An American Changeling on Akiridion Prime

Thoughts, observations, and analysis of Akiridion culture from the perspective of an outsider. (IC Tales of Arcadia worldbuilding blog. All posts are headcanons. Timeline is pre-canon.)

[drbabygoestospace]

Is Bonding where Akiridions within a bond feel each other’s pain or like a Force-bond in Star Wars where Akiridions can communicate over long distances?

Hi! Great question! It is actually more like a marriage enforced by biological connection, which eventually concludes in morphing. I am writing a longer piece about Akiridion Bonding, but here is a quick overview!

Among Akiridions, Bonding is closer to an arranged marriage than a mutual romantic relationship. Romantic feelings often develop inside of Bonds, but they are not considered a core tenant of what forms a Bond. When two or more Akiridions are Bonded, their cores become more and more attuned to each other as they trade more diations (the physical matter that makes up an Akiridion, most of which forms as hard light to make their bodies) which in turn makes them begin to think more like each other. Physical changes also tend to follow, and Akiridions will begin to adopt the physical characteristics of their Bondmates as the process continues.

The ultimate goal of Bonding is to form what is in essence a single organism over many centuries. First the Akiridions in the Bond will become incredibly similar to the point where they are indistinguishable from one another, and eventually they will begin to physically merge. Bonds are seen as the ultimate form of compromise and the highest way to engage in political discourse, and are incredibly important in how the empire functions. For example, to become the Emperor of Akiridion a qualifying individual must be a fully congealed Bond of at least 10 Akiridions.

Because Bonds are made exclusively for political reasons, they are very uncommon outside of royalty and nobility. Most Akiridions who are in romantic relationships simply refer to each other and their relationship as their "chosen paths" or "partners."

Fun fact: polyamory is the norm on Akiridion, especially in the nobility and royalty! A serious relationship consisting of only two individuals is considered unbalanced and dangerous, especially when forming a Bond. The more diversity in diations in the Bond, the better.

As far as the mental connection, from what I understand Bondmates can sense each other's feelings across long distances, but psychic communication with thoughts and physical sensation is not possible - yet! If any organisms out here in this wild, weird universe can figure something like that out, it's the Akiridions. :)

[drbabygoestospace]

How does the political system work?

Great question! It's a bit complicated so I won't get into the ins and outs (I'm still trying to get it all sorted out right myself) but I'll give you a quick overview.

"Akiridion" is the colloquial name for all celestial bodies that are within the original jurisdiction of the empire, and so the planet as well as its moons all carry the word in their names. Each moon has its own name (Seklen, Testan, Respna, and Gaylgat,) but they are typically referred to by their number in the empire (Seklen is Akiridion-2, Testan is Akiridion-3, etc.) In addition to the planet (which is referred to both as Akiridion-1 and Akiridion Prime) and its moons, there are 37 other smaller asteroids, stations, and outposts orbiting Akiridion's star (Velna) which, like the moons, have their own names but are generally referred to as "Satellite-1," "Satellite-2," and so on.

While all of the satellites have their own governors, the only leaders in the empire that are considered as part of the imperial hierarchy are the royal families of the planet and the moons. On each moon and on Prime there are several royal lineages, but only one of them actively rules the planet at a time. Civil wars are common on the moons when one of the royal families decides to make a bid for the governing seat, but on Prime the ruling family is decided by the emperor.

And speaking of the emperor - the current ruler of the Akiridion empire is Emperor Thayrn, a Bond of 16 individuals from Prime and Akiridion-4. They have been ruling for 324 keltons, which is the current longest rule of any Akiridion emperor. Since they are in essence a council of leaders occupying one (apparently huge) body, Emperor Thayrn has the final say in all large matters in and out of the empire. The emperor's decisions and laws are known as "the imperial mandate," which all Akiridion rulers are expected to follow and enact. Emperor Thayrn has little to do with how individual planets are governed or who is allowed to go to war within the empire, and generally only concerns themself with questions of war policy when it comes to colonization of other planets and civilizations outside of the empire.

As I said before, for the most part the moons are allowed to do as they wish as long as they keep in line with the imperial mandate. That said, sometimes there are issues that arise that need input from the emperor if there is no previous applicable mandate in place, at which point the leaders of the moons may go to Prime for guidance. Historically, the emperor has appointed a ruling royal family on Prime as their spokespeople through which all smaller matters are resolved so that the emperor is only troubled with issues that truly require their attention. Rather than the situation of most royal families where they are put into power through everything from political maneuvering outright war with little input from the emperor (save for at the end of the conflict when the victor is acknowledged by the emperor) the ruling family of Prime is the only royal family that is directly appointed. The current spokespeople for Emperor Tharyn are the Rallens, which are one of the oldest royal lineages in the empire.

