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Name of nation: The Enlightened Scientocracy of United Kraikira Administered with Support from the Circles of Philocracy and Artocracy (or shortened to Enlightened Scientocracy of Kraikira, or simply Kraikira)

Species: The Kraikirans are originally inhabitants of a star system with two Earth-like planets, with their origins on the planet, Nigen, that is closer to Kada, their sun. Nigen is a planet that is very Earth-like, but has a higher oxygen content in the atmosphere, allowing animals with otherwise limited respiratory system to grow to large proportions. The Kraikirans are an example of a bird-like species that grew to be larger than what is normally allowed, even though they are very far from being the largest creatures there. Compared to archaeological records, they are puny.

The Kraikiran is an umbrella term that applies to the two remaining intelligent species on that planet out of the three originals (though fossil records indicate many more proto-Kraikirans). Kraikiran Krii form the majority of the population at 65% whilst the Kraikiran Eii forms the minority at 35%. The Kraikiran Vii is extinct for only mere hundreds of years, though there are major attempts into research on reversing this.

The Kraikiran Krii are 220cm tall on average, resembling very vaguely some kind of a Were-Raven with two large wings, two legs, two arms and four eyes. They could roughly be classified as avian, if it weren't for the extra limbs and eyes, as well as many other differences to the terran flight-capable umbrella of animals. However, the similarities include the fact that they are feathered with (proportionately sized black, shining) feathers, has a beak as well as hollow bones. They are warm-blooded.

However, that is where the similarities end. They have rudimentary teeth lining their beak which is used for grinding vegetable and nuts or for slicing meat. Where their spine is, their back is lined with bluish, porous scales containing float-fluid, which offsets some of their weight, allowing easier flight. The scales also doubles as a mating feature, and are also one of the erogenous zone of the Kraikiran Krii. Some of the more sexually successful members of the species would have more and larger of such scales, and it just happens that they fly better. Therefore, that spot can be sensitive, and is often the target of critical strikes in hand-to-hand combat.

Compared to a human being, they are weaker. Their arms could only handle 80% of what a human could handle while their legs are secondary to their wings, and even the most accomplished Kraikiran Krii marathon runner would never come close to even a runner-up position in a human race. This applies to the rest of their body, and in general, a Kraikiran Krii is only 70% as strong as a human being, and is often slender to well-toned. There will always be cases of a muscular Kraikiran Krii, but their larger muscles meant more weight to be carried, which slows them down and reduces their range. As such, large muscles are discouraged naturally and in society. The same can be said for body fat; Kraikiran Kriis have very little of it, and therefore dies quicker in starvation, being only able to survive three weeks to a month without food on average.

Kraikiran Kriis have four fingers on each hand and four toes on each foot, and are taloned on all limbs. Their fingers and toes tend to be much longer and slender than a human's, and hazard to those digits are an even bigger hazard to them. It is not uncommon for Kraikiran Kriis to lose a toe or finger within a lifetime It is just as much a sign of age as greying feathers, the number of digits lost. In addition, they possess a very long spiny tail that is feathered, which gives them very fine flight control as the helium scales would go all the way down.

Neurologically, the Kraikirans are more advanced than a human being, being about 30% more productive with their mind. They are, however, also more sensitive than the average human being, with a particular inclination towards depression. Yes, they are rather sad and forlorn creatures. Mental illnesses and emotional issues are treated very early in Kraikiran medical advancements to be real issues.

Kraikiran Eiis are the larger cousins of the Kraikiran Kriis, and are very close cousins, having evolved from the same root proto-Kraikiran. They typically stand at around 250cm tall on average, they also possess more expansive wings and larger muscles, but slightly less helium scales. As such, they are less mobile, but are far stronger, at 85% that of a human being. Instead of having Raven-coloured feathers, they possess stunning white feathers of various shades, with, in some cases, spots of brown and grey. They are less smarter on average compared to their smaller cousins, being only 10% more productive than the average human being.

Kraikirans lived longer lives compared to a human being, averaging at about 140 Earth years. Medical advances have increased this to 180 Earth years. Kraikiran Eiis live about 20 years longer than that compared to the Kriis, their due their lower tendency towards mental illnesses as well as their physical fortitude.

All Kraikirans reproduce by laying eggs. Eggs have to be incubated for 2 months before they hatch (all time in terran time). The fledging period for a Kraikiran is much longer compared to non-sentient terran birds due to their size, additional weight and biological flight systems: It would be four years before a Kraikiran could even attempt to fly, but after that, the Kraikiran chick would learn fast how to fly. Most would be flight capable within a year. The process of maturation begins at the age of 10 and ends at the age of 14 for females and 18 for males.

