Minor Dionae Factions

Notable Dionae Factions

Throughout the Orion Spur, there are various groups which have formed, advocating for a certain agenda. Whilst some agendas typically have goals that are commonly found across the entirety of the species - some have more ulterior motives that could prove to be more benevolent or malevolent. The following are the factions comprised of Dionae pushing for, or against, a particular topic.

The Spirits of the Oasis - Moghes Wasteland

The Spirits of the Oasis are a great example of a symbiotic relationship between species - Unathi and Diona. Originating from a simple friendship between a lost Diona tending to wounded animals and a wandering Wastelander unathi on the brink of exhaustion, the clans of the Spirits of the Oasis have truly begun to understood and seek out any Diona on Moghes to assist in survival.

The origins of this friendship stem from a tale - the tale of Walking Sands, Clan Mother Dorviza, and the Last Plains Tyrant.

Clan Mother Dorviza was the eldest woman of her clan, and an avid Plains Tyrant tamer - knowing full well how to care for, feed, and tame one of these savage beasts. Walking Sands was a young and unknowing diona - born from the destruction of an Izweski laboratory in a nuclear blast. Both souls have learned something of the Wasteland, and in this tale, their combined knowledge will allow the survival of several Wasteland clans.

Walking Sands wanders through the Wasteland and comes across a wounded and trapped Plains Tyrant - the last one to be seen in the wild naturally. Lacking the knowledge or understanding of what it is, they approach it and the Plains Tyrant slashes out defensively. Understanding that the Tyrant is wounded and stuck, Walking Sands continues to try and get closer to try and see if it can help and gets attacked again. This continues until the Tyrant becomes too exhausted to resist, and falls unconscious. The diona cannot help, yet remains by its side for days growing shade and safety for the monstrous animal. Clan Mother Dorviza, knowledgable of traditional and ancient Plains Tyrants locations, comes to the scene after a scout from her clan reports a strange plant-like growth in a ruined temple.

Voidtamers

Far from being a unified entity, the term “Void Tamers” refers to a series of commonly dionae-centric groups and clusters known for the taming, raising, and eventual selling of products related to space fauna, commonly space carp, gnats, and bloaters. These groups are largely independent of one another, operating in generally separate regions of space, although some overlap and trade has been known to occur amongst groups. What each group trades with and for is largely on a group-by-group basis, with some trading with live animals while others may trade for meat and hide. When it comes to what they trade for, some may trade for blood, resources, or just plain money depending on the region.

Voidtamers, on occasion, have been known to leave their groups to seek employment elsewhere, whether it be to gain new experiences and skills or to permanently leave their old trade behind for a new one.

While a myriad of smaller Voidtamer groups do exist, there are several that are notable amongst them

Emporium Of Starborn Critters

The largest of the Voidtamers, The Emporium is a highly mobile cluster known for selling living space fauna in exchange for credits and blood throughout Biesel and CoC space, however, more recently have begun to venture into the CRZ looking for customers. The Emporium will largely travel to one region to begin ranching a herd of space fauna, before splitting up into multiple smaller groups who go out and search for customers to sell their wares to, before meeting back up with one another and continuing the cycle. Dionae from the Emporium are known for wearing cloaks made out of space carp hide that, due to exposure from space, have become completely bleached out and white.

The Emporium is led by a council of Dionae who each are in charge of each group that eventually splits off. These leaders, colloquially known as the Head Speakers, manage all sales and business that the smaller groups do, but may also pool together their collective fund for larger cluster-wide purchases such as large ships and fuel. The Head Speakers tend to wear a special hat made of space carp hide to identify themselves, similarly to the cloaks worn by the regular members of the Emporium, it is space-bleached and completely white.

Notably, Dionae from this cluster tend to come in every form and mind type, although primarily will still be cyclops forms.

Comets Of Commerce

The Comets of Commerce are a smaller-to-medium sized Voidtamer cluster known for primarily trading with the Scarabs and other space-based groups operating within the Coalition of Colonies. The cluster primarily trades with carp roe and carpotoxin for materials and blood to help train their younger gestalts in technical fields. The organizational structure of the cluster is fairly loose, with no clear central leadership, however, members of the clusters tend to band together to pool their products into one big package, then split the earnings amongst themselves, as well as share ships when needed. The cluster’s primary sales tactic is to get far ahead of a fleet’s path and ready their products, then sell them once the fleet passes by.

Notably, Dionae from this cluster tend to have more egalitarian mind types, preferring to have decisions be made amongst the entire gestalt over a sole leader.

