Sarvos

The Sarvos, classified in human taxonomy as Sarvorum Sapiens Sapiens, are an amphibious species from the oasis world of Hylglctl, in the L'chatk region of the Milky Way.

Biology
The Sarvos are an amphibious species, able to survive both on land and underwater for periods of time. Their skin resembles that of sharks; rough and bumpy, yet smooth to the touch when wet. They stand roughly 1.5m tall, with a muscular build. Their legs and feet are digitigrade, allowing them to run extremely quickly through the thick sand of their homeworld. Their skin is usually a light blue or cyan, but variations such as indigo, deep blue and even dark violet have been recorded. Their eyes are placed on the sides of their heads in large, bulbous sockets, facing forwards to chase prey. Their jaw has a locking mechanism seen in animals such as pit bulls and moray eels. Their skin is thin, and the shape of the skull is clearly seen on the head. On each of their hands are four fingers, including thumb. They have two nostrils, above their nose, which are simply slats in their facial structure. They are technically omnivorous, but rarely eat plant matter as digestion takes up too much of their already miniscule energy.

Average Sarvos
The average Sarvos citizen lives either planetside in large suburban settlements or in large orbital housing facilities. The Sarvos, with their homeworld's low temperatures in the oasis zones being 110 Fahrenheit, never developed affinity for wearing clothing and as such most civilians go nude. Because of the PSDR's massively bloated military, many Sarvos are employed by the military. Other prevalent jobs include engineering, chemical research, nuclear science, farming, ranching and espionage. 48% of the Sarvos population is illiterate. Most Sarvos enjoy spending their time listening to Spacial Network broadcasts of Party rallies and playing sports, as video gaming is deemed "degenerate" by the NRP. Many Sarvos also enjoy playing music, however, one must acquire a Musical License before purchasing instruments to ensure "degenerate" music is not played.

Prehistory
Prehistoric Sarvos lived as hunter tribes, making camps on the fertile shores of Hylglctl's massive freshwater oases. Sarvos hunting parties would depart from their camps into the desert, to hunt the large, bison-like creatures who roam there. Fishermen also lived along the coasts of the oases, swimming in the warm water to catch fish and other water-dwelling creatures. At this time, Sarvos music began developing, with crude flutes and lyres made of bone, sinew, plant fibers and tar.

Migration Period
The Migration period began when various Sarvos tribes began exploring outside of their home oases, finding somewhat temperate zones near the poles. Many groups began hoarding food to travel across the desert to these new places to live. In the largest oasis, the Blthic, crude attempts at animal husbandry, herding and even simple agriculture began to emerge. The shores of the oasis were soon dotted with pastoral villages and tiny plots of farmland.

Sarvos music, at this time, began rapidly shaping their cultures into distinct groups. Those who went north preferred plucky, quiet flute and lyre songs. Those who stayed at the oases listened to loud, clashing music played on crude copper cymbals. In the Blthic, people preferred rousing chants with deep, sustained trumpet.

Development Period
Once the main migrations ended and both the oases and north and south poles were colonized, real scientific progress could be made. The northern folk began experimentation with bronze alloys and advanced, freestanding stone structures. The Blthic peoples began traversing the oasis's many winding rivers and inlets with advanced watercraft, employing the newly developed sail. If something was discovered by one tribe, it quickly spread across the planet through the massive interconnected trade caravans, which frequently crossed the deserts distributing both goods and technology. These caravans were made up of hundreds of Sarvos travelers, riding on the back of Qar'Bishna, large salamander-like lizards able to store vast quantities of water in their bodies.

Nation-States Period
After years of wandering, settling and forming new groups, the first real organized Sarvos nation-states began appearing on Hylgltcl. In the north, the snow-land taiga dwellers made their empire around the northern hemisphere. The desert and oasis folk claimed oases to themselves, declaring them sovereign kingdoms. Conflict arose quickly, with many nations fighting one another of things as petty as misspelling a name on an embassy. Wars were able to drag on extremely long, due to large populations who were able to join fighting due to the fertility of the farmland near the oases.

However, the fighting was not entirely pointless. The Sarvos developed a plethora of new technology, such as presses, casting metal, crude steel and even gunpowder. Once the fighting had ended, the Sarvos were able to use these technologies for peace rather than war. The printing press allowed the sharing of music across the deserts, casting metal could create new tools much faster than smithing, and gunpowder was used in mining charges to dig up more of Hylgltcl's rich metal resources.

Exploration
After several thousand years of more war and more scientific development as a result of war, the Sarvos came to the point where they were able to send people into space. Due to the very little adverse effect of nuclear weaponry, the Sarvos developed nuclear pulse propulsion drives for their spacecraft, launching dozens of exploratory craft from the unpopulated deserts. The flat sands made excellent launch platforms for rockets, allowing multiple launches a day. These nuclear-driven spacecraft lifted off under the guise of the Council of Hylgltcl, an organization to preserve the peace of the Sarvos homeworld.

Only ten Hylgltcl years after the first spacecraft lifted off, Sarvos colonies appeared on the icy moon of Hylgltcl, Cylthugyr. A plethora of diverse music sounded over the atmospherically thin world, showing that for the first time, the Sarvos were uniting themselves for peace, rather than war.

