---

Race Name: Padoven
Demonym: Padovens

Name of Faction: The Padoven Union / PSCF Union ( Padoven States and Colonies Federate Union)
Government Structure:
The Padoen Union is an intergovernmental organization, first founded in 7678 C.I. in order to promote planetary and extraplanetary co-government. Officially declared a federation twenty years later, it regrouped the 23 nations of the Padoven Hegemony under a common flag,
In the Union, each state preserves limited local authonomy, whilst the executive, the legislative and the judiciary are held by the central government.
Each great state boasts one to three representatives* in the 'Nations Council', a counseling organ from which are elected those deputies who will make up the General Council. The latter detains legislative power, and the power to elect through a votation system the Primarchs, heads of the military.
The judiciary power is composed of a tripartite organ, each composed of different courts for various crimes, ranging from war ones, to civil ones.
Lastly, the executive is held by the Union Steward, a life tenure office, who has moreover veto over the laws passed in the General Council. The Union Steward is elected by the Nations Council after a week of mourning after his predecessor's death.



Race Biology:
Characterized by an thick hexagonal plates exoskeleton that covers almost entirely Padoven skin (except for the neck, hands and *cough* private locations), and low sexual dimorphism, this race body reseambles particularly that of other species. Vertebrates, bipedal mammals, Padovens have, like many other species, a capillary cardiac system, a neuronal one, organic fabrics and a diplontic life cycle. They are particularly tall and based on an avian build.
Having a slow metabolism, Padovens need half-dozen more hours of sleep during the night than averange species, though noticeably increasing their life-span, tranquillity and thoughtfulness.
Having evolved in an envirnment based on L-amminacids, Padovens are not able of disgesting any kind of organism not based on the same amminoacid structure. Though originally evolved from an herbivore species, they are omnivore, and really appreciate eating soft and well-coocked meat.
With small and thick eyes, their prolonged head is covered with unusually straight shining plates, that end over a toothed mouth - to be noted the presence of six canines-, devoid of lips. Lastly, on the side of the mouth, important is the presence of two long and moving mandibles, once used by Pedovens' ancestors to group substantial bundles of grass to be eaten; today they don't have any pratical use anymore, since the invention of cutlery, but still bear symbolic meanings and attractiveness.
Their hearing is really developed, and they can catch even lower and higher frequences compared to other species. For this reason it is commonly said 'listening to the universe' in order to indicate someone who isn't very talkative, because when in empty space, Padovens can hear a weak background considered as the 'Universe melody'.
An interesting anomaly of Padoven physiognomy is an odd soft protuberance situated behind the neck, capable of stretching over their heads and shrinking back at will: though without any practical utility, thus leaving geneticists really baffled on why their race developed something this useless, this hood-like sack is often used by people to cover their heads during particularly hot or rainy days.




Cultural History:
Almost seven thousands of years before the current times, Vituvia - Padoven homeworld - was devastated by a cataclysm, which transformed that idylliac terran world into a scorching ball of restlessness. A comet, moving unexpectedly away from its course, entered in contact with the atmosphere of the planet, unleashing high values of toxic gases; moreover, after the melting of the frozen gases, the comet revealed an heavy metallic core, which survived and crashed with unimaginable strenght on the surface.
The Padovens, silent spectators of their world premature end, eventually adapted, evolved to strive and survive in the new hostile environment: taller and more slender physognomies appeared, and they naturally developed in the successive two thousand years enzymes for digesting meat based meals, easier to find in those blasted lands.
Eventually from the ashes of the world they boosted an healing process of their own planet, slowly regaining pieces of land from the toxic miasma, or rebuilding the fractures on the land. Today Vituvia has returned to his former beauty, partly at least, having undergone an heavy terraformation process. Godless, Padovens rebuilt their world with their own capabilities, thus ascending to a new level of self-conception. They were the center of the universe.
Today the original tendency of equilibre and sobrity frequent during the cataclysm has passed out, and since the last thousand of years -basically, the return of drinkable waters in most inlands- the Padovens have started again to regroup in differentiated ethnics and cvilizations, eventually leading to the birth of very different nations all through the world. Cultures are now incredibly different each from another, and describing each one of them would be quite a pain in- it would be really wearsome.
Only to be noted that Padoven mix of cultures has led to the birth of the 'New Empire' culture, a global elegant but simple union of arts, architecture and forms of speech, which is swiftly gaining its space in both planetary and extraplanetary communities.
Of what was before the cataclysm, very little remains: only shadows of a forgotten past, and the first light that wasn't from their sun.

