**Name of civilization:** The Nur'xal Coalition (The Coalition or NC for short)

**Race:** The Nur'xal

**Description of race:** Asking what the average Nur'xal looks like is a hard question; Due to a religious schism early on in the history of their people which was only worsened by the discovery of space flight and colonization of other planets, the Nur'xal people have evolved down four different paths and thus look very different from each other. The only reason their considered the same species at all is because they can still interbreed.

Nur'xal who followed the Warrior god of their people stand proudly at an impressive average of two meters but it isn't that strange for some to be two and a half or three meters tall. Bipedal reptilian creatures with dark red, thick scales that can often block all but the strongest blades and luckiest bullets, the Nur'xal of the Warrior god Angron are born with enhanced physical strength, endurance and a maw full of teeth that can bite into rock easily. Between the harsh and often brutal life that is the Angron Nur'xal's roaming warbands and the outright murderous death world named Angron on which they willing live for religious reasons only the strongest, smartest and luckiest live to reach adulthood.

The Nur'xal who followed the path of Fulgrim, Goddess of art, pleasure and perfection average around one and a half meters tall. Fulgrim Nur'xal tend to be beautiful to behold, their scales ranging wildly in an array of different and often pleasing colors and their features breath taking. This is largely because the followers of Fulgrim quickly discovered and then pushed the fields of enhancement surgery in order to aid in their never ending quest for beauty and perfection. Since each Nur'xal has a different idea of what perfection means, Fulgrim Nur'xal tend to have very individual appearances.

The Nur'xal who follow Magus, God of Science, Scheming, Change and as of late Biotics are the smallest of the Nur'xal by standing at an average of one to one and a half meters tall. While Magus Nur'xal tend to have blue scales, their major claim to fame is their wide range of mutations. Driven by a need to discover and understand the universe around them, the discoveries of the Magus Nur'xal often come at the price of their physical health, sometimes on a genetic level. While the more harmful mutations are regularly culled from the population for the greater good, it isn't strange to see Nur'xal with extra fingers, webbed toes, addition eyes ect.

The Nur'xal who follow the teachings of Mortarion (God of Life, Death and Rebirth) stand at about a meter and a half on average with green or brown scales. Mortarion Nur'xal often appear sickly and ugly for their kind, a trait much more noticeable when standing next to others of their kind; This is because Mortarion Nur'xal are immune to just about ever poison or illness imaginable due to extensive usage of vaccinations and bio-engineering over countless generations. They might be the ugliest and appear to be the sickest of their race, but followers of Mortarion by hell the healthiest.


**Average lifespan of race:**
Followers of Angron are considered adults at age fifteen and tend to die young due to their lifestyle.
Followers of Magus and Fulgrim are considered adults at age eighteen and have a natural average lifespan of 80 to 100 years.
Followers of Mortarion are adults at age eighteen and have an average lifespan of 100 to 150 years, if not more.

**Government of race:** There are in fact five different government bodies in the Nur'xal Coalition, but all of them are meritocracy based heavily in theocracy. Each of the four holy planets rules itself and its domains interdependently while the capital planet of the Coalition is considered neutral ground and is thus the seat of the Coalition as a whole.

**Military description**:
History: Each branch of the Nur'xal's religion arms and maintains its own armed forces. The reason for this goes all the way back in the history of their people to the first crusade. According to legend, when the Nur'xal people were still young two scaleless beings from the dark void above descended onto the planet, bringing with them prophecy of the void gods and their plans to lure their people into a trap to feast on their souls. Several tribes abandoned the old gods in order to unite under the banner of the Shepard and formed the first Empire. In the name of the Shepard, they went out to unify the Nur'xal people by sheltering the weak and crushing the strong that refused to bow down to their false god.

The remaining tribes that followed the Old Gods, aware that they were unable to stand against the full might of this false Empire alone, grudgingly put aside their differences and united under the banner of the First Crusade. The resulting war would last for over two hundred years with the tides of war turning often; While Imperial forces worked better as a united force then the servants of the Old Gods, the servants of the Old Gods were stronger on an individual level then those fighting for the Empire. As time went by, corruption, politics and agents of Magus and Fulgrim started to weaken and rot the Empire from within while the agents of Mortarion unleashed devastating plagues in towns and cities of the Empire, crippling and killing much of the population in the process. With the Empire wasting away from the inside to inner conflict, apathetic corruption and plague, the warriors of Angron rained down death blow after death blow until finally the Empire buckled and collapsed, marking the Crusade as a success.

