Species/Zaddat

The Zaddat are a Hegemony member race only recently introduced to OriCon space. Having evolved on the high-pressure and post-apocalyptic world of Xohok in the Vengeful Father system, Zaddat require an environmental suit to survive in usual planetary and station atmospheres.

Despite these restrictions, the blessing of the Moghes Hegemony have lead the Zaddat to enter human space in search of a new world. The vast majority of Zaddat now live in the Migrant Fleets.

Mechanics

• Require a voidsuit to survive in 101kpa, which most other species require.

• Require a gas mask or oxygen supply to survive in nitrogen atmospheres.

• Skin bursts open in cancerous growths when exposed to direct light, dealing severe burn damage.

• Take increased damage from most sources.

• Have their own language, Vadahq.

• Spawn with a puncture-resistant voidsuit that can be customized by use of a verb.

• Spawn with a gas mask.

Physiology

“I have heard us called bugs, insects, and other such vermin. I cannot tell you if any of those are right, but I can tell you that you are a pest.” -A Zaddat queen when insulted by a visitor.

Zaddat physiology resembles a strange mixture between Earth insects and aquatic invertebrates such as jellyfish. Physically, Zaddat have a chitinous carapace covering a weaker endoskeleton made of partially-calcified collagen. Xohok's high-pressure, oxygen-rich atmosphere, caused by a robust system of subcrustal volcanism and anaerobic chemosynthetic producers, causes Zaddat to have severe difficulties breathing and surviving in the atmospheres favored by most other sapients. Atop the carapace is a fibrous layer of soft tissue that is anchored to the Zaddat around the shoulder and forms a distinct symbiote cultivated by the Zaddat during the Darkening of Xohok.

Zaddat have facial mandibles that retract into their skull when not eating and vocal cord analogues that produce sound by rubbing together, not unlike the legs of a cricket. They have long, tapered limbs that flare into three or four phalanges at their end. While their evolutionary ancestors are thought to have eight limbs, four have become vestigial and are now only found on the torso of fertile females. Infertile females are externally identical to males.

The symbiote (confusingly also referred to as a shroud) is not birthed naturally with a Zaddat. Instead the female who is tending to the polyp will attach and grow the organism itself, while teaching how to care for it. The vast majority of Zaddat claim to have no knowledge of what exactly this symbiote is or how it interacts with a host, and aliens rarely see a Zaddat without their exterior Shroud to begin with.

Earth atmospheres pose two problems for Zaddat habitation -- the general pressure is low enough to cause significant strain on their fragile joints, and the partial pressure of nitrogen is toxic to them. Their environmental Shrouds address the former problem and their gas-mask Veils address the latter problem. Furthermore, their bodies are extremely photosensitive and respond to bright light by reproducing haphazardly, at a rate fast enough to kill the Zaddat within minutes. As a result, Shrouds are necessary in any lit space, such as workshops or storefronts.

The Shroud

“A mask of shame, or a funerary rite for their world?” -An Unathi on first contact with the Zaddat.

From birth to death, Zaddat spend the vast majority of their lives inside of closed life-support systems called Shrouds. Shrouds are extremely complex and in-depth pieces of machinery that each and every member of the race is taught to construct, maintain, and repair. Zaddat Shrouds also assist in muting the natural buzzing accent Zaddat have when speaking any “Universal” Language, though cybernetic modification of the larynx for clearer speech has become popular in the last few decades.

In addition to functioning as a voidsuit, Shrouds process waste, allow for the intake of food intake and waste disposal, protect the Zaddat from contagion common in their cramped quarters, and serve as an important facet of a Zaddat's desire for individual expression. A Zaddat's Shroud is seen as an extension of the face and necessary professional garb - even within Colonies and stations designed for their physiology, most Zaddat wear their Shrouds in public spaces.

The Colonies and Fleets

“You humans have a saying, right? Home away from home? Every single Colony is our home now.” -Excerpt from a Spacer interview with a human reporter.