Description of government: The Enlightened Scientocracy of United Kraikira Administered with Support from the Circles of Philocracy and Artocracy, as suggested by its name, is administered by those who are deemed the best in the necessary field for such a task. The highest-tiered professors would contest in official seminars, examinations in addition to a campaign to be selected for positions within the government. At different points of the civilisation, different professors of different fields would hold sway. In a time of technological progress, engineers tend to take charge. In a golden age of theatre, influential writer-professors could take charge. The name of the political entity would change to reflect this.

Description of military: The Enlightened Scientocracy of United Kraikira Administered with Support from the Circles of Philocracy and Artocracy, to put it quite simply, has very minimal military. To explain this, one would have to go into detail on what the collective race has suffered as a result of war. The eventual extinction of the Kraikiran Vii across multiple wars on both planets is one reason, while the bombings of both Nigen and Trigen in an interplanetary war that saw the death of countless millions as well as the destruction and economic troubles that resulted is another.

Ever since becoming diplomatically united, the civilisation has become increasingly demilitarised. Due to the proximity of the two Earth-like planets, interplanetary warfare was easier to achieve, which meant the Kraikirans had thousands of spacecrafts in its military at its height. Now, it number in the hundreds with hundreds more in storage, and even then, the operational ships are severely outdated by hundreds of years, are meant for display and show purposes, and could at the most only be used for shooting down dangerous meteors and in rudimentary planetary defense. In systems colonised by the Kraikirans, this is even worse, as the ships built from scratch are still historical models, and often times number not even a hundred per system.

The Kraikirans' security, however, is not entirely held together by duct tape and gum. The circle of warfare, which consists of the faculty of war in every university of the Kraikirans, are a small group, but dedicated. They study the length and breadth of war, and would always order modern ships to be built in their study, just to see where it takes them. They build weapons just to see if they can.

That said, they are a small group, not as respected as the more civilian disciplines, and as a result are funded less. The largest fleet in their charge consists of a number of ships that could be counted with a pair of Kraikiran hands. Their home system has but 4 such fleets, three of which are no more than a few ships, while colonies tend to have a single fleet of several. That said, in any worse case scenario, they could always choose to convert their numerous civilian crafts for military use.

As it stands, however, Kraikirans favour the 'flock' strategy in space warfare. All their ships are 'nest-ships' barring the museum pieces they keep. These are carriers of varying sizes that are home to fighters. However, their technology level and work ethics meant that the quality of each ship and fighter is very high.

Their ground forces are similarly run by the faculties of war, and they are similarly few in number, though as is the trend for their military, they are extremely well equipped; in technologies that could have civilian uses, at least, they are funded well enough.

Technological Overview: The Kraikirans are a highly advanced species owing to their intellect and their academic inclinations. However, their greater preoccupation with philosophy, art and rhetoric meant that they are not as scientifically advanced as they would have been. It was only recently that science became the main focus of their civilisation once again, following a golden age of expression after their final interplanetary war.

The Kraikiran's written record states that their civilisation had come into being a longer time ago compared to human civilisation; they made their first trip into space 6 centuries before. Interplanetary travel with astronauts became possible 5 centuries before. They had their first interplanetary war following Trigen's attempt to break all connection to their home planet half a century after. Sublight travel fast enough to get to the nearest star within a decade became possible by 4 centuries before. For a time, they stagnated; it did not help that the horrors of their last interplanetary war had dulled their taste for spaceflight and scientific advances. Improvements to spaceflight were far and few in between as said era of expression in which more manpower, funds and resources were diverted to the arts.

It was only 2 centuries ago that they achieved light speed, and a century ago, their first FTL drive. Their attempts to colonise exoplanets were slow but sustained; they would make sure to build up the civilisation they planted on a specific planet or group of planets before moving on to the next.

Kraikirans, however, are more adept at the life sciences, medicine, such that their lifespan had risen over the centuries, and will continue to rise in the years to come. What had been biological facts of death and suffering became a thing of the past. The Kraikiran body could not take broken bones as easily as a human would, and a Kraikiran with a broken wing (or wings) represents the pinnacle of suffering in their world, but advancements in medical science had made them trivial matters, as it did for previously untreatable, terminal diseases. There are still many things that remain out of their control however; they are mortal after all.

Their past wars combined with their intellects had produced some of the finest weaponries. In their planetary wars and the arms build-up in between wars, they went from mounting planetary artillery and cannons onto spaceships to creating purpose-built space mass drivers and missiles to lasers and plasma torpedoes. That is where their weapons development in times of war ended as Kraikira becomes united to abolish the horrors of war. However, the circle of war continues to advocate weapons development for the purposes of science and technology, and has since made great strides in the development of ion beams, directed energy weapons and advanced space-based missiles.