Now, although the royals of Akiridion-2 through Akiridion-4 report to House Rallen before their matters are kicked up to Emperor Tharyn, House Tarron of Akiridion-5 is an exception to this. The Tarrons are, for lack of a better descriptor, the black sheep of the Akiridion empire, and report directly to Tharyn. Akiridion-5 is the moon that was most recently engaged in a tremendously violent and catastrophic civil war, leading to the formation of the current ruling house. The king and queen are a two person Bond, which is virtually unheard of in the royal class, and the scandal of that in combination with the destruction of two royal houses in order to form a new one has put them under a lot more scrutiny from Prime. The situation is of course more complicated than that, but that is a quick summary of why the Tarrons report directly to Thayrn rather than through the Rallens.

There are of course many other levels of governance both on the moons and the planet, but that is the main level at which policy that affects non-Akiridions is decided. I myself work for one of the lower levels of governance on Prime, as I am a nufact for Lord Joro, who is the Lord High Imperial Doctor. And of course, how all of these bodies interact politically on a more granular level is the sort of thing you would have to have hundreds of volumes of text to be able to have a surface level understanding of, and I am not sure such a thing exists. I will continue to do my best to bring you what knowledge I have of the empire that inevitably will have an affect on all of our lives, so please feel free to keep asking questions and I will tell you what I can. :)

[porchtart]

Digi peets Morando???? OwO?????

Whoops my hand slipped. Notes on what you're looking at here in case you can't read my chicken scratch (and also more details):

Taylon have three digits on each paw, two fingers and a thumb. Each digit has thick paw pads that glow the same as the Taylon's markings, as well as glowing scored marks along various points to make for easier modifications to the fabrication.

Taylon must regularly stretch to keep their fabrications at ideal elasticity for the modifications that are required for them to more easily adapt to the climates and unique properties of other worlds when they are sent on military campaigns.

Unlike other Akiridians that have fingernails, Taylon have long, thin retractable claws in case they are separated from their unit and lose their weapons.

[drbabygoestospace]

Dr. Khunbish, is there a part of Akiridion physiology you find particularly interesting?

Hi Anon! Thank you for your question!

Akiridians in general are very fascinating to me, because physically they are wildly different from anything that we know on Earth. @akiridion-prime has done some fantastic posts on the physiology of Akiridians and their cores, which I highly recommend. (Core Anatomy 1)(Core Anatomy 2)(Akiridian Markings) Their fabrications (the physical body projected out of the core) are of particular interest to me, however, because this is where some of the biggest differences between individuals come into play, and cultural trends show up.

I have another ask which is about the cultural differences between Prime and the moons so I won’t go too in depth about that here, but here are some of the linked cultural-physiological aspects I find most interesting.

Akiridians have a huge amount of control over how their fabrications appear, something that organic life-beings can only achieve through things like extensive plastic surgery (or in the case of changelings like myself, magic.) The only real limit for Akiridian fabrications is how many diations surround the core, which limits the size that an individual can project their body to. Because of this, it’s fairly easy to track the cultural influences of other societies by looking at Akiridians from different age groups and locations, as Akiridians have a tendency to “borrow” physical traits from other species.

Cores are necessary for an Akiridian to be alive, and while they are quite strong they can also be prone to damage. One of Lord Joro’s specialties here at the Valtres is core damage, and I’ve seen a lot of really fascinating (and frankly horrifying) fabrications projected out from damaged cores. Seeing such things makes me feel shocked and nervous when I think about Akiridians who willingly mutilate their cores to achieve different effects for their fabrications, including Bonding.

The monochromatic hues and general symmetry of Akiridian fabrications is both aesthetically lovely and completely maddening. Akiridians perceive shape, color, smell, and texture in dimensions that are imperceptible to human (or troll) eyes, and what is left on our visible color spectrum is so muted that it’s bizarre to think that Akiridians are actually quite diverse!

Almost every Akiridian that studies in the Prime Valtres Center has darker fingertips! Dexiethans and other specialists that work directly with cores need a tremendous amount of control for the precision work that they do, and so they focus a lot of their diations into the tips of their fingers for greater control as well as sensation. The tightly packed diations are very dense, which makes the darker color.

Thanks again for the ask! If there’s anything you want clarified, feel free to drop in again!

[drbabygoestospace]

Hello world!!

Left to Right: Dr. Khunbish (nufact from Earth,) Prince Dahc Velphret of Akiridion-3, Lord Yanit Arken of Akiridion-5

Dr. Khunbish here! I’m an Earthling living on Akiridion Prime, studying under Lord High Doctor Urale Joro as his nufact. The focus of my research is understanding the culture of the Akiridion Empire, and developing a framework of compassion and peace as their influence spreads across the galaxy. If you have any questions about Akiridion that you want explained without their condescending and untranslatable terminology in the way, please ask away!

~Dr. Khunbish