Rampant industrialization on the Zaddat homeworld of Xohok lead to Xohok's atmosphere becoming unbreathable, and all other publicly-documented garden worlds have an atmospheric pressure between 70 and 200 kPa.

Terraforming any world remains outside of the Zaddat technological ability, as do large atmospheric domes on the surfaces of uninhabitable worlds. As a result, almost all Zaddat live in large habitat-ships called Colonies - originally converted Unathi bulk freighters, now unique Zaddat designs.

Zaddat Colonies are by far more independent than ships in flotillas like Ue'Orsi or Dzzat'Xo, and other species' assistance is not usually required to construct a new Colony or make significant repairs to an existing ship. This produces curious quirk to the Migrant Fleets, as they are essentially roving bands of plundering scavengers.

These Fleets are comprised of anywhere between five vessels up to and exceeding one hundred, though all known Fleets that are of that size are named and tracked by all Galactic Powers. The average Migrant Fleet is comprised of several core Colonies that serve as living ships – producing the air, food, and community needed – while being escorted and provided for by a dozen of military and support craft in turn. Strike craft are a common sight when in the presence of a Migrant Fleet, the pilots often displaying their skill in flight shows if the audience is peaceful.

At this time the three named Fleets are as follows:

Ue'Orsi; the primary True Migrant Fleet, set in orbit around a red giant for refueling operations. Its makeup consists of an uneasy balance between Colonies, military craft, and survey vessels.

Istiz Viz; a Fleet roaming the areas where the Hivebot attacks most affected the Hegemony. Many of the ships in this Fleet are support and salvage craft.

Dzzat'Xo; the largest collection of Colonies, and therefore the Zaddat's largest population center. It's rumored that the Naramadi supercarriers were constructed by this Fleet, though no alien power can confirm this. To date, it has never left Unathi space.

The Unathi

“We no longer work 'for' them, but we still owe them our lives. We can't ever forget that.” -An Engineer describing the relationship between the two races.

The Zaddat have spent over two centuries as Unathi allies. While current relations are somewhat cooler, early Zaddat viewed integration into the Kingdoms as an opportunity to escape their dying homeworld, and many embraced the Kingdoms and the political opportunities that came with it.

As a result, indigenous Zaddat religious systems have largely died out, replaced with a variant of their sun-worship and with the Unathi's Markesheli, blending a few other Zaddat concepts. Their adherence to the Markesheli has lead to their being granted broader autonomy within the relatively new Hegemony, culminating with their charter to leave Hegemony space after the Exile Uprising.

It should be noted that the Zaddat do not see themselves as inferior to the Unathi in any social regard. They are considered equals and treat each other accordingly. Much of the time this results in consternation between the two in casual settings, yet despite this the Zaddat are politically adept at knowing what any given Kingdom needs.

Language

“Close Shrouds!” -The most dreaded emergency message any Colony will hear.

The common language of the space-borne Zaddat, Vedahq, was developed to maintain tight communications between Colonies. It is a crisp, utilitarian language consisting of a wide array of human-unpronounceable buzzing and clicking sounds. Many simpler phrases can be communicated through their tone and resonance alone, in case of communications loss in an airless environment.

Many Zaddat also speak Sinta'Unathi, owing to their time spent as a 'lesser' species within the Kingdoms. The Zaddat's buzzing accents in the language have mixed effects on those who can properly hiss.

Naming

Zaddat names are full of harsh consonants and buzzing sounds. Example names include Ivti Azav, Zidz Ivti, Azhox Dzaz.

Zaddat take the personal name of their original guildmaster as a surname as a sign of respect and to signify guild membership. Pre-apprentice children take the word "Iz" as their surname, which is also used as a surname by the guildless.

Some sycophantic Zaddat will take their guild name, the name of their home Colony, or Xohok as a Hegemony clan name. Some will even strip the guildless or dishonored of their master's name, though these practices are uncommon among Zaddat as a whole.

