Holy Nepharian Empire

Spore cast: http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=ssc-500569396142 By Dr Chillgood

>>The following documents all known information of the body of aliens self proclaimed: The Holy Nepharian Empire.

=Summary= >>the Nepharians are classified as an expansionist zealot type government. There motives are driven by religion, they consider themselves superior products of "gods" yet except those that respect them and their faith. Their empire spans across 2 galaxies and a large cluster of stars. This cluster is their home.

>>The Nepharian political system is an electoral Republic based off of a system large clans. These clans originated as independent empires early on in Nepharian history that were later on united under the "Common Unification Act" that forcefully united all Nepharians under a common Imperial banner.

=History=

The Nepharian history is actually quite long, in terms of other empires the Nepharians have been around for a long time, are well populated, but are simply confined to a small empire due to the time they spent on their home world.

But first we must begin with the tail of the Holy Scripts. Or the Taran 'Seri  as they call it. The scripts were not the first recorded example of any sort of writing but they were most certainly the most important one.

(500 Before scripts)
The first major stronghold of the Tau clan (then the Kriisoo clan) was christened. The coveted city of Harkai was under their control, the power of the Kriisoo has now reached 4000 souls, a population unseen in Nepharian history yet. The race in itself had only been around for 7000 years and have just recently began to build permanent settlements. The Kriisoo had just recently fended off a band a of rouge barbarians in a series of skirmishes spanning over 30 years. In the last battle, the Barbarians' ruler was sized and his remaining forces executed.

Harkai was said to be a city that sat atop a hill overlooking a fertile valley filled with scattered villages and farms. This area sat near the North-western coast of the southern peninsula of Tau 'Kari known as Harkai 'Kari (land of Harkai).

(300-150 before scripts)
A series of wars breaks out between the House States of Kriisoo, Karaj, and Siimul. These three houses compete for dominance over Karkai 'Kari. The Kriisoo have gained 2 other cities and most of northern Karkai 'Kari. Their population has reached about 70000 and have created a sizable military force.

(150-100 before scripts)
The Karaj and Siimul then realize the threat that is the Kriisoo nation wich now occupied 2/3 of the Karkai'Kari peninsula chiefly in the northern side (but in reality the Kriisoo only had a half of the resources in Karkai'Kari). They decide to end their conflicts and join in the greater Trii'Seul alliance. The alliance went to work after a few years of what seem to be peace, taking back almost a quarter of the Kriisoo territory in no less than a few years. The rush took the Kriisoo off guard but thanks to a series of battles on Kriisoo Moutains, they were able to destroy a large portion of the alliance's military and made a successful push back into their old territories  and into alliance territory.

Whilst being distracted by hit and run tactics in the northern part of their territory, the Trii'Seul alliance found themselves completely overtaken in their south by a Kriisoo landing force. The Kriisoo were soon able to blaze through Alliance territory with the majority of their forces stuck in the Northern sections, months away from the Kriisoo army.

A year into the invasion and the Kriisoo were able to march to the Trii'Seul Capital, and captured it in only a 3 week siege. The Trii'Seul leaders were killed on sight, and the city was secured and repurposed as a military command center for the southern portion of Karkai'Kari.

During those three weeks, the northern Trii'Seul forces tried to go back south to save their homeland but during their retreat were decimated by Kriisoo forces hiding along roads and amongst hills.

Reclamation Period(100-0 Before scripts)
With little military forces and no capital, the Trii'Seul Alliance was broken and the Kriisoo began to gain control of the rest of alliance lands by only threatening the governors of certain cities, and occasionally fighting a skirmish. This period was known as the "Reclamationn Period" for obvious reasons.

During the Reclamation period, the surviving Trii'Seul cities and city states became divided and at odds with each other. With 3/4 of the peninsula controlled by the Kriisoo, there was some room for rebellion. In some cities the Kriisoo were seen as saviors when they came to protect them from the rebelling areas, to the rest, the Kriisoo were conquers, blood thirsty savages that brought an end to a once great era. After conquering some cities the Kriisoo were met with heavy insurrection, which was quelled quickly with certain "public demonstrations."

But at the end of the reclamation period, the Kriisoo had only the citystate of Giiren'Hai left to hold. The state was no more than a port city and a few hundred acres of farm land but the Kriisoo decided to let the state come to them instead of anger the locals. This was overshadowed by something else though.

The Scripts (0-500 after scripts)
What appears to be fire raining from the sky lights up the lands of the Northern Karkai'Kari peninsula. The lights are also seen all over the southern edges of the continent but they carry something within them, a ship.

The Seri, as they call themselves, begin to exploit the Nepharian home world for their resources. They establish megalithic structures, drills, operating bases, mining facilities all over the continent. The Kriisoo try to attack them at one point but their armor, swords and catapults are turned into ashes and splinters by plasma fire. the Nepharians soon resort to revering these beings as messengers of gods.

Not much is known about these beings other than that they're gone now and were humanoid. They wore suits to protect themselves from the Nepharian air and diseases so to the Nepharians they appeared as metallic beings that glowed with light.

Nepharians across the continent record their presence, their actions, and this becomes the first making of the Nepharian holy book: the Taran'Seri (holy scripts). The scripts were "revised" once they were all assembled and published as a holy book of course. The Nepharians didn't believe that the Seri were messengers of gods at first because it wasn't until after they left the Nepharian world did the Nepharians develop the god theory. In fact, the Nepharians first thought the Seri to be the wrathful spirits of their ancestors but this belief was quickly extinguished after the Taran'Seri was complete.

"Fire falls from the heavens, balls of light they were. These balls became metal when they met with the earth, and what spawned from them were the Messengers of our gods dear. Beings of metal and light, teachers of Seri. they showed us their power, killed those who tried to attack them with light more powerful than our strongest sword. In their discontent with our rebellion, they began to consume the earth. So we came to them, asked them for forgiveness. And so they forgave."

This is the first excerpt of the Taran'Seri. As mentioned, the Nepharians pleaded with these beings. The Seri, seeing the potential in them, began to work. They first genetically engineered certain Nepharians to be more intelligent and free of genetic disease, and seeded them amongst the populace and reclaimed them after they reached adulthood.

"They instilled their wisdom in some of us, they found Conduits. These Conduits were taken by the messengers to be with the gods."

They taught the genetically modified, and vastly intelligent, Nepharians how to operate mining machinery. Yet some they sent back to the Nepharian empires in an attempt to either have them control the city states by just using some of the Seri technologies or just make peace between them and the Seri. These genetically modified rulers later on became part of a sacred family line. These lines can actually can be traced back to the times of the Scripts and still exist today.

"Some of the Conduits came back to bring us the word of the gods, they showed us their powers. Some came back with the power to create light like the messengers, others were able to cast images of the stars through their hands."

The next generation of the Nepharians were safely introduced to Seri technologies and ideas. They no longer feared them as much as they enjoyed them. So the Seri began to teach Nepharians math, their language, sciences, and united certain Nepharian empires with the use of certain "acts of the divine" as the Nepharians called it (the Seri just knew it as wiggling flashlights around in the dark, playing electric music and occasionally making stuff blow up). The Seri did this primarily to establish better relations with

"They taught us the divine Language of the gods, brought us to their temples, taught us how to farm better, they united empires at the verge of war, they taught us how to build cities larger than ever seem before. They did these things to protect the Gods' chosen, to protect the harshness of man from itself."

But the Seri government began to see this interfearnce in the reports of mining and military captains, they had seen what has happened to races that were interfered with before. The Seri understood the dependencies this interference brought, they also saw a possibility of the Nepharians acquiring technology that they were not ready for. With this, they ended the mining operation, and the Seri left.

