Duth

The Stretch of Duthic Space, or known in Alvish-Duthic translations as Una Duth, is a large interstellar civilization located in the southeastern rim of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is comprised of over 6.8 billion systems, and has 200 systems with more than 10 billion sentient beings. Its capital planet, Halethin, has a population of 122 billion, and is the most densly populated planet in Duth, with nearly a dozen shells that layer the planet. Duth has a population of nearly 6.4 trillion sentient beings (200 billion of which are enslaved) and is the largest civilization in the Milky Way Galaxy by population. The Timi Culture makes up the plurality of the population, followed by the Leinth, Mecs Hus, and Sa Cultures.

Duthic history stretches back nearly 110,000 years, with nearly 100,000 years of properly recorded history, making it one of the oldest known interstellar civilizations in the galaxy, alongside the Lell'ox. The vast, deeply layered, ancient and advanced society of Duth has significantly hampered systematic xenological study of the civilization, although noted breakthroughs by Alvish studies in the past century has led to a renewed interest in the Duthic civilization. Duthic fortune throughout the past 110,000 years has led to massive population swings and cataclysmic changes, starting with the Chaos of Sab, when the entire planet was razed by the mystic Authoritarian, Sethren of Clan Ananin. Duthic society is broadly split into four major Cultural regions, the Leinth, Timi, Mecs Hus, and Sa. Among these cultural groups there are cultural, phenotypical and behavioral differences.

10k years Consolidation of the Ruvfalan General Authority
The pre faster than light age where a significant development the Sab System and neighboring systems allowed for the rise of the Ruvfalan General Authority, an organization which dominated the mining colonies in the farthest reaches of the Sab system.

The colonies in several nearby systems were generally built to be self sufficient due to it taking hundreds of years to reach them.

2k years Wormhole Era
After the discovery of unstable yet usable natural wormholes, Duthic civilization entered a period of unprecedented expansion. Various settlements arose near these natural wormholes as interstellar trade flourished.

8k years Chaos of Sab
A major war broke out in the Sab System, crippling and destroying the major combatants. The burgeoning Duthic civilization, dominated by the Ruvfalan General Authority, collapsed. The Ruvfalan Clan was all but destroyed, leaving its vast domains split between a variety of military commanders and local governors, while the other various states of the period suffered nearly the same fate, save for a few. The planet of Halethin was left as the largest populated Duthic planet, settled during the Wormhole Era.

12k years Era of the Timi Culture
The development of fusion reactors that can stabilize superdense matter and negative matter resulted in the development of crude Warp Engines, which fueled another massive Duthic expansion, which forms the Timi Culture. The Timi Culture goes on to become the largest, population wise, in Duth.

500 years Taksghad Invasion
Extra-Galactic Ark ship of advanced aliens attempt to conquer parts of Duthic civilization. The Shalie Sovereign rises to power and leads a coalition to defeat these aliens, resulting in a peace treaty and confinement to a region far outside the then farthest reach of Duthic civilization.

300 years Decline of the Shalie Sovereign
The Shalie Sovereign declines due to a variety of factors.

3k years Hallowed Wars
The discovery of an artifact on the planet of Ecuvina leads to a renaissance in philosophy on Duthic origins. Followers of this new universalistic cult, under the banner of the Hallowed Authority, set out to purge the clan cults from existence, leading to three thousand years of continuous warfare, resulting in the collapse of Duthic society.

4k years Hallowed Wars Collapse
The aftermath of the Hallowed Wars resulted in a general decline in the Duthic civilization. However the Hallowed Authority set out on solidifying its rule over Halethin.

1k years Mecs Hus Expansion Era
The relatively short lived but highly critical Mecs Hus Era is the expansion of the Mecs Hus Culture, with further refinements in several areas of culture and science, as well as the development of early forms of mind uploading, led by the Conqueror Mecs, who led campaigns of extermination and enslavement against three different alien races, including a particularly savage campaign against the Juyik. The uploaded mind of Mecs was kept hidden in a massive computer complex on the frigid world of Sy.