Aesthetics and Culture

“Your Shroud looks like 'pidder padder'. My Shroud looks like BWOOSH.” -A Zaddat when confronted on their fashion.

As a rule, an individual Zaddat is two things. First, they are proud of themselves in some regard; either their profession, skill, race, or position. Secondly, they are intensely competitive with one another. From these two core facets the rest of Zaddat society is more easily interpreted.

Individualism is perhaps the term to most broadly blanket their culture. After a child has been taught all they need to know from the Noble Guild, it's an individual's choice of what Guild to join, how to dress, how to act, where to go, and so forth. Choices naturally lead to conflict, and conflict resolution. From an outsider's perspective a single Zaddat Colony is akin to seeing a whole country argue at once, yet somehow managing to chart a stable course.

Expressing oneself is one of the single most important aspects to a Zaddat's life. One can see it even in their ship design: small or nonsensical additions to a craft that serve no function save to memorialize the one who left it there. This extends to the interior of the Colonies, where vast swaths of the open surface area is painted or etched.

Because of the limited number of Shroud designs available, many Zaddat choose to personalize their suits with patches, pins, colorful cloths, and custom fittings, giving some Shrouds an eerie resemblance to human "punk" fashion or overdecorated military personnel, depending on the individual.

Last to mention is the mania with which the Zaddat people have taken to cybernetics. Most commonly the cybernetics are enhancements or otherwise practical, as with the synthetic implant in the larynx or the ability to project holographic images from a hand. Others are simply cosmetic, such as the ability to customize eye color. So long as the individual is able enough to obtain the cyberware they want, they get it.

Beliefs and Viewpoints

“The Light! The Light! We have turned away from the Light!” -Excerpt from the popular play “Tragedies Of Home”.

While on a day to day basis a Zaddat may not espouse their values, it's through their personal beliefs that they find many reasons to bond beyond a need to work together. Since the Zaddat are shorter-lived than most other Galactic races it comes across that they don't think about their religions as much or as deeply as another might, though by sheer metric it could be said they think about it far more often than other species over the course of their life.

There are three primary belief systems that the Zaddat have: their native star and light worship Xoh'zzt, the adopted Unathi sect of Markesheli, and the emergent and so-called True Migrants.

Xoh'zzt

As the native religion of the Zaddat there are many parts that are ill understood about the tenets and structure to this style of light worship. What makes study more difficult still is the clear evolution from its original form since the Darkening; the single brightest light being replaced with the numberless expanse in space.

What is clear is how there are two sects within the religion. There are the light-worshipers and the light-fearers, and these two groups often spend their time discussing the finer points of their theology with each other. In general the light-worshipers espouse the goodness and lively qualities to light, how it provides sight and energy, life and growth. Directly contrasting them, the light-fearers warn of the dangers of excessive light, how it can blind and harm, desecrate and leave barren.

Both sects also have a keen view on the Darkening and the Zaddat's place in it. Each agree that the Zaddat are at fault for what happened to their world, and while it can be seen as a punishment or divine intervention, the understanding is that they have wronged their native star and homeworld.

Markesheli

The Zaddat naturally practiced many of the constraints of the Markesheli as a result of their Guild system; extreme dedication to a craft, devotion to a kin group, and asceticism have all been part of Zaddat culture since long ago. Some more zealous Zaddat view this as clear evidence of divine intervention in their biological and cultural evolution.

Nonetheless, Zaddat-specific concepts have been introduced into their sect of the Markesheli. The Ancestor-worship of the Unathi has syncretised with Zaddat superstitions created during the Darkening. Many Markesheli Zaddat view their congenial sensitivity to light as a divine punishment for what they did to their planet. This, and the severely dire situation they were in before and during their discovery by the Kingdoms, has led many to genuinely believe the Moghedi were divinely guided to save them from their own folly and thus are owed an enormous debt by the entire Zaddat society.

