PHYSIOLOGY
The Stellarmerian or Sjendari* in their language are a humanoid bipedal species with a wide range of genetic diversities, leading to a variety of racial differences but a commonality of the majority of the population is a propensity for a deep blue to purple skin tone often in a mild gradient, proportionally large forward-facing eyes with black cornea, flat noses, head hair, and most containing pointed ear lobes. Their bodies have a standard humanoid build with bipedal legs and two manipulator arms. There are a large number of variations in this including but not limited to skin tone lightness, differences in ears, eye coloring, facial structure, and overall body build.
* The Federation-coined name Stellarmerian came about from the first contact with Starfleet as a result of a particular Captain making something of a pun relating to how the Universal Translator rendered their progenitor species as āStellarianā and claimed these people were only āmerely Stellarian.ā To the chagrin of some it stuck and eventually got adopted into the Federation database even after the origin was forgotten. Their own name is Saytisj Adjavk, usually simplified as Saytisjadji when referring to people from or living on the home planet of Saytisjin (Adjavk literally translates to People of [Location]). The species collectively are known as Sjendari (loosely translated as Illuminating Light) but the term was used less commonly before they were branched out more amongst the stars.
The most notable fact about the species is they are not originally naturally evolved. The modern species were created an unspecified number of millennia ago by the now-extinct enigmatic race known only to Federation records as Stellarians (locally known as Saytisj Nomya Tal) by taking genetic material, and possibly even actual living samples, of various humanoid races throughout the galaxy and genetically engineering them all with cross spliced genes and mixing in a heavy amount of Saytisj genetics.
Though exact details of Saytisj genetic data are hard to find, it is believed their propensity for blue shades of skin and black cornea are both dominant traits of the original Saytisj genetics. This is notable in that what little data there is on the Saytisj Nomya Tal confirms they were not entirely humanoid themselves, apparently not sharing the hypothesized common ancestor of most humanoid races (known as the Preservers). This required the theoretically much older Saytisj to heavily alter their genes to create the Sjendari. The reason for their creation is lost to history but it is widely believed to be a unique form of legacy since the Saytisj race itself has since died out and this was perhaps a method to leave something behind of themselves.
Due to the high amount of genetic engineering many Sjendari have an atypically high amount of adaptability to environments, which helps as their home world of Saytisjin is a tidally locked planet which presents only a thin band as comfortably habitable. It is notable that the species is not native to this world due to the fact their ancestors were created, and were likely deposited here, growing to adapt to it.
(Left: a female presenting Sjendari, Right: a male presenting Sjendari, not a wholly representative sample of racial and physical differences)
On the subject of genders, sexes, and reproduction: Sjendari reproduce sexually and can be compared to mammals. They have a unique physiology and can be said to have multiple sexes. Specifically, they appear to have been bioengineered to start life in a sort of neutral form, and as they mature a part of their form of puberty includes a gradual metamorphosis into the biological sex they end up with instead of it being genetically determined at random prior to birth. The exact mechanisms that determine their ultimate biological sex is unclear, but it does appear to be linked to their gender preference to some degree, suggesting a degree of psychological control. It could be said the gender spectrum is biologically matched. Once they mature it is typically not possible to change again, at least not without assistance. Due to the way their biology works it is rare that it happens, however it is not an unheard-of practice.
As a result of this unique aspect of the species biology, gender based stigma and inequalities have not followed paths very typical in other nominally bi-gendered species as there is some conscious choice involved. This does not mean no inequalities have ever existed and there are many examples in their history of efforts to influence the development of various groups for potential gains of various types. These kinds of practices are largely relegated to history now, but it would be wrong to imply the scars do not exist in the society of modern times.
BIOLOGY
The average lifespan of a Sjendari can be hard to determine. This is largely due to the fact that there are so many differences among individuals that some might be even longer lived than others to a radical degree. It has however been observed that members of the species can remain lively and vibrant up to the age of 200 Earth years. A census of a few confirmed geriatric Sjendari has confirmed some begin showing signs of age related issues as early as 250, and some donāt until almost 300.
