Mudewei

Mudewei is the seat of the star-spanning empire of the Stenza, a race of cold-living aliens that evolved in the frigid north polar region and spread outward in search of resources and for the thrill of conquest. The Stenza do not colonize, as they have trouble finding a place that matches this particular region of the planet and suits their needs.   The polar region is mountainous, glacial, and there is a sea of a non-Newtonian supercooled fluid, which is referred to as the Ice Flats. This substance contains bacterial organisms which can be used for self-cleaning, healing minor cuts and scrapes, and for the nurturing of young until they are ready to emerge. Clans, or droga, roughly organize their settlements around it, the capitol city is close enough to feel wind off of it, and every so often, there are battles over certain sections of it, primarily for breeding grounds.   The axial tilt of the planet is such that this polar region only sees sunlight for roughly a couple of months out of the year, and this is met with much celebration. The other side of the coin is that half a year later, temperatures drop to an inhospitable level, driving the population south and/or off-world. This factor facilitated the spread of their influence across the Nine Systems once the Stenza developed space travel (that, and a "conversion at swordpoint" type mentality).   The primary currency is krin, the exchange rates of which with kavlons, forvalors, trynties, etc. are well known in the empire. The Stenza require that everyone is outfitted with a universal translator, primarily to prevent any form of resistance but it is also useful for communicating with professionals of all stripes. The "default", or lingua franca, is Mudeweian Stenza, and despite the translator it is possible to learn other languages spoken in the empire.

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