True Migrants

The search for a new homeworld has itself taken on aspects of a religious pilgrimage, an attitude encouraged by the Spacers and the Hegemony alike. Colonies and Fleets roaming the frontier are often lead by True Migrants, each of them eager to be the one to find a new land to settle.

The Migrants largely believe themselves to be the soon-to-be saviors of their people, as a new homeworld would free them from the trappings of constant space radiation, pirate attacks, and atmospheric maintenance. While most Zaddat don't think about their Shrouded existence, the Migrants seek to remind them that they once breathed without masks and walked free from suits.

The Unspoken

While not strictly a religion, it is a well-known fact that the Zaddat do not breach a contract or agreement. Even if the agreement was made by someone else in their stead, so long as it is within their skillset they will adhere to the letter of such creeds. After some investigation this phenomenon has come to be known as The Unspoken Bond, or simply The Unspoken.

In Guild culture it can often be seen that a master agrees to work for their apprentices. What's stranger to most outsiders is that other Guilds will agree to work from other Guilds. The individuals may complain, slack off, or generally skirt around certain terms of such agreements, it can be said that the Zaddat never break their vows.

The adverse effects of abuse this can be seen in broader Zaddat Guild culture. Each of the most prominent Guilds rent out each other's services frequently in a bid to remove prominent members for some time, or to gain advantages in debates. In return the offended parties will do the same, and the cycle trends to repeat itself until a Fleet on the whole gets fed up with such feuds and disperses.

The Guilds

“Another Engineer contract? No no no my friend, what you need is a quality Freefarer. Let me tell you about this one...” -The beginning of negotiations for a labor contract.

Zaddat first became Unathi vassals during a period where access to food, liquid water, and life support were restricted only to Guild members. Consequently, the most important relationship in Zaddat culture is that of Master and Apprentice.

After finishing a six year course of study under the Noble Guild, a young Zaddat will pledge themselves to a Master and enter a decade-long period of training, after which they are themselves allowed full political and economic autonomy and eventually allowed to take apprentices themselves. One's Master acts as a surrogate parent, and the guild as surrogate family. Particularly bold children will pledge themselves to a Guildmaster.

To be guildless is a dire fate. Before the loss of Xohok, a guildless Zaddat would be a perpetual “child,” existing on the fringes of society and begging for scraps. Now, in the age of the Colonies, a guildless Zaddat is likely to be exiled from their ship, forced to stake out a life in hostile territory in the confines of an environment suit. Should a fertile female manage to first be exiled, and then produce offspring, those polyps are not considered guildless and are allowed to rejoin the Fleets.

Leadership in a guild is based mostly on seniority and competence, and every function from sewage to childrearing to ensuring that host species don't shoot the Colony out of the sky is contracted out to insular teams of specialists. Upon joining a guild, a Zaddat is an Apprentice. After their obligatory decade of rigorous training, they become a Journeyman. Journeymen must then be judged singularly by the Guildmaster or by a council of judging Masters. Masters are the ones who train Apprentices and generally handle the broader functions of their Colony. There is only a single Guildmaster per Guild, per Colony.

The day-to-day affairs of a single Zaddat Colony are rife with more politics than some human nations. Each Guildmaster must keep account of their duties and members, their supplies and budget. Then they need to communicate with other Guilds and any organization currently with a contract involving one of their Guild members to maintain upkeep and settle breaches or other disputes. When a breach of Guild Law is found, they must deal with it. If a breach of the Pact is found, all Guildmasters of the Fleet must deal with it.

When a Guildmaster of a particular guild is ousted by their peers or by law, there immediately step up the Masters who would take their place. Most often these are the Masters the previous Guildmaster sidelined, and are now more than ready to prove themselves superior. These feuds very rarely escalate into violence, but very often involve competitions.

The only thing preventing Colonies from becoming terrifying games of mutually assured destruction is the fact that each guild has its own rivals within the industry who are usually more than happy to break strikes. In the event that an industry does become controlled by a single guild, that guild would become extremely powerful... such as the coalition of guilds that currently rule over the Zaddat.

