Medrin

The medrin (/mɛ.drɪn/) are a species originating from the planet Nethere, which has been isolated from the rest of Ealdremen for all its recorded history up until about 4340 CGC. In their own history across a multitude of cultures, they viewed themselves as the sole sentient and sapient species throughout not only their own planet, but possibly the rest of the universe. The events of the Chrono Stars War led to their "discovery" of the rest of the Ealdremen System, where the medrin found themselves to be a near-microscopic force on an enormous solar system-spanning stage in comparison to the interplanetary political powers in contact with one another for several thousand years. Along with the other newly-discovered planets, Nethere became of great interest to Ealdremen's political powers and major factions for territory, resources, and a foothold in this "new world". The medrin of Nethere have held their own with technology superior to anything else the rest of Ealdremen has, but there is a fear among all their societies — forced to ally or risk losing their independence and world to Ealdremen's greater political forces — that this will be nothing in the face of their newfound enemies' greater numbers.

As the war has gone cold, some medrin have taken the opportunity to try and make a new life outside Nethere, especially as propaganda from the rest of Ealdremen and activists within Netherian cultures put a spotlight on the myriad of historical atrocities within Nethere's nations. In particular, the revelation of the genocide of the seremindir, the only known truly indigenous sapient species to the planet with the medrin's nativity recently called into question, at the hands of Terdeu's government has become a common reason against the continued existence of particular independent Netherian countries. The medrin are by and large in a position of turmoil and struggle, and no one seems certain what their ultimate fate will be.

Image gallery

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  A male medrin.

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  A female medrin.

Overview

Medrin comprise a species closely resembling kronakkos and sigkronakkos both in superficial appearance and in genome sequences. Their most distinctive difference is on the horns on their heads, which generally protrude from their foreheads and extend upwards or emerge from behind their pointed ears and curl around them. All three species share the same bipedal body structure, relatively flat faces with two eyes towards the center above their slightly protruding noses, and five digits on their hands and feet. Although medrin have mostly soft skin and thin body hair across their bodies, they also have osteoderms across their skin which vary in frequency and placement depending on the individual. However, the osteoderms appear to be vestigial or serving some unknown evolutionary adaptation, as they are never numerous or dense enough to provide reasonable physical protection. They have longer hair atop their heads and sometimes on their faces, and their hair colors can come in all sorts of hues naturally with less saturated tones being more common. Medrin skintones typically vary from cream to near-pitch black, echoing the usual variation of their "relatives" elsewhere in Ealdremen.

Culturally, medrin have been isolated from the rest of Ealdremen for an unknown number of years, even if evidence suggests they may have originated from the kronakkos and sigkronakkos they closely resemble. Their smaller population size — as they are limited to one planet with relatively little terrain suitable for their biology — is something of a boon in some regards, as it lets them have more structure and consistency across their population in terms of education and political unification in the face of an external threat. They have technology comparable to and sometimes even exceeding that of the Millennial Calm's highest achievements, and it is widely known that this is both their main defense against overwhelming numbers and their greatest asset in negotiations.

Because they are limited to the planet Nethere and have not had time to settle beyond it in any great number, medrin politics and Nethere politics are by and large synonyms for one another. Because of this, individual medrin, even ones outside of Nethere, will typically be viewed with hostility by non-medrin, as Nethere is openly hostile to the major political powers that dominate Ealdremen politics. Within their societies, medrin commonly enjoy a baseline education that exceeds the standards of less advanced parts of Ealdremen, but scrutiny has fallen on their governments, most notably their most populous nation of Terdeu, for recently exposed atrocities such as their covert genocide of an entire sapient species called the seremindir.

Etymology and other names

The name medrin comes from the Avoie word for "people"; as a culture that viewed themselves as the only people up until very recently, the word was ingrained in the Avoie language as meaning a member of this species legally, anthropologically, and biologically. All Netherian languages, even though they have a different word for "people," hold similar concepts and have separate recently-established terms for other kinds of "people".

Medrin are also sometimes called "Netherians" or a similar derivative after their homeworld, though this name has been contested due to it erasing the determinated existence of or possible existence of other native species to Nethere (with the extinct seremindir as one such example). Others object to the term Netherian due to it simply violating typically agreed-upon names for species, both Kin and Unkinned, where no other species is called after a planet in modern-day language. These linguistic objections are sometimes dismissed as "appealing to antiquity" in the sense of only caring that the term sounds "outdated" as opposed to caring if the term is accurate. Medrin who speak languages other than Avoie tend to use terms like Netherian when the distinction between a person from and not from Nethere is important to the context, especially when dealing with non-Netherians.

In derisive contexts, medrin may be called "horned kronakkos" or "Netherian kronakkos" on account of their physiological and genetic similarities to kronakkos. These terms carry a context of medrin not being a distinct entity unto themselves, an idea that virtually every medrin, even one who agrees that kronakkos and medrin have shared genetic lineage, would vehemently be opposed to for one reason or another. Should medrin be declared as a subspecies of kronakko, they will lose the political power needed for self-advocacy they may have had as a distinct Kin.

While theoretically someone could call a medrin a "horned sigkronakko" and be understood, as they have the same resemblances to sigkronakkos as they do kronakkos, this term is not in any widespread use, likely because the sigkronakkos' defining feature of altering their outward appearance is not shared by medrin. Without this trait, even though the two species may be similar in appearance and genome, medrin are more easily considered "separate" from sigkronakkos. An individual calling a medrin a "horned sigkronakko" would likely be from an area where they do not interact with many, if any at all, kronakkos and carries a connotation of someone being from a sheltered or backwater region where sigkronakkos happen to be a majority, such as certain nations throughout less developed parts of the planet Sigzlor.

