Brainstorming the Military Culture of a Solitary Arthropod Society.

[GnosisEater]

I'm working on a novel (hopefully to be a series) where the species-collective of arthropod-derived aliens (the Xzul) are inspired and influenced by less commonly known and generally uglier asocial arthropods such as carabid (ground/tiger) beetles, whip scorpions (tailless and tailed), vampire crabs, amazon giant centipedes, jumping bristletails, giant isopods, mantis shrimps, woodlouse spiders, and robber flies. They have no homeworld of their own; they had been in a cryogenic sleep for potentially hundreds of years on four small planet-sized ships before they were awoken by the Conglomerate of Planetary Nations (long story short: think Space NATO) who have integrated them as a client or colony nation. The knowledge of what they were prior to the hibernatin is nearly nonexistent. All that is known is that they originated from somewhere else that the sparse data they have speaks of little.

The xzul generally lack the concept of a conventional family and only in a few species is there any instinct towards parental care or a familial unit that in 90% of cases is tenuous at best. Motherly love is also a foreign concept; after hatching (or eating their way through their wombs in a few cases), larvae and nymphs live in biosphere-domes that are relatively less dangerous versions of wilderness regions within the ships. Their minds have a degree of racial memory; they inherit the capability to understand language (but not necessarily the actual knowledge of it), various survival instincts, and knowledge of various pheremone cues among others. As they age their consciousness begins to gradually evolve out of a bestial state and towards a more advanced sentience/sapience (after around seven to ten years), one that carries on into early post-pupal/juvenile instar life resulting in a lot of strange, lethargic, and somewhat shifty youth as they transition from animal to citizen.

This isn't to say that they do not value relationships at all; the closest thing they have to family is one that's individually constructed and based moreso on the companions and friends they make rather than predetermined blood relations. Their society is heavily regulated in terms of consumption and reproduction as the issues of overpopulation and resource shortages are always on everyone's mind even in times of (very relative) prosperity. Some xzul live off-ship in specialized enclaves, typically on distant C.P.N. colonies, and others on the biodome reserves used to store the massive creatures used as warbeasts. Regardless, xzul society tends to be seen as "dead end" in terms of opportunities. They have been restricted from colonizing worlds of their own and their representation in the political power structure of the conglomerate is niche, relegated to military matters.

While they normally do not see the military as being of particularly greater significance than more domestic and political institutions, the xzul nation's most well known and important interactions are directly related to conflict. While their military is fairly small and there are significant restrictions on their fleet sizes, their stereotypical portryal as relentless and barely-tamed mutant barbarians is hard to argue against their combat records. While xzul trade is heavily observed and regulated by the C.P.N.'s Xzul Relations Division, the usage of the xzul to dislodge and defeat particularly entrenched or aggressive enemies is backed by various economic incentives, including being allowed to harvest from pacified worlds. This large emphasis on military service by an external controlling force is changing both public perception of military service and the actual culture within the military.

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What I'm interested in however is what the titular culture would be like. The xzul have no real history to draw upon before the cryogenic awakening, no homeworld to truly call their own, and the people they fight rarely have much if anything to do with them. While they're not flat-out nihilistic, they're not exactly terribly enamoured towards many belief systems be they religious, nationalist, racial, or philosophical. They tend to see their political sphere as a smaller part of a whole network of spheres, with the objective being generally trying to bargain for a better deal and keeping their heads above the water with what they can afford and already possess. The military is seen by the common folk as the last resort to sign up for when there's nowhere else to go and a solemn reminder for their continued survival, not out of foreign threats but to ensure the C.P.N. continues to ensure their economic well-being.

It's personnel base is a mixed bag of "dead enders" (those who see their lives on the ships as going nowhere and typically want to see the rest of the galaxy), academy graduates (a fair share of xzul go right out of the equivalent of university into the military), "patriots of necessity" (those who believe it's an unpleasant job but one that it's best they suffer for than someone else), and those who simply see it as a reliable source of income and provisions. There are also a few non-xzul who tend to serve here - some of them are expatriates and refugees, others are war orphans taken onto the ships in the aftermath of wars. Both are known as "orphan battallions" even though they tend to fight alongside other xzul. Those from the enclaves are summoned towards the hive ships during times of need and are viewed with suspicion and curiosity, generally fighting in closer knit groups known as "outer legionnaires".

The xzul do not have a set dress code or uniform and generally resemble walking biomechanical jigsaw puzzles of chitinous armour and shifting, interlocking segmented parts. They're loosely formal, with each soldier being heavily customized with a variety of cybernetic and biological enhancements and implants. The command chain tends to express power and authority through low key means such as subsonic chittering, pheremone emission, or subtle antennae/palp movements. While there is a degree of racial selectivity as certain species are better suited or even required for some tasks moreso than others, physical modifications are incredibly common and to an extent mandatory throughout the military, allowing some species to gain abilities normally not naturally available and allowing for a good degree of versatility and options for every soldier.

