[hider=Bears in Brief, tl;dr]The Bijol are a black bear inspired alien race with shadow druid motifs that worship hyper sentient trees that have sent them on a prophetic journey to conquer the galaxy to proliferate this sentient tree and supporting vegetation. The bear-like aliens are rather unintelligent, and consult with mystic higher intelligence through various druidic rituals, semi-sentient insect oracles, and are led by local shamans on their rhododendron thrones who often consume psychedelic fungi. Bijol rule in an authoritarian, communist manner with oppression and themes similar to the novel 1984. One such species the Bijol have oppressed is a species of space dwarves who were refugees fleeing from their worlds being eaten by plasma-kudzu. These dwarves were at least somewhat fairly well housed and treated by their original hosts, a nation of orca-like merfolk. These orca-merfolk were ruthless and calculating, but saw the advantages of dwarf labor on the surface of their worlds and deep in mines. It is also possible that the merfolk knew they would need a scape-goat offering for when the Bijol horde was coming to consume their space systems too. This was indeed the case. When the Bijol battle ships entered merfolk space, and Bijol druidic marines and insect weapons began storming onto their planets, the merfolk capitulated and offered the Bijol all their surface holdings and allowed the dwarf refugees to be nominally enslaved by the Bijol in exchange for monitored autonomy of merfolk life underwater (for now, tensions are rising). The dwarves have since been impressed into hard labor for the Bijol regime, mainly harvesting strijk sap, a sulfurous electromagnetic goop that is used as sentient-plant food, but the byproduct of strijk consumption by these plants is used as space reactor coolant. This coolant is bought and used ubiquitously throughout the galaxy and is the Bijol cash crop; however strijk is extremely dangerous to tap-mine, hazardous to handle, and impossible to harvest with automated machinery due to its electromagnetic interference. A perfect chore for the expendable dwarves. So perfect that some have whispered that the Bijol may have long-ago created the plasma-kudzu to displace the dwarves to begin with, or at least the arboreal overlords the Bijol serve may have. [/hider] [center][h2]Bijol Verdancy[/h2][/center] [hider= Bijol: Communist blackbears, sentient trees, dwarves, mermaids, slaves and psychidelics] The Bijol Verdancy is a sprawling druidic-authoritarian regime ruled by black bear-like aliens known as the Bijol. Though physically imposing and spiritually zealous, the average Bijol is intellectually simplistic, deeply superstitious, and psychologically dependent upon ritualized communion with higher intelligences. Those higher intelligences are the [b]Cathedral Groves[/b]: colossal hyper-sentient trees believed to predate interstellar civilization itself. These ancient arboreal minds communicate through pheromones, dreams, fungal spores, and electromagnetic "root-song" pulses interpreted by Bijol shamans known as Thornspeakers. The Cathedral Groves have issued what the Bijol consider the single sacred commandment: “Spread the Root Beyond the Dark.” To the Bijol, conquest is not political. It is ecological destiny. Entire worlds are consumed beneath expanding forests of psychoactive vines, fungal canopies, and black-rooted megaflora. Cities are dismantled and remade into nutrient basins for the Groves. Native species are categorized according to usefulness, be they pollinators or mulch. The Bijol describe this process as The Softening of Stone. —-------------------------- [center][h3]The Conquerors: Bijol[/h3] [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509985626236391564/IMG_2948.png?ex=6a1b2b33&is=6a19d9b3&hm=49959bd5d210b3b9d165a8af4fe64fcbabba5e5d74834991221aa70e0fe36347&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=509&height=636[/img][/center] [b]Physiology[/b] The Bijol resemble broad, heavy black bears standing between 7–9 feet tall when upright. Their bodies are covered in oily dark fur threaded with naturally bioluminescent fungal growths gifted during sacred rites. Their massive stature, clawed forelimbs and thick radiation-resistant fat layers make them vicious melee combatants–a feature their mercurial nature tends to highlight. It is often remarked most of their brain is used for olfaction; while this is somewhat true given their sensory acuity, their poor abstract reasoning ability is perhaps a neural cost for their exceptional instinctive spatial memory. Most Bijol struggle with advanced mathematics, engineering, or strategic planning without ritual assistance. As a result, nearly all governance and military logistics are mediated through hallucinogenic fungal trances, insect-oracle divinations,or interpretations from the Cathedral Groves. Their senses guide the way to correct answers. [b]Psychology[/b] Bijol cognition revolves