Khar-Sha’yun Civilization

The Khar-Sha’yun are a sapient, formerly interstellar species discovered across numerous planets in the subcluster of Malyshev’s Rest, within the Soviet Frontier. They remain the only intelligent species encountered by humanity outside of the Scinfaxi. While not intrinsically hostile, their civilization is heavily fragmented, and each group has since regressed culturally and technologically. The cause of their collapse is disputed among academics.

None of their feudal-like kingdoms possess spaceflight capabilities and the Khar-Sha’yun instead live in the ruins of vast machines and structures, what is assumed to be their former spacecraft and possibly civic infrastructure. They prefer tropical climates and are most often found in villages situated within caves, along river estuaries, or amid inland wetlands. The extreme distance of Malyshev’s Rest, situated on the periphery of the Soviet Frontier, and limitations on foreigners imposed by the Soviet government, has limited onsite research, and only a single permanent outpost, Oponskoye Station, is located within Khar-Sha’yun territory. A League of Nations facility was established on one of their worlds in 2263, and operated until 2273.

Etymology

The term Khar-Sha’yun originates from a phrase in their own language meaning “of the soil and sea” or “from the water and ground.” The name was first documented by Soviet xenolinguists at Oponskoye Station, who recorded and phonetically adapted it for human use. Its cultural significance is disputed, but has since become the standard designation in both Soviet and international research.

Physiology

The Khar-Sha’yun are a bipedal, extraterrestrial species exhibiting traits superficially reminiscent of terran arthropods, particularly insects and crustaceans. Their physiology supports upright locomotion and fine manipulation, allowing for the construction and manipulation of complex tools. They demonstrate advanced social behavior, with much of their time spent within collaborative groups, communicating through a range of structured vocalizations. In addition to their technological achievements, both former and current, the Khar-Sha’yun possess self-awareness and an evident understanding of mortality, indicating a fully developed cognitive framework at least somewhat comparable to that of humanity.

Society & Culture

Khar-Sha’yun society appears feudal by nature, with even entirely isolated Khar-Sha’yun realms on disparate worlds adopting a similar system reminiscent of kingships, vassals, and serfdom. Familial social groups compete for standing, often through ritualized or limited conflict, resource or territorial control, and displays of technological relics from the species' past.

Notably, the Khar-Sha’yun exhibit almost no activity after nightfall. They gather in groups and remain motionless until morning, eventually entering a dormant state resembling sleep. Travel or outdoor activity at night is universally avoided. Human transit from orbit must likewise occur after dusk, as the appearance of a spacecraft or VTOL above their settlements is enough to trigger an intense, almost mythic reaction, one that has, in several instances, led to widespread social collapse.

Tsardoms

Khar-Sha’yun are divided across numerous kingdoms, on numerous worlds, referred to by Soviet researchers as “tsarstvo” (tsardoms). The names of only three tsardoms have been successfully translated into human languages, with the remainder identified solely by their research titles.

Khar-Jastic

Largest and most intact of the Khar-Sha’yun Tsardoms, with as many as 120,000 permanent subjects. Though they possess no technology beyond humanity's own Middle Ages, many of the ruins they have repurposed or live within, are remarkably intact. Khar-Jastic has a cold but occasionally collaborative relationship with local researchers attempting to study this exotic technology.

Khar-Taric

See Also: Oponskoye Station, Outreach Station

Rump state on the periphery of a sprawling expanse of Khar-Sha’yun ruins. Khar-Taric may have achieved limited re-industrialization as part of a greater societal resurgence and revitalization, only to be destroyed by some unknown catastrophe. A town consisting of the survivor's apparent ancestors has proven the most amenable to outside, human contact, and the site of all major research.

Khar-Rallic

Nomadic and hostile tribes that endlessly move between a series of cave networks. Execute without hesitation the sick or infirm among them if the speedy movements of the larger group are threatened. Known to humanity only through Khar-Jastic, who supposedly defeated the Rallic in a prior war.

Winter Tsardom

Isolationist, fortified, and heavily militant, access to the Winter Tsardom has been completely restricted since the death of 15 researchers in 2279.

Tsardom of Reeds

The Tsardom of Reeds is located within an impenetrable jungle-like environment that has completely enveloped a labyrinth of waterways and inlets. The Khar-Sha’yun here are said to inhabit the half flooded ruins of Ghur, an extinct rival group seemingly destroyed by the Tsardom of Reeds.

References

1. "Smuggled Footage Alleges Soviet Killings of Alien Khar-Sha’yun in Secret Frontier Massacres". Champlain Group.