12k years The Ultra Sovereignty of Mecs
The Sovereigns of the Mecs Hus swear fealty to the mind of Mecs, which founds the Ultra Sovereignty of Mecs. The super computer complex on Sy became the major seat of power for Duthic civilization for the next 12,000 years, as the Ultra Sovereignty began its conquest and subjugation of the Duthic regions. During a Taksghad raid on the Ultra Sovereignty when it was experiencing one of its many brutal civil wars, Sy was bombarded by a Taksghadi fleet, which resulted in the destruction of Mecs. The Ultra Sovereignty fell apart in a matter of a few hundred years, as the loosely subjected Leinth clans began rebelling, followed by various other regions.

7k years The Three Cultures Era
This period of 7,000 years was a time of anarchy as the three generally separate cultures of the Leinth, Timi, and Mecs Hus forged even wider gulfs between themselves. The Leinth Culture, dominated by the now expanding Hallowed Authority, were content to maintain their decrepit infrastructure and focused on their philosophical and hedonistic pursuits. This era featured the consecration and canonization of the 400 Hallowed Planets with the planet of Ecuvina being canonized as the chief hallowed planet, and construction of the renowned Halethin Rite Plains. Meanwhile the Timi and Mecs Hus Cultures fell into anarchy as the millions of clans fought over mining rights to neutron stars and various slave colonies.

6k years The Synthesis Boom
Development of synthesized superdense matter and mini black holes allowed for higher efficiencies, and cascading technological effects in the areas of communications, construction, computers, and even philosophies. Although this Era was an extended period of growth, it was also quite chaotic, and saw various wars and conflicts throughout.

200 years Confederal Ultra Sovereignty
The increasingly chaotic Duthic civilization near the end of the Synthesis Boom led to the rise of the Confederal Ultra Sovereignty, which hearkened back to the Mecs Ultra Sovereignty. Mecs was seen as a stabilizing yet controversial force in Duthic history, and this allowed for the rapid oath swearing of the numerous clans in the Mecs Hus and Leinth Cultures, including the Hallowed Authority, which became subject to the draconian administration of the Confederal Ultra Sovereignty. Founded by seven mind uploaded sovereigns who reigned via the Executive Class (a group of nearly 15,000 bureaucrats), it was created on the presumption that a proper Duthic empire would never survive if ruled by one Ultra Sovereign. These Seven Ultra Sovereigns ruled from the planet of Sy and other asteroid bodies.

The Confederal Ultra Sovereignty was not however a true confederation. Decisions were reached by unanimous agreement, and the seven Ultra Sovereigns maintained the Confederal Ultra Sovereignty as a unitary state. However, this system would not last long due to several factors, including the nature of mind uploading (which necessitated slower computations due to the supercomputers primitive limits), frequently paralyzing debates between the uploaded Ultra Sovereigns which could last months, the generally ineffective Executive Class, and the rise of several alien races intent on changing the power dynamic in the southeastern rim.

1k years First Extermination Period
The collapse of the Confederal Ultra Sovereignty was swift as the Executive Class began carving up portions of Duth for themselves, demanding tributes from the various clans, authorities, slave worlds, and economic outposts. Eventually the seven Ultra Sovereigns on Sy were shut off and the memory banks burned up. Meanwhile various parts of the Duthic civilizational fringe were subject to increased raids from the Taksghad, remnants of the Juyik, and other weaker species such as the U, Ninlen, and Kloty. The First Extermination Period featured the various Executor polities wage wars of extermination against the various alien civilizations, with the particularly nasty Second Juyik War which eventually resulted in the deaths of nearly three hundred billion sentient beings.

16k years The Great Collapse
The Great Collapse, however, would be even more catastrophic than the First Extermination Period. Lasting nearly 16,000 years, Duthic society fell into extreme disarray, as the population dropped by nearly 85% during that period. The major races neighboring Duth attempted to exert their control over Duthic politics, and by the end of the collapse began to make headway

2k years Dominion of the Filth
The Dominion of the Filth describes a roughly 2,000 year period where Juyik, Kloty, Ninen and Taksghadi conquerors enslave large portions of Duthic civilization, save for the quite lucky Hallowed Authority that still managed to barely hold on in the Leinth Cultural areas, as well as a few minor Executor and Clan polities that had survived the Great Collapse.

3k years Second Extermination Period
Eventually a series of new conquerors came about and led successive campaigns of extermination, resulting in the recovering of vast portions of Duthic civilization. However, they failed to actually exterminate completely the alien races.