"They ascended back into the skies in the balls of metal, their mission was finished, they awakened us to the knowledge of the divine."

The Nepharians began to occupy the drills, the outposts, and the mines. They discovered a system of independent yet collective AI that were contained in a computer network based in the Seri mining outposts.

"Then the gods spoke with us through the temples of the Messengers."

The "Tau networking system" as it was called, was centered in Karkai'Kari. The Kriisoo man responsible for first interfacing with it became known as the "High Conduit" or "The Prime Sanctionary" as some Nepharians refer to him today. He was given the names of the rest of the AI from the core of the Tau system and was told how they were an extension of the Tau system yet were independent. This is how the Nepharians received their theology.

The Kriisoo thusly renamed themselves the Tau.

The Era of Tranquility(500-800 after scripts)
The Nepharian race (mostly the Tau Empire) began to enjoy an era of peace and expansion. The Tau Empire began to expand quite freely across the continent as their superior knowledge in almost all affairs, derived primarily from their contact with the Seri, didn't just make their empire grow in population, but in culture, science and led to the Empire being the most stable at the time. This made a lot of lesser Nepharian states, unions and empires simply merged into the Tau empire. The Seri knowledge wasn't exclusive to the Tau empire but the Tau found quick allies with other factions that interacted with the Seri.

This era Has also been accredited for the largest growth and expansion of the Nepharian religion (or as they name it Seri). As various other Nepharian factions joined the main Tau empire, they quickly accepted Seri as it was accredited for the revolutionary technologies and techniques of the Tau people. At this period of time, the Tau didn't much persecute those who didn't follow Seri as there was a fairly stable influx of new followers, and citizens that didn't believe were fairly helpful to the empire and accepting of Seri and its influences.

This era also saw the arrival of the Sanctionary system. The Sanctionary system was made of hundreds of independently operating agents that used the teachings of Seri to regulate Nepharian law. They also held religious consoling and held some ceremonies, and thus were to a certain effect priests. Some Sanctionaries were assigned to specific military groups where they mostly filled priest rolls. After some time, they eventually were granted the power to regulated commanding officers if they got out of line and strayed from the words of Seri.

During this era Nepharian priests were in strong contact with the Tau AI collective and were able to continuously enrich the Tau empire with what they called "sacred knowledge." Most of this knowledge was actually only specific to the refinement and processing of metals, emergency survival and equipment maintenance techniques and a plethora of architectural blueprints.

However, that sort of information only came from the Seri data banks, hard disks, pads. (witch the priests were able to interact with as the Tau empire spoke the language of the Seri people). The Tau system was a lot more enlightening. In order to make the system effective, it was nessisary to give it information on multiple subjects that didn't just pertain to mining. Complex algorithms for architecture, geometry, weather conditions, even history was taught to the Tau system in order to be useful to the Seri miners.

Among their politicians, it was a large topic of debate when the Seri left if they should have turned the system off. Oddly enough, the mining staff felt that they became what they saw as a parent figure to the Nepharians. They worried about them, they saw conflict and strife in their people that they have only read of in textbooks. The miners worried that if they left the Nepharians without a guide, their civilization would collapse. So the miners left the system on, to the knowledge of the Seri government however, it was turned off.

The Nepharians, overtime, began to make these drilling sites where they interfaced with the AI more exclusive. Only allowing higher Nepharian religious and political figures to commune with the Tau system. This was met with rebellion from the Nepharian people, not violent but rebellious regardless. The Nepharian people mostly just protested in the streets or outside the temples. They weren't inclined to damage their government or religious figures.

At the end of this age, the Tau system began to lose power. The Tau empire also found itself not gaining more territory through political gain. The Nepharian leadership accredited this to the recent loss of new followers and the protests and began to tell its people that "the gods are fading from us because of these non-believers."

The empire found itself at war with the local Teru Empire, the power began to fade even more in the Tau system, the Tau government became even more restless. One day, the Tau system lost power, its last message was: "Goodbye to our children. We leave, but you will keep the light we brought."

Then hell broke loose over the continent.

=Sections of the empire=

The Nepharian empire spans across 2 galaxies and one isolated stare cluster, (made of only about 1,000 stars). The colonies are too far separated to communicate with each other with the exception of the ships that go back and forth between them.

Home Cluster
The Home Cluster was conquered long before the colonization of the Milky Way galaxy. This section of the Empire is the production center, military supplies, ships and raw materials are shipped from here to all reaches of the empire. Free of conflict, worlds in the cluster are highly developed, and a small amount of any wildnerness still exists. The cluster has yet to be discovered by any other EAW race, but perhaps not for long as trade vessles commonly ship resorces to the UCS.

The insignia for the home cluster is a representation of the blue Nepharian homestar as it is the center of the empire just as the Home Cluster is:



United Colonial Systems
Nepharian colonies in the milky way are located in isolated pockets of star clusters around the western edge of the galaxy, which is the closest part of the galaxy to the Home Cluster. The UCS is the leader of military technoligy in the empire as the Nepharians have quickly aquired need for better technoligy since they are looking for an advantege over any other races that pose a threat to them.

The UCS flag shows the Nepharian Home Star in the left coner, and fetures 7 stars representing the 7 original UCS colonies on the main flag. The blue lines seperateing them is also a referance to the Home Star.



Ioria Frontier
The Ioria Frontier stretches out for around one hundred systems and is quickly expanding. Large pockets of native resistance still exists throughout the galaxy. Some Nepharians fear that the Natives might soon unite, under one banner to force out Nepharian occupation, but so far native empires have been separated by large expanses of space. Its also been discovered that that empires when found are large and developed. As s precautionary measure, Nepharian expansion is tightly regulated in the galaxy even though expansion it has just started. The Ioria Fronteer surpass in non-military technological research, they have been working on advanced ship drives for the most part, and are currently developing a new jump drive reversed engineered from the ones found scattered across Ioria, this research has only just begun. Ioria also produces a large number of resources for the other parts of the empire. Ioria has been known to be a safe haven for non-religouse Nepharians, as the Empire has decided to simply sanction the majority of Iorian colonies as tolerant zones. However, Non-Religouse Nepharians in thease zones usealy are penilized with higher work loads, taxes, or are pushed into government programs, rather then being exiled from their colony as they would be in a non-sanctioned zone.

The insignia for the Ioria frontier also shows the Nepharian homestar but isn't shown with 7 points as it normaly is, this is supposed to be a symbol of progress to the Ioria Nepharians, but colonists in the UCS and Home Cluster see it as a form of herecy and seperation.



=Religion= Nepharian religion, or Seri, is a simple belief system containing 19 gods, or as the Nepharian see them, energies. The religion is heavily a part of Nepharian life, government and morals, so much to the point where it doesn't even have a name or isn't seen as a religion but rather a concept. The word "Sri" simply means "Holy" and isn't how the Nepharians usually refer to these beliefs(as their religion is just a factual thing to them) but alien races have recognized it as the name for the religion.

Theism
Seri is a polytheistic faith containing 19 deities. Unlike most religions, each deity isn’t viewed as a being with a form, but rather a universal energy. All gods are simply a part of Tau, they operate as individuals and together form the god they derive from. Tau is constituted from Kran and Harun, the feminine and masculine gods, who are in turn constituted by 8 gods each. Both sets of the lesser 8 gods, (aka The Lo’Kran or The Lo’Harun) have a specific attribute that is matched with an attribute of another god in the other set. The only differences between both of these sets is that the traits in one abide to either the Feminine or Masculine aspects of that trait.