Even as the last few Imperial cities were being mopped up by the Crusade, the leaders of the tribes gathered in order to discuss the Void God prophecy that had been granted two hundred years prior. While they still condemned the Shepard as a false god, they were not foolish enough to cast aside the prophecy and thus discussed how they should respond to it, as well as working out how a post crusade world was going to work between them.

In the end the Nur'xal Coalition was born; A loose alliance in the face of greater enemies to them and the gods but otherwise they would be interdependent nations onto themselves. The formation of the Coalition also established a mutual understanding that they would no longer attempt to wipe each other out completely, but raids and minor wars are still fairly common between the factions.

**Doctrine:** Each branch of the Nur'xal armed forces follows a doctrine that is in relation to their patron god.

The warriors of Angron favor strength above all else. Where others would duck and see shelter, the warriors of Angron charge into the fray with melee weapons and thick armor designed to withstand bullets in a berserk fury. The charge of an Angron berserker has often been likened to a rock slide; Between their armor and natural toughness, an Angron in charge is next to impossible to stop. While measures can be taken to protect an area from a rock slide, those measures often require time and effort done in advance of the event itself... and you only get one chance to see if you efforts were good enough. Angron followers shun biotics, deeming them the crutches of lesser warriors. While the Angron's favor melee combat, they can and will use ranged weapons and armored vehicles if the situation calls for it; But they know in their souls the only real glory in combat is up close and personal.

The followers of Magus favor cunning and intelligence over brute force. It is rare that they will take to the battlefield openly unless it is part of a grander plan on their part; It is a common saying that when the followers of Magus join the battle you've already lost the war in at least five different ways, the fun is merely in finding out how they are going to win. Masters of feints, ambushes and biotics, the forces of Magus often follow the wisdom of their patron and their battle plans tend to become schemes within schemes, covering a wide number of possible outcomes and allowing for quick and easy adaption to changing circumstances. In truth, those who follow Magus prefer to ensure victory outside of battle, often setting the events of victory in motion long before battle lines are drawn. While solders of Magus don't have to be biotic, most of them are.

The followers of Mortarion follow a very simple creed in combat; No matter what is thrown at you, you can endure it. Much like their counterparts who follow Angron, Mortarion followers also wear heavy armor to protect themselves; The main difference between them is why. The Mortarion's are masters of biological warfare and unleashing weaponized entropy has always been their creed; This has required them to don air tight suits of armor in the past in order to avoid consuming themselves with their own attacks. Countless raids and wars have also taught them the value of making that armor as strong as possible so that the odd bullet won't rupture the suit and break the air tight seal. While generations of bio-engineering has made some Mortarion bloodlines next to immune to their own biochemical weapons, they continue to make their armor air tight, strong and thick out of tradition as much as tactical value. Mortarion's also highly value those who commit themselves to medically treating their peers.

The followers of Fulgrim are somewhat different from their peers in that they do not seek to dedicate themselves to a single aspect of war. The forces of Fulgrim welcome all weapons and fighting styles under their banner, from melee combat to sniper experts to whip users and more. What matters to the followers of Fulgrim is that no matter what weapon you used, you sort to be the best to ever use it and thus leave a high bar for those who followed you to overcome. Victory comes when they are greater then their enemies and defeat comes when they failed to seek perfection hard enough.

**Important people/Ranks:**
Grand High Warlord Dusk- Current leader of the current ruling warband of Angron.

High Warlord- Current leader of any other ruling warband on any other planet held by Angron forces.

Warlord- Current leader of an Angron warband.
-Note: Due to the planet Angron's status as a Death World (IE. It could potentially be settled if it wasn't for the fact that the animals, plants and at times the planet itself were trying to murder all invaders as brutally as possible) as well as its unquestioned status as a Holy World to those who follow the war god Angron, anyone who can take and keep control of the best parts of the planet for any length of time between the planet itself and the other warbands on the planet is considered to be the grandest of High Warlords.

