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Data
File Updated:
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Warning: this is an incomplete work-progress entry
that is currently just a cleaned-up pastiche of notes and forum
posts, presented here for reference. Please pardon the mess.
 Overview
The
diminutive Neridi are one of the three surviving intelligent races of the
ancient Soia civilization which once dominated the Local Bubble.
The Neridi were one of the first alien nations contacted by the
Loroi after their rediscovery of starflight -- the Loroi
discovered two Neridi splinter colonies in the Derro system, and
helped them to rapidly regain access to starflight technologies.
The Neridi have been the closest of Loroi allies ever since, and
having cheerfully subordinated themselves to their Loroi
benefactors, the Neridi have benefited more than any other Union
member from operating under the Loroi shadow in supporting roles
as merchants and administrators. The Neridi have settled
numerous new colonies in the Tinza sector, which they
administrate as a formal part of the Loroi empire (in addition
to full Union membership), and share many installations with the
Loroi. The Neridi have even standardized on Loroi Trade as the
language of official business within their own borders.
Neridi are
generally good-natured, gregarious, cooperative creatures, who prefer
negotiation to the use of force, and who reinforce social bonds and
resolve conflict with frequent intimate (and sometimes sexual) physical
contact. Neridi are known for their sense of humor,
though they do not laugh aloud like Loroi. Violence between them is not unknown, but it is the
exception rather than the rule. Even prior to the formation of
the Union and the centralization of the military, the Neridi
rarely had much defensive capability, relying heavily on their
allies, especially the Loroi, for support against Mannadi and
later Umiak aggression. The Tinza sector alongside the Seren
sector bore the worst of the Umiak assault in the early part of the
current war, losing several systems to the enemy and suffering
the oppression of Hierarchy occupation.
The Neridi
are divided into four distinct sub-cultures, with their roots on
Derro and which have extended in modified forms out to their
colony worlds. Derro and the various Neridi colonial entities are
amalgamated under a hereditary constitutional monarchy, with
Derro as its capital.
Despite Loroi Trade
standardization, many Neridi personal and especially location
names include artifacts of the various local dialects. Most
notable are occasional uses of the hard "K" in place of "G," or
"TH" in place of "S" (as in "Thabaki"). These are usually
written in standard Trade characters but pronounced differently.
Neridi personal names have elaborate multi-part elements which
may change over an individual's long lifespan (see Society
below).
Biology
Neridi are small 80-100cm (2'8"-3'3") in height, blue-skinned bipedal creatures.
They have large disc-like yellow eyes, elongated heads and large
floppy ears. Their biochemical systems are based on the Soia-liron pattern, which is shared with the Loroi, Barsam, and
all other surviving organisms of the fallen Soia civilization.
This artificially-tailored biochemistry provides the Neridi
with very efficient metabolisms, excellent environmental
adaptability, low mutation rates and correspondingly long lives.
With their smaller size and less strenuous lifestyle, Neridi can
live longer even than their Loroi cousins, sometimes surpassing
500 years.
 Neridi
have excellent hearing and smell, and superior low-light vision.
Neridi are notably pungent, with the interchange of various
pheromones playing an important role in social interactions.
They have large four-fingered hands and powerful forearms that
give them a strong grip -- it is theorized that their ancestors
may have been arboreal and perhaps nocturnal. They also have
vestigial webbing between the first and second, and third and
fourth fingers, and between the second and third toes. Neridi are not native to Derro, but
are presumed to have come from outside the Local Bubble along
with the other Soia-liron species. Ancient proto-Neridi remains
have been found in pre-Fall ruins on several other planets, but
the splinter colonies on Derro appear to be the only local
survivors of the catastrophe that ended Soia rule in the Local
Bubble. Like other Soia-liron species, the Neridi genome shows
clear signs of artificial manipulation, with a dearth of random
"junk" genes or mutation markers that precede the time of the
Fall.
