Roken Info

[Angel]

(Roken is technically Roken A. There is a Roken B that is a twin planet very close by and can be seen in the Roken sky like a moon. While both planets are inhabitable, Roken A was colonized first and the space flight infrastructure is still in its infancy on Roken B, leaving few places to land. Roken B is jokingly referred to as Broken. Or it used to be but now which planet should have that title is debatable.)

General Planet Climate: Varied

Population Levels: Large population

Standard of Living: Lost glory. This planet used to be considered Inner Ring. Located near a major jump point Roken was well on its way to being a super power in the new Republic being formed. People who lived here were either rich or worked for those who were. The economy and wealth was heavily concentrated in a small section of the population but this was mostly a hold over from the colonization days and those few were often the descendants of the original settlers.

Things were starting to even out as a socialist economic system started to be put into place. With a beautiful planet with plenty of resources to trade things seemed to be looking up for Roken.

Until it was invaded.

Now the humans on Roken are no more than slaves, and the worst kind. A majority of the population has been turned into hosts for a parasitic alien race. There are no official numbers available on the portion of the population who have fallen to this fate because the Naz are the ones in power now and they maintain that any free human is simply part of a minority that will soon be crushed.

Main Export: This planet no longer trades with the human controlled planets. Located right on the fringe of human space, it was taken over by the neighboring empire. For the Naz empire the biggest resource of this planet are the bodies that live on it. Nearly 5 million human settlers have fallen under their control.

But the planet itself is very useful. It is a good source of fuel for the Naz ships and its sun is compatible with their own, an important consideration since they are partially solar fed.

Relation to the Central Government: The UIR has done their best to make people forget this planet exists. The past 15 years have been spent trying to determine the power and breath of the neighboring Naz empire. But until the UIR is sure of its strength it does not want to take on any new enemies. For this reason the planet has been abandoned as a lost cause and the people who live on it, those that are still free, are quite aware of this. If the humans of Roken were ever to gain their freedom the UIR would not be the most welcome guest.

Religion: There is no official religion on Roken. It has as many religions as you would expect a well populated planet to have, or it did. Now any religion, if practiced, is practiced in secret. The Naz officials don't agree with such human sentiments. They don't want their people falling prey to them.

Planetary Culture: Free or die? Let's make friends? We have a right to live? Crush the rebels like the inferior chattel they are? What can you say about the beliefs of people at war? They are varied and often only relevant in the immediate situation.

Other History: Roken's relevant history is explained above but I'll add a brief description of the Naz.

The Naz don't actually look like anything, at least not without a microscope. They are an intelligent germ or they are in groups. It takes many of them together to make up one conscious being. Once enough Naz have infected a host they begin to move into the next stage of their development.

A stage two Naz looks similar to a spider web or moss except internal. It lives in many different places in the body depending on the host. In humans they wrap around the spinal cord, growing like a fungus and connecting and hacking into the entire nervous system. Once the Naz makes it's way to the brain it controls the host. While the host is still a living, thinking creature, they no longer have direct access to their bodies.

Fighting a Naz infection is almost impossible. It moves quickly and a host is normally subdued within three days. Since the Naz has access to the host memories and can replicate the original host if necessary it is difficult to tell who has been taken over unless you can get a good look at a person's back or neck. As the Naz progresses up the spine of its host it sends out parts of its body to create tiny, circular spots of shiny skin on the surface. These tiny, reflective areas of skin absorb needed nutrients from the sun.

In human hosts these miniature, biological solar panels are located two-by-two on the sides of the spine. Mostly these areas are hidden by the clothing that is standard in human society and continued in Naz host society. The only panels that are sometimes clearly visible are the two located behind each ear.

The most effective way to kill a Naz and free a host is to confine them to complete darkness. It takes about three days for a Naz to starve, at which point the host may reclaim the use of their body. Removing the Naz infection from around the spine requires surgery however and the only way to know the difference between a living, controlled human and a freed one are that the solar panels will fade and turn black if the Naz is dead.

Naz, once they have consolidated inside a body, can, with difficulty, extricate themselves whole and enter another host. But it requires them to willingly disengage from the spinal cord at which point they can burrow their way out of the body. If they wish to leave the host body intact they must exit through a hole naturally part of the host's physiology such as mouth, ears, eyes, urinary track or rectum. If they do not care about the host they can burrow straight through flesh and leave the host damaged.

Made of a milky string like material that looks like spilled silly string, once outside of a body, the Naz are mostly defenseless. They can't survive long in basic atmosphere though they do slightly better in water for a while. Still, they must either be put into a liquid environment that will provide the same nutrients a host body provided or they must be put into another host. Again, they can enter host bodies whole the same way they left them.