PROXIMAN SUZERAINTY

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• SPECIES: Proximan
• SYSTEMS/PLANETS: Proxima Centauri

The Proximans are an enigma among galactic culture. While they are clearly a very combat-oriented species, they have evolved culturally to avoid war among themselves, most likely due to their low birth rate and susceptibility to mortal injuries when their bodily structure is compromised. Instead, they satisfy their combat urges with gladiatorial combat of varying types (but almost always nonlethal). The Proximan family structure is centered around the clan, a collection of five to ten families who all share a common ancestry. These families are genetically divergent enough that interbreeding is viable, but it is usually frowned upon due to societal norms. The only designated familial role is that of the Lore-Keeper, who are the Proximans only institutionalized tradition of magic. In the Terran system of magical classification, Lore-Keepers are Contractors, bound to a spirit that has been contracted to the Lore-Keeper of their family for countless generations. Each Lore-Keeper designates a successor, and when they die the spirit passes to that successor. The role of the Lore-Keeper has fluctuated over generations, what was originally seen as a kind of warrior and champion for the family has since evolved into something more along the lines of a family historian. Some families, however, keep the old traditions alive and their Lore-Keepers go off to serve as gladiators, soldiers, or politicians.

Governmentally, the Proximans are best described as a Suzerainty. The entire Proximan domain is controlled by a single leader (the Suzerain), who oversees 36 vassal states. Each vassal state has a internal autonomy and self-rule, but foreign affairs (such as the relations with Earth) and inter-state relations are handled by the Suzerain and his independent, 37th state. The position of Suzerain is hereditary, and has been handed down the line of Naicun since Naicun the Great unified the planet and brought peace to the warring tribes. Each vassal state sends two representatives to the Suzerain’s court to serve for a single Proximan year (which is about 300 Earth days), an advisor to serve on the Suzerain’s Council, and a consort for the Suzerain’s harem. At the end of the year, these advisors return to their home vassal state, and any child sired by the Suzerain with that consort during that time remains a High Prince or High Princess but returns to be raised in the consort’s vassal state. The Suzerain and their state are responsible for coordinating the global military efforts of Proxima, along with any worldwide projects. This includes offworld projects, such as flux space gateways, interplanetary travel and mining, and military cooperation with the Terran Alliance.

Each individual vassal state is free to govern themselves as they see fit, and this has lead to a wide diversity in governmental structures among the states. Of the 36 vassal states, nine are hereditary monarchies, seven of them are representative republics, five are technocracies, four are gerontocracies, three are meritocracies, two are corporate states, two are perfect democracies (in the sense that every citizen has a vote on everything), two are theocracies, and one is an anarcho-syndicalist commune.

Socially, the Proximans exist as a semi-feudal heirarchy. While the days of true feudalism are gone in the Suzerainty, the overall social structure still exists. Unlike in a true feudalistic society, social mobility is a very real thing, and Proximans move up and down the social ladder with regularity. One of the most reliable methods for social mobility in this structure is military service – higher rank and better performance in training, wargames, and (more recently) field action are commensurate with upward mobility in the ladder. A Proximan’s parents determine a child’s starting position in the social ladder, but once the Proximan reaches adulthood (15 Proximan years), they are in charge of their own social fate.

Philosophy

Proximans love to fight. ‘To deny this would be to deny millions of years of evolution and history,’ Proximan philosophers are known to say. All Proximans feel an innate urge to do battle, but the species has tempered this over generations with a belief that all life is important. The more martial-minded (and bloodthirsty) Proximans tend to view this more as ‘it takes more skill to leave your opponent alive rather than simply killing them.’ This curious worldview is thought to have started to arise during the period of time that their homeworld was transitioning into its present state. The biological adaptations evolved by Proximans (and other lifeforms on their homeworld) left them hardy enough to survive this environment, but it also left them with a glaring weakness – when injured heavily, they will most likely explode due to blood boil-off. This left the species with a hesitance to heavily injure other native lifeforms, as doing so would most likely injure themselves.

“Armstrong”

If the Proximans had to declare a ‘planetary favorite sport,’ it would probably be the one who’s name translates roughly to ‘Armstrong.’ Armstrong is a martial combat event, in which two (or more) teams compete to see who will be the last one standing in a competition of combat. Armstrong is played in almost any setting imaginable, from matches in faux-urban arenas, to wilderness regions, to gladiatorial arenas. The PAL (Proximan Armstrong League (rough translation)) holds matches on almost a daily basis. It is worth nothing that the rules of Armstrong prevent actually killing your opponent, but accidents do happen from time to time.