The reason for this is due to a remarkable cellular structure that enables them to photosynthesize solar radiation much like plants, though they themselves are not plant based. They do not do this entirely unconsciously and need to dedicate a period of time in a day to this which requires a fair amount of skin exposure that is not often displayed in most situations. The tradeoff is they only need to eat food as little as once a week (thought they are perfectly capable of eating more often). This is to make sure they have a proper supply of nutrients they cannot get from sunlight. Early understanding was that this was some innate ability or perhaps part of the bioengineering of the species.
It was later learned however that they simply did not volunteer a number of known truths about their biology. All Sjendari have a natural symbiotic relationship with a colony of micro-organisms within their skin known colloquially as Solicytes. It is in fact the solicytes that are photosynthetic and absorb solar energy, in turn supplying their Sjendari host with produced sugars and various nutrients that both give the individual energy in absence of eating food as often, but also bolster their physicality, skin resilience, and depending on the type of light wavelengths fed to them can even promote others forms of physical reactions, both potentially beneficial and negative in the right circumstances. There is also a likelihood the solicytes are responsible for the deep blue and purple skin color. It has been said keeping these organisms properly nourished keeps the Sjendari skin and body in a self-correcting stable cellular structure that offsets long term cell damage and therefore delays aging. Thus, proper upkeep of the symbiotic relationship could theoretically mean their cells would never die of old age. Unfortunately, this makes them heavily dependent on the solicytes too, and the organisms are not wholly immune to their own damage or disease. Statistically the primary natural killer of Sjendari is when their bodyās solicytes become damaged, mutated, or die off. Without them Sjendari bodies begin to rapidly age as if making up for lost time as their bodies cells begin multiply and decay faster, and the individuals need to increase food intake to make up for the loss of energy from solar intake. This is known as Star-Shading Syndrome, and the individuals are considered shaded.
Signs of aging due to genetic differences, likely another holdover of their Saytisj creators, cause their skin to slowly develop a crystal-like layer that gradually covers them restricting movement as the crystallization slowly encroaches inward on their internal organs. A late life Sjendari tends to be heavily movement restricted and their corpses take on a brittle rock-like appearance that easily crumbles. Due to their longevity, not many Sjendari die of old ages like this at common intervals, so such a passing is highly respected. Though some may go a long time before being afflicted of star-shading, it is considered an inevitability for anyone who lives long enough. The species is however not immune to diseases or death by injuries, and since growing old takes so much time it is actually more common for death to come via other means. Their large gene pool has been known to be a gateway to unique afflictions, though a full listing of diseases would be too difficult to list here.
Sjendari bodies are highly agile and it is common for them to be quick in movement with an ability to remarkably and accurately move about in ways similar to parkour. Their abilities are proportional to their energy intake however, and they can over intake on solar radiation as well as food and must be conscious of this. One theory for onset star-shading syndrome is that it is a response to the body taking in too much solar radiation, but this has not been proven. It should be noted Sjendari are not born able to fully photosynthesize but develop the capability gradually in adolescence starting from age 9 and going as long as to age 25 to 32 depending on the individual. It is believed that while solicytes naturally exist in their skin it takes this long for a maturing Sjendari body to build up enough of them to properly nourish themselves. Solar intake can be measured by scans and most report that can feel when their intake per unit of time has leveled out. Once this happens, they are considered adults. The rest of their biological growth happens in this range as well, in what can be called their form of puberty. The species reproduce sexually; however, it is unclear how active the drive to reproduce is considering their longevity.
Amusingly, for all of their engineered traits and adaptability, the Sjendari are examples of jack-of-all-trades, master of none in terms of genetics. They can do a lot more than most species typically seem capable of doing, but where some members of a species could be unusually talented or predisposed to a certain level of intelligence or physical ability a Sjendari will rarely if ever be specifically good at any one thing excepting capabilities brought on by racial genetic differences. Their ability to adapt to environments is also not fast, and takes a certain amount of time (on the scale of weeks) before their bodies become accustomed to a location, and theyād need as much time to re-adapt to the original environment.
