The Sherdena
The Sherdena are the most widespread of the Clusters human population. eschewing planets to live on massive sublight generation ships, the Sherdena are actually one of the most technically advanced cultures native to Ender's Cluster, with specializations in tachyonic technologies, fusion technology, cybernetics, genetics, and manufacturing. The Sherdena spend centuries traveling between stars at sublight speeds, and even when they arrive at their destinations, they never claim the system's planets. When they arrive at a star system, they mine the systems resources to maintain and restock their vessel, sometimes spending decades or centuries before undertaking a new journey. If the system has inhabited worlds, they observe the inhabitants. those with no space travel they ignore, giving the planet(s) wide berths while they restock. those with space travel they contact and negotiate with, offering more mature star travel technologies in exchange for permission to use the systems resources. those systems that have hostile populations they avoid, restricting themselves to the outer system and cometary regions, in order to avoid conflict. as a result, the export versions of their space technologies form the basis for most space travel in the cluster. but this desire to avoid conflict does not make them weak. the Sherdena military capability is immense if pressed into conflict. they will usually fight to defend their generation ships, to give them a chance to escape. if faced with a foe that cannot be escaped, they will fight unrestricted warfare to eliminate that enemies ability to fight in space.Sherdena technology and hardware:Urbs class Sublight Generation Ship
Sherdena Society:
Slow-boating between the stars on multi-century journey's requires an immensely stable society. Normal human societies undergo a cycle of infrastructural degradation, collapse, and reconstruction as successive generations grow complacent and stop working as hard to maintain what previous generations have built. On a planet, this is not a major issue, since if ones technological society begins to collapse, there is time to recognize the problem and fix it. If all else fails, the survivors can rebuild using knowledge salvaged from what survives. However, in a wholly artificial environment like that of a sub-light generation ship, any significant degradation in maintenance and infrastructure invariably ends in a quick, lethal end for the inhabitants. There is rarely enough time to recognize the social problem and fix it in normal fashions, and complete failure means there are no survivors. The systems of the ship must be kept maintained at all times and the inhabitants cannot allow themselves to become complacent or apathetic about such maintenance. On a one way journey a dictatorial or military society style could be employed to solve the issue, but such approaches have major flaws. These societies are usually not popular with those under it, and always faced with the danger of uprisings that could destroy the tightly regimented society required to maintain the ship. Such societies can usually last a few dozen generations, long enough that the ship will arrive at its destination and the personnel can debark onto a planet. For most sub-light colony efforts, this kind of 'enlightened despotism' is the only viable method. The Sherdena however are not colonists on their way to a new planet. They have lived for millennium in their city-ships, thousands of generations. Their society is fully democratic and not subject to the imposition a regimented lifestyle on their citizens. How did the Sherdena overcome this sociological problem? The answer can be found in their psychology. Individually the Sherdena are much like other humans. They possess the same emotional range and foibles as any other human beings. However they have learned to tightly regulate those emotions, through meditative introspection and cognitive expansion. Cognitive expansion is the enhancement of the intellect, which the Sherdena achieve via advanced neural interface technology. Each and every Sherdena has implants that connect them to a ship spanning 'mind-net', formed from the ships digital communications network and a gestalt of every being possessing neural interfaces. Using these interfaces they can share thoughts, emotions, and sensory information.
Sherdena neural interfaces are a combination of nanotechnology and biotechnology systems, which can grow as their host does and can repair themselves to a limited extent. Implantation occurs early, typically between 4 and 6 years of age. By the time a Sherdena reaches adulthood, the mind-net is as much an extension of them as their own arms and legs. Implantation of adults is rare, as a full adult suddenly exposed to the mind-net can slip into insanity (30% chance, with Psychosis, Schizophrenia, and similar conditions being common), even if equipped with the same adaptive filters used to ease children into the mind-net as they grow. Over the mind-net, a Sherdena can feel the gestalt of the emotions and mental activity of those around them, not as words or images but as 'vibes' and feelings. Strong emotions and thoughts can be felt more easily and shine like a beacon. This artificial empathic sense has its limits however. It requires concentration on an individual to feel more than a general sense about their mental state, and it is impossible to read another person's thoughts unless that individual is broadcasting them specifically. Artificial intelligence programs sort the emotional, medical, and locational mind-net data and use it to do real time analysis of different aspects of society. Law enforcement and societal protection programs watch for potential and active criminals, mental illnesses, and other such disruptive events, allowing Sherdena health and police services to respond rapidly, and often prevent a problem from occurring entirely. Other programs assist education, allowing the education system to not only teach more effectively, but also better steer the students into positions they are suited for. The Sherdena can also use the mind-net to access information. As it is partly a computer network, members of the mind-net have access to extensive libraries, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as multimedia, message and chat sites, news, and all sorts of other data. It is like having a internet connection in ones head. One advantage of this access to information is the ability to perform many types of basic skills by accessing intelligent help programs. Although this allows them to perform feats they otherwise would not possess the skills for, such assisted skill sets are very basic, and no substitute for proper training.