Sex and Gender
Neridi are hermaphroditic, with adult individuals having both
male and female sexual apparatus, but the organs producing sex
cells and the appropriate hormones can only operate in one mode
or the other at a time, so each individual has an implicit male
or female gender at any given moment. Neridi females give live
birth to single offspring, and infants and juveniles do not exhibit any
gendered
sexual characteristics until they reach sexual maturity, at
which time each individual develops a male or female identity.
This is not a conscious choice, but an involuntary biological
change. The changes are internal and hormonal -- males and
females have the same external sexual apparatus, but the
internal changes affect personality and behavior as well as the
production of sex cells and pheromones. It may be difficult for
non-Neridi to tell the difference between genders by sight, but
Neridi can tell instantly by scent, as well as by distinctive
behaviors.
Neridi have four distinct gender modes, two each male and
female. Individuals switch between modes over their long lifespans, according to their age and certain environmental
factors. Upon reaching maturity, the majority of Neridi first
develop the sexual characteristics of a "bearer" or "fertile
female." Fertile females are energetic, ambitious and
territorial, often forming the center of any given social
circle.
A minority of adolescents instead develop the characteristics of
an "itinerant male" or "wanderer." These males are more creative and
adventurous, and often develop wanderlust, leaving their family
groups to visit foreign lands. Most matings that produce
offspring are between fertile females and visiting foreign
itinerant males, promoting healthy genetic diversity. These
males will be accepted into a foreign family for a time, mating
with the fertile female(s) and performing whatever services
they are capable of (often artistic or performance-oriented
professions), before the wanderlust overcomes him and he travels
again to find another family.
Young females stay in the fertile "bearer" mode for only a
limited time, typically around 50 years. When she reaches the
appropriate age, and especially if there are other, younger adult
females in the family group, she will eventually transition to
an alternate male state, known as the "resident male"
or "builder." Again,
this transition is involuntary and not a conscious choice. The
female becomes morose and lethargic, and by tradition she is
usually isolated to await the transformation, sometimes with
appropriate rituals. After a few days to a week of internal
metamorphosis, she emerges from isolation as a resident male.
Although the individual does not change much outwardly in
appearance, he undergoes a significant change in personality.
Resident males are more serious and industrious than their
earlier female personas, and while they are sexually functional
as males, they lack the impregnation drives of the itinerant
males and usually accept a supporting rather than primary role
in the family. The new male will often seek a new profession and
may even change his name to reflect his altered status. The new
male will spend most of his long life in this gender mode, and
the majority of the Neridi population at any given moment are
resident males.
Itinerant males remain fertile and in the same gender mode for
much longer than fertile females, up to 100-150 years. Because
of their adventurous lifestyle, itinerant males are more likely
to meet premature death than other genders. If he survives to
the appropriate age, he will eventually lose his wanderlust and
undergo a transformation similar to the young females. After the
period of isolation, he will emerge in the fourth gender form,
the "retired male" or "sage." This mode is mostly sterile
but technically
female, since she exudes feminine pheromones and can
become pregnant under certain unusual circumstances. The individual will most
often settle permanently the current family, taking the role of
an advisory elder, armed with the experience of many years of
traveling abroad. Various Neridi professions maintain academies
led primarily by retired males, and so a newly transformed
retired male may seek or be invited to join one of these
convent-like institutions.
Gender transition is highly dependent on environmental triggers
in addition to age. Juveniles who are in a family that already
has several fertile females may either experience delayed
puberty, or else be more likely to develop as males. Transition
of a fertile female to resident male will also be delayed if
there are no other fertile females in the family, or accelerated
if there are too many. In complete absence of fertile females, a
resident male may transition back into a limited female state,
or a retired male may become more fertile,
though this is rare and can be very disruptive to that
individual's physical and mental health. Transitions can also be
triggered artificially through medical technology, though such
transitions can have both medical and social complications.
