Ajaxian

Biology

Ajaxians are bipedal, also with two arms, and humanoid in appearance with slight physical differences between the males and females. Due to the slightly lower than average mass and hence gravitational pull of the Ajaxian homeworld, their thin, fine frames stand, on average, around 9 feet tall. With uniquely chiselled facial features, a stern demeanour, incredibly straight back, elevated chin, streaked grey hair and blue skin, Ajaxians are permanently surrounded by a serious air of aloofness and are continually looking down their noses at everyone else...literally.

To the outsider, telling Ajaxians apart can be a little tricky at first as they all have the same coloured grey hair, streaked with black lines and kept in a standard conservative cut all year round. Generations of conservative rule have resulted in Ajaxians that look the same (conservative breeding programs), think and act the same way, wear standardised clothing and so forth. However, that said, no two Ajaxians are identical, with variations in facial features allowing for ease of recognition based on these features alone. A significant amount of Ajaxian brain function is allocated towards visually recognizing and categorizing the faces of their peers, a process complemented by their ability to sense the unique magnetic signature given off from a small organ at the base of the Ajaxian's throat.

Ajaxian sensory perception includes touch (heat, pain and pressure), taste, smell, hearing, sight and magnetic field detection with most of the sensory organs located on or in the braincase. The Ajaxian's binocular vision is provided via somewhat disconcerting, bright green, vertically slitted eyes, capable of seeing light from red all the way through to the lower end of the ultra violet spectrum. When they are playing diplomat, Ajaxians often wear dark glasses so as not to disturb others with their eyes, unfortunately, this makes them harder to recognize. With the exception of their magnetic field sense, all Ajaxian senses are exquisitely sensitive and subject to temporary and painful damage from rapidly changing input and/or sensory overload such as loud noises, bright flashes or sudden, bitter tastes.

As far as other life goes on the planet, Ajaxians have long since dominated 'nature' with all forms of life that now exist being strictly controlled by Ajaxian policy. Whilst visually appealing and aesthetically perfect, the carefully planned 'native' habitats occupied by non threatening 'native' fauna are eerily quiet, and have a somewhat sterile feel to them making them nowhere near as enjoyable as they might be.

Government / Religion

The average Ajaxian insists that Ajaxus, is a well formed democracy with an excellent welfare, education and healthcare system and passionately believes that the Ajaxian democratic system is THE role model for all other legions to follow, the reality is a completely different story. Looking at the Ajaxian governmental system, it is soon very clear that it is hardly a democracy at all.

Voting in Ajaxian elections is open to all and is not compulsory, meaning that only those who feel passionate enough will vote. Unfortunately this means that the majority of citizens do not vote and smaller, radical groups have much more power over governance than they really should, which is hardly democratic. Another problem is that one of the fundamentals of democracy is that all those who vote must intimately know the details of that which they are voting for and that which they are voting against. The problem is that most Ajaxians obtain their information via commercial media which is heavily biased. As such, in effect, corporations determine the result of elections by selectively leaving certain information on the cutting room floors of the studios they own and run. The power this places in the hands of a few is not 'democratic' at all.

The vast majority of the population still cling to an archaic and superstitious religion, believing in multiple gods that represent natural phenomena, long since readily explained by science. Ajaxians believe that to question their gods will ensure an eternity of pain in the afterlife and as such their faith is strong. At the same time, their own religious codes dictate that the gods look unfavourably upon those who do not use the talents with which they are gifted. As such, science and technology continually advance, but the ability they provide to expose the superstition of the Ajaxian multi god system is, strangely enough, very rarely utilised.

Another essential criteria of any democracy is a strong divide between Church and State. Any religious elite may readily sway the minds and opinions of their loyal flock, and as such pose a distinct threat to the distribution of free thought, that is essential to maintaining a healthy democracy, and as such, they must never be allowed to play 'politics'. Although the average Ajaxian will immediately tell you that such a divide DOES exist in their system, the reality is that they are deluding themselves. Multi god worship and religious scripture feature prominently in government policy and strangely enough, there has never been a single agnostic or even atheist ever elected to office, possibly due to the fact that it is a criminal offence, punishable by death to be either. Politicians who start to become a little radical, such as suggesting that children be allowed to climb trees and have fun, tend to be defeated come election time, or die tragically whilst still in office of an unexpected heart attack.

Ajaxian government is extremely strict, authoritarian, aggressive and oppressive, but seemingly very few Ajaxians seem to care or indeed even notice, insisting that Ajaxus is the beacon of democracy for the galaxy to gravitate towards.

Although all people are supposedly equal in a democratic system, it doesn't take much digging to discover that there is a massive underclass of exploited, abused, poverty stricken and voiceless individuals swept under the pristine carpets of Ajaxus or that the frequent tragic accidents, such as explosions that damage the main transmitting station for the most popular news service, are in fact the work of a large and well organised 'terrorist' organisation known as the DLF (democratic liberation force), that operates from hidden bases throughout the sector.

Society / Behaviour

Ajaxian society is, in a word, textbook, with almost every component of it being subject to stringent rules and regulations, (democratically determined of course). All Ajaxians live life pretty much to the formula they are given by the government at birth.

