Clan Celleni

Clan Celleni
Notable Populations		Feni majority
Capital		Luridan, Ora - Celleni System
Ruler		Have two dozen leaders who are ostensibly equals.
Official Political System		Tribal Patriarchy
Evaluated Political System		Tribal Patriarchy

Clan Celleni is the first-extra-stellar clan, being founded not on Fen, but on the world of Ora in the Cellen system. They are made up of eight great tribal groups, Ssilk, Vinn, Hruldd, Barr, Norr, Lurdann, Shay and Nakatha. The first six based around the initial settlement divisions, the Shay being the less successful populations from the sister colony in the Jesoba system, and the Jesobans being the indigenous species of the world of Vaa.

Celleni History

Originating as a clanless entity sent forth in 98 (1901) Celleni is shaped by centuries apart from the rest of Fen. Their history, traditions, even written and spoken language differ. The 2nd and 3rd centuries for Fen were ones of radical change. Yet for Cellen, they saw little of this. New norms never filtered through, dominant languages never became dominant. They crafted their own society, one built on a legacy of 'old Fen' transformed to a new world. After managing a thriving colony, the clan discovered what would be known as W-1, known to them at the time as Jiya Zavor, which became translated as Phantom Energy in standard Fennish. Utilizing it, they made the drives of the first known FTL vessel, the Atya'Llara or Pilgrim. By 276, after a mere few days in jumpspace, the Atya'Llara appeared above Fen to the shock, awe, and terror of many. The aftermath of this event would directly lead to the creation of the Ruz'kahni Directorate.

One of the early tragedies of their history was the sister colony on Vaa in the Jesoba system. The arrival of the Feni ship caused a shift in thick atmosphere of Vaa, a bizarre reaction of the engine-fluids and the chemical make up usheed in ecological shift that caused virulent novel macroviruses to grow at an outstanding rate. These macroviruses nearly completely wiped out the native peoples the nakathi and threatened the colonists both. The nakathi neither had the technology to survive on their own, nor the ability to resist the rapid near-extinction event and the colonists doing what they could to save the remnants of the nakathi and keep alive until some rescue, or repair of their ship could be made. The colony was saved when Celleni explorers saw fit to visit the colony shortly after their return from Fen, and the first longterm duty of the Atya'Llara was delivery of medical technology and rescue of the indigenous nakathi to preserve them from extinction. It took centuries of ecological aid to restore Vaa to a more natural state, and the majority of nakathi still live on Ora instead of their homeworld.

Since this early history, the Celleni have become one of the most influential clans and by far the most disconnected of the old. Even 600 years later they are still so culturally isolated from Feni that they often find outworlders more comforting. The most tragic event in Celleni history was the Burning of Cellen, when the holy world of Ora was assaulted by Lo-Shudai forces in the early stages of the War of Ruz'Kahni survival. While the shipyards were well defended and only took minimal damage, poliesu forces re-routed to assault cities on the surface of Ora, and with their biological weapons, momentarily caused the great mountain Urra Illahei to seemingly bleed above the holy city of Luridan, the capital of the Celleni. While much of the land is healing, the image of terror in the minds of many Celleni people, and few clans are as embittered towards the Poliesu as they.

Celleni Specialization

The Celleni are without variation considered the master shipwrights of the Directorate and much of their political bloc is oriented around supporting these industries, with the massive shipyards above Ora being the largest in the Directorate. Additionally their stellar laboratories and gravitational studies have long kept the Directorate as the premier exploratory power. Their influence is so great in the field of stars and exploration, the Star Cellen is the symbol of the Scout Service.

Celleni Reputation

The Celleni are a peculiar combination of extremely conservative and old fashioned and radically progressive. They're on the forefront of scientific progress, but are so old-fashioned culturally they often feel like a relic of an era long since lost. Meanwhile, their origins as the first extrastellar clan makes them something of a icon to the pariah-clans of Fen and their lack of Fen-centrism in political and economics has ensured them strong support among the majority of non-feni clans throughout the Directorate. Few actively dislike the Celleni, but their public objection to terms like Ruz'kahni as 'too Fen-Centric', their longstanding refusal to use Standard-Fennish as well as odd and some say regressive cultural traditions has led to get a bit of a reputation as lecturers and bores.

