Manifold Sky
Iknemi, Ikirsten 5, 10,000 AR (Fifth Day of the First Month, Year 10,000, Age of Reclaimation)
People
The History of Manifold Sky so far
There were various Lost Tribes of humanoids which occupied the Manifold before recorded history. Mythology is redolent of tales with 'animal people,' 'mutants,' and 'giants,' though whether or not these actually existed as such is up to speculation. What is known is that all such Lost Tribes civilizations collapsed before the invention of modern writing and recording techniques, whether scattering into isolated groups, breeding into existing ethnicities, or simply going extinct. One such Lost Tribe were the Lepidosians, a race of purportedly digitigrade humanoids with rabbit-like ears who went extinct, leaving behind only a few scattered ruins and unintelligible fragments of text in their wake.
Current Species & Cultures
The humans are a species which resides primarily within the Medial Tesseract, though they have spread quickly in the years since the first crossings of the inflection layers. The humans are multi-ethnic and more interested in fighting one another than fighting other species, though their greed for resources might one day turn them on the others. Notable human nations (in order of establishment) include Voxelia, Craterhold, the Free Faces League, the Commonwealth of C, and the Manifold Conservation Society.
The Rostrans are a perceptive race of sea-faring explorers, traders, and inventors from the Rostral Tesseract. The Rostrans generally have rich animistic traditions, close familiar ties, and a penchant for subtlety. Many Rostrans live in mutialistic societies with the Ovinex, a race of aggressive, bipedal sheep-people who are still early in their technological evolution, after the latter race lost the Rostran-Ovinex War. Notable Rostran nations include the Rostran Archipelago Confederacy, the Hermitage Island Fellowship, and the New Cobalt Protectorate, while the Ovinex Island Tribes is a loose polity for Native Ovinex alone.
The verdials are a race of humanoids who, whether through accident or design, were exposed to symbiotic lichens from the Caudal Tesseract long enough to become inhabited by them, becoming photosynthetic in the process. They are generally traditionalist, peaceful, reclusive, and community-oriented, though they share some of the humans' flexibility. Verdial engineering makes widespread use of organic materials, such as the giant fungi which define their home cube. Petalcap Vale is the largest verdial polity.
Needs & Relations
The rostrans are consistently torn between their need to trade and their desire to remain independent from growing human territorial ambitions. They have come to rely on ovinex assistence for many of their own efforts, but the ovinex are still not far descended from their slave-taking, sea-raiding roots; the rostrans would like to help the ovinex, but trying too hard might push their wooly brothers away.
The ovinex, simple and with little territory of their own, feel trapped by a world increasingly dominated by technologies they cannot reproduce on their own. While they want to get out into the world, they don't want to be exploited by humans or molly-coddled by rostrans forever. At the same time, as the communion between the rostrans and ovinex continues, the two cultures are increasingly finding that they cannot stand to be apart for too long. In short, the ovinex perspective of rostran 'uplift' efforts is mixed, and they have little close contact with other species.
The human nations are becoming crowded against one another and are chafing at being forced into contact with competitors for space, resources, and cultural legitimacy. The War of Reunification is a symptom of both resource limitations and the reopening of old wounds sustained all the way back when the Old Voxelian Empire exiled the Elovisian peoples and, later, when the expeditionary colonies secceeded from Voxelia. The humans need to expand beyond the Medial Tesseract, but they would rather not fight the other species unless forced. Inter-tesseract trade is increasingly a necessity to sustain burgeoning populations.
The verdials need trade, but they are equally concerned with preventing species from the Distal Tesseract, including the dreaded Distal Polyp and billowing hate from spreading into their home territories. The unique verdial physiology has helped prevent food shortages and steeled them against the unusual conditions of their home cube. They share the rostran wanderlust and human cultural ambition, driving them to interact with the other factions despite their relative self-sufficiency. Verdials face discrimination due to the 'infectiousness' of their lichen gift; ultimately, they desire to be accepted without fear by the other sentient races of the Manifold.
by BCGR_Wurth