Leopods Heimaaric Empire

Background
The Leopods are driven by a will to hone their race, and themselves to succeed in their chosen field. They do so with a undeniable drive and focus, denying themselves any luxury until they have succeeded, to the best of their ability. This drive is partly beaten into them by their government, and partly is in their own mind, but it cannot be denied that when a Leopods has potentail in something they will strive to succeed in it as well as they can. The Leopods aim to achieve their own strengths, and work together with others whose strengths compensate for others weaknesses.

The Leopods themselves are a strange species, much like a large proportion of the wildlife on thier homeworld. A quarter of the way through their evolutionary history, a large wanderring planet/ failed star collided with their sun, dragging their homeplanet closer to the sun, heating it up significantly, and increasing surface radiation to. As such most creatures retreated underground for many millions of years, into burrows and cave networks, evolving to life in these caves, very well. Their Planet's orbit, and their sun later stabilised, cooling their planet down, but by that time the Leopods had already emerged as sentients living partially in below ground burrows, and above ground too.

The Leopods lifecycle is interesting as when they are first born Leopods, like other species from TransHeim, from a class called Bjoratiks, they are born as small baby sized Leopods, with a large sac of essential nutrients. They then are buried in nutrient rich soil, and they use these nutrients and the nutrients from their sac, to develop to a point where they can survive by themselves. The vast majority of their essential structure will already have been created, such as all their organs, but their cartillagenous bones ossify, using minerals from the surrounding rock, and their tough skin, and much of their muscle mass will be created using compounds from the soil. This leads to the Colour of a Leopods Bones, and to a lesser extent skin, being determined by the soil, and rock type. This is most noticeable in their antlers. This has to be done in very nutrient rich soil, which is not much of a rarity on TransHeim, due to the wide wooded valleys, and it is thought this strange development mechanism evolved to shield the offspring from predators, and radiation, and also because a large, and pregnant Female may be unable to traverse underground tunnels.

This is still done in large purpose built Nurseries on Leopods colonies, and sometimes in special jelly. Leopods however don't use caves as much anymore, they still use them for getting around over long distances, but now they just sleep and live in above ground buildings.

Leopods are generally small, but very bulkily built, and are muscular but slow and quite cumbersome, yet with an affinity for tight spaces. Their sense of sight is extraordinary, and they can see near perfectly in low light levels. Their hearing is poor, as is their smell and also taste. They have a good sense of touch however, with whiskers. They also have bony extrusions on their elbow, which can be used as weapons, but are more commonly repleced by intricate sheaths, which act as armour and can also be used for burrowing. Leopods are generally quite temperamental, and quite xenophobic, especially towards those who don't share similar philosophies. However Leopods are also very loyal once they are befriended.

History & Culture
The Leopods don't have social classes, they have the governing body, and everyone else. The everyone else are all treated the same and are called the dísir and form the working class. strangely There is a slightly larger number of women in the dísir, and the dísir roles can range from labourers, to soldiers, to designers, to manufacturers, to health workers etc. These dísir are the voting body, and they vote for their representative, from their colony in the Heimaaric council, called the Witenagemot. These Witenagemot are the diplomats and politicians and governors, who are elected by the Dísir to make the laws of the Heimaaric empire.

The Leopods Heimaaric empire is an organisation of the Leopods empire and it's protectorates. It controls approximately 182 Star systems, mainly concentrated around their Homeworld, but with about 21 outpost colonies, spread elsewhere. Two main events in the Leopods history are when two colony fleets using warp travel were sent to their planets, but upon arrival they found their colonisation efforts were plagued by unfortunate events. These two planets weren't allowed into the Heimaaric empire, and as such were not allowed to carry the status of a "Heim" planet. These two cursed planets were Baal and Fenris. Baal has since crafted it's own small empire, and stayed loyal to the Heimaaric empire. Fenris however had more severe problems, and is now avoided by almost everyone, and is slowly dying, and they blame the Heimaaric empire. despite this it is known that in their time of need sometimes Heimaaric forces will be relieved by feral and ferocious hosts of Fenrisian soldiers. The second major event was when they encountered the Jacaaris, and almost instantly began a war with them. the war lasted about 50 years, and involved both forces stretched to their limits. Eventually the Heimaaric empire won with the help of the Baalians, and the Jacaaris were wiped out. The baalians were awarded the status of honorary protectorate of the Heimaaric empire. The Heimaaric empire were brought into the Epic war when they encountered a galaxy wide "underground" threat, called the Echonyix. Their violence was particuarly strong against the Leopods, so they decided to investigate, and they found that the Echonyix were rarely aggressive towards other races, unless provoked. This puzzled them and they decided to work out why this was true. On doing so they encounterred the Peacekeepers, and saw their good cause and joined it.