So with all of that in mind, what might the cultures and subcultures of this military resemble? I'm interested in the kinds of mannerisms and commonly held beliefs that might crop up, along with the rituals and insider politics that would take root. The perception of civilian institutions by active service members and how different branches interact or perceive one another is another thing (ie. the exospacial fleet and ground forces, heavy weapons divisions and reconnaissance groups, common grunts versus special forces etc.) is another big one. I'd also be interested in how they might interact with C.P.N. forces and civilians. What kind of subcultural groups might form out of this knd of military? What sort of special interests, hobbies, or inner political workings might we see arise? Who would they hold in utter scorn and as saints? What kind of banter might we expect in casual or more severe situations?

* Mandatory @CyborgneticSpyder tag. Also @Strypgia and other service-folks your input would be appreciated. *

 

[CyborgneticSpyder]

So far it looks pretty good. However, I am surprised that you left out the potential gender politics that could come into play. Considering that females are generally dominant in size, strength and lifespan, the xzul might be a matriarchal society. With regards to romantics, the males would still have to initiate the relationship while the females would choose a mate based on his possessions and his survivability. There would be a promence in sexual fetishes regarding cuckolding and female dom.

 

[GnosisEater]

So far it looks pretty good. However, I am surprised that you left out the potential gender politics that could come into play. Considering that females are generally dominant in size, strength and lifespan, the xzul might be a matriarchal society. With regards to romantics, the males would still have to initiate the relationship while the females would choose a mate based on his possessions and his survivability. There would be a promence in sexual fetishes regarding cuckolding and female dom.

Click to shrink...

I've always imagined romance among insects, arachnids, and crustaceans to be an odd affair. For the xzul I figured due to their rather more implicit take on family and how their views on reproduction are fairly reductive, they'd not see romantic relationships as significant in the same way we would. However that wouldn't rule romance out of the picture; it wouldn't be unheard of for some of them, usually of the opposite sex, to be particularly close although I imagine they'd see close compatability and intimacy as not inherently romantic as much as it is "familial" (in the constructed-family sense). I can see a lot of depth in that though although it'd vary wildly depending on the species and wouldn't necessarily always be size based. Spider-females for example are sometimes so much bigger than the males they look like different species while for crabs and crayfish it's the opposite but not to the same extreme scale wize. Male harlequin beetles have much longer forearms than females while for earwigs females tend to have straight pincers and males curved ones.

The xzul definitely do have that more primal aspect of choosing mating partners based on these kinds of physical aspects but I imagine it's recognized that these are more instinctual than say, logical or conventionally romantic. I can see them treating sex less so as an act of passion and moreso as something similar to getting a high off a drug; IIRC arthropods don't really feel a whole lot, if anything, during the act although I imagine the chemicals and signals firing off in the heads of the xzul result in something akin to a bizarre hallucinogenic trip. There's a large degree of cross breeding and race mixing although I imagine a lot of it might take place in a lab; their government would definitely be the kind to take these kind of measures to vary the gene pool and a lot of species aren't really compatible with one another from a biological standpoint. Hybrids resembling a mixture of, say, a lake baikal amphipod and a devil's coach horse beetle though wouldn't be uncommon. As it turns out, race-mixing and polluting the gene pool actually results in a lot of benefits in the form of more genetic variety and terrifyingly offspring that are useful given that the xzul have to adapt to new worlsd and their battlefields quickly.

 

[CyborgneticSpyder]

I've always imagined romance among insects, arachnids, and crustaceans to be an odd affair. For the xzul I figured due to their rather more implicit take on family and how their views on reproduction are fairly reductive, they'd not see romantic relationships as significant in the same way we would. However that wouldn't rule romance out of the picture; it wouldn't be unheard of for some of them, usually of the opposite sex, to be particularly close although I imagine they'd see close compatability and intimacy as not inherently romantic as much as it is "familial" (in the constructed-family sense). I can see a lot of depth in that though although it'd vary wildly depending on the species and wouldn't necessarily always be size based. Spider-females for example are sometimes so much bigger than the males they look like different species while for crabs and crayfish it's the opposite but not to the same extreme scale wize. Male harlequin beetles have much longer forearms than females while for earwigs females tend to have straight pincers and males curved ones.