Distribution

It is overwhelmingly rare to find a medrin beyond Nethere or nearby stellar space, especially as their physiological similarities to kronakkos and sigkronakkos enable them to, at times, "pass" as a kronakko or sigkronakko. Medrin who live outside Netherian societies, even if they cannot or simply choose not to disguise themselves as another species, are further incentivized to conceal their existence from reporting agencies or other arms of the government. As such, the true number of medrin throughout the Ealdremen System is unknown, though it is widely agreed that medrin living in a non-Netherian nation make up a statistically insignificant number of the entire medrin species or the populations where they live.

Census data from Terdeu's government indicates that there are around 250 million medrin throughout Nethere, though this number is heavily disputed by statisticians and biologists from both the Veriol Alliance and the Gerualdi Union, as they hold that the size of Nethere's habitable regions and Nethere's own planetary history make such a large population unlikely. Data available to analysts from outside Netherian regions is limited, but the most commonly believed "true" population of medrin based on available knowledge is around 60 million.

It is estimated that as few as 200 medrin to as many as 1,000 may be living outside of Netherian nations, with lower estimates proposed by Terdeu and higher theorized by non-Netherian census data.

Biology

As a species, medrin have an upright body posture and gait, and it is rare for them to exhibit bilateral asymmetry. When they do, the differences between either side of their bodies tend to be aesthetic in nature and relatively benign, or they are caused by events past the individual's birth.

Medrin have five digits on their hands and feet with their hands having opposable thumbs and their toes assisting in balance, particularly when running. While they can reach relatively high speeds when sprinting, medrin are more endurance runners naturally and require training to exceed speeds higher than their species average.

In sensing the world around them, medrin primarily rely on sight and can perceive visual details well compared to other species. They are especially adept in lower-light conditions that tend to make other visually-inclined species struggle, but they are incapable of quickly navigating in the total absence of light even if they have full access to their other senses. Unlike many other species that see well in dim light, medrin do not have any noticeable disadvantage in well-lit conditions and discern light and shadow well from one another. In conjunction with sight, medrin tend to rely on their sense of hearing for navigation in the world around them, and studies have demonstrated that the removal of a medrin's ability to hear, if they have grown up with it, dramatically reduces the accuracy of their spatial awareness. As with many species, however, individuals who have poorer than average or a total absence of these senses adapt to relying on other senses and means, and their brains are shown to essentially rewire and reuse "unused" portions of the brain for comparable functions.

While medrin have advanced olfactory senses, their noses cannot layer scents in ways that other species can, and a medrin's good senses of sight and hearing tend to be how they first perceive the world; consequently, it is a common belief throughout Netherian cultures that a medrin's sense of smell is weaker than that of animals (and, recently, other sentient species throughout Ealdremen). Scientific studies show that medrin are sensitive to common smells associated with their own species as well as those associated with predatory species, such as blood. Their senses of smell and taste are closely related, and diminishing one will inherently reduce the efficiency of the other. Medrin tongues are especially sensitive to and often repulsed by bitter tastes, thought to be an adaptation to prevent ingestion of potentially toxic or harmful substances.

Medrin primarily touch things in their environment with their hands, which have increased sensitivity compared to most other parts of their body. Netherian studies and experiments indicate that medrin have more pronounced senses of touch than most animal species, which is in line with the sensitivity displayed in kronakkos and sigkronakkos throughout the rest of Ealdremen.

To breathe, medrin intake air from their mouths and noses, which goes to their lungs. They require oxygen for an atmosphere to be breathable to them, though their lungs are unaffected by elements such as nitrogen. Medrin mouths are also used to take in sustenance such as food and water, though they can receive nutrients intravenously with medical intervention if their mouths are not usable for whatever reason. The teeth of a medrin are typical of omnivorous species with flat and wide molars suitable for chewing and grinding food (especially plant matter) and thinner but more sharp teeth towards the front that can puncture and tear weaker surfaces. A medrin's bite is relatively weak compared to other species due to their jaw shapes and the small size of their mouths, and a medrin's teeth would often struggle to draw blood from their own species in spite of their soft skin making them vulnerable to physical injury. However, if enough weight is applied, a medrin's bite can do some damage to another individual, particularly if they target a vulnerable part of the body.

Medrin exposed to strong amounts of androgens during their growth generally are around 1.75 - 1.93 meters tall. Those exposed to estrogens during growth are usually shorter, typically ranging between 1.65 and 1.75 meters tall. They are slightly heavier than their kronakko counterparts in spite of having similar heights; a medrin's height is correlated to their weight with an average medrin weighing around 65kg.

Physiology

The modern-day function of some of the medrin species' most distinctive visual markers compared to related species — the osteoderms across their skin and their horns — are purely aesthetic and cultural in nature. The calcified deposits of the osteoderms do not appear to provide any meaningful physical protection from injury, especially as their placement on medrin bodies appears to be altogether random with even enormous variation between closely related individuals. They can serve as means of identifying one medrin from another, but brain scans show that medrin more commonly use facial shape, body silhouette, horns, and hair to identify each other subconsciously, not osteoderms.

While a medrin's horns are of great social importance across all their known cultures, they do not serve any obvious physiological function. Historically, Netherian biologists viewed their horns as a vestigial trait that was never lost as the species became increasingly civilized and developed language. This simple explanation has been called into question with the sequencing of medrin genomes and showing them to be intimately related to two Ealdremen species extant elsewhere — if the medrin are a recent offshoot of either kronakkos or sigkronakkos, then there is no obvious reason for the species to develop horns in such a rapid span of time. However, with few medrin available for proper experimental studies to compare them to kronakkos and sigkronakkos, it is likely that why medrin developed these unique traits will go unexplored and remain in the realm of theory for years to come.

Locomotion

Medrin have an upright bipedal, land-based locomotion on two plantigrade feet with a symmetrical gait. A typical medrin is capable of running at a sustained speed of nine to ten kilometers an hour. A healthy and fit medrin can most often maintain this speed from thirty to sixty minutes depending on their personal training and endurance.