History

The early Proximans evolved from a mid-level predator on their homeworld. Their superior brain capacity allowed them to develop a primitive form of weapon that gave them an edge over the apex predators – the Stone Sword. The race marched their way up the food chain to the dominant species on the planet. For countless millennia, the primitive Proximans were comprised of groups of warring tribes who fought with each other over the fertile areas of the planet. This all changed when the largest tribe came under the leadership of a charismatic ruler named Naicun (later known as Naicun I and Naicun the Great). In a few short decades, he managed to unite almost all the tribes. The Proximans first became aware of Humanity during Earth’s mid-20th century, by means of radio and TV signals Humans were broadcasting out into space. Realizing that they were more advanced than the “primitive earthers” they decided against making contact, however, they did grow to enjoy what the signals, which became a favored form of entertainment. They particularly enjoyed what they believed to be large-scale gladiatorial combat (in reality, these were news reports on the military conflicts of the 20th and 21st century), and were horrified to learn after First Contact that these were in fact actual battles with large casualty numbers. This did however, mean that they had already developed a system to translate their language into a variety of Human languages, and vice versa (mainly English, German, Chinese, Russian, French, and Spanish). The Proximans are aiding the Terran Alliance in scientific endeavors, but are hesitant to share any weapons technology with the humans. The main focus is the adaptation of flux-space technology to ship-level drives.

First contact (in the flesh) with an extraterrestrial race was when the Proximans actually met the Terran Alliance on August 4th, 2025, on the outskirts of the Centauri system. The TASS Feng-Huang was approaching the system on a mission of colonial founding, and the Proximan vessel Haoan’tuich was on a routine patrol of the system outskirts when it detected the incoming Phoenix-class colonial vessel.

Military

Military service laws are set at a state-level in the Suzerainty. The Suzerain requires that all vassal states contribute a number of troops to the Suzerain’s military commensurate with the state’s population. How the states go about getting these numbers is up to the individual state. Most states use voluntary service, but still others have mandatory service time, and two of them engage in random conscription. Proximan military doctrine centers around rapid force assault, boarding operations, and a destroyer-centric fleet. Proximan ground forces are highly-skilled shock troopers specializing in close quarters combat, perfect for boarding operations and urban combat. In naval operations, the most common Proximan tactic utilized consists of disabling anti-ship defenses on target vessels and then boarding the vessel to seize it intact. Other techniques utilized by Proximans include stealth vessels which can covertly attach themselves to the target vessel’s hull, computer specialists trained in disabling enemy ship systems, and martial arts that have extensive techniques for crippling the limbs of one’s foe.

Proximan man-portable weaponry has a distinct slant towards nonlethals or weapons which can be used as lethal or nonlethal weaponry, while their vehicular weaponry leans more towards ‘things that make satisfying kabooms’ and other large-caliber and highly destructive weaponry. They have also developed methods of disabling enemy ships by overloading their systems with high-voltage electrical discharges, though this is less than effective against properly shielded ships or ships sporting exotic systems.

Government Structure

The Proximan Suzerainty is a heirarchical feudal system where vassal states owe fealty to the Suzerain. There are currently 30 vassal states - 9 hereditary monarchies, 7 representative republics, 5 technocracies, 5 corporate states, and 4 gerentocracies. How this fundamentally works on a long-term political scale is still a mystery to Alliance intelligence experts.

• Hereditary Monarchies
  • Suzerainty of <Name> - Largest vassal state, functions like a smaller version of the Proximans as a whole. Absolute Monarchy.
  • Kingdom of <Name> - Constitutional Monarchy
  • Infinite Duchy of <Name> - Absolute Monarchy
  • Resplendent Republic of <Name> - Constitutional Monarchy
  • <Name> - Absolute Monarchy
  • Royal Resplendent Territory of <His/Her> Glorious Majesty <Name>, Sovereign of <Name> - Absolute Monarchy
  • Kingdom of <Name> - Absolute Diarchy
  • <Name> Kingdom - Constitutional Monarchy
  • <Name> - Constitutional Monarchy
• Representative Republics
  • Kingdom of <Name> - Representative Crowned Republic
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
  • F
  • G
• Technocracies
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D
  • E
• Corporate States
  • Hak Shipyards - Corporate Republic, is the primary starship producer for the Proximans.
  • His Suzerainty's Royal Manufactory - Originally the suzerainty-owned armory for the Suzerain's troops, the Manufactory has since been spun off into its own entity. It retains its royal warrant, allowing it to brand things with the Suzerain's personal seal or coat of arms.
  • C
  • D
  • E
• Gerentocracies
  • A
  • B
  • C
  • D