Alien Dawn Reference 3 : CS

Coratis Sector

The Coratis Sector is unlike any other place in Takisi Garden, and for several reasons. Firstly, it is the only Garden nation comprised of two equal (and extremely different) races, the brakens and the zhintaui. This makes the CS one of the most racially tolerant nations in the galaxy. Secondly, it is the only political body to have never attacked any other since its founding, and only engaged in defensive engagements to support its allies, namely D’Ka and the Terran League. This is quite at odds with the history of one of its races, the brakens, who count among their number the General Nenus Bascil, instigator of the Legion Wars, the single longest and most devastating wars to rock Takisi Garden in the days before the Coratis Sector was founded. And lastly, the CS has the honor of being the home of the Dakanya Council, the Garden-wide political conference designed to keep peace between nations. While Dakanya is certainly not perfect, it is the best of its kind to have come about in history.
Officially, the CS is united through and through. Unofficially, its territories are divided into two provinces, that of the brakens and that of the zhintaui, mainly to differentiate between which systems were settled by which race. The rimward and anti-spinward four systems, including Coratis and Kaijnore, which houses the Dakanya Council, are the braken provinces, and the coreward and spinward seven, including Zhintaui, are the zhintaui provinces. Since the Saliana War, none of these systems has been attacked, and they show it. Far from the rebuilt cities of MacBeth, Winchester, and Cordoba and even farther from the dilapadated hives of many FPC urban sprawls, nearly every city, village, and colony in the Coratis Sector shines with a beauty and magnificence without peer anywhere in Takisi Garden.
Historically, the CS has to be divided into two sections, before and after the Legion Wars. Before, the zhintaui were Takisi Garden’s earliest space explorers, bringing peace and prosperity wherever they went. The brakens, having a distinct disadvantage in space travel due to the lack of other planets in their system, where found by the zhintaui in the Awakening Age, and were at first welcomed as friends. Nenus Bascil changed that, temporarily. In an outburst of typical braken pride and atypical braken brutality, he rallied hundreds of thousands of troops in opposition to the zhintaui and peace efforts, assassinating the Coratis government and declaring war on everyone who didn’t fight with him. Due to brilliant strategies, unorthodox methods, racial zealotism, and surprise, he managed to conquer a third of Takisi Garden before he was killed by four heroic slaves on Zhintaui. His wife Katari Vekla tried to follow in his footsteps, but didn’t get much further than he had before being halted, and eventually the Dominion of the Legion fell apart, aided by Bascil and Vekla’s own son, Aris.
In the aftermath of the Saliana War that tore the braken spirit apart, the zhintaui showed what can only be considered naïve acceptance of the braken peoples’ desire for atonement, but luckily, that desire was true, and the alliance between the two former adversaries began. While the Coratis Civil War shortly after the formation of the CS wrecked havoc with the braken noble families, it was a short lived war and things began to settle down. Ever since then, the CS has been a model of peace, prosperity, and a beacon of light to all Takisi Garden. The only war they were involved in was the Third Imperial War, helping the Terran League take back the Sol system from Duranis’ forces and guarding recaptured worlds while the League forces took the offensive. Both the brakens and zhintaui believe in ascension to power through peace rather than violence. Despite this, the Coratis Sector is still a very formidable military opponent, ranking just after the Terran League in terms of martial and naval power.
Thanks to the diversity of its two races, the CS maintains strong ties in every aspect of Garden structure. The braken hardiness and readiness to do anything to defend peace gives the nation a strong military force, while the zhintaui aptitude for calm and meditative thought is perfect for negotiation and politics. A large number of planets in the CS have large stores of valuable resources, most notably Nurama, the breadbasket of civilization, which help keep the economic push of the Trade Consortium in the CS’ favor. Both anajina and khitis religions have their initial roots on Zhintaui, both of which have members throughout Takisi Garden. Technologically, the zhintaui have always been on or near the top of the heap, having achieved inter-stellar space flight before any other race in Takisi Garden, and maintaining an excellent tradition of improving ftl travel and communication. Even their foreign relations are better than most other powers, having good ties with the Terran League, D’Ka, the UFS, Caajarai Anaji, most growing colonies of the Pioneer Fringes, the Blood of Many, the Hieran Regime, and even have a fair amount of respect from the great Dro’Xaren Ephex, an empire that counts none as allies.
