Gannid

The Gannid are a humanoid race that share the same quadrant as the Terrans.

Overview

The Gannid are similar, superficially, to humans but with broader shoulders and jaws and with thick set features. The Gannid are ruled by a Grand Council which is elected from amongst their elders. The Gannid were once a slave race of a dead Empire but when their old masters Empire collapsed, the Gannid have become their own galactic polity. The Gannid are well known for their skill in construction and mining. They have become fairly strong traders and have become popular trading partners with the Tazzyn and the Rorn.

Gannid Physiology

The Gannid look human from a distance but close up the differences are clear. Gannid males generally have facial hair and are much broader and a little shorter than humans. They also have thicker, more "basic" looking features. They have blocky, rugged hands and a tough skeleton that make them very hardy beings.
Gannid life-span is a little longer than humans due to their tough immune system and a number of redundant features in their DNA. Gannid were subject to eugenics whilst a slave race which has given them a number of beneficial (and some not so beneificial) stable mutations
Gannid males outnumber their females by about 3:1 but there is no room for sexism in Gannid society. In fact women are more often than not the rulers of Gannid society, where the family is intensely matriachial. Inhertience is always down the female line in Gannid society

Gannid Culture

Gannid Culture is quite new by Galactic standards. For more than six hundred years the Gannid were a slave race that had no real culture of their own. Since their independence they have developed their own culture that is somewhat like Shaki culture but also has its own distinct difference.
The Gannid value hard work, endurance and honesty. They are race that have a fierce sense of pride, of justice and of fairness. They have little tolerance for arrogance. An object that was all style and no substance would be seen as a waste of time and metal to them.
The Gannid culture has evolved from being a race of slave-miners and so there are quite a few artifacts in Gannid culture that are evolved from that. Positions of high office are often old mine struts or supports. Gannid military helms are modernised versions of the old mining helms they used to wear. And Gannid "police" carry hammers too!
The Gannid do have stories and art but it is often considered rather primitive by other races. The Gannid are excellent engineers and are capable of crating some superb buildings and vehicles.
Gannid construction often looks somewhat Shaki in design, with a slight fish-like look to thier ships and vehicles.

Religion

The Gannid worship two seperate Gods. One is the "Greiph" which is a multi-faceted God. The other is the "Silenz" which is a singular, montheist God. This worship is usually lead by priests who live a life of deliberate poverty.
The Gannid believed for the longest time that they were a race that was "chosen" for some greater destiny which is why they were delivered from slavery by the supernova that destroyed the Shaki Empire.
The Gannid belive in a sort of afterlife. The Greiph grant a dead soul, who has been true to itself, a new life somewhere else. The Silenzei (worships of Silenz) believe there is a heaven in which only Gannid souls are welcome.

The Gannid and the "Old Masters"

Originally the Gannid were a slave race of the powerful and aggressive Shaki Empire. When the central sun of the Shaki Empire supernova'd, destroying their homeworld and Government, this ended Gannid slavery. The Shaki couldnt subjugate their now unruly slaves and were forced to give them their freedom. The Gannid took over many Shaki worlds, ships and resources and superficially, their culture resembles Shaki culture. However the Gannid view the Shaki as an oppressive and evil power who were "smited" by the Galaxy and would not like to be compared to their now extinct masters
The time of the Gannid "emancipation" from the Shaki Empire was about 1900 AD in human reckoning.

The Gannid Commonwealth

The Gannid took around 5 years to form a central government which was riven by feuds and in-fighting at first. However they quickly became an established trading power, using their incredible work-rate and mining prowess to become a power in their own right. The Gannid formed the "Commonwealth" which is ruled by a Council of Elders. Gannid politics is run by a central bureaucracy but is quite efficient. The "Guilds", loosely akin to the Big Four Corporations on Earth, are enormously influential in Gannid society and government
Tthe Commonwealth is ruled by the head of the Council of Elders who is generally referred to as the Chancellor by other races. His official title in the Gannid society is "Chairman of the Joint-Council". The Gannid dislike the concept of a ruling arisotracy or politcal class. The elders are the political and legislative body of the Commonwealth
The Gannid Empire fought a war to remain an independent race against the Karkouri but were able to resist the Karkouri. The Gannid were able to defeat their more organised opponents by waging a defensive campaign, by using superior Shaki warships and due to the immense distance between the karkouri Empire and the Gannid's worlds. After this war the Gannid were able to take control of more colonies and to expand to an empire of around 15 colony worlds.
The Commonwealth is considered a balancing "tripod" of interets:

The Guilds who represent massive Gannid corporations and have a huge amount of economic and political power

