Lokken Mechanists
The worlds colonized by the Lokks have always had some degree of autonomy yet they have always been united in one polity under the moniker Lokken Mechanists. This is because the Lokken worlds (and indeed their provinces, cities, villages and even individuals) see themselves at the same time as completely independent and completely bound, in a way to which words like "union" "confederation" or "alliance" do not do justice.
Science and progress are at the core of Lokken society. With an exceptional natural proclivity toward diligence and observation, the Lokks evolved from bands of territorial reptiles on the mesas of their homeworld, into a productive technocracy that prized efficiency, discipline, and scientific doctrine above all things.
Perhaps most remarkable was their early conception and development of machinery and automata: there were true robots on Lokkur long before the first Lokken scientists left orbit. Today, Lok society is dependent on droid labor, a thing that is at once their greatest achievement and a constant source of political debate.
Lokken Mechanists - Civilization In Brief
Pre Space-flight History
Lokken Mechanists are reptilian techno-political philosphers, mathematicians and robot builders and have been so for the better part of their existence as a species. Evolving out of the sauroid-analogues of Lokkur the Lok have always been mathematically and geometrically minded, and have been building devices since their prehistory, developing reusable flying machines before they had any form of explosives. Fascinated with the celestial mechanics of their complex system Lokks had always dreamed of spaceflight - ascension- just as they had dreamed of creating life -creation- in their own image, the two ultimate goals of their main religion, back before they shed suck primitive beliefs.
It was during their industrial revolution when the Lokks achieved both of these goals by primitive means, managing to shoot a massive projectile into orbit and creating their first steam and clockwork automatons. It was also during this time that the Lokks created a coordinating council of scientists that would one day lead to their shared government. These first leaders were indeed "Mechanists", automaton builders, concerned at the increasingly belligerent use of their machines. The council of Mechanists outlawed robot warfare and set up clear rules of debate and engagement, emphasizing logical arguments and outlawing fallacies. These are to this day the rules used in the neverending Sharedspace debates that constitute the Lokks' main avenue of political expression.
It took nearly three hundred years for the Lokken polity to master spaceflight after their initial achevement of shooting a canno projectile into orbit but in those three centuries they discovered mechanical and digital computers, programming, advanced composites and proper spaceflight. Calculating orbital trajectories became part and parcel of Lok education and younglings were required to master the art of orbital computation before finishing their mandatory education. It was a schoool age child that calculated the existence of the Dal-Lokkur system's hyperlane point of access when orbital calculations seemed to suggest a missing attractor.
First Contact and Expansion
The Lokken took to aggressively exploring soon after and built an impressive shipyard at the lagrange point betwen the two closest stars in their system. Some Lok archivists hypothesize that this was their only saving grace when the first exploration vessels sent along the galactic rim made contact with the more advanced, domineering Voor Technocracy. The Voor are in a way a distorted reflexion of the Lok - also technologically minded, also ruled by reason and also driven to explore but while the Lokks value freedom and equality, the Voor consider both fatal flaws to be eradicated. In the next decades the Voor made several attempts to attract or even force the Lokken machinists to submit but every time the Lokks engaged them in debate and resisted all attempts valiantly, even building a sizable fleet and an array of battle platforms to fortify their small domain. It was first contact with the Scyldari, a friendly civilization with values almost completely opposed to that of the Lok that finally ensured the Mechanists' independence, especially after the UNEalso became a staunch ally. Today the Lokken Mechanists stand as a bulwark against the Voor, supported by their allies, but with space becoming more and more crowded war against the cyber-enhanced authoritarians could break out at any time.
Recent Developments
The Voor Front
The Voor have been gradually expanding into every pocket of space on the rim, putting pressure on the Lok border stations and claiming systems belonging to the Humans and Lokks. It seems war is more of a matter or when than if and the Admirals of the Mechanist Navy are pushing for more border fortifications while the UNE is proposing to build more federation ships , emphasizing mobility over defensibility
Our Turn
The rotating Chairmanship of the Lower Belt Federation will soon pass to the Lok, and the Sharedspace is zooming with plans, with varied pressure groups proposing competing agendas, from all out war with the Voor to a diplomatic normalization effort. One thing is becoming clear, a new system rather than the eternal consensus debates is needed, if the Federation is to function during the Lok Chairmanship.
The Eternal Question
Beyond all other issues, civilian and military one problem reigns supreme in Lok politics. The question of synthetic citizenship. For almost a century this has been the most hotly debated issue, with the conservative or squelch faction claiming that granting the droids full voting rights would render the Lokks a de facto political minority with radical different interests than those of the droids who do not breathe, eat or die, think and would probably all vote alike, and have other priorities than agricultural regulation or elder care. The progressives, or clankers, claim that droids, like the Lokks would have different opinions, vote along moral rather than lifeform-type lines and would generally be a rich addition to the Sharedspace debates.