10k years Post-Extermination Boom
This period saw the birth of the most recent of Duthic cultures, the Sa Culture, which expanded into a section of space that featured hundreds of nebula, which strung out nearly a thousand parsecs across the southeastern rim of the galaxy. Initial exploration and investment in the region came from clans that were interested in buying up systems to be used as resorts. Later, after the discovery of several alien races in the region, slaving clans and even a couple Sovereigns began sending out probes and establishing colonies into the region.

5,860 years The Stagnancy of the Leinth
This period saw a civilizational stagnancy as the Leinth Culture clamped down on the Sa expansion, resulting in brutal genocides and wars. The Hallowed Authority attempted to choke off the expansion as they viewed it as destabilizing to Duthic society. After a couple hundred years of sporadic wars, the Leinth Coalition (the alliance network that included members such as the Hallowed Authority and the Ananin Authority) were able to enforce their goals on the expansionary groups, leading to an era of extended stagnation as the Coalition continued to prevent expansion or growth of any sort, many times resorting to outright genocide.

140 years Resciu-Leinth Coalition War
Eventually the more expansion hungry Sa Culture, dominated by the Resciu Sovereignty, became powerful enough to launch a major war against the Leinth Coalition. This resulted in the eventual alignment of various polities, clans, and authorities throughout much of the Duthic civilization. The Resciu Sovereignty eventually won (resulting in the Treaty of Thefarnen, signed on the capital planet of the Resciu Sovereignty), but at a tremendous cost to both people and material. The Resciu Sovereignty to this day still enforces the Treaty of Thefarnen, which acts as the protector of the entirety of the Sa Culture.

5700 years Stretch Age
The Stretch Age is a period marked by the formation of a grand Duthic confederation, called collectively the Duthic Stretch of Space. The Duthic Stretch was formed more or less haphazardly by a variety of actors over the course of a thousand years, culminating in the Halethin Treaty, which saw the formation of the Torgdarin, the convening body of the Duthic Stretch. This period saw increased cooperation on matters of frontier defense, exploration, exploitation, and technological advancements. Most notably was the massive improvements made in engineering design, computational capabilities, and bionics and neuroscience. The arrival of new technologies such as widespread neural implants, compact mind uploading and more advanced megastructural and space vessel designs led to rapid changes in Duthic society. During this time the Leinth cultural region became the epicenter of xeno and Duthic trafficking, with Sab under the rule of the Ananin Authority becoming the epicenter of the Thrall Economic Authority, which dominates the the thrall trade.

300 years ago to present Kathbaric Explosion
The discovery of the exiled human settlements on Kathbar resulted in a keen exploration of humanity and the various races nearby the humans, including the Alvish, Sepharem and Hierarchy. Eventually a conflict broke out between the Kathbarics and a few local clans, which (escalated into a larger war between humans and Stretch Fleets?) and the resulting peace treaty led to the nominal "enslavement" of the Kathbars in the Duthic-Kathbaric War. In the present the Leinth Coalition is under increasing strain, as the Ananin and Hallowed Authorities continue to diverge in interests and beliefs. Meanwhile the destruction of the Guthi by the Gathi has led to the increasing territorial aggrandizement of the Gathi, which continues to concern the Resciu Sovereignty and its Sa allies, as well as the northern Timi clans. in the west, the Mecs Sovereignty coexists uneasily with the Leinth Coalition and the Executor states after the recent War of the Mecs Pretender.

The Torgdarin
The Torgdarin is the high executive council of the adhering members of the Duthic Stretch of Space. It is comprised of eleven appointed officials, each from one of the major signatories of the original treaty, with four new additions over the years.

The Leinth Coalition
The Leinth Coalition is comprised chiefly of the Ananin Authority and the Hallowed Authority, and their various subjects and allies.

The Resciu Sovereignty
The Resciu Sovereignty is ruled from the illustrious planet of Thefarnen, and is run by the proud Resciu Clan, who are of Sa lineage. The Resciu Sovereignty views itself as the protector of the Sa Culture, despite many Sa despising their pretensions.

The Nushten Executor
The Nushten Executor is a Mecs Hus state focused to the west of Sy.