The Serz and Rokz Clans

The Serz and Rokz are two rival Voidtamer clans found within Hegemony space. These clans, primarily made up of Dionae, mostly operate in the same space, and function in similar ways, both selling primarily the hides and meat of the local xenofauna for resources such as steel and iron, as well as small amounts of blood to help train younger Dionae in hunting, tracking, and combat. In rare cases, they will also sell living specimens. Both clans are ruled by a single Elder, although business matters tend to be handled by delegated gestalts instead of overseen by the Elders directly. Both clans sell directly to Unathi guilds, who then resell their products to Unathi clans. Whilst in lower quantities, the clans do sell live specimens to the guilds, primarily to be hunted by nobles or to help with training.

While the clans are rivals, they are not actively hostile to one another. Instead, they’ve agreed to hold a competition every five years that dictates which clan is in charge of sales, with the loser having to sell through them at a reduced profit. These competitions are largely non-violent, instead of focusing on the skills of the clan’s tamers, with the competitions either being about who can tame the most xenofauna in a given period, who can tame the largest creature, or who can tame the most dangerous creature.

Notably, Dionae from this cluster tend to have more authoritative mindsets, preferring a single leader nymph for their gestalts. Due to their close relations with the inhabitants of the Hegemony, Dionae from the clan tend to take on an appearance more closely resembling that of a Unathi.

Blood Organization

The Ichor Genetic Learning Organisation (Iglo) was founded by a Dionae Argus - Rationing Knowledge of Embodied Sanguis. The organisation dedicates its time and resources to gather blood samples large enough for Dionae to gain experience from. The organisation finds itself dominating the market, but recently another more sinister group, The Blood Runners, has begun taking advantage of prices of the blood samples - cornering the black market on blood samples.

Dionae Clusters

Clusters are groups of Dionae who share similar ideas, emotions, or goals and have interacted socially at some point may be part of a Cluster. These clusters are grown from group identity, if a diona heavily agrees with one or multiple clusters they will say they are from those clusters. This means clusters are very loose most of the times, with some exceptions. Clusters do not have to be physically linked to exist.

Some clusters are inside or a part of other civilizations, and will require knowledge of those societies. Find one that interests you, you don't have to know them all, and you don't even have to be from any of them!

The Blossoms of the Great and Divine Eternal - Deep Space

"The Blessed Eternal is the perfect life form. It is the light in the cold and the dark and the ash. Its tendrils are bountiful and expanding and terrible in its fury. But it is a benevolent ruler. " - Birthing From The Womb Of Heavy Matter

An extreme in the ways Diona can naturally develop culture, the Blossoms of the Divine Eternal are a cluster-based around their belief in The Eternal, a primordial entity which exists in Light, Energy, and Essence. The followers of the Eternal wish to create the densest materials in the universe by forging and reforging heavier and heavier elements - which they do so by devouring as much as they can and throwing themselves into stars once they reach a certain size - most likely the size of a Cetus form diona, large enough to be considered a stellar body. The gestalts of this cluster believe Diona are the embodiment of the Eternal in physical form, made to ensure all things born from stars return to stars ... eventually. This is the natural form of the universe.

The gestalts of the Divine Eternal appear seemingly randomly from deep space, located towards the centre of the galaxy. They typically have stories and experiences of celestial events - stars falling into each other, planets crashing, near-death experiences which they have lived through.

The Blossoms of the Divine Eternal are adamant in their encouragement of Diona to come together - literally. In times where a large Divine Eternal gestalt has come across a wild and 'unintelligent' diona gestalt, they have violently attacked and destroyed the creature and consumed its biomass for the expansion of their mindset and the Eternal's will.

The Biesellian Choir

Unlike most clusters that tend to arrive in a place through some great event, the Biesellian Choir was a slow, but steady immigration into Biesel. Gestalts first arrived as individuals seeking to spread the work of the Divine Eteneral to Dionae and non-Dionae alike, drawn to Biesel by its laissez-faire, free movement and trade attitude. The Choir have since established themselves within the slums of Mendell City’s district 11 where they live and grow. New Dionae either join the Choir from other clusters, immigrate from outside or are grown directly within the Eternal Temple, the centre of the Choir’s community. Growth is troublesome though, and many nymphs are born stunted and dead. Where other Gestalt communities might sell those stunted, dead nymphs to be used in fine cuisine, the Choir refuses to do so, uniquely finding the practice of other species consuming Dionae flesh abhorrent, they also return the dead to the temple to be consumed by their community leader, “Connected to the Blossoms Beyond”.

