Well, I've got my drive mostly sorted, and saved what I could, so we can resume our regularly scheduled programing. For which, the tisen are more than happy.
Genralis
Genralis was the first colony established by the Tisen, and is one of their largest manufacturing centers. The planet is extremely rich in both mineral and metal resources, but in its biosphere too.
Soracus
Soracus is a tidally locked planet, its surface constantly buffed by windstorms of varying intensity. The planet is a magnet for enterprising explorers, as the constant windstorms erode the surface into spectacular patterns and caverns.
Tresen
Tresen is an arid world, orbiting a young blue star. There are surface bodies of water, though they are fairly small and scattered, with the majority of the planet’s water being contained in reservoirs just below the surface. Most organisms have developed highly efficient means of conserving water within their bodies, while some are capable of tunneling down to the subsurface reservoirs, and still others have adapted means to condense water from the atmosphere in the early morning hours.
The Tisen are a race of reptilians. Their snouts are short, with strong jaws filled with stubby but sharp teeth. Each hand has three fingers and an opposable thumb, each ending in a sharp claw. Modern tisen keep their claws filed down, so as to not impede their usage of more complicate and delicate technology. Their most striking feature however, is a network of bone growths which protrude through the skin from their spine, arms, legs, and a singular plate on their skull. The females are larger and stand roughly 6-7ft tall, while the males are smaller at approximately 4-5ft.
Home world
Tresen
Tresen is an arid world, orbiting a young blue star. There are surface bodies of water, though they are fairly small and scattered, with the majority of the planet’s water being contained in reservoirs just below the surface. Most organisms have developed highly efficient means of conserving water within their bodies, while some are capable of tunneling down to the subsurface reservoirs, and still others have adapted means to condense water from the atmosphere in the early morning hours.
Primary Weapons used
Depleted Uranium Shells
The tisen’s primary weapons are slug throwers. They do not yet possess the technological advancement to mass utilize direct energy weapons, though there are extremely large focused particle cannons on some of their largest military vessels. They instead rely on depleted uranium and massive coil guns to keep pace with their more advanced neighbors.
Government
The tisen are governed by a Federation, comprised of the planets populated by their species. Being a matriarchal society, females run their governing Council with a representative of each planet in the Federation holding a seat. Males hold lesser positions, as aides to a representative or other subordinate positions on their world. The Council determines the resource allocation for Explorer Vessels, as well as insuring that trade and resource distribution across the Federation flows smoothly. Their central government has only a small standing military, with the individual planets training their own militias for planetary defense. When the tisen as a whole are threatened, the militias will be united under the Federation’s military commanders for the duration of the threat.
Explorer Fleets
With an ingrained thirst for exploration, the tisen are known for constructing what they call Explorer Fleets. This collection of complimentarily designed ships specifically built for long range exploration, some with the intention of never returning home. Members of the crew are selected from applicants from across Federation space, chosen to ensure that the required needs of the Fleet are covered. It is not uncommon for whole families to embark on the ships, traveling across the galaxy.
Recently the tisen have begun experimenting with the designs for what they’re calling Explorer Titans, massive ships that bundle an entire Explorer Fleet into a single vessel. None have been successfully created so far, but the Federation is confident they will be able to complete such a vessel within a century.
Family and Child Rearing
Tisen are born from eggs, laid in clutches ranging from 4-12 in size. After being incubated for three months, the hatchlings emerge from their eggs. They will begin to quickly grow and learn from their parents, clutchmates, and other siblings, until they are of age where they can begin attending school. Family units are comprised of a female family head, with 1-4 mates, called a Bonded. At least one is always male, so the family can procreate. Hatchlings will remain in their parents’ household, until they come of age at which time, they will strike off on their own. It is not uncommon for Clutchmates to stay together until they find their own mates, either in careers, education, or military service.
Religion
The tisen believe they are the creation of goddess called Marrotha, the Bone Mother. She is usually depicted as a colossal winged serpent with over lapping bone armor covering her body. The tisen believe they were created when fragments Marrotha’s armor that had been scratched off in a battle with a dark power fell to Tresen. The first tisen sprung from the impact sites of these fragments, and were granted freewill by Marrotha. She charged them to be fruitful, and explore the world they had been granted.
Bone Priests divined the will of Marrotha as her people explored Tresen, to determine where their clans should travel, and to settle disputes within their clan or between other clans. The tenants of the Bone Priests are passed down from Master to Acolyte across the generations. When Explorer Fleets depart from tisen ports, two to four Bone Priests and their Acolytes will join the crew so s to provide the Fleet with the guidance of Marrotha on their journey.
Warpdrive Tech
While they have the slowest warpdrives of the big twelve, the tisen are among the most skilled in their construction and use. The tisen drives are designed to reduce a vessels signature while in warp, making the vessels significantly harder to detect during a jump. They’re the only race to have developed stealth warpdrives for their military vessels, allowing them unparalleled ambush and scouting abilities.
Relationships with other species
Most of big 12 are on neutral to friendly towards the tisen. The grays, rerabs, and desrypts are the exceptions, as they don’t tolerate intrusions into their space, and the tisen have learned to stay away. Of the three, they fear the rerabs the most, as they are the most vindictive and aggressive. The tisen see the re’carks, greks, policans, and radens safe havens, as they welcome the tisen fleets enter into their space. The tisen are leery of the algeans, since they do not naturally die. Life and death are a central part of existence, and lacking a part of that cycle unnerving to most tisen. Some of their more radical individuals would love nothing more than to purge the stars of something they see as unnatural, but they know a confrontation with the algeans would end disastrously for themselves, and remain quiet. The tisen think the mentans are a great source of curiosity, as well as unique trinkets and goods, and the mentans are more than happy to do business with them.