Spacers' Guild

The Spacers' Guild was originally a small split-off from the Engineers' Guild, concerning itself with navigation and reviewing stable routes of travel. The Spacers scout for, report to, and escort any given Fleet to their destination. Over time, it has become the "face" of the Zaddat, managing interspecies diplomacy and supplying the Colonies with a constant stream of labor contracts.

The Spacers claim that this is a natural extension of their role of finding safe passage between stars, but their rivals view it as a naked power grab.

Breakers' Guild

While some may laugh at the idea of soldier Zaddat, it's a simple fact that any government, or indeed any group of people, has those who defend the greater whole. Such is the way of this Guild: to train in the ways of combat, especially with strike craft and smaller escorts. In many ways the Breakers' Guild has been influenced the most and the least by their interactions with the warriors of the Unathi.

In a turn from Zaddat norms, those of the Breakers' Guild do not hold the standard Guild ranks save the Guildmaster, who is also a Captain. Instead those of the Breakers hold very strict military ranks.

Most of these Zaddat do not enjoy the political influence that the three “primary” Guilds do, but when Vox or pirates come to attack a Colony, these are the Zaddat that welcome them, and often send them away as space dust.

Freefarers' Guild

As the Spacer Guild grew in number and importance, so too did its responsibilities. Eventually one of their duties split off to form its own Guild; the Freefarers. Freefarers are the Zaddat who find and exploit any mineral resources or fuel sources that a Fleet may come across, and often act on their own should they find any points of interest the Spacers overlooked.

This independent streak has earned them the tacit disapproval of the other Guilds, as many view it as an unnecessary risk not only of their people but to the Fleet as a whole.

Engineers' Guild

The Engineers' Guild is the largest and most powerful guild and the parent organization of the Spacers' Guild. The Engineers perform most of the labor of keeping the Colonies physically intact and are widely renowned for their talent. In addition to this, there exist either unknown techniques or other such methods by which these Zaddat construct new ships, especially ones of massive scope.

Many Engineers quietly regard the rest of Zaddat society as parasites off of their hard work, but most of the time keep these sentiments unspoken.

Medical Guild

While some may think that the collective of medical examiners, surgeons, and psychologists would find a niche closer to the Nobles, it's a simple fact that those professionals know that the Nobles depend on them for their support. If not for them, how would the Queens assure their productions went smoothly? Such that it is that the Medical Guild finds itself in a similar standing to the Engineers.

In truth Zaddat medical knowledge is only above average with the rest of the galaxy. For this reason they don't get nearly as many contracted jobs as their more famous Engineers.

Droning Guild

For centuries under Unathi rule, the Zaddat considered thinking machines to be too impractical for any Zaddat resources to be expended on their pursuit. The ubiquity of drones in human space proved them wrong.

The Droning Guild was formed by former Engineers and Spacers during the first years of Terran residence and believes drones to be the solution to the Zaddat' woes - capable of operating in hostile environments without life support, devoid of any desire for upward mobility or individual expression, and perfectly legal (assuming that they don't use Unathi brains in their MMI).

The Noble Guild

Nearly 90% of all polyp-producing females belong to the Noble Guild, which concerns itself with polyp production, child rearing, and education. All young Zaddat pass through the Noble Guild on their way to their permanent guild, making it a shared cultural foundation for all Zaddat.

Formed out of the descendants of nobility who sided with the Guilds during the Darkening and of those “queens” who remained in power when the Unathi vassalized them, the Noble Guild guard their monopoly on the Zaddat population jealously, many leaders openly styling themselves queens or other noble titles.

Farming Guild

Inaccurate perhaps now, for this Guild uses primarily hydroponic arrays and 'farms' rather than land. Despite this, the Farming Guild is directly responsible for growing crops and raising the livestock that the Zaddat saved from their homeworld. These flora and fauna are to be used -- ideally -- in making a new world truly 'home'. In the meantime, this Guild does its best to feed and accommodate all the other members of a Colony or Fleet. Their efforts are often overlooked by those who choose to forget their circumstances.

