The Mierese of Neuno¶

"We were born in a prison. Our god is a prisoner. And somehow we run the galaxy. If that's not funny, nothing is." — Mierese joke, attributed to everyone

"Driven by Mierese prowess." — ONI Consortium founding charter, describing the Mierese contribution

The Mierese of Neuno are the ONI Consortium's wildcard — a species born on a planet that was trying to kill them, freed by alien benefactors no one has ever identified, guided by an oral religion that treats stories as literal living entities, and led by a former assassin-spy who now runs galactic diplomacy. They are chaos with a plan, or possibly a plan disguised as chaos. Even they are not entirely sure.

Within ONI, the Mierese provide what the Sogmians cannot (subtlety), what the Punaab cannot (espionage), and what the Photoli cannot (urgency). Where the Sogmian Sovereignty brings honor and military discipline, the Kingdom of Evernat brings wealth and craft, and The Photoli bring ancient wisdom, the Mierese bring adaptability — the ability to improvise, infiltrate, negotiate, and survive anything the galaxy throws at them.

They are also the ONI species whose representative — Vaor Scarka — currently presides over both ONI's external affairs and the COP. He does not govern alone; ONI decisions require consultation with the Sogmian, Punaab, and Photoli delegations. But the presiding voice is Mierese — and that voice was trained by assassin-spies.

Biology — Purple Improvisers¶

The Mierese are built for survival on a world that actively resists habitation:

The Head Tentacles¶

The Mierese's most distinctive feature — multi-functional muscle/organ clusters on the head serving as balance mechanism, fine motor control system, and memory repository. Males have extremely long dreadlock-like tentacles; females have shorter braid-like tentacles with elaborate cranial crests. Lore Keepers characteristically have the longest tentacles of all — a biological reflection of the vast knowledge they carry.

Personality¶

Free-spirited, improvisational, and aggressively cheerful. The Mierese cope with existential danger through humor — "Ok, this is how we die" is a common stress response. Other species perceive them as chaotic (the Ustur view) or cowardly (the Sogmian view — the Mierese consider dying for a cause to be pointless when you could survive and tell the story instead). They love bets, despise protocol, and consider written language "severely lacking, almost useless."

Neuno — The Living Prison¶

"Neuno is not a home. Neuno is a relationship. A complicated, abusive, beautiful, irreplaceable relationship." — Mierese saying

The Mierese homeworld is a sentient living entity the size of a planet — a singularity that defies normal creation. Over 3,000 years old, Neuno is in reality a colossal space parasite that collided with the planet in the galaxy's primordial era and "infected" its geological structure. The planet seems alive because the parasite is alive, using the planet's crust and mantle as makeshift organs. Growth originates from the southern pole.

The Six Regions¶

Neuno is divided into six ancestral regions, each of which gives its Mierese the third name in the Mierese naming convention:

The Planet's Behavior¶

Neuno photosynthesizes from its radiant blue sun and reacts to Mierese expansion with tsunamis, droughts, diseases, and poisoned crops — its biological immune system treating the Mierese as surface parasites. When distant from its sun, Neuno enters months-long hibernation: verdant jungles become desolates of dust, enormous animals shelter underground, and the entire ecosystem slows to a crawl.

Neuno communicates like an animal — through subtle sensations rather than words. Only the wisest Lore Keepers attempt to interpret these feelings. The planet is not a god. It is not sentient like Iris. It is instinctual — a creature that nurtures and attacks its inhabitants in equal measure, and the Mierese love it anyway.

The Benevolent Explorers (~2377)¶

When the Mierese were nearly annihilated by Neuno's hostility, an unknown alien species arrived, terraformed portions of the planet, advanced Mierese science, set the foundations for interstellar travel, and then left and were never seen again. Their identity remains one of the galaxy's great unsolved mysteries. What they left behind was more than technology — they taught the Mierese the value of helping others and cooperation, a lesson that would eventually lead them to ONI.

