THE KAL (KAHL)
Origin: Dan Kalani (Kalana Ze)
Description: This 8-limbed insectoid race is the most ancient in the Known Galaxy, their dominion spanning millions of years and thousands of systems. Little is known of what existed where the Kal undercolonies now reside, the atmosphere and environment of the planet wholly altered to fit their needs. Even with their superior terraforming abilities, their natural biology is considered moderately adaptable as their preferred habitat is subterranean and they need very little food or oxygen and are resistant extreme high temperatures and many toxic gases.
Kal technology is by all intents the most advanced in existence. Even the Toridians can only theorize about the quantum mechanisms behind their machinery and weaponry. Their technology is so foreign and volatile, some, even the ambitious toridians consider it voodoo and forbidden to pursue.
Their home planet, Dan Kalani, is an arid, rocky world populated by lichenous plant life, succulents, and those trees and grasses brave enough to push their roots into the razor edges and lightning crags of the high cliffs. Dan Kalani has a large dense metal core and mantle and active tectonic plates, therefore some areas are highly volcanic and productive. Temperatures around the globe are hot and the only snow and ice occurs at the tops of massive peaks closer to the poles, however volcanic “winters” are common when large tectonic shifts result in aligned volcanic eruptions and the ash and smoke blot out the sky for several weeks or more. The Kal have colonized many other satellites and managed to create comparable environments there.
Their culture is difficult for outsiders to understand. Their society is built on a somewhat feudalistic caste system. The queen rules by default with a subtle psionic influence. She doesn’t control directly, more that her ideals, personality, and principles will affect the direction society goes over time. Below her is a council of 11 high drones that serve as advisors. Below that, nobles, businesspersons, magistrates, wealthy property owners, etc. It eventually cascades down to the soldiers and workers, and at some point in time, the enslaved vyaktaji people.
The Kal are feared by all who know of them, considered by many as a scourge. Should a sub-queen be established on a planet, within a few years she will have produced enough soldiers and workers to build a functioning colony. No civilization has been known to defeat a kal “infestation” except the toridians in the great war. The toridians are mortal enemies of the Kal, yet their relations remain complex and entwined.
Despite their reputation and strict social structure, the Kal are capable of incredible artistic and scientific feats. Music, architecture, murals, sculptures -- all can be found throughout their vast metropolises. Though they have a scientific approach to life, they are still a spiritual people grounded in millennia of tradition.
Lifespan: Lower castes: 45-60 EY, Mid: 50-75 EY, Upper: 50-500 EY, Queen: 2000 EY
Species: Kal
Homeplanet: Dan Kalani (“First Womb”), Kalana Ze (
Government:
Monarchy (Queen), Oligarchy (High Council)
Queen title: Tzizita’kalan (Majesty-Womb)
Council: Syzat, typically 13 members
Caste System: (Descending order) Queen, Counselors, attendants, drones, soldiers, workers.
The Queen is born directly from the Queen before her as an heir. Queens can live much longer than the other castes, e.g. 1200 EY would be a solid lifespan, with the oldest in history being about 3000 EY. Queens have subliminal psionic control over her offspring, but not the offspring of other queens, save for the offspring of her direct parent queen. In other words, when fully vested, the elder queen gives her life to promote her heir. The active queen dies, transferring her memories and thus psionic control to her daughter, who then assumes leadership. It is not always a perfect transfer, but better than none at all. The queen of Dan Kalani (prime) is held in higher regard than splinter queens, which are daughters of the prime queen, but rule a different colony entirely, usually on a distant moon or star. The prime queen is revered for her supposed direct lineage to the First Mother, though this is believed on faith, it is factually untrue.