Medrin are not native swimmers or climbers, but their fingers are strong and long enough to grasp and support their weight while climbing, and they have enough upper body strength to propel their bodies through water. While they are not the quickest of climbers or swimmers, they have enough endurance to utilize either form of movement if needed.

Medrin are incapable of air-based travel without technological or magical aid. In contexts where medrin have been granted artificial wings, they display no natural instinct for flight and require assistance to even practice the basics of flight in controlled environments.

Hormonal polymorphism

As mammals, medrin display more hormonal polymorphism than non-mammalian species. Similar to kronakkos, androgens are correlated with greater muscle development, body hair, larger sizes in height and weight, and increased thinning of hair atop the head as the individual ages. Estrogens are correlated with less body hair, softer skin and fewer osteoderms, shorter horns, smaller sizes, and the development of breast tissue.

Hormonal changes and exposure along with sex chromosomes during fetal development determines the sexual reproductive systems an individual will have. Exposure to particular hormones after birth can change secondary hormonal characteristics in medrin, though the changes are relatively mild compared to fetal development and only alter secondary hormonal characteristics.

Reproduction

The most common form of reproduction for medrin is through sexual intercourse between two individuals with compatible sexual chromosomes wherein sperm and an egg have a chance to combine inside the egg-carrier's womb. An infant carried to term in a typical pregnancy is born around 270 to 290 days after conception. It is rare, even compared to related species, for medrin to have more than one child per pregnancy. Fewer than 1% of the entire medrin population is estimated to be a twin with triplets (and other instances of multiple births in a single pregnancy) being seen as a medical impossibility.

Medrin are incapable of any form of asexual reproduction without external aid. Such instances are either done with the creation of genetic clones of a single individual, or by combining DNA from multiple individuals, often with bone marrow samples in place of either an egg or sperm (though not both). Although such examples of external fertilization are relatively common throughout many medrin societies, it is rare, though not unheard of, for a child to be grown in an entirely artificial environment from conception to "birth". These environments are prohibitively expensive to build and maintain, and viable fetuses created from external fertilization are normally carried to term in a natural womb as a result. Governments of countries with falling birth rates, such as Terdeu, even incentivize being a surrogate parent in this way with financial boons and government aid that lasts well after the child is old enough to be separated from the person that gave birth to them.

Related species

Medrin are nearly genetically identical to kronakkos and sigkronakkos. Analysis of the three species' genomes have found so little difference between them that it casts doubt on if the medrin should be considered a separate species at all.

Crossbreeding between a medrin and either a kronakko or a sigkronakko is theoretically possible. However, medrin have not been in contact with either kronakkos or sigkronakkos for there to be enough data on the statistical likelihood of such a union producing a viable fetus, let alone if that fetus would develop into a healthy child. Furthermore, it is not known if a theoretical medrin hybrid would be sterile or if they would be capable of reproducing themselves.

Subspecies

Medrin do not have any extant subspecies. Their historical records indicate that different horn shapes sometimes were used to denote nationality and thus a societal "race," but this has fallen out of use with some historians thinking it has not been a common mindset since the Scouring Period, an era of history where most medrin were migratory and transitory due to planet conditions. As a result, these historians contend, there would have been more intermingling between individuals of different horn shapes, leading to more varied societies in horn appearance and resulting in horns ceasing to be a reliable marker of nationality or place of origin. Because of how unfamiliar the concept of "subspecies" in a sapient people is to modern medrin, some Netherian media which use this sort of perspective due to being set in an older time period (or a fictional location based on one) are accused of "cultural influence" from the remainder of Ealdremen, where there is a greater emphasis on legal personhood based on species and where some species have contentious societal histories involving different morphologies or subspecies.

Sociology

Medrin are an overall naturally social species with countless examples of small communities and expansive cities, indicating an ability to adapt to a variety of social conditions. Even in small communities, there is often an established structure and sense of law in place, whether it is assigning individuals to particular tasks to having someone decided as the leader and overseer of the community. Across cultures, medrin favor cooperation and the division of labor, indicating a preference for communal living as opposed to self-sufficiency.

In close relationships, medrin tend to favor smaller "in-groups" with a trending bias for individuals they knew as children. This tendency is called cloriais in Avoie, translatable roughly as "unhorned bias," namely, the bias formed in one's youth (before horns have grown in). Evolutionary psychologists within Nethere tend to see this bias as an adaptation of familial bonds to facilitate social bonding to individuals that might not be of direct blood relation. While it is fully possible for medrin to form intimate relationships with people they meet later in life, it is comparatively rarer; Netherian studies have shown that medrin individuals who fall out of contact with those they knew in youth tend to not have as many close relationships as those still in contact to people for whom they may have cloriais. More darkly, the phenomenon of cloriais is associated with a psychological inability to maintain intimate relationships as an adult due to lacking close relationships as a child, as though the lack of "blueprint" for intimacy means the medrin brain struggles to adapt in adulthood. It has been compared to learning languages where it comes easily to the malleable brain of a child but can be a struggle for an adult to the point of true "fluency" becoming impossible over time. As such, medrin psychologists emphasize positive early childhood experiences.

Cloriais has a recently-dubbed counterpart in aimisme, or "the state of being loved". This is a phenomenon that shows that relationships which overcome cloriais are, on average, reported to be more fulfilling and even possibly healing to someone with a dysfunctional or disorganized approach to relationships on account of a childhood bereft of them. Critics of the theory point out that these studies have a survivorship bias in them; if a relationship exists now, it must either be derived from cloriais, or it must have been strong enough to overcome this natural tendency in medrin psychology. Aimisme's proponents dismiss these claims as true refutations and continue to push for further studies, especially as the possibility of medrin living away from Nethere — and thus other medrin — grows all the more possible with each passing year.

