Faction Name: Jhingese Scientific Exodus
Faction Type: Autocratic meritocracy
Species: Jhinga - Long lived prawn-people
Jhingese (Plural) are land-dwelling crustaceans resembling humanoid prawns. They have four primary limbs, and while they are capable of standing upright and walking a short distance, they tend to use all four primary limbs for walking. In addition to their main set of limbs, they possess several smaller arms running up the front of their carapace. These arms are the primary manipulators, and possess far more flexibility and precision than the main limbs. The head of a Jhinga is elongated and has several short and long antennae. Their mouth consists of an orifice surrounded by small maxillae -- several segmented appendages used to manipulate food -- and a muscle resembling a tongue in function and purpose. The maxillae possess limited tasting ability, to identify objects before consuming them. The Jhingese have two pairs of compound eyes situated on the head, one large set that is forward facing, and a small set situated closer to the top of the head with a wider field of vision.
Scale and Territory: Advanced Interstellar - The Jhinga are semi-nomadic, and so only hold a few outposts. Their homeworld is largely abandoned, with most of the infrastructure disassembled or overrun by nature, save for a few temples. The moons of the system's gas giant are used as shipyards and maintenance outposts. In scattered, previous unoccupied systems, there are other outposts around gas giants, once again, used primarily for maintenance.
Culture: The Jhingese have formed a scientifically oriented society, placing the acquirement of knowledge above all else, even the lives of their fellows and the fate of their entire civilization. They have incredible respect for any individual who is active in their quest to learn, whether or not those individuals are knowledgeable or not. However, they are also a very private people. Information that is not commonly known will not be shared widely, unless some benefit can be derived from sharing it. Much private knowledge, unless particularly advanced or niche, is therefore discovered parallel but independent, with several individuals learning the same thing in roughly the same period of time, but remaining ignorant to each other's discoveries and believing themselves to be the only holders of the information. This means that information in Jhingese society is slow to travel, but on a whole, the Jhingese are more intelligent, rather than strictly more knowledgeable.
Because of the private nature of Jhingese society, rumors and gossip are rare. However, because of their innate curiosity, spying and "theft" (they often intend to return stolen items) are particularly common but awful offenses. Known spies and thieves are disliked and shunned, but no one is suspect unless caught in the act. An individual and their closest friend may both be robbers or spies, unaware of the other's nefarious activities, and unsuspecting as well. Indeed, many Jhingese are guilty of either crime, to varying degrees.
HistoryNear the end of the Jhingese interplanetary age, two Jhingese independently discovered a mode of faster-than-light travel. Each set themselves to work on testing and perfecting hyperspace travel, manufacturing and assembling parts with their limited industrial capabilities. Finally, twenty Jhingese years Before Exodus, each had finished their machines and each became aware of the other. The Hound, having completed his project first, launched a preemptive strike against the Doctor, who had just finished her own drive. The warships, while rudimentary, struck a heavy blow and set the pace for the rest of the war. The Doctor leapt away from the conflict, using her only hyperdrive, and went into hiding.
While the Doctor began to rally followers in secret, the Hound used his considerable industry (now enhanced by his own hyperdrive) to construct the beginnings of a fleet. Cheaper copies of the hyperdrive were installed in his flagships, each drive capable of launching itself and several other ships within range into hyperspace. He soon found, however, that hyperspace jumps were not entirely reliable, even less so with the newly produced sets: the longer the jump, the less accurate the landing. Leaping from planet to planet was somewhat reliable, but skipping from a far interior orbit to a far more superior orbit was a matter of luck. As his patrols played hide and seek with the Doctor's ship, the Hound lost more and more of his fleet, some misjumping into atmospheres and falling to their demise, and others simply disappearing. Five years passed this way, as the Hound's industry replaced missing ships and began improving the hyperdrive. During these five years, the Hound had given up chasing the Doctor, instead having his patrols wait in the orbit of every notable orbital body to catch her. He was unsuccessful.
The second battle fought in the war was no less messy than the first. The Doctor called upon her supporters, and a fleet of conventional spaceships ascended from the surface of every world. Some were lost to the defenses of the sovereign nations that still stood unscathed by the war, and others were immediately beset upon by the orbital fleets of the Hound. The Doctor exploited the disorientation of the fleets as they exited hyperspace, striking hard and fast before they could react, dealing as much damage as possible before her own ships began to fall. During this year long conflict, the Doctor seized several of the Hound's industrial facilities in the asteroid belt, leaving him with the gas giant and it's moons. With both fleets smashed and having roughly equal production capability, the war was fought on a level playing field for the first time in the last six years.
With more and more ships being lost to hyperspace travel each year, the Doctor and the Hound acted more conservatively with their own flagships and set themselves to developing a safer means of using hyperspace. Whoever succeeded first would have a major advantage.
Frustrated by the lack of progress, the Hound quickly rallied his forces and ordered them into position around the orbital bodies nearest to the Doctor's base of operations, ordering an attack simultaneously. The Doctor fought, her forces surrounded and largely unprepared for a conflict of that scale. Her ships dwindling in number, she activated her hyperdrive and took most of her fleet's remains with her. The Hound's fleet commanders were unconcerned, as the nearest orbital bodies to jump to were surrounded and jumping into an empty orbit was largely pointless. However, unbeknownst to anyone but the Doctor, she had discovered how to accurately perform a hyperspace jump.
