The Benari
The Benari are one of the oldest space faring races in the galaxy. They have colonized or integrated onto countless worlds and are a common sight in the galaxy. There development revolves around there ability to procreate extremely quickly. The Benari rapidly reproduce and led to many folk sayings such as "breeding like a Benari." They can quickly overpopulated a world requiring them to expand to new planets earlier than other races in the galaxy. This expansion was not followed by a period of technological advancement but the Benari have developed some of the most advanced starship drives in the galaxy. A Benari starship engine or FTL is highly efficient and reliable.
History
Benari history is lost to the ages. As a species the Benari care very little for historical record keeping. What little that is known has been collected from archaeological records by other species. All historical data shows a race that expands into new territory, and then reproduces until planetary saturation and then another period of colonization.
From the historical record several Benari empires can be found but all attempts had fallen into overpopulation and civil strife resulting in implosion or invasion by a neighboring empire. For instance during the long ages of the Space Lords several Benari empires attempted to form and wage war against the Space Lords, their massive size allowed them to stand up to the Space Lord armies but in all cases internal conflict left them vulnerable to there enemies and defeat befell them all.
As a species the Benari have no organized society and incorporate themselves into the society they are currently in. The Benari are so numerous that nearly all the planets of Typhon have some population of Benari and all galactic governments have Benari citizens. A Benari citizen is loyal to his home not the Benari race as an entity.
Culture
Culturally the Benari adapt to their local environment, over the course of nearly 75,000 years this has left the Benari with little to no cultural identity. The Benari have had no negative side effects from this and happily assimilate into their environments.
The Benari have held onto some of their ancient traditional culture, primarily those cultural mores surrounding dating and family. Nearly all other ancient traditions have been lost to history, or as many archaeologists speculate the Benari had so many traditions that keeping track of them are a waste of resources.
Family Structure
The Benari family is designed to raise children to the age of “Independence” at which point the parents serve no function in their children’s lives. In all cases Benari families are large with one birth producing 3 to 4 young sometimes up to 5. Children are siblings and acknowledge parents as authority figures until their Independence around the age of 15 or 16. After they have reached this age a Benari has no parent from this point forward. A close sibling or parent may stay in a close social circle but this is not a cultural requirement. After independence, family is who ever a Benari decides to include.
Benari do not marry except as a function to temporarily raise children. Benari possess a genetic imperative to diversify the gene pool and add to the overall population of the race. An unusual gene activates when a Benari meets another Benari (or Non-Benari) they feel they should have children with. When the “Spark” hits them they declare their intentions and exchange a “ring” as a symbol of their intent to produce and raise children. This relationship lasts until the children reach “independence” and remains monogamous until the children reach Independence. A side effect of the “Spark” is that Benari are incapable of producing children until the spark happens but many will experience the spark two to three times.
The last cultural tradition that has survived over thousands of years is the Benari sexual openness. A Benari will have many relationships often at the same time, the vast majority of these relationships not resulting in the creation of children. The Benari takes the activity of sex very seriously and find prudish cultures to be a bore or backwards.
Education
The Benari do not have any formal education system, because they do not have a dedicated society or government.
Technology
The Benari are the most efficient Starship builders in the Typhon Galaxy, capable of creating PL7 and the occasion PL8 starship, the Benari seem to instinctively understand how a Starship works or functions.
In all other areas the Benari fall behind the other races of the galaxy.
Government
The Benari do not have a formal government that represents them, they are citizens of their home world society.
Military
Just as with Government the Benari do not have a formal military but join the military of their home world.
The Current Benari Empire
Ruled by the Empress Slice the Benari Empire is a loose organization of Benari controled worlds and space stations. Entrance into the Empire is entirely voluntary but the Empress is gaining a huge following as more and more Benari petition to become citizens.
The Empire is a member of the Tri-Republic and completely dedicated to the defeat of the Niephim. The Empire has tenuous ties with many major governments, most others do not recognize the Empress as a true authority of Benari opinion. Respect of another planet is not required or a desire of the Empress.
The Empire exists entirely to protect Typhon. The Empire cultivates science and starship engineering. The science level of the Empire rivals the Imperium, which makes some Imperials nervous.
The Empress Slice is from a long line of Benari who have attempted to unite her people, history contains many Benari Empires that rise and fall. The Empress claims authority because she possess the Knowledge of the Benari, a nigh mystical well spring of all the benari knowledge going back to there origin.
To attain this position, the Empress succeeded in finding The Library, which is a Benari artifact containing a detailed history of the entire galaxy, or all the knowledge and history collected by the Benari for the past 100,000 years. The Library tests all who find it and determine if they are capable of using its knowledge. Every Benari who has succeeded in this quest has used this knowledge to unite the Benari, but the Empress seeks a more specific goal of protecting the galaxy against the Niephim.
Unlike a true empire the Empress does not conquer other planets she allows any planet to become a member, their resources are then added to the empire’s overriding goal.
The Empire is a disjointed empire with planets scattered across the galaxy. The Benari have colonized or moved to worlds all over, no one sector is benari only space. This makes mapping an Empire very difficult, the Empress has created an empire in name and left ‘controled’ space an unanswered question. To control or rule such an unusual empire her ‘palace’ is a starship, the Benaris.
The Benaris possess a wonderland of technology. The Benaris as a ship is over 700 miles in diameter but possessing technology found in the ancient vaults of Space Lords. The Benaris was created so that Slice could take the war and her warriors where ever they are needed. If the war was too flame up on one world she could go and aid them or if the Galactic Senate required her presence then she could easily travel but still maintain the structure of the empire.
The Benaris’ size is the first marvel of it’s technology but it also possess a miraculous engine called a Bleed Drive, allowing it nigh instantaneous transport across the galaxy. This type of Drive also allows the Benaris to possess teleportation doors that can sync with nearby planets or allow instant travel across the ship. Lastly the Benaris is a war ship with fire power to match or exceed an Imperial Planet Star.
Technology
The Benari Empire contains many Benari controled worlds, the technology of those worlds is generally the same as it was before they joined the Empire. The Empress has cultivated advanced starship scienes for the battles with the Niephim. When a world enters the empire there current starship yards under go an overhawl to prepare for the creation of the advanced PL 8 starships that the empire is generating. The majority of Benari ships are all PL 7 but a sizable force of advanced PL 8 starships are entering the Empires’ Fleet.
The Benari use flat space technology to create powerful ships that are small and compact, allowing them to be highly maneuverable. The Benaris is the opposite of the general design philosophy of the Empire which is small and easily underestimated.