A noted distinction between the sociology of both kronakkos and sigkronakkos is that medrin cultures do not seem inclined to spirituality or faith, with such examples in medrin culture happening at a far lower rate compared to their general population. Many medrin languages are even bereft of words relating to gods entirely with their closest equivalents being in creatures from the Ravel, thought to have been revered as guides and protectors (though not gods from a modern Ealdremen perspective) in older times.

Notable cultures

Terdeu

The vast majority of medrin live within the nation of Terdeu, the most advanced and populous society throughout the planet Nethere. To most people, both medrin and non-medrin, Terdeu and the medrin species are interchangeable, especially as it pertains to culture and history. Throughout Nethere's history, Terdeu has been the locus of innovation and trade, and its republic-based government is the blueprint for several other nations throughout the planet.

Modern-day Terdeu is organized and structured to a bureaucratic fine point; when a child is born in Terdeu, records are kept of their life's major events through their death — and sometimes even after, as changes to wills or other posthumous decisions must be accounted for somewhere in a government registry. This meticulous nature often extends to its people as well, where they are stereotyped as being good timekeepers and viewing lateness as a social taboo. Furthermore, citizens of Terdeu will tend to value conformity to the "proven" ways of their country's recent history, especially when it comes to education; children are expected to be enrolled in pre-education programs as early as possible, where established methods of teaching are meant to advance their capabilities in critical skills such as speaking, reading, writing, and math. This standardized education can be found across all levels of a child's adolescence and into adulthood; while there is more variety in apprenticeship and training programs approved by Terdeu's government for working adults, they have all been reviewed and tested against other programs to ensure compliance with the government's requirements for effective training.

Biosociology

Medrin cultures are often hierarchical in some way, thought to be a "translation" of prehistoric instincts towards small but structured groups of typically related individuals led by the most physically fit members of the group. As a naturally social species, however, they would need some form of conflict resolution as their social structures grew in size. Within Nethere, where the medrin species' horns are seen as a long-standing evolutionary trait inherited across millions of years, their horns are thought to be originally for settling disputes non-lethally, perhaps with dominance displays or by interlocking horns in a duel of strength and focus. While this perspective is questioned by scholars from elsewhere who think medrin horns must be a recent change, medrin naturally emphasize horns across their cultures; in archaeological digs, even the simplest of depictions of a medrin have prominent horns, and representations of powerful individuals emphasize their horns in art or jewelry. On the opposite end, hornlessness is stigmatized throughout every known medrin culture with destruction of someone's horns being tantamount to mutilation. Given this consistency, regardless of how ancient or recent the addition of horns to medrin physiology may be, it is generally agreed upon that medrin have a biological tendency towards "horn respect" in their cultures.

Linguistics

As with the species they share most biological similarities with, medrin have flexible vocal cords that are not obstructed by membrane or tissue, giving them a wide range of vocalizations in conjunction with their flexible, flat tongues and having lips capable of making different shapes. Ealdremen linguists based outside of Nethere believe that medrin "ought" to have more linguistic variety than they do. All extant languages native to the medrin are similar to one another and are often full of cognates, if they're not outright mutually intelligible.

Based on these traits, it's thought that the often intonation-based languages of the medrin are common due to their flexible vocal cords and varied voice pitches; without these physiological features, medrin would have "flatter" languages comparable to Ealdremen species without lip shapes or with constrained vocal cords. This linguistic quirk is shared with multiple languages commonly spoken among kronakkos and sigkronakkos, indicating that it's possibly a natural element to languages spoken by these species.

Avoie, the most commonly spoken language throughout Nethere, is an unusual anomaly among these languages found throughout Nethere, as it only has varied intonation specifically with yes or no questions, where inflection naturally rises towards the end of the sentence. Native Avoie speakers often struggle with tonal or inflection-based foreign languages, but the presence of inflection of lesser-spoken languages among the medrin indicates this is a cultural deficiency, not a biological one.

Because of their flexible hands, medrin tend to incorporate gestures while speaking like many bipedal species in Ealdremen, with infant medrin learning to associate concepts, words, and gestures with one another. In particular, they learn to subconsciously place a particular emphasis on the posture of one's head. In medrin-dominated cultures, the lowering of the head — and thus pointing one's horns at someone else — is often an offensive gesture (in contrast to how it is generally a meek or deferential gesture in many kronakko cultures). Some medrin cultures will also point with the head in some way rather than the hands, often specifically directing someone's attention with the direction of their horns. Neurological analysis of medrin observing gestures shows that portions of their brains associated with language comprehension will activate neurons when observing gestures even of languages they do not speak, indicating a biological tendency towards gestures.

The hand structure of the medrin is likely the source of their counting systems along with their distinctive horns. The most common counting system among the medrin is base-12, thought to originate from having five fingers on each hand and then two horns. Other medrin-originated languages have counting systems similar to those found among other five-fingered species, most commonly base-5, base-10, and base-20.

Due to the medrin's isolation from cultures other than those found throughout Nethere until several decades ago, many medrin linguists once believed that the variety of languages throughout Nethere — or lack thereof — indicated some sort of "inevitable linguistic evolutionary outcome". With the knowledge of similar species speaking wholly different languages from the medrin, these theories have been revised, and the surrounding theories of why Nethere has so many similar languages have largely fallen by the wayside.

Social status

As of 4364 CGC, medrin are categorized as Unkinned and have been since their "discovery" in 4340 CGC. Major factions such as the Alamír Empire, the Veriol Alliance, the Nazdrovie Pact, and the Gerualdi Union consider Nethere an enemy; the hostility of Nethere to these political powers is generally seen as the reason for why the medrin species as a whole is Unkinned. However, Netherian analysts (and even some from outside Netherian nations who are more sympathetic to the medrin) contest this, as they cite early conquest attempts from these foreign powers that did not count medrin as a proper species even before hostilities were reciprocated.

