[center][i]"We are eternal, machine, for though you see us as something very different, we are the very same who roamed the surface of our world eons ago. My flesh is the same flesh another like me wore thousands of years ago, and their flesh was the same born by an ancestor of theirs thousands of years before their time. It is something that cannot be stopped, cannot be altered. This flow of time, of life and death. There is no such thing as change, machine, for what you perceive as something different, is merely your flawed conception of the universe."[/i][/center]
[right]Hel-Kyrbdis addressing Precept Adrasteia[/right]

[hider=The Dominion]
[center][h1]The Dominion of Arikeshxi Tarixis-Narikuli[/h1]
[img]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x190/Alfhedil/8400057623_d2e055f13a_z.jpg[/img][/center]

[b]Species:[/b]

To describe the species of the Dominion, one must first look at the ecosystem of the worlds the Dominion inhabits. Each world, no matter how large they may be, or what kind of star they orbit, is dominated by a sulfur-rich environment dominated by the [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Sil[/i] or World-Forest. These forests extend across the surface of their worlds, with sprawling seas of sulfuric acid and chlorine clouds roaming where the branches do not cover. Beneath the boughs of the massive forests, is where life begins for the Dominion, and where it will one day end as well.

Upon the branches of the Arikeshxi trees the larval stage is grown from fruit-like pods which eventually drop to the ground to seed the next stage of life. Here is where life branches out into the many varied flora and fauna of the worlds, with the seeds sprouting into either form. Should they sprout into flora, this will be the end of the cycle for that particular seed, as they will form into what is needed to maintain the ecosystem and persist as such until they are harvested by the Tarix-Na or other creatures. The variety of animal species that form from the seeds can vary greatly, the herbivores tending to shift more towards lithe reptillian forms so as to climb the Arikeshxi trees and harvest fruits, while the carnivorous forms adapt into larger, more feline forms to overpower their prey.

In this second form, the species spends several years depending upon their specific form and region, some living for up to a century before they instinctually gain the desire to leave the spawning grounds and enter synthesis. Those who either perish before leaving the forests, or never gain the desire at all take root where they lay at the end of their lives, returning to the soil to feed the Arikeshxi. Those who do make the journey beyond the spawning grounds will enter into a deep hibernation, in which they cocoon themselves with both their own bodily fluids and collected foliage, forming a hardened shell to protect them during the long sleep. In this process they become either the Tarix-Na, or the Acruxis-Sul, their nature before hibernation dictating how they form. The Tarix-Na themselves are an upright vertebrate hexapod, distinguished by their primary set of legs upon which they typically stand and move about, their primary set of arms which they use to manipulate and project force, and their vestigial arms located along the sides of their torso. In regards to the legs of the Tarix-Na, they are reverse-jointed with hooved feet, the hooves themselves made of a highly dense material in similar makeup to stone, though has been unconfirmed if that is the actual material.

The legs of the Tarix-Na are their primary source of strength, with the average member of the species capable of delivering blows with their hooves of up to 300lbs of force per square inch, as well as enabling the average member to lift five times its own body weight. Upper-body wise, only the upper pair of arms are capable of lifting significant weight, or exerting force in a way similar to other humanoids due to their disadvantage in having only three fingers and a thumb per hand. On the other hand, their vestigial arms are not quite useless. Normally kept folded across their chest, the vestigial arms are commonly used to assist the upper pair in tasks that need a steadying hand, or in some cases they are used for tasks which do not require immediate attention. It is a common sight to see a Tarix-Na engaged in menial activities with his vestigial arms, while he is also utilizing his primary arms for more labor intensive tasks. The Tarix-Na are also curiously lacking in vocal cords, instead possessing a series of thin bony plates within the throat which are vibrated to project an audible hum, or clicked together through the muscles of the throat. This results in a highly complex language, and a high-degree in difficulty for the average member to speak other languages.

