# The Peoples of Mol #

Paranoid isolationists.
Beware.

This is mostly copied over from the discord, judge and suggest as you like.

## The Mol System ##
9 planets: 3 terrestrial, 6 gas/ice giants

Mol Star-> Slightly smaller than Sol, about the same age. More red

Mol I -> No atmosphere, around the size of Venus, no moons. Cannot support life
Mol II -> Atmosphere thicker than Earth's, ~250 kPa, 12% O2, 1-2% CO2, ~1% Ar, ~1% other gasses, rest is N2, 3.2 Earth masses. Formely three moons, now two. Former moon now dust/debris ring. Can support life. ~2.4 years/Mol year

-> Asteroid belt

Mol III -> Thin atmosphere, ~10 kPa, mostly CO2 and N2. Around the size of Mercury. Cannot support life

{-> Lotsa moons down there.
Mol IV -> Gas giant, ~2.3 Saturn mass
Mol V -> Gas giant, ~1.4 Jupiter mass
Mol VI -> Ice giant, ~2 Neptune mass

-> Asteroid belt

Mol VII -> Ice giant, ~2.3 Neptune mass
Mol VIII-> Ice giant, ~0.8 Neptune mass
Mol IX -> Ice giant, ~0.5 Neptune mass

-> Asteroid belt

## The Mol-Senna and Mol-Kava ##
### Summary ###
The Mol people are a species of reptilian humanoids originating in the eponymous Mol system. They are split into two major groups, the Mol-Senna, who remained in their habitat-cities; and the Mol-Kava, who imposed self-exile back in ancient history, forming both nomadic and sedentary tribes and states. Both Mol peoples are natively pre-FTL civilizations, despite their apparent advancement in other areas, though some Mol-Kava tribes have established themselves as space-faring nomads, piggy-backing off of other species' FTL technology.

### Mol-Senna ###
Mol-Senna are not biological lifeforms, rather being incredibly advanced nanite constructs housing the consciousness of pre-cataclysm Mol, called Oldminds, as well as newer pseudo-AI consciousness, called Newminds. It is impossible to generalize Mol-Senna bodytypes and appearances, as they are adept shapeshifters, though some habitat-cities retain remnants of their organic bodies in the form of fin-like forms on their heads or idealized versions of their old bodies' forms. No matter their habitat-city or their origin, every Mol-Senna and similar being has a Key: a personalized code, digital memory, or any other highly personal thing, with which another Mol-Senna can read, see and experience any of the Key-bearer's memories, thoughts, experiences or sensations. The Key can be anything, from the title of a favored book, to the script of their favorite play reversed, to the raw code of the memory of their birth. Sharing these Keys is considered the ultimate sign of trust and respect, and oftentimes isn't even done to close family or loved ones.
### Mol-Kava ###
On the other side, Mol-Kava are almost completely unchanged from pre-cataclysm Mol people, and such, are easier to generalize. A standard Mol-Kava stands at around 5'3" (160 cm) for females, and 5'7" (170 cm) for males, though extremes on both ends weren't uncommon, with both gigantism and dwarfism resting in various tribal bloodlines. Their body structure is of a standard humanoid, with two arms, bearing a three fingered and one thumbed hand, tipped with short claws covering the last phalanx of the fingers and thumb, and two digitigrade legs, tipped with three toes, clawed akin to the fingers. The Mol-Kava also possess long, relatively slender tails, averaging out at around two thirds of their body length. Their heads are comparable to Humans', though their faces are flatter. Atop their heads rest series of fin-like protrusions as well as quills, resembling Human hairstyles at a glance or in the distance. The fins and quills share the same coloration as the outer scales on their bodies.

A natural Mol-Kava's mouth stretches across most of their face, from mandible joint to mandible joint. Inside the mouth rest 3 pairs of teeth: The primary, used for most chewing, biting and other teeth-related tasks; The secondary, which act as a back-up in case the primaries get broken or fall out; And the seedling teeth, which are still-growing secondaries, which will eventually push out the current primaries. Their jaws can open much farther than a Human's, allowing them to take huge bites with their sharp teeth.

