Shirren

Once part of a ravenous hive of locust-like predators, the insectile shirrens only recently broke with their hive mind to become a race of telepaths physically addicted to their own individualism, yet dedicated to the idea of community and harmony with other races.
ADVENTURERS Less inclined toward violence than many races, shirrens often sign on with starship crews as ambassadors, medics, technicians, and other such noncombat roles, especially as mystics acting as ship chaplains. They adore working as part of a team and are often voices of reason in chaotic situations. This general friendliness should not be mistaken for weakness, however, as shirrens fighting for the lives of their comrades can be terrifyingly lethal, fearlessly undertaking suicidal missions for the good of the group.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Shirrens were once part of the Swarm, a monstrous race traveling from world to world, consuming all they encountered before moving on. Generations ago, however, a mysterious mutation caused an entire subcolony to break from the hive mind, with each of its members gaining a sense of self. Addicted to the new drug of individualism, these renegades rejected the Swarm’s mindless consumption, forming a new race called shirrens that eventually came to settle within The Pact Worlds system.
Shirrens are arthropods with chitinous exoskeletons, large compound eyes, and sensitive antennae. Unlike many arthropodan races, they walk upright, manipulating items with three-clawed hands. In addition to their two sets of main limbs, they also have two sets of smaller limbs growing from their thoraxes. While often displayed, these “mating arms” are extremely weak and used only for ceremonial and reproductive purposes—to use them for mundane activities would be seen as grotesque and shameful.
Shirrens have three sexes: male, female, and host. During reproduction, female and male shirrens provide the initial eggs and sperm, and hosts incubate the fertilized eggs while also adding their own genetic material and immunities. In some shirren societies, a single host queen incubates for many partners and is considered the true parent, while in others, three-party marriages are common. Shirren young spend their first 2 years in a tiny, wormlike larval form, and they are often carried around in protective containers to let them safely observe the world.

Ecology and Habitats

Not even shirrens know where the Swarm first evolved, for its vast biological colony-fleet has traveled the stars for ages and feels no need to keep track of such things. After splitting from the Swarm, the newly self-aware shirrens scattered to a number of nearby systems. A large contingent found its way to the Pact Worlds, making first contact with Vercite aethership crews and setting up a colony in Verces' parched Fullbright region. Since then, shirrens have spread throughout the Pact Worlds.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Shirrens define themselves by their individualism. When they left the Swarm, they assumed partial control over the neurological pleasure and pain systems by which they were formerly directed, and even generations later, making choices for themselves can literally flood them with pleasurable neurotransmitters. While this ability is not always beneficial—some shirrens deliberately drug themselves this way, becoming “option junkies” blissed out on sequences of trivial decisions—freedom of choice is crucial to shirren identity. This is especially true with regard to religion, for what choice is more important than how to spend the afterlife?
At the same time, having evolved from hive creatures, shirrens remain highly communal by human standards. Even when working with other races, they seek to foster community and teamwork and do what’s best for the group. They are often lawful and/or good, though loyalty and a utilitarian emphasis on “the greater good” can also lead them down questionable paths.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