The Eternal Temple

Home to the huge argus cluster “Connected to the Blossoms Beyond”, the de facto community leader of the Biesellian Choir. The Eternal Temple is a steel temple dedicated to the Divine Eternal. The outer shell of the building is made of green coloured steel sheeting, welded and formed into natural forms giving the temple an almost organic look. A central, smooth spire rises upwards towards the sky. Internally, the temple is much the same visually. It is extremely well lit and houses a Dionae community centre as well as a large hydroponics bay for the growth of new Dionae nymphs and the mesh weave factories. The temple’s central worship area is essentially a room constructed of “Connected to the Blossoms Beyond”, who speaks with the congregation directly. For many Dionae, this is the only connection they have to the more educated, ancient Gestalts. The central spire is a transmitter constructed using Dionae quantum wave technology which is used to “speak” directly with the clusters further in deep space, to achieve consensus. The sound of this rootsong “transmission” can be dimly heard by Dionae in Republic of Biesel space as a whisper, “the Hum”, likening it to the sounds of wind chimes to those species incapable of hearing it. A pleasant sound. The temple itself is expensive to maintain, with high energy costs and general land rental and maintenance expenses being quite high. To this end, Dionae of the choir work to provide donations to the temple and the community. A Faustian bargain for some as this leads them to work for organisations that would enslave and even consume the Dionae themselves.

Culture of the Choir

Initially a highly religious, firebrand society, it has somewhat mellowed in the face of their “Biesellised” young, becoming the largest Dionae community in Biesel. As patriotic as any other, these Dionae as a whole tend to work towards the success of Biesel and often assisted authorities in dealing with hostile independent Dionae such as raiders from the Viscerabelt. The Dionae of the Choir are also one of the few Dionae communities known to utilize actual exotic-Dionae technology, such as quantum wave transmitters, organic mesh weave and sonic weaponry. These technologies are highly sought after and development into their use for non-Dionae is ongoing across many mega-corps, much to the discomfort of the Choir. Fortunately, no functioning non-Dionae analogues have been developed as they appear to require some form of unknown Dionae process and the Choir keeps these technologies close to their chest. Some believe it is only a matter of time before one of the enterprising mega-corporations makes a breakthrough.

Organic Mesh Weave

One of the few technologies sold to outsiders, the organic mesh weave makes use of high tensile, photoreceptive organic fibres developed by the Dionae to produce lightweight, flexible building materials which reflect beneficial light and radiation onto nearby Dionae. In practical terms, the mesh is often used as a clothing material, allowing Dionae to wear clothes that would otherwise stifle their gestalts, blocking light. The clothing is manufactured by choir Dionae within the temple and is shipped across Biesel, making it an expensive rarity outside of the planet. Any clothing style can be copied in this way and turned into suitable Dioane clothing. The “cloth” is also a hit with many humans within the warmer climes of Biesel as the mesh weave clothing, whilst still allowing one to maintain their dignity, actually projects the sun's rays through the clothes allowing one to tan whilst still wearing swimwear or beachwear. Whilst this might allow for a Dionae to wear a full suit and pants, the technology becomes less potent the more layers are added and generally, all Dionae, even the Choir, prefer to feel a star's rays on their bare “skin”, finding heavy or multi-layered clothing psychologically stifling.

Community members of the Choir can be broken down into three main groups:

Immigrants from beyond

Immigrants from Blossom clusters outside of Biesel tend to be the oldest and most religious of the community. These Dionae have to be “integrated” into Biesellite culture and tend to behave in the most alien manner, being highly against non-Dionae consuming Dionae flesh and actively preaching the Divine Eternal creed. Due to their lack of qualifications within Biesel and their attitudes towards non-Dionae these gestalts are only found performing low skilled work for NT, working as assistants, cargo technicians, miners and janitors. The irony isn’t lost on many of these gestalts, some being quite old, being thrust into low level, entry jobs with many grumbling at the work. The work must be done, however, as it’s the only way they can acquire funds for the Choir community so done it is, albeit begrudgingly.

Converts into the Choir

Many Dionae within the Choir originate from clusters not belonging to the Divine Eternal and have instead either converted or generally joined the community. These gestalts come in all shapes, sizes and creeds but most seem to find purpose within the Choir community. These Dionae tend to have all sorts of temperaments usually based on the original society they were from and as such tend to be found in all walks of life, from janitors to doctors.

