Jenquai

The Jenquai were a mysterious explorer race from the defunct MMORPG Earth & Beyond by Westwood Studios. Jenquai were renowned for being able to create stable, one-end-fixed, wormholes to transport themselves or groups of travelers across the galaxy. Aside from their wormhole skills, Jenquai were also versatile reactor builders. Towards the sunset of the game, Jenquai Defenders were the most coveted warriors, being able to sneak up on powerful hostiles and destroy them quickly with high energy beam weapons.

Origin

The Jenquai are the descendants of the original colonists that arrived on the moons of Jupiter. As the ancestors of this offshoot of humanity arrived, they knew that it would most likely be a one way trip and thus the first steps were made in developing a new society. They evolved a completely different culture and became masters of the space environment.

Biology and Culture

The adaptation in their very biology to alien environments has resulted in the development of unique aspects that are evident when observing them. One of which is that the Jenquai are strict vegetarians. They can be distinguished from the other groups of humans as they are both tall and thin. Their own metabolisms have also adapted to allow them to sustain themselves on whatever food is available to them. This allows them to prefer colder climates as long as food is available.

The low gravity on starships and Jenquai worlds means that the Jenquai are weaker then both Terrans and Progen. Despite this, they have faster reaction times along with acute improved hearing as well as eye sight. Dexterity is highly valued and 40% of Jenquai are either left handed or ambidextrous. Equipment handles are neutral and musical talents are also widespread.

There are a few elite classes within Jenquai society which is divided between the Shinwa warrior defenders, Sha'ha'dem explorers and the Sharim seekers.

Society

The Jenquai development led to the primary principle being based around knowledge and illumination being the only virtues in life. This dominates an individual Jenquai's life from life to death with all members attempting to advance their society along with their technology. Beyond that, everything is secondary to the pursuit of knowledge making them somewhat of a conservative culture. This mysticism is enhanced by ceremonies and rituals in these regards.

An interesting development in Jenquai culture, something they share with the Progen, is the development of castes and classes in their society. Their youth is dominated by training by mentors known as Adepts who are part of the religious caste. These adepts are a combination of scientist, researcher, philosopher, and theologian. Once their training is complete, the young Jenquai is allowed the choose of clan and caste to join which is where they differ to the Progen who are near genetically programmed for their castes.

The differences with the Progen are high lighted even further as the Jenquai only have three castes namely the Sha'ha'dem (warriors), Shenwa (tradesmen) and the Sharim. These castes are not as fixed or rigidly defined as the Progen's. Where the Progen have their genetic classes, the Jenquai have clans which resemble a type of monastic order. There are nine major clans with a dozen minor clans each with a specific characteristic and philosophy.

Money is an alien aspect in Jenquai society, almost as much as crime is within the Progen society. However, despite this, they have come to the believe that it's a necessary evil when dealing with trade with both Progen and Terrans, more so with the latter then the former of the two. The genuine belief is that resources and wealth are abundant in the universe and should be available to all. Outside of trade, all the basic needs as well as items are made without a system of credit based exchanges.

After contacting Terrans, trade become an entirely new aspect the Jenquai discovered which caused much difficulty between the two. To combat this, the Jenquai created a computerized machine that would handle the monetary concerns in such trades. This works in the Sol system, however, the outer colonies rely on a barter-and-trade based system of necessity.

Behaviour

The Jenquai are the descendants of the first explorers who mapped the outer regions of the Sol star system. Unlike the Progen who believed that they should change their environment to suit their needs, the Jenquai changed themselves to survive. However, after settling aliens worlds, the Jenquai devoted their way to the pursuit of knowledge and seek the clarity of logic into a form of religion. The general belief is that the universe itself is a divine power with all life encompassing this power.

This pursuit of knowledge made them push the boundaries of science and forced them to develop advanced technologies, especially in the field of gravitational and electromagnetic control. It is the most elegant and graceful in appearance compared to the other races.

While the Jenquai are weaker then their Terran and Progen counterparts but they developed better characteristics such as better eye sight along with hearing. While this agility is prized, the Jenquai themselves prefer to develop their mental agility.

Government

The Jenquai government is a mixture of political and religious aspects in life with a division into several rings that govern the Jenquai's way of life. The governing body itself is known as the Jenquarum or Ruling Council which is a hierarchical system which comprises both the judicial and religious aspects of the Jenquai people.

The highest position within the authority is dominated by the Triumvirate or Council of Three which controls over the nine J'aati. Each of the three leaders of the council, known as Triumvirs which control one of the three branches. The first branch is known as Creation which governs aspects such as exploration, colonization and religion. The second branch controls the aspects of Preservation which include resource management, development of infrastructure and the production of necessary products such as food, water and air. The third branch is known as Destruction which controls all aspects of war, defense and the military along with the judicial branch. The Triumvirate is the body that produces the laws and passes decree's to the J'aati.

The J'aati are the governmental groups of the Triumvirate which are also both political and religious entities. The first J'aat is known as the K'shatriyan Order which is the highest of the its kind and contains the best along with the brightest of their kind. This group decides what recommendations are sent to the triumvirate and its Elders serve as the council of three's liaison.

The Shido'sha Order is the second J'aat which consists of 18 members who are elected from the public. They are made as a balance mechanism for the First J'aat. This group oversees and amends the laws. The Wei Shun are the third J'aat and are the diplomats of the Jenquai who serve as the emissaries to the other governments. The military is controlled by the fourth J'aat who are known as the Shinwa Order. They manage the internal police who are known as the Endoguard along with the Jenquai special forces group.

The workers and laborers are two J'aat's combined namely the fifth and sixth who are known collectively as the Ahzmundi. This group oversees the resources, trade and transportation of the Jenquai along with the administration of the communities. Just like this J'aat, the seventh and eighth J'aat are a collective group known as the Sha'ha'dem who comprise of the intellectual elite of scholars, thinkers and the explorers. The Jenquai's pursuit of knowledge means that this group also administers the religious acitivites of their society. This makes them the most influential and powerful of the J'aat's.

The final ninth J'aati is called the Black Circle which is the most secret of the J'aat's. Its purpose and acitivities are not known but they are actually the intelligence security division, however, their methods of administering this is unknown.