Name of Nation: Bicirrigan Interstellar Meritocratic Republic
Species: Bicirrigans The Bicirrigans, though many mistake them for robots, are in reality a race of tungsten-based lifeforms composed almost entirely of metal, as are most on their homeworld, known across the galaxy as the metal planet for its unique inhabitants. The Bicirrigans are distinctly humanlike in shape, though universally bald, possessing radically different internal structure, and a level of intelligence that distinguishes them from many other species. Additionally, they reproduce through implantation of excess material into the female womb, which, after combined with female material, produces viable young. For this reason, the hermaphroditic species consumes massive quantities of nutrients before reproducing. Because they are a hermaphroditic species, Bicirrigans, as a hermaphroditic species, are able to both impregnate and be impregnated, except in the case of rare male or female mutants. These contents are stored throughout the body and deposited to form the entire mass of the young. The Bicirrigans, as a species, have extremely long lifespans thanks to rigid internal structure, though on the rare occasion that this structure is disturbed, they can typically only be repaired to functioning state by extremely advanced medical technology. It is extremely common for a Bicirrigan to live for centuries or more thanks to the tungsten shell that shields their internal organs. This shell is replenished naturally and artificially. Tungsten oxide extracted from the form of tungstenbased minerals after reacting with alkalis in the digestive tract. These minerals are excreted as waste, then the oxides are passed to a bladderlike organ that is filled with carbon gas (which is itself stored in a 'tank' behind the spine), extracting pure tungsten metal from the oxide.
Description of Government: Meritocracy. Bicirrigan leaders are elected based upon their skill in various politically relevant fields, evaluated by numerous methods including a series of competitions, automated examination of past accomplishments, debate, and numerous others. The Bicirrigans are represented by several hundred of these candidates, who are represented by a figurehead whom this council elects.
Description of Military: Although the Bicirrigans were not a militarily aligned culture, their extreme age as a species has led them to become extremely advanced, making them more than able to defend themselves. They do not actively seek to harm other species, except when a species poses some quantifiable threat to themselves. Their normally curious nature devolves into open warfare when another stands in the way of intellectual advancement or survival, though they have considerable respect for intellectual or adaptive species, including the recent arrivals to the interstellar stage known as "humans".
Their military technology is a healthy mix of kinetic, energy, and explosive weapons. The kinetic weapons of the BIMR are especially well known as RKVs, large hyper-dense iridium rods that are launched at speeds approaching or sometimes even surpassing relativistic speeds. These weapons, due to their power, require massive amounts of power to fire, and as such are typically only found mounted on dreadnoughts, fleet flagships, and other large spacecraft classes. Large RKVs can destabilize the crusts of planets or even crack planets into uninhabitable chunks of rock.
Although not initially designed as weapons, Bicirrigan nanotechnology can prove extremely deadly when deployed en masse. If left undetected or deployed on a massive scale, these nanobots can toxify entire planetary water supplies, devour whole ecosystems, or cut through atmospheres, though they are only deployable in militarily useful proportions by specially designed ships and can be rather cleanly disabled by jamming and energy shields and are rarely used as a result.
Antimatter, positron, and antiproton weapons are also frequently used by the BIMR, due to their universal effectiveness against matter. Antimatter, positrons, and antiprotons will violently obliterate themselves and an equivalent amount of matter or protons they come into contact with in a violent explosion, whether in beam form or as bombs, in the case of antimatter.
Because the primary method of space travel for the Bicirrigans involves manipulation of gravity, gravity-based weapons see use in the BIMR armed forces. These weapons generally involve creating extreme local gravitational anomalies which can cause implosions in nearby objects, or, in some rare cases, spawn localized singularities. These weapons, due to their massive power, are extremely energy-intensive.
Plasma weapons also see use as anti-armour weapons. High-energy beam weapons are also extremely common, both as all-around spacecraft mounted weapons and small arms. In addition, instead of easily defended against EMP, the BIMR utilizes several variants of weapons that fire highly ionized deuterium atoms to disable electronic systems.