The xzul definitely do have that more primal aspect of choosing mating partners based on these kinds of physical aspects but I imagine it's recognized that these are more instinctual than say, logical or conventionally romantic. I can see them treating sex less so as an act of passion and moreso as something similar to getting a high off a drug; IIRC arthropods don't really feel a whole lot, if anything, during the act although I imagine the chemicals and signals firing off in the heads of the xzul result in something akin to a bizarre hallucinogenic trip. There's a large degree of cross breeding and race mixing although I imagine a lot of it might take place in a lab; their government would definitely be the kind to take these kind of measures to vary the gene pool and a lot of species aren't really compatible with one another from a biological standpoint. Hybrids resembling a mixture of, say, a lake baikal amphipod and a devil's coach horse beetle though wouldn't be uncommon. As it turns out, race-mixing and polluting the gene pool actually results in a lot of benefits in the form of more genetic variety and terrifyingly offspring that are useful given that the xzul have to adapt to new worlsd and their battlefields quickly.

Click to shrink...

Oh so they're a collection of different arthropodic style alien species? Then I would imagine that each of these "sub species" would develop their own sub cultures regarding gender like the spider-esqe aliens being more matriarchal and support more motherly attitudes with regards to children. What I do see becoming a common occurrence is the culture of "boot straping" or taking the initiative and making one's own path in life regardless of upbringing. This in turn could make the xzul economy centered around lassie-faire styles of policy and limit the amount of government oversight.

 

[GnosisEater]

Oh so they're a collection of different arthropodic style alien species? Then I would imagine that each of these "sub species" would develop their own sub cultures regarding gender like the spider-esqe aliens being more matriarchal and support more motherly attitudes with regards to children. What I do see becoming a common occurrence is the culture of "boot straping" or taking the initiative and making one's own path in life regardless of upbringing. This in turn could make the xzul economy centered around lassie-faire styles of policy and limit the amount of government oversight.

Click to shrink...

Yep, they're from all over the arthropod spectrum but have co-existed long enough to be seen as a distinct nation and culture unto themselves. But yes, there are definitely some cultures that would value conventional parenting moreso than others, although in most cases it's something that's already taken care of by the previously described government-run nurseries. I'd say that they actually have a lot of support for their children as a society. Once they mature, xzul offspring are put through an educational system that's meant to acclimatize them to post-pupal/later instar sapient living and ensure they're aware of their kind's place in the galaxy. They're given board and food until they're ready to leave.

Mind you, in spite of being arthropods, the xzul don't reproduce very quickly and enclave ones face just as many, if not more, reproductive restrictions. While the overpopulation and resource consumption issue is the main one, the C.P.N. does not like the idea of them becoming a potential superpower. That's a large part of why the enclaves are so small and scattered, namely that they want to make sure they can't ever truly organize against them effectively.

There is definitely an element of strong independence although I'd say the society isn't *quite* Randian. After all, aside from the heavy government presence it's semi-democratic at most. Xzul politicians are essentially a separate societal class made up of small scale shared mind pools, run by individuals who've undergone psycho-cybernetic augmentations to suppress their emotional responses and personal sense of identity. These semi-robotic entities form parties that by law generally have a one to maybe one and a half year lifespan, using a shared gestalt consciousness pool to quickly come to agreements and unify decision making. The xzul don't have the paranoia and scornful suspicion of politicians as we might but they see them in many cases as moreso of machinery of policy and survival. They see the government less as conniving and scheming in the dark as much as trying to scrape by as much as they, attempting to wring some sort of benefit out of the ever stringent C.P.N.

However there is a good deal of leeway in their society and there's little division between its populace from a socio-economic perspective. Someone who makes enough money to have his own private military-grade starship for example, has no qualms about sharing a giant genetically engineered tree habitat with those who make a living regenerating pest-eaten water-veins and ensuring the seed pods are gestating maximum nutritional yield. As even on planet sized ships space is a constant worry, the rich often will share a home (usually a metallic exoskeletal shape filled assorted reactive biomatter to serve as flooring, furniture, utilities, and so on) with the poor and both are expecte to maintain it.

In terms of employment and enterprise, the options change very quickly often depending on xzul an CPN relations. There are public job boards and computer-hubs making jobs easy to find but not necessarily easy to get. Job quantity fluctuates sometimes month to month and it's not uncommon for an individual to work numerous contracts one year to being whittled down to a scant claw-ful of part time positions the next. However there are a few fields such as reseach on genetic/biological modification, engineering, and construction that do tend to do fairly well, sometimes allowing for a few lucky xzul businessmen to go off-ship more often. Good performance in those fields however generally still limits your options for serious advancement beyond military cooperation, something that the xzul immensely dislike.

There are xzul who are exiled, either due to legal transgressions or their own choosing, but they're shipped off to the more tumultuously unstable regions of space. They're sterilized beforehand and escorted by the C.P.N., usually finding their work as mercenaries or enforcers. Public perception of them is not very kind.