The Grand Tale — A Religion of Stories¶

"Upon death: tell Onato a new story. New story: paradise. No new story: stay and help crack the puzzle. No stories at all: you vanish." — Mierese afterlife, simplified

Onato and the Prison¶

The Mierese founding myth centers on Onato — the most beautiful, powerful, and talented god. Prideful but good-hearted, Onato accepted every challenge and never lost. His rival Juriko, envious of Onato's supremacy, organized a divine competition of challenges. In the final round, Juriko trapped Onato in a cell with a password lock — the only hint: "the answer is a good story, perhaps one that hadn't occurred yet."

Onato tried everything — memories, word combinations, invented words — nothing worked. Juriko offered surrender terms. Onato's pride wouldn't let him quit. So Onato created the Mierese — separated part of his essence, breathed life into beings, and made a pact: live freely, but upon death, tell me at least one new story. If the story is truly new — paradise. If not — stay with Onato and help crack the puzzle.

The first Mierese recited everything Onato told them. This became the Grand Tale — a living document updated by generations of Lore Keepers, incorporating the most relevant characters and events of the galaxy. Being featured in the Grand Tale is the supreme honor in Mierese civilization. The Tale functions like a blockchain — distributed across Lore Keepers' memories, incorruptible because no single Keeper holds the whole.

Stories as Living Entities¶

The Mierese believe stories exist in another plane alongside the gods — they are living entities that exert influence over reality. The more famous a story, the greater its impact. Both the divine and physical planes influence each other cyclically. This is not metaphor to the Mierese — it is literal cosmology.

The Possession Risk (The Onato Trap)¶

Extreme identification with a story can make a Mierese "possessed" — becoming an avatar of their idea, developing alternate personalities, capable of acts beyond normal capability but also susceptible to depression, despair, and inverted moral values. Named after Onato's trap: pride imprisoning the self. Rare, but historically devastating when it occurs.

Society — Organized Chaos¶

No Written Language¶

The Mierese have no writing system — they believe written words fail to convey emotions and sensations. Some learn common written language for inter-faction interaction but consider it "severely lacking, almost useless." All meaningful knowledge is oral. All meaningful history is remembered.

Social Status (Story-Based)¶

Social standing is measured by the number of stories you appear in. Every Mierese belongs to at least a family story and possibly a city story, craft story, or adventure story. Regional Lore Keepers select who is worthy of bigger stories. Formal introduction requires reciting the stories you're part of — a practice that can take anywhere from seconds (for the humble) to hours (for the legendary).

The Non-Existent (Worst Punishment)¶

Being erased from all stories is the worst fate in Mierese society — worse than death. The Non-Existent cannot formally introduce themselves, historically had no legal rights, and religiously will never meet Onato after death — they simply vanish. The COP intervened to protect their physical lives, but no galactic power can restore their narrative existence.

Government — Reluctant Democracy¶

The Mierese resisted centralized government until the Convergence War forced it. Their government is a loose coalition of notables with an elected Speaker (functionally a prime minister with deliberately limited powers). Government is viewed with suspicion — if Onato freed the Mierese to live however they wish, why should anyone dictate behavior? The system only functions because the Lore Keepers lend it legitimacy.

Currently, the Mierese hold ONI's presiding seat — the Central Space Station displays Mierese architecture and style, and Vaor Scarka serves as ONI's representative to the COP as Ruling Secretary. He governs in constant consultation with the Sogmian, Punaab, and Photoli delegations — ONI is a consortium, not a kingdom — but the presiding voice sets the agenda. A former assassin-spy setting the galactic agenda is peak Mierese irony.

The Two Pillars — Keepers and Shadows¶

The Mierese species is sustained by two institutions that represent opposite approaches to the same goal: protecting the Mierese people.

The Mierese Lore Keepers — Memory¶

The Lore Keepers are the cultural foundation: historians, priests, and living archives preserving the Grand Tale through unbroken oral tradition. Led by Chief Lore Keeper Ondara Valel, they operate from the Resonance Halls — deep-ocean acoustic chambers on Neuno where the geometry of stone and water creates extraordinary properties for vocal recitation.