Another distinguishing factor for the species is both their deep-red skin tone, and the varying degree of horns the typical male grows from their skull. These horns vary depending upon region, though for the most part the horns are very similar to the antlers of common deer and can branch out to up to thirteen points. Lesser Tarix-Na grow horns more similar to the common ram, or mountain sheep, with the curvature of the horns denoting their status among the commoners. A steeper curve lends the male a role as a sort of consul, while shallower curves tend to leave the male as more or less, a commoner. Skin tone also denotes status among their fellow Tarix-Na, as deeper shades of red are found more appealing, while lighter shades tend to result in the individual being outcast from society. Rarer tones shift over into the burgundy and violet hues, with very few ever being born of a blueish tint. These individuals are typically taken up by the religious caste and taught the ways of their forests, though it is not unheard of for such an individual to be adopted into the immortals.

Biologically speaking, the Tarix-Na are quite different from other humanoid species. The chief factor which separates them from other humanoids is their inability to breathe oxygen in the same quantities as carbon-based life is capable of. They breathe a mixture of halogen gases which are secreted by the plant life of the forests they inhabit, a mixture which is processed by a large singular lung which forms a semicircle within their torso cradling the tri-valve heart which pumps a mercury-based solution throughout their bodies. Part of their respiratory system is also the conversion of naturally created carbon and the discarded nitrogen into cyanide gas, which is then exhaled from the same air ways which take in halogens. The diet of the Tarix-Na usually consists in sulfur rich animal tissue or plant tissue, both of which are in abundance in the forests of their lands. This sulfur, once digested into the body, forms the building blocks of their bone-structure, as well as fuels the metabolism and gives the body the ability to breakdown other chemicals. Oxygen is one element which the body is incapable of bonding with other molecules or elements, and so is often processed through an organ very similar to the human liver, though in this case the oxygen is pressurized until it is a liquid, and then forced from the body. Despite being able to excrete this chemical, the liver of the Tarix-Na is not fully able to rid itself of the element, and the oxygen which is left will often crystallize inside the organ over time

Most Tarix-Na will live to anywhere between 50-175 years in age, though this is primarily due to a host of diseases and parasites which begin attack the body of the Tarix-Na once they reach this age range. The reason that they suddenly become susceptible to existing disease and parasites, is because at that age most Tarix-Na will find their livers failing from the build-up of oxygen through the years, and be at the point where oxygen is starting to deposit in other areas of the body. One of the most common disease which strikes the Tarix-Na is that of the dreaded Shelvorak, a disease which gradually necrotizes the vital organs of the infected until they finally die of brain-death or drowning in the liquefied tissue that has built up within their lungs. Those who are afflicted with the disease are highly feared by the community due to the communicability of the disease to those who are not as advanced in age, and it is not unknown for entire regions of worlds to go suddenly silent after a single Tarix-Na became infected. In terms of lifespan unaffected by disease or parasite, the species is believed to be capable of living for hundreds of years, with the rare case breaching multiples of a thousand, and the Immortals as well.

Once either species has come to the end of their humanoid lives, they return once more to the spawning grounds, either of their own accord or assisted by the living. Here they will take root, their bodies instinctually seeking the fertile soil and planting themselves deep into the ground. From their corpse will grow a new Arikeshxi tree, the shell of their former body rising up with it to nurture its growth and seed new life. In ancient days the corpse-tree would continue growing, merging with those around it to form larger and larger trees to bear more and more life upon their limbs, but with the advent of space-flight and the rise of their growing technological prowess, the Arikeshxi which grow within certain regions are harvested in order to further the species. Those who do remain will grow strong and begin anew the cycle of life, bearing the fruits of new generations upon their branches and eventually becoming one with the [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Arikesh[/i], or The World Tree.

These trees are among the most magnificent wonders of the Arikeshxi species, with the first few nearly covering their entire worlds with a singular canopy. On average a single one of these trees can measure hundreds of kilometers across, and stand high into the atmosphere, some specimens even boasting their own internalized ecosystems within their boughs. To these giants, life is eternal, for they are beings who know not mortality and bear the memories of countless billions. At least one [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Arikesh[/i] stands upon each world of the species, seeded by the Dominion in the case of the colonies, or simply bearing the eons as does the first of their kind.

