Overview
The Kawajin interstellar era is a hard scifi setting of elves, furries and humans. The various empires are highly militarized and aggressive, and border skirmishes and military displays are common. The two most powerful empires, Matazenchi and Etharia, take great pride in their military prowess, and hold a huge convention every year to show off their latest and greatest technologies. They also have a constant friendly “cold war” in which they are constantly vying to outdo the other. Matan/Etharian war games are spectacular, often involving civilians and even other factions in mock combat. Although political and military ties are strong, the same can’t be said about the rest of the known systems. The Matans and Wolfen become increasing hostile towards each other as the wolfen have tried the claim a resource rich system already surveyed by the Matans, and it looks like war in inevitable.
Technology
The cluster’s tech base is generally true hard scifi, but with some leeway for stuff I like, such as giant robots. Space combat is much like the wargame Attack Vector: Tactical, albeit less conservative. The main weapons used by “ships” are lasers and missiles, although a few powers like Etharia have begun to use kinetics more pervasively. Shipboard lasers are generally ultraviolet range free electron type, and can vary in power output from around 50MW for CIWS, up to 1GW for the largest spinal mounts. X-ray lasers also exist, but a FEL capable of lasing up to x-ray bands is at a minimum of a kilometer long, making them infeasible for mobile forces. Missiles come in thousands of different types and capabilities, far too many to easily summarize. Matan anti-ship missiles tend to be about the size of a tomahawk cruise missile, torch powered, and fitted with a modified version of the expanding-rod warheads used in contemporary AA weapons.
Propulsion technology is mostly fusion based. The military uses fusion pulse torches fed by frozen hydrogen pellets, although research is being done into using iron pellets instead, greatly reducing the size of ship remass tanks. Commercial shipping uses low-thrust but highly efficient magnetically confined fusion drives. Not nearly as powerful (or dangerous) as mil-speced torches, they none the less allow for affordable shipping of bulk cargo between the stars. In due fact it’s actually cheaper to ship cargo from planet to planet then it is to get it off the planet in the first place. Other drives exist, such as recreational lightsails, but none are as pervasive as the fusion drive, it’s often said that some backwater areas still use nuclear-saltwater rockets.
Materials technology is mostly dominated by carbon fiber, diamondoids, and lightweight polymers. Lightweight alloys are still used quite extensively were they are useful, as well as good old fashioned steel, although modern microgravity nanite forged steel quite a bit stronger then contemporary alloys. Ships generally use foamed aluminum-lithium alloys from their hulls and superstructure, with diamondoid ceramic composite hybrids in areas expected to be subjected to high stress, such as the nosecap armor on Matan ships, as well as engine bells for fusion drives.
Power generation is achieved in a variety of ways depending on the specific application. Fission power is still commonplace, since at outputs below 1GW reactors can be made extremely tiny, reactors below 1MW are actually small enough to be mounted in ground vehicles, though the practice isn’t common. For requirements above 1GW, fusion is the standard. Direct thermal fusion reactors are significantly heavier then the equivalent fission plants, but does away with much of the support machinery, making them small, lighter overall, and easier to maintain. Fusion plants have a lower startup cost then fission thanks to the abundance of helium-3 in gas giants, but are more expensive in the long run because of the constant fuel demands, whereas a fission plant can run for decades before needing fuel. Planetary power generation usually uses combinations of beamed solar, fusion, and geographic sources, such as hydroelectric and geothermal. Chemically fuel plants are practically nonexistent, with the exception of the odd hydrogen fired turbine plants.
Computers
Architecture
Ground warfare
Daily Techs
Known Species
Etharians are one of the oldest known races, with traces of history stretching back tens of thousands of years, for so then even humans. The exact nature of elven evolution is almost totally unknown, but they are thought to be a mutation of humans, or the other way around. Elves share nearly 99% the DNA of a human for example, compared to the 89% of the typical Kawajin(furry). It is however widely believed that modern Etharians are the result of interbreeding between two older elven races. This has never been confirmed, although some ancient texts mention the Tanesians, and Krolin. Many however believe this to either be misinterpretations, such as the supposed Kawajin Empire, or simple myth, like the origins of Matans. Etharians are unique for their extreme sexual dimorphism; males tend to average 182cm or more, and upwards of 90kg, where females average 165cm and 60kg. This leads some to question how mating is even possible, but they dislike talking about such things. Etharian skin color ranges from tan (latin humans) to a light brown color (think Tiger Woods), with either green or blue eyes, and hair ranging between blonde and brunette. Being elves, Etharians have much larger ears then humans, usually tapering to a point just past the back of their skulls. They tend to be extremely mild in public and with strangers, although when left to themselves they are very passionate and emotional. It also seems that in recent times they have taken to ear moments similar to felines, in one unusual show of passion, an Etharian diplomat actually flatted her ears against the back of her neck in a manner identical to an angry cat.
Matans, or Nekomatajin, are a recent (with the last several thousand years) mutation of Neko bloodlines. The mutation that sets Matans apart from other Neko is in the genes responsible for pubescent bone growth. Most commonly this results in the Matan’s caudal vertebrae dividing during a youth’s so-called “growth spurts”. This event typically starts around the age of 13, and completes around 21 years. It has been proven though, unlike normal bone growth, that the event is actually extremely painful, unlike normal bone growth. This is attributed to the strain put on a Matan’s spinal cord as it’s divided along with the vertebrae. The growth typically stops a few vertebrae short of the sacrum vertebrae, although this isn’t always the case, resulting in disfigurement and paralysis, or even death in extreme cases. It’s also known that the mutation isn’t isolated to the vertebrae, and in the past it was entirely possible for other bones to malform, either in the fetal stages or during puberty. This resulted in a particularly high infant and child mortality rate, and contributed to the slow spread of Matan populations in their early years. Because of these mutations Matans are often seen as genetically inferior to other races, and are generally looked down apart by the pervious international communities. Matans average about 165cm tall and 55kg, their fur colors run the gamut, but unusually all Matans will have a tabby patterned coat. Matans are the only species that naturally carries the genes for the vibrant “Matan Blue” fur, a dark, reflective shade of blue that appears metallic in bright light, because of this it’s often referred to as Steel Blue.
Wolfen
Toran
Human
Minor Races
Political Factions
Etharian Federation
New Republic of Matazenchi
(Unnamed) Wolfen
(Unnamed) Toran
TransAran Commonwealth
Ara
Recongnition silhouette of a Matan inetercepter.
Though, this is rather telling about their historical mating habits - more dimorphism generally means more polygamy. Does this hold true in their modern day culture?