Lokken Mechanists - Civilization In Brief
| Homeworld | Lokkur, Dal-Lokkur |
| Government | Rational Consensus |
| Ethics | Fanatic Materialist, Egalitarian |
| Biotype | Reptilian Biped |
| Variance | Base |
| Ascension | Technological |
| No. of Planets | 11 |
| No. of Systems | 66 |
| No. of Advanced Facilities | 12 |
| Population | 49.000.000.000 |
| Alien Status | Free Residency |
| Synthetic Status | Free Residency |
| Borders | Closed to Hostiles, Open to Refugees |
| Alliance | Lower Belt Federation |
Pre Space-flight History
Lokken Mechanists are reptilian techno-political philosphers, mathematicians and robot builders and have been so for the better part of their existence as a species. Evolving out of the sauroid-analogues of Lokkur the Lok have always been mathematically and geometrically minded, and have been building devices since their prehistory, developing reusable flying machines before they had any form of explosives. Fascinated with the celestial mechanics of their complex system Lokks had always dreamed of spaceflight - ascension- just as they had dreamed of creating life -creation- in their own image, the two ultimate goals of their main religion, back before they shed suck primitive beliefs.
It was during their industrial revolution when the Lokks achieved both of these goals by primitive means, managing to shoot a massive projectile into orbit and creating their first steam and clockwork automatons. It was also during this time that the Lokks created a coordinating council of scientists that would one day lead to their shared government. These first leaders were indeed "Mechanists", automaton builders, concerned at the increasingly belligerent use of their machines. The council of Mechanists outlawed robot warfare and set up clear rules of debate and engagement, emphasizing logical arguments and outlawing fallacies. These are to this day the rules used in the neverending Sharedspace debates that constitute the Lokks' main avenue of political expression.
It took nearly three hundred years for the Lokken polity to master spaceflight after their initial achevement of shooting a canno projectile into orbit but in those three centuries they discovered mechanical and digital computers, programming, advanced composites and proper spaceflight. Calculating orbital trajectories became part and parcel of Lok education and younglings were required to master the art of orbital computation before finishing their mandatory education. It was a schoool age child that calculated the existence of the Dal-Lokkur system's hyperlane point of access when orbital calculations seemed to suggest a missing attractor.
First Contact and Expansion
The Lokken took to aggressively exploring soon after and built an impressive shipyard at the lagrange point betwen the two closest stars in their system. Some Lok archivists hypothesize that this was their only saving grace when the first exploration vessels sent along the galactic rim made contact with the more advanced, domineering Voor Technocracy. The Voor are in a way a distorted reflexion of the Lok - also technologically minded, also ruled by reason and also driven to explore but while the Lokks value freedom and equality, the Voor consider both fatal flaws to be eradicated. In the next decades the Voor made several attempts to attract or even force the Lokken machinists to submit but every time the Lokks engaged them in debate and resisted all attempts valiantly, even building a sizable fleet and an array of battle platforms to fortify their small domain. It was first contact with the Scyldari, a friendly civilization with values almost completely opposed to that of the Lok that finally ensured the Mechanists' independence, especially after the UNEalso became a staunch ally. Today the Lokken Mechanists stand as a bulwark against the Voor, supported by their allies, but with space becoming more and more crowded war against the cyber-enhanced authoritarians could break out at any time.
Recent Developments
The Voor Front
The Voor have been gradually expanding into every pocket of space on the rim, putting pressure on the Lok border stations and claiming systems belonging to the Humans and Lokks. It seems war is more of a matter or when than if and the Admirals of the Mechanist Navy are pushing for more border fortifications while the UNE is proposing to build more federation ships , emphasizing mobility over defensibility
Our Turn
The rotating Chairmanship of the Lower Belt Federation will soon pass to the Lok, and the Sharedspace is zooming with plans, with varied pressure groups proposing competing agendas, from all out war with the Voor to a diplomatic normalization effort. One thing is becoming clear, a new system rather than the eternal consensus debates is needed, if the Federation is to function during the Lok Chairmanship.
The Eternal Question
Beyond all other issues, civilian and military one problem reigns supreme in Lok politics. The question of synthetic citizenship. For almost a century this has been the most hotly debated issue, with the conservative or squelch faction claiming that granting the droids full voting rights would render the Lokks a de facto political minority with radical different interests than those of the droids who do not breathe, eat or die, think and would probably all vote alike, and have other priorities than agricultural regulation or elder care. The progressives, or clankers, claim that droids, like the Lokks would have different opinions, vote along moral rather than lifeform-type lines and would generally be a rich addition to the Sharedspace debates.
Type
Geopolitical, Republic
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