[b]Population ratio:[/b]

80% Arikeshxi (Tarix-Na)
20% Lorgeshxi (Acruxis-Sul)

[u]Description of government:[/u]

Though no true governing body exists in the Dominion, it is often the hand of the Immortals which guide the society along what is believed to be the most proper path. Internally, the council decides upon where to best appropriate resources and living areas, as well as dictate new colonial areas. The exact way in which this is decided is thought to be by vote, though with the frequency in which some of the council disagrees, this may lead to outside factors influencing the decisions of the Immortals. External governance is dealt with via the artificial biological constructs known as Hels, creations made to directly deal with xenological governments and determine whether or not the Dominion's interests are at heart.

[u]Description of military:[/u]

For all intents and purposes, the Dominion's military force is near absent, as they have never found the need or want to engage hostilities with another species or nation. While the civilian populace is versed in the ways of hunting among the vast forests of their worlds, the Tarix-Na as a nation do not maintain forces beyond this. On the other hand, the more extremist Lorgeshxi are well known for their violent predisposition, and have been rumored to have their own militant forces. Whatever the truth of this, even if the Lorgeshxi did have such forces, they would be nominal at best.

[u]Technological Overview:[/u]

Though they may seem to be mere primitives hurtling themselves into space via crude means, the Dominion is considerably more advanced than what they appear. Foremost proof of this is their ability to artificially create life capable of sapience and seamlessly melding with the society it was purposed for. From the Hel to the Acruxis-Sul, and beyond these artificial life forms, the Dominion rightfully claims their place as an interstellar civilization, whose true capabilities remain mysterious even to those who live within.

[b]The Hel[/b]

Created originally in ages long past to communicate with other species on their own world, the Hel is an artificial construct that sees service among the fleet of the Dominion, in the case of xeno-contact. Much of their biology remains very similar to that of the Tarix-Na, though they differ in their ability to breathe almost any atmosphere, and much increased temperature ranges. Unlike their creators, the Hels do not require very particular ranges of temperature in order to survive, instead seeming more and more human than they let on. Stranger still for one created by the Arikeshxi, is that the Hels are created with vocal cords, giving them the capability to speak non-Arikeshxi languages with greater ease. The reason for this is lost to the ages, though it leads credence to the existence of humans upon the homeworlds of the Tarix-Na.

[b]Biological Antimatter Creation and Annihilation - Jzeveshxi-Archos[/b]

Almost a necessity to drive the engines of their massive vessels, the Dominion has long been capable of coaxing bioforms into creating fusion in contained shells, though the advent of natural antimatter has advanced their aerospace capabilities significantly to say the least. Beginning with the pooling of liquid iron into a sphere deep within the consigned reactor space, the vessel impels massive gravities upon the mass to force it into spin counter to that of the artificial gravity within the ship. Once the mass reaches a terminal velocity, it superheats and creates electromagnetic forces which are harnessed to imbue a series of rings into counter spin. At critical mass, the formation of anti-particles begins, and the Jzeveshxi-Archos collects them up to utilize in reactions once it acquires the appropriate particles to pair with them. Though it may not seem like it, the construct is actually fully sapient, and capable of understanding reactions at the quantum level, a necessity for its duty. Once it has attained both a particle and an anti-particle, it will then impel the two into an isolated chamber within its depths, where they will react and release intense energies within the chamber. These energies are then harvested by the construct and stored within internal banks to be used by the rest of the vessel as needed. This cycle is continuously run by the construct, ensuring that at no point there is storage of antimatter to avoid undue catastrophes.

[b]Dominion Fleet[/b]

Curiously, for a species that has traveled the stars for untold thousands of years, there is little variety in their fleet. Partly to blame for this is the sheer efficiency of their starship creation, only ever using what needs to be used and nothing more, as well as the method in which they xenoform planets to add to their dominion. Beginning from the highest branches of a [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Arikesh[/i], the Tarix-Na lay the hull for one of their massive vessels, entire regions climbing the branches to lay the harvested dead end to end until the form of a starship comes into shape. There they will begin the mass planting of new bioforms to inhabit the vessel and grow it further, guiding its growth over decades into one worthy of spaceflight. Once the shell contains its reactors and propulsion, it is guided to seal the hull and lift into the upper atmosphere, the [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Arikesh[/i] pushing upward against it to aid its ascent. In orbit the vessel will finish the remaining construction on its own, taking in resources as it happens across them.

