The Ghost Fleet

by Trevor Wyatt

  Even though the females don’t have a voice, this does not preclude them from being major drivers of the entire Tyreesian society. A Tyreesian female can be involved in scientific research, trade, education, commerce—basically all spheres of the economy. However, the law forbids a Tyreesian female from occupying a position of power, such as Captain, Governor, or President. If she is appointed to such a position, as some can be because of their extreme aptitude, the female Tyreesian’s master (the male to which she is bound), will rule in her stead. In other words, she can only conduct her affairs by proxy. Of course, this is impracticable in positions that require quick reactions, like the Captain of a Ship or the Admiral of a Battle Fleet. As a result, the Tyreesian Army do not have a female Commander within its fleet.

  Politics/Governance

  The Tyreesian Collective runs a democratic system across their galactic space. They have a President and a Governor’s council. The governor’s council is the most powerful arm of their governmental system, while the President is really a ceremonial role—though, no one knows the true extent to which the President is powerful. The governor’s council is a council of all the governors within the galactic space and is headed by a chairman that is elected by the council and approved by the population-elected president. Every planet is sectioned off, and each section has a governor.

  Elections hold every five years, and hence politics is a very active part of the Tyreesian Collective. In fact, because of their prodigious and seemingly unending ability to be cunning and sly, their political campaigns are usually riddled with maneuvers and tricks and twists that befuddle the un-Tyreesian mind. Many races have described this as watching a blockbuster movie—it’s almost unreal. This led some races to coin the expression “Tyreesian Politics”, which has become a galactic mainstay. Having a Tyreesian as a strategist, especially for peoples of other races, is most times seen as a harbinger of great and mighty success.

  It is strictly forbidden for a Tyreesian female to contest for any public office, either for president, governor or lesser offices. It is also forbidden for a Tyreesian female to engage in political rallies, except at the side of her male master. Note that there is no law preventing them from contesting in elections. Many academicians have argued that if a Tyreesian female can head a governmental, interplanetary agency by proxy, why can’t she be president by proxy?

  Some sociopolitical experts at the prestigious Tyreesian School of Social Science in the Central City of Zayon have theorized several reason why this is so. Basically, they believe that the cultural mind-washing that has been ongoing for centuries have relegated the females to a thinking that is weak and subordinative. Simply put, most Tyreesian females are unable to envision themselves as more than a male’s slave. These experts, however, predict an uprising that is most likely going to shake up the Tyreesian Collective and lead to the establishment of a new dynamism that may take centuries for the greater Tyreesian population to get used to. They believe that as the Tyreesians interface more and more with other races, the females will begin to think differently.

  “Tyreesian Politics”: this is an expression that refers to the application of extreme cunning, tricks and sleights of hand to politics, much like what is obtainable in the worlds of the Tyreesian Collective.

  Irivani Hegemony

  Irivan is a moon circling the gas giant planet Majriti in the binary Upsilon Andromedae system about 144 light years from Earth. It is the third planet of the F component star, Titawin, formerly Upsilon Andromedae A. Irivan is a cloudy and rather cold world about the size of Mars, though with an atmospheric pressure nearly twice that of Earth. The Irivani have three sexes, male, female, and irimale. Males and irimales are very difficult to tell apart because they comport themselves similarly. The species is triploid, with each sex contributing one of three sets of chromosomes.

  Physically they resemble tall, thin apes with six limbs: four upper arms and two legs. Each limb ends in a hand: the upper hands and the “feet” have three fingers and a thumb, whereas the middle hands each possess four fingers and a thumb.

  Arboreal for most of their evolutionary history, the primitive Irivani descended from the trees following an asteroid strike that precipitated a world-wide catastrophe, killing off 99% of the moon’s forests. The pressure to survive in a post-apocalyptic environment set the Irivani on the road to intelligence.

  Their religion was based on the worship of the Great Ved, who had created the universe and subsequently retired to live on Majriti (known to the irivani as Veddash).

  Though the distant stars—excepting Titawin itself—were only occasionally visible through rifts in the clouds enveloping their world, nearby Veddash was a constant presence in Irivan’s night skies. The moon’s forests returned slowly, but by the time they had returned to their original glory, the Irivani no longer wished to return to their primitive beginnings, although their mythology is full of pastoral tales. Instead, they established a thriving metropolitan culture in the trees, with outposts and settlements linked by a system of aerial roads and paths. Fascinated by the flying abilities of the forests’ abundant avian organisms, the Irivani pursued their dream of flight until they perfected balloons, gliders, and, later, powered heavier-than-air flying machines. The moon’s thick atmosphere assisted in their efforts. Once able to rise into the relatively clear upper reaches of their atmosphere, Irivanian astronomy and cosmology began in earnest.

