Ösös (ˈøsøs)

"You proclaim us bigots, yet you fail to see the evidence of your own eyes and ears. Of the Ascended, all but two have been daughters, sisters, mothers. They have, in their own ways, driven this galaxy towards a golden age more times than I can count. They have risen civilisations, averted wars, and finished them. They are, without question, our leaders - our guiding lights through the darkness.
"Then, let us look, shall we, at those two rare men who were struck by the Power and lived. Both survived their ascensions, to be sure, but what exactly were their people left with? A creature that flung itself into the sun, and a husk - that has not uttered a single word since his moment of glory, a millennium ago, but whose followers insist is still conscious within his flesh.
"What would you say that tells you? See - it's not prejudice. It's pragmatism."

— Aulikki Kreeta, Councilor for the Ösös

Basic Information

Anatomy

The Ösös are short, stocky humanoids, averaging 4'2" in height and 190lbs in weight, owing to their much larger percentage of body fat and muscle tissue in relation to the other species. They are, like all other sapient species, a carbon-based lifeform.

Genetics and Reproduction

Ösös reproduce via viviparity, like most civilised species in Ciraculum. As with the others, reproduction is achieved most commonly through sexual intercourse, with the resulting pregnancy lasting somewhere in the region of one galactic year. Childbirth is often difficult for Ösös women, but advances in modern medicine have made this very easy to manage. Nowadays, the odds of an Ösös woman dying in childbirth are a thousand to one.

Growth Rate & Stages

Ösös reach physical maturity at the age of twenty-five, whereupon they are considered an adult in the eyes of their society. Ösös have shorter lifespans than, say, the Vi'dam, but they are not the shortest-lived species in Ciraculum. The Ösös usually hit middle-age around seventy years old, are considered elderly when they reach a hundred, and on-average live to be around one-hundred and twenty years old. 
The oldest recorded Ösös at any given time - not including their Ascended - was Kein:u Tii, a well-regarded matriarch, who lived to the ripe old age of one-hundred and eighty-two, and died three years ago.

Ecology and Habitats

As mentioned previously, the Ösös homeworld of The Tears - known in their tongue as Jep Lyly - is worthy of its name. The planet is one giant archipelago, with islands of varying size dotted on its surface like freckles, breaking up an otherwise pure blue ocean. The high volume of water, combined with the planet's proximity to the sun, results in plenty of vapour travelling into the atmosphere on any given day - which, in turn, causes long and heavy rainfall. The Ösös raised on The Tears are accustomed to torrential downpours, thunder and lightning, and cramped conditions on their island - assuming they inhabit one at all.
All of this has left the Ösös as extremely strong swimmers and mariners - though the art of sailing has been slowly dying out for all but the species' fisherwomen, ever since the advent of in-atmosphere drives for spaceships. It doesn't make much sense to sail from point A to B over the course of a few days, if you can make the journey in minutes.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Ösös' ocean world has required them to eat a lot of the creatures that dwell within its waters, and as such, this species' digestive system relies heavily on the elements found therein. An Ösös travelling off-world will likely need to stock up on seafood, or know where to go to grab some traditional Ösösi cuisine. 
This does not mean they are unable to enjoy the cookery of other species, of course - but an Ösös who entirely foregos the food of their homeworld, going a couple of days without some good old fashioned hut or läy, will find themselves light-headed and weak. It is therefore recommended that Ösös try to maintain a well-balanced diet when off-world - for their own sake.

Biological Cycle

A trait of the Ösös found to be rather unusual involves the colour of their hair. Ösös hair is remarkably thick and vibrantly coloured, with long braids and chest-long beards being the norm in their culture. 
The truly odd quality their hair possesses, however, is its changeability. The Ösös seem to have a vestigial capacity for altering the pigment of their bodies - one that, over the millennia, has limited itself to their hair, allowing it to change to any colour on the spectrum at a moment's notice - most often to blend in with their surroundings. 
The transition is completely automatic, based on instinct - an uncontrollable reaction to outside stimuli. Blonde hair appearing the moment they step onto a desert world. Pale ashen locks when in the dull corridors of a spaceship. On The Tears, Ösös are likely to walk around with anything from blue to grey to green, dependent on where they are in relation to the ocean, the clouds, or what little land there is.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Life on the Ösösi homeworld of Jep Lyly (The Tears) is wet and cold, and it is rare for the sun to come out in force for any long stretch of time. As such, the Ösös have developed a slight capability for low-light vision, as well as enhanced hearing, permitting them to hear over the near-constant rainfall and thunder of their home.
An Ösös that travels outside of The Tears will likely undergo a brief adjustment period, in which they must grow accustomed to the unadulterated sounds of life all around them - an experience that can be overwhelming to some.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Examples of Ösös forenames are listed below.
Male: Huos, Juot, Kau, Kyömpen, Nuus
Female: Ämpːyy, Hä, Kerpä, Neehkä, Ötyi