Dísir
Leopods society is fairly simple, almost all Leopods are workers of one form or another. Some of the most common forms of employment are Manufacture (33%), Mining (27%), Agriculture (16%) and Timbering (9%). As such most Leopods are not rich, but due to government measures, almost all workers earn a standard wage, which is enough for a family of 4 to live off. It is rare for Leopods to have luxurious and extravagant lifestyles, and most live in cramped apartments. Leopods don't mind these cramped conditions as it reminds them of the cave systems they are familiar. On Leopods Colonies, the Leopods often have large underground transport links and also large chambers and facilities under the surface, Most Leopods don't usually live underground, and most spend the majority of their time above ground. In modern Leopods society in fact, those who live underground are actually considerred by many as poor and are called Hrishhoorj (lit. Inconvenient ones).

Regardless of employment all Leopods are expected to work as hard as they can in their area of skill and expertise, and those who don't are scorned. All Leopods are educated from a young age that hard work rewards them, and Leopods Government has taken measures to ensure this is true. The state given pension for example is based upon how hard the Leopods works and what they achieve in their working Life. Most Leopods work from ages 26 or so up until 95, and regardless of their role within the Dísir they will earn the same wage as an equivalent worker in another field. eg A good quality miner earns the same as a good quality interior designer. Leopods role within society is determined by what they show a natural aptitude for. These traits are passed down from generation to Generation within the familys of workers. As such it is common to have the Traits of workers in one sector honed genetically over the generations, and their are significant differences in the Physique of Hard Labourers and those who do less energetic jobs. Hard labourers will often be as much as 15% larger and more bulky. It is usual that a Leopod born into a family specialising in a particular work sector in society will be raised to fulfill this role in their later life. One case where this is untrue is for the Military. The Military have a unique selection process, and this involves the Military selectors touring the schools of a Planet on a set day every year. This day is a National Holiday and is called Jiibjok (lit. Calling). These military selectors will go to all the schools and observe all of the 22 year old Leopods in a set of exercises. Any who show a particular aptitude are selected to become permanent members in the Military. There is almost no way to get out of it if selected, and about 1 in every 31 Leopods is selected. The day is a national holiday as a sympathy day for the families of those whose children are selected, who will only see their child 1 more time before they go into training and eventually to fight on some horrendous front of war, with very little break. All capable Leopods also have to do a 4 year Military service to the empire starting from age 30. this involves 1 year of training and 2 years of active service. These conscripts on their Criin Hgjorl (lit. Glory day) form the Large FGS squadrons which are the bulk of Leopods fighting forces.

All members of the Dísir class about 91% of the population work long days of approx 10 terran hours, and recieve a wage of 10 Fruskaar per annum. These conditions to many empires would be appalling, but to the Leopods it is worthwhile, due to intense fanaticism in the Leopods populace, and also a number of not well understood biological reasons.

Witenagemot
The Witenagemot are the Governors and Lawmakers, as well as rich company owners. All companies are owned by the Government and so it makes sense for them to appoint their members as the senior members of these companies. There are 2 ways to get into the Witenagemot, the most common way is by proving oneself as a Dísir and then be selected to take a managerial more senior role in the Leopods Heimaaric Empire. The second rarer way is a quite well kept secret within the upper echelons of the Witenagemot. In this way a Leopods can devote their lifetime of service to a member of the Witenagemot, and to be able to accompany this member of the Witenagemot everywhere, they are also made a member of the Witenagemot.

The most senior members of the Witenagemot are called the Grittoorj (lit. Empowered ones) and there are 3 of them, 2 female and 1 male under most circumstances. These three stand for 15 years, and are strictly regulated in their control by an unknown organisation called the Hjarloorj (lit. peaceful ones) These are under the control of the Ascendant Peacemaker, indirectly and they are an emergency organisation to ensure no Grittoorj ever becomes power crazed and cruel. as such the majority of Leopods Laws remain constant, and the government spends most of it's time dealing with the empires expansion.