around obedience, communal identity, ecological purpose, and fear of isolation. The worst punishment in Bijol culture is not death. It is Rootlessness: exile from fungal communion and sensory severance from the Groves’ psychic field. A rootless Bijol often becomes catatonic within weeks. —---------------------- [h3]Government: The Verdant Consensus[/h3] [b]Ideology[/b] The Bijol operate under a suffocating eco-authoritarian doctrine called Verdant Consensus Collectivist resource control, mystical ecological determinism, total surveillance, and spiritual conformity. Oddly enough, the interpretations of signs and psychopathy of local shamans is often vastly different. And thus the hierarchical structure of these semi-lucid decision trees is quite necessary. Every citizen belongs to a grove,a labor caste, and a ritual observance collective. Knowledge of direct parentage is governmentally restricted, however Bijol are known to sense their connections. Privacy scarcely exists. And webs of trust are tightly maintained. Children are raised communally beneath dream-spore canopies where Cathedral Grove teachings are transmitted directly into developing minds through controlled hallucinations. Homes are grown from listening wood embedded with sensory fungal membranes capable of detecting emotional distress, dissent, or “anti-growth sentiment.” Though the validity of these allegations is often… interpretable. [b]Governance Structure: The Root Choir[/b] The highest governing body. A circle of ancient shamans seated upon living Rhododendron Thrones—massive flowering root masses intertwined with neural fungal networks. The shamans continually ingest psychoactive fungi to maintain communion with the Cathedral Groves either directly or through semi-sentient oracle insects. When neither is available shamans rely on “ancestral root echoes.” Which have never been traced, recorded, or observed. Whether these visions are genuine prophecy or chemically induced madness remains uncertain. The Bijol do not care. [b]Religion: The Hyper-Sentient Trees[/b] [hider= The Cathedral Groves][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509985624898408498/IMG_2946.png?ex=6a1b2b33&is=6a19d9b3&hm=f41eb1fff7687bc130624d162352fcec1581bf7f4247792299d6dc899fea3165&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=954&height=636[/img][/hider] The Cathedral Groves are continent-sized organisms with distributed neural root systems, bioelectrical cognition, and possible extrasensory capabilities. Some xenobiologists believe the Groves are not plants at all, but ancient planetary-scale neural colonies. More still that both the Groves and the dwarven plight of extra-dimensional kudzu were Yrrani experiments gone awry. Perhaps once designed to quickly terraform habitable flora into colonizing worlds, now the flora habits the world itself. Others suspect something worse: that the Groves are invasive extra-dimensional organisms slowly terraforming the galaxy into a single connected biological intelligence. A best that was only once contained by Yrrani gardening efforts. The Bijol reject all such distinctions. To them, the Groves are gods. [b]Sacred Creatures: [/b] [hider=The Oracle Swarms][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509985624369922218/IMG_2945.png?ex=6a1b2b33&is=6a19d9b3&hm=1cca4f0b80cb1c1d6c39b5bee118e42fc94415e4fcc12ae706db168b72a773c4&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=954&height=636[/img][/hider] The Bijol cultivate semi-sentient insects: - Whisper Moths - Choir Beetles - Veil Wasps These insects respond to pheromonal patterns emitted by the Cathedral Groves. Shamans interpret their movements as divine guidance. Entire military campaigns have been launched because moths clustered around a certain rune, beetles arranged corpses into geometric spirals, or a wasp queen screamed during ritual silence. —------------------- [h3]Military: The Root Fleets[/h3] The Bijol military combines crude industrial mass production with terrifying bio-organic warfare. Core Doctrine The Bijol do not prioritize precision. They overwhelm systems through ecological collapse, mass fungal infection, civilian targeting, psychic terror, and sheer biomass. [h3]Military Assets[/h3] [b]Rootcarriers[/b] Living capital ships grown around hollowed asteroid cores. Their interiors resemble humid forests filled with spores, insect hives, and hanging root masses. [hider=Rootcarriers][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509985625556783316/IMG_2947.png?ex=6a1b2b33&is=6a19d9b3&hm=f253f51ddb5ab511fcfc02cd705adcf7837f19e292e5aa5415aa313bb1efaeda&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=954&height=636[/img][/hider] [b]- Druidic Marines[/b] [hider=Druidic Marines][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509985623874736329/IMG_2944.png?ex=6a1b2b32&is=6a19d9b2&hm=27417b21bdbe30c0d39a1c71313f24ee63104c21721e21960478447ab2e11d1b&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=795&height=636[/img][/hider] [b]- Veil