Neridi use sex separately from reproduction as one of their
primary social tools, using it to build social bonds and
establish hierarchies, resolve
conflicts, or just manage stress. They engage in frequent, diverse
sexual behaviors without regard to age or gender, since males
and females have the same external sexual apparatus. These
behaviors can range from casual intimate petting or groping to
full sexual copulation. Pregnancy is only possible with male and
female pairings, and normally only when the female is aroused in
a particular way, which normally only occurs between fertile
females and itinerant males.
Neridi extended families typically consist of 10-20 individuals,
mostly resident males, a few fertile females, one or two
itinerant males, and possibly several retired males. Sexual
activity between family members is the norm, with the fertile female(s) using her desirability to more or less control the
family. While she will frequently copulate with male relatives,
she will normally only become pregnant through mating with
itinerant males, so inbreeding is not usually a problem.
Neridi sexual activity extends beyond the family into the
workplace and social spaces, with casual sex being the norm in
all manner of social interactions. As in the family, social
groups tend to be dominated by the influence of ambitious
fertile females. This model of female influence extends even to
Neridi government, with fertile females as (mostly figurehead)
monarchs in administrations run by resident males. There are
conservative Neridi subcultures that restrict sex to the family
unit or their own social class, but wider Neridi society is
usually much more liberal in having sex with pretty much
everyone.
 The
Neridi Viceregal Commonwealth
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association
of Derro and its "Ring Colonies," the various worlds colonized
by the Neridi since the rediscovery of starflight, ruled by the
Derro Regent and her designated Viceroys. The Regent is not an absolute monarch, but
rules as a largely ceremonial figurehead on behalf of the
various governmental councils. The Regent is always female and
follows a hereditary matrilineal succession. The symbol of
office of the Regent is a large ring of pale metal, about six
centimeters in diameter and of pale metal, a Dreiman artifact
brought from Thabaki Stead by the early settlers.
The primary constitutional element of the
monarchy is a sort of parliament, known as the Ring Council,
which governs Derro and to a lesser extent the Commonwealth on
behalf of the Regent. It is a single body with multiple
committees, including aristocratic titles, elected and appointed
officials. Although some of the Council members are elected, the
Council is the apex of an extensive bureaucracy, run mostly by
appointed resident males, who exert most of the government's
authority. However, despite its cumbersome size, the bureaucracy
prefers to stay out of the way of private Neridi commercial
concerns -- especially if the right palms get greased. Neridi
democracy is kept at a minimum. Since joining the Union, the
Ring administration no longer controls a formal military (it is
now a police and patrol force), but it still manages much of the
Tinza sector administration and important border defense
installations in conjunction with the Loroi military.
Though most councilors and bureaucrats are
resident males and therefore nominally devoid of ambition, they
were once ambitious females and sometimes of high aristocratic
office, including some former Regents. So they are not always as
supportive and free from personal agenda as their gender role
dictates.
Individual colony worlds beyond Derro are
nominally independent sovereign nations with individual Union
status, federated as a commonwealth and each allocated a Derro
Viceroy to represent the Ring's interests. Viceroys are
technically figureheads similar to the Regent, lending
legitimacy to whatever the local nation's form of government is.
Most colonies mirror Derro's consular government, though this is
not a requirement. Viceroys are drawn from high aristocratic
families and sometimes even the royal family itself, so the degree to
which they are figureheads also varies. There are also a few
independent Neridi colonies that operate outside the
Commonwealth system, but still within the broader Union
framework.
Derro
Derro is a small terrestrial world of about
one-quarter Earth mass that is tidelocked to its large moon
Arathemi, giving it a day-night cycle of about 9 Earth hours. It is
temperate and wet with large oceans and a dense atmosphere of
1.5 atm, which together with its low surface gravity of 0.6 g
help to mitigate the stronger Coriolis forces of its rapid
rotation, providing a very stable (if rainy) climate with very
little temperature variation across the entire globe or even
during the short night. Near-constant global cloud cover further
evens out temperature variations, reflecting excess sunlight
during the day and trapping heat at night.