The Council of Elders, who are the representatives of the various colonies and the homeworld. They are the chief political agents

The Twin Circles who whilst they are a branch of Government, are the military and thus are aggressive and expansionist

The Council of Elders

This legslative body is formed from the senior politicians and leaders of the Commonwealth. The colonies are allowed to choose their own representatives to the council in whatever manner they wish. Thirteen councillors are appointed from the colonies and then seventeen are chosen from the homeworld. The Homeworld holds elections which are voted on electronically by the franchised adults. To vote, a gannid must have a certain amount of "credit" with the Commonwealth. Credit is gained by working, by serving in the bureaucracy or twin circles and by voting. Not voting, having debt, commiting crimes or being anti-social costs you credit and can put you into debt. Nearly 78% of the population are allowed to vote on average.

The elected council then chose one of their number to be "Chancellor" but most of the power is divided up very evenly. There are no political parties but some councilors are also members of the Guilds. The Guild Members often vote together and this gives them an increased amount of political power. There was a law against members of the Twin Circles being elected to the Council of Elders but this law was overturned.
The Council rules for between six and ten years. There are no term limits and once elected, only death or serious corruption can remove a Gannid councilor. There is surpsingly little corruption or graft within the Council.
The main responsibility of the council is staffing the bureacracy which keeps the Commonwealth moving. The Councillors generally chose able and intelligent administrators rather than political allies but there is some back-biting and influence peddling done to get spots in the bureacracy.

Chancellor of the Commonwealth

The Gannid Commonwealth is ruled, informally anyway, by the Chancellor who is the senior political figure. Some Chancellors have been very powerful whilst others have been barely able to rule

Famous Chancellors:

• Chancellor Vestarian -(2196-2205) considered a moderate and a reformer, he lead the Commonwealth into the Dhaugosk War. He developed a good working relationship with President Muray Rishi of the Federation before eventually his ill health forced him from office
• Chancellor Lyaravahn -(2205-2217) a former Twin Circles Officer who is considered a conservative and hoping to take the Commonwealth out of its recent troubles

Gannid Military

The Gannid military was initially an all volunteer force that crewed ex Shaki ships. They also hired Indirian mercenaries and have a good working relationship with the nomadic race. The Gannid formed a permanent professional armed force after their war with the Karkouri. The Gannid Military, known as the Twin Circles, is very influential and serving a term in the Twin is a pre-requisite to a serious government career.
Up until 2083 the Gannid had kept a low profile but in 2084 they began to up-scale their fleet, building more and larger ships, alarming the peaceful Mor-Du and Bl'Hud. The Gannid have a fairly advanced fleet and modern estimates put their fleet at around 200 or so fighting ships

The Twin Circles

The Twin Circles is a branch of the Gannid Government that encompasses the Gannid Military and its supporting wings. The Gannid initially had no military apart from an ad-hoc volunteer force crewing old Shaki warships. However after the Karkouri War they were forced to form a military.
The Twin Circles refer to the Administrative Circle (Known as the Valdim) and the Fleet Circle (known as the Hondak). The headquarters for the Twin Circles is on the Gannid homeworld but there are small instalations for one or both in every Gannid colony.
Service in the Twin Circles is now a volunteer professional force. The Twin Circles are reasonably well paid professions but are also hugely politically rewarding. Anyone who wishes to serve in senior Government is expected to serve in the military at some point. A term of service is at least six years long.