Extra Info

There is a great deal of weird, unique or just odd parts of Clan Celleni owing to its cultural separation from the rest of the Directorate for such a critical period of developmental time.

The Nakathi

A reptilian sophont native to Jesoba, while known to be wise and intelligent, they have adapted for very low energy expenditure. The average greeting takes minutes, they have slow-acting metabolisms, move slowly, and even think slowly and deliberately. This can often be confused for lack of intelligence, but is simply not the case. They're even rated on the Fariq-Allowah scale as on average, slightly mote capable than the average feni at 1.08. Their minds are just very slow to make decisions and present collated ideas. While nakath do exist outside of Cellen and Vaa, they are outstandingly rare and prefer to let their elders speak through the Celleni, rather than represent themselves. The most recent event in their history was a final return to pre-first contact population numbers of 114,000 individuals in 1017.

Familial Debt

One of the most critical concept to the mindset of the Celleni is the concept of debt, bondsmen and bondswomen, and the interrelation of the ethnicities within Celleni. When the clan was young, it was made up of small teams from multiple of the great clans of Fen, and as settling began, they adopted and separated into distinct tribal entities around the founding families. The great families grew from these tribes and nearly everyone has some small or large familiar debt to other families, or even other entities, and the preferred method of paying this debt is a bonded child. Usually the firstborn of a family will volunteer their child to be raised for the purpose of duty to redeem honor and restore the debt of their families. A bondsman or bondswoman's duties are usually personal, serving a specific person, and are meant to symbolize the restoring of a debt. The most common type of duty is simple service, though all are traditionally trained as warriors and bodyguards and are the origin of the mistaken belief that 'all Celleni carry swords.'

Religion

The dominant Celleni faith is officially known as Ssu-Ssuei un S-Tau'Onisei (though this is often abbreviated to S’Tau’Onisei). Strongly monotheistic, they believe in an all-powerful, all encompassing divinity who's so fearful and terrible that knowing its name is a danger. It is commonly referred to as NaSaUrri. Usually described as "It is Behind" though literally meaning "Unseen-Seen" A contradictory phrase meaning it cannot be seen but is always seen. A method of dodging the stipulations on speaking of the being, they instead speak of its character. It is characterized by a strong belief in a form of ancestor worship, in which dead heroes are venerated as icons that can better guide the faithful to greater service to their God and varied, esoteric practices.

Language

The Cellenic written language is used both for standard Fennish and for their endemic tongue and has notably become the dominant written language for non-Feni and non-humans in the Directorate. It's used in part or in whole by about 23% of the Directorate, making it the third most common language after Latin characters and Fennish characters.

Their dominant language comes from a different language group as standard Fennish, their traditions, and even their written language differs when they do write in Fennish.The Celleni language utilizes word-modifiers constantly, as well as attached function words to designate a great deal of its meaning. A short glossary of some key phrases are as follows:

Tlullara - "Pray for me" A standard Cellenic greeting, it is formally responded with via "Tlu vi salarra" or "I am praying (for you)" but simply responding 'Tlullara' or just 'tlulla' is polite enough for most company.

Tau'Tlullara - "God help Me" Literally meaning a desperate prayer, it is used most commonly as an utterance of devotion, need, a statement before battle, or just an utterance of exasperation.

Jiya Hurra - "Soulless whore" The deeply rude phrase that while not specifically vulgar, is just about the least kind thing any Celleni clan member can say to someone else.

Tau'Hlerrian/Tau'Varrian - "Bondswoman/Bondsman" A notable concept in Celleni are the extreme importance of debts. Internal tribal debt and its repayment are key concepts within the Celleni mindset.

Political Bloc

Celleni are the center of the Celleni political bloc, as is expected. They're representative of their opinions. The central interest of Celleni is a focus on progress and the pursuit of science and anti-Fen centrism. To them and their bloc, the Directorate is best decentralized. Its true capital isn't on Ahni, its Luridan in Ora, its Jemzal city on Ornja, it's in all the varied capitals of the clans. They are particularly opposed to the ISTO and see it as giving up sovereignty to foreign powers. They are considered one of the least communal clans and prefer clan and internal tribal independence under a central leadership, leaning towards a more traditional, less centralized and less top-down power-structured Directorate. A note of contrast to this general opinion of non-centrism is they are still strong-believers in federal regulations, most notably ecological concerns and interference in the development of sophonts.