Counselors, attendants and drones are born with the same biology, and therefore are all put into the drone ranks. A drone gains the status of attendant when he rises above the others in performance and intelligence. Attendants are then sent to another area of the hive for a bolstered education and specific training. Depending on natural gifts, an attendant may go into a leadership position in various jobs around the hive such as mining superintendent, trading management, etc., or if an opening appears in the Council itself, then the Queen will choose a replacement from the ranks of the attendants. Counselors are just what they sound like. They form an inner circle of advisors for the Queen. They are extremely necessary because the Queen never leaves her chambers once active (more on “active” versus “inactive” Queens later). The Counselors provide her with information on the outside world, advise her on her decisions, and carry out her wishes. It is important to note how dependent she is on their honesty and loyalty.
Drones are similar to mid to upper middle class citizens. Some enjoy cushy well-paying jobs, some have just enough to live comfortably. Seldom do they find jobs in high positions or seats of power for those are reserved for attendants and Counselors, but every now and then, a Drone’s gifts or talents manifest later in life, or perhaps their skill is honed to a superior level over time, and they are promoted. Promotion rarely coincides with a promotion in caste. Drones, as with attendants and Counselors are all “male” biologically, and considered so in conversation. They are capable of reproduction, but the female workers are generally sterile, and a sexually female drone is extremely rare, and technically this is considered a genetic defect.
Workers are genetically female though unable to reproduce. Soldiers can be genetically male or female, but physically manifest more like a drone. Workers and soldiers are the lowest caste level, but since the enslavement of the vyaktaji, they are raised a tier artificially. Some workers or soldiers may have enough money to afford a household slave in the form of a maid, butler, gardener, etc. It is not illegal by any means for low caste members to own slaves in any number, it is simply not affordable to purchase and provide for them.
Vyaktaji are a separate species that will be outlined later.
Religion: Tzikalan nan Tzuka’a (literally: royal womb of the stars, roughly: The Galaxy Is Our Home)
Their religion is not well defined yet, but the origins of their current faith can be traced to around the time the vyaktaji were discovered (about 2500 EY ago). The notion of a divine goddess that beckoned them to spread over the entire universe supported the idea that the enslavement of the vyaktaji was divine providence. An excerpt from their religious text in the form of a common prayer or greeting is as follows:
“My blossoming star, may the black sky winds carry thy seeds to yonder shores, past old light and time, and to the soil bring our Song and our citadel, lest our Voice be silenced, for we are one.”
(“Fizhat tzukah tevi’, Tzuka’a zeze azhetsa zized ti vortzah nui’, lanat i syvhin nui’, i tzo sozaa Tzi’aht tevo’ i tzikalan tevo’, viktara Aht tevo’ naktvivitor a dan vo’ira.”)
Language: Aht’Kalan (Voice-womb)
Characterized by guttural tones, buzzes, and repeating sounds. In writing, these are designated as separate characters. Ex: Zi would be a character, and Zizi would be a single separate character. Zizi’zi would be two characters. And apostrophe indicates to end that syllable abruptly and can be used to indicate emphasis. Ex: Zi is longer than Zi’. Zizi is ZEE-zee, where Zizi’ is zee-ZEE, likewise, Zizi’zi is zee-ZEE-zee where Zizizi would be ZEE-zee-zee. Though three repeating phonemes is rare without an apostrophe to change emphasis.
Aht’Kalan is written in vertical columns.
Letter/sound estimates:
A-ah
D-d
F-f
I-ee
K-k
L-l
N-nn
P-h
R-rr
S-s
T-t
V-v
Y-ih
Z-z
Zh-soft J
Referenced Words/roots (list very incomplete):
Dan = first/one
Kalan/kalani = womb/home/planet
Aht = voice/speak
Zita = mother
Tzi- = royal/great
Tzizita = Queen
History:
History is obviously very long for the Kal, and it is typically organized by “dynasty” or at least by the rule of a particular queen if it is substantial. These epochs are named after the active queen at that time.