 The
fixed tidal deformation caused by the tidelocked moon divides
Derro roughly into three landmasses separated by connected
oceans: the tidal bulges facing both toward and directly away
from the moon, dominated by volcanic highlands and massive
dormant shield volcanoes. In between the tidal low region has
forced up massive bands of mountains that circle the meridian
perpendicular to both the tidal axis and the equator, with
ranges rising in the low gravity nearly twice the height of the
Himalayas. These enormous mountains effectively separate the two
hemispheres (the "Nearside" facing Arathemi and the "Farside"
facing away), blocking east-west jet streams and dumping
torrential monsoon rains on the foothills.
The Neridi capital city of Dirred Leste,
the "Great Lighthouse," sits along a massive estuary where the
great rivers draining the Nearside volcanic highlands drain into
the meridional Nearside sea, looking up at the ever-present
moon. It is by a wide margin the largest city on Derro, forming
a trade and manufacturing hub for the entire Nearside continent,
and the ancestral seat of the Neridi Regency.
Derro’s native biosphere is perhaps the
most advanced among the Soia-era colonies: a low-gravity,
hyper-oxygenated analogue of Earth’s Carboniferous biota,
dominated by towering swamp forests and gigantiform life.
Massive, spore-bearing flora -- 50-meter leafless columnar
trees, hyper-reactive fernlike fronds, and sprawling
gravity-defying segmented bamboo-like goliaths -- form dense
canopies that pump oxygen into the thick atmosphere. These
forests support colossal arthropoids, including 2–3 meter
wingspan aerial predators, 4-meter-long multi-legged armored
herbivores, and small leaping arachnid-like hunters that vault
along the canopy. Because the dense atmosphere and low gravity
mitigate many of the disadvantages of exoskeletons, arthropoid
land dominance has kept would-be amphibian vertebrates in the
water. In the shallow seas, muscular sea-lilies flex against
brutal tidal currents, and brachiopoid colonies build towering
reef spires. Low gravity enables extreme verticality and
lightweight structures throughout, while the rapid rotation
drives dynamic weather and extreme tides that shape both
terrestrial and marine adaptations.
The most celebrated native Derro life form
is the noillir fungoid that grows on the columnar trees, which
is brewed into a potent tea, prized by Loroi and Neridi alike as
a soothing if acerbic beverage.
Although Derro was not a colony under the
Soia, the Neridi refugees evidently did bring domestic organisms
with them. They have not fully displaced native live to the
degree that they have on other worlds with more primitive life,
but they are still important in the controlled environment of
Neridi farms. Fields of misesa have taken over the
formerly barren volcanic highland plains, and the goat-like
dagiis (not native or Soia-liron but of unknown origin)
provides meat and milk for distinctively smelly cheese.
Thabaki Stead and the Great Ring
At the L-5 Lagrange point trailing Arathemi,
there is a large and ancient O'Neill-type cylindrical space
habitat. It has been here since the Dreiman era, and has been
inhabited by Neridi ever since refugees arrived shortly after
the Soia Fall. Successive generations of Neridi from Thabaki
Stead left aboard makeshift shuttles to colonize Derro, but each
expedition further stripped the station of resources and
equipment. By the time Loroi scouts investigated the system
around 1200 CE, what should have been a self-sustaining space
habitat had been gradually reduced to a refugee camp scraping to
survive. Today the Stead forms the hub of Derro's extensive
orbital manufacturing complex, fed primarily by mining and
factory installations on airless Arathemi.