For some constructs, however, their fate is to remain in orbit, slaved to the world below and acting as an inbetween for the Tarix-Na of the surface and the constructs roaming the stars. These vessels grow over time, beginning with a seed of just a few kilometers across, until they reach continent sizes in orbit of the planet and maintain hundreds of tendrils between the station and the surface, sometimes even to nearby moons. The size of the constructs grows much the same as the non-stationary ones, growing from within until the interior is full of winding corridors and vast living areas. Occasionally, the stations will consume failed starships as well, further growing the exterior and bringing more space with which to expand facilities inside.

In terms of firepower, Dominion vessels remain unarmed, owing to the disposition of the people. That is not to say, however, that they are undefended. Despite their passive ways, no Dominion vessel has found itself prey to piracy, namely for the sheer size of even the smallest of the Dominion's vessels. Slow and lumbering, the average starship of the Dominion reaches at least 19km in length, though many will exceed this by far, and each one of these vessels boasts a sturdy exterior of super-dense chitin. This chitin has been known to shrug off directed-energy weapons in conflicts, as well as bounce kinetic rounds dissuading attackers by the sheer difficult needed to crack open a Dominion vessel.

[b]Infinite Syzygy[/b]

As a necessity the Dominion maintains a network of so called "World-Gates", vast constructs in orbit of their worlds that create wormholes between held territories, though they still look back to one of the first methods of FTL travel created by a neighboring civilization. 

During their first flights into space, this civilization discovered that a celestial body's gravitational pull could be utilized in a specific maneuver in order to increase velocity and reduce fuel consumption. As the first of these slingshot maneuvers was executed successfully, already they were looking at the utility of such a method in propelling their vessels farther and faster. Their very first execution of Faster-Than-Light travel was done with the conception of utilizing the principles of Syzygy and antiparticle physics to breach a hole in the fabric space-time into the hyperspace corridors. By chaining together a series of slingshots, the starship plotted a point in which it would align between two targeted celestial bodies, and by breaching hyperspace, they were able to simultaneously exist in both locations at the same time via extradimensional overlay until the moment of Syzygy. Before that moment, the vessel departing would seem as if it was becoming incorporeal, as if it was slowly fading away, while the vessel that was arriving would seem as if it was a ghostly afterimage. In that exact nanosecond of syzygy, the vessel would cross the threshold between a vast distance of space and time itself in order to transit itself light-years away. Even though this transit cut down travel time by a factor of nearly a thousand, it still had its limitations, these being discovered repeatedly by the Dominion as well as the original society through experimental long-range jumps. The foremost problem is maintaining a sufficient velocity to transit. Despite technically existing in both places, the vessel still had to achieve a certain velocity to travel certain distances, the farther away a destination being, the closer to actual c the vessel needed to be. Failure to achieve a very specific velocity would result in one of two disasters, the first being failure to reach a high enough velocity and resulting in the vessel not fully translating back into real-space. Once locked within the hyperspace corridors, a vessel would not be able to achieve escape velocity and be trapped within the vortex of an infinite dimension for eternity. Should a vessel overshoot their velocity marker, they will reach the syzygy marker too soon and be launched far beyond their intended destination. Most of the time, an overshoot results in a very long trip towards the nearest star, as the vessel is launched into dark space between star-systems. There are also a surprising number of "Lost" vessels, however, leading some among their neighbors to believe that these vessels have been launched into the space between galaxies. More of an issue for the Dominion, however is the sheer amount of calculation and processing needed to determine a route. While not an issue for the original creators, improper line-up of the route could lead to devastating consequences, as the vessel still needs a nominally clear route in which to transit. Failure to calculate the movements of celestial bodies between the point of origin and the point of exit could lead to the destruction of the vessel at the least, and planetary destruction at most. Needless to say, it's something the Dominion prefers to avoid if can be helped.