Natives of the Choir

Few in number compared to converts, the natives are gestalts that were born and raised within the Temple and Biesel. Due to the age of the community on Biesel these gestalts tend to be quite young, with the eldest usually being around 30 years old at most. These gestalts tend to be the most “humanised” or “Biesellian” of the Dionae, speaking clearly and concisely and understanding the subtle nuances of cross-species interaction, as well as sharing the interests that most Biesellians might share. They are the most tolerant of non-Dionae cultures/activities and tend to grudgingly accept the non-Dionae culture of consuming Dionae flesh. Often patriotic towards Biesel and the Republic, these Dionae can be found serving as support within the Tau Ceti Foreign Legion, often as engineers, pilots and medical staff. They are also found working for law enforcement, something largely not done by the subservient Dionae, operating as Investigators and support staff. Many Dionae work as local police for Mendell, policing the Choir and ensuring compliance with Bieselian laws. Though stellar Investigators and support staff by virtue of the Diona's natural learning and deduction capacity, they are never found walking “the beat” as patrol officers due to their natural slowness. As such, these Dionae and Dionae in general are rarely, if ever, found working as security officers within the mega-corps instead taking their cadetships within offices as support staff and working as Investigators and Wardens for the mega-corps. Having been raised around the Hum for their entire lives, these gestalts enjoy its sound and in their spare time can often be found listening at station windows for it. They tend to become saddened when they are separated from it for extended periods.

The Biesellian Song

Originally starting as a series of religious publications and pamphlets, the Biesellian Song has evolved into a full-blown news outlet for the Dionae and people of Biesel and the Choir, sending out digital news across the extranet. Though usually used for communion with the clusters beyond, the Eternal Temple central spire is sometimes used to broadcast the Biesellian Song locally across Biesel space for Dionae to hear if they wish. Though usually only heard as a whisper, when the spire broadcasts in this way it essentially acts as a town crier, shouting news. Dionae that are interested must concentrate to properly hear the messages which many do, however uninterested Dionae can easily ignore the “song” when it is broadcast.

The Songless Gang

The Songless Gang or simply “the Songless” are a ragtag group of mainly immigrant Dionae who have fallen into a life of organised crime. Dipping their tendrils in all sorts of ill-fated schemes, the most troubling is phoron smuggling, extortion rackets and thuggery. They are known to take on low skilled work jobs such as cargo workers or service roles to gain access to materials they can steal and sell. They’re extremely difficult to stamp out and the Choir works tirelessly with law enforcement to bring the gang down.

The Wild Ones - All Space

"Back in the ol' daysss of Wild'un huntin', they'd pay thousssandsss if you brought back a Wild'un dead. I jusst wissh we didn' kill ssso many... ya never sssee 'em much anymore." - Captain Kash Lardback

Majestic and chaotic, Wild Ones fly through space with only the knowledge of collecting and scavenging - with many suspecting that they report back to a much larger 'Hive'. Due to the culling of the Wild Ones - thanks to their gravitation towards orbital scrapyards and derelicts, and have since becoming increasingly hostile, leading to numerous groups or mercenaries to be hired to clear them out to retrieve the scrap collected by the Dionae and to also harvest the solid mass of collected minerals, metals and gasses found within the centre of large Dionae forms over their eons long journeys. Many are tagged and studied by researchers who aim to understand Diona's instincts better, with patterns suggesting that the Wild Ones are 'evolving' in a way to prevent themselves from being hunted; by moving primarily through nebulae, then absorbing the surrounding gases found and emitting it both increase their speed and cloud sensors. These "Wild Ones" are not legally allowed to be killed in Sol Alliance and Nralakk Federation space unless they pose a significant threat - but Frontier laws vary depending on the system.

Cetus Gestalts

The Conglomerated Choir of Nralakk - Nralakk Federation

Located around the star in the centre of the Nralakk system, the Conglomerated Choir was the first documented discovery of Dionae by the Skrell. First thought to be a massive organic growth covering a derelict exploratory vessel, it was only once a stowaway nymph found on the return trip began to speak in garbled Nral’Malic that the Skrell realised the situation was more than it seemed. Diplomatic talks would be difficult, but through the Xuq translator, an enigma machine that could decipher unknown languages, the Skrell were able to communicate with the Diona cluster and rerouted the derelict along with its new inhabitants to the Nralakk system.