  Though there were no planets in the Titawinian system capable of supporting life like theirs, the Irivani were soon able to voyage to the binary system’s smaller component, an M-type red dwarf about 750 AU from Titawin itself—much farther than the distance from Sol to Uranus (just over 19 AU), but considerably less than the distance from Sol to Alpha Centauri (273,196.8 AU).

  They found no intelligent life on the small, rocky worlds of Upsilon Andromedae B, though there were traces of long-ago visitors. This discovery energized Irivanian scientists and they set to developing the capability to journey to other, more distant, stars.

  Seyshallian Nation

  The Seyshallian are descended from cephalopod-like creatures that were forced onto land when the oceans on their native world shrank drastically in the wake of a stellar cataclysm. The pressure to survive also kicked their intellectual development into high gear, intelligence being helpful to their survival. Having evolved into their current amphibious form, the Seyshallian live a partially land-based existence, with considerable time spent underwater. On land, they engage in mercantile and scientific pursuits, whereas beneath the oceans they hunt and grow their crops.

  Seyshallian are naturally aggressive. After several disastrous early attempts to come together in large cities as their population expanded, their settlements never grew any larger than two or three hundred individuals. Consequently their planet is dotted with many small villages and towns, in regions analogous to duchies. These duchies or principalities are overseen by rulers who scheme and strive and engage with each other in ever-shifting alliances. Great lovers of ceremony, they put on many festivals and have numerous holidays.

  They are also fanatical traders, and a Seyshallian is never happier than when he thinks he has wrangled a deal for himself.

  A Seyshallian rite of passage entails a young male venturing into the deeper oceanic rifts in search of a ferocious, sightless predator that lurks there. Many of these eager hunters never return. Those who do are rewarded with the girl of their choice from their native village. The females have nothing to say about this, and some are not happy to be thus chosen by the triumphant youth, who often comes back maimed from his trial and may need to be cared for. As a result, spousal homicide is not unknown, and the wild lands outside of some settlements have become a haven for females fleeing vengeful families. Determined males (or their families) will sometimes pursue the females even there.

  Masters of the biological sciences, Seyshallian sometimes attack enemy territory by means of engineered sea life, including flying jellyfish and specially
grown carnivorous algae.

  Seyshallian are known to be skilled physicians and many find employment in the life and medical sciences. Some exiled females have even managed to win berths on starships, often at great peril to themselves.

  Their world closely circles a small, dim star, and has a year that measures less than a tenth of Earth’s. Due to the low ambient light their eyes are particularly sensitive, and on worlds with larger suns they must wear protective lenses.

  They are egg-layers, and the females are physically indistinguishable from males save that they have retained their ancestors’ ability to change their appearance through the use of specialized cells with which the female can adjust the color, opacity, or reflectivity of her skin. The females are therefore prized as spies and scouts in battle.

  Fascinated from the early days of their civilization by the possibilities of powered flight, Seyshallian scientists, through the pressures of war, developed powered rockets relatively early, when their overall culture was about on the same level as Earth’s in the Middle Ages. Though they never discovered the transistor, the Seyshallian nevertheless managed to claw their way into space using the computational power of a vacuum-tube-based technology.

  Reznak Empire

  Physical Description

  They are a telepathic humanoid race with lightly furred bodies. They have a tail and two antennas on their forehead that resemble studs. They are tall and have a light bone mass, making them high jumpers, extremely athletic and very flexible. The females are distinguished by their whiskers, that many other species find attractive and in some cases arousing. The females also have a very powerful lower body. This is the major reason why Reznakian women are very highly priced as sex workers in some worlds. They possess well rounded eyes and mouth as well as a delicately sculptured snout.

  NOTE: Though telepathic abilities vary, they are mostly very weak. There are some, however, who are able to exercise great telepathic powers.

  Anatomy/Physiology

  They have the usual systems: respiratory, circulatory, nervous etc. They have sexual organs much like any other humanoid race and hence are sexually compatible with them. The telepathic ability of the average Reznakian is weak and is only effective for a short range of a few yards. Also, any form of metal shielding can hinder this ability.

  There are some Reznakians with telepathic abilities that are infinitely more powerful; these Reznakians form a secret order that answer only to the ruler of the society.

  Culture

  The Reznak Empire is very peaceful and peace loving. They are naturally calm and reasonable. They have an equal opportunity system that makes it possible for anyone, regardless of gender or social status to rise to any height within the Empire. Nevertheless, noble blood always gets priority.

  The Reznak Empire has a very vast and powerful military. They are also a very prosperous people that have established trade programs with a number of other species. Most of the worlds within the Reznak Empire are beautiful and vacation destinations for many.

  The Reznak Empire is also highly advanced in science and technology. They particularly have an expertise in matter transubstantiation, which is one major source of their extreme wealth as they have been able to produce in large transubstantiation facilities some of the ores and minerals that other races have to mine.

  Till date, no other species has been able to replicate this technology. The Reznakians have not revealed the science behind this technology. It is said that only a handful of people actually know the science behind the technology—these are all members of the Royal Family.