Grand Arch-Sorcerer- Current ruler of the Magus holy world of Tizca.

Arch-Sorcerer- Current ruler of other Magus controlled worlds.

Grand Prince or Princess- Current ruler of the Fulgrim holy world of Callax.

Prince or Princess- Ruler of other held Fulgrim worlds.

High Grand Alchemist- Current ruler of the Mortarion holy world of Typhon.

Grand Alcehmist- Current ruler of other Mortarion held worlds.

The Caretaker of Medrengard- The ruler of the original Nur'xal home world and elected by the rulers of the four Holy worlds of the Old Gods.

The Concave of Medrengard- A five person council that is made up of the Caretaker of Medrengard and each of the four rulers of the four Holy worlds that gathers on Medrengard to discuss matters that effect their people as a whole, rather then just their individual factions. A Concave can be called by any of the members of it and it is an accepted agreement by all parties that there will be a state of truce between all factions until the Concave is finished. Attempts to breach the truce or to launch a coup to replace one of the faction leaders during a Concave will be met by all four faction uniting to punish the pact breaker and those stupid enough to ally themselves with them.

Warmaster: The Title of Warmaster is one of the most highest honors that can be claimed by any member of the Nur'xal race. It is also one of the hardest, with only one position being harder to obtain. To become a Warmaster is to be recognized as a living avatar of the ideals of one or more of the gods and thus being chosen to lead the followers of said god to whatever ends they see fit without challenge. 

In order to become a Warmaster, the aspiring Nur'xal has to undergo the infamous 'Trails of the Gods'. While the trails themselves tend to change depending on who is currently ruling the holy world in question, each god has their own set of trails that are related to their fundamental ideologies in some fashion. For example, those wishing to earn the favor of the god of war would normally undergo a trail of combat of some kind, normally in the form of fighting one of the more deadly beasts of Angron in melee combat or fighting 100 warriors one after the other none stop. The trails themselves tend to be quite brutal and few who attempt them and fail survive to try again.    

Grand Warmaster: The Grand Warmaster title is the highest position that exists in the Nur'xal Coalition. It is also the rarest to obtain; To date there has only been one Grand Warmaster in the history of the Nur'xal people. Much like the Warmaster, in order to become a Grand Warmaster you need to undergo the infamous 'Trails of the Gods'. The key difference between them is that, while a Warmaster might attempt to win the favor of one or two of the gods, the Grand Warmaster has to win the favor of all four of them. 

To be Grand Warmaster means that the entire Nur'xal race will follow under your banner, regardless of which god they worship or what other allegiances they may have. Only one being has ever held the title of Grand Warmaster and that was back during the First Crusade. However, rumor has it that Grand High Warlord Dusk is currently preparing himself to undergo the trails himself.

**Religion:** The Nur'xal are devote followers of a pantheon of four gods, often called the Old Gods. Despite the fact that all four of their gods belong to the same pantheon, they are factious by nature to the point that with the exception of their home world of Medrengard, the Nur'xal people have formed their own interstellar nations in worship of one of the four gods and will regularly wage war on each other for sport, resources and to demonstrate why their patron god is the greatest of the four.

Medrengard is special for the fact that it is considered neutral ground for all sides to meet and put aside their differences for various reasons so all four gods are worshiped openly and with relative equality. It tends to be home to those members of the Nur'xal people who either worship more then one patron god or who care about the advancement of the Nur'xal race and their gods as a whole rather then merely serving a single patron aligned faction.

Despite the importance of religion to the Nur'xal, it isn't unheard of for members of one of the sub races to worship a different god and leave their home planet to set themselves up on a different holy world. Despite the semi hostile nature they different religious factions have for each other, it has long been agreed between that every Nur'xal had the right to choose which of the gods they wished to worship and if a Nur'xal born on one of the holy worlds wishes to go and worship a different god, they will be sent on their way with very little fuss from friends or family. Of course once that Nur'xal has gone to the new holy world and started worship there proper, all bets are off if they happen to meet former friends or family on the battle field.         