Those in favor of Nethere separatism, both within and outside of Nethere, often cite fears of the medrin species becoming functionally extinct due to interbreeding with the much more populous kronakkos and sigkronakkos. Opponents of medrin integration into society, if they do not adopt biological justifications for the continued separation, tend to cite open hostility from Nethere's major powers and said powers' recent history of genocide against Nethere's only known native sapient species, the seremindir. The more leniently-minded might suggest that medrin could be counted as Kin if their governments were to acknowledge their extinction of the seremindir, but others see the medrin as too demonstrably war-like and dangerous to be brought into "proper" society on any sort of mass scale.

Nazdrovie Pact

The cross-planetary nature of the Nazdrovie Pact and their notable population of sigkronakkos, another species closely related to medrin, is also seen as a likely "home" for Nethere in greater political dealings. The Nazdrovie Pact's general stance of allowing nations to remain independent is seen as overall compatible with Netherian governments; however, opponents of this theory suggest that the Nazdrovie Pact would be spread too thin if it attempted to establish relations with Nethere and keep it fortified against possible attacks, and they also cite the Nazdrovie Pact's historical pain with colonialism as making an alliance with Nethere ideologically impossible.

Veriol Alliance

It is generally thought that it is unlikely that the Veriol Alliance and Nethere will become allies, as the nation of Terdeu does not abide by Allied standards of government and is historically resistant to change from within, let alone due to external pressure from a hostile foreign power. Terdeu's spokespeople have made statement after statement of refusal to allow foreign powers to dictate how they are to manage their people. On the other side, the Veriol Alliance's political figures have been the most outspoken in regards to the fate of the seremindir, and more than one politician lobbying for office has stated plainly that they view the complete dissolution of Terdeu's government as paramount for not only the safety of Nethere's people, but for the rest of the system, as any government complicit in genocide once will do so again.

Critics of the Veriol Alliance suggest that the Alliance's attitude towards the medrin and their governments is hypocritical on account of Allied nations being guilty of similar crimes as what the medrin are accused of. These accusations are regular talking points among Netherian politicians, typically used to highlight the untrustworthiness of the Veriol Alliance.

Alamír Empire

Similarly to views of the Veriol Alliance and the medrin, the Alamír Empire's structure makes Nethere's absorption into the Empire unlikely unless done by force, even though Imperial territories hold the greatest number of kronakkos throughout all the Ealdremen System. Were Nethere to become part of the Empire, Terdeu's government would be largely dissolved and replaced with Imperial figureheads, either entirely foreign to Terdeu or selected from Terdeu's citizens by Imperial political powers. While some smaller Netherian nations may accept the change so as to improve their odds in the new political landscape they've found themselves in, it is known within and outside of Terdeu that this nation, which holds a disproportionate amount of Nethere's population, resources, and power, would sooner go to open war than surrender and dissolve.

Gerualdi Union

Publicly and officially, the Gerualdi Union is at war with Nethere and thus the majority of the medrin people, though this is generally understood to just be a "cover" so as to avoid disrupting relations with the Veriol Alliance, Alamír Empire, and Nazdrovie Pact. These factions did actual battle in Netherian space and, in some cases, even on Netherian soil, and the risk of openly allying with any Netherian governments far outweighs any possible benefit. The Union is known to have an interest in the more-advanced technology that the medrin hold, however; if Nethere brokers peace with perhaps even one of its current major enemies, the Gerualdi Union is likely to reconsider their stance on Nethere and the medrin as a whole.

There are accusations that the Gerualdi Union is responsible for the proliferation of medrin throughout non-Netherian territories. In addition to their tradeships courting medrin engineers in hopes of gaining access to their technological brilliance, Union merchants are accused of smuggling medrin in exchange for exorbitant amounts of money.

History

The history of the medrin species is rendered murky by Netherian nations' hostility to outside cultures, which generally view the medrin's own sense of their history as incomplete or even entirely fabricated. Outsiders place a particular focus on the government of Terdeu, known to have genocided the seremindir species and concealed the entire existence of the species from their people for an unknown number of years; based on this, they contend that historical accounts from the medrin cannot be trusted. Medrin often view the rest of Ealdremen's interpretation of their own history as projecting their political desires onto the medrin by calling them a subspecies of an extant Kin and tying the history of the medrin to cultures they did not know existed until a few decades ago. On either side of this debate, data of all kind is scrutinized, picked apart, and often discarded when presented by someone of the opposite viewpoint, and key artifacts or archaeological findings that could support the "opposing" side are likely kept concealed.

Netherian historical perspective

This section details the generally agreed-upon history of the medrin species from the perspective of Netherian nations and most medrin. While it is possible for an individual medrin to believe this history is incomplete, incorrect, or otherwise untrustworthy in some way, the fact still remains that this is almost certainly the history that they were taught by their culture and society even into adulthood.

Antiquity

The "ancient" medrin is portrayed as utilizing Chrono in various forms, though archaeological evidence suggests that magic was not understood in these antiquated days. References to magic as being passed from parent to child indicate that such ancient cultures thought of magic as something one could only be born with; if someone were to develop magic later in life, they were viewed as always having had that potential and needing time or a tutor to realize it. Spells did not appear to be standardized except within families or in master-apprentice relationships, where particular methods of magic would be passed down through generations. As societies grew from a few families to proper cities, prolific mages seemed to dictate the course of society and take on positions of leadership. Technological advancements appeared to largely serve as replacements for mages so that they could focus on governance and advancing their craft. These governing mages tended to establish methods of acceptable spellcraft within a culture, though some Netherian historians argue that even a powerful mage would be overthrown if their magic were not culturally acceptable to the rest of the population, and so culture informed which mages rose to power, not the other way around.