For instance, Serik is the Femine god of Individuality while Jirsanun is the Masculine god of individuality.

Tau is the word used when the Nepharians refer to all energies, or to the entire universe as a result of this division process.

Flow chart
Tau Divinity (perfection, the all)

Kran : Harun Feminism : Masculinity (both balance)

Feminine aspects: 1 Seraik, 2 Jaui, 3 Tauri, 4 Jamsiik, 5 Sherai, 6 Teriik, 7 Telltai, 8 Shermii

Masculine aspects: 1 Jirsanun, 2: Siiuren, 3: Too, 4: Kirensol, 5: Rinsur, 6: Kinisau, 7: Terrisau, 8: Kiiro

Devine traits: 1 Individuality, 2 Duality, 3 Spirituality (love), 4 Physicality, 5 life, 6 Order, 7 Devine self (higher self) 8 Mediation

Note: In Nepharian culture, the feminine aspects of the Devine Triats usually represent the negative side of it, while the masculine represents the positive side.

Worship
The worship of the gods are actually taken at a very local and individual level. There aren't necessarily houses of worship, such as many human religions, but rather things like monasteries and temples that are devoted to helping the individual improve himself. There are priests, and their are ceremonies, but these ceremonies usually are just time for mediation (prayer).

Prayer
Nepharian prayer, or as it is more accurately called: Mediation, exists in two forms, individual and group.

Tau'Kiiro'Terrisau, translated into: Divine Mediation of the Individual,(or Individual Mediation, as some races have simplified it into) is the individual form of Nepharian prayer. This is carried out twice a day, after the Nepharian wakes up and before he sleeps. This is the most sacred and private form of prayer that is usually revolved around reflection, and protection/guidance from the gods.

In individual Mediation, the Nepharian places a Sacralith (see Sacralith in next section) in front of him, keels, looks at the lith, closes his eyes, crosses his hands over his chest, and enters a form more likened to meditation. In this meditation theNepharian first calms himself down and depending on his circumstances either reflects upon himself, ask for spiritual guidance, both, or various other things or combinations of other things.

Individual Mediation in the morning (Lo'Tau'Kiiro'Terrisau) is focused on finding ones position in their life, asking for guidance from the gods for the day, or reflection upon one's dreams. Morning Mediation's objective is to bring focus to the Nepharian for the day and it usually succeeds.

Individual Mediation in the evening (Se'Tau'Kiiro'Terrisau) is focused on reflecting upon the day or asking for guidence from the gods. its main focus is to bring rest to the Nepharian's mind.

Mediation isn't just self reflection, during the Mediation session, Nepharians believe that their thoughts are indeed being amplified by their sacralith to the gods, and that the gods are influencing their thinking trough the sacraith. Most Nepharians, after exiting Individual Mediation, do tend to have a better mood then before they entered it, but this is mostly the effect of the calming process of entering Mediation itself.

In military settings the morning session of Prayer isn't always achievable (I.E. waking up in the middle of battle) but Commanders, or Sanctionaries (will get to them later)commonly apologies to the gods about this and tells them that the soldiers will carry out prayer as soon as possible, or will offer service to the gods if they will not punish those who did not pray but do later on in the day.

Seri'Kiiro'Tau, translated into: Divine Mediation of the Whole is the group form of Nepharian prayer. (keep in mind Tau is the god of all things therefore his name also means "whole".)

Sacraliths
Seri'Seharin, translating into "Sacred Stones", have become known as Sacraliths to most of the galaxy. Much to the Nepharans distaste, the word was translated and recreated by most translating software companies into the term.

Sacraliths are shaped pieces of quarts, usually 2 inches wide, 4 high and 3 thick, inscribed mostly with the symbol for Tau (but sometimes a symbol for another god) that a Nepharian places in front of himself during prayer. These Sacraliths come in a large verity of shapes and carvings and are almost a work of art on their own.

Cultural influences
=Social order= Nepharian social order is very deep and formal. It is primarily clan bac baced and is governed by honor, and religion. Newer colonies and and mixed Nepharian-alien populations tend to break away from the clan system abit. The downside to the social order is the clan fueds that occasionaly break out and disrupt the empire. But this order also keeps the empire together and strong at its core, the Nepharians being united under one religion and to a clan makes them resitant to any sort of alien control that they do not wish for.

Trade
The Nepharian trade system between Ioria, the home cluster and the Milky Way keeps the empire stable and balanced. However if there is to be shortage of one resource from one part of the empire, the whole empire suffers as a result.

Clans
The building blocks of the Nepharian Social order are its clans. Clans useualy consit of hundreds, if not thousands of families. A Nepharian's status in the empire usually relies heavily on his clan's status as a whole. The Nepharian government is in fact largely discriminatory, and usually bases social status, assignments, and large decisions based on a Nepharian's clan. Clan names in themselves come from the names of Nepharian gods.

Harun
The Harun clan, like the Taus, boast a large role in Nepharian government. However many of them also play a large role in the command and sometimes engineering of Nepharian vehicles and spacecraft.

Kran
The Kran clan is constituted of mainly feminine Nepharians. They are usually very cultured, artistic, and a majority of them are well educated. Religion is not a major priority for them, however it still plays a large role in their culture.

Tau
The rulers of the empire, the Tau clan is noted for the uniting of the Nepharian race, and for both introducing, and forcing modern day Nepharian religion to the Nepharians. They make up the majority of Nepharian government, and are the most religion orientated clan. When the matter of religion is at debate, they are fierce and ruthless, and will never leave their position. They strive to keep all that do not believe in their faith out of power at all costs, that is of course, on the whole.

Too
A strong warrior like people, the Too clan i known for the involvement in the Nepharian military. They're homeland is in the northern ice cap of the Nepharian home world. They were the last clan conquered by the Taus, and they are notorious for not following the Nepharian religion. Their name in the Home cluster is almost always: Heretic. Their rights are usually restricted, and in order to escape this prejudice, the have fled to the Milky way colonies, and the Ioria frontier, where the demand for man power has forced toleration onto the colonial governments. In these places the Toos are seen as leaders, warriors, heroes.

Naming Planets
The Nepharians actually have a sort of poetic system for naming their newly calmed worlds. first they find a trait that the world best represents and based on that trait they assign a god's name to it. In our example let's use Sherai. They add the word "lo", meaning "of", to the name. The planet is now Lo'Sherai or "Of Sherai". Of course with there being a limited amount of gods in the Nepharian faith the need to expand on a name so there aren't two Lo'Sherais is needed. So Lo'Sherai might turn into Lo'Sherai'Karia "Of Sherai's Buety". As you can see in planet names, the god's name doesn't show possession, but as a rule of Nepharian grammar, the possession is just implied.

This naming system is also applied to continents cities and land masses. The largest planet name reads "Keon'se'Nepha'Jei'lo'Tau" Meaning: "(A)Home for men that are of Tau".

=Biology=

Circulation
Nepharian blood takes on an unusual orange color due to the large amounts of ammonia and other liquid waists in the blood. Instead of urinating, all liquid waists are discarded though an Osmotic process in the blood vessels near the top of the skin. As a result, the majority of Nepharian blood vessels are located near the surface of the skin witch makes all Nepharians particularly susceptible to heavy bleeding. To prevent this in civilian life, all civilians where an under suit beneath their cloths that is constructed of carbon fibers. This suit can prevent most accidents, but this suit is far from impenetrable.