The cylinder's rotation gives the inner
surface an induced gravity similar to that on the surface of
Derro. Thabaki Stead was one of at least two large space
stations that the Dreiman had in the system; the other, most
likely located at the L-1 point midway between Derro and
Arathemi, broke up some time between the end of Dreiman presence
and the Soia Fall, though it is not known exactly when or
whether it was actively destroyed or merely broke up due to
orbital stresses after having been abandoned. Debris from this
ancient breakup still orbits Derro in diffuse ring fragments at
2:1 and 3:2 orbital resonances with Arathemi. Under the right
lighting conditions they can be faintly seen from the surface
and are called "The Great Ring" by the Neridi. New station and
shipyard facilities (collectively known as the Bastoba Strand)
have been constructed at the L-1 point to serve Derro's
extensive shipbuilding and Union-wide shipping and trade
network.
These ancient edifices represent another
puzzling example of Dreiman engineering, focused exclusively on
terraforming projects and spaceborne infrastructure, without any
trace of direct habitation on Derro itself. What the Dreiman
were doing here and why remains a mystery, further compounded by
the apparent lack of any Soia-era habitation, despite Derro's
favorable habitability.
Arathemi
Derro's tidelocked moon, named for the Matriarch-of-All in their mythology, is roughly the same mass as Europa
but smaller and denser, with a pockmarked Io-like surface,
scarred by widespread volcanism caused by the tidal stresses of
the tidelocking process. Now settled into rotational synchrony
with its orbit around Derro, the stresses have eased and the
volcanoes gone dormant, but the surface is still covered in
volcanic plains, rift zones and calderas, rich in heavy elements
and sulfur compounds. The Neridi exploit this mineral wealth
with large-scale mining operations and refining and
manufacturing centers that feed the orbital construction
infrastructure at Thabaki Stead and Bastoba Strand.
Biel
Biel is a terrestrial world of about half Earth's mass in
close orbit about a K-class orange star. It has a moderately
advanced native biome and a dense, wet atmosphere. It was the
first alien world colonized by the Neridi after their return to
starflight, but it supports only a small Neridi population due
to high levels of carbon dioxide. The majority of planetside
residents are those researching or working to exploit the vast
alien biosphere, but since the star system is along important
transit routes between the Tinza, Maiad and Mannad sectors, the
majority of the system's population live and work in orbital
habitats. It was this strategic importance that made the system
a flashpoint during early tensions with the expansionist Mannadi.
Biel is still a major Tinza-Maia trade hub.
Biel has small seas and is hot and wet. Its dense atmosphere
has a thick aerosol haze and comparatively high levels of
oxygen, carbon dioxide and water vapor. This is an ideal
environment for the red-pigmented terrestrial plant life and
blue-green-pigmented marine algae which give the planet its
distinctive dark red and blue-green colors, but the high CO₂ and
acidic seas have deterred the development of multicellular
animal life. So while there are advanced plants and trees
analogous in complexity to Earth's early angiosperms, there are
almost no complex native animal forms.
There is no sign of significant Soia-era settlements on Biel;
this may have to do with its lack of habitability for Soia-liron
colony organisms. While Dreiman and Soia terraforming biota can
prepare a high-CO₂ world for habitation, there were evidently
not designed to compete with existing complex native life. Neridi are
comparatively tolerant to high CO₂ concentrations, and so can
handle short unprotected outdoor exposures, but habitats must
maintain active filtering systems to avoid long-term blood
acidosis and congestion from the omnipresent aerosols produced
by the vegetation. Neridi must wear filter masks to work
outdoors for long periods.
There are remains of a post-fall Neridi settlement on Biel,
possibly from the same group of refugees that colonized Derro,
but it appears that they survived no more than a few
generations, likely a casualty of the difficult conditions on
the planet.
Nezel
Nezel is a purely terraformed world, with only imported
Dreiman and Soia-Liron species, and remnants of a Soia-era
Mozeret colony similar to Deinar. But it’s less habitable, cold
and wet, with a lot of surface water, much of it frozen, and
habitable coastline regions. Prior to being thawed by Dreiman
and later Soia terraforming, the surface was completely frozen
and lacking volcanism and a strong magnetic field, and so
completely devoid of life.
