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Alephian:
[Laws, Codes, and Beliefs]
[Sociology]
[Religion]
"As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become."
- Joseph Smith
The Alephians are a nomadic space-faring culture that roams across the galaxy in vast worldships. Each worldship is like a nation unto itself, and is largely self sufficient. Each worldship can harbor an entire fleet of hundreds of capital ships in its vast folds. Like a small, self-contained world, it supports a vast metaverse with hundreds of millions of Alephian Immortals. The numerous Alephian corporations within the worldship buy and sell the precious commodities of space and raw materials, constantly restructuring old components to fabricate the latest machinery. Like some massive living organism, a worldship plies across the manifold, stopping at the occasional system to feed on raw materials, disgorge new ships, or even just trade and talk with the locals. All the while it is growing and mutating internally, as the Alephians continuously restructure the worldship from within to attain aesthetic and economic perfection.
The origins of the worldships is a secret the Alephians have guarded closely over the centuries. There are no known records of worldships discovered in the middle of construction. They are believed to originate from massive shipyards, which either lie far out in the frontier, beyond the Valtavian's known space entirely, or are extremely well hidden.
Although each worldship maintains a fair degree of autonomy, there is an overarching council, called the Elohim, which functions as the Alephian government. Each individual worldship is run and administered along the lines of a large public corporation. The ship's leader, the Exarch, is elected through a public shareholder's vote. The Exarchs of all the worldships together form the supreme council, the Elohim. The Elohim has the power to declare war, levy tax, and represent the worldships as a cohesive body.
The Alephian Order of Navigators forms the far reaching eyes and ears of the fleets. The order's navigators are famous for their skill in tracing difficult routes through the manifold. They sail out in sleek ships called glidrunners, fast and efficient long range exploration vessels. The best Navigators venture far out into the deep on long missions. Many are never heard from again. Those that do return bring back amazing tales and invaluable knowledge to the worldships. Alephian Navigators were the first to venture far core-ward and encounter the Ixtek.
The Alephians believe they are the descendants of an ancient elder race, and they seek to recover their origins. They certainly have explored considerably more of the local galaxy than the Valtavians, and many wonder what secrets lie in the vast databanks of the worldship metaverses. Slipping from system to system, wandering between the stars, they appear to be in an endless search. But for what, only time will tell.
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