Faction Backstories: daiseep - humans - khelons - saahrai

The Daiseep

An Empire Dying from Within

The origin of most sentient species in the universe is somewhat similar. Each individual is born from two progenitors who are much like the newborn, at the genetic level. With time, each generation evolves slightly, and dominant evolutionary paths survive and thrive.

But the Daiseep are quite different. They have no parents. Instead, they come from three communal gene-pools, called Kaabutars, each of which is under the control of one of the three Daiseep nations. These pools are in fact lakes that formed naturally in the Daiseep home world of Nubta. They are composed of a carbon-rich, dark ooze that bubbles continuously.

When a Daiseep passes on, or is ready to pass on, they are taken to a Kaabutar and ceremoniously sent off into the ooze. Their body is consumed by the obsidian matter of the lake, which stores their genetic information for later use.

Whenever a Kaabutar takes a life, it produces at least one in return. Once the new Daiseep fetus is ready to be brought into the world, it floats to the surface of the gene-pool in a rigid, spherical membrane that is dark green in colour. This process is called the Awoco

Although each life given to a Kaabutar usually yields one new life, the Daiseep eventually learned how to manipulate these gene-pools to their benefit. Through considerable research and testing, they were able to influence such factors as how many new lives the lake produced, and even tweak some of the fetus' features. In essence, they had achieved an elementary level of genetic engineering.

The establishment responsible for the safekeeping of the gene-pools, as well as for conducting research and genetic engineering, was a religion known as Kaabusom. These worshipers of the lakes held considerable cultural and political power in all three Daiseep nations.

But after centuries of minimal opposition to its policies and decrees, Kaabusom's power began to fade. For one, cultural progress and the separation of religion and politics was weakening the people's dependence on, and fear of, the Kaabusom High Council. Yet, an event quite out of the High Council's control would become the true catalyst for change.

During a routine inspection of one of the Kaabutars, a conservation specialist found that the ooze level had dropped dramatically from where it had been in the previous decade. Had he informed his superiors, this revelation would have become highly confidential. But he knew this, and felt that his people should be aware of this change. So he went public with his findings, and the government of the three nations gathered to address the situation.

These governments decided that, first and foremost, they needed to assess the extent of the issue, and discover its cause. Once these were known with certainty, they would gather their greatest scientists to devise a solution. Should the problem go unremedied, it would threaten the long-term survival of the Daiseep, and the three nations could not tolerate that.

However, the Kaabusom High Council committed a damning error, in refusing to allow the three nations unrestricted access to the Kaabutars. They contended that only their priests were properly prepared to interact with, and understand, the lakes, without tainting them. The council claimed that any interference of this nature could render the lakes infertile, leading to a far more severe problem than what they were facing.

The three nations reconvened and decided that they could only overcome Kaabusom if their governments united. Such a unison would bring elation and a sense of prolonged security amongst their people, thereby providing the support they would need for a confrontation against the Kaabusom High Council.

And so, a war began between the three nations and the Kaabusom establishment. Although the nations had superior numbers and technology, each loss on their side was costly, as they could not be replaced. Worse still, a Daiseep that had been dead for too long would not yield a new life from the Kaabutars. Time was not on their side.

The council, meanwhile, had increased the rate of new births to levels never before seen. Their genetic engineering efforts were focused on creating newborns that would mature quickly, and become excellent warriors. The result was that they were gifted with a nearly endless supply of fighters, who were thoroughly brain-washed to mindlessly support the Kaabusom cause.

In a desperate effort to even the odds, the three nations conceived a plan that would be costly for both sides. They created a genetic virus that could contaminate an entire Kaabutar, rendering it infertile. Their plan was to destroy one of the gene-pools, while simultaneously making a push to take over control of another.

After months of preparation and diversionary tactics, the three nations successfully executed their scheme. Each side of the war now had control of one Kaabutar, with the Kaabusom also facing the threat of losing their last lake to the genetic virus. However, the High Council correctly assumed that the three nations were not willing to sacrifice two lakes to achieve their goal, and pressed on with their plans.