Bicirrigan Guards: Forming the bulk of BIMR ground troops, the Bicirrigan guard is armoured in a flexible suit of buckypaper, sealed in an airtight suit of armour that protects from hostile fire as well as most any toxin thanks to their airtight seals. Guards are typically armed with railgun assault rifles and plasma grenades, along with the occasional anti armour plasma lance, squad assault railgun, and numerous other specialized weapons. As is standard with BIMR military forces, trainees are implanted with knowledge instead of being trained to perform certain actions, which allows for extremely fast deployment of fresh troops.
Bicirrigan Navy: Bicirrigan naval vessels can be divided into the following classes - fighter, bomber, multirole fighter, gunship, small transport, large transport, frigate, destroyer, cruiser, escort carrier, battlecruiser, battleship, carrier, dreadnought, supercarrier, super-dreadnought, and High Flagship. Fighters, bombers, gunships, and multirole fighters are typically armed with small railguns, plasma bombs and torpedoes, small fusion warheads, and occasionally deuterium guns. Transports have little armament, and general opt for large engines and shielding. Frigates are designed to maneuver around and harass larger ships. Destroyers are generally designed to defend larger classes from other small ships, a role which they share with larger cruisers, in addition to planetary bombardment. Escort carriers are small carriers with moderate armament, typically used to deploy additional complementary fighters to protect transports or convoys. Battleships are cruisers share a common heavy anti-ship role, though battlecruisers are less armed but much more maneuverable than their unwieldy counterparts. Dreadnoughts and super-dreadnoughts are designed primarily. For massive planetary bombardment. High Flagships are a rare class of vessel, usually commanded by a High Admiral charged with the protection of large sectors or command of a military campaign. They are massive ships, several dozens of kilometres long, and can supply entire fleets in addition to carrying massive complements of weaponry and attack craft.
Technological Overview: The Bicirrigans, as ancient a species as they are, as extremely advanced in several fields, though they especially excel in military and medical technologies. Modern medical technology is primarily focused around nanotechnology and atomic reconstruction (due to the obvious challenges in performing surgery on a being made mostly of. tungsten). Military technology excels all-around. Partly also due to their obsession with other intellectually curious species (also due to their unique biology), many Bicirrigans are adept biologists, whether merely curing a horrible disease that plagues a species or figuring out horrible new ways to destroy those that stand in the way of advancement.
Cultural Overview: Primarily due to their literal worship of knowledge, the Bicirrigans view societies whose beliefs stagnate scientific advancement as utterly despicable and generally have a hostile disposition towards highly religious or warlike societies. One's position is society is designated entirely by skill and aptitude; appearance, race, etc. are intended to only be seen as null factors. The Bicirrigans worship a being known as the "God of the Mind", believed to be rather a state of wholly complete knowledge than a divine being. Tribute is paid to this god through intellectual pursuit. The Church of the Mind provides educational services across the BIMR, and oftentimes travels on military expeditions to retrieve or monitor items of particular intellectual value.
History: Bicirrigan history begins on a planet now known as Bicirriga on the very farthest reaches of the galactic west. Even from the beginning, the Bicirrigans were a unique form of life on their own planet, and wondered why others did not become intelligent like them; why even the wildlife on their own planet was often structured very differently from their own, born in a desert scorched by twin suns. This desire to understand why they existed led the Bicirrigans to revere intellect and adaptability, fostering a love for science that came to view knowledge as the only thing that was divine. The more advanced. Bicirrigan tribes exterminated two other civlized species on their home planet during their industrial revolution, two societies held back by overbearing religion, sedentary peoples that had no desire to know the universe. This desire for knowledge, combined with their early emergence as a species, meant that the Bicirrigans developed FTL early on, desperately searching for alien species. This series of events triggered a time known by the Bicirrigans as "The Tainting".
When a small Bicirrigan expedition made contact with a species only entering the industrial revolution, their advanced technology produced a fear in the planet's inhabitants that manifested as religious worship, eventually erupting into centuries-long warfare that culminated with the destruction of most life on the planet. This lead to the development of a series of laws that governed interaction with alien species.
No species that had not developed FTL technology may be contacted unless they contact us
Contact may only be made with a pre-FTL species after a sufficient period of monitoring.
Military technology is never to be shared with another species except out of absolute necessity.
For the past five years, the Bicirrigans have monitored a species known as the human race, after a Church of the Mind expedition recieved numeric transmissions containing information about Earth's inhabitants, directed towards any present alien species. This communication sparked a period of monitoring, which has just recently ceased.
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