The Mol-Kava possess a single pair of eyes, larger than a Human's, with pale grey sclerae, slightly larger in proportion irises and pupils. The irises often are multicolored, with fibrous layers of membrane of various colors overlaid atop one another. Common layer colors include shades of brown, green, yellow, red, and orange, with some colors more prevalent within various tribes. In the center of the eye rests a standard round black pupil.
Being a reptilian species, the Mol-Kava are covered in a fine layer of scales, with larger and rougher scales resting on the backs of the arms, the shoulder blades, tail, outer thighs and calves. Coloration varies between biomes, latitude, altitude and tribal bloodlines, with earthen and dull green tones being the most common, though black isn't uncommon. The joints, inner thigh, belly, neck and face sport a much finer set of scales, often much lighter than the rest of the body, with a pale cream coloring being the most common. Mol-Kava can hatch with albinism, which colors most of the rougher scales snow-white and the inner scales a dull azure, as well as turning their eyes a vibrant purple.

Despite being reptilian, the Mol-Kava aren't entirely cold blooded, instead being rather tepid, at 18 degrees Celsius (64.4 F), allowing them to survive in colder climates, though their metabolism, along with their movements slows down. Natural Mol-Kava are oviparous, laying a single leathery egg after what equates to 6 months gestating in the mother. A hatchling rips through the egg after 1 Mol year (~2.4 Earth years) incubating, after which the hatchling can walk and has the equivalent intelligence of a 1 year old Human toddler. Sexual maturity is reached at 15 Mol years (~36 and a bit Earth years) for both males and females, and a healthy Mol-Kava can live up to 350 Mol Years (~840 Earth years), though the rigors of tribal life often cause Mol-Kava to expire before their hundredth year. The average sex distribution among natural Mol-Kava is 4/1 female to male, respectively. Natural Mol-Kava blood is a vibrant indigo, and is largely copper-based, though some cells also carry iron-based oxygen-carriers.

Of course, not all Mol-Kava are natural, various events in their lives leading them to be closer to Mol-Senna in body and appearance, if not in mind.

## Mol System Planets ##
The first planet is an unlivable rock, scoured by stellar winds and molten by proximity to its mother, despite its size equating it to Venus of old Sol. It has no moons with occasional comets waving past before continuing on their journey.

The second is the home of both Mol-Senna and Mol-Kava and is classified as a Super-Earth. At around 3.2 Earth masses, it more than earns this moniker. It once had three moons gazing down, but now it has two, as well as a ring of dust seeking to cloud the light from the surface. The planet's surface is composed of 64% water, and has 3 continents. The largest, comprising 27% of the planet's surface area, stretches across most of the planet's latitude, the southernmost point intersecting the glacial ice on the south pole, while the northernmost ends several hundred miles away from the northern polar circle. Two thirds of the landmass is a singular, ginormous desert, stretching from the south pole to the mountain ranges in the northern hemisphere. It is comprised of several types of sand and gravel dunes, as well as snow mixing with dust and sand down south. Extreme dust storms are frequent and often wear away any exposed cliff or rock face into more sand. Past the mountain ranges on all but the southern sides rests a wide variety of biomes. Blooming plains, pearlescent beaches, jungles of both tree and giant fungal growth, as well as many others. The other two continents are on the other side of the planet and are mostly mild-climated and covered in forests, plains, and other relatively mundane biomes.

The third planet is a barren rock, barely holding on what little atmosphere it has. Despite its magnetic field, asteroids smashing into it strip more and more of its atmosphere away. The rest of the planets are gas and ice giants no more interesting than any other balls of hydrogen and ice in the galaxy.

## History ##
### Pre-Awakening and Heavensfall ###
In olden days, when Humanity was learning to fire clay and till the soil, the Mol peoples endured catastrophe. A dwarf planet from the nearby asteroid belt was slung from its stable orbit and smashed into Mol II's then-second moon, breaking the two apart into dust, which, over thousands of years coalesced into the current ring around the planet, as well as hundreds of years of meteor bombardment on the people below. The people adapted and eventually began replacing flesh for iron, which caused the first split, thus creating the Mol-Kava, the Wanders, who would suffer the wrath of the cosmos and rise stronger. Below, however, as the meteor rain subsided, the now-named Mol-Senna had no use for the surface, for their flesh was replaced by iron, which was then replaced by mimicry of flesh, but now mutable and perfect. Alas, even thousands of years later, the cosmos' wrath had not subsided, and the mother of all, the star showed signs of increased activity, a warning cry of solar flares destructive to the now synthetic Mol-Senna. Some ignored the warnings, judging the cries no more than a call for food, others worried muchly and went into deep, long sleep, hoping that by doing so, they'll be spared from the star's wrath. In the end, it was only a fangless cry, as the planet was unaffected, and the sleepers remained sleeping, until the storms tore away their flesh.
### Post-Awakening ###
In 2481, NSV Skylight, in a search for Element P-rich planets discovers the remnants of several Mol-Senna habitat-cities, jutting out of the ground. Although not what the explorers were looking for, the system is marked for investigation, but put low on the priority list. Twenty years later, in 2501, NT decides to forgo the lack of the now-named Phoron and establishes its first outpost on Mol II, named NSB Skurvod, after the captain of the NSV Skylight, with the express purpose of exploring the various nearby ruins of the sleeping Mol-Senna. They discovered and translated knowledge of their cataclysms, though failed to find any technology to learn from. As the outpost attracted more interested parties, NSB Skurvod grew, and eventually, in 2533 a charter was signed, transforming the now booming metropolis under a glass dome into a proper, free colony, though it was under NT's supervision. Mol-Kava Wanders did not care much for the visitors from the cosmos, but traded with them when they came to their camps and towns. At this point, some tribes decided to wander the cosmos, rather than their own world, leading Mol-Kava to split, but no new name was given to these new spacefarers, so they remained as they were. Wanders to the Stars.