Although three centuries of integration have severely blurred the distinctions between braken and zhintaui culture, it is still easiest to talk about the two traditions as if they were separate. Generally, the worlds closer to Coratis are more braken-like culturally, and those closer to Zhintaui are more zhintaui-like, but there are exceptions. Additionally, some human culture bleeds over into the Satrar system and aeriyeta into Ekaiden, where constant border-crossing occurs. The high population of carrenie hybrids throughout the CS also helps merge the two, especially along the ‘border’ between the two provinces. As time goes by, what small gap there is between the two races gets ever smaller, until the CS’ dream of complete unity is achieved.
Brakens as a race prize resilience, loyalty, and charity above all else. The strong defend the weak and the whole unite to form a greater, more cohesive society which betters its individuals. However, brakens are unusually stubborn and proud, and can push themselves into zealotism quite easily. The mediating influence of the zhintaui and guilt over the atrocities of the Legion War have put a damper on this zealous behavior, but it hasn’t disappeared from the braken provinces entirely, and is particularly noticable among the military units on Coratis and its moons. Pacifism from Zhintaui, environmentalism from Aaru, capitolism from Earth, and traditional community morality keep the braken pride at bay, giving the Coratis Sector its stereotypical guards and loyal soldiers of peace and freedom.
Zhintaui customs hold that the spark of conscious thought, and above that the basic idea of life, are the supreme treasures of the universe, and should be treated accordingly. Needless violence is an affront not only to civilization and intelligence, but to the integrity of one’s own being. This idealistic philosophy has made the zhintaui the ultimate peacemakers in Takisi Garden, and with the brakens as their guards and a plethora of treasure-trove worlds under their jurisdiction, they have the tools to give peace a try. The fact that they were the first into space and for a long time, the most technologically advanced race in Takisi Garden helped this effort tremendously, though the effect has been as good as nulified after the Legion Wars. What few know is what got the zhintaui on their feet so quickly – buried anaji technology on their homeworld gave them insights into Gateways, faster than light communication, and the rudiments of science beyond what any other race at the time was aware of. Though this has not been made public knowledge, it is one of the most important reasons for the emergence of anajina and khite cults in the Coratis Sector.
The single most common religious group in Takisi Garden is anajina and its offshoots, including khitis. Not only do its tenets and beliefs have much in common with nearly every other ancient religion in Takisi Garden, but it is one of the few with a modicum of proof behind it. Not even taking into consideration the ancient anaji vessel used by zhintaui scientists to advance their technology long ago, Caajarai’s Lighthouse, the Styx Startower, the wildly improbable likeness between the Takisi Garden races, and the convenient dispersal of systems in the Garden can all be held as testament to anajina beliefs, namely that an older, more advanced alien race from beyond Takisi Garden created the ten races and provided them with homes to inhabit. Apart from the anajina/khitis split, it is also one of the least violent religions of all time, making xarsian Imperialism and human Islam appear savage in comparisson. Thanks to the anajina and the CS government working in concert, there isn’t a planet in braken or zhintaui space with a slum, black market dealer, or littered alleyway. No one goes hungry, no one lives without a roof over their head, and the crime rate is lower than anywhere else in Takisi Garden. Compared to the danger-wrought nations of Chylia, Nur’Tani, and the Free Pirate Confederacy, the Coratis Sector is a paradise.