Post-discovery the Conglomerated Choir and the Nralakk Federation went through intense diplomatic negotiations, discussing options for the cluster if it wished to stay within Federation territory until a consensus was finally reached; the Federation was still rebuilding after Glorsh-Omega’s disappearance and required assistance, combined with the Dionae’s ability to survive in some of the most extreme conditions the Choir was quick to offer its services to the Skrell in rebuilding their society. While at first many Skrell believed the Diona to be untrustworthy, still reeling from Glorsh-Omega’s betrayal of their species, the cluster proved to be a key player in the rebuilding of the Federation. After twenty-three years of assistance, the burgeoning Federation announced the species’ full integration into Nralakk society in 2240 CE, which was ratified in 2245 CE along with the official establishment of the Second Nralakk Federation. The two species have formed an inseparable bond from this experience, with the Diona respecting the Skrell for the kindness they have shown to the species, and the Skrell being humbled by the efforts of the Diona in helping to rebuild a nation they had no obligation to aid.

Today, the Conglomerated Choir enjoys a heightened status in Federation society; members of the cluster are treated well by the Federation as a reward for their cluster’s service in the past, with those that had an active role at the time having reached idol status in some cases. Their treatment by the Federation, along with their first-hand experience witnessing the destruction Glorsh-Omega brought upon the Skrell, has contributed to an internal culture that in many ways resembles the Federation. The most obvious example of this is members of the Choir being staunchly anti-synthetic, believing that Glorsh-Omega is proof that the proliferation of AI is ultimately dangerous, and the use of unshackled positronics by humanity is a grievous mistake. The cluster is also known for its patriotism, with a disproportionate number of Dionae in politics or organisations such as the Qukala originating from the Conglomerated Choir.

In a similar way to gestalts with a high social credit score having their views held in higher regard, superseding the general Dionae view on age and experience, the Diona from the Conglomerated Choir are known to have more ‘weight’ behind their opinions and decisions as a result of them being the reason why the species is accepted in Federation society. The phenomenon has nurtured an attitude similar to elitism by the Choir, who generally believe themselves to be the betters of the species in the Federation. This is further reinforced by the Federation itself, which is known to strategically place Diona from the Conglomerated Choir in positions that give them authority over gestalts belonging to other clusters in order to influence them into adopting more pro-Federation views.

Peaceful Static In Endless Waves

Peaceful Static In Endless Waves, colloquially known as Venter’s Cetus, is one of the three-known Cetus-class gestalts in the Spur, and is generally considered to be the largest of the trio. The gestalt is located within the Venter star system found within the Coalition of Colonies, and, due to its location, is given a special protectorate status by the CoC allowing them to remain peacefully in the system.

The system does play host to a series of outposts and patrol vessels meant to monitor the gestalt, ensuring it does not grow to the point of critical mass, while also providing transport to any Dionae from the conglomerate that wishes to leave and seek a home elsewhere in the galaxy.

Historically, the gestalt remained undiscovered until a few decades after first contact was made between Humans and Skrell, and, in turn, Dionae. Upon discovery, a joint operation between CoC and Federation diplomats ensured an attempt to contact and integrate the Dionae. While first contact was a major success, during the years following an unexpected exodus of Dionae left the gestalt, seeking to explore and find a purpose elsewhere in the spur. This exodus overwhelmed nearby planetary governments and transport companies, requiring a hard limit to be set on how many individuals Dionae could leave the Cetus yearly. In modern times the exodus of Dionae from the gestalt has mostly slowed down, although several hundred to thousands of Dionae still leave the gestalt yearly.

Wandering Chorale of the Spur

A recent discovery, Wandering Chorale Of The Spur is a large cetus gestalt that, until recently, was uncontacted and could barely be considered sapient before being contacted by the SCCV Horizon after anomalous signals were detected. Upon contact, it was revealed that the conglomerate Nymphs were en route to a pulsar star just a few light-years from Tau Ceti - nestled deep within the unstable Corporate Reconstruction Zone - in hopes of returning to their seeding grounds. Additionally, they had managed to cling to a combination of meteors, space debris and even a large chunk of a freighter declared missing months earlier. Communication between Dionae employed by the Conglomerate, and those within the Wandering Chorale, confirmed that the amalgamation has been traveling across the Orion Spur for centuries and went without contact for just as long only recently stumbling upon the remains of the freighter they now used shelter to house Dionae Nymphs. Scientists have maintained observance of the group of Dionae, some permanently hosting themselves far enough from the Wandering Chorale to ensure saftey.