Their knowledge is organized into 47 Chapters (3 Sealed), each memorized by at least three Keepers for redundancy. The Sealed Chapters — whose contents are known only to Ondara and two successors — are believed to contain truths that contradict official ONI history. What those truths are remains the galaxy's most tantalizing cultural mystery.

The Hikibashi — Shadow¶

The Hikibashi are the covert military arm: an elite unit of forty to sixty assassin-spies so skilled that their existence is officially denied at every level of Mierese government. They serve only the Mierese leader and answer to no other authority — not ONI, not the COP.

Organized into Three Currents — Deep (long-term infiltration), Riptide (assassination and sabotage), and Undertow (counterintelligence) — the Hikibashi are named in Old Mierese: "those who move beneath the current." Their training program — The Drowning — takes place in Neuno's deadliest ocean zones with a fifteen percent graduation rate.

The Sealed Chapters Crisis¶

The galaxy's most sensitive internal conflict: the Hikibashi's Undertow monitors the Lore Keepers to determine what the 3 Sealed Chapters contain. Ondara Valel has refused every request. The Commandant has stopped asking politely. Two of the Mierese species' most powerful institutions — one military, one cultural — are locked in a shadow dispute that neither can acknowledge publicly. Vaor Scarka is caught between them, balancing intelligence needs against cultural authority.

Key History¶

Named Characters¶

The Mierese Diaspora¶

Not all Mierese live on Neuno or swear loyalty to the ONI government:

The existence of three distinct Mierese polities — one presiding over the galaxy's most powerful consortium, one denying god exists, and one guarding god's prison key — says everything about the Mierese capacity for contradiction.

Relations¶

Cross-References¶

Species¶

• Mierese — Full species canon (biology, Grand Tale, naming, religion)

Factions¶

• Hikibashi — Elite assassin-spy unit, Three Currents, The Drowning
• Mierese Lore Keepers — Cultural custodians, Sealed Chapters, Resonance Halls, Ondara Valel
• Swamp Lords — Separatist Mierese, Onato Box, Glowhaven
• Kamec Democracy — Atheist Mierese diaspora, clone-based government
• Dark Photoli — Existential threat requiring Hikibashi/Sih Rihim coordination
• Frenir New Government — Liberated by Scarka's COP incursion, Dosk Scarka embedded
• Slavers of Frenir — Destroyed by COP forces under Scarka's command
• Pergamos Shadow Banks — Trill Yara assassination, the only Hikibashi exposure
• Hanging Gardens — Food monopoly standoff limiting COP's MRZ ambitions
• Scriptorium of the Lumikir — Chroniclers partnership (oral + written knowledge)
• Heralds of Vignus — Philosophical parallel (knowledge through art)
• Order of Seasons — Rival assassination/intelligence operations
• Gate Garrison — Operational friction with bounty hunters
• Merchant Princes of Denebula — Mevertrase as Mierese financial representative

Institutions¶

• Council of Peace — Scarka as Ruling Secretary, MRZ Incursion, Scarka vs Opos conflict

Geography¶

• Neuno — Sentient homeworld, six regions, Resonance Halls
• Glowhaven — Swamp Lords territory (MRZ-31)
• Frenir — COP liberation, Hikibashi Frenir Eye operation
• Pergamos — Shadow Banks conflict, COP incursion
• Zenith Door — Chior vs Scarka ideological clash
• Coral Nebula — Early Mierese exploration (MRZ-18)
• Denebula — Cross-species finance hub (Mevertrase)

History & Narratives¶

• Convergence War — Mierese entry into ONI, "hammered thin by ordinances they did not vote for"
• Eras of Star Atlas — Scarka's timeline: born ~2454, Admiral ~2610, Secretary ~2621
• Never Alone Campaign — Scarka announces MRZ pause, political maneuvering

Meta¶

• Named Characters — Vaor Scarka, Ondara Valel, Dosk Scarka, Trill Yara, Mirsk Eko, Muumaan Jura, Selkora Scarka
• Master Timeline — Full Mierese/Scarka chronology

Galactic Indices¶