Sometimes called "The New Capital," Nezel was second only to
Derro in population and importance prior to its
partial evacuation earlier in the war when it served as part of
the defensive Golim-Tinza line, where the Hierarchy advance was
eventually halted, and served as one of the jumping-off points
for the Semoset counteroffensive. Today it is the Tinza sector
reserve fleet base, and while it is under the jurisdiction of a
Neridi Viceroy, the system is jointly occupied by both Loroi and
Neridi forces and administrators. Though the main station at
Liporen Harborage bears the distinctive blue and white fluted
structures of Neridi architecture, it is armed with Loroi
weapons and staffed by Loroi personnel.
 Azimol
Azimol is a smallish arid world with ruins of a vast
planetwide Fenrias megacity. It has a small axial tilt and 4
moons, 2 of which are fairly large. It is relatively cold, with
large polar ice caps, and relatively small seas. The equatorial
region is overrun by a massive cold desert, which has buried
most of the megacity ruins. There are small seas in rift valleys
in the temperate latitudes, around which dark vegetation grows.
The rest is a Mars rust color, with some darker colors where
there is moisture and exposed rock. It has massive dust storms and is frequently covered in a
haze of dust.
Azimol was a Neridi colony before the war, and was occupied by the Morat
after being captured by the Umiak as they drove into the Tinza
sector. Most of the population was able to evacuate before it was captured,
but those left behind suffered cruelly under occupation. In some
ways, the Morat were far crueler than the Umiak in occupation,
but they were less dedicated to outright extermination. Even so,
the Neridi have a burning hatred for the Morat. Azimol was
liberated during the Semoset Offensive and has since been mostly
a Loroi military outpost. It is one of the primary bases for
Loroi interdiction groups operating in the Steppes from Tinza.
Before the war it was primarily a research colony investigating
the ancient ruins, but since its recapture most of its
inhabitants are engaged in defense and supporting industries.
Azimol Citadel is the most extensive battle station network
in the Tinza Sector. This is the main Loroi base for active
fleet elements in Tinza, particularly for the raider fleets.
Azimol is SG51's home port.
The majority of the ruins are very ancient, from before the Soia period,
stretching back to the earliest starfaring civilization of the
Local Bubble, the Fenrias (ancestors of the Morat and Delrias). There was probably a small Soia
colony here, but it was localized and pretty well wiped out by
the bombardment at the end of the Soia era. The flora and any fauna are mostly Fenrias transplants. There
may be some primitive native flora. There may have been some
Soia-liron livestock or flora, but they were limited to the
colony areas and were mostly exterminated. The planet being a Fenrias archaeological site
added an
extra dimension of interest to the Morat occupation, and may
have been a factor in why
they refused the order to glass it when retreating.
Semal
Semal anchors the rimward end of the Steppes border, and
together with Nezel held the Tinza line through the darkest days
of the early war from 2139-2144 until the Semoset
counter-offensive. Accordingly, it has a significant fleet base
and substantial Loroi presence.
Laget
A joint Neridi-Loroi colony which bore the brunt of Umiak raids
during the Tithric crisis from 2139-2141. Laget at the time
lacked major defensive installations due to the presence of the
then-neutral Tithric on the border, and so it was particularly
vulnerable to assaults by Umiak fleets that the Tithric had
allowed through their territory. There were points at which
crasher forces had penetrated past the system and were
threatening Derro and Nelomanis. Greywind sent an expedition
under Admiral Sunfall that was able to stop the advance, and the
pressure was relieved in 2141 when Sunfall razed the Tithric
home planets.
Society
Neridi are group-oriented and can be intensely tribal. A common
Loroi joke is that it
takes a squad of Neridi to do anything useful.
Many Neridi are compulsive gamblers.
Highly sybaritic and obsessed with fine food and ostentatious
display of wealth. Status in the urban society is determined by
a combination of lineage and wealth. The Neridi are obsessed
with good-luck talismans and gambling. “Pungency is a key factor
in determining an object's luck.”
