What is The Imperium?
The Vulperai Corporate Imperium is a massive stellar state that exists within the Milky Way, which has existed for approximately 8.8 million years, but has only recently taken to the advent of space colonialism and travel at around 300,000 years ago. The Imperium currently controls hundreds of star systems, and even considers Sol as a protectorate system as the presence of an observation post practically "plants a flag" on the system itself.
Whilst an Imperial Monarchy, the majority of the government that isn't managed by the ruling Empress is ran by Megacorporations of various shape and size, which are designated as "Houses" and are controlled by a ruling family. There are a grand total of 25 houses in the Imperium, all which control handfuls of territory and vie for control relatively peacefully with their counterparts, very rarely if ever is actual war ever seen between two great houses.
The Imperium in its time amongst the stars and other civilizations of the galaxy has made a quite interesting name for itself, whilst never attacking first, they will not slouch in the face of a threat, usually driving their enemies to subjugation or extermination if the threat is serious enough, however, most times diplomacy is the God of the battlefield before even a single shot is fired from their ships.
A keynote tactic in their space navy is forcing civilizations to surrender from orbit, threatening them with destruction from above if they do not bow to the will of the Golden Throne, which has worked almost always in their favor in the whole of their history with conflict of other nations of the galaxy. As one scholar has put it: "There are two lions in this galaxy, the Vulperai, and the Abh, which you choose to piss off is your choice of the same result."
Their current ruling head of state of Empress Jamal Kosingna I, who is a relatively youthful ruler at the prime age of 34, who took the place of her predecessor who perished at the old age of 393.
The Imperium has an alliance with Ravenwood, however, keeps them as they do all exterior powers, held at sword's length. This policy is not to be mean or rude to an ally, but merely a precaution as to not be dragged into senseless conflicts and wars with no regard for the safety of Imperial citizens.
The Imperium also has become relatively well known for its ship designs, elegant in looks, regal even, however lethal to every degree possible, able to produce weapons of various type to put down threats with relative ease with minimal losses on their part. The advent of Imperial weaponry is also a common thing to be seen in other cultures, projected energy weapons such as storm rifles, plasma rifles and pistols, and scourge rifles are many examples of what the Imperial Armed Forces are capable of fielding, however, consumer weapon models do not hold up to the homebody variants found within the Imperium itself.
The Imperium holds a belief that there is a heavenly deity known as "The Emperor", who once sat upon the Golden Throne that all Emperors and Empresses now sit upon, and was responsible for the unification of their species during the Ironblood Wars, and saw to it that they became the next great power in the galaxy without question or worry. This is usually a common theme throughout homes in the Imperium as one will have a figure, faceless, made of gold as a statuette of some kind in the foyer of their home, and will commonly pray to "The Emperor" every night before bed. Exclamations of surprise, frustration, or anger can be noted as well, such as "By The Emperor's Light" or "By the Emperor, are you daft?!" as two well known examples. Those that disrespect the deity of their people tend to end up as a martyr.
For the majority of people in the Imperium, life can vary from world to world, even in the same system things can be vastly different compared to the world next door. Whereas one world may be a bustling city megapolis planet akin to Coruscant, the one one orbit in may be nothing more than townships of less than 50 people and farmlands. The only exception to this is Vulperin, which is a mixture of everything that a planet could ever want to be.
At current, the total population of the Imperium is around 8.6 Quintillion citizens, which is a rough estimate to say the least.
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The Vulperai
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The Vulperai are a Vulpine-looking Mammalian species that originates from The Vulperai Corporate Imperium. Ranging from anywhere from 3' even to as tall as 8'6" in their bigger subgenres, the species is a relatively prosperous spacefaring empire of the Milky Way Galaxy, they are omnivores by nature, however will actively seek out opportunistic meals instead of seeking one diet or another. They are built relatively canine in style, and are known to be territorial with other species, even their own, however, this trait is more or less a pick-and-choose moment as they are known master diplomats and trademasters, as commonplace with their culture of Corporate Greed.