THE FIRST COLONIES Fairly certain they had lost the pursuing Swarm after leaving the comet, the shirren travelers entered the nearby Suskillon system in the year 5 ag. The fifth planet of this system (also named Suskillon) was inhabited by humans who had yet to make contact with other life‑forms and were in the process of testing their first Drift engines. Some of the shirrens were unsure if they would be accepted by these people, some wanted to find an uninhabited system of their own, and others were certain their peaceful intentions would be evident. Though they numbered only around a quarter of a million souls, the shirrens split into three groups at this point.
The smallest of the three shirren groups attempted to establish a colony on Utraneus, the Suskillon system’s third planet. Scans showed that the world held no sentient life even though its temperature and atmosphere were ideal to support it. These pioneers were some of the shirrens most devoted to Hylax, so the first structure they built was a grand shrine to the goddess. Unfortunately, the eager shirrens hadn’t realized that due to the constant erosion by the wind and waves endemic to that world, most of its landmasses were highly unstable. Less than 3 years after the shirrens made landfall, their shrine collapsed into a giant sinkhole. Luckily, this resulted in few major injuries and no deaths. The religious leaders of the colony, taking this event as a sign from Hylax, had the tunnels and chambers surrounding the fallen shrine cleared out and turned the area into a site that symbolized the shirrens’ exodus up to that point. Realizing that the instability of the planet’s porous ground would cause further problems, most of the colony left to join some of the other shirrens, leaving behind only a few caretakers for the underground complex.
The second group of shirrens introduced themselves to the people of Suskillon—an event that changed the course of that world’s history. Though some were skeptical or fearful of these “alien beings,” the majority of Suskilloners were excited to integrate this band of refugees into their own population. The shirrens shared their Drift engine expertise, as well as their Hylaxian faith, with the Suskilloners, and both contributions brought great prosperity and peace to the planet. Shirrens are now a major percentage of Suskillon’s populace, and their arrival is celebrated every decade with a major festival called Day of First Contact.
The final group departed from the Suskillon system in search of another inhabitable world. After over a year of wandering—during which they charted a large number of unsuitable planets—these shirrens came across a hospitable system that wasn’t already home to a sentient species. The shirrens named this system Chuuva, a Shirren word that loosely translates as “optimistic confidence,” and in 7 ag, they began the process of settling on that system’s third planet, dubbed Ilemchuuva. This small colony thrived on their new home world, a planet of fertile soils and plentiful resources. A few shirren starships were brought down to the surface to serve as foundations for the colony’s first cities, while others were left in orbit—some with skeleton crews, some completely abandoned, but all regularly maintained in case they were needed for a quick evacuation. In the centuries to come, more insectile species, as well as travelers from the Pact Worlds and the Veskarium, migrated to Ilemchuuva. However, the majority of the planet’s population remained shirren.
Over the next several decades, generations of shirrens were born on Ilemchuuva and Suskillon. These were the first of the species to know peace, though elder shirrens continued to teach youngsters about their species’ tragic history and the dangers of the Swarm. The teachings of Hylax were also very important during these early years of shirren independence, as most of their settlements are centered around a temple or shrine to the Forever Queen, with local priests serving as arbiters of disputes between colonists, shirren or otherwise. This dedication to maintaining peace among friends and neighbors during these sometimes difficult times is often credited as the reason the shirrens flourished.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Shirrens rely primarily on telepathy for communication, speaking audibly with their mandibles only in formal situations. Because of their insectile physiology, their “speech-names” can sometimes be harsh and awkward for members of other races to pronounce. Fortunately, they readily accept nicknames bestowed by members of other races, seeing such epithets as honors. Most also have a secret “soul-name” that’s purely telepathic, a concentrated collage of emotions, images, and sense memories that’s shared only with their dearest friends. Some shirren speech-names include Cesca, Halicon, Jchk, Keskodai, Korskal, Noskaru, Schect, Thast, T’sen, Vishkesh, Xylit, and Zenka.