Metabolism
Nepharians have a 2 chambered digestion system. The chamber, the mouth, is lined with tendrils covered in digestive enzymes. When food enters, it is absorbed into these tendrils and is broken down into smaller components. This material is then sent into, what we would recognized as, a primitive colon where they are broken down even further. This colon is lined with smaller tendrils that also contain a digestive enzyme and operate like the mouth tendrils.

These tendrils are surprisingly well geared towards absorbing protein heavy food items but only to a certain extent. A Nepharian may decide to sample a steak, but it would take him about 2 minuets to have a bite go through his mouth.

Because of this, Nepharians tend to gravitate towards eating plants and small insects aswell as as lighter meats.

Biological overview
Being asexual, Nepharians have developed a system of reproduction involving eggs and pheromones.

The first stage doesn't start with the egg, but rather a practice of pseudo-intercourse. Known as Siiuren'Nepha (duality of the mortal)witch is simply what we would see as a kiss. However, Nepharians instead contain a large amount of a liquid-based pheromone that is contained on a small film on their body. With this in mind, why does this process have to be a kiss? To simply put it, the only way for the Nepharian body to read the pheromone is through receptors that are located throughout the body, but are most receptive around the mouth.

A nice historical tangent:

Historical data has proven that the pheromone receptors were once far more receptive around the entire body. They were once effective so much to the point where Nepharians would go through the Siiuren'Nepha process just by being around other members of its kind. But due to the creation of the full body Nepharian suit (made exactly to prevent unwanted reproduction) and the Nepharian religious belief that the mouth is the only place where this sort of contact should occur, the receptors eventually evolved to be mostly receptive around the mouth.

It's unclear exactly when the utilization of the full body suit came into place, but sometime around the rise of the Nepharian religion, royal figures could be seen wearing the body vales in paintings, tile work, and pottery work.

And back to the biology:

After Siiruen'Nepha only one of the partners actually begins to develop eggs. The eggs are developed much like they would in any bird or fish. About 2 months after Siiuren'Nepha the eggs are fully developed and exit the body.

The eggs are about 6 inches tall, 4 inches wide, and are in a shape that is almost perfectly spherical. The shell is flexible and yellow. The eggs are then, now a days, kept in their own independent box that is padded with a sort of memory foam. There can be anywhere from 3-7 eggs per Nepharian.

The egg itself releases a very strong Pharamone signal that is only detectable by the partner of the Nepharian that laid it. The reason being is that the same chemicals released from the sensory organs around the mouth not only trigger the formation of the egg, but defines the pheromone it gives off. The evolutionary reason for the eggs to do is so that the other Nepharian parent would not only avoid eating the eggs, but would protect them.

Another reason for the egg to release pheromones is that at this stage of the egg's development it only contains half of the necessary chromosomes for development. So when the partner is around the eggs and detects the pheromones he is sexually aroused and deposits the other half of the chromosomes via a substance that is secreted through a gland in his mouth. In short, a Nepharian sneezes when he's aroused. (Fun fact it just looks like spit.)

The egg then begins to develop a Nepharian inside of it and in about 6 months it is born into the horridly dangerous EAW universe.

Social overview
With Nepharians risking reproduction just by being in contact with each other, they've found a need to cover up. As mentiond before, in the early times of Nepharian society, they created full body vales to stop this contact. The only opening in them was a resealable opening to the mouth. In modern society the vale is now a skin tight black suit that still has the opening to the mouth.

During meals, Nepharians simply just eat with their slits open as that in itself isn't considered sexual or rude, but trying to display your mouth to someone else, or staring at someones mouth is.

Match making in Nepharian society is usual among the Harun and Tau clans, and in all cultures both partners usually live together until the eggs are hatched.

=Technolegy=

Biotech
Using a special form of electromagnetic wave Nepharians can manipulate nerve and brain functions.

Paralysis wave
The Paralysis Wave is fitted into the Biotech units and Certain Elite soldiers. The device that creates this wave is a wave generator fitted into a soldier's armor and creates an electromagnetic wave that disrupts brain and nervous functions that cause enemy units to be paralyzed for a few moments. The wave is generated inside the generators, is carried through wires in the soldier’s under suit, and is released at the end of the soldiers under suit at the spot where it meets their hands or fingers. This delivery method makes it look like the wave is released through the soldier’s hand. The effects of this wave is solely dependent on the biology of its target. The Wave has a long cool off period and only lasts for a few seconds. It has a short range so by the time it is deployed the user might have already sustained heavy damage.

Swarmer drones
Utilized primarily by Bio Techs, Swarmer drones are fly-like robots that can be used to disorientate, attack, and scout out the enemy. They are usually deployed in groups of a few hundred and are controlled by the bio Tech with his computer interface. To gether, swarmers can form a lage cloud to both demoralize the enemy, and obstruct its vision. Each swarmer has a set of cutting blades in place of its "mouth" so they can latch on to enemies and injure them. An individual swarmer may be deployed in order to fulfill scouting duties. Swarmers have a very short charge life of about 5 minuets, if they are not returned to their charger on the biotech before hand, then they will drop out of the air and simply deactivate.

Under Suits
A carbon weave suit is the first layer of clothing for not only the soldiers, but any Nepharian. The under suit is tough and flexible, and can usually protect a Nepharian from light shrapnel that would fly through the gaps of his armor.

Weapon systems
Let it be noted that most Nepharian weapons are meant to be worn instead of than held. In earlier times in history, combustion based weapons were found to be quite hard to operate with a trigger system as Nepharians only have two fingers. To counter this, early rifles fired when a Nepharian pulled back the bolt of the gun. Small arms weapons were fired when the Nepharians pressed down a lever, similar to that on the top of a six shooter, with their thumb.

When automatic weapons came along, there became a need to be able to hold down a firing mechanism so guns just started to be designed to be worn around a Nepharian's arm. The hand of a Nepharian (sometimes the fingers) rests (rest) right by a sort of lever that the Nepharian just has to pull back a bit on to make the gun fire.

Other
=Military=

Stratigy
Nepharian strategy is surprisingly well adapted and deceptive for a race that prides themselves with honor. Many times they'll use devices that transmit fake signals for enemy surveillance to pick up, use signal blockers and jammers, and on occasion will retreat from a battle only to leave small scouting parties on-world and come back when the enemy is least prepared.

General Invasion Stratigy
This strategy mainly applies to capturing enemy installations and positions after creating a landing site, a base of operations, and have and still are actively landing units, supplies and have expanded their base and may have created more. this stratigy is mainly applied to situations that aren't urgent. and this only applies to small-medium size forces. There are times where Nepharians will invade a world in haste, but on worlds with little development and military installations, this is applied.

After arriving to a planet, The Nepharians will first crate a line between their Nava l units, and the enemies'. Usually, this lind will be drawn over remote areas of the enemies world at first, only after combat spesific ships have moved this line over positions of intrest do the Nepharians begin to deploy ground forces.

The first goal of these forces is establishing a base for the Nepharians to operate, and to conduct scouting. Depending on the time between arrival to a world, and landing forces, a good portion of scouting can be done from hardware on the ship. Scouting usually is done from the ship anyways, only before the Nepharians attack are scouting parties sent into and around enemy controlled areas to assess the specifics of an enemies defense capabilities.

After scouting is completed and after a sizable Nepharian force is gathered they will begin to attack enemy positions in very ignorant ways. Weak forces are sent to heavily guarded locations, stronger ones put themselves in locations where they can be easily flaked and over powered (places like roads, canyons, rivers ect.) And these forces retreat quickly. This is done so that the enemy may become cocky,so that they may begin to patrol around the positions that the Nepharians came into last, and so that they may develop a sense of security in the fact that they can recognize Nepharian tactics.