Integrating herself with her hyperdrive and ship, the Doctor navigated the depths of hyperspace, intent on making one final attack. She bypassed the blockades, and passed several more orbits along the way, straining herself and her hyperdrive as she used her imperfect hyperspace piloting technology to leap right into the Hound's base of operations.
The maneuver was successful and would be known as one of the most accurate hyperspace leaps in Jhingese history for centuries to come. Her ship appeared just a few kilometers from the Hound's own flagship, the nose pointed straight into his side. Before the Hound could bring weapons to bear, the Doctor had fired a full barrage from her frontal and spinal coilguns, and driven the nose of her vessel into the Hound's exposed flank. Her engines on full thrust, she shoved the Hound's flagship into a collision course with the system's gas giant, while the remains of her fleet fired in every direction, engaging the Hound's personal guard. When it was clear that his ship was unable to return to orbit and was doomed to fall into the atmosphere, his guard broadcast surrender, not just to the Doctor's fleet, but to the rest of the solar system as well.
The jump did not come without cost. With the prototype piloting technology being as unrefined as it was, the Doctor was left crippled, weak of mind and body. After a rest period of several days, the Doctor and her fleet hopped slowly back to the Jhingese homeworld. The immediate effects on her mental health seemed to be the same symptoms associated with exhaustion and sleeplessness. Forgetfulness, the occasional slurring or jumbling of words, slowed processing ability. These only became worse as time went on, culminating in senility and insanity in her final year.
Before she retreated wholly from society to focus on her ship and hyperdrive, the Doctor set about creating a new stellar government, with the goal of exploring the universe, its contents, and understanding both. She ruled that conflicts would be resolved through personal combat, whether either party was fighting themselves or by proxy. However, her efforts were in vain at first, and some final conflicts were resolved through orbital bombardments and ground invasion. When the government was at last in control of the star system, she turned over leadership to her longest, closest supporters, who advised her throughout the war. She finally bid that the Jhingese go among the stars, by hyperspace or conventional means.
The Jhingese Scientific Exodus was finally launched just days before the Doctor succumbed and passed away. She was found on the observation deck of her ship, watching the Exodus fleet depart with an expression of happiness, before suffering from total organ failure and being placed on life support.
Technology:
Hyperspace drive (hyperdrive)
The Jhingese hyperdrive's means of function are largely unknown. Enough is known, however, to define the capabilities and limits of the hyperspace drive, and how to operate it. When activated, the ship and surrounding vessels within several kilometers leave realspace and begin transit along a (mostly) set path, usually in a gravity well. Ships in hyperspace can interact with each other, but not anything outside of hyperspace, and likewise cannot be interacted with. It is presumed astronomically unlikely that two ships entering hyperspace under their own power will be able to interact, but whether it is because of the expanded distance or something else is unknown. In hyperspace, a ship can reach about twice the speed of light, though the speed can be adjusted by thrusting with conventional engines (with a greater Isp and thrust than in realspace). While somewhat reliable jumps can be made from planet to planet by computer, in order to leap across interstellar distances or make nearly perfectly reliable interplanetary jumps, the hyperdrive requires a pilot -- an individual integrating themselves with the hyperdrive to function as a living computer and navigation system. The accuracy of the landing varies based on the skill of the pilot, and indeed they can still misjump if they are untrained or unhealthy. The hyperdrive requires large amounts of power in order to be activated to enter hyperspace, but doesn't require any significant amount in order to leave it.
Fusion Reactors
The Exodus makes large use of fusion power for their ships and outposts, scooping fuel components from gas giants and refining it into a more preferable form. The on board reactors provide ample power for the ship's electronics, weapons, and thrusters.
Weapons
The Jhingese make use of large coilguns and nuclear missiles. However, because they settle internal conflict through personal combat, they do not make much use of these.
Genetic Manipulation
Over the last century and a half, Jhingese personal combat has evolved to use genetically engineered creatures as proxies. This, as well as their quest to catalog extraterrestrial life, has made them highly adept at genetic engineering, whether for combat or environmental adaptation.
Military Forces: Each Exodus fleet has similar composition. There are seven main fleets.
One Exodus Flagship - These ships are largely non-combat vessels, with most of their payload used for habitation and research. They also carry a couple dozen corvettes of varying classes. Most of the fleet's information is held on the flagships, which are the largest of any given fleet. They hold DNA banks, terrariums and aquariums, and large processing computers. They are lightly armed, with only a handful of coilguns and a relatively small batch of nuclear missiles. They have external centrifuges for artificial gravity, and grow their own food.
Six Research Ships - Research ships make up the most mass of an Exodus fleet. They serve many of the same purposes as the flagship, but are half the size. Their DNA banks and processing computers are lesser than those of the Exodus Flagship, but their habitats are of equivalent size or larger. They are even less well armed than the flagship, carrying as many coilguns and a quarter of the warheads. They do carry small corvette escorts, but many of their docked ships are shuttles used for ferrying scientists and wildlife to and from planets. They have external centrifuges for artificial gravity, and grow their own food.
Two Dozen Assault Frigates - These frigates serve as emergency defense, but also carry fuel 'scoops' and refining plants. They have high caliber coilguns and a relatively large nuclear payload, relative to their size. However, they do not have artificial gravity and must rely on the other ships for supplies like food.