Rarely, some cultures seemed to abandon magic altogether for sometimes unclear reasons. Occasionally there would be an event of some kind that seemed to be a magical disaster or related to a tyrannical mage leader, but in others, magic simply seemed to stop appearing in their cultural records. Some contend that the absence of evidence doesn't necessarily mean there was no magic, simply that the society may not have deemed it important or been able to record it. However, this view has yet to take root in Netherian pop culture. In media originating from Terdeu (which is often exported to elsewhere throughout the planet), the antiquated "ancient hero" who relies solely on their wits and the technology of their era is a common character not only in historical fiction or mythologized stories, but as a trope in stories closer to the modern day. In such tales, the character will not always literally "not use magic," but instead resists the most common form of power at the time.

As societies grew, they often warred with one another, typically with massive (relative to their population size) armies without magic backed by a scarce few mages. Most societies seemed to value mages too heavily to risk their lives in battle, even if they could sway the tides dramatically with their power, particularly because mages held so much political power. As a result, warfare seemed to be almost a balancing act of determining what mages would be powerful enough to alter the outcome of a battle without disrupting society in that mage's absence — which could become permanent should the mage be killed. Euphemisms and titles related to the slaying of mages held high prestige in many of these old cultures, and it seemed that some societies valued those capable of killing enemy mages so highly that they would even grant positions of power comparable to mages themselves to such heroes.

The scouring

The term scouring refers to the transitory behavior of numerous Netherian cultures due to a pattern of arcane winds. By studying Chrono signatures in glaciers and icecaps and comparing them to their estimated age, it is thought that civilizations around this age were unable to settle for long on account of excessive contamination in the air brought on by an influx of Chrono. While not every culture was migratory during this era, such "safe" locations to establish permanent settlements were scarce. Artifacts from the Scouring Period are often difficult to trace the origins of unless they match a relatively well-documented culture from this era. Due to the nature of the people that lived during this time, it is relatively common for these artifacts to be uncovered during excavations for construction work, and there are often stories of laypeople finding them on somewhere on their property.

The founding of Terdeu

The nation of Terdeu is an example of a rare stationary culture during the Scouring Period. It grew out of the ancient city-state Terais-Deu in the fertile Rêt Nors Valley, where the tall mountains are believed to have protected settlements from the Chrono-dense air common throughout the rest of the planet. As more settled in the area, power is thought to have gradually become concentrated in the agricultural parts of the city, as wayfarers through the area were able to trade for preserved food to take with them on their journeys. As it grew, Terais-Deu developed a democratic system of governance where those that owned land had voting power proportional to what they owned, as their land was believed to be a representation of their "stake" in the community and their contributions to it. Because of this, power increasingly concentrated into the hands of those with the largest farmland territories, and they, in turn, needed assistance from more than just their families to maintain these expansive properties. As farm work became more structured and a "job" in the modern sense, the owners of these territories and their families had more leisure time, leading to a cultural boom of art and philosophy.

Early industrial period

The industrial era of Nethere is generally agreed upon to have started within the heart of Terais-Deu, where the Terdeu Chemical Enlightenment began about a thousand years before the modern-day — the equivalent of around 3340 CGC using Ealdremen's calendar. During this period, chemical agents and compounds were discovered and catalogued in the city-state's growing universities. Among these chemical compounds was calcium hypochlorite, which revolutionized medical treatment and water sanitation with its disinfecting properties. This led to an interest in further chemical research and a short-lived move away from the herbal remedies that once dominated the farming cultures of the region, though some herbs and other flora retained use after they were chemically broken down and analyzed. Magic fell out of use throughout the nation, likely due to lacking the means to study it and consistently replicate its effects in the way that chemists could with various compounds and chemicals.

With refinements to chemistry came improvements to other industries, and Terais-Deu came to flourish across multiple branches of academic study. Their new techniques proved to be of interest to the multitudes of other countries that traded with the prosperous city-state, and Terais-Deu's government redirected funding to facilitate research into all aspects of life. The eventual result was the development of machinery that did not rely on power sources such as water or manual labor; instead, they were powered by engines that combusted minerals such as coal for energy. These developments allowed Terais-Deu to rapidly expand past its original borders into adjacent uninhabited regions once considered inhospitable or unsuitable for life for their rocky terrain and lack of farmland. With the development of locomotives, however, food and clean water could be transported all throughout the city-state's growing borders — a necessity as the population grew with improvements to medical treatment and immigration to this locus of industry.

Rediscovery of Chrono and the early modern period

Around the equivalent of Ealdremen's 3812 CGC, a little under five hundred years after the Terdeu Chemical Enlightenment began, researchers from the renowned University of Terdeu concentrated their efforts on the long-stagnant field of magic science in hopes of standardizing it and finding consistent means of utilizing Chrono in technological advancement and medicine. During this time, magic was a fringe study at best and generally regarded as part of sociology more than other scientific disciplines; it was seen as an inconsistent element of societies that had varying degrees of presence, but, as with all things of the mind, was too "ephemeral" to truly harness and study beyond the impacts it had on cultures.

Studies from the University of Terdeu led to the codification and publication of the Terdeu Principles of Magic, the means by which most Netherians continue to use spells and anything powered by Chrono. This foundation led to a renaissance of interest in magic; interest in the university grew such that it eventually became its own city-state separate from the rest of Terais-Deu due to the sheer size of its population and the strength of its magic-powered technology. While civil war threatened to break out over the newly-dubbed nation of Terdeu's separation from Terais-Deu, the two brokered trade agreements to allow Terais-Deu to prosper in exchange for letting Terdeu rule itself, and the official separation of Terdeu and Terais-Deu in 4100 CGC is thought to mark the start of Nethere's early modern period, as it was after this separation that Terdeu adopted its current government structure, established itself in broader national politics, and came to influence the rest of Nethere's nations.