Sivyzhin, The Mad - (~200 EY)
It is unknown what happened to this short-lived queen. She took over the mantle at a very young age, and by her teen years she was prone to having uncontrollable fits and seizures. She was extremely paranoid and believed she was going to be murdered. She convinced the Council to pour inordinate amount of resources into her protection and the reinforcement of the citadel. She died very young and of unknown causes, but at the time of her death, she was frequently delirious and often mumbling strange phrases and shaking in fear. She was succeeded by her only heir, the young Princess Vhazik.
Vhazik, The Barbaric - (~1800 EY)
This ancient queen was characterized by her unforgiving law and strict adherence to the caste system. The lowest castes were treated cruelly and were untouchables in society. This was a time of great illness and strife, as plagues from poor sanitation and wiped out much of the working class. She was never given adequate training due to her mother dying young. What little time she had with her mother was behind closed doors where it is likely her mother impressed upon the Princess her paranoia and fears of a plot to kill the royal family. During her rule, which lasted hundreds of years, it was a veritable dark age where technology stagnated and cults began to form. These cults eventually led to an uprising among the lower castes, and military force was used to quell the conflict. One cult became quite powerful, however, and spread the notion that Dan Kalani was only the beginning of what would be a vast empire among the stars. What began as an escapist set of beliefs, became a rallying point for many undercastes. This time of conflict was finally brought to a close with the death of Vhazik, who had birthed six daughters.
Ksilida, The Great - (~900 EY) and Dynasty (~10,000 EY)
The eldest of Vhazik’s daughters was moved by the sentiments of the undercastes. She sympathized with their religion and convinced the Council to officiate and embrace it in order to unify the tumultuous society. This religion, Tzikalan nan Tzuka’a, led to a massive resurgence in technology and arts. Kzilida went down in history as one of the greatest leaders, and her successors carried on her values. For the next 10,000 EY, Dan Kalani saw their reach to the stars, their first offworld colony, and the discovery of the vyaktaji, a race in its civilization’s infancy, native to a nearby system. Their planet was a near identical match to Dan Kalani, and this was seen as divine providence, a manifest destiny of sorts. The vyaktaji were brought over as a slave force in order to “raise up” Dan Kalani’s lowest members of society.
The Toridian Conflict
During the rule of Tilika’d, the final successor of Ksilida’s dynasty, the Kal had already spread throughout a significant portion of the galaxy.
Kazheti’i, The Benevolent - (~1000 EY)
One of the distant granddaughters of Ksilida, Kazheti’i was even more liberal-minded. She had seen the institution of slavery create both financial and economic security, yet she felt in her heart that the same freedom of upwards movement that was afforded to the drones (who could ascend to attendant and perhaps someday a counselor) and the workers and soldiers (with the enslavement of the vyaktaji) should be afforded to all members of society, to all levels of the caste system -- in fact she believed the caste system was cumbersome and outdated, and that true progress could be achieved with its abolishment. The Council of course vetoed any of her legislative attempts, but her subliminal psionic connection trickled into the minds of all people.
During her reign, the non-reproductive workers and soldiers began to form permanent relationships with their house servant vyaktaji, reproductive drones began to breed with the vyaktaji and give rise to hybrid offspring who were all but immune to psychic control. This new immune “race” of beings did not naturally ascribe to a caste. Over time, the lines between castes began to blur. Higher castes felt very threatened. Eventually a civil war of sorts broke out between the uppercastes and the undercastes. The Council feared this change greatly -- they feared for the future of their civilization as well as their own position in government. Their fear became a secret plot to remove the Queen and replace her with one of her heirs. However, as time progressed and the Queen did not sway her opinion on ending the caste system despite how bad the civil war had become, one member of the Council named Ikartis began to speak of freeing themselves from the Queen’s “oppression” all together and ending the cycle of Queens in favor of an oligarchy ruled by the Council. With help from their own brainwashed hybrid-bred children, their plot to murder the Queen and all her daughters was carried out. The prime queen was murdered as the city fell to fire, and the Ikartis took control himself as a new leader.