Genetics wise, the Vulperai have a quadruple helix DNA structure with 80 chromosome pairs, which is the result of millions of years of evolutionary progress and even their own advent of genetic tailoring of their own species, which is heavily explained in their history. Their blood is not iron-based, but instead, silver-based, giving it a silver coloration upon exposure to open air. The species is one of the only known species that can actively survive without oxygen intake of any kind for prolonged periods of time, as an individual can survive in the vacuum of space for upwards to a month without EVA protection, however, this is not recommended for the members of the species as it could lead to long-term health issues. The species as a whole is unusual in many ways, as they are not only dangerous reproductively to themselves, but to alien species as well, due to their uncanny ability to bypass the evolutionary rules of species hopping. Offspring usually range in number of 2 to as numerous as 12, depending on the phenotype of the female.
Community wise, Vulperai are rather close-knit, even huge bustling cities can be crazy for outsiders for Vulperai to know one-another like they were a brother or sister, and a death in the community is usually a tragedy for not only the family unit, but for everyone else as well. It is actually very rare for a Vulperai not wishing to be someone's friend, if this ever was to occur to either a member of their species or an outsider, there is usually a very damn good reason for it.
If a Vulperai does choose to settle down, it is almost never exclusively with one person, as a Vulperai usually will garner 8-9 mates to their name, but only one will become a Lifemate to that individual, whereas the rest will be considered Denmates.
Vulperai will ruthlessly defend their home from others if threatened, where one would expect them to use a weapon of some kind to do as such, it is a very common practice for a Vulperai - usually a male Vulperai - to rip into a threat with their own teeth and claws instead of arming themselves with a firearm of any kind, this is due to the instinct of the species kicking in in that very moment, becoming almost feral in terms of their actions. It is also very common for neighbors to join in a defensive action if the situation is bad enough.
The Vulperai are the only species in the known galaxy to have an immunity to The Parasite, this is due to their hasty editing of their own genes to gain such an immunity in order to stop the spread before it lead to their extinction and the wider galaxy being thrown into the proverbial fire.
A common thing for outsiders to note is that the Vulperai do not share the same levels of "modesty" as say, an Earthling, it is very common for a Vulperai to be in tune with their body, mind, spirit and senses more than most would give them credit for, which oddly enough comes off as "blunt" or "scathing" to some. Whilst if one does offend, they usually apologize and try to make amends, but it is bound to happen more than once due to misconceptions and differing information.
Approximately 0.84 percent of Vulperai are "Void Touched", which is the result of The Void appearing in their territories and messing with people on a massive scale, however, male Vulperai are the only ones that are able to manipulate the crystals without consequence, however, messing with the portals is a whole matter on its own. Due to this uncanny fact, the Vulperai in this odd category are capable of psionic abilities, manipulation of elements, and other feats that usually are seen within Void users on Earth and beyond.
The Vulperai established an observation post in orbit of Jupiter around 38,000 BC Earthwise, due to the discovery of Humans on Earth, and wished to monitor their development for the majority of their known history, even leading expeditions on Earth to learn more about them, which may have led to some abductions in the past. Vulperai in regards to humans and Earth are relatively protective over the primitives, seeing them as fledgling and young with potential for greatness, however, try to keep a hands-off approach in regards to meddling in their affairs as they do not wish to force a planetary unification of their species, though they will happily step in if there is an existential threat to the world itself, such as a nuclear standoff or a spacerock on a collision course with the planet, or even the threat of another spacefaring species attempting to exterminate their world.
One Earth-grown food that a Vulperai will not turn down is Strawberry anything, keep this in mind if you're looking to make a quick friend.
The Imperium, and by extension the Vulperai, are members of the galactic community, and have been for the past 2,450 years.
Several stories hail from Vulperai worlds that are relatively interesting to read, sometimes even downright terrifying due to how they're portrayed, such as the folklore tale of their people known as "The Serpent That Swallowed the Moon", which details the way that Vulperin's moon was split in half by a great serpent of the stars as it passed through the system.
The Vulperai as a culture tend to try and be friends with anyone they encounter, however, they also believe that not everyone in the galaxy has their best interests at heart and mind, thus the propagation of a warrior culture subsect in their own mainline culture is present, where a Vulperai will stop at nothing to uphold the honor of the Imperium and their house if a true threat is encountered. The culture of honorbound warriors of every caste of society reflects quite well in the eyes of many, however, this also has terrified many a species into breaking during war with the Imperium.