The Yesteryears

Prior to contact with the rest of Ealdremen, this antebellum period would have simply been called Netherian's modern era; it has no clear beginning, though many Netherian historians generally agree that the invention and subsequent adoption of the Netherian cyber network, which replaced network infrastructure, in 4321 CGC serves as a dividing point between "early" modern and the current modern era. With modern historical understandings, it is known that the genocide and extinction of the seremindir species happened during this era, and criticism has been leveled at the government's adoption of "pro-social" programs as being "smokescreen" for this genocide. However, as this information was not publicly known at the time, there is much speculation on how much these events impacted political goings-on during the Yesteryears — and what role the seremindir may have played in even earlier parts of Netherian history.

Compared to the explosive technological and magical developments of previous centuries, the Yesteryears are primarily characterized by more "subtle" innovations in science. A given individual would be unlikely to notice advancements in medical treatment unless they were subjected to that particular disease or condition, but medrin progressively became more resistant to diseases over time through advanced vaccines that are capable of transmitting across generations, and the modern medrin is even resistant to diseases that ought to be entirely foreign to their immune systems, a testament to their advanced medical practices.

The election and death of Alitaire Terdeu

In the equivalent year 4335 CGC, the hitherto-unknown politician Alitaire Rombaferre took on the mantle of Terdeu's presidency and subsequently became known as Alitaire Terdeu, replacing the previous president Éodâtre Terdeu in a sudden internal election that had been previously announced with little notice. While this was her initial appearance in Terdeu's public eye, Alitaire Terdeu had been involved with the government for years prior as revealed by leaked documents, and it is likely that her connection to the ultimate extinction of the seremindir led to her gaining favor with her predecessor's cabinet and courts and, eventually, her predecessor's position in government entirely.

For the general public, the replacement of the unpopular Éodâtre Terdeu was met with wary optimism, as interviews with the new president revealed her to be of more humble beginnings than most of Terdeu's past presidents. She hailed from a small village rather than any major city, having risen up from effectively little — though this, of course, also raised questions about how such a "nobody" could have ever become so powerful so quickly, and there was quiet skepticism as to the veracity of her claims. However, opinions grew more positive with the retraction of several government surveillance programs that had began under Éodâtre Terdeu's term, which in turn led to more resources becoming allocated to social welfare programs.

Shortly before first contact with the rest of Ealdremen, President Alitaire Terdeu died during a public address, where she fell to her death from Terdeu-Itale's towering Spire of Address mid-speech; leaked documents indicated that this was immediately following the secret execution of several anarchists taken into custody, leading to conspiratorial speculation that the president was assassinated in retribution for their deaths. The appearance of her seeming to jump to her death suggested a suicide, a claim that the government continues to deny as of 4364 CGC; those who believe that she did jump suggest that she was forced to by way of a spell or some other compulsion.

Post-Invasion

Netherian cultures call the arrival of Ealdremen's other cultures a variety of terms, but they all have the connotation of hostility, such as an assault, a conquest, or an invasion. On Nethere, the invasion was preceded by the appearance of a bright star in the sky later identified as Topple-King, the star associated with the other civilizations who would soon approach Nethere and the other planets in its vicinity. Hobbyists identified unknown radio signals in deep space that appeared to be approaching the planet. Initially, these claims were dismissed as hoaxes both by the general public and governments at large. However, when the claims were corroborated by more respected astronomers and government-commissioned investigators, it was found that fleets of ships were en route to the planet. The nation of Terdeu, now under the guidance of the newly-elected President Milien Terdeu, took leadership and initiated an alliance with various other nations throughout Nethere, mustering a combined military force to form a blockade around the planet to prevent an invasion. Scouts were sent to investigate the approaching forces, which the Netherian ships soon found to not all be a united front; they soon identified multiple factions within the invaders that were in contention with one another, sometimes passively and other times with open hostilities.

With their superior technology, Nethere's people were able to largely hold back the divided invading forces until the war naturally came to a stalemate; while there were some cases of foreign troops making landfall, these expeditions were short-lived and ended in decisive Netherian victory. Since then, they have kept strict patrols throughout neighboring space and will engage with unidentified ships. Unlike other Ealdremen cultures, because the medrin have superior ships to what their enemies have, they historically have shot to kill and not to disable and capture the ship — a threat that Terdeu has proudly proclaimed to their enemies on multiple occasions. Terdeu, originally lauded as a proud leader in this time of crisis, came under fire when the journals of Etne Parang became public. Parang had been executed as a violent anarchist shortly before the invasion, and it is not known how her journals within government custody were leaked to the public. In the process, the seremindir species became much more widely-known, as did their genocide and subsequent extinction at the hands of Terdeu's covert operations. Following this, Terdeu's status was shaken in the eyes of its international allies and its own people, and it has struggled to balance maintaining power and its public image since.

Presently, Nethere remains behind its blockade and refuses very little travel in or out of the planet's orbit. Its governments monitor radio signals going off-planet or coming from outside sources as well, much to the criticism of many Terdeu citizens that have lost trust in their government and view the invasion as "an excuse" for government overreach.

Outside historical perspective

This section details the generally agreed-upon history of the medrin species from the perspective of the rest of Ealdremen.

The full archaeological and genetic history of the medrin species, as an offshoot of kronakkos, is almost certainly tied to their parent species. There are too many genetic markers that are identical or near-identical to kronakkos and related species, such as sigkronakkos, for medrin to have independently evolved into their modern-day species. Because of these overlapping genetic markers, it is considered a scientific fact that medrin and kronakkos "split" from one another extremely recently — this is backed up by recent historical evidence pointing to medrin having technology comparable to that of the later years of the Millennial Calm, which spanned from the years 3045 CGC to 4100 CGC. Their genetic differences are ultimately so minor such that some sociologists have claimed that, if medrin were found in a remote region of the kronakkos' native homeworld of Raljikka instead of a more distant and recently-discovered planet, there would be no question of calling them a subspecies of kronakko. Furthermore, Netherian languages spoken by medrin are largely mutually intelligible with particular counterparts from the rest of the Ealdremen System. However, confusing the matter further is that none of these languages are typically spoken by kronakkos nor sigkronakkos, and the source of this discrepancy has yet to be satisfactorily explained. In addition, there are other problems with proposing that medrin come from kronakkos native to the rest of Ealdremen, as the proposed timeline between the original settlers arriving on Nethere and the rise of the modern medrin species is too short for a new species or subspecies to be established.