Neridi architecture is noted for fancy
fluted spires. The official colors of the Regency are blue and
white.
Subcultures
All Neridi have ancestry that goes back to residence on Thabaki
Stead, but their descendants have organized in four broad
groups: the early settlers on Derro who quickly lost high
technology and became the current Farmer class, more recent
Thabaki migrants who retained more technology who formed the
Urban class (which includes the aristocracy and the royal
family), a group that broke off from the urban class to live in
the central mountains who became the Caravanner class of
traders, and a fourth group (Steaders) who were still living on
Thabaki Stead when the Loroi arrived. Each group has various
subgroups and in some cases, clans and elaborate family lineage
distinctions. These basic groups have extended out to colonial
worlds as well, with additional specializations and sub-groups.
The Farmers live the simplest existence, sometimes in
traditionalist groups without high technology. Harvesting misesa
and other high-yield crops from the well-watered soil is steady
but easy work, and they live a very low-impact existence with
little care for the outside world. Farmers tend to keep to the
plains of the domed volcanic highlands and its river valleys,
Mostly living in extended family groups or small towns. Nearside
hemisphere farmers are mostly subject to the rules and
government of the capital or its subsidiaries, frequently
trading with the urban class. Farside hemisphere farmers tend to
be more isolated, organized into their own small communes or
entirely independent of state rule. Small groups of Farmers
sometimes set up on colony worlds, usually to put even more
distance between urban culture and themselves.
The Urban class is the largest and most diverse group,
encompassing urban workers of all types, maritime traders,
industrial farmers, the commercial and business class, and the
aristocracy and royal family.
The Caravanners live in the higher altitudes of the central
mountainous region. A sedentary subgroup lives in the foothills
in coastal settlements or farming the rich monsoon-fed
foothills, but the more famous group lives at higher altitudes,
running trade caravans through the high mountain gorges. These
caravans were traditionally the primary mode of contact between
the two hemispheres; their importance as caravan traders has
diminished with the arrival of advanced transport technologies,
but their tougher mindset has found its way to the colonies and
as workers in interstellar shipping.
The fourth group is the Steaders, some of whom still live
aboard Thabaki Stead or in other orbital facilities throughout
Neridi territory. The most culturally removed from the other
groups, they were a wildcard in the development of the new
interstellar Neridi society; on the one hand, they were highly
technically capable, but on the other, they had been scavengers
scraping by to survive, with practices and moral codes
considered questionable (at best) by other segments of Neridi
society. In the modern Union, Steaders have formed a sort of
Neridi counterculture, highly technologically proficient, but
with a reputation for theft, grift, poor work ethic and general
lawlessness.
(WORK IN PROGRESS)
Names (WIP)
extended family groups (clans?) Maybe only the caravanners
have clans.
Personal names are not gender-specific, but there is an element of the full extended name that includes a
gender-specific honorific (analogous to Mister, Miss, etc.) that
precedes a title. They sometimes (but not
always) change their names after chaning genders because their personalities changed,
and the new name represents a new persona. The most common case
of name (and vocation) change is when an itinerant male becomes
a resident male. It's kind of like a
male menopause.
(note: Trade does not have gendered pronouns)
Example name: "Madam Warrant-Officer Rinn Tenten Flame-Brand".
(honorific title family/gens personal-name epithet) - Tenten is a commoner, but an aristocrat
would have a second element to the family name (gens +
cognomen). "madam" is an honorific used for retired males.
History: Origins and Pre-Starflight
The initial origin of the Neridi is unknown; if they had a
template species, it has not been found and is presumably well
outside the Local Bubble. There is no known major pre-Fall
Neridi settlement, and so it is supposed that the proto-Neridi
lived mainly in ships and orbital facilities similar to the
proto-Loroi, but unlike the Loroi there are a variety of hints
of their planetside presence in the archaeological record on
several worlds.