After this, the Nepharians begin to use guerrilla tactics. Enemy patrols are taken out one by one, snipers harass enemy locations, and the occasional burning of flora isn't uncommon. Nepharians will occasional equip minors with a device that will actually create a large signal jamming field around him, as well as create holographic images of Nepharian soldiers. This minor is sent down enemy roads and pathways. In many occasions multiple units are sent with these jammers to create the allusion of large troop movements to confuse the enemy. Depending on the Nepharians' understanding of alien tech, they may re-program certain defensive structures and sensory devices to give false readings. Defensively, the Nepharians are t their strongest at this point. With only little forces being used the Nepharians will provide any force attacking their outpost This period usually lasts for 1-3 days. Of course it is also done with a purpose. Each small attack and jammer signal is deployed in a way that will both confuse and mislead the enemy, leaving them exposed.

The next phase is a full out attack on the enemy location, unlike the last time the Nepharian forces will be well conducted and organized. The first few duties of the soldiers are usually to ambush enemy patrols and poorly guarded locations on one side of the enemy line, the main force will usually make a push to the main enemy outpost along a route that keeps them hidden. In the mean time more soldiers with signal jammers/synthesizers will make their way into enemy dense zones, usually they will create a fake force that looks stronger than the actual main force. From there, small elite task groups are tasked with destroying, or utilizing enemy support structures, (AA guns, watch towers, sensory structures ECT)behind enemy lines. As the main force begins an assault on the main objective, other forces are usually tasked with suppressing any incoming enemy forces that are trying to support troops whiten and around the base. Of course if those Nepharian forces are destroyed the main force should be able to handle most flanks as it was made with this possibility in mind. The Nepharians do try to preserve as much enemy resources and installations as possible, but when victory is threatened they will not hesitate to completely wipe enemy installations off of the planet.

This last part of the strategy is heavily dependent on weather or not the Nepharians are attacking a city, or a military base. Usually the only difference is the speed in witch forces are moved and the amount of bombing conducted. In a city the Nepharians will quickly try to establish a presence, destroy buildings, roads, rearrange vehicles, or what ever they need to to make sure they're not flanked. From there small outposts are established and regulated amounts of forces are sent to disable AA defenses throughout the city. The meat of the Forces that are in city work to neutralize any enemy heavy zones. If possible, these zones will simply be bombed out by Nepharian air support. The ultimate goal for forces is to occupy the center of the city, and to evict the enemy with damaging as little of the city as possible. (I will devote an entire strategy section to city warfare, these is just the basics).

Assaulting a military installation is completely different. The main force basically devides into 3rds. 1/3 attempts to assault it from the front, (very cautiously and slow) the 2/3ds attack from the side after enemy forces are drawn to the front. After the Military base is breached the force breaks up again. about 1/6 of this group works to take out enemy defences (AA guns, mounted turrets ect.)where they can, while the other works at flanking the remaining enemy forces at the main gate. After these forces reunite, its a straight push to the enemy command.

In-Planet Forces
Nepharians are skilled warriors due to their weaponry and clear minds. Warriors are brought up with religious practices that both focus them and trains them. Their technology is well developed for combat and is normally cost efficient. Nepharians are trained isolated in the wilderness and are trained quite brutally as well. However training can cost a lot, but with the new improvements from the MKII program, equipment is becoming more cost effective. Nepharian military service is also optional not forced so the training can be wasted on recruits they may only serve for a minimum time. It is needed to note however, that most Nepharians do actually serve in the military. It's unclear if this was the product of some form of propaganda that took place during the later stages of Homeworld-confined Nepharian civilization, or if this occurrence is simply part of Nepharian mentality.

Nepharian military strategy is also a little weak, sometimes religious duty will interfere with common sense and can have disastrous results. But more often then not, the battle doesn't have many religious ties, yet the commanders in battle sometimes develop unnecessary objectives to achieve honor or please the gods. It's solely dependent on the individual. This devotion also makes Nepharian soldiers extremely reluctant to surrender, it keeps them in full moral, and in full focus. This mentality makes battles with the Nepharians brutal. Scare tactics are fairly ineffective as soldiers have developed a strong sense of duty. Casualties are high, but prisoner rates are almost non-existence.

The only downside to the Nepharian army is its inflexibility and the Nepharians' tendency to bleed all over the place. Nepharian soldiers aren't exactly problem solvers, with many of them just concerned about orders and shooting they don't try to afford a minuet to think things through, IE: they have a tendancy to get caught up in the fight. In our eyes, Nepharian commanders hold their hands regarding a lot of things. As for the bleeding, the Nepharian circulatory system has most blood vessels running very close to skin level (as a Nepharian gets rid of certain toxins through its skin) so a shot through the armor, or a knife could be very damaging. With this in mind, Nepharians have developed a wealth of knowledge regarding treating the wounded on the battlefield.

Nepharian Minors
Nepharian minors are a weaker and more cost efficient infantry variant. Their weapon is a hand held, short-medium ranged, fast firing plasma cannon that serves best in most environmental conditions. Their armor is streamline and they boast a reinforced under suit, however unlike most infantry units,they lack any kind of shielding system. Minors usually make up a large part of scouting parties, and certain Nepharian commanders will use them in the first wave of an assault to gauge enemy defenses. Unlike many races' military hierarchy, minors are not always constituted of new recruits. Many times they are well seasons soldiers, and on occasions are Nepharian warriors that are trying to impress high commanders so they may receive a position as a commander. With this in mind, the minor unit helps levy the balance of military demand with military experience, the newer soldiers are able to more safely and effectively conduct operations, and the more experienced ones are able hone their skills and still be effective. In the end costs are reduced, lives are saved, and soldiers are trained in battle.



Nepharian Infantry
The main class to the Nepharian army, they are armed with a 2-hand plasma rifle that has medium-long range capabilities. It fires at a slower rate than weapons held by Minors but it is far more accurate and effective. They are also a bit more heavily armor than the minors and are equipped with a light shielding system. These are the heart of the Nepharian military, the most common and effective unit.



Nepharian Sniper
A Nepharian support unit that fights at a range. Snipers also lead scouting missions, and as a result dawn a gilly suit that can be easily changed to suit their environment. Snipers are hardly effective on their own and are very vulnerable, but behind a full Nepharian platoon they pose a large threat. Snipers also play large roles in scouting duties, and are specifically potent in a city battlefield.



Nepharian Commanders
Nepharian commanders lead a Command of Nepharians. They are heavily armored, posses a medium strength shielding system, and like minors, posses a hand held plasma cannon, of course a much more powerful one. Their armor was designed to be both terribly intimidating and functional. They are also equipped with a modified HUD, and a long range communications system to assist with their duties. Both as a combat unit and as a commander, this is truly a foe you should do best to avoid.



Nepharian Biotech
A heavily shielded support unit, the Nepharian biotech uses a paralyses wave and a swarm of robotic insects to support Nepharians on the battlefield. The paralyses wave works, in application, like a biological EMP, being able to stun organisms for a  time, making them vulnerable to attack. Its swarm of robotic drones, or referred to as "swarmers" serve to disorientate, demoralize, and attack enemy units. Biotechs also posses what can be equated to a hand-held shotgun. Plasmetic material inside of the gun are accelerated through a guass-like system, two nodes at the frond of the gun are able to compress this material into a U shape wave that travels with its flat side parallel to the ground. It is quite common that enemies shot by this weapon lose body parts, and are occasionally decapitated. In fact, Biotechs are trained to aim for the neck when possible.