  Politics/Governance

  The Reznak Empire runs a monarchial system of governance, with a monarch known as The Supreme, who rules in utter surety over the Empire. Each world within the Empire is ruled by a viceroy, who is a member of The Supreme’s Cabinet. Major sectors of the Reznak Empire are overseen by appointees of The Supreme. The Prime Minister is the one who directly oversees the different aspects of the day to day running of the Empire. The Prime Minister is the most powerful person in the Reznak Empire, second only to The Supreme. The Defense Minister is also extremely powerful and commands the entire military arm of the Empire, including all its internal security organs. Usually, the offices of the Prime Minister and Defense Minister are held by The Supreme’s offspring, which limits the distribution of power to within the Royal Family.

  The Supreme may be male or female, depending on who is in the line of succession. A research conducted by the Royal Academy, the foremost, premier college of science in all the Empire, revealed that more Reznakian women than men have held the crown. This does not come as a surprise because the population of females is as high as four times the population of males. The current monarch of the Reznak is female and she is loved by all her people. Her first son is the Prime Minister, while her first daughter (the second child) is the Defense Minister and Commander of the Royal Fleet.

  Children of Zorm

  This race of gentle humanoids is not based on a planet. The entire species, over two million individuals, lives in a swarm of hollowed-out asteroids in a region of space 145 light years from Earth.

  They have a flotilla of ships as well as many large city ships. The size of their fleet is larger than any other known power, but the quality of their vessels is generally less of an offensive/defensive nature and more oriented towards maintenance of the population. When needed though, The Children of Zorm have proven to be formidable foes.

  They have been in space for over a thousand years while their planet, Zorm, undergoes an ice age, but they plan to return to Zorm one day. In the meantime, they have established themselves firmly in the asteroids, mining them for metals and ices. Always physically delicate, the Children of Zorm achieved intelligence as do many species, as a result of predation. Before its ice age, jungle-like Zorm was home to a flourishing fauna of giant dinosaurian creatures. The Children of Zorm evolved intelligence to escape the marauding monsters.

  The Children of Zorm have no interest in trying to reach other stars, but have successfully launched probes to the other worlds in their star system. One planet supports plant and animal life, but it is too hot for the Children; they prefer their climate-controlled asteroid cities and city ships.

  Having two sexes, the Children are clever, strongly family-oriented, and vegetarian.

  Kurta Colonies

  An aggressive, female-dominated primate species from Lomagon, a planet circling a G-type star. The kurta are very territorial. Lomagon has two moons, Keda and Pondak, and this fact had a great impact on their development as a species. Primitive kurtans believed that the universe was dominated by two warring sister goddesses living on the moons. Each goddess sought to destroy Lomagon because it blocked their view of the stars, but were kept from doing so by their mutual jealousy and enmity. Kurtan mythology is filled with tales of mortals who were victimized or assisted in one way or another by the scheming goddesses or their underlings.

  Lomagon is a dry world with no oceans and only a few seas scattered here and there across the planet. Even so, with two moons, the tides on these bodies of water are sizeable, and Kurtans dwelling on their coastlines developed sailing in their prehistory and soon established trading routes and thriving coastal port cities. Land-based caravans also spread kurtan cultures. Other cities grew around desert oases, but given an innate distaste for large groups, the people did not congregate in huge numbers, and to this day Lomagon is rather sparsely populated, though wealthy kurtans have established many large estates. City-dwellers are looked down upon to some extent.

  Endlessly curious about their world, kurtans discarded their primitive religious beliefs relatively early in their development, while maintaining their temples and a ceremonial priesthood—males, smaller in stature than the females, being thought unsuitable for more feminine pursuits like hunting and government. Kurtans have occasionally experimented with patriarchy, but these experiments are always short-lived.

  Kurtan scientists delved
deeply into astronomy and physics, and developed space travel some five thousand years after their culture founded their first cities. Their earliest space flights were of course to Keda (inner moon, rocky and airless) and Pondak (further away, but larger—almost a third the size of Lomagon—and possessing an atmosphere and lower forms of animal and plant life). Three hundred years after becoming a space-faring species, the kurtans experienced First Contact on the planet of a nearby star.

  Kurtan children, though born live as are most mammals, are placed in creches as soon as they are weaned (about six months after birth) to be raised by neutered males. The bonds formed between the children (especially the males, of course) and their surrogate fathers sometimes last for a lifetime.

  About the Author

  Life-long sci-fi nerd living in Austin, Texas, Trevor Wyatt cut his teeth on the works of Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, eventually moving on to everything from Star Wars to Futurama.

  He discovered his love of writing during college and has written off and on for the last ten years.

  His novel, The Seeker is the first in the Pax Aeterna universe.

  You can reach him at trevor@paxaeternapress.com.

  Thanks for reading.