Eubians

Aristos are the ruling class of Eubian Concord. They are in general extremely wealthy and own entire worlds inclusive the enslaved inhabitants. The most known Aristo noble Houses are the Qox, Muze, Xir, Iquar, Taratus, Kaliga and Raziquon. Because Aristos intermarry quite often, most of the Houses are already closely related to each other.

The appearance of Aristos is marked by their characteristic red eyes and black shimmering hair. His or her looks is very important for an Aristo, as it may be useful for gaining influential position. It belongs to good manners to look good, young and well shaped. If an Aristo is old, fat or ugly, it is recommended to visit a body sculptor, who can get people in top form with the help of modern plastic surgery.

Aristos form the top-most echelon of Eubian society and comprise three main categories:

• Highton – control the government and military
• Diamond – manage commerce and production
• Silicate – produce the means of pleasure

As a race, Aristos are an unfortunate result of the Rhon project. Led by a geneticist named Hezahr Rhon, this project was originally started to produce a psion who would possess strong empathic and telepathic abilities but wouldn't suffer when experiencing the unpleasant emotions of others, like pain or fear.

The outcome was however a race of people who not only lack empathic or telepathic abilities, but are also utterly devoid of compassion. Their brains interpret pain of others (especially of psions) as pleasure, which makes them the ultimate sadists. The stronger pain a psion feels, the more pleasure it means for an Aristo.

The elevated sense of ecstasy experienced by Aristos when causing pain to psions is called transcendence. This transcendence is considered normal and appropriate among Aristos, who are raised to believe that the pleasure obtained from torturing telepaths is their inherent right. There are however a few exceptions who decided to have their Kyle Afferent Body or KAB (the microscopic organ in their brain that is responsible for their need for transcendence) removed. Those must keep their decision secret, as knowledge of this would make them to outcasts in the Aristo society.

Aristos see themselves as kind, good-hearted, moral, noble and merciful. They take care of their slaves, who in their opinion would not survive a single minute without the guidance of their masters. Their psionic pleasure slaves are supposed to feel "honored" by being allowed to help their owners reaching transcendence. From an Aristo point of view every non-Aristo is less than a human, thus incapable of independent thinking and actions and should be subject to Aristos. That inhabitants of the Skolian Empire and the Allied worlds survive without having an owner is an abomination according to Aristo standards.

Besides their legitimate offspring, many Aristos (both men and women) also have children with their providers. Such children do not manifest the empathic and telepathic abilities of their psion parent, as the necessary genes must come from both parents. They however mostly inherit from their Aristo parent the defective KAB resulting in the need for transcendence. Prevalence of Aristo genes decreases with every next generation of part-Aristos mixing with non-Aristos. Thus a child or grandchild of a half-Aristo may already have a "normal" mind.

All children from an Aristo–provider union are considered slaves, rated as taskmakers. Many Aristos take pride in giving their taskmaker offspring good education, wealth and profitable and influential jobs. Rare attempts to pass off such child as a member of an Aristo caste are major crimes according to Eubian law. It is an Aristo tradition to give their taskmaker children names that reflect their Aristo genitor – so Xirson is a son of an Aristo called Xir, Qoxdaughter is daughter of Qox, etc.

In general, taskmakers are all Eubian slaves who are not psions. In fact, the population of Eubian Concord consists mainly of taskmakers, who complete all necessary tasks in the society. Every taskmaker has an occupation to which he/she has been trained for. The many various jobs taskmakers can execute include all possible trades, jobs of technicians, engineers, agriculturists, medical staff including specialized doctors, military personnel and officers etc.

Many taskmakers, especially those who occupy influential jobs in state administration or army, are of mixed Aristo-provider blood. In general, the more significant Aristo ancestry a taskmaker has, the more prestigious position is he/she likely to gain. High status taskmakers may actually become factory directors, starship captains or administrators of entire planets, are allowed to keep property, even have slaves on their own.

Lots of taskmakers live ordinary, comfortable lives and have a higher standard of living than their counterparts in the Skolian Empire. Nevertheless, they remain slaves and their entire life could be forfeit at the decision of an Aristo.

Razers are taskmakers who act as bodyguards for the highest Aristo nobility and receive extensive bioenhancements including cybernetic implants, making them the Eubian counterparts of the Skolian Jagernauts. Razers are the only slaves who are not supposed to kneel in front of an Aristo because this may influence their ability to protect their owner.

Providers are Eubian sex slaves, psions who live solely for one purpose – to provide empathic input for their Aristo masters with their suffering during torture, so that the Aristo may reach the elevated state of transcendence. As such, providers are on the lowest echelon of Eubian society. Sexual relationships with providers are not considered infidelity in Eubian culture because they are just slaves. In fact, an Aristo husband might give a provider to his wife as a present, and a host might entertain his guests by offering them his providers.

Providers are rare and very expensive, especially the ones with strongest empathic abilities. Their main task is to look extremely good, suffer without complaining and please their master in any possible way. To achieve perfection in their duties, providers are raised in special pavilions where they get "proper" education. Different lines of providers are bred for their specific physical and mental attributes like beauty or heightened sensual response. An early attempt to create a line of extremely strong empathic providers lead unintentionally to the rise of the Skolian ruling family, the Ruby Dynasty.

Breeding psions is however an insufficient source for providers and other means are needed to satisfy the still increasing demands of Eubian market. As a solution, Eubian pirate ships make illegal raids on Skolian and Allied ships, kidnapping psions with high KAB Rating and selling them into slavery.