## Culture ##
### Mol-Senna ###
Not much is known of Mol-Senna culture, as the vast majority of surviving habitat-cities are entirely closed off. No visitors, no trade. What little was gathered from the ruins only revealed a little of their beliefs, being that the Nameless Gods, the curators of all natural laws and principles, do not care for the dust in the corner, that the Trickster Gods, the ones that pulled those natural laws together to form stars, planets and life, only care for their own amusement, and that the False Gods, the fools who claimed a drop from the ocean thinking they deserve to rule, no longer walk amongst the mortals. The Mol-Senna engaged in 'plays', shaping their entire cities into some facsimile of other times. One ruin was entirely reshaped into an iron-age city, with lithe forms playing the roles of both slaves and masters. Another was a technological heaven, filled with incomprehensible machinery, that in the end, did nothing. And on and on it went.
### Mol-Kava ###
For the Mol-Kava, however, it is known more, though the details vary between tribes and states. Some share their beliefs entirely with the Mol-Senna, some have turned entirely away from the old faiths, creating their own myths, deities, heroes and villains. The tribes are varied technologically as well, with some barely scratching their way out of the iron age, while others lounge in their cities, enjoying the luxury of higher technology. Robotic servants, genetic treatments, hard-light and hovercraft. Although advanced, none have reached the Mol-Senna's level, and there's little chance of it happening for the next several hundred years.

### - ###
There is minimal interaction between Mol-Senna and Mol-Kava. The Mol-Senna do not hold any strong opinions regarding the Mol-Kava, and rarely interact with them, while the Mol-Kava primarily know of the Mol-Senna through legends and folklore and opinions about their nature vary greatly from tribe to tribe.

## Known Senna Habitat-Cities ##
### The Great Garden Underneath the Sea of Dunes ###
The Great Garden Underneath the Sea of Dunes, or, more commonly 'Sea of Dunes', is the largest Mol-Senna ruin in the eponymous area. Though mostly abandoned or occupied by Mol-Kava tribes, it still is the greatest source of Senna technology available to NanoTrasen. Whilst the vast majority of the more important tech, such as gravitic dynamo cores, weaponry or Senna themselves have long since disintegrated due to time, or simply ate themselves in a defensive reaction, some small caches still remain, containing data disks - tiny, fingernail sized diamond disks that contain almost anything that could be considered information. Memories, shopping lists, entire stories, or just imagined fitments the length of two heartbeats. Of course, it has been around 12000 standard years since they were recorded or maintained, so a lot of them are sun-faded, resulting them in being as worthless as the carbon they're printed from. From such disks, NT explorers have, through painstaking efforts to read them accurately, managed to piece together a fragmented history of religion, language, and minor cultural information. At least from this particular city.
The city gained its name rather literally. Initially, before Heavensfall, it was a DNA and seed vault, not unlike the Svalbard vault of Old Earth, but after the catastrophe, it has been turned first into a makeshift shelter, owing to its several-mile depth, and then into a city proper. After the Mol-Senna's second conversion, the relatively (compared to other contemporary Senna cities) austere city began living true to its name, first starting out as a city-sized garden and plain underground, then becoming a country-sized jungle several miles under the ever shifting sands of the Sea of Dunes. This jungle is home to a vast majority of the planet's plant and animal species, as well as a fully self-sufficient biosphere, with the light being provided by the still functioning gravitic dynamo cores, and the airflow supplied by the ever-working Lowmind drones and nanites ensuring that the garden blooms forevermore.