CULTURE & SOCIETY
Socially, Sjendari have gotten used to depending on each other, likely from a history of growing into their existence and their ancestors learning what they are together. There is a natural unity among groups and a high degree of love and affection for those they know most. Though their society is unified now, it is something that only happened in the last 500 or so years and took heavy effort to do. In fact while Sjendari are social creatures and have very low amounts of personal space concerns, they are very ideologically and culturally distinct. The push to unify them under a singular government and civilization was in some ways forced into practice and received such heavy push back that it erupted into an incredibly violent war that lasted more than a century before unification was achieved. There are still questions if the price was too high and whether the ultimate end result was inevitable regardless or not.
Sjendari family units are very atypical for a humanoid culture. They practice a form of social and romantic polyamory and do not form binding social contracts like marriages for family units. It is very common for individuals to have several romantic partners and these groupings to intersect. It is observed by researchers that the species can be described as panromantic and nominally heterosexual since they do seek to procreate. This being said it is hard to say if there are any predispositions to preferred sexuality as they by and large seem to act pansexual. As a result of not having strict family units and no social or legal system for joining of families, which are not considered a particularly legal unit in and of themselves in society, the structures of homes, neighborhoods, and even whole cities can come across as very foreign in operation. Living arrangements can often look like large interconnected homes and shared spaces among many individuals and genetic family partners living near, with, and mixed into others based on their local social and cultural groups. Whereas many other species youths first mingle and interact beyond families in schooling, to Sjendari there is no real difference as they are practically raised among their peers and in fact the concept of school as an educational institution is itself somewhat unknown as education is something of a group effort.
As a result of this family structures can become quite complex and confusing to the outside observer, often existing rather loosely. Frequency of children is low due to longevity, but it is normal for each pairing to only produce one child each. This can mean a female could have several children from different fathers, or only just one child despite her various partners. Mothers are the primary caregivers of infants, but fathers will tend to oversee adolescent raising, regardless of child gender. Though genetic siblings are rare due to low birth rates and lack of monogamy, this means half siblings spend a lot of time growing up together under both patriarchal raising and being among the same social community. It is extremely rare for siblings to have both a common mother and father, but it is certainly not impossible. Some consider the act to be wasteful for a variety of personal and social reasons not worth delving into, but for the most part full siblings are generally taken to be an accidental occurrence more than deliberate.
One would think the above makes Sjendari very friendly and trusting. This is nominally true, as stated they are socially and culturally very dependent on each other. This does not mean they donāt form cultural groupings which can have distinct identities and viewpoints. Distinct city-states, tribal villages, and philosophical ideologies that clashed across the planet were once exceedingly common. Most of these cultural distinctions exist still in some form but have been pressed into cooperation through extreme difficulty and the mediation of people who give their entire livelihood to enable it. It would make sense that the knowledge of alien life in the galaxy and their interactions with it, including the Federation, would spur them to be more united. Ironically the Federation may have nearly caused the most division since their Great Unification War nearly 500 years prior to meeting them. Amusingly, the Sjendari were spacefaring and capable of FTL that far back, though limited in their stellar range and did not have mixing with the interstellar community before they began infighting. They did, despite this, know other species existed in the universe before Humanity had spaceflight.
All of this results in Sjendari being heavily pragmatic, valuing practical ideas over idealistic philosophies. This is because they simply cannot agree of a unifying singular philosophy that enough people can agree on. To work together they had to brute force compromises, and they had to do this so much that it ultimately became, ironically in some respects, one of the most common aspects of their culture. Their technological development has been done in a way to support their civilization and to actively defend it from others. Before they had concerns of external threats, they were doing this amongst each other against different nation states. It could be said their capability in both defensive and offensive technologies is something of a calling they found, to a point the bulk of their spaceflight before the last century were almost entirely military craft. Though they did have civilian spaceflight before and since, the ratio is still notable.