Nepharian Sentinel Mech suit.
The Nepharain Sentinel Mechs suits were designed for heavy fire fights and for defensive positions. They are heavily armored and are equipped with a large blast shield as well as a heavy plasma cannon. They're also equipped with a light shielding system aswell as a visor system that is integrated within their helmet. Sentinel mech suits are primarily deployed into close combat situations, in cities, and in front of standing armies of Nepharians when they are defending any sort of location. this makes them versatile and in demand, a demand that is mostly well met.



Nepharian Ech0 Mech suit.
The Ech0 mech suit has become one of the most feared weapons in the Nepharian empire despite the fact that they are only under the command of the most elite Nepharian commanders in the empire. They have been mostly used by Grand Battlemaster Phyla'Kran on the Wingle front but have proven to be a key war asset to her and her forces.

The development of these mechs is actually shrouded in mystery, not a lot is known about the facilities they were designed and tested in but what is known is that information is not public. The existence of Ech0 mechs was hardly known of to the general public until the attack on the Wingles in fact. This sort of secrecy has been seen as the tell tale sign of a conspiracy to lower, more uneducated and paranoid, members of the Nepharian society.

The name of the Mech was coined by engineers due to the almost overwhelmingly loud sound of its forward firing gauss accelerated plasma cannons.

Ech0 mechs are, surprisingly, produced on a small number of planets, the only major contributor to their production is a factory world that fell under siege by the Wingle forces.

Ech0 mechs have been seen in 3 major variants: Standard, Cancer, and Custom.

Standard Ech0s are about 30 feet high and have two forward firing gauss accelerated plasma cannons (as mentioned before) that are suited for engaging fair sized groups of infantry and light to medium armored vehicles alike. The potency of the mech comes from the cannon's rate of fire and the mech's powerful armor. A major downside to the mech is that it is susceptible to fire from the air, but its armor can deflect air attacks to an extent.

Cancer Mechs are only about 15 feet in height and have 4 forward firing plasma cannons. These mechs are mostly geared towards urban combat and engagements with infantry. Their plasma cannons posses a small AOE and are fast firing. Unlike the standard mechs, they are considerably lightly armored and are highly susceptible to heavy hitting ammunition types. Cancer mechs are fairly cheap due to their armor and weapon load outs and because of this they don't exactly do well on the open battlefield.

Custom Ech0 mechs are produced for commanding Nepharian officers and have a verity of shapes sizes and load outs. The only thing they have in common is that they are far above quality of standard Ech0 mechs.

Basic
Basic divisions usually contain mostly Infantry and Minors. Most other division types aren't mentioned when a Nepharian is numbering warriors except in priority military commands. Keep in mind, these are basic numbers.

Squad- Contains 5 soldiers.

Command- Contains 10 squads and 5 tanks. (50 troops) Commanding officer: Commander

High Command- Contains 4 commands (200 troops 20 tanks) Commanding officer: High Commander

Ter'ush- Contains 5 High Commands. (1000 troops, 100 tanks) Commanding officer: Grand Commander

High Ter'ush- Contains 5 Legions. (5000 troops, 500 tanks.) Commanding officer: Battlemaster.

Grand Ter'ush- Contains 10 High legions. (50,000 troops, 5,000 tanks.) Commanding officer: High Battlemaster.

(The highest ranking military officer is the Grand Battle Master who leads the entire army.)

Elite
Squad- Contains 4 elites.

Task Force- Contains anywhere from 4-20 squads. (16-80 elites)

Recon
(scout) Squad- 3 units.

Scouting party- 4 squads (12 units).

Militia
=Leadership= Nepharian leadership is deeply intertwined with religion butt yet still operates separately from the religious hierarchy for the most part. Nepharian officials are appointed by the next highest ranking official above them. The leadership hierarchy descends as follows.

Pharan 'Harun
A High Naval Master of the Nepharian army, Pharan has proven to be the largest assets in the Norsus/Zaretian Naval front.

During the conflict on Norsus, Pharan was tasked with directing patrols around Nepharian space that became infested with Zaretian ships after the arrival of  the Nepharians on Norsus.

"According to Aeveria intelligence, the Zaretians were quite hastey in sending forces our way, according to their scouts anyways. Evidently they became concerned with us."

This was in fact the truth. The Nepharian presence on Norsus proved as a major threat to the Zaretians as they were able to help keep pressure on the eastern side of the main Norsus battleground. The Zaretians planned to keep the Nepharian supply lines cut off from the planet and attempted to conduct several raids on Nepharian listing posts. Pharan's forces were always on top of them however. He placed signal jammers where there wasn't an assets to defend, moved his fleets erratically, and ultimately threw off most of the Zaretian raids just long enough for his forces to come in on them un expectantly.

In one skirmish, Pharan was able to draw a Zaretian fleet away from their route to attack a supply convoy to a deserted world that he was able to portray as a "vital research facility" through various transmissions, and certain signal jamming techniques.

During Vipe Nite's Invasion of the Nepharian military base on Karii'Se'Harri, it was Pharan's fleet that was able to respond to the invaders and deploy Elites to kill Vipe Nite himself. Pharan was solidly regarded as a hero for this feat.

After the Nepharians pulled out of Norsus, Pharan remained at his post as the Zaretian activity in his area never lessened.

Phyla'Kran
The most decorated high battle master of the Nepharian army, Phyla has a reputation of being quite outspoken when confronted with her mission. Phyla is in fact a feminine Nepharian. She's been known for barking at her superior officers, and committing cunning yet erratic assaults in battle.

Phyla is currently leading the Wingle front and is being subjected to her military failures on it despite her reputation as a successful commander.

"According to my men's reports, we're not just being attacked by Wingles, and when they are attacking, their targets are very specific. Research centers, prisons, even an investigation party was attacked while exploring an old Wingle outpost. Something more than war is going on here, and I intend to burn their empire before they even have a chance at following through with whatever they have planned."

During Phyla's career, she's been known to surround herself in mystery, keeping her men and her superiors unaware of a lot of her doings. She's been regarded as "cruel and quiet" by her men.

"You don't hear anything from her in 3 days, no orders, checks, nothing. Then out of nowhere men get reassigned, sent home. Things happen fast and we never know why."

Keru'Tau
Referred to by most government officials as a brilliant leader who has pushed the Nepharians into a new age of prosperity, Keru'Tau is renowned, next to the Tau'Lackren, as the most powerful force in the empire.

Keru 'Tau has lead the Nepharian home cluster in its recent era of peace and expansion. With all alien threats inside the cluster completely extinguished, Keru focused on the expansion of the Nepharian empire and economy.

"I am fortunate to be the Lo'Tau'Lackren of such a peaceful and mighty part of the empire. We are still getting some problems with supplying the Ioria and New front but my advisors tell me we may be able to start mass producing long distance transport ships soon." The home cluster in itself is an economic and productive stronghold, but its served as a haven to religious leaders in the Nepharian empire and as a hell to those who oppose the Nepharian faith. Keru is fully aware of this, but instead of fixing an age old issue, he is simply focused on making the entire empire grow.

Maka'Too
Maka 'Too was once referred to as the greatest military mind in the home cluster. He lead his people to victory against the Kiir revolts, and crushed a major force of Nepharian pirates (the Sejii'Jaui as they called themselves). He is now however the Lo'Tau'Lackren of the Nepharian colonization front in the Ioria galaxy.

