Keribor

Keribor is a place where humans first dominated, were overthrown by aliens, dominated again, and have been overthrown a second time. So there is LOTS of OLD ill-feeling between humans and non-humans in this area.

The race now dominating, the Twarzi (sing. Twars), are 3-ton sauroid bipeds, with leathery, slate-gray skin and an inclination to manipulate with their feet more than you would expect. Their heads are lumpily block-like, with the eyes on the lower front corners, almost flanking the wide, slit-like mouth. They are DK Status Bellicose, just like humans, and have four hermaphrodite sexes.

Keribor is ruled by a religious elite of Twarzi. The dominant Twarzi religion is mainly concerned with numen, luck, and "cleanness," with some ancestor worship on the side. The elite (the "Catharate" in Terranic, the "Taunsarl" in the main Twarsan language of Vednar) have a secret religion, though it is probably based on the dominant religion and is known to involve great care for cleanness and the worship of the ghost of Ker Proach, leader of the rebellion. The Catharate are very clear that fellow Twarzi are just as far beneath them as non-Twarzi – except for Terrans, who are the scum of the galaxy and thus even lower. They don't care about other peoples' religions; heresy is not an issue.

The Catharate controls a Twarzi-dominated military machine under which other (non-Terran) species can conduct their business with relative freedom and prosperity. However:

The Catharate uses extensive cybureaucracy to monitor everyone.
The taxes are high.
No one may travel between cities, much less planets, without a permit.
No one may eat eggs of any kind (a cleanliness consideration).
Certain mandala-like patterns are forbidden (a luck consideration).
Anything arcane directed against the Catharate is a crime (e.g. prayers, spells).
Any worship of Ker Proach by anyone outside the Catharate is forbidden.
Any trade in or consumption of ghosts is strictly illegal (!).
No Terran may reproduce.

History

The initial state of the area was just a stretch of the galaxy with human and alien worlds intermingled. Humans had a solid economic supremacy.

A pair of Semantic Zone 2 races, long frustrated by their relative isolation, cleverly jockeyed their linguistic peculiarities into a thriving trade in interference-proof software. A Zone 0 race, DK Status Bellicose, got pressed into frequent service as interpreters, negotiators, spies.

The Zone 0 race took over the economic lead and, when that was threatened (largely by humans), turned aggressive and military and formed an empire. The Twarzi figured largely in their empire as troops.

After a few decades, humans rallied and substituted their own empire, with Good Aliens (human allies, including the Zone 2 aliens) and Bad Aliens (Zeroer allies, including Twarzi).

A couple of centuries after that, the Twarzi substituted their own empire.

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