Golden Age
Over the millenia, the Sarvos eventually unified their scattered nations into the Hylgltcl Union, the first unified Sarvos state in their history. The Union was lead by the elected political Party. Hundreds of parties would come to have their time as leadership, both left wing and right. Because they had managed to 'mature', ie create a unified political entity comprising all their peoples, contact with the Sarvos was opened by Nyctosians and Laputans. These two races gave the Sarvos the secrets of wormspace technology, as well as nuclear fusion, Spacial Network access and other assorted gifts. (Withholding weapons technology, owing to the violent Sarvos nature.).

The Sarvos's relative peacefulness despite their violent nature, as well as their high level of technology, helped create the first Spacial Council of the Milky Way as the first united body to preserve galactic peace. The Hylgltcl Union, the Republic of Malok, the Laputan Merchant's Federation and Empire of Nyctos had their first meeting in the Spacial Council of the Milky Way in 2965 BCE, Earth years, forming between the four Founders a strong bond of peace, scientific exploration and friendship.

Downfall Period
However, the Sarvos knew that peace would not last for long. Only a few hundred years after the forming of the Spacial Council, the National Restorative Party of the Hylgltcl Union emerged. The party was formed by the rather small Bylthicg Yammae cultural group, based around a tiny oasis in the desert of Hylgltcl. The party sought to revitalize the stagnating economy of the Union, re-arm the Union to defend against outside threats such as the newly-joining Council race, the Ulopaka, and to instill national pride within the Sarvos states. The Sarvos, used to trying new things for their peacetime economy, voted them into office.

Things immediately turned south. One of the first actions by the new party was to rename the Hylgltcl Union to the "People's Sarvos Democratic Republic". This was seen as a bizarre move, as the Union was already all of those things, but it was given no mind and life continued as usual. Then, it was declared that anyone not belonging to the Bylthicg Yammae culture group was no longer allowed to own property. This was met with immediate outcry, as the Bylthicg Yammae culture group was only about a half billion individuals in a population of over seventy billion. To keep their plans moving forward, the National Restorative party halted the Union Congress, giving all administrative power to the Head of Party.

The Party decided it was not finished. Viewing their own culture as the most superior (due to the fact the Bylthicg Yammae invented gunpowder tens of thousands of years ago), their leader, Lfanyerael Ithctyr, declared the Law of Degeneration, saying that all other groups would lose their citizenship and deported to designated Internment Planets for indefinite amounts of time unless they converted. This action prompted investigation by the Spacial Council, but all threats of war were deflected by the LMF, as they saw the Sarvos as a very good customer.

Modern Time
In 2101, the Sarvos economy is failing massively due to the inability for the Party to actually find economists. Their joint war against Earth with their allies, the LMF, left their largest Internment Planets in the L'chatk region vulnerable to attack. In 2093, the Gol Sehk Collective attacked at this weakpoint, liberating countless billions from slavery and extermination.

The Sarvos are essentially a rogue state only brought to jurisdiction in the Council due to their ties with the LMF, as they use the Laputan currency as their own collapsed. Frequent raider parties, 'Definitely Not State Funded' terror attacks and insurgencies are common against their enemies, but are quickly dealt with as Sarvos technology has stagnated for the last 3000 years.

Homeworld
Hylgltcl is a desert planet, the second-closest to the star Ig. It has a math of .9 Earths, and is rich in ferrous minerals. The planet has no large bodies of water, and is covered in sandy deserts. The fresh water on Hylgltcl emerges from underground springs, where the dense sand keeps the water cool as it flows to the surface to form great oases. The sky is a grayish yellow, as there is no blue ocean for the sky to reflect.

Culture
Sarvos culture was heavily influenced by the locale one group lived in. For example, those who lived on caravan trails would have many singers, who pass choruses back down the caravan lines. Other groups, such as the AGH GGHA, who lived underground, have harsh music, composed of grinding rocks together and electronic screeching. The Bylthicg Yammae group create music sounding like human rock music, with defined beats, rigid lyrical structure and long instrumentals. However, all Sarvos cultures share one thing: no matter the music they create, all Sarvos move in tune with a beat. Constantly.

Due to the oppressive programs of the Party, culture has obviously taken a large hit. Most culture groups are near extinction, with many individuals undergoing forced reeducation to join the Bylthicg Yammae.

Government
The People's Sarvos Democratic Republic is a massive, bloated fascist state. The Party Leader is the head of state, and is assigned that role almost arbitrarily. The economy had collapsed years ago, and as such the PSDR uses Laputan currency. Anyone found practicing "degenerate" cultural pride is either detained and tortured or sent to a designated Internment Planet, to be used as slave labour or simply killed. The Party uses bona-fide brainwashing via subliminal messages and even 'faulty' neural implants to ensure the population is always supportive of the Party.

Presence
Outside their borders, the Sarvos have very little influence on politics. Their sphere of influence was overtaken by the Gol Sehk Collective after their economy crashed, and the LMF controls most of their external decision-making. However, whenever a war breaks between the LMF and another group, the Sarvos are forced to join as they are part of the Bound Pact.

City Planning
Sarvos cities are built out of dense concrete, and walls are unpainted. Trifectas adorn all Party-owned buildings, and every city has a Monument to the Republic, a massive, unsightly metal statue of the Party leader. Roads are built in a spiral running out from the center of town, where the Monument is placed. Billboards display propaganda, and walls (when they are painted) are covered in murals that show the great wonders and beauty of the Party Leader.