(Specific game stats for Sherdena cognative expansion implants and the Sherdena mind-net are on hold at the moment, as they are hard to stat up. Sorry.)
Sherdena Phenosculpting:
The Sherdena have advanced medical technologies, capable not only of implanting advanced cybernetic and biosystem body enhancements but also capable of regrowing and reshaping the body itself. Phenosculpting is the modification of the body into different forms, without substantial modifications to the underlying genetics of the individual. Using a mixture of nanotechnology and organic implants created from the individuals converted stemcells, the Sherdena can alter the phenotype of a person to a large number of alternate appearances and forms, although all are largely cosmetic changes to the baseline human form. The process requires several days of treatments and surgery to during which old Phenosculpt implants are removed, new ones are implanted, and the nanotechnological machines (called nanocytes) that ensure the body remains on the new form are reprogrammed. Phenosculpting is a popular form of self expression for the Sherdena, subject to subcultures and popular trends, although the cost of each sculpt can be high (the equivalent of several hundred thousand trigalactic credits for most Sherdena, closer to a million for a non-Sherdena human, due to the need to implant starter cultures for the nanocytes and certain interface systems. The technology has never been tried on a non-human or a near-human race.) during the sculpting period, the subject has the interesting experience of the nanocytes jumpstarting growth in programmed areas while encouraging cell death and absorbtion in others, causing the old form to morph into the new one. During this time any cultivated implants, such as horns, hooves, fur, and other such cosmetic items, are changed out surgically. By the end of a week the new form has grown in, although major changes to feet or size can require an accelerated rehabilitation phase as the person becomes accustomed to their new body shape.
The simplist and cheapest modifications, and thus the most popular, are alterations hair, skin, and eye color. As these are purely pigment based, they can be obtained through simple nanocyte reprogramming. The colors obtainable can range from the natural to the artificial. It is not unknown for Sherdena to have red, green, purple, or metallic haircolors, eyes with colors not seen in nature, eyes with colored 'whites', or skin of exotic colors or patterns. These changes rarely cost more than a few hundred trigalactic credits, and for about ten times that an implant can be added that allow the individual to change their own coloration’s with a thought. Changes in coloration require a few days or weeks to occur, depending on how complex they are, the individuals diet, and how fast their hair grows. More complex alteration make the individual appear to be something other than human. The additions of horns, hooves, antennae, animal like features, and even alterations to the skeletal and dental structure are common. Depending on the ship and the prevaling subculture, Sherdena who go in for extreme Phenosculpting can end up resembling fantasy races, animal people, transgendered, multigendered, or even exotic humanoid forms like the Androgynous 'greys'. However not all Sherdena who go for such changes do so with a specific plan. Since changes can be obtained gradually, there are dabblers, especially in the less well off strata of Sherdena society, that obtain minor alterations over time according to popular trends and their interests at the time. Thus you are just as likely to run into a Phenosculpted Sherdena who has cat ears, horns, hooves, and a strange color of hair as you are one which resembles a specific fantasy race or animal. The Sherdena security forces, which form their military, employ Phenosculpting to a more serious end, using it to enhance their personnel into preset 'soldier' forms by encouraging the growth of additional muscle, armored skin, as well as greater height and mass, or into 'crewman' forms which have greater tolerance for g-forces and microgravity at the expense of body mass and strength. Neither form is employed outside times of active conflict, and use of those Phenosculpting profiles outside the military is illegal and subject to strict punishment. (Specific details on Phenosculpting are still in the works. sorry)