POLITICS
The Sjendari political system is described on the surface as a form of Constitutional Monarchy. That being said it operates in several distinct ways. The current government is known by the name of the New Unity Constellate, often times informally referred to the Starlight Constellate after the original Unity government that first attempted to merge the disparate nation states under one banner before facing heavy opposition. Officially the Constellate is a unification of the original nation states of Saytisjin under a single planetary state (with the exception of the Autonomously Governed city-state of Saytisjek), which puts it in a union with a myriad of space-based colonies serving as interstellar states in the Constellate. Most of the states are actually space colonies with artificially built environments on massive mobile ships or built out of asteroids or small planetoids. There is one fully colonized planet outside of Saytisjin known as Saytisjnal, but most spaceborne Sjendari seem happy to form their collectives on artificial worlds, or spreading out and joining other species in the many melting pot worlds of the Alpha Quadrant. The Constellate states exist in a form of decentralized autonomy due in large part to their spread out nature and the logistics of Sjendari subspace folding technology making centralized control more difficult than the original Unity government attempted. Lessoned learned in the Great War included that unity need not exist with total control.
As far as leadership, each Constellate state has their own worked out government system, often some variation of democratic republic or parliament, a model the central Saytisjin government endorses. They have their own leaders and representatives in the Starlight Council on Saytisjin. There is one position that only exists on Saytisjin however and is considered a Constellate-wide presence: a figure similar to a monarch called the Kesjierad (roughly translatable to Emperor/Empress or King/Queen). They are not lineage based or divined in any way, but in fact selected by the populace.
In the original Constellate, the Kesjierad was a far more authoritarian figure and was something of a compromise of the many ruling classes of the nation states that originally banded together to create the Unity Government. This compromise was however rejected by several other nation states at the time, and led to the Unity government forcing the transition under the banner of unification for the betterment of a new space faring era. This led to detractors of the original Unity government to refer to it as little more than an Autocratic Empire and supporters and military figures in it were often labeled derisively as āImperialsā despite no Constellate official ever using such terminology internally. There was however, a grain of truth to the matter. Following the Great War between the Starlight Constellate and the Alliance of Liberty States, which nominally saw the latter defeated, the resultant true unification saw a sweeping series of reforms across several revs in order to properly incorporate the once warring factions. As a part of this the role of the Kesjierad changed from being a political leader and head of state to something of a near universally respected cultural icon with a degree of remaining political power, but no longer the capability to make total executive actions on their own. The process for how they were chosen was also changed with a focus on selecting people who met the approval of the masses as much as possible.
Despite a degree of democratization of the role, the process is a bit more complex than a simple vote and no one runs for the title. First a sub-council works out the best qualities and skills needed in a leader of the people and watches the standard aptitude tests for youths across the planet to find candidates that meet the qualifications, and make a short list to approach. These individuals have a choice to consider the option of becoming the next leader. Though most consider it a civic duty they wouldnāt want to turn away, there is a degree of respect to people to abdicate the chance and the screening intentionally selects people who may do this as candidates that would accept automatically are considered potentially problematic. The public meets these candidates (sometimes informally called Princes and Princesses, though these are not proper titles and there is no official bearing to them) through a series of tours and ultimately decide which they approve of the most. That person becomes the Viskesjierad (sort of a Leader in Waiting) until the current Kesjierad abdicates the position or dies. The current serving peopleās leader is intended to serve for life or until such point where they or the public agree they can no longer fulfill the role. The selection council has the job of being proactive to decide when to start scouting potential replacements, and often keeps their short list for decades before making them public.
The Kesjierad has no direct control over any government matters as they are technically not in a governmental position. Their job is to represent the peopleās will to the government. The actual government itself is something of a Parliament where councilor seats are voted in by the people, but the specific government positions are decided by internal council votes to run efficiently. This includes positions like Defense Minister, Chancellor, and so on. The people get some say in who can be in these positions through the Kesjierad who can cast two votes in any internal election, one for them and one for the people. These votes need not be the same, and in many historical cases, are not the same. There is no specific mechanism to combat corruption on this beyond the simple concept that the kind of people selected for their capability to take the role are the sort of people who would not abuse their power in such a way. While this specific form of government is relatively recent (a post-war reform of the original Unity government), it hasnāt had any specific systemic failures yet.
