make subsonic vibrations, but their impact on crops is unknown.

The tip of female Hacien crests contain lactiferous ducts, which are secreted through pouch ducts when developing young. Due to this, female Haciens develop a keratin coating around their crests as protection. Haciens are marsupials, reproducing through developing young in female pouches. The female's pouch is located on the bottom half of their main body.

There is no Hacien subspecies, but there are stark cultural differences often depending on the Hacien's family or tramel herd.

## Society and culture

Hacien society revolves around the protection and maintenance of pack animal herds. On Dantaine, this leads to the formation of tramel herds, hundreds of thousands strong. Hacien families are strongly bonded to their herds, leading to conflict between large Hacien groups over control of tramel herds. Haciens offworld of Dantaine or Danuhba maintain similar herds, though of much smaller scale or different species.

Haciens are naturally attuned towards agriculture; those not embroiled in the inter-family conflicts can be found as peaceful farmers or in mass employment for farms on Ienia. Much of this skill comes from ancient, guarded techniques developed for crops and animals from Hacien relations with them. If in an appropriate environment, most Haciens are able to establish successful farms, even in harsher conditions. Haciens have also domesticated several species and show heavy attachment to animals (though they have purposefully avoided domesticating the tramel, to maintain their natural migration cycles).

Haciens focus heavily on group strength, often putting their families before the individual. However, this attachment only extends for the Haciens immediate family and herd. Hacien family fiercely oppose each other, to the point of open conflict. On Dantaine, this leads to massive webs of alliances and territories for the largest Hacien families, revolving around the protection of their tramel herds. As ecological stress and offworld demand have increased, the Dantaine families have resorted to the use of outside contracts, new weaponry, or mercenaries. These conflicts are less severe on Danuhba, but smaller scale raids are still common, with rustling being a common crime. Hacien groups on other planets lack the numbers and intensity to lead to other conflicts; employers on Ienia force integration between families to avoid conflict.

Hacien society revolves around the natural weather cycles of Dantaine; even those offworld follow customs attributed to each season. The ranching patterns of large families follow the respective dry and wet season of Dantaine. During the most severe points of these is when conflict is most common, as resources become more sought after and migration paths intersect. Many smaller families maintain nomadic lifestyles, following their herds. The main families established their own capitals, mostly as a means for trading tramel related goods.

Efforts to move the tramel offworld of Dantaine have mostly failed aside from Danuhba, yet the Haciens hold reverence to the specie. Older Hacien society relied heavily on the tramel for materials on the relatively barren Dantaine, such as using bones for structures or fat for fire sources. Though having evolved past a religious-like worship of the tramel, Haciens still rely on the specie as the backbone for their economy and culture. Using long tested harvesting quotas, the butchered tramel is completely harvested for a wide variety of products. Haciens take pride in their ability to use every single body part of a harvested tramel.

Tramel riders are common, especially on Danuhba. In large families, each male is granted their own tramel at birth; smaller families usually own a single familial tramel. Through this bond, the pairs are bonded for life. The use of the tramel is up to the owner, though most are expected to take up tramel riding. If the owner dies prematurely, such as in interfamily conflict, the tramel is butchered and buried with the owner. If the tramel dies before the owner, the owner avoids taking on a new tramel out of respect and usually retires to a less active role within the family.

## History

Early Hacien society struggled to firmly establish itself, rather, it relied on their symbiotic relationship with the tramel herds of Dantaine. Haciens began as small herbivores, traveling alongside tramel herds and acting as protectors. As Hacien intelligence developed, they began the practice of establishing charted migration routes. Even now, remnants of these early paths are carved across the landscape of Dantaine and are still followed by modern herds.

Many Hacien families were formed through small coverts early on; the first major family that emerged was the Purcoals. The Purcoals, priding themself on their independent strength, established the practice of individual herds, growing their initial herd through rustling and recruiting smaller families within their territory. The Divestel family was initially formed as an alliance against the emerging Purcoals. This began the interfamilial conflict that eventually dominated the planet. As Divestel and Purcoal fought over the prime herds of Dantaine's staske plains, other families began emerging planetwide, notably the Larce family, who controlled the entire river delta.

The Meabos family, situated at the base of the Sou Mountain range, attempted to establish the first largescale Hacien settlement. While it collapsed within a decade due to an inability to support a tramel herd, Meabos laid the foundation for future permanent settlements, in which the other families followed in suit. Additionally, remnant tramels from Meabos eventually adapted into the mountain variant of the tramel.

While early conflicts between the families were fierce, such as the Acecheta Massacre or the Clash of Good Path, casualties and impact on herds were limited by Hacien technology. This changed when the Haciens were contacted by the Cogre: introduced to advanced technologies and with an outside interest in the tramel as an agricultural animal, Hacien families began to utilize advanced weaponry in their conflicts. What began as a common nightly raid ignited the War of the Tramel, between the three largest families. An alliance between Larce and Purcoal against Divestel, in an attempt to divide their herd, was met by use of newly introduced technology. Divestel, though numerous, was not as quick to utilize new technologies, and was subsequently wiped out.

Off world interest fueled much of this conflict and pursuits of new defensive measures. Conflict in the galaxy prevented early contracts but as the Planetary Union was formed, they drafted the first contract for tramel products with the Purcoal. The Haciens had attempted earlier efforts to expand tramel herds offworld, meeting limited success. The tramel is highly susceptible to environmental changes and would become crazed during space travel. As such, the relatively moderate and nearby planet of Danuhba became a prime spot for tramel expansions. Danuhba had already been home to wild tramel populations and a small Hacien population; both of these exploded during these expansion efforts.

Even as more contracts were formed with emerging galactic governments, Haciens largely ignored galactic affairs in favor of promoting conflict between families. Open conflict was avoided, due to a fear of mutually assured destruction, but smaller, secretive attacks grew increasingly common, especially as Larce and Purcoal began employing outside forces. Haciens did participate in affairs off of Dantaine, though not in large numbers, mostly through immigrant communities on Ienia, employed as farmers in the aftermath of the Colonic Wars.

Tensions once again escalated after the end of the Secession War; increased demand from war efforts had led to a rapid decrease in tramel population. Environmentally sustainable practices were ignored instead for escalating arms races, especially as Purcoal invested in chemical weaponry. This, coupled with an unusual dry season, overharvesting, collateral damage from conflict, and a disease killing off the fast-growing staske grass, has led to the endangerment of the tramel population. Hacien families have only shown limited interest due to the loss of offworld contracts, as they fail to fully supply agreements.