Ohanze
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| The Shoals |
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The Ohanze are the native population within the Shoals. Divided into several tribes, their home system is located in an area dubbed the Shadows due to the severe tetryon interference wreaked on sensors and communications.
Although a formal treaty is in place supposedly keeping the peace, the Ohanze have always had a somewhat tense relationship with the colonists of the Colonial Coalition, whom they view as encroaching on their territory, which spans several planetary systems. The Ohanze have also grown resentful of continued pirate and criminal activity, which the natives view as the responsibility of the colonists and the Federation.
Physiology
The Ohanze are large non-humanoid lifeforms. They thrive on M-class worlds but can survive in harsher climates than most humanoid life. Their bodies are bioluminescent. They are not telepathic, but their language is difficult for humanoids to comprehend. The Ohanze are genetically incompatible with humanoid lifeforms, and they do not interbreed with non-Ohanze.
Language
The Ohanze language is incredibly complex due to their unique anatomy and physiology, and most humanoids are unable to pronounce their words. The Ohanze likewise are unable to articulate most common humanoid languages. Thus, communication with the Ohanze is done extensively through the universal translator, with the devices directly interpreting and "speaking" the words as literal translations into Federation Standard.
Thus there are no "Ohanze" words. Their terms, names of places and people, etc. are simply translated into their literal translation. Ohanze typically also refer to each other by their professions. For instance, an Ohanze individual might simply be referred to in their name by their profession: Pilot, Healer, Priest, etc.
History
The Ohanze do not have a single "homeworld" per se, although their myths and legends tell of a supposed mother world in the ancient past where the species and civilization first originated, united as a single nation.
Whether true or not, today's Ohanze are divided into five tribes, four of which hold claim to their own capital worlds in four star systems, and the fifth tribe being purely nomadic in their spacefaring vessels.
The five tribes of the Ohanze are as follows, named for the stars of their capital worlds.
- The Red Sun Tribe: Hailing from a star system with two habitable planets out of six, the Red Sun Tribe are known for their artistry, philosophy, and literature. Many Ohanze legends originated from the Red Sun, passed on to other tribes who modified the stories for their own people.
- The Yellow Sun Tribe: Hailing from a star system with a single habitable planet out of four, the Yellow Sun Tribe is renowned for their scientists, healers, and engineers.
- The White Sun Tribe: Hailing from a star system with two habitable planets out of seven, the White Sun Tribe are a tribe of farmers, fishermen, and tradesmen.
- The Blue Sun Tribe: Hailing from a star system with three habitable planets out of six, the Blue Sun Tribe are a tribe of merchants and traders. They connect the other tribes to one another through commerce.
- The Black Sun Tribe: Named because they have no home star, the Black Sun Tribe are the smallest tribe, living in the Shadows entirely on their fleet of vessels. Their need to survive pushed them to prey on both other Ohanze tribe and non-Ohanze vessels that enter the Shadows for supplies. Early run ins with Terran colonists and other outsiders to the Shoals earned the entire Ohanze race a reputation as formidable, ruthless opponents in battle due to a lack of understanding of the varied tribes and subcultures within the Ohanze.
The Treaty of Friendship and the Circle of Five Suns
Before a formal treaty was finally signed between the Circle of Five Suns and the Federation, diplomatic relations were handled between colonists and each individual tribe or even between colonists and individual clan leaders. The Circle of Five Suns was a largely ceremonial body that has become more used for the Ohanze in their dealings with the Federation in the last century. Although the Treaty of Friendship signed in 2327 contributed greatly to improving relations between the Federation and the Ohanze, pirate factions of course paid no attention to the document, and the Black Sun Tribe has only a token representative selected from the small Black Sun community that joined sympathetic Blue Sun Tribe in legitimate trade.