Major Organizations

SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS Shirrens don’t take their relatively newfound ability to make choices for themselves lightly. While this usually manifests in an individual shirren’s daily life as a series of minor decisions, ranging from what to wear to what to eat, some shirrens have organized into collectives of like‑minded people whose views are a bit outside the norm. The two groups presented below are especially interested in shirren history and what can be learned from it to aid modern‑day shirren civilization.
AMITY INITIATIVE Not sanctioned by the official church of Hylax, the Amity Initiative consists of a small group of militant worshippers who believe that everlasting peace can be brought to the galaxy only through judicious uses of force and magic. The organization travels from system to system in a fleet of armed starships led by a United Interfaith Engineering dreadnought called the Tranquility, intervening in any wars they encounter by bombarding both sides until they surrender, after which they force the opposing parties to sign a magically enforced peace treaty. The Amity Initiative was created and is run by an individual who calls himself the Benefactor (LN male shirren soldier his past before forming this organization is shrouded in mystery.
In operation for only a few years, the Amity Initiative has seen a small amount of success in its endeavors, most notably on the planet Temblan in the Vast, where three pre‑spaceflight civilizations of humanoids had been warring for decades over resources that would allow whoever possessed them the capability of crafting the world’s first orbit‑capable vessel. The inhabitants of Temblan were quite surprised when a small army of aliens with advanced technology came out of the sky to quickly dismantle their war machines. In the midst of the wreckage, the Benefactor laid out plans for a single world government that would fund an international space agency. The Temblanians were resistant at first, but the Initiative’s mystics, well versed in enchantment magic, were able to change their minds.
Most Pact Worlders who are aware of the Amity Initiative find their tactics abhorrent, but no one has yet mustered the forces to stand against them. Religious scholars believe that the Initiative’s magic has some foul influence behind it, as Hylax would never allow her name to be used in such a way. Unconfirmed reports from within the Initiative’s fleet mention the Benefactor speaking with a devilish figure aboard the bridge of the Tranquility.
ORZAKA INSTITUTE OF SWARM BIOLOGY This pacifist scientific organization is devoted to uncovering the exact nature of the mutation that spawned the shirrens, hoping to find means to release other components of the Swarm from the “tyranny of the hive mind.” The organization’s founder, Gessa Orzaka (CG female shirren), has spent nearly all of her time and effort over the past 15 years managing a massive team of thousands of geneticists, mystics, technomancers, and xenobiologists, who have dedicated their lives to finding any means by which they can “redeem” the Swarm. Due to the attempted Swarm invasion of the Pact Worlds and The Veskarium, the institute employs a wide variety of races who have joined the cause, including Contemplatives, lashuntas, and osharus. Shirrens make up the majority of the staff, as the organization’s mission is seen as an important cause.
The Orzaka Institute maintains gargantuan subterranean headquarters, known as the Hidden Heart, on a planet called Ssorchak in Near Space, where various teams of scientists perform experiments and write journals day and night. The facility holds the largest collection of information on the Swarm in the universe, with years’ worth of studies and discoveries. While Hidden Heart’s xenobiologists have only scavenged Swarm carcasses to work with, they hope one day to capture a live specimen, which would undoubtedly lead to a major breakthrough in decoding the species’ mystifying and infinitely complex genome. However, Gessa is certain this would lead the Swarm straight to their doorstep, so she has yet to authorize any missions to acquire such a hostage.
Some shirrens at the Institute take extreme measures to contribute to the study of the Swarm’s physiology, donating their own bodies after death for research. Though the species is much different from their kin now, the shirrens still share much DNA with the Swarm, and in offering up their own forms for postmortem study, they offer their surviving colleagues important sources of information. This relinquishing of their bodies to the Institute is seen as the ultimate sacrifice to the cause, and there are halls upon halls of memorial tiles dedicated to these selfless individuals.