Young Vulperai are considerably smart compared to other species offspring, able to figure out most problems on their own, and even navigate complicated puzzles and mazes without even a single hint of help from an adult or overseer. Another trait they carry over into adulthood is their inability to be gullible, often able to pick out traps, tricks, surprises and so on long before someone has the chance to spring it on them.
A Vulperai will not die of blood loss unless the wound is egregious in scale, their clotting factor is absurdly high.
Vulperai sense of smell is quite high, able to identify things usually picked up by ferals with ease, however, this also leads to the ability to sensory overload someone into a migraine if one was to produce a heavy enough scent.
Crime in the Imperium is relatively unheard of, due to the fact that most Vulperai see no reason to cause chaos and deviance from the society they have worked so hard to build, however, this does not mean that criminals do not exist, and when they do exist, they're usually highly dangerous, tricksters, manipulators, thieves, liars, heretics... you name it.
A Vulperai cannot survive alone, as they are social creatures and need some fashion of interaction to keep their sanity. If a lone Vulperai was to find themselves stranded, they would quickly devolve mentally into a feral-like mindset that would take months to years to recover from upon rescue.
All Vulperai have a crystalline uplink chain embedded behind their ear that allows them to interface with ships, vehicles, and other devices mentally, thus reducing the chance for error input by 0.00000000000000000000000000000000000001 percent. This neural uplink is embedded at birth, and cannot be removed.
A Vulperai at the age of 2 months will have a chip implanted at the base of their skull, this is a tracker chip that always pings their location to a nearby system uplink tower, it is not to spy on the citizens of the Imperium, but more a way to find them if the unthinkable was to happen, such as a crashed starship on a desolate world. This chip is about the size of a grain of sand, and is powered by the bioelectric signals of the body.
Vulperai at the age of 14 will enter into the Imperial Armed Forces for a period of six years as mandatory of the law. However, once allowed to leave, they will remain on a conscription roster until their 250th birthday, in the event that an all out war was to break out and threaten the Imperium. During this time, they are taught how to fight, cook, clean, sew their uniforms and other clothes, navigate spaceship life, pilot craft of various type, and win war in the unlikely event someone does cause problems for their species.
Vulperai will learn how to talk by the age of 4 months, and by the age of 8 months, will know how to walk.
A Vulperai by the age of 7 years old will know how to pilot a basic star hauler alone, usually taught by their parents, siblings and neighbors to ensure the utmost safety and security of the child in question. After their first flight, usually beginning at Vulperin and ending at Cygnus, the family will celebrate the rest of the day with a party. As precaution however, the father of the child will be secretly onboard the ship in the event something DOES go wrong, only revealing themselves after they have landed and disembarked.
Vulperai, regardless of gender, are individualistic and equal to each other.
Vulperai abhorrently dislike species that are xenophobic for no good reason, if there is a good reason for it, they will leave them alone, however, species that are just built around racism, speciesism, and xenophobic tendencies that make no sense whatsoever, usually end up on their hit list of problems to deal with in the galactic council. An example of a good reason to be xenophobic is worry that the galaxy at large will spread unknown disease throughout their populace, or even the trauma of encountering another species before their advent to FTL travel.
Vulperin, the homeworld of the Vulperai, historically has been glassed a total of three times, and each time, has been restored to its previous state. Two times were the fault of their own people, the third was not their fault, but the result of a war with another species. (Hi Covenant!)
Vulperin once had two moons, but one was split in half by an unknown incident that cannot be explained to this day other than the stories that subsequently came from it. The split moon is known as Jeka, and the intact moon is known as Finn, which is also a habitable moon.
Vulpes, the homeworld system of the Vulperai, has three stars, which all have their own planetary system. The stars in question are red dwarf stars, which surprisingly put out a lot of energy for their stellar typing, allowing a relatively easy existence in terms of habitable worlds, which there are six in the three systems alone. There technically is a fourth star in the system, however it is more classified as a brown dwarf than an actual star, which orbits at the edge of Vulpes C's planetary system setup.