Social Structure:

Formerly, the Union is based on the sacrosanct equality of rights for all Padovens.
In practice, society is based on a socio-economic hierarchical system based on wealth, and merits. Basically, the self-fulfillment of the individual is entirely based on its capability of striving through this sprawling society, and also on its social background. However, the government bases most of his fortune on this propaganda, promising better conditions and a more just meritocracy.
Still, socio-economic inequalities are frequent, and probably the situation will never change. This is in fact the main reason why the numbers of people enrolling in colonial missions in the system is esponentially growing, having seen that by creating a new colony - and thus a new state -, they would achieve that generally precluded high-ranking position. Of course, that if they survive the unknown environment.

---

Reaction to Aliens: After the sudden leak of top secret informations, Padovens discovered that the government didn't have an emergency 'first contact' plan, thus leading to the massive exploitation of such an hot topic by the media. After the sold-out 'Baugrund Investors II - The Vengeance', a major weekly magazine surveyed great portions of the population on 'how would they act, whether they see an alien': surprisingly enough, the choice with the highest votations was the number C 'Interested in a Lemon Bubbling Blaster?', immediately followed with equal votes by answer A and E, respectively saying 'Welcome, did you lost yourself or somethin'?' and 'GET THE F*** OUT OF HERE!'.
The Steward suggested an alcoholism survey next.

---

'Now calculating...'
A small red light was turning repetitively around, alerting an alert. What kind, none of the crew could not guess. The ship WAS had suddenly closed all exterior windows and activated emergency measures. Whilst everyone was slowly falling into a hidden state of panic, the colonization fleet Captain Arcturus sat comfortably on his chair. None dared to speak. None dared to move. He knew everyone was looking at him, at his closed eyes: that very flesh that few minutes before ordered to cross that alien artifact.
And he could not hide his pleasure. If only they could calm down themselves...
'Now calculating...'
'Shut up, AI ! Rehabilitate the systems at once.' uttered someone in a corner of the hall.
'Now calculating...' repeated the mechanical voice.
Oh oh oh... he knew perfectly what was lying behind the walls. Baffling indeed that one of the most modern computers couldn't even understand that. Or probably it knew, but was so eagerly shocked by such a discovery that was trying to recover useless data, thus shutting up the systems to save energy. Who knew, who knew.
Well, more bemusing was the apparent inability of his crew to hear.

'Calculation complete'

All the windows opened concurrently. Not that was necessary, since all of the small colonization crew was now in the main hall. There, over their bewildered eyes, the observation dome opened, revealing what most strange existed in the universe. An infinite, sprawling sea of stars greeted the adventurers with shiny and gleaming smiles.
There a blue dot, there a giant bundle of milky lights, there, far, almost invisible, a solitary galaxy joined the welcome as well. Surely no words could describe that sight.
Still, someone dared to, and, obviously, failed to embody the beauty and magnificence of it.
'Calculated an asymmetric bundle of barely three hundreds of millions of stars. Spotted around eight point eight millions of possibly hospitable planets. Should I report to the Union, sir Captain?'
Arcturus could not refrain a smile to curl his lipless mouth. The metallic voice lost itself in the void, whilst an harmonious and strong melody completely engulfed the dazzled crew.

---

---

Warmongerers / Military Production: 6
Scientists / Research Income: 9
Theologians / Faith Income: 0

---

Tier 1: 20
Robotics
Cold Fusion
Particle Manipulation
Ballistics

Tier 2: 40
Industrial Robotics
Artificial inteligence
Impulse Drives
Particles Physics

Tier 3: 30
Orbital Platforms
Particles Beams
Orbital Ballistics

Warmongerers / Military Production: 3
Scientists / Research Income: 7
Theologians / Faith Income: 5

Race Name: Shydo’Ztill
Name of Faction: The Shydo Conglomerate
Government Structure: Independent Corporate States

Race Biology:
The Shydp are methane breathers, and have a dual solvent vascular system (Instead of water being their sole ‘lifeblood’, they have combined a mild acid and alkaline solution into their bodily processes). Organs are highly compartmentalized and separate from each other, to facilitate and allow certain organic reactions to take place without contamination from other compounds.

Averaging about 5-6 feet tall, and are omnivorous in nature, feeding of whatever crops or livestock are available. They reproduce asexually, with males influencing specific traits to a degree via sexual reproduction but not required for fertilization, and lay clutches of eggs after a gestation period of 7 months. They have poor eyesight due to the dimness of their world, but excellent hearing and smell, using primitive echolocation to spot things a distance away


A Shydo Space Ryla, male

Cultural History:
Their world (Tssdak) is almost entirely covered in oceans of poisonous compounds, at least to most species, with small continents available to offer or produce resources. The Shydo soon took to the seas of their world in massive naval fleets, and developed a culture of trade and bartering, being the only avenue available to them for survival. This lead to the formation of various guilds, which quickly became corporations, then hyper corporations as the Shydo modernized over the next 700 years.