### Bright Lights upon Distant Shores Towering above the Idyllic Waves ###
Bright Lights upon Distant Shores Towering above the Idyllic Waves, or usually 'Bright Lights', is one of the oldest Mol-Senna habitat-cities, having been a thriving offshore arcology for decades before Heavensfall. Unlike the majority of the cities in and around the Sea of Dunes, Bright Lights is fully intact, and is the only city that engages in semi-frequent diplomacy with NT. They are the ones that allowed NT to build their Stonegold facility in order to study the ruins of the Sea of Dunes and other nearby Senna structures, and they are the ones who enforce their rulings on land use, preservation, and trade with nearby Kava tribes. The city itself does not engage in trade, and the only personal contact with Skurvod and NT is through the occasional representatives they send to either the domed city, or the various facilities. These representatives ensure that these visitors do not overstep their bounds, and do not damage the cultural integrities of the less advanced, or the more insular Kava tribes.
Naturally, in the earlier days of Skurvod, back when it was an NT facility, they had overstepped their bounds by quite a bit, notably by trying to force their way into Bright Lights itself. The Senna of the city reacted accordingly, using their far more advanced technology to reduce the overzealous exploration teams to a fine paste, and send them back to the facility as a warning, and a reminder that NT is on their planet, and that they remain so by Senna graces. As time passed, relations cooled, and the incident, while not forgotten, was swept to the side in an attempt to ensure the facility's - and the future colony's - survival. These days, Bright Lights maintains what could be loosely counted as an embassy in the government district of Skurvod, giving a place for the representatives to stay, mingle, and process permissions for exploration of ruins, translation requests, or giving a spot for interested Kava and Aspirant Senna to meet, greet, plot, or find a way into the stars.
The city itself, as with Sea of Dunes, fits to the name, being easily seen on a clear day several dozen miles from the shore. Or, rather, the multitude of skyscraper-esque spires with blazing false-suns atop them - could be seen. Coming closer, the arcology sits upon a multitude of legs rising several hundred feet out of the blue sea, with large circular districts resting upon them. Though it is unclear to NT explorers what the districts are for the most part, several of them are covered in green and teal verdure more commonly seen in the north, giving them the appearances of forests or parks on the legs.

## Major Kava City-States ##
### The Ghost of Savra ###
The Ghost of Savra is the largest Mol-Kava city-state neighboring Skurvod. For the most part, it is located near the mountains that border the Sea of Dunes, though recent expansions have pushed the city's borders into the plains to the west. Technologically, the city is at a steel age, with advanced metallurgy coming into common use. As a reference, it is similar to Old Earth's rennaisance period in development and technology. However, since the arrival of the outworlders and NanoTrasen, it has began to experience both a vast jump in technology, as well as a stellar culture shock, leading to odd incidents and apparent anachronisms in the city's markets. Visitors and guests are very welcome in the city, and Skurvod frequently arranges for translators and guides for eager tourists.

The city gained its name by being the gravesite of an old Kava warlord, named Savra - Many Claws Rendering Flesh. He once led an expedition against a rival tribe, seeking to add their lands to his own, though the final battle where the city will once rise stopped his plans of conquest, as a single arrow pierced his heart. It was a merciful and quick death for one who oft gave out torturous ones to the people he fought.

## Mol-Kava Tribal Life ##
### The Rigors ###
Though mostly idyllic and tranquil, mostly consisting of farming, animal husbandry, and the occasional slaving raid, Kava life has its fair share of dangers. Of course, the more technologically advanced city-states experience less of this, but the more primitive ones are fraught with danger. Farming accidents, getting gored by great shelled beasts, starvation from poor harvests, being poisoned by mishandling Saltgrain, are the norm and common accidents to Kava. And this is only for the stationary tribes, as one needs to only look at the picked-over remains of a nomad caravan to understand the dangers wandering itself presents. From the deadly dust storms in the Sea of Dunes and rogue nanite Lowminds prowling it, to rival tribes and bands of bandits taking what they cannot procure themselves from the more fortunate, but less defended prey.
All these dangers, sometimes combined with plain bad luck, ancient Senna experiments, genetic defects (from the occasional inbreeding), shorten the average Kava life expectancy from the near-maximum of 350 Mol years, to around 100 years. Few really think it matters, though as for the most part, it is rather easy to lead a fulfilling life during those years.

