The Bubonese

Name: Bubonese

Planet: Bubo. A very humid planet, with roughly one-third of its water located in the atmosphere and the majority of its land surface of the swampy/marshy variety. The planet has two seasons, dry and wet. It is also infested with pathogens that are lethal to offworlders, yet have formed strong symbiotic relationships with local multi-cellular organisms.

Physiology: The Bubonese are an avian species, just slightly shorter on average than humans, with females being larger than males. Their plumage is mainly black with patches of grey on their chests, throats, and bluejay-like crests; males also have streaks of colorful feathers in their wings, crests and tails, the colors most commonly being red, blue, green and purple. Their beaks are short yet thick, designed for eating fruits and seeds. Their arms are pseudo-developed wings (much like that of the Archaeopteryx, but with more developed claws) that came about as a result of circumstances leading the direct evolutionary ancestor of the Bubonese to forsake flight in favor of a larger brain. Their toes are prehensile, and can be used to grip larger objects, such as branches or the backs of chairs.

Twice a year, around the beginning of both seasons, Bubonese will molt their current plumage and grow in new ones. The beginning of the wet season is also the time for the Bubonese mating season, marked by the males growing especially thick and iridescent feathers on their chests and necks. Brooding pairs will make a nest together out of incubating materials, ranging from electric blankets to decomposing materials for poorer pairs. About three days after mating, the female will lay one to two eggs, which are incubated for 62 days. Chicks are raised by both parents until they reach adulthood at seven years.

Politics: The Bubonese government is a technocratic oligarchy, ruled by the Medical Guild. The