This major shift into a life on-board massive city boats has made them excellent navigators and brilliant naval tacticians, but has also lead to a major schism in their society, where piracy and illicit trade is also acceptable, and in fact encouraged to a degree by the government (while obviously these issues must not be condoned, they do allow for increased demand to be met with minimal supply, fast tracking through bureaucratic red tape and allowing otherwise impossible to get goods to be available to some reasonable profit margin).

One major trait that most species find peculiar is the tendency of individual Shydo to create personal hoards of apparently useless junk, which developed due to the uncertainty and rarity of finding certain things. These hoards are precious to each Shydo, and to take something from them is one of the few ways to make one furious enough for violence. In general, they are a peaceful if cunning and sly race. They have a tendency to be vain, and desire only to be loved and material possessions, having little need for anything else.

They do not hold faith to any particular God, but believe there is an afterlife, where everything you ever need is available, all the time at a moment’s notice (a sort of nirvana of comfortable living and relaxation, with no pain or suffering). There is also no need to lead a good life, instead there is a ‘toll’ of your worldly possessions to pay for access (similar to ancient Egyptian Death and Rebirth myths). This was most likely born as a desire to escape the hardship and fear of living a sea born life in ancient times, and stuck with the Shydo psyche throughout the ages.

A desire for easy living also lead to the mass production and availability of synthetic drones and automated machines in all aspects of life, from industry to personal assistants to military applications. These drones, while not perfect, greatly reduce the need for serious man power and menial laborers. Most of the Shydo work office or corporate employment, with the exception of the military conscripts, Shydo Corporate Assets Protection (S-CAP) and criminal work camps (or gulags).

Social Structure:
All Shydo are considered precious, and slavery is condemned in most circles (there is still a thriving trade on the black market for various ‘servitude assistants’), as all Shydo are at least born equal. There are three sectors of Shydo societal niches:

Citizens - Most Shydo fall into this category, and includes the Defense Force militias and S-CAP. This is the mainstream, work nine till five sector, and also includes the governing bodies of the people (again, controlled by corporate interests).

Piracy/Organized Crime – Often at heads with local law enforcement and special investigation bureaus, there are hundreds of different cartels and pirate gangs. The most notable include the Four Sisters Syndicate and the Soaring Blades gang.

Nomads (Also known as Space Ryla) – Named after the floating seeds of a particular pant native to Tssdak, this body of Shydo mostly keep to themselves in the Asteroid Fields and the Gas Giant’s Rings, scavenging and trading mined resources to get by. They are very kind and warm hearted, but have no tolerance for the local gangs who harass their flotilla regularly, and aggressively defend their home. They consist of outcasts, artists and engineering/tech experts who don’t wish to be bled dry of their creativity and such by corporate entities.

Full Scale conflict is rare among the Conglomerate, and instead is bare minimum in most areas. The Defense Force is mostly hired from the civilian population, and rarely sees combat, instead being tasked with intercepting smugglers and law enforcement both on the city fleets and in orbit. Most of their ships and ground forces involve armed attack drones for various roles, with specialty command staff coordinating strikes and assault infantry completing objectives too complex for the automated drones. Naval Fleet wise, they are a collection of frigates, fighters, destroyers and other small craft no larger than a cruiser.

More advanced and diplomatically ‘delicate’ scenarios are the focus of S-CAP’s efforts, a guild that mainly consists of military R&D firms, PMCs and specialized ship building heavy industries. The soldiers hired by S-CAP* have access to the latest, most advanced weaponry and equipment available. Combined with their intense and top class combat training, they operate in small independent squads that complete their objectives by any means necessary, free from interference by government investigation. These objectives can range from assassination and demolition, to total political dissension and government collapse. Very few combat teams can face an S-CAP squad and live to tell the tale.

Reaction to aliens: Depending on which sector makes contact first. The Citizens will most likely see the potential prosperity and wealth to be made, but cautious as they stand to lose a lot of money too if the race is hostile. Pirates or Gangs will probably get out of there as fast as possible, being way out of their league, and Space Ryla will be friendly and approachable, but still cautious.

Technology:
Quantum Computing (5)
-Robotics (5)
-Artificial Intelligence (10)
-Particle Manipulation (5)
-Particle Fields (10)
-Industrial Robotics (5)
-Adaptive Thought (15)
-Ballistics (5)
-**Hyper Liquid Ballistics (15)
-**Xenolinguistics (10)
-**Predictive Negotiation Analysis (15)
0 TP left over

(*Note: S-CAP will eventually hire aliens, after contact and if trade relations are good. Sci Fi A-Team, anyone?)
(**Note: This is liable to change, as I am still waiting for the last three techs to be approved. Just wanted to give a total outline of where I'm going with this)