Prime Species
A "prime species" is a sapient species whose nation(s) and societies are considered among the most influential in the modern Starweb and Unified Era international order. These species, who between them have the majority of population and wealth, are often accused of distorting legal and economic systems for their own benefit, and the detriment of other, less-influential species. This is considered detrimental as one species' ways are not culturally or sociobiologically suited for another, and those with influence may seek to keep others down in order to maintain their high position.
Which species count as "prime" by this metric is a matter of debate, though among their number are almost always included humans, Jennars, and Hyfor, with the Jennar forming the single largest species-bloc due to their political unification in the Glorious Empire. The Thanatans are often added to this list, from sheer numbers alone, as are artilects, though artilects do not break down easily along "species" lines the way biological sapients do. A less-populous species can also "punch above its weight", an example of this being the Children of Helia, who despite numbering only some seven billion between them wield outsize influence in high-tech industries and contributed ideologically to the Stellar Compact's foundation.
One common, though not universal, factor in prime-species designation is independent development of technological civilization and interstellar travel, as it is thought this makes a developing species more resistant to imperialism and political domination by existing powers. Species who were contacted at pre-interstellar, pre-industrial levels of development often found themselves becoming clients of their contactor, absorbing its technology and culture. (For instance, the Nycendi and Wiskuwizt were clients of the Jennar, and the Chexta and Scrimble clients of humanity.) Modern first-contact policies have as part of their goal the prevention of this, by explicitly forbidding established nations from making political claims on new entrants to the interstellar stage.
Still, no small resentment against the interstellar order remains in some quarters. Restorationists rue the loss of native cultures overwritten by xenocolonialism, knowing that even with all their efforts to rebuilt them, some of it is irretrievably lost, while liberationists seek freedom from long-established client-patron systems and a more equitable distribution of international influence.
Which species count as "prime" by this metric is a matter of debate, though among their number are almost always included humans, Jennars, and Hyfor, with the Jennar forming the single largest species-bloc due to their political unification in the Glorious Empire. The Thanatans are often added to this list, from sheer numbers alone, as are artilects, though artilects do not break down easily along "species" lines the way biological sapients do. A less-populous species can also "punch above its weight", an example of this being the Children of Helia, who despite numbering only some seven billion between them wield outsize influence in high-tech industries and contributed ideologically to the Stellar Compact's foundation.
One common, though not universal, factor in prime-species designation is independent development of technological civilization and interstellar travel, as it is thought this makes a developing species more resistant to imperialism and political domination by existing powers. Species who were contacted at pre-interstellar, pre-industrial levels of development often found themselves becoming clients of their contactor, absorbing its technology and culture. (For instance, the Nycendi and Wiskuwizt were clients of the Jennar, and the Chexta and Scrimble clients of humanity.) Modern first-contact policies have as part of their goal the prevention of this, by explicitly forbidding established nations from making political claims on new entrants to the interstellar stage.
Still, no small resentment against the interstellar order remains in some quarters. Restorationists rue the loss of native cultures overwritten by xenocolonialism, knowing that even with all their efforts to rebuilt them, some of it is irretrievably lost, while liberationists seek freedom from long-established client-patron systems and a more equitable distribution of international influence.
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