The governing council is a group based on locality from different cities and towns across the planet. They are elected locally to serve the government more than then the people, who are again represented by the Kesjierad more than anything else. Though it seems the peopleās will and interests are represented primarily by a single person, the Kesjierad has a worldwide support network of appointed and employed persons and outreach offices. Sometimes this includes unselected Kesjierad candidates, who go on to be public figures in their own right while supporting their former opposition (as, again, the type of people selected are the kind who would be graceful in defeat rather than bitter).
It should not be underestimated how important the Kesjierad is to the people. They serve an important role that is in no way a figurehead, and due to how they are picked it is typical that they are very well liked by the populace at large. Distinct leaders operate differently, but it is common for them to try their best to be down to earth and very active in the community, rather than acting above the general populace. They donāt even reside in a particularly flashy home, though it is a well-kept and secured. While the Kesjierad does the best to represent the peopleās will to the government, this doesnāt always result in desired actions. As long as they do the best, they can to push for the peopleās will however, the people rarely blame them so much as the other members of the government. This can easily influence council elections later when councilors start being out of touch with the transitive influence of the people.
LANGUAGE AND NAMING CONVENTIONS
The Sjendari language known to the Federation is a hodgepodge of languages believed to be structurally similar to the various species the Saytisj Nomya Tal used to make the Sjendari, as well as the Saytisj own language. Though the latter is unable to be fully vocalized by humanoids. Early on Sjendari could understand it however, but in the modern day only scholars know how to comprehend and read it. It is likely that while language has evolved over time there were not too many distinct variations due to the inherent closeness of the species as a whole. They always wanted to know each other as well as communicate. While the Saytisj language is mostly vocal, there is heavy levels of body language and the degree of closeness and contact between speakers often puts new inflections on words that would have otherwise not existed. Tone is also subtle but important. When Romanized into Federation Standard text before translation, Saytisj appears oddly like a fictional variant of Earth Scandinavian languages, though no direct link can be shown to definitively exist.
It has been proven though the language the Federation is aware of is in fact a simplified dialect of sorts that has been specifically designed to ease communication with non-Sjendari peoples, and is in fact very recent. In fact the noted effects of body language, tone, and physical appearance are accidental modifiers they simply found it difficult to remove without making the simplified speech too difficult for their own people to understand. The actual proper Saytisjadji language (specifically of the home world and it will dialect out in different colonies, there is no single true Sjendari language aside from the Simplified version) is a far more comprehensive and complex form of physical gesticulation, body positioning, facial cues, tone, pitch, very rapid short vocalizations, and somehowā¦ lighting conditions. The last one admittedly still confounds Federation anthropologists. When two members of the species communicate in their true language it often comes off as very quick and concise exchanges that take very little time but are supposedly conveying paragraphs worth of information and understanding. This is another outgrowth of the extreme social closeness and how deeply ingrained this style of communication has become. It is said when developing the simplified language it was harder to teach it to their own people because it came across as verbose, taxing, and dull.
Sjendari have a unique name structure that shares some similarities with other cultures. All have three total names, but only two publicly usable names. The first name is a traditional given name that is chosen by the parents of a child. More often than not the father has more input on the given name since he spends more time raising a child in their formative years, though it is typical for both to agree on a name.
The third name is a compound name based on the parentsā given names. Since Sjendari do not have static family units, there is little sense in sharing names, and neither the father nor the mother has more possession. This has led to a tradition of the āfamily nameā being a portmanteau of the parents given names. For example, two parents named Akad and Elenai respectively can bestow the third name of Akaela, Akanai, Elekad, or Eleaka. Though any combination is acceptable, the most common is combining the first parts of both names in some way that sounds agreeable, with variations being for easier sounding results. Since it is rare for two children to have the same two parents there is little commonality of third names unless they have distinct parents with coincidentally similar given names. There is no way to be sure this wonāt happen, but it is generally understood that is just a coincidence unless a person is a rare full sibling.