The Farming Guild lacks political pull simply due to how much work they need to do. It's no mean feat to feed a people on the move.

“Fashion” Guilds

While not as unified as the other coalition guilds, the various cultural guilds, especially the Art Guilds, are considered the most prestigious and dignified of guilds. They train only a very few apprentices every year, and have a reputation for quality that would make a Skrell director or a human poet blind with envy. They style themselves as above the politics of the rest of the guilds and often provide a voice of moderation to the internal bickering of the Colonies.

In another example of Unathi assimilation, the performing arts are especially well-respected, with their own styles on the Ancestors' tales especially diffusing tensions between particularly rowdy Guilds.

History

“Xohok. Our home. We took it for granted, and now we've left it behind.” -A guildless Zaddat on the subject.

The specific chronology of some events in the history of the Zaddat are considered state secrets by the Hegemony and not known by humanity with confidence. While these specific details may be obscured, it is known that there are certain distinct events that shaped the current space-nomad culture of the Zaddat.

In their pre-space days, the Zaddat were a proud people that valued two things above all: technical skill and outward appearance. It's through these values that we can see the basis for the current Guild cultures sprouting. However, there is a clear and distinct line of “nobility” - the fertile females of the species holding broad powers and ruling in much the same way one would ascribe to “queens” that did their utmost to curb the growing power of the nacent Guilds.

These social and economic sanctions eventually saw a planet-wide conflict between the two groups. The Guilds, now able to wield their industrial capacities to their utmost, constructed great foundries to produce arms and equipment for the effort. Eventually the powers agreed to a truce, but by then the damage had been done; their homeworld was being choked by smog and ash clouds, among other lingering ghosts of the conflict.

In a desperate bid to save themselves from the coming catastrophe, something they call The Darkening of Xohok, the Zaddat quickly reformed themselves into a more cohesive government and launched into the brightness beyond the dark of their world. What awaited them were not the open minds of the Skrell or the open hands of the humans, but instead the claws of the Unathi.

The Zaddat were completely unprepared for a conflict with an alien race, much less a race of warriors. Rather than let themselves be completely destroyed, the Zaddat reached out to become a client race of the Kingdoms they had inadvertently intruded upon, offering the rest of their home system as collateral. Hardly a people to turn down such a one-sided deal, the Moghedi accepted the lost folk.

What followed was a distinct shift in Moghedi spacefaring culture; on any given ship, one could find a number of Zaddat studying the ways of spaceflight and construction. The more generous of the host Kingdoms even provided the very first Colonies to the Zaddat; these craft in fact being bulk freighters refitted for the environment the Zaddat needed to live for themselves.

After the initial period of integration, the people of Xohok found it in their best interest to form what they called “Migrant Fleets”. These are independent flotilla of numerous vessels bound together loosely by a common destination and cooperative approach to plying the stars. The many Colonies were joined now by Zaddat-designed and built escort craft, and they demanded equal rights from their local Arbitrators.

In a perhaps uncharacteristic turn of events, the possible crisis was leveraged instead into a formal alliance between the two races: wherever possible, the Unathi are obligated to treat the Zaddat as belonging to the “Pact,” provide materials at a fair rate, and afford the treatment of a Fleet as a Kingdom. In return, the Zaddat continued to operate as they had been, lending their technical expertise to the Unathi for industrial and scientific interests, wherever they happened to be docked. This agreement may or may not be defunct; the two races now provide such services as a matter of course.

Where this agreement finally solidified into real equal partnership was the Exile Uprising with the Naramadi. When the Houses from that alien race came to the Kingdoms asking for military aid, it was the Zaddat who theorized and constructed their flagship and supercarrier: the NAWV Primus. With this monumental task and their longstanding assistance to the Kingdoms as a whole, they were offered to join the Hegemony, an offer they were all too eager to accept.