Locusts[/b] Weaponized insect swarms. Stripping crops, clogging ventilation systems, transmitting hallucinogenic fungal agents [hider=Veil Locusts][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509987987893522472/IMG_3040.png?ex=6a1b2d66&is=6a19dbe6&hm=ce21eb2b10f264488f99553cadcdc5cecbfa67221768c6aa5dc4501dfcc4b54c&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=795&height=636[/img][/hider] [b]- Shade-Tenders[/b] Secret police and ideological enforcers. They monitor: speech, dreams, fungal participation rates, and emotional loyalty indicators Citizens often disappear into “mulching sanctuaries” for reeducation. Few return. [hider=Shade-Tenders][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509987989189693591/IMG_3041.png?ex=6a1b2d66&is=6a19dbe6&hm=6de8fa69347ee82c6481cc60084e32998a23cb7c2bbb8d8fbec171950455583b&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=795&height=636[/img][/hider] —----- [h3]Economy: Strijk Extraction[/h3] [hider=The Strijk Fields][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509987988455817309/IMG_3042.png?ex=6a1b2d66&is=6a19dbe6&hm=50552c6d6f9a66d0a3167b71fa00ba302ee74c822d95b087c21a2e3d5f7cadec&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=954&height=636[/img][/hider] The Bijol economy revolves around harvesting Strijk. A sulfurous electromagnetic sap-like substance found deep beneath irradiated fungal worlds. Strijk is highly unstable, toxic, mutagenic and impossible to automate due to violent electromagnetic interference. Mining the substance is suicidal, or coerced. When fed to Cathedral Groves, the byproduct of this process produces Verdant Coolant A miraculous reactor coolant used throughout known space. The coolant’s efficiency makes it the leading stabilizer to civilian reactors, ship drives, and many lovely air conditioning systems. The Bijol therefore wield enormous economic leverage despite widespread hatred from neighboring powers. [center][h3]The Dwarven Labor Castes[/h3] The Refugees: [b]Svarts[/b] [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509985568912576512/IMG_2934.png?ex=6a1b2b25&is=6a19d9a5&hm=b258c67873d81463af548e644243c353857e96d02b8c09d6dffe3ea0e420e643&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=954&height=636[/img][/center] The enslaved dwarves—called The Hollowed Clans by the Bijol, [b]Svarts[/b] by the rest of the galaxy, originally fled worlds consumed by The Desperation. The Desperation, [i]Pueraria Desporata[/i], native to the Oogmanik system, ravished the holdings of the Svarts. They appearing as a simple leafed vine of violet hue. The scourging vine grows rapidly without the observed need for light, water, or soil. It is capable of growing in space, leading to the destruction and abandonment of many Svart vessels and satellites. Unless destroyed at the atomic level was horrifyingly capable of self-propagating. The energy vine devoured infrastructure, power grids, atmosphere processors, and eventually planetary crusts... Colloquially termed plasma-Kudzu. In the wake of their homeworld's collapse, the dwarves were initially sheltered by an empire of ruthless orca-like merfolk, the Pelagor. At the time it seemed like the most logically and mutually beneficial alliance in the galaxy. Until the Bijol consumed them both. [center][h3]Pelagor Abyssal Dominions[/h3] The Vacillators: [b]Orcarin[/b] [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/835197801951526935/1509985569336197360/IMG_2935.png?ex=6a1b2b25&is=6a19d9a5&hm=eb6f02bdf6343eeda3e6329a993d9f1bd61683a69ab557c9cf0ffd6901f62ce0&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=509&height=636[/img][/center] The Pelagor exploited dwarf labor but housed them, fed them, and integrated them into industrial society. Then the Bijol arrived. Facing ecological annihilation, the Pelagor surrendered their surface territories and offered the dwarves as labor tribute in exchange for underwater autonomy. The deal succeeded. For now. [h3]Current Status[/h3] Dwarves now serve as expendable laborers in Strijk mines, fungal coolant refineries, hazardous reactor vaults, and root excavation tunnels. Mortality rates are catastrophic. Yet dwarves remain preferable workers because automation fails near Strijk, Bijol workers are physically clumsy with precision extraction, and dwarf engineering instincts remain “invaluable” to a conquering species too stupid to have invented tieable shoe-laces. Many, the dwarves particularly, suspect the Plasma-Kudzu outbreak was engineered. More still that both they and the Cathedral Groves were Yrrani experiments gone awry. Perhaps once designed to quickly terraform habitable flora into colonizing worlds, now the flora habits the world itself. Some believe the Cathedral Groves intentionally displaced the dwarves to create a permanent labor underclass. No evidence exists. No investigation is permitted. And don't ask them how to spell investigation either. [/hider]