[u][h2]Cultural Overview:[/h2][/u]
[b]Social dynamics:[/b]

Despite being a society built upon the equality and needs of the many, Dominion society is highly rigid and caste-oriented, a being's place within determined by numerous factors from skin-tone to shape and size of their horns. At the very top of the caste are the Immortals, those who have transcended the normal cycles of life and death, and are instead literal immortal beings that guide society. Below them are the religious leaders and the artificial constructs known as Hel, those who facilitate communication between other species. Next is the class containing the craft-workers, those who provide crafted goods for the entire society as well as shape their cities and star ships. Those who are unable to craft, yet still able to provide are the hunters and gatherers, Tarix-Na who seek sustenance for the populace from the Arikeshxi forests and cultivate the agricultural regions. Finally, at the very bottom of the caste system are the Acruxis-Sul, the so-called "ferals" of the Tarixis-Narikuli, and those who provide the manual labor for the society.

[b]Law:[/b]

In their society, the Dominion carries little in terms of written laws, choosing to rule according to the law of the people. This leads to a greatly minimized presence of law within the Dominion, as the only things which merit punishment are actions which will bring harm to another individual or the community in any way. Theft is one such crime, and is often dealt with by way of forcing the individual to work for the offended party until the debt is paid. This is a common theme among the Dominion, in that they only punish an individual in accordance to the damage they have done, and the only exceptions are the crimes of murder and dishonouring the dead. Despite the weight of these individual crimes, it is against the ways of the Dominion to revoke the rights of another being to live, and so such crimes are nearly always repaid by a life of service to the family of the offended party. In the case of an offended party either having no family, or the family being unknown, or even the offended party being unknown, the accused is serviced to the religious caste until they have been found redeemed by the gods.

[b]Languages:[/b]

The language of the Tarix-Na is a unique one, in that while they do have something similar to such a thing, it varies into a host of different forms that makes it nigh-impossible to learn from outside the species. The closest thing that could be called a "Common-Tongue" for the species is that of [i]Kelto[/i] a bipolar mixing of both submissive and dominant commands and acknowledgments to commands. This leads the Tarix-Na to be rather blunt when dealing with each-other and those rare outsiders they are able to communicate with. Other forms of language within the species commonly used is the form [i]Shekto[/i] which has been [u]very[/u] loosely translated to mean emotion or intent. This form is most often used to convey feelings or intentions which are not expressible through Kelto, or which may be improper to express through Kelto. It is a common use of Shekto to express a desire for someone to do something, but in a way which is not leveled as a command, a trait of the languages of Tarix-Na which seems to fail to find its way into Human-Tongue. Rarely among the species will one find themselves keen to learn a language that goes beyond the bounds of the species, though these individuals have found themselves highly useful in the dealings with outside nations. While the average Tarix-Na is highly intuitive with communicative languages, they are well known to struggle with grammatical structure and due to the nature of their primary means of communication, they are highly prone to run-on sentences and lack punctuation in their speech. This is primarily because they only emulate the speech of other sentients by vibrating the plates in their throat to certain pitches that mimic spoken words.

In terms of written language, the Tarix-Na's main form of writing is a highly complex runic system which to date has been found to consist of nearly seven-hundred [i]thousand[/i] characters. To what degree the language actually extends to is completely unknown, as is the depth of knowledge the average Tarix-Na understands. In most cases, the religious and royal castes are the members who are the most knowledgeable, with many capable of independently identifying up to forty-seven thousand characters, while the commoner castes are rarely able to identify six-thousand. Curiously, nearly all of the characters that the commoners are able to identify are characters which the royals are incapable of identifying, while the religious caste is capable of identifying all of the characters that both royal and commoner castes are capable of identifying.