Cultural Overview: The Kraikirans have been at peace for 3-4 centuries. Numerous generations have come and gone knowing war only from the history books, media and re-enactors. The last veteran is distant history. So in love with peace and alienated from war, in fact, that war became a byword for all things bad, and anything related to it is considered foul language. War has become unthinkable, and their reaction to conflict could only be diplomacy and art. This is why the circle of war and the study of war has only very minor influence.

Instead, the Kraikirans focus their energy on progress, on creating art, remembering life and celebrating life. They have a natural thirst for knowledge, a natural drive for curiosity, which they now get to indulge in.

Kraikirans do not have religion; what they believe in are fact-based. But they do have organisations with practices and rituals meant for a certain end, and the further back their origins were, the more mystical they seem.

History: Kraikiran civilisation and recorded history is said to have begun 16,002 years ago (each Kraikiran year is twice as long as a terran year, while a day is about 24 hours 30 minutes). The first cities were practically large groups of nests built next to each other in a forest or jungle. Less dense cities were built on plains or savannah that had fewer trees. As the trees of Niven are huge, shelter could be built on top of them.

As the hunter-gatherer lifestyle becomes insufficient to support cities, the Kraikirans learnt to build their nests on the ground, and started growing food in gardens and eventually farms. This is not without risks and danger of course, as they would have to fend off wildlife; Inter-subspecies violence were almost unheard of amongst Kraikiran Kriis, but they had to watch out for Kraikiran Eiis and Viis, their rivalling subspecies. Peace between tribes of differing subspecies were just as common however.

As cities grew, and writing, construction and materials became more advanced to meet this demand, wars would break out over disagreements and resources. The first recorded war was almost 14,000 years ago between a Krii city-state and Eii city-state, resulting in Eii victory.

This begins a slow process of subspecies banding together, hindered frequently by politics and disagreements. While it rarely leads to war for the Krii, war was often the result for Eiis and Viis. While the Kriis would form larger states consisting of cities, their cousins would conquer each other, eventually doing the same through violence.

Nations would fall, new ones would rise, and this is done through each of the subspecies' ways. By 9,000 years ago, the world is arranged into a dozen or so power blocs. This would still continue to be in a slow state of flux. The power blocs, however, meant that some sense of permanence could be felt. Universities rather than tutor flocks could be formed; the prototype for their modern system of governance and culture is realised. But the medieval nature of their civilisation at this stage, as well as the threat of invasion meant that progress was stifled by practicality. This is made up for by their interest in rhetorics, philosophy and art, which were already quite mature at this point. It didn't stop them from coming up with numerous permutations of numerous inventions to keep their invaders at bay, however.

Even by 4,000 years ago, war was still a reality, although the Krii, as usually, would rarely, if ever, even threaten their own kind. It remained an inter-subspecies war, even as technology advanced into the modern.

It would take several interplanetary wars before the nightmare would end. By 1,000 years ago, worldwide peace was apparently declared through a united entity; all subspecies appear united. In the next century, their level of technology, combined with peace, allowed them to begin the space race started not long ago. The twin moons were their first targets; the planet of Trigen, rumoured to be a planet like theirs, their grand prize. Sabotage and incursions remained a reality.

By 700 years ago, all subspecies have a representation on Trigen. The Viis, who had always been on the losing end of most wars, and as such were few in number, actually moved their entire civilisation there. Intend on securing the entire planet for themselves, war began anew, and a series of three wars would hound the entire species for the next three centuries with new horrors like planetary bombardments, biobombs that would raise the dead, atrocities perpetrated through cutting-edge science. These would form the basis for the numerous horror and war films that would knock out a human being out of sheer terror.

The Kriis and Eiis were united in an alliance for once in the last century of warfare, and together they practically bombed the Viis out of existence; this would come to be the race's greatest regret later on. Trigen would soon gain such names as the Rock of Regret, or the Planet of Phantoms, or the Tombstone. It didn't stop both subspecies from expanding their cities there. However, an entire continent was set aside for the Viis, where the biggest development was a monolith larger than a skyscraper built in memory of them. It became common practice to visit the continent in remembrance and mourning for the lost race of Vulture-people.

What followed was a period of reconstruction, a golden age of peace. For much of this period, the study and creation of art takes precedence as the entire race was in a state of mourning (though the Eiis weren't as sad), and they retreated within themselves; the study and advancement of rhetorics, philosophy, ethics was favoured. It was only from 100 years before onwards that science became sought after, as even when the people's interest in it faltered, medical science continued to step forward, and they continued to fire their astronauts to the furthest reaches of their planetary system and even far, far beyond, though some of these missions are ill-fated, resulting in bankrupt companies and even more mourning.

By the end of this 100 years, they achieved FTL travel.

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