The Nur'xal have discussed many times what will happen if they encounter another alien race. The general consensus is that aliens couldn't help being born away from the wisdom of the true gods and it was there responsibility to enlighten them of the glory and freedom that comes with worship of the four. Force is not something that they are afraid to use... in fact it is generally encouraged in order to help demonstrate the strength that comes with worship.
       
**Import:** NA.
**Export:** NA.

**Description of your society and race:**
Most of it has been described above. However, it should be noted that due to the Void God prophecy the Nur'xal are inherently paranoid of alien technology. While they have found evidence of mass effect technology from older races, all of it is kept isolated and studied over a period of decades as the Nur'xal tear it apart piece by piece in order to understand the secrets of how it works on a fundamental level. Even once a piece of tech as been deemed safe to reverse engineer, they don't fully do so in favor of using bits and pieces they learned tearing the tech apart in the first place to help enhance something that they have created themselves.

So far, the five planets held by the Nur'xal Coalition are Medrengard, Angron, Typion, Callax and Tizca. The colonization process began over two hundred years ago.

Medrengard and Tizca are both earth like garden worlds, however Tizca itself was different from Medrengard on account of the insanely high amount of rich eezo deposits found all over the planet. It was one of the main reasons that the followers of Magus laid claim to the planet as their own. The heavy mining of eezo has resulted in many of the Nur'xal on Tizca to become mutated in some way and almost all of the Tizca Nur'xal have biotic abilities. While every now and then they have to cull off some of the more dangerous and unstable of mutations, the residents of Tizca largely accept it as a small price to pay for knowledge and power.

Callax started off as a barren world (think Mars). There was evidence that there had once been water on the planet now it was little more then a barren rock covered in sand with howling winds and dust storms. Where others would have moved on to find a better world, the followers of Fulgrim stopped and laid their claim. The Fulgrim looked at the barren world and saw a blank slate for them work with to create a perfect world to reflect the glory of themselves and their goddess. Terra-forming the planet over the course of two hundred years, Callax is now a garden world and home to several cities dedicated to the arts, culture and a hedonistic desire for perfection and beauty in the name of the Goddess Fulgrim. The worshipers of Fulgrim continue to terraform Callax because much like their own personal quests for beauty and perfection the ascension of Callax from a waste of rock to a perfect world may never be finished.

For the most part, the planet of Typion is covered in poisonous swamps and jungles. The only reason it wasn't labeled as a death world is because there are sections of the planet that are actually safe to set up a settlement without having to worry about everyone dying because of the poisonous local fauna. The followers of Mortarion set up shop here because the planet offered them a wide range of new things to discover, such a poisons, chemical weapons and medical breakthroughs. Two hundred years on and their are a couple of modest cities on the planet, almost all of which are dedicated to discovering the secrets of Typion and figuring out how to weaponize them for their advantage.

Once upon a time, the planet later called Angron was believed to be a habitable planet. Sure, much of it was barren wastelands but there were forests, oceans and wildlife living there already and the air was breathable... It wasn't until an attempt to set up a settlement was made that Angron bared its fangs for all to see. In the three days it took for the first supply shuttle to arrive on the planet to drop off supplies, out of five hundred settlers only forty three were left alive. They brought with them a tale of how everything on the planet, including the planet itself at times, was trying and often succeeding in murdering them. They even had video footage of the carnage that started two minutes after they had gotten off the ship. The planet was abandoned and was rightly labeled as a death world.

When the warlords of Angron saw the video footage of what had happened to the failed settlement, the various warbands put aside their differences to unite under a single banner with the express intent to embrace this gift from Angron himself and conquer the world he had provided for them. While the unity didn't last all that long due to the warband's infighting nature, it did last long enough for the warbands to arrive on the now named planet Angron and openly declare war on it. Two hundred years later and both sides are still going strong, refusing to back down until the other submits and dies. The warbands and tribes that now roam Angron tend to be nomadic in nature and prone to attack each other for supplies as readily as the animals that call the death world home.

**Treaties:** None so far.