In the modern day it's a common sight to see Zaddat as a minority on any Hegemony space station, though their primary centers of population are still their own Migrant Fleets and Colonies. With the advent of the Hegemony, some Migrant Fleets have set a course for the Frontier: in the hopes of finding a new homeworld, and to establish the Zaddat as a true Galactic race. Many of these “true” Migrants also house a Clan of Unathi among their ranks to provide 'muscle' where skill and negotiations fail.

Master Shipwrights

“Didn't I tell you to put another power converter in the hangar?!” “Guildmaster, you told me we needed another! Not where.” “Blind it. We'll reroute through here next.” -The average discussion between Engineers building a new Colony.

Ever since the Darkening, the Zaddat have been building spacecraft. It was out of necessity, a drive for survival, and a desperate ploy to escape. As it happens, the Zaddat as a people make the best ships in the galaxy.

After integrating with the Unathi Kingdoms, the Guilds were abuzz with how the Unathi built their ships and stations, how they had developed the craft, and why they'd made the decisions they had. Every single detail was collected by the Guilds and brought back to the Fleets.

Within twenty years the Zaddats' skill at engineering was being applied throughout Unathi space. At the same time, the Zaddat were building their own ships under their own power using the resources that had been given in exchange for service.

Zaddat ships are uniquely built. Each Colony has different sections that were bickered over during construction, each one has redundant and independent systems and subsystems in case of mishap or failure. Any other venture to emulate their design style has turned into a misshapen mess of a ship rather than a functional vessel. Some think that the only reason the Zaddat can construct what they do is through whatever spaceborne process they use.

Sometimes these design quirks make their way onto vessels and other constructs built by contracted Zaddat to other organizations. While the Unathi have largely learned to live with these additions, the other species of the galaxy often find their purpose or existence unfathomable. While the work is effective, there is a very artistic quality that makes appreciating the changes hard at times.

The Zaddat are also experts at piloting and navigation, giving them a much needed edge against the dangers of the void. This pairs especially well with their strike craft and escort craft for the Colonies, allowing them to outmaneuver any would-be assailants before an exchange.

Interracial Relations

In a stark contrast to their more imperial-minded Hegemony members, the Migrant Fleets are seen less as an invading force so much as a roving collection of squatters. While most Corporations and Galactic Powers see fit to negotiate with them for passage, usually in exchange for labor contracts, it can hardly be said that they are seen as a threat.

Several Diona thickets have expressed interest in helping the Zaddat terraform a new homeworld, assuming a candidate can be found. Some of them have taken up residence in the life support systems of Zaddat Colonies.

However, pointing out similarities between the Zaddat and the Vox is a good way to find oneself blacklisted by every Guild in a given fleet. The two races themselves mirror each other in an uncanny way, but where the Vox can only steal to keep their arcships functional, the Zaddat pride themselves in their craftsmanship.

OOC Notes

Zaddat are most commonly contracted out for Engineering work because of the prominence of the Engineers' Guilds, but will generally take whatever short-term contracts are available.

Many Zaddat have a knack for medicine born from living within the confines of a Shroud, and some Corporations hire Zaddat scientists in (futile) hopes of pilfering secrets from the Hegemony.

Zaddat are too slow and fragile to work in Security, and because of their distrusted and transient nature are not hired as Command Staff save for extreme cases.

Etiquette Guide for Zaddat:

• You are intensely proud of your skills and identity.
• You are here either on contract or because your Guild is; don't disappoint.
• Others will ask about the Shroud. Oversharing information is against Guild law.
• Above all else, your chosen work is your life. Your passion and reason to be.

Important Racial Terminology:

• Guilds: family units, political groups, and specialists of the Zaddat.
• Colony: In Zaddat context, a ship capable of being lived in.
• Migrants: those who have chosen to search for a new homeworld for the Zaddat.

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Author: Merne23