User:Mesalikepie/Sandbox: Difference between revisions

''Ethereals are an organic humanoid race from the planet Spitiphos in the Galvana system, with unique blood of liquid electricity giving them luminescent properties. Ethereals have only recently been encountered by the Commonwealth in 2523, and have been one of the most accepted races, though they still face discrimination. Ethereals are known to be a generally positive, curious, and outgoing species, with their naming convention being a celestial body followed by two capital letters, reflecting their desire to explore the stars.''

*Their unarmed attacks deal burn damage instead of brute

*Slight resistance to electric shocks

*Able to obtain nutrition from light bulbs and cyborg rechargers

Ethereals have a very open culture and society based upon freedom and curiosity. They also have an extremely unique genetic makeup allowing any two of the species to reproduce with one another, and having no gender. Ethereal culture puts an emphasis on what they call the “four stages”. These four stages are known as The Learning, The Exploration, The Settlement, and The Journey. In the stage of The Learning, Ethereals are raised by their parents from birth to the age of fifteen and go to well funded public schools. They then enter what they call The Exploration. Depending on their interests, many Ethereals enter one of many fields from traversing space (or historically the deep cave systems or the ever-changing ice surface), to scientific endeavors. Exploration especially is highly treasured in Ethereal society, with the drive of discovery making up a large part of their media and personal Ethereals dreams. Additionally, as part of The Exploration, most Ethereals attempt to seek out and familiarize themselves with different cultures, priding themselves on adapting to the most foreign of cultures. Finally at around the age of forty Ethereals enter what they call The Settlement. During this time they settle down into more permanent housing and jobs, and begin creating offspring. Commonly their partners are someone they met while exploring, and their offspring comes in groups of three to four. This stage lasts for nearly the rest of their lives. The final stage of their life is known as The Journey. After giving away most of their possessions, the Ethereal goes off on one last exploration to what Ethereals call “The Beyond”, which in the modern-day means stars beyond the outer rim of civilized space. The Ethereal does not expect to return but hopes to eventually die exploring. This is considered an incredibly important moment in Ethereal culture, and failing to do it is considered one of the highest dishonors possible.  

The Ethereals used to not live primarily underground, with the surface being much more hospitable. However, in 2409, a massive ice age began on Spitiphos with the world rapidly cooling. This has led to the entire Ethereal civilization fleeing to the underground caves their ancestors explored. In 2476 the Ethereal “Union of Cities” formed into one super-government uniting all their old governments underneath the Ethereal Union. This Union functioned as a loose confederation of city-states with various governmental systems for these city-states, but most commonly these city-states were democracies. Additionally, due to many of their population being busy with their culture of exploring, war is a very foreign concept for Ethereals, with city-states having rarely fought each other. The technology level of these city-states before entering the underground was close to earlier industrial era technology, but their technological growth was slowed by the ice age. Additionally, little is known of their history pre-underground, due to many of the records being destroyed upon the retreat to the underground. However, shortly before an encounter with humanity, the Ethereals had finished the complete mapping of their home planet and had begun experimenting with space exploration technologies. The first encounter between Ethereals and the Commonwealth was from an Ethereal probe within the Galvana system.

The first encounter happened between the Ethereal Union and the Commonwealth in 2523, where the Ethereal Union decided to join the Commonwealth later that same year in exchange for technological advancements, seats in the Commonwealth Senate, and the full rights of any Commonwealth citizen. This has led to Ethereals spreading across the stars taking many jobs as lower-level diplomats, ambassadors, and high-end service employees to encounter Commonwealth culture, explorers to see the unknown, and scientists explore the edge of possible science. Ethereals are the most respected race, by the human majority, due to their outgoing curious nature. The Ethereals allocated three senators are strong supporters of the CLP, and their eldest senator, Orion AE, leads the Equality Foundation. Orion AE is considered the most powerful non-human in the Commonwealth. Additionally, the Ethereals have become more centralized since their encounter with the Commonwealth with their current governor Terra TZ having successfully united the Ethereal people.