Ys and its people

Sihara: here's the report you requested. It's not exactly highly classified, but we still had to risk an asset to pull it off the Dark Rose network. What's your interest in this? Is there something I should know? -Mara

Discovered only recently through contact with the small but highly advanced Solmide cooperative, the Ysians are a coalition of human and alien descended clades which occupy a series of precursor built megastructures some two months of mother carrier travel to the anti-spinward of the Expanse. While they occupy a smaller area than the Expanse geographically, their population is about equal to ours due to the massive habitable surfaces provided by the precursor megastructures on which they make their home.

Due to their sharing of human and alien technology and the many systems they've managed to figure out from the megastructures, Ysian technology is very advanced, much more advanced than the Expanse's in many areas. Fortunately they seem extremely friendly, and long travel distances reduce the possibilities for conflict even with fast Ysian drives.

History

The Ys civilization is built from several different species who arrived at the closely packed (in interstellar terms) Precursor megastructures which the humans call Ys over the last two and a half thousand years. The first species to arrive, the Birmus, were apparently an expedition from the Large Magellanic Cloud around AD 1532 (EY -668). Later, around AD 2224, a second species, the Thaitee sent an expedition, apparently from the other end of the Sagittarius Arm. Finally, a human long shot expedition, dispatched in AD 2633 reached Ys in AD 2721. It is perhaps fortunate that the Birmus, the most technological of the three species arrived first, as while being highly advanced and capable of violence they appear to have a much larger 'monkey sphere' than humans, and be much more willing to make compromises and cooperate. The Birmus welcomed their fellow explorers, and helped them adapt to the mega-structures conditions, without seeking to rule them. Indeed most Ysians scholars (expand link for full list of research) credit Birmus ideology of cooperative individualism with much of their societies success, although our own studies suggest that perhaps the inspiring nature of their homes has something to do with it. The Birmus are responsible for allowing the humans to name the new civilization as it spread through different mega-structures: Ys.

Though there have been various small wars and terrorist incidents, Ys history has been remarkably free of war and strife. They have twice confronted, and defeated small scale incursions by local xenosophants the Lmir, who appear extremely hostile. They also engage in trade with the Solmids, and several other local species, though the area around them seems mostly pastoral and with few sapient life forms compared to the Expanse.

Species

Three species make up the Ys, two of them, the Birmus and Humans are split into various different clades, while the Thaitee maintain a single clade.

Birmus (Cognition 2)

The Birmus are large (1-1.5 meter radius, 2-3 meters tall) radially symmetric tripods with three lower and three upper limbs, and eyes mounted in a ring around their body. Capable of sensing magnetic fields and radio waves as well as light, smell and sound. They are highly intelligence and have apparently been tool users for the better part of a hundred thousand years, though several civilization collapses and technological plateaus have retarded their technological development. The first species to settle the Ys cluster, they were also the most advanced, and their technological lead made them the dominant species for much of Ys's history.

Fortunately, the Birmus prefer cooperation to conflict, and seem happy to have bought other species into their civilization, even if that meant changing the nature of it. The Birmus tend towards whimsy, and their chains of thought are often extremely difficult to follow for humans, however long association seems to have allowed both groups to form an understanding.

Birmus Clades

The Birmus have several clades, most of them fairly similar in design if not specifics to the old colour system of the early Expanse, with the difference that Birmus medicine is advanced enough to change specialization at any time, removing the problems associated with a genetic caste system.

Thaitee (Cognition 2)

Tall gangling creatures with a six limbed insectoid body plan, the Thaitee were the second species to find the Ys cluster. While they have six limbs they are not insects in that they have an endoskeleton and their outer flesh is soft. Thaitee are not individual beings but rather four or five bodies are linked together by sonic links into a single whole. These hive minds are never greater than five, or smaller than three without causing cognitive distress to the Thaitee in question.

Their civilization is highly ritualistic, with proper greetings and strict rules of social conduct. Interestingly these rules do not seem to apply to behaviour as much as etiquette. Thaitee engage in all manner of behaviours and political activities without reproach, but an improper form of greeting can lead to ostracism or in extreme cases the breakup of the group mind involved (though we are assured this never happens anymore).

While the Thaitee do use cybernetics and genetic modification extensively they do not have clades, but apart from "aftermarket" modifications maintain a single template.

Humans (Cognition 1)

Human are distant descendents of our forebears on earth. They are rather unlike us now however due to a thousand years of divergence transhuman engineering. Unlike the NNU they have drifted considerably from baseline, just as we have. Ysian humans continue to have two sexes, with males being taller and broader than females. They have more body hair than most Expanse clades, preserving a light layer over the entire body on men (though not on women) though some clades are completely bald.

The Ysians are a heavy mix of ethnicities, apparently hailing from settlements on Mars originally. They make extensive use of cybernetics and other devices to augment themselves even beyond the natural abilities of their clades.

Human Clades

There are several human clades, though notably less than the Expanse. In general only three major clades have been observed, though there are several minor ones. The first are mostly just called humans, and are their equivalent of our own classic humans. The second Clade is are the wotan, taller, broader and completely bald, wotan seem mostly to work in highly physically demanding fields such as construction, exploration and combat, and appear to be about equivalent to a valkyrie in terms of physiology. Finally, the Ogri are even larger than wotens, apparently to facilitate larger brains as well as larger physical abilities. Ogri tend to be the humans leadership caste, and make up their most elite troops.

Sociology

The Ys is a remarkably orderly society, with almost no crime and a very high standard of living. There are few invasive laws, though the level of surveillance maintained by the state is higher than most Expanse states might accept, with sensors logging individuals as they pass between areas, and mass surveillance of all public spaces.