Gannid Officers

Gannid Officers are chosen during the basic training and given specialist training. Officers neednt possess any better education than enlisted men but instead are selected from those with leadership skills and vision. Officers are promoted to command positions fairly rapidly.
All Gannid officers follow the same rank structure no matter what branch of service they are in (administrative, army or fleet)
Rank Structure- Emeratian "Apprentice" (Equivalent to O0-O1) -the lowest ranking officers who are generally posted to learn at the shoulder of an older or more experienced fleet officer.
Espartian "Smith" (Equivalent to O1-O2) Once the officer has learned thier trade, they will be assigned a leadership position but will not yet be in command of much more than a section of a ship. In ground forces, Espartian's can take commoand of small ground units
Emakhatan "Forge-Leader" (Equivalent to O2-O4) A senior officer with training and most likely a commond of some kind. Emarkhatan's are treated with a lot of respect and represent the senior leaders within the Twin Circles. It is apparently very hard to reach this rank within the Gannid Twin Circles
Elakharatan "Master-Flame" (Equivalent to O5) A senior master with expertise in some subject, this rank always has commond of some kind of unit and is a powerful leader in his own right. Elakharatan's are revered in Gannid culture and it is apparently a great feat to ever reach this rank in your career.
Mirakavian "Lord of War" (Equivalent to X1-X3) The most senior military leaders in command of fleets, armies or other large units. A Lord of War has a huge amount of power and will most likely be escorted by his own personal retinue. No "Lord of War" can have the same command for more than 4 years to avoid them building in their own cult of personality. Lords of War are rare within Gannid society outside of wartime.
Alakharimm "The Lord of Black Fist" (Equivalent to X5) the senior commander of all Gannid forces, this rank is given out during war-time to the overall commander of all Gannid forces. At the end of the war, the Lord of Black Fist is expected to retire to a teaching post and leave active duty.
Gannid Ground Forces Gannid soldiers are known for being very well equipped and well armed. The Gannid prefer to use energy weapons but they also use a large number of personal missile launchers. Gannid technology produces alot of energy weapons of varying power. Gannid soldiers are very well armoured normally and their body-armor is very hard to penetrate.
Gannid ground forces are often considered to be slow but with heavy firepower. Gannid are superb at siege tactics from both sides.
Gannid troops are supported by tracked and wheeled vehicles that carry huge weapons for siege and for knocking out hard targets. They also use Fohatinn, a large mecha-style vehicle that wields a devastating "Messon" weapon that is used for knocking out other armoured vehicles and heavy targets.
Gannid troops disdain skirmishing and scouting and often use Indirian or Dhaugosk mercenaries for this purpose.
==== Gannid Warships ==== Gannid Warships are considered to be very advanced, just below Tazzyn and Tranoan technology and possibly superior in technology to Vatu and Karkouri technology. They possess advanced jump drives and are very fast. They are also equiped with advanced weaponary (generally powerful energy weapons like lasers or plasma weapons). They use a lot of missiles in space too.
Gannid Fleets emphasise a massive engagement style and use large scale deployments. However they are a strategically naive race having never fought in a major war
Gannid warships are generally armed along old Shaki lines, with a powerful spinally mounted weapon and then two smaller weapons at the "wings" of the hull. They have a limited broadside capacity (except in true battle-crusiers)

Gannid Foreign Policy

The Gannid have the 2nd shortest track record for foreign policy in the Quadrant
The Tranoans: Were initially very supportive of the Gannid but the distance between the two Empires has prevented closer relations. The recent aggressiveness of the Gannid disapointed the Tranoans Gannid militarism has all but ended any hopes of a lasting relationship between these two powers.
The Karkouri- Tried to conquer the Gannid in a war of occupation but were defeated. Since then the two races have had a cordial but distant relationship. The Gannid and Karkouri later formed a successful military and trading alliance in the face of what they saw as Federation expansionism. This lead to a decades long "Trade War" with the Federation and their allies. The military alliance eventually ended but the two continue to enjoy a successful trading relationship
The Tazzyn- Despite the huge distances between the two races, the two have a close relationship and at one stage the Gannid were contemplating becoming a Tazzyn client race. The Gannid trade extensively with the Tazzyn. This relationship has later cooled and reached its nadir during the 2170's when the Gannid formed a military alliance with the Federation
The Vatu- With no direct route between the two powers, there has been little contact between the two. The Vatu and Gannid fleets seem quite keen to engage each other
The Rorn- Until recently the two races had a mutual defence pact. This ended in 2092 and has since seen much Gannid sabre rattling. This ended in 2095 when the Federation deployed a task force to Rorn space The Gannid generally see the Rorn as their major trading rivals in the South-Eastern sectors but also regard them as Terran "puppets"
The Mor-Du- are very cautious of the Gannid. They trade with them but subject Gannid imports to sharp tariffs. The Gannid's pressure on the Mor-Du let up when they formed a lasting military alliance with the Tranoans
The Bl'Hud- are also cautious of the Gannid. They two subject the Gannid to trading tariffs
The Federation- The Gannid were friendly towards the Federation at first but regarded the lack of Terran interest in the Gannid as arrogance and gradually drifted away from them. The Gannid eventually formed a military alliance with the Federation's enemies, the Karkouri. This sparked a decades long "Trade War" which was devastating for the Federation's economy. Eventually the relationship improved a little leading to the shock (and lucrative) military trading alliance between the Gannid and the Federation in the 2170's. This came to an end in the 2180's and gradually tensions between the two powers have increased sharply

Gannid Technology

Gannid technology is ahead of the Terran, largely due to their inherited Shaki technology
The Gannid build very good mining technology, the best in the Quadrant
The Gannid also construct very good shielding technology