The second name that sits between the given and family names is known as a personal name. No Sjendari is born with this name, and for a good while grows up without one. This is because it is a name that they choose for themselves. Since it is legally registered to them though it is not something they can choose lightly, nor is it one someone just haphazardly changes. It is supposed to represent them on a deep level and what they feel they are truly named. Often decided by youth when they begin to mature during their solar awakening phase of life. It is typical for a person to have decided their personal name by the time they reach maturity. Outliers are rare but happen, and are often seen as people who may be indecisive due to greater issues and offered psychological help to aid any issues that may be stopping them from figuring it out. Though it is very odd, a stigma about these people has been gradually being worked out of the social consciousness over time.
The personal names are often noted in formal documents with dashes around them as well as their placement between the other names. This is important so readers know what it is and to avoid haphazardly using it. Personal names are not secretive, but are so tied to someoneās identity that it is considered intensely rude to use them without an individualās permission. Such permission is not easily gained either. A person often allows their family members and lovers use of the name, a sign of their closeness. Close friends may also gain the right, though some judge who counts as this differently than others. Itās said a relationship where one has not felt comfortable giving personal name permissions is one with red flags that will not last. Among other Sjendari, vocal inflection and body language helps identify conversation between close individuals enough that the public use of personal names is not shocking or confusing as the context can be easily determined that the speakers are close. Regardless if names were being used outside of permission, only the rarest of people would not react with shock or anger.
Since they have begun mingling with other species, especially the Federation, they have learned their language quirks donāt always translate in to Standard and others may not realize personal name usage is not a free action. This has led to misunderstandings that has made it a practice to avoid personal name usage in public around off worlders. For those with experience and friendships with non-Sjendari, this leads to a weird dissonance as people that have personal name permissions but do not use the name in place of the given name can result in the individual feeling like their closeness is being ignored or generalized, even when not the case.
HOLIDAYS & CALENDAR
Most holidays are based on either historical events or myths and legends passed down from the Saytisj. Many of these are based on figures from that species or anthropomorphized versions of nearby stars. Often these are not fixed to calendar dates so much as commonly retold stories. This is in part due to the long Saytisjin Rev (short for revolution, aka a local year, which due to the orbit of the planet is equivalent to 3.4 Earth years long) and the lack of distinct seasons due the small axial tilt of the planet which as noted has no rotation and therefor no common day cycle. There are annual days each Rev in memoriam of significant events in the turbulent history of the Unity Government, the Great Warās various end dates (depending on who you ask), and dates related to certain historical figures for local cultures. There are also various festivals related to the various life philosophies across the species that have been given specific chords (see below) for recognition.
The existing calendar uses timescales based on the Rev divided up into base 10 derived sub units, with some nudging to fit the curiously still existing circadian rhythm the species has, despite the lack of a day/night cycle. Some theorize this is an evolutionary hold over from their ancestor loan races, but this is largely conjectural.
As a result, a Rev is divided into Arcs (analogous to months, but 4 Earth months long), Chords (like a week of ~12 Earth days), and Steps (~1.2 Earth days). Though all aside the Rev are artificial subdivisions, the step is the only element that is specifically determined by modern technology as it is measured by the movements of multiple massive orbital mirror platforms in high orbit of the planet. This keeps a sort of pseudo day/night cycle intact despite the planetās lack of rotation. Before modern spaceflight there was a lot less focus on steps and the Chords were counted by different sub units based on the nation and location of the peoples on the planet. Often groups were accustomed to the natural constant light level that only varied across the Rev by the planetās tilt, though they still aimed to create darker environments for sleeping. The Step as a proper time unit is one of the advantages of the Unified Constellate Society of modern day. There also exists subdivisions of that analogous to hours, simply sub-steps, marks, ticks, etc. It is worth noting a Saytisjin Step, or day, is a little less than 30 Earth hours long. This also means age is in terms of Revs which means a quoted Rev age will be a much smaller number than an age in Earth years. Though since age is mainly a time check for them, many donāt treat it with as much reverence as cultures that gradually age, it is merely how many orbits theyāve been alive.