History

Shirrens, unlike their distant relatives in the Swarm, are a peace‑loving and deeply passionate people. Members of the insectile species are zealous in their obsession with independence and harmony, going to great lengths to meet new people and make new friends. Shirrens remain telepathic creatures, but they long ago broke free of the Swarm’s hive mind. This independence leaves them fascinated with the concept of making choices—something they believe other races take for granted. Any well‑meaning person considers themself lucky to have a shirren friend at their side, as shirrens tend to be loyal, loving, and diplomatic (though their obsession with making choices might be somewhat irksome, if not downright exhausting). However, the history of the shirren people is fraught with danger and tragedy.
The history of The Swarm is shrouded in mystery, and though there are many prevalent theories, it is not known exactly where these creatures originated from, or exactly how they came to be the relentless devourers they are today. Most of the currently available information comes from shirrens, including the fact that the shirrens themselves are the result of a genetic mutation in the Swarm that occurred during the Gap. Although most other species usually see it as a rarity or a defect, the Swarm’s constant transfiguration of its own genes is perfectly normal to it. The Swarm uses its ability to initiate and control mutations in its genome in order to adapt to a variety of situations and environments as it ravages the galaxy.
Shirrens were born from one of these mutations, which mysteriously gave them a sense of independence: they were able to disconnect from the hive mind and free themselves from the Swarm’s instinctual, perpetual hunger. It is still not known what caused this change, and the fact that it happened during the Gap means the answer may never be found. Could it have been divine intervention—Hylax taking pity on the Swarm and freeing a select few? A fateful mistake by the Swarm’s programmers? Or perhaps nothing more than a coincidence? In any case, shirren storytellers say that during this lost time, shirrens saw the actions of their parent species as an irredeemable atrocity. As the Swarm continued its conquests, subsuming thriving planets into its own genome and leaving nothing behind, shirrens bided their time in hopes of one day finding a way to escape the destruction.
THE GREAT AWAKENING As the Gap ended, the galaxy’s sapient beings—including the Swarm—collectively roused from this strange universal fugue. In the aftermath, chaos reigned in some systems, while others quietly struggled to overcome the missing memories, making assumptions of their purposes based on circumstantial evidence. Though confused themselves, the shirrens took advantage of this awakening to escape from their unmerciful kin. In rudimentary biomechanical starships disconnected from the Swarm hive mind, the shirrens fled from an unnamed system conquered by the Swarm during the Gap. The Swarm wasn’t accustomed to a large group of its components acting on their own, but it wasn’t about to allow the shirrens to depart peacefully. Nearly the entirety of the Swarm chased after the shirrens, an occurrence that gave the galaxy a brief reprieve from the hunger of the interstellar threat during a time of great vulnerability.
For 3 years, the Swarm relentlessly pursued the fleeing shirrens, while the shirrens tried not to lead the Swarm into inhabited areas and thus be responsible for the deaths of others. They stopped only briefly at barren worlds, small asteroids, and shimmering nebulae to gather fuel and other resources, or to make hasty repairs to their vessels by replacing failed organic components with metal. All the while, even when the shirrens passed close to large population centers, the Swarm ignored such targets in favor of its former cousins. There were hundreds of skirmishes between the shirrens and the Swarm during this time, resulting in the loss of nearly a third of the shirren population. It seemed that it would be only a matter of time before the Swarm would completely wipe out the shirrens.
Salvation came when Triune, the collective AI‑entity, distributed the details of a hitherto unknown plane called The Drift—and a way to use it to travel great distances at previously unimagined speeds by means of dedicated starship engines—via a universe‑spanning, telepathic communication known as the Signal. The shirrens realized they might be able to use Drift travel to escape the ever‑hounding Swarm for good… if they could carve out enough time to build and install one of these special engines. For months, the shirrens tinkered with Drift engine design on their vessels whenever they could, harvesting necessary materials from floating space debris and other accessible celestial objects.
Eventually, within a year of the Signal’s distribution, the shirrens had managed to develop several Drift engine prototypes aboard their dwindling fleet of starships. Unfortunately, the engines couldn’t be activated without the starships first coming to a complete stop. If the engines didn’t work, the Swarm would be on the fleet in a matter of moments, assuring annihilation. After much discussion of their options, a courageous shirren captain named Cyrsaptu and her brave crew aboard the Freedom’s Echo—one of the few mostly biomechanical vessels remaining in the fleet—engaged in a suicide mission against the Swarm to give their comrades enough time to escape into the Drift. Cyrsaptu modified her starship’s organic computer to send out a massive psychic pulse while hiding within a nearby asteroid field, temporarily fooling the pursuing Swarm into believing her vessel was the entirety of the shirren fleet. As the Swarm descended onto the asteroid field, the Freedom’s Echo used hit‑and‑run tactics to harass the enemy ships until it was, sadly, overwhelmed and destroyed. Fortunately, though, this feint gave the other shirrens enough time to successfully activate their Drift engines and escape.
The shirrens' first Drift jump was a short one, lasting only a few days and taking the fleet just far enough outside the Swarm’s telepathic sensors to grant a period of relative peace and safety. However, the shirren scientists miscalculated the amount of fuel required to operate the engines, not factoring in the extra energy required to have the entire fleet move simultaneously in and out of the Drift. When they returned to the Material Plane, the shirrens began an exhaustive search of the system they found themselves in for more resources. After several weeks spent searching the uninhabited sector, the shirrens spotted a passing comet that emitted powerful energy signatures. Several smaller ships landed on the comet, and dozens of shirren miners and engineers had already begun to gather useful material from the rock when a glowing figure appeared before them.
This was the deity Hylax, a goddess many of the shirrens’ ancestors worshipped long ago, before the species turned away from her during their transition into the voracious hive mind of the Swarm. Hylax had watched the shirrens’ struggle to see if they were worthy of her blessings. She witnessed their willingness to sacrifice themselves to aid others and knew that they were nothing like their aggressive cousins. On the comet, she welcomed the shirrens into her fold, granting them mental techniques that would allow them to resist the influence of the Swarm’s hive mind should they come into contact with it again, further bolstering their newfound independence.