Clan Artnin
Clan Artnin is the most powerful north Timi clan, and the largest Timi-majority polity. Their power and wealth resides in their profitable mining operations, especially of neutron stars.

The Mecs Sovereign, Pretender to the Ultra Sovereignty
Based mainly among the Mecs Hus, Mecs the Upstart is actually a Leinth Duthic who claims lineage from the Ultra Sovereign. Many see this Leinth Duthic as a rebellious character upending the stable political order, and has continually had to deal with various coalition wars. Mecs the Upstart is a very capable centralizer and administrator, and has managed to build one of the largest standing military forces in Duth despite its relatively smaller population.

Tezan Authority
The Tezan are an oligarchic group focused along the lucrative trade highways that span across the Timi-Leinth frontiers. As adherents of the X cult which believes in a foster based familial system, in opposition to the Hallowed Cult, the Tezan Authority maintains a very precarious balance with its neighbors.

The Macute Executor
THe Macute Executor is a Mecs Hus state focused to the east of Sy. Their principle rival is the Nushten Executor.

Technology
Warp Engines utilize negative matter and superdense materials (miniaturized black holes, natural and synthetic neutronium, etc) to warp space time and travel faster to other locations. High gravity objects (such as black holes and stars) can restrict the capabilities of the warp engines.

Major population centers
Planets of Duth

Biology
Duthics are a tripedal sexually monomorphic sentient species who possess a human-like intelligence. They feature highly developed emotions, poor smelling and hearing, a detachable organ-appendage called the foot, asexual reproduction using a form of K selection budding, and a highly developed ability to genetically adapt. Physically Duthics generally stand at about a height of 4-5 feet, although this varies culture to culture. Duthics typically have tough outer skins designed to withstand the harsh weather on their origin planet Sab, while they lack high mobility and are typically hard of hearing compared to say humans.

Duthics traditionally relied on their three appendages for mobility, although over the tens of thousands of years of Duthic civilization they have developed a wide variety of vehicles and tools to assist. Their foot is a dual foot and digestive tract. Duthics ingest nutrients via wading in pools and slowly soaking in through the foot. Typically Duthic organic life cycles are about 95-110 years long, with options involving mind uploading extending the lifespan of some for hundreds of years. Duthics reproduce asexually via natural or artificial budding, whereby parents take reproductive tumors off their backs and place them into pools where they grow for about a 1.5 years. An average Duthic could feasibly have anywhere from 6-25 offspring. In many Duthic societies familial loyalty is extremely important.

Duthic are not sexually dimorphic. Duthic phenotypes can vary widely across the Stretch.

Sociobiology
Duthics are known as psychologically volatile, emotionally unstable, and extremely hedonistic. Their hierarchy of needs is dominated by esteem needs.

Duthic responses to threats, stimuli and instinctual behavioral overall is seen as quite chaotic and random. Patterns rarely form.

Each cultural "civilization" in Duth have roughly differentiated psychological and phenotypical profiles.

In the Leinth Culture, there is a high emphasis placed on relational stability. Leinth Duthics typically are quite unstable emotionally, and have large mood swings, constantly shifting opinions, and thoughts. The need for relationships to be stable stems from their inability to handle their own emotions, and thus are a very introverted, depressed and selective culture.

The Timi Duthics have multiple personalities, that frequently shift depending on context and time. Timi are, ironically, the most stable and predictable emotionally of the four cultures, despite having multiple personalities to contend with. Typically Timi Duthics plan around their personality shifts, and there is an emphasis in pre adult education on controlling their personalities to their own advantage. Timi also suffer heavily from depression, similar to the Leinth Culture.

The Mecs Hus Duthics are a very controlling, and paranoid culture. Typically states in this region particulate quickly due to extreme mistrust and the overwhelming need to micromanage, control and prevent weakness in the eyes of others.

The Sa Duthics are a dramatic and extroverted culture, to the extreme. They are far more shallow relationally than the Leinth Culture, and believe strongly in their own sense of grandeur, image and community standing. They are manipulative, attention seeking and rash.

Beliefs
In the Timi Culture, it is traditional to send children through a series of rites intended to prove their worthiness. The prevailing psychological conditions of the Timi (dissociative identities and chronic depression) are said to have their roots in their rites. A typical Timi will have around 4-6 separate personalities.