1. Coratis
The braken homeworld appeals to few other races, being a warm, dry world with little vegetation and fresh water. Most animals on Coratis have adapted to this over the course of their evolution, resulting in a high tolerance for salt and a quasi-dependence upon calcite minerals in their diets to promote good health. The planet is a rocky, rugged land of stark colors and temperamental weather, the lack of rain making Coratis storms even more dangerous, flinging sand, salt, and even pebbles through the air at high speeds. These conditions have hardened the braken race into a sturdy, enduring people who nonetheless have a strong sense of racial and communal pride, becoming the stereotypical guards of Takisi Garden. While Coratis in its natural state appeals to few non-brakens, the planet has become a second home for zhintaui, who, as the adopted sibling race of the brakens, have spent the past three centuries intertwining their culture with that of their younger and more combat-oriented brethren. Some humans also live on Coratis, but aeriyeta and renjiri find the planet too dry and harsh for their tastes.
The vast majority of the braken homeworld of Coratis is rugged and rocky, with extreme deviations in elevation occurring densely along most of the planetary crust. Only a few areas, such as the Upper and Lower Kaeba (meaning flat in aramite) on the middle continent of Enos, are devoid of mountainous terrain. This has done little to hamper braken progress, however, as most of their cities are built into the mountain faces or in gorges between sheer cliffs, or, such as Einyan or Peracia, using both the sides of cliffs and the common seaside alkali bar for their structures.
Highly rich in mineral deposits, Coratis provides its native race with essential building materials, to be used pure for land-based construction or base material for processing into cerasteel for ships and high-energy devices. Both the Taibkof Mountains south of Kesro and the Enkof Mountains of Chendra, Coratis’ northern continent, are extremely high in valuable ore deposits, so much so that the Kesro-based Sronin-Taibkof Mining Coalition (STMC) is one of Coratis’ most profitable and powerful economic groups. Sah Cethanu, the head of STMC, is one of Coratis’ wealthiest men, but in an extremely un-braken manner seems obsessed with getting more so. He has even put forth a substantial amount of capitol into a project designed to duplicate the conditions that produce the Taibkof-quality ore under parts of the Upper Kaeba, much to the chagrin of the Kaebite farmers struggling to supply Coratis with food.
The planet’s extremely high amounts of salt and calcium deposits would present another problem, had the brakens not evolved to compensate. The entire planet has extremely small amounts of fresh water, namely rain water and river water so high in the mountains the salt from the ground has yet to saturate it. Most Coratis-indigenous life forms have extremely high tolerance for salinity in their food and water, brakens included, just to survive. The primary problem now is the large population of brakens living on other planets and the rarity of a climate fit for Coratis plants to feed them. As a result, Coratis ships large amounts of foodstores throughout the CS, and the planet’s few grasslands and alkali flats are currently almost totally covered in farmland. Alien visitors must be cautious of what they eat and drink, but the number of zhintaui and carrenie on the planet is high enough that every city worth the name has at least a few desalinated restaurants, and many braken restaurants have begun serving desalinated food and water for non-brakens.
The weather of Coratis is extremely temperamental, and the relative lack of water just means the storms churn up dust, salt, and chunks of rock instead. These storms are incredibly dangerous when in areas of loose gravel, one reason most Coratis cities are built between cliffs that block the major wind currents or by the sea, where storms coming from the ocean can do little damage. The weather control technology developed by humans long ago has enabled Coratis even more resistance to its storms, directing them to the open sea or the unpopulated areas at the north and south poles. The wide expanses of the Dethenos Ocean are the most common storm area, the gales sent to blow themselves out over the ocean and grind to a halt upon hitting Dethren’s Blades, the jagged mountains that slice up from Ajuhra’s Apex at the south pole.
Most of Coratis’ flora is calcite plants, tough and hardy vegetation poisonous to non-Coratis life but the staple of life here. Overall, the planet has few real forests, most of the plants being low to the ground and adept at surviving on any surface, be it the peak of a mountain, the side of a cliff, or under water. The plains support much more plant life only due to the lack of erosion and landslides, and thusly draw the world’s larger herbivores, enormous grazing beasts only slightly smaller than MacBeth’s monstrous tholas. The most common, the gold and grey striped eurab, roams the Upper and Lower Kaeba with little regard to predators, as no native creatures are large enough to pose a significant threat to the huge animals. Eurabs are also the planet’s most often used food animal, and can be treated to be edible for other races, making eurab meat a salty but exotic delicacy elsewhere in Takisi Garden.

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