Matronyms

A key feature in Ösösi naming convention is the matronym. Ösös names are threefold, containing a forename, a surname, and between the two, a matronym, incorporating the name of the Ösös's mother.
The masculine ending for matronyms is Kän, meaning "son".
The feminine ending for matronyms, as expected, is Kyit, meaning "daughter".
For example, an Ösös man named Huos has the family name of Pijäy, and a mother named Kerpä. So, his full name would be Huos Kerpäkän Pijäy.
Conversely, a woman named Neehkä has the family name of Näy, and a mother named Hä - meaning her full name is Neehkä Häkyit Näy.
Ösös who do not identify with either gender may choose either of these matronyms - or if they prefer, a more recent naming trend for non-binary Ösös is Koo, meaning "child". So, in this case, a non-binary Ösös named Kelkäsäi has the family name of Häälli, and a mother called Ötyi. So, their full name becomes Kelkäsäi Ötyikoo Häälli.

Major Organizations

The Eduskunta

The parliament which governs Ösösi space from The Tears, at the will and order of Prime Minister Mäin Kol - the republic's Ascended supreme ruler. At-present, the parliament has 120 seats - 20 for every system under their rule, with each of these consisting of the elected representative for that system and a "cabinet" of experts and officials they bring in to aid them in governing their constituency. While the government of the Ösös is seemingly democratic, every minister is beholden to Mäin Kol, who has consistently been voted back into her position for over three centuries.

Gender Ideals

The Ösös are not shy about their matriarchal society. In fact, the prevailing opinion in their civilisation is to be proud of this. The catastrophic failure of Jeuaus Koi - and the subsequent success of his widow, Mäin - marked a turning point for the civilisation's views on gender and the roles of men and women in their nation. For the last three centuries, the highest positions in the Ösös's parliament have been exclusively held by women, with the species' most influential men working in the fields of science and industry. While this has led to the Ösös seeing women as inherent authority figures, and thus being more likely to take a woman in a leadership position more seriously, several men have been known to rise above this disadvantage and win over the women under their command - be it as officers in the military, administrative managers, or even as captains of their own ships.
The majority of Ösösi men are defined by the women in their life, often viewed as a son, a brother, or a husband before being seen as an individual. Men with no such ties who strike out on their own experience difficulty, and are often urged to find themselves a wife to ensure they have a steady hand to guide them and to gain some measure of financial security, as the wage disparity between the sexes is relatively wide.
Activism has its place on The Tears, most commonly advocating for men's rights and the equal treatment of all, regardless of gender. Of course, there are fringes of this movement that merely advocate for turning the system on its head and converting to a patriarchy, but these voices are shunned by most - including those who merely call for an egalitarian society. Sadly, while the movement has made strides in creating better lives for Ösösi men, there is still a very long way to go.

History

Primitive Civilisation

The Ösös' civilisation somewhat bucked the trend of other planets, when it came to their first forms of government. After a period of about two centuries, in which countless forms of government were attempted and failed, the Ösös finally united under one flag around the first industrial revolution, forming a social democracy to best represent the interests of their newly-diverse peoples.
This government beat the odds in many ways, surviving all the way to the beginning of the space age, with several scientific golden ages allowing the Ösös to discover interplanetary travel and sublight drives only 250 years after their first assembly lines were created. From there, things began to move quickly.

The Early Space Age

With the discovery of the sublight drive, the Ösös were eager to explore the many wonders of their solar system, Aurin. Alas, their worst fears were realised, when they discovered a deeply inconvenient truth; their homeworld of The Tears was not just the only habitable planet in their system. It was, in fact, the only planet. In the vast expanse of space, all their explorers were able to find was an asteroid belt, a touch too close to the sun, and the sun itself - Aurin. Disheartened, they resolved to name the belt Siskapuoli (Half-Sister) and begin to establish bases there. The heat was uncomfortable, but the relatively cool star of Aurin at least didn't render it deadly.
Within five years, the Ösös had established their first asteroid station, carved into the very rock it sat upon. Over the next three decades, more followed, until there sat seven evenly-spaced stations in Siskapuoli, complete with heat shields and state-of-the-art air conditioning.
It was around the time that station eight began construction that their civilisation was changed forever.