Unfortunately, the Ys do not seem to be highly religious, perhaps due to the memetic impact of the terrorist campaigns carried out by members of precursor worshipping groups (see politics), and this can perhaps be blamed for the few elements of disharmony that remain. Interestingly some level of gender segregation also remains, with men being overrepresented in the military and fields like engineering and hard sciences and women under represented. Most of our interlocutor seem faintly embarrassed by this fact, but to view it as not worth the political or sociological engineering necessary to correct.

Mega Structure Conditions

The Ysian megastructures merit a detailed discussion which is largely beyond the scope of this article, however, it should be mentioned there is a wide variety of conditions present, including planetary style ecosystems in several of the giant voids within the structure, and large areas where the structure its self has been divided into single giant buildings. To prevent social upheavel, most Ysian families move between different megastructure enviroments every two or three decades.

Politics

Ysian politics is quiet, almost managerial and Ysian contacts seem extremely surprised that the same is not true in the Expanse. The Ysians are governed by a layered series of governments, each completely responsible for governing business within its responsibilities (which are defined by constitutional mandate). Government is semi-representative democratic, with a each level of government having a series of elected officials who propose legislation which is then voted on by the whole. These officials must first pass several competence tests before getting to office, but these are apparently rarely failed.

Most of Ysian society is focused on continued efforts to unlock their megastructure's secrets, and disseminating the technology discovered to improve standards of living. As mentioned earlier there is little social strife, though exceptions do exist. Ys apparently has something of a problem with terrorists. There are several groups of insurgents operating across the Ys cluster, mostly split into two groups, religious extremists who worship the precursors as sacred and should not be interfered with, and species nationalists who wish to split Ys apart among themselves.

Strangely, we were able to find out relatively few details about these groups exact agendas beyond the bare facts, however it does show that even in the most friendly environments, security precautions should be maintained, and more research is still needed.

Technology

The Ysians are extremely high technology. Their ships are faster and their reactors produce more power than expanse equivalents, and they have make heavy use of systems such as reactionless drives which are to us merely experimental. Beyond this, the Ysians also make heavy use of solid energy technology, in everything from military vehicles to domestic settings. Ysian dwellings can be instantly reconfigured by use of solid energy, which can create almost any surface as needed.

The Ysians also make extensive use of small standing teleportation gates, and even autoportation stations, able to send objects over colossal distances without traversing intervening space or carrying any drive field device of their own. These devices are capable of operating over several hundred light years and offer fast transit between the various Ysian enclaves. It is thought that free standing gates may have an even longer range.

Military

The Ysian military is relatively small compared to ours, but highly trained and very technologically adept. It is mostly targeted against the Lmir and used in defeating insurgent cells within Ysian society, some of whom are extremely heavily armed. Most Ysian units are equipped extensively with solid energy creators as weapons and armour, their combat gear combining both weapon and defence as needed. Teleportation is also widely used for mobility and to bring Ysian forces rapidly to bear if needed. Most ysian devices, even infantry power armour can fly. There troops appear to be highly skilled though not as experienced as ours. It is hoped we need have to face them in combat, as their technology would make them a formidable foe, though fortunately the harmonious nature of Ysian society seems to make this unlikely.

Appendix: The Lmir

While separate Xenological investigation is obviously necessary, a brief investigation of the other major sapient species/international system in the area near Ys. The Lmir are a more conventionally planet based species than the Ysian civilization, and apparently actively avoid most precursor sites. Unfortunately, they are extremely hostile to the Ysians and will probably take a similar approach to the Expanse.

Lmir Physiology

Physically, the Lmir are one to two meters long with four legs and laid out with bilateral symmetry, vaguely resembling an earth geeko. The resemblance is only fleeting however, as the Lmir have small glide wings on their back, and a U-shaped array of eyes and infra-red sensors on their head. Lmir have extensive regenerative abilities, even up to regrowing entire lost limbs.

The Lmir are amphibious beings, capable of living in both air and water. Their homeworld appears to have been extremely arboreal, and lower gravity, due to power of flight and adaptation to continual darkness but not cold.

Modern Lmir make extensive use of cybernetic and genetic modification, apparently often hijacking their bodies regenerative functions to grow new biotech organs and ease the problem of adapting cybernetic limbs to the body.

Lmir Sociology and Psychology

The Lmir appear to be high type 2 or type 3 on the cognition scale, which has further increased the difficulties in communicating with them. Current Ysian translation programs can give only the most basic understanding of Lmir speech, and their motives are barely understood. Sociologically, they seem to have a wide variety of organizations split by group size, geography and the like, much like humans do.

One difference appears to be a much lower need for personal space, with Lmir settlements almost always packed what would be for a human claustrophobically tight, and multiple Lmir living in very small spaces.

Lmir Politics, Technology and Military

As mentioned the Lmir are split into a large number of blocks, all of which seem to be hostile to the Ysians. There are at least five major political entities, though they seem more associations of numerous smaller organizations than human style nation states. The Ys speculate they are somewhat feudal in structure, without the monopoly of force that characterizes human states.

Most Lmir blocks seem to be hostile to one another, with outright warfare between the groups, supporting the idea they are an inherently warlike species. The Lmir military is also very large, with around ten percent of Lmir appearing to be warriors of one kind or another. Lmir warriors undergo massive cybernetic reconstruction, including the addition of built in weapons and the like.

In general Lmir technology is lower than that of the Expanse, with slower drives, less powerful generators and so on. They also seem to have extremely poor cognitive technology, not practicing uploading or the like.