"How did the Tau'Lackren know that Ioria was going to be a military struggle? The way he does all his work. He just knows. It's a good thing he does too. I would have loved to see a bureaucrat trying to keep things in order there."

Shortly after colonization in the frontier, Maka was met with opposition by multiple native alien races and the Luminarian empire. After almost total defeat Maka was able to rally the Nepharians and a few native allies to kick the Luminarians out of the frontier, assuring Nepharian dominance.

"I lost a lot of good warriors, but in the end their service secured a greater future for our empire."

Maka has also been said to be a traitor the Too clan, not only taking up the Nepharian faith but gaining the trust of the Tau hierarchs. He's also been infamous for certain policies against "non-believing scum" and is over all a very short sided leader. He's also been noted to be critical of the military failures of his men and other Lo'Tau'Lackren.

Jarun'Tau
Lo'Tau'LAckren of the Nepharians in the Milky way, or United Colonial Systems as the colonization front is technically called, has been referred to as a very generous and political minded leader. His main focus has always been the welfare of his empire being created through peace with other alien races.

"I've been chastised by a lot of my advisors for being so reserved, but they weren't able to stop a Gronian invasion so I guess their merits are a bit more unreliable than previously thought."

Jarun has obtained respect through the handling of the Gronian threat, allowing the Nepharians to help with Norsus, and being very politically involved with the Peacekeeper alliance.

To the distastes of many bureaucrats, Jarun is actually very sympathetic towards non-religious Nepharians that have been chastised for their beliefs and driven out of their homes from the Home Cluster and into the United Colonial Systems. Jarun has been noted to have ongoing fights with Phyla 'Kran regarding his reserved nature and her eagerness to fight.

"She is hasty, she's an excellent commander, but her haste worries me..."

Pho'Too
High commander of the Men on Norsus, Pho'Too is famous for conducting hundreds of men into the hands of death in order to secure the Rach retreat from the world. His success on the world have been more than just this however, he was able to push back the Zaretians from a major front with the help of the Rach, partially containing the Nalstros pirates to the east, and confront the Margan in the west.

Pho'Too is easily regarded as a Commander of his men and of his empire. Assuring the safety of innocent lives before the mission, keeping his men well fed, armed and housed. Pho 'Too is by many standards a hero.

Though despite his heroism, he has remained only a high commander even into his old age. The reason being is simply due to religious subjugation as he does not follow the Nepharian faith or any variations of it.

"It hurts, but what I believe in is more important than rank. I've done many good things in my life, and I wouldn't mind dying tomorrow just as I am."

Un'Lackren
A city or town representative of a clan. There is a set number of these representative based on the clan's population in that city. Usually there is one Un'Lackren for every 20-70 clan members but that is solely dependent on the city's legislation. In large cities, there are representatives in the thousands. It's quite common that there is an unspoken social hierarchy among the Un'Lackren but they share equal power as far as their votes go. This word has no translation into English (or dutch for that matter) as this position is fairly unique to the Nepharians.

Terran'Lackren
A city's Un 'Lackren will congregate once every 4 Earth days to discuss important matters that effect their city. The Teran'Lackren organizes this meeting. He also is the equivalent of a mayor on earth in the fact that he runs the city. His job is to listen to the concerns of the Un 'Lackren and answer their questions. After the congregation is dismissed, he will either give direction to his city officers who will manage the city's function from there, or he will bring up his issues with the Kran'Lackren during the Planetary Congregation which occurs about every earth week. This process is tedious, but is a part of Nepharain a tradition that will never be broken.

The Terran'Lackren is elected by the congregation every 3 months. Terran'Lackren are usually Un'Lackren before being elected.

Kran'Lackren(also referred to as councilman)
The Kran'Lackren has basically the same job as the Terran'Lackren except on a planetary scale.The Terran'Lackren are to them as Un'Lackren are to Terran'Lackren. Terran'Lackren will take turns speaking based on the population of their city. (fun fact: In difficult times, certain Terran'Lackren have actually payed for Nepharains to move into their city in order to speak first.)The Kran'Lackren also has a bit of control over military forces, however it only goes as far as advising military leadership.

The planetary congregation is held every month, the Kran'Lackren is elected every year by the Terran'Lackren.

Krana'Lackren
Planets in the Nepharain empire are organized into districts based on their attributes, such as: resources produced, how "holy" it is (that's usually based on things such as religious artifacts, the clans ect.) and its militarily importance. In a fair amount of cases, a district's borders will not all be connected but rather broken up into pockets scattered throughout the empire as a result of this system.

This system is fairly productive as Nepharains with the proper mindset and training will have no complications running their district as they usually don't have to worry about different needs among their people. The Krana'Lackren hold a Congregation with the Kran'Lackren about every 2 weeks. Unlike the Kran'Lackren, they have full control over military deployment.

Lo'Tau'Lackren
A Lo'Tau'Lackren runs a galaxy or star cluster. There are currently 3 Lo'Tau'Lackren, one for the Ioria frontier, one for the Home Cluster, and one for the United Colonial Systems in the Milky way galaxy. The Lo'Tau'Lackren holds congregations with the Krana'Lackren about every 3 weeks.

Tau'Lackren
Only a handful of Nepharians have actually seen the Tau'Lackren in person. He is illusive, and is said to live on a heavily armored spaceship flying almost nonstop in the Nepharian home cluster. He holds the ultimate power in the Nepharian Empire, but hardly governs it. Most major decisions in his empire are made by the 3 Lo'Tau'Lackren, if he disagrees with them, he will send them his opinion. The Lo'Tau'Lackren must send a log of their every political action to the Tau'Lackren. He is the highest ranking official and the empire is ultimately his. The Tau'Lackren holds a conjugation with his Lo'Tau'Lackren every month, an unnecessary process, but traditional none the less.

Law enforcement
Nepharians are surprising law abiding for the most part, but they do have an organized law enforcement system to keep things in order. The main force behind this is the Sanctionaries. Essentially priest police, Sanctionaries are well trained and knowledgeable in the field of Nepharian religion and law. Sanctionaries act as independent agents, coordinating with clan leaders and military officials to protect the law wherever they are. Sanctionaries usually don't do the dirty work in an investigation or in arrests, they instead use the military or militia to carry out their orders. With this in mind, it's necessary to say that Sanctionaries are granted power over military and military officials. Sanctionaries also occasional over see military missions in order to keep the soldiers in check, both in the realms of philosophy and policy.

Sanctionaries are seen in every way imaginable across the empire. Some are honored as protectors of the empire, some seen as over forgiving heretics, others as handymen of the Nepharian government who only carry out the orders of corrupt politicians, others are even seen as corrupt themselves. The truth is, all of these personalities exists in Sanctionaries. Some are saviors, some are honor bound, some are forgiving and some are corrupt. Sanctionaries are given the choice to protect Nepharian law and Religion as they best see fit, but those who become corrupt are left unopposed.

=Alien Relations= Over a short period of time, the Nepharians have quickly placed themselves in a community of various alien races.

Peace Keepers
General, Nepharians quite like the PKs. They see their philosophies as honorable and just.

Averia Confederation
Status: Freindly

Relation summary: The Nepharians had have breif but pleasant contact with the Averia confederation through Norsus. The Averia generously give information regarding the Great War's main races and military information on the Zaretians (which have greatly helped the Nepharian fleets protect the Holy Empire's borders) and invited the Nepharians to the UEA.