Jeuaus and Mäin Koi

Two figures oversaw the construction of all seven stations on Siskapuoli - a married couple, by the names Jeuaus and Mäin Koi. Jeuaus - the husband - held a senior position in the government's expansion programme, and his wife Mäin was a leading engineer in her field. The pair were roughly sixty years of age. They had lived to see the beginning of the space age, to be among the first to venture beyond their world, and to come to terms with the notion that they were wholly along in their system, with nought but broken rocks to keep them company.
Resolving not to be beaten by this knowledge, however, the couple dedicated their lives to the furthering of Ösös interests. Over half of their adult lives were spent on the asteroid belt, overseeing the design and construction of each individual station, every one uniquely-situated to the shape and mass of the rock it occupied. It was an impressive feat - one that the Koi's believed they would be remembered for. As it happened, they were only half-right. They would indeed be remembered, but not for this.
Upon arrival at the eighth asteroid, intended to house one last station, Mäin's drones picked up an unusual energy signature during their routine survey of the rock. Something incredibly powerful resided deep into the snaking cave networks that ran through this asteroid - something that the drone's camera feeds were incapable of capturing. Merely looking at the thing caused them to shut down. Like a true engineer, Mäin was intrigued by this discovery, and her husband Jeuaus agreed to accompany her on a shuttle trip to investigate the anomaly.
There, in the core of the asteroid, they found what Mäin would later describe as "an empty spot in the universe - a missing piece - not a void, or a vacuum; somehow, less than even that." She would also describe how, as she prepared to contact their cruiser and advise them of what they had found, her husband surged toward the entity, thrusting his hand into the nothingness. Mäin claims not to remember what happened next, but infamous footage from the cruiser's black box show an impossibly-huge sphere of empty space, growing to envelop the asteroid, and - for lack of a better word - deleting the starboard side of the ship. Everyone on-board was vented into space and died in seconds. If any did survive the initial loss of pressure, then the explosion that followed most-surely disentegrated them. The blast was large enough to leave a noticeable gap in the asteroid belt - one that hasn't filled back up in the centuries that followed. The only individual who lived to tell the tale, was Mäin herself.
To hear her tell it, she awoke in the vacuum of space, drifting before the sun, her space suit torn and ruined beyond repair, the faceplate of her helmet smashed open. And yet, she did not die - nor did she need to breathe, or escape the impossible cold of space. It felt to her, she claimed, as though she were swimming in the oceans of her homeworld - pleasantly cool. She knew her husband was dead, and the loss threatened to drive her mad - especially as she floated amidst the debris of their cruiser, and the shattered corpses of her crewmates. She claims, however, that soon after, a voice spoke up in her mind - the voice of Jeuaus Koi, telling her to fly to the right.
True enough, she was able to manipulate her movement through the void, and a day later, passing Ösös military vessels picked up her signature, and brought her aboard. They were all stunned to find that Mäin had survived over a day in the vacuum of space - let alone that she had flown herself to them. The crew also noted that Mäin was giving off energy readings unlike anything they'd ever seen - large enough, perhaps, to destroy an entire planet. They did not, however, feel she was a threat.
After a hero's welcome back to The Tears, Mäin told her story to the Ösös people, cementing her as the figurehead, the face, of this fledgling civilisation, and marking the beginning of the end for the government who had reigned for nearly three centuries. While the values of social democracy were maintained, the Ösös would see fit to elect Mäin Koi as their ruler, over and over again. A democratic society, with an immortal goddess holding the majority.
What they could not have predicted, however, was the attention this momentous occasion drew to their homeworld.

First Contact

Less than a year after Mäin's election to the office of Prime Minister, unusual transmissions were received by the stations in Siskapuoli. What made them especially curious was that they appeared to be coming through in Ösösi, but from beyond their system. The first message read:
"Do not be afraid. Do not fire upon us. We come as friends."
Less than a month later, Ösös naval vessels made first contact with an extraterrestrial species, who introduced themselves as the Vi'dam. This incredibly advanced species was not lying. They had, indeed, come in peace, and began to educate the Ösös on what exactly they had found in that asteroid. As it happened, Mäin Koi had encountered a source of immense power from some unknown origin - but far from the only one. In fact, they claimed that five others had been discovered in the past millennium - four by their own species, and a fifth by their neighbours, the Brezi. They acknowledged the power held by the Ösös's Prime Minister, and invited them to join the galactic community at Serenity Station. Over the next few years, the Ösös were granted technologies and magical knowledge centuries ahead of their own. They were guided to their system's Ring Gate, and were taught in its activation. Then, when the Ring Gate was fully operational, and the Ösös were truly ready, the Vi'dam led their leaders through, and their true civilisation began.

Recent History

None except Mäin Koi remember a time before Serenity. The elderly of this species may have heard tales of the Golden Age from their grandparents, which in turn were passed to them by more distant ancestors, but no Ösös can claim to have seen it. The Ösös were the third species to join the council of Serenity, and have spent the last eight-hundred years expanding throughout Ciraculum as best they can. They have founded new colonies in more generously-laden systems. They have mastered the art of shipbuilding, and their vessels are renowned throughout the galaxy for their grace and agility. They have even played the role of their predecessor in that time, having discovered Zadaikra in the midst of their expansion, and welcoming them into the galactic community. All in all, the Ösös are a species to be respected and honoured amidst their peers, and in matters of the void, they are second-to-none.

Lifespan

120 years

Average Height

3'8" - 4'8"

Average Weight

190lbs