All Ajaxians are born equal, provided with excellent healthcare and education and upon completion of that education enter compulsory military service for 2 years before going on to their selected career. The problem with being born equal is that at some time after being born the rule no longer applies and some people become more equal than others. Whilst genetically the same, certain variations within the Ajaxian race are blatantly discriminated against. Individuals with pale blue skin as opposed to the more common darker blue, or with yellow eyes instead of the more common green will find themselves running into glass ceilings and working dangerous, low paying jobs. Although apparently invisible to the average Ajaxian, their society is afflicted with blatant stratification based on unfounded prejudices.

Occasionally, as a part of religious service, the gods demand sacrifice. Usually those chosen to be sacrificed are criminals (such as agnostics), or the demon spawn, whose possessed souls have at some time chosen to speak against the almighty words of the gods. But aside from these usual targets, there seems to be a disproportionate amount of non standard Ajaxians being sacrificed. When presented with these facts, Ajaxians shrug and put it down to the 'will of the gods'.

Ajaxians are incredibly conservative folk. They do everything and I mean EVERYTHING by the book, no swearing, loud music, sexual deviance, vandalism, outrageous fashion, drinking, drug taking, smiling, laughing, breaking the speed limit, emitting bodily gases in public, etc, etc. In fact Ajaxians consider all forms of 'fun' to be juvenile, unprofessional and insulting to the gods and individualism is seen as rude.

Backed by the will of the gods, Ajaxians feel obliged to enforce their own rules and regulations throughout the galaxy. They tend to view other legions as uncouth savages, nothing more than heathen that need to be whipped into line. In particular they detest the Krils, who in their eyes are just outright demonic hellspawn, daring to violate the temple of the gods by augmenting their bodies with machines. The Ajaxian Church and the Ajaxian government have sworn to destroy Planet Krilgore to appease the gods. Although DLF members tend to laugh when they hear this. The DLF subscribes to an insane conspiracy theory that the REAL reason the Ajaxians are so interested in nailing the Krils has more to do with a certain violet coloured gas and the proximity of Planet Krilgore to New Sector Alpha, than anything else.

The Path to Space

Scientific progress was always slow for Ajaxians due to the fact that the gods often look rather unfavourably upon certain breakthroughs, demanding sacrifice and that the new technology is destroyed. Surprisingly enough, around these times, the population of legion scientists tends to decrease somewhat which doesn't help science much.

One of the many technologies that was slow to develop was that of spaceflight. Although rocketry was discovered fairly early, the gods took umbrage to mortals intruding upon the heavens and demanded that it stop. (Once again, DLF members have a crazy theory that the REAL reason was that the ruling parties didn't want the population realizing that there were in fact no gods up there at all....but DLF members are clearly insane as well as stupid, Ajaxus is a democracy after all with no shadowy puppet masters and the chief priests communicate with the gods every day...everyone knows that).

The breakthrough came in 2042 when a Tibran message capsule that had been launched 100 years earlier (one of Tibrar's first launches) crash landed on the planet. Looking at the images within the capsule, the Ajaxians became aware that elsewhere in the universe, existed pagan heathens who dared to violate the heavens. It was about then that the gods demanded that their chosen people perform their duty and cleanse the universe of pagan practices, granting them special permission to travel in space.

Driven by the will of the gods, a disgust that their morals and ethics were being violated somewhere out there in the universe, a desire to please the gods, and a massive government and commercial propaganda campaign the entire Ajaxian legion was inspired to work together like they had never worked before. In what is surely the most astounding intellectual feat the universe has ever seen, the Ajaxians, went from having only recently begun using fossil fuels in 2012 to mastering space flight by 2052. Whilst some of the required technology was already in place, in just ten short years since the arrival of the capsule, the Ajaxians had made almost the same number of breakthroughs that other legions had taken up to 150 years to make.

So impressive was the Ajaxian advancement, that with absolutely no outside help, they discovered hypergate technology just a mere two weeks after the Tibran legion which had already been in space for well over 100 years.

Fighting Characteristics

Ajaxians fight with the approval of the gods behind them and as such fight damn hard. Usually they will try the diplomatic angle first, but inevitably they offend everyone with their superiority complex and war begins. Fighting against an Ajaxian, keep in mind that they consider you a savage, nothing more than a wild animal which, having demonstrated it cannot be tamed, must now be terminated. They will attack you relentlessly without a shred of compassion.

Being in the realm of the gods and assured of reaching the afterlife by their religious leaders, the more highly religious pilot will readily fight to the death. However that said, it must be noted that with space combat being as dangerous as it is, conscripted pilots have a tendency of being from the lower social classes, who, for some strange reason aren't as dedicated to the gods as others. As such, when heavily damaged, many Ajaxians will wisely run away to repair but it's interesting to note that the FIRST ships to run are those piloted by higher ranking government and church officials...

Ajaxian pilots are particularly aggressive when the homeworld is under attack, fighting in the home sector with renewed strength, their anger fuelled by the fact that heathen, and uncultured barbarians DARE to intrude upon their beloved home sector.