The Millennial Calm

At what point exactly the medrin's kronakko and sigkronakko ancestors settled on Nethere is not clear to outside observers, and it is unsure how much of this information is genuinely known but concealed within Netherian nations or is similarly unknown. The broad span of the Millennial Calm yields a date range that is small in the grand scheme of genetics and evolution but a vast chasm of unknowns for anthropologists of all disciplines and specializations.

Historians tend to agree that the people who would go on to "found" the medrin species departed from known Ealdremen planets during the latter half of the Millennial Calm, narrowing down the range slightly to about 3600 CGC to 4100 CGC. Some speculate that these individuals must have left from a region of Estvoled, though a historical Estvoldian population of either kronakkos or sigkronakkos large enough to have become a sustainable population on a hitherto unknown planet has yet to be identified.

Settling Nethere

After leaving the inner reaches of Ealdremen, the proto-medrin settlers eventually found Nethere. It is likely that they had some kind of contact with the native seremindir, but the exact circumstances of these early interactions are not known. Based on the seeming ease of the modern medrin covertly wiping out the seremindir, it is speculated that there may have been an early conflict of some kind between the proto-medrin settlers and the seremindir that dramatically reduced the seremindir population. Such an event would have had to devastated the original population, though, and evidence of this conflict has yet to emerge. Proponents of the theory tend to believe that this evidence, if it still exists, has been concealed by the same governments responsible for the seremindir's genocide, though it is also possible that evidence of an ancient historical conflict with the seremindir people has long since been destroyed.

A major issue with the theory that the medrin originated from Ealdremen between two hundred and seven hundred years ago is the lack of explanation for the medrin becoming genetically distinct, even in small ways, from their proposed kronakko ancestors. Even the longer proposed spans of time for the proto-medrin to have separated from the rest of Ealdremen are insufficient to form a subspecies, let alone a new species, without controlled reproduction or intentional genetic modification. While it is theoretically possible that either took place, there is no explanation for why it would; genetically modifying an entire viable population would represent an enormous amount of work and resources even with Millennial Calm-era technology with no clear desired outcome.

Further issues with this proposed timeline center around 51-8: Coil, a verge god that, up until recently, separated Nethere from the rest of the solar system that has kronakkos. No explanation has been settled on to explain how the proto-medrin may have bypassed 51-8: Coil.

First contact with Ealdremen

Ealdremen historians and Netherian historians generally agree on the order of events wherein Ealdremen made contact with Nethere. In 4340 CGC, the discovery of the Chrono Stars led Ealdremen colonists, military contingents, and explorers to the portion of Ealdremen formerly concealed by 51-8: Coil as the Chrono Stars War broke out and moved into this new frontier. In the process, the approaching factions all detected radio signals indicating advanced life on one of the new planets. The Veriol Alliance was first to arrive and approached with caution, sending ahead scout ships equipped with translation spells on their communications in order to communicate with this hitherto-unknown civilization. When they approached orbit, they were immediately fired upon by Netherian forces and were forced to flee, with many of these ships perishing in the process. As a result of what happened with the Allied forces, the Gerualdi Union sent its own armed forces to attempt a negotiation; with their better preparation, when they were attacked in return, they were able to pull back with minimal losses. There are no records of the Alamír Empire or the Nazdrovie Pact attempting to communicate with Nethere during this period; it is often presumed that they had intelligence on the unsuccessful attempts from the Veriol Alliance and the Gerualdi Union.

For years, Nethere fought off these major political powers itself, overwhelming their superior numbers with the advanced technology that Nethere had at its disposal and utilizing the political divides between their enemies to their advantage. As losses mounted higher and higher from this split front, battles attributed to the Chrono Stars War grew increasingly infrequent, and the war eventually went cold as political interest in Nethere waned.

Game statistics

This section details statistics, traits, and other "mechanical" game elements for usage in TTRPGs. Because they are context-dependent for a given TTRPG system, they should not be viewed as "absolutes" or objective representations of a species in a purely narrative sense.

Traveller

Mongoose Traveller 2e/MgT2

Characteristics

Medrin Characteristics (MgT2)

Characteristic	Value
Strength	2d6
Dexterity	2d6
Endurance	2d6
Intelligence	2d6
Education	2d6+6
Rapport	2d6
Chrono	2d6
Social Standing	2d6
Fortune	2d6

Traits

Isolated Advanced Culture: Medrin cultures are more advanced and educated than other societies in the Ealdremen System, but their recent arrival in Ealdremen politics means that they often don’t know things that are common knowledge to others. Medrin have a 2d6+6 statistic for Education and have a maximum of 16 for this characteristic, but they have a -2 DM to Social Science skills involving cultures and species other than their own.

Heat Endurance: Medrin do not suffer hourly damage from the effects of hot weather and exposure.

Resistant to Diseases: Medrin are highly resistant to infection, gaining a +2 DM on Endurance checks to resist the effects of diseases.

Low-Light Vision: Medrin can see twice as far as those without this trait in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.

Natural Weapon [Horns]: Medrin can use their horns as a weapon at Personal range, dealing 1d6 damage. Medrin gain Melee (Natural Weapons) 0.

Negative First Impression: Members of the medrin species are generally disliked, mistrusted, or otherwise reviled on first sight from other species. Most non-medrin will automatically have an initial Unfriendly attitude towards a medrin, although this is overcome after an individual has interacted with the character for a few minutes based on the character’s personality and the circumstances of their interaction.

Non-Transferrable Social Status: Medrin social status generally does not transfer well across societies where they are not a majority. In such situations, they take a -4 DM to checks using Social Standing.