[b]Religious beliefs:[/b]

In the Dominion, religion is a strange thing, with differing worlds and regions partaking of sometimes vastly different pantheons of deities representing everything from the seasons, to the elements. One of the few constants in the society, however, is the reverence for deities representing the cycle of life and death, as well as the placement of their world's [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Arikesh[/i] as the most venerated being. Representing their reverence for the cycle of life are the rituals of death the species partakes in, where they escort the dying or already dead to the spawning grounds, and lay them upon freshly turned soil. Here they will open a cavity in the torso of the fallen, and coax the body to take root in the soil. Until the corpse takes root, the party will watch over the body and ensure that no wandering creatures disturb it, only departing once they see the first sprouting of the Arikeshxi tree. With this ritual, the Tarix-Na pay respect to the cycle of life and death, acknowledging that none save the [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Arikesh[/i] and the immortals are beyond its purview. They see that in the end nothing will change, and that to resist only brings about the end swifter than should be.

[b]Currency:[/b] There is no currency beyond the merit of one's actions within the Dominion, and that merit being based upon what an individual provides for their fellow Tarix-Na.

[b]Influence and relations:[/b]

//To be created as encountered//

[b]History:[/b]

From the depths of the Dead Stars region of the Andromeda galaxy, there has long been rumours of spatial anomalies and entire civilizations of beings that defy the laws of biology and science as the galaxy knows them. Ancient stars fester amid the rotting remains of their broken systems, leaking radiation across space and tainting the nebulae a sickly purple-green. Magnetars spew gamma rays across worlds long dead, ensuring they remain as lifeless as they themselves are forever doomed to be. It is here, that two civilizations have arisen and persisted since before the earth formed. One the epitome of technology, spanning the stars with feats of science and bridging the gap between what is real and what is fiction through sheer force of will. They are the harbingers of change, sentinels of the relentless march of time.

Life has found a hold within the sprawling nebulae of the region, however, in the form of the Arikeshxi Dominion. Tenacious beyond their right, this civilization has clawed their way across the region over millions of years, bringing life to each world they touch, and forever tainting them with their unique ecosystem. Toxic halogens permeate the atmospheres of their worlds, fueling the organic engines of their vast starships, and giving life to continent-sized forests. Even with their strange biology, and the dangers of their home region, the Tarix-Na remain ever aloof and distant from other beings. Though they have always been pacifist by nature, honesty and directness is not a trait well-known to the civilization, always putting a slight twist of deceit upon their words. The origin of the species can be tracked to the center of a sprawling web of FTL tunnels linking all of their worlds. It is here that the world of [i]Shevaxisi-Torand Sil[/i] orbits the long dead star [i]Khavassara[/i], the forests of the world reaching across the planet and beyond the atmosphere.

They have not always been so connected, however, and it has only truly been recently that the Dominion has come together as a cohesive civilization. Before the creation of the overmind Arikeshxi Tarixis-Narikuli, the various worlds of the Tarix-Na were left to fend for themselves and survive against the universe. Each planet became their own separate state upon the beginning of the xenoformation process, going thousands of years until even seeing another of their kind. Despite this, the civilization held to a course planned out millennia in advance. Each world was to be one in an ever-increasing chain of worlds that was to one day be connected by a single mind, and when that day came, nearly a dozen star systems became one with the overmind.

More recently the Dominion has come into "conflict" with their close neighbor, the Fractal Synchronicity of Amnos, and though no blows have been struck quite yet, the machines of the Synchronicity have placed a sizable fleet on the border of their realm. This comes as a consequence of dwindling space within the nebulae, and the clashing of borders between the two civilizations adding into tensions that have existed longer than some species. Despite the hardline attitude of Precept Thanatos of the Synchronicity, Precept Adrasteia has taken it upon herself to act as an emissary between the two nations and form a compromise that will mutually benefit both.

To add to their troubles, the Tarix-Na see increased tension within their own nation, as the unruly Acruxis-Sul lobby for more power among the Immortal Council. Having formed the backbone of much of the feats of the Dominion, the so-called Lorgeshxi have gained a sentiment of entitlement towards rule over the Dominion. Efforts to appease their more violent kin have led the Tarix-Na to cede a single seat on the council to them, though it has done little to assuage their dissatisfaction with current affairs.

With precious little space to expand in the Dead Stars, rising tensions with the Synchronicity, and threats of revolt among the Lorgeshxi, times are proving difficult for the Arikeshxi Dominion. Only time will tell who will win out in the chaos of the Dead Stars.

Other:[/hider]