Bjoratoorj
The Bjoratoorj (lit. Animal ones) are the "slave class" of the Leopods. They aren't actually Leopods as enslavement of a Leopods is illegal. This class is composed of xeno-criminals who have committed crimes against the Heimaaric Empire, and been stupid enough to get caught. They are put into large prisons, and those more dangerous ones are sent to Prison Planets, of which there are two. In their Prisons the Prisoners are forced to do Criin Jokokor (lit. Repentance days) and will produce products to make up for the crime they committed. once they ahve done this they are set free, but kept under a watchful eye. Jacaaris are very common as Bjoratoorj after their defeat.

Culture
Leopods Culture, is quite slow paced, being based upon sustainability, and drive to contribute to the empire. Respect is reserved for those who make substantial contributions to all the subjects of the Empire. This equal and just contribution, is what drives Leopods, and they strongly believe, in broadly allowing all Leopods equivalent rights, and giving extra rewards for hard work and achievement. Through a mix of propaganda, and Leopods nature, the Leopods work ethic is phenomenal, and they strive to contribute as much as they can. They feel this is a way they can devote themselves to a greater power.

Leisure
Leopods Free time is left almost entirely up to them. The government provide a wide range of leisure facilities, including computers, connected to the "Jyfjeraak" (lit. Wired web)in every habitation area, and dedicated exercise and physical play areas. These habitation areas, are very large flats blocks, with Large communal dining, living and cooking areas, shared between families, with small cramped sleeping areas. They keep living and sleeping areas strictly separate, and these living areas are communal, and Leopods that share these areas are very closely socially linked. Often the same familys will live with each other for generation after generation, such are the strength of these links, and this close social circle are called the "Fjorasonoorj" (Lit. Supported Ones).

Leopods will choose a partner and keep them for life, and will have children with them, only in the breeding period. This is to allow the prime soil areas to replenish their nutrients before the next batch of larval/pupal Leopods need to use the nutrients. The Government restrict the Leopods couples to only 2 children each, to control population levels. The Leopods will gestate for 5 months in the Mother, and will be born, with a large sac of essential nutrients and proteins, which it can't make using nitrogen compounds and other compounds in the soil. In it's large sac which is the same size as it's small body (1/6 of it's final size), there are a number of special organs often with some symbiotic organisms, to allow them to create amino acids from the soil compounds. These shrink and become redundant once the Leopods finishes it's underground gestation. This underground gestation takes 6 months, and builds skin, and muscle, and it will emerge once it is 1/3->1/2 it's adult size. This long gestation means once they emerge the Leopods are quite well developed and once they emerge they are already a year old. They stay with their family normally until they are 18 or 20.

Retired Leopods live off the pension they earn throughout their life, and this is the main way that Leopods are rewarded for service to the empire. They will often help their children look after their own children, and perform small jobs, such as decorating and cooking, whilst workers are away working long hours.

Leopods colony
Leopods colonies are typically quite compact, and made up of tall Buildings, arranged seemingly sporadically around the Colonies town hall, it's nucleus. They don't pave over large areas, and the area is generally left as grassland, or similar vegetation. Much of the transport infrastructure exists underground, and is composed of large tunnels, with storage basements in all the buildings, and underground Bio-fuel power stations. The preferred Biofuel is Wood that has been digested to create ethanol, and this ethanol is burnt as a fuel. The digesters are also found in underground installations.

On the Capital TransHeim There is alot more underground infrastructure, and the cities are more ordered, as they are generally confined to the Fjords that make up most of TransHeim's land mass. The buildings on TransHeim are also often much older, and often made of stone, usually limestone, with marble decoration. On Colonies, and in New Phase Buildings across the empire, Concrete panels are the main building material, along with steel framework, and some steel panels. There are a number of Designs for Leopods buildings which are standard across the empire, and these are mostly made as pre sized panels of concrete and steel with air con, and internal environment maintainment fixtures already built in. These are assembled in factories, and can be transported to the New colonial world, and quickly assembled on site in a number of hours, using cranes, and Civilian Hersir exosuits. This allows the buildings to be pre fabricated and build on site very quickly using equipment that has a protective interior environment, so doesn't require beforehand terraforming. The system has been very successful, and has allowed the rapid expansion of the Heimaaric Empire.