On the other hand, the more technological Kava have far different problems. Starvation is not an issue due to farming improvements, plagues barely affect them, raids do not risk attacking a superior foe. Most of their difficulties come from Senna and their remnants. Ancient nanite husks wandering half-aimlessly through the plains and dunes, seeking to assimilate more minds into itself, land reclamation drones tearing apart cities to reclaim life from the dusty dunes, no matter the obstacle, sometimes bored Senna themselves running odd, brutal, or mind destroying experiments on unwilling and unwitting people. All the dangers vary wildly as with all things Kava, and despite many attempts by NT explorers and archivists, it is quite impossible to generalize the odd, tranquil, yet discordant lives of the tribes.
### Saltgrain ###
Saltgrain is the staple crop of the vast majority of Kava tribes and states, owing to its survivability, ease of growth and general utility. Though, despite this ubiquity, the entire plant is highly toxic, capable of killing a Kava within several days of agonizing pain. The poison is mostly distributed in the flowers and seedpods, though the stems and leaves still contain a minor and less toxic dose. Nevertheless, the Kava have many ways to neutralize the toxins and make it easy to work and eat. The most common way is to wash the pieces in ash-water or diluted lye, then washing it again in fresh water, until it runs clear. Saltgrain itself can be described as a super-crop as its seedpods can be eaten for a nutrient-rich meal, its stems can be woven into cloth, and the roots filter salt from brackish or salty water. The only less useful part of the plant are the leaves, though the more creative tribal hunters use them as poison to aid in hunting or defense of their tribe.
The plant itself looks like a reed mixed with some sort of tall flower. As with many plants on Mol, it is a light teal in color, with yellow, green, pink and blue flowers. A mature Saltgrain plant stands at around 2.2 meters (7' 3"), with large, split-point leaves. The stem is sparsely thorned, with the outer layer being covered in a soft fuzz. Saltgrain, as the name implies, tends to grow in salty soil, often wilding in salty and brackish marshes in quantities high enough to be classified as weeds. It is notoriously hard to completely exterminate, as a lone root can still grow back into a whole plant, similar to Old Earthen mint.

The origins of the plant begin in the decades before Heavensfall, when the Mol peoples began their foray into complex genetic engineering. Old Saltgrain was a squat herb, barely different from any other saltwater weed. Over time, the plant was modified more and more, first improving its nutritional yield, then toughening its stem to allow to spin thread and weave cloth out of it, and then strengthening its innate toxicity as to remove the need for vermin control. After Heavensfall, the plant was, for a time, left to wildly spread, though after the Senna-Kava split, it was redomesticated. Nowadays, there are dozens of strains of the plant, with stronger toxins, weaker toxins, completely adapted to cloth-making, for food, and so on. For the tribes cultivating Saltgrain, it isn't unusual to see vast artificial salt-marshes reflecting the midday sun and the young shoots try to break apart the mirage. In the wild, the many varieties of Saltgrain blooms in and around the natural salt-flats, marshes and swamps, giving them a vibrant coloration when mixed in with the smaller plants and flowers.

## Extra Terminology ##
**Heavensfall** - General name for the series of disasters following the 2nd moon getting deorbited. Meteor showers, freak weather, and all the other **fun** stuff that comes from losing a natural satelite.

**Mol** - The general name for the sole sapient species of the Mol system. Split into Senna and Kava.
**Mol-Senna** - Mol uploaded into Protean bodies, allowing for effective immortality. Reclusive, opting to live in their city-habitats. Extremely high-tech, but non-FTL.
**Mol-Kava** - Mol remaining in their organic bodies, separated into tribes and city-states upon the surface of Mol-II. Some have left the planet on spaceships brought by colonizers. Called Wanders by the Senna.

**Lowmind** - Non-sapient drone, highly specialized construct, etc.
**Oldmind** - Pre-Heavensfall Mol minds, uploaded into robotic/protean bodies. Fully organic thought process.
**Newmind** - Post-Heavensfall minds, akin to posibrains. Mostly organic-esque thought process, but they have some mechanical markings.

**Ascendant** - True city-living Mol-Senna. Won't be playable normally due to their durability. Uses copious amounts of gravity tech and hard-light, making them effectively immune to normal Protean counters.
**Aspirant** - Outsider Mol-Senna. Usually remnants from shattered cities or other ruins or Kava that have been transformed into Senna. Damaged, with many functions unavailable.

**Blutarchy** - Collective name for various united religions common to Senna city-habitats. Impossible to generalize, due to the differences between the habitats. Led by Blutarchs and their councils.

**Data disk** - Fingernail sized diamond disk with information printed on them. Can be anything, from memories, to shopping lists, to extensive blueprints. Think DVDs, but with a massive storage limit. All Mol-Senna can read them innately.

**Mind-Key** - The literal key to a Senna mind, with which another Senna, or someone with a way to interface with one, can read the Senna's mind, see their memories, etc. An incredibly private thing, very seldom given even to family members, loved ones, etc.