Archaeological evidence of modern Neridi habitation begins
with the two post-Fall splinter colonies on Biel and Derro. The
Biel colony failed shortly after its foundation and the
planetside settlements on Derro quickly regressed to dispersed
farming communities. The inhabitants of Thabaki Stead, the
ancient space habitat in Derro orbit, retained higher technology
levels but suffered from lack of resources. Successive waves of
migration from Thabaki to the surface exacerbated this
situation, as they depleted station resources further and
usually lost contact shortly after planetfall. Those Thabaki
Steaders that successfully migrated to Derro took over the planet, establishing the capital city
and the ruling class and monarchy that persists to the present
day. They founded Dirred Leste, the "Great Lighthouse"), the capital city of Derro and the ancestral seat of the
Neridi Regency. It is a port city and trade hub, settled by
migrants from Thabaki Stead. With significant technology enough
to build a great city, they awed the "native" Neridi
patch-farmers, herders and caravaneers who
accepted them as a new aristocracy.
When Loroi scouts arrived at Derro (by choice, already
knowing they were there, about the same time as they contacted
the Delrias), the Neridi were quite technologically
sophisticated, though they had not even started jump drive
development. Unlike the suspicious Delrias, the Neridi were very
friendly with the Loroi, and they quickly developed trade and
technology exchanges. The Loroi taught the Neridi jump drive
techniques, and the Neridi shared some of their advanced
bio/food/hydroponics techs.
History: Starflight to Present
After the start of the Delrias War, the Neridi formally allied
with the Loroi (even though they were too far away from the
fighting for this to be much more than symbolic).
Following the conclusion of the Delrias War, tensions grew with
the Mannadi, as new colonies from both nations began to encroach
on each other. Mannadi privateers may have interfered with
Neridi exploration missions, and may have raided as far into
Neridi territory as Biel. This eventually escalated into a full
scale war, which dragged the Loroi in. After this, it was
largely a Loroi-Mannadi affair that stretched on for decades. At
the conclusion of the war and the formation of the Loroi Union
in 1557, the Neridi joined as charter members.
Prior to formation of the Union, the Neridi might have used robot armies
similar to those of the Trade Federation, due to their
unsuitability as troops.
Neridi Succession War: was the trigger for a Loroi civil war
between Swiftsure and Eight Dawn between 1790-1795 CE. This was
probably a succession dispute between a colonial viceroy of the
royal family and a Derro-based claimant of questionable lineage.
It became a hot conflict probably just because the Loroi were
involved. I imagine that one of the Neridi claimants became more
aggressive because she knew she had Loroi backing, and it
escalated from there. I imagine that Eighth Dawn back the
viceregal claimant and Swiftsure backed the Derro claimant.
Most of the captured Neridi systems were made a part of Morat
territory, and so were under a joint Umiak-Morat occupation. The
largest captured Neridi colony was Azimol, which had a
significant Loroi population. The Neridi were by no means
innocent bystanders (a Neridi civilian can commit sabotage as
well as anyone else), and it was a messy situation; when a
facility blows up, you don't necessarily know who did it. The
occupation forces were perplexed by the ability of captured
populations to wage an effective insurgency even after they were
rounded up and monitored. At one point the Morat began to
suspect that the Neridi were also secretly telepathic. And
unlike the comparatively dispassionate Umiak, the Morat (who
were under a lot of pressure) responded especially harshly to
the insurgency. To make a long (and unpleasant) story short,
when the decision was made that the captured colonies could not
efficiently be pacified, the resulting liquidation included
Neridi as well as Loroi.
The Neridi have skin in this game. In addition to the losses
during invasion and occupation, when the Umiak started raiding
Laget through Tithric territory, it was mainly Neridi civilians
who were killed. For the Neridi, the war is personal, and not
just against the Loroi. In particular, the Neridi have developed
a burning hatred for the Morat, who they had previously regarded
as friendly neighbors.
See also:
Races of the
Loroi Union and Allies,
Precursor Empires
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