Many of the shirrens took quickly to this newfound faith, embracing Hylaxian ideals of peace and friendship. Even nonreligious shirrens were grateful for Hylax’s gifts, and as a species, the shirrens deemed the comet a sacred site. They quickly constructed a series of tunnels under the comet’s surface to serve as a monastery, and while most of the others moved on, a handful of shirrens stayed behind to becomes its caretakers. They named the place the Forever Reliquary, to hold and honor the memory of this deific contact.
FURTHER WANDERINGS A few generations after the settling of Ilemchuuva, a large segment of the shirren population born there felt that every facet of their home world had been explored, and thus they longed to see more of the galaxy. Although not discontent with their current situation, these shirrens had been inspired by the tales of their forebears and the stories members of other species brought with them when they migrated to Ilemchuuva. In 64 ag, after months of petitioning the government for the use of some of the Drift‑capable starships still in orbit, several groups of brave shirren explorers set out into interstellar space. Many of them expected to return to Ilemchuuva with reports of new worlds they discovered and new cultures they encountered, but a few of them brought along supplies to colonize a suitable planet or integrate with an established, friendly civilization.
Many of the vessels went their separate ways, some following the source of distant transmissions in hopes of finding new allies, and others heading in entirely uncharted directions. These travels allowed the shirren species to spread farther across the galaxy, ensuring they can now be found in nearly every place that life can survive. Entire tomes have been written detailing these journeys, which ranged from safe, peaceful jaunts to harrowing treks through incredibly hostile regions of space. A few of the vessels failed to either return to or, so far as is known, reach friendly territory. Their stories might never be told, but some might still survive in the distant reaches of the galaxy, cut off from communication or, perhaps, direct access to normal space.
The tale of one of the larger groups, consisting of half a dozen ships, bears repeating, because it greatly affected the course of Pact Worlds history. After nearly 20 years of bouncing from system to system without discovering a single planet or moon that could sustain a long‑term colony, these shirrens picked up a mysteriously strong signal that they could target with their Drift engines. It turned out to be the powerful beckoning of Absalom Station’s Starstone. A short time later, these shirrens exited Drift space in the heart of the Pact Worlds system.
This event came as a surprise to both the shirrens—who were meeting, for the first time, a wide array of species and cultures acting together for mutual defense and governance—and the Pact Worlders, who were still recovering from the deaths caused by the Stardust Plague and expecting another attack by the Veskarium at any minute. With the multitude of guns of the ships in the station’s Armada trained on the shirren vessels, the shirrens managed to convince the Pact Worlders of their peaceful intentions. The shirrens sent a delegation to Absalom Station to meet with the ranking Stewards and representatives of the Pact Council. The shirrens spoke candidly of their history, and, as they did with every new civilization they met, cautioned the Pact Worlds of the Swarm threat. Already engaged in a Silent War with the Veskarium, which would last for centuries, the Pact Worlds were unable to truly heed this warning until it was too late.
Assured of the newcomers’ benevolence, the Pact Council welcomed the shirren travelers to the system. Verces was the first to offer the shirrens a place where they could settle, after the Ring of Nations selected a stretch of the Temora Desert within the Fullbright. The shirrens landed there and constructed several small settlements that have survived to this day in the burning wastes. It wasn’t long before the shirrens established themselves within the settlements of many other Pact Worlds, much like they had decades before on Suskillon, or the stations orbiting those planets. These shirrens were nearly overwhelmed by the variety of choices they could make within the diverse locations of the Pact Worlds, but the species soon became important and valuable members of society.
In addition to their knowledge of the other systems they had lived in and passed through, the shirrens expanded the worship of Hylax within the Pact Worlds. Once a minor religion confined mainly to Liavara's moon of Nchak, the Hylaxian faith grew considerably over the next few decades as many shirrens proselyted the deity’s message of peace and friendship across the system. These shirrens also learned new facets of their religion by interacting with the moon’s Trox, another insectile species who worship the Forever Queen.
MODERN SHIRREN SOCIETY Today, shirrens can be found nearly anywhere in the galaxy, especially in systems occupied by allied species, such as humans. They have mingled among other races for decades, and they have adopted these cultures’ customs while simultaneously forming and maintaining their own traditions and norms. Even though the groups of shirrens are separated by millions of miles, the unifying factors between them are their adherence to independence, harmony, and diplomacy, as well as a deep‑rooted fascination with making personal choices.
Shirrens live in a wide variety of locales, which influences local shirren culture, and as a result, shirrens lack a unifying style of architecture, clothing, or cuisine. The early shirrens created the first shirren starship designs, resembling softer Swarm designs such as the bulbous and smooth exoskeletons of beetles. This particular aesthetic has been a large influence over most everything crafted by shirren‑run businesses and companies and is the closest thing the shirrens have to a cultural style. The shirrens of Ilemchuuva carried these designs forward to most of their buildings as they settled across the planet, with many structures having a hive‑like appearance with a tangle of corridors inside. Some other beings find these twisting passageways a bit confusing, but they appeal to other insectile species, such as bolidas and haans.
No matter where they reside, shirrens are uniformly welcoming to others, always eager to make new friends. However, they aren’t guileless or gullible, and most are quick to see through ruses attempting to rob them of their time or credits. Despite their external affability, most shirrens are concerned about their sinister origins, and many fear that the Swarm continues to search relentlessly for them, either to subsume them back into the hive mind or simply destroy them utterly. A few alarmists believe the presence of shirrens is a bright beacon drawing in the Swarm, but only time will tell for s

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Most of the common races find shirrens agreeable and useful allies, though their telepathic communication and chittering mouthparts can be disconcerting. Shirrens, for their part, are positively inclined toward all the major races, especially Ysoki for their communal tendencies and zest for life. Though Lashunta often maintain their prejudice against insectile races, most shirrens don’t hold this against them, as they themselves fear nothing more than the Swarm that spawned them.

Lifespan

50-70 years.

Average Height

5-6 feet.

Average Weight

100-150lbs.