The war raged on for nearly two decades, before the three nations were able to assassinate most of the High Council members. Those who survived, wisely decided to live out the remainder of their lives in hiding.

But the celebration amongst the three nations was short-lived. The issue that had originally caused the war―the dwindling levels of genetic ooze in the Kaabutars―was exacerbated by the destruction of one of the pools and the excessive birth rate needed to maintain the war.

Should they fail to discover a solution to this crisis, the Daiseep would face extinction in only a few centuries, a fact not lost on the leaders of the three nations.

Redemption from the Skies

A decade passed, and the three nations were no closer to solving the issue of diminishing ooze levels in the Kaabutars. Their best option remained the reduction of the birth rate to just above the death. Nothing more.

But after so many years of fruitless research, a seemingly inconsequential event would completely alter the three nations' strategy for resolving the situation.

A small meteor crashed just outside the infertile Kaabutar. A group of scientists investigated the site, but found the foreign matter too hot from its descent to study. Yet, that increase in temperature was sufficient to melt the previously frozen core of the meteor, thereby freeing its microscopic life-forms from their icy prison

One month later, the group of scientists returned to the site, only to find that the life-forms had evolved and spread at a frantic pace. So much so that the scientists were able to see the alien growth spreading all around the crater where they had landed.

Of particular importance was the fact that this growth had spread right to the edge of the infertile Kaabutar, which had begun to bubble again. After extensive testing was conducted by the scientists, they discovered that the alien life-forms had somehow neutralised the effects of the genetic virus, and reawakened the genetic matter in the lake.

The news of this event brought a renewed sense of optimism, both to government officials and to the general populace. At the very least, the return of the third Kaabutar would allow for an increase in the birth rate, and grant the Daiseep a few more centuries to find a permanent solution to their propagation issues.

But the meteor had also showed the heads of state just how little their scientists still knew of the Kaabutars and its inner workings. More than ever, they felt little certainty that they could find a solution on their own. After all, if a random meteor crash could do more for the Kaabutars than a decade of research, then perhaps the answer to the draining of the lakes was also amongst the stars.

The three nations decided to shift their research efforts towards space travel technology. Within half a decade, they were able to built three exploration ships, which were designed to investigate all substances found in nearby planets.

With every year that passed without a solution being found, the Daiseep leaders intensified and expanded the space program. They were determined to find an answer in the vast reaches of space, one way or another.

Eventually, they made first contact with the Humans, thought the latter never even knew it. The Daiseep vessels, much like the Daiseep beings themselves, were designed for unparalleled stealth and covert operations. They had nearly crashed into a Human cruiser-class vessel that had dropped suddenly from warp speed, avoiding an incident by a few hundred meters.

Once the Daiseep realised that they were not alone in their galaxy, their expanded their search of space to include alien technology. And given their furtive skills and nature, the Daiseep quickly convinced themselves that the swiftest way to gain access to such technology, would be to steal it.

In order to accomplish this goal of making alien technology fully available to their scientists, the three nations decided to create a special branch of the military, the Unsuma Gadwana. The prime directive of this special division was to search for instances of advanced alien technology, and retrieve it.

The Daiseep who was placed in charge of this division was Sifo Temba, a national hero amongst the three nations. Sifo was considered the foremost authority in covert operations, and was without a doubt the most accomplished operative in Daiseep history. He had made his fame during the war with the Kaabusom, where he was entrusted with overseeing all assassination attempts against the High Council. The success of these attempts was rightly credited with concluding the war, and built his career upon that accomplishment.

But now his talents as a covert operative and a mastermind would be more strained than ever. He would be facing an unknown enemy, at undetermined locations, all while learning to operate alien equipment and technology.

And Sifo started down this career path with a bang, by stealing a state-of-the-art Human vessel that meant far more to them than it did to the Daiseep. Furthermore, their pursuit of Sifo and his army would leave them stranded in an unfamiliar planet, amongst a number of new enemies.

But perhaps the technology of one of these races could save his people. More than anything, Sifo Temba was driven by his duty.

And he never failed to deliver.