Jarun 'Tau and the majority of the empire alike quite like this help but certain Nepharian radicals have problems with the Aeveria's lack of cultural conformity and find their empire unstable. Most of these radicals also believe that the Aeveria will try to acquire the Nepharian empire forcefully, as they believe this is how they have so many races in their administration. These beliefs are solely derived from a lack of knolege on the confederation.

Luminarians (non-xenophobic)
Status: Nuetral

Relation Summary: The Nepharians first encounter with the Luminarians was in the Ioria Frontier Galaxy. Aligned with a coalition of native races, the Luminarians and Nepharians declared war on one another. The Luminarian's allies were first crushed by the Nepharians, but the Luminarains made a strong push through Nepharian territory. But the Luminarains soon became overwhelmed by the Nepharian's allies, and they were soon conquered and removed from Ioria. The Nepharians viewed the Luminarians as a strong and honorable opponent, and decided attempt peace with them in the Milky way.

They were able to begin doing so on Norsus. Shortly after the first Nepharian fleet arrived, the Luminarians were hailed and presented with a letter of piece and apology written by the Tau'Lackren. With this, the Nepharians were able to assure piece with the Luminarains, but an alliance with them, will most likely not be established for a while.

Rach
Status: Partially allied.

The Nepharians are assisted the Rach in taking back their home world, Norsus. No other interactions have taken place between the two empires.

Warlords
The Nepharians are mostly hostile towards the Warlords, their tactics are dishonorable, and they see most of their cultures as degenerate and heretical.

Margan
Status: Weary

Most Nepharians that know of the Margan useualy refer to them as "beasts" or "animals" which is exactly what they are in their mind. The Nepharians had brief reports of these aliens on Norsus but not until they encountered them attacking the Gronians did they discover their true intent. On the Gronian world the Nepharians discovered that the Margan strongly practiced total war and were ruthless in all ways. This reputation was highly exaggerated with the immense burning of the planet. The Nepharians are unaware of the Margan houses so they currently believe that this burning is common. The Nepharians wish to avoid conflict as much as possible in order to preserve their empire, but they will strike the Margan discreetly if an opportunity presents itself.

The IAE
Status:Aware

The Nepharians have had little interaction with the IAE, they have only encountered them on Norsus, and the IAE have once thwarted a Nepharian attack on the crew of a crashed Wingle ship. Little is known about the IAE from the Nepharians perspective, but meetings with Peace Keepers on Norsus has suggested that the IAE are simply expansionists, however any claims of their hostility and ruthlessness has been passed off as mere exaggeration. So far all attacks conducted by the IAE are justified to the Nepharians as political favors, so surprisingly enough the Nepharians are not hostile towards them. (but they are a bit worried.)

Zaretians
Status: At war

The Nepharians first encounter with the Zaretians was on the Rach Home world: Norsus, through military actions. The Nepharians have classified all Zaretian ships, colonies, and military units as hostile. The Zaretians have also successfully attacked and destroyed a Nepharian outpost on an arctic world. This world was the closest to Norsus, and served to relay communications between the Nepharians on Norsus to the rest of the empire. The nepharians now fear that the Zaretians have intelligence on Nepharian colonies and tactics, they are prepared for a full engagement some time soon.

BioMatter Hordes
Status: Avoid

Relation Summary: The BioMatter suddenly attacked a small Nepharian border colony with no defenses. They took out the colony from the inside, mutating all military units and governing officials. The only Nepharians left to hold them off were a few militia men; the only trace of the attack was poor quality video footage that was sent out as soon as the attack on civilians began. No survivors were left. This footage has only been kept secret from the general public to stop the spread of panic. Nepharian scientists are reviewing this footage and are trying to see if any military knowledge can be taken from this attack and even the BioMatter themselves. In an attempt to keep fear from spreading across the empire, the Tau Lackren has personally advised his congregation to keep the truth behind this attack. If anyone were to inquire bout it, they are to be silenced by any means

The Gronian Imperium
Status: Nuetral

A Gronain planet near the border of Imperium space was under siege by the Margan. This planet also happened to be quite close to the Nepharians so they decided to make land fall on this planet in order to deny the Margan of it. The Gronians however resented the Nepharian presence. With this in mind the Nepharians focused on putting pressure on the Margan behind their lines. Brief skirmishes between the Margan and Nepharians occurred before Gronian reinforcements arrived causing the Nepharians to retreat. Unfortunately, some Gronains (estimated at about 200) were killed at the hands of the Nepharians.

The Gronians soon countered the Nepharians and wiped a planet near Gronian space off the map. The fleet responsible was a large fraction of all Nepharian naval forces in the Milky way, witch solicited the total evacuation of the planet with the exception of any military forces that wished to remain there.

Diplomatic relation went underway with the Gronians. (see it here: http://epicadventurewar.toastyrobproductions.com/EAW/index.php?topic=204.0) In witch the Nepharians were able to achieve peace with them under the following terms:

1)The Nepharian Empire and all subordinates under it shall never enter Gronian controlled territory for any reason ever.

2)The Nepharians shall hold no claim to the colony currently under Imperium control and will make no attempts to obtain it once more, political or otherwise.

3)If any allies of the Nepharians attack the Imperium in any way, shape or form then the Nepharians will be to blame and will suffer the consequences.

4)For each Gronian serviceman who was killed by Nepharian forces, the Nepharian government will pay the equivalent of Seven-hundred platinum bar and for every one of those servicemen whom had yet to produce an heir an extra two-hundred platinum bars shall be added in order to secure the prosperity of their bloodlines.

5) The Commander responsible for the attack against Imperium forces will be delivered unto Imperium custody imminently to await sentencing by a Gronian officer of Captain or above.

Should any of these terms be violated or broken then, under The Doctrine of Aggression, the Imperium will press upon the Nepharian people a war of genocide.

The Nepharians accepted. As a race most honor the Gronian spirit,and respect their wish to isolationism.

The TMC
Status: Avoid

The Nepharians first had a brief run in with the TMC after recovering a downed TMC ship on a world they began colonizing. The Aliens that arrived accused the Nepharians of destroying this ship, upon which they simply retrieved an unknown high energy device from this ship and left. The Nepharians were curious about these beings as they appear to be some sort of Coalition, a Coalition that could be terribly large.

However now after the Gronain Peace talks the TMC engaged the Gronians. At the same time the TMC asked forepharian support in the Margan front. Nepharian law has decreed that contact will be avoided with this race for the following two reasons:

1) Contact with this race may cause a violation of the Gronian peace pact.

2) The volatile and erratic diplomatic actions of the confederation may jeopardize the empire.

The Wingle
Status: Partially at war

As it stands, only one High Battle Master is engaged against the Wingle. Only a few small engagements have been conducted against the Wingle. However, according to Nepharian intelligence, there was an IAE plot to assassinate Wingle leadership and frame the Nepharians in an attempt to trigger a war. According to the Wingle, this IAE assassin was personally employed by the Tau'Lackren, a foolish claim as he would never interact with another race unless it was a matter that concerned the entire empire. Nepharians believe a small Nepharian sect of Too's attempted to do this in order to topple the Nepharian empire. Still, little is known about this event.

=fun facts= -To fit in to some armors and bio suits, Nepahrians must have their horns clipped. They are given fake horns that they can simplex attach to their head. after this procedure of course.

-the Nepharain language translates to English without containing any contractions.

-they can best be described as amphibians.

-Instead of urinating, they excrete waists through their skin.

-A large majority of a Nepharians blood's vessels are near the top of their skin, therefore they tend to bleed easier then most races.

-They're asexual.

-This is what most Nepharian art work looks like and is generally how it is created. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-cYsU_Rxr4&feature=player_embedded