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
It should be said the base concept of religion as it is generally understood doesnāt particularly exist for Sjendari. This is due in large part to the lack of mystery surrounding their existence. They know they were bioengineered by another species, though the reasons and motivations of why the Saytisj Nomya Tal did this are of considerable debate to this day.
In lieu of a creation myth that forms a basis of religion with gods and such, they instead formed a series of competing or co-existing life philosophies. Each had mythological stories not unlike religious text that served as allegories and were based both on possibly real or fictious Saytisj individuals or potential Constructs of theirs (large interstellar biomechanical lifeforms the Saytisj are known to have created, but none of which have any physical proof of existence in the modern day). Often times these stories would name these figures after or make them analogues to known neighboring stars and astronomical phenomena. No one tended to seriously consider these stories to be factual, but various groups took them to be at least somewhat referential to possible events that could be interpreted in a variety of ways to promote philosophical understandings and lifestyles. Though there are a number of categories and groupings, in the modern day there are two that tend to gain mainstream acceptance: Spectralism and Cerebranism.
Spectralists often follow an interpretation of the stories of starlight being Mayjra, daughter of Halcjor after whom the Saytisjin star is named. The myth broadly tells of Mayjraās overflowing exuberance for life in a form of hedonism. Her appearance and patterns were colorful and bright and risked outshining the brilliance of Halcjor, leading the form to grow disconcerted and casting her out to the distant stars to spread her enlightened light across the universe so it would not be so concentrated and harm Halcjorās solar system. Some versions of the story have Halcjor being a Saytisj and Mayjra being a Construct, but others imply Mayjra also being a Saytisj. Spectralists as a result embrace the totality of life and seek to live every experience to the fullest, both the good and the bad. It has been said Spectralists practice a form of ethical hedonism as various ancillary tales discuss the dangers of acting in pursuit of pleasure without safety. Spectralists have a habit of body scribing to show their views, a sort of tattoo like procedure of drawing lines and designs on their skin which they can through some practice illuminate in various colors with their solicytes based on the various inks used. Designs can be incredibly elaborate to simple and efficient, and are often personal choices rather than standards. A less flashy quirk of Spectralism is the growing out of hair and styling it in ways to represent the freedom of their inner spirit, never tying or restraining it. This became so culturally influential that Sjendari that donāt necessarily ascribe to Spectralism will often do this as well, though usually only to represent their openness to others, and still will restrain and clean up their hair when duty or work calls for it, something an active Spectralist would refuse to do.
Cerebrans are the second most common life philosophy found among Sjendari. Similar to Spectralists, the unifying view of Cerebrans is one of embracing the wonders of life. Unlike Spectralists which embrace and enjoy the sublimity of everything, Cerebrans are more particular and focus on the positive aspects of life, existence, and nature. They are in fact particularly against negative emotions just anger, greed, jealousy, and so on, doing their best to cut them out of their lives. Some of the more focused Cerebrans come off as āHappiness Monksā as some Spectralists have called them. Cerebrans donāt discount the stories of Mayjra, but view the lessons of the tale in a different way, judging Mayjraās excesses as greedy and selfish. Cerebrans prefer to think of the betterment of the populace over personal needs. At times contemplative and coming off as dull compared to their comparatively flashy Spectralist counterparts, Cerebrans do get just as emotive when it comes to those more positive aspects. They are particularly fond of nature, the bonds of love between people, and are some of the most capable animal tamers. Itās also a widely held notion (though a bit facetious in truth) that the Cerebrans are the natural antithesis to the Sildani, the latter being something of a representation of the darkness present in everyone which Cerebrans actively try to reject. A common myth in Cerebran teachings is that like Halcjor gave balance to the worlds, and Mayjra threatened to burn them with her hedonistic and selfish light, there existed a countering darkness called Esilda (for which the Sildani name is derived) which may or may not have been a rogue black hole that threatened the Halcjor system in ancient times (or a malevolent Construct, versions vary on the topic). Esilda was drawn in by Mayjraās excesses and threatened the stability of all life by drawing it and even the light of Mayjra and Halcjor, bringing eternal darkness. This is why Halcjor forced Mayjra away in Cerebran lore, not out of jealousy but to lure Esilda after her to save the worlds he protected.
A brief note on the above mentioned Sildani. They are not a philosophical sect of Sjendari, but in fact an entirely distinct species on Saytisjin that give off a monstrous darkened and foggy appearance. Throughout history Sildani were creatures of darkness and danger and more often than not were feral creatures. Many early nation states were formed by tribes banding together to defend against Sildani. They are not high in population compared to Sjendari so there was never any real competition in land, and while they have historically been hostile it was widely believed they were just drawn to the light of life of Sjendari. Scientifically, they are simply just known to be a violent animalistic species. There are many myths and beliefs that they have some form of control or coordination. The Cerebran myth of Esilda incorporates the idea of them being a reason to avoid negativity. Spectralists see them as a cautionary tale of embracing only darkness instead of all aspects of life equally. A common form of āghost storyā both camps will tell to children, often for different reasons (Cerebrans to scare kids away from negative emotions, Spectralists because scaring kids can be fun sometimes) is to imply that despite there being very few Sildani in nature, there are even fewer Sildani that are in fact sapient and hiding in the shadows controlling their feral brethren. Itās common for adults to reference sapient Sildani as a form of boogeyman, and they are a favorite villain type in fictional narratives.
TECHNOLOGY REPORT
Medical
Summary
RATING: Average
Though great strides are always made, medical abilities have always been lagging due to secondary concerns. This is a result of the effective agelessness of members of the species. This results in the need for constant care to be overlooked. The fact is that their myriad genetics are a cause of many potential diseases, and since the people have a preference for close physical contact with many others a high degree of cleanliness has become necessary to avoid disease transmission and proliferation. Thus, preventative care has been the focus more than trying to find solutions to already contracted illness (a result of their social pragmatism perhaps). This does mean there is a high focus on vaccine development though.
The main malady that is widespread that has continued to stymie doctors is the universally inevitable star shading syndrome. It affects only them (and a more powerful form killed off the Saytisj), or rather the solicytes they depend on for their health. Efforts to study it get the most attention but the most known is it appears to be a genetic inevitability of the otherwise hardy solicytes, though when and how the genes are activated that trigger the microorganisms to begin dying off is still a mystery.
Science
Summary
RATING: Average
Study of their planet and of themselves aside, Sjendari tend to take a laid-back view at times of general scientific expansion. This is not to say they have any low opinion of science in general, but they find the necessary practice of study and slow understanding to be tedious. Sjendari live in the moment and make incredible use of the knowledge they have.
One issue is the fact they have a repository of knowledge left by the Saytisj, but while it may very well hold the secrets to the universe, itās largely inaccessible. A lot of effort has gone into learning how to unlock its secrets but itās been widely agreed the repository may be programmed so judiciously well that it only gives out fresh information at an incredibly slow pace as if it has a will of its own. This may in fact be true due to myths and legends of Saytisj Constructs being wiser than their makers. While they have gotten some early advancement from this, for the most part, the species still relies on traditional research for almost anything important.
Engineering
Summary
RATING: High
While they are average on medical and science, if there is one thing Sjendari excel at, itās engineering and technology development. Given existing border conditions and understanding, they will find a way to solve a problem, even if it is not as elegant as a more advanced power like the Federation might do a task. The term ābrute force engineeringā has been said to be a fact of life. This can be seen more than anywhere in the city of Saytisjek.
This does mean at times they can take shortcuts others might find unwise though. This has been known to be a bit of a case of overdoing something when it was not needed even if the reward was good. Itās been found the people seem ok with this by and large though as they figure a bit of risk is healthy. During their protectorate years this became a source of contention with the Starfleet Corp of Engineers at the garrison, who were afraid of relying on home grown technology. Some in Starfleet would later say while that view is still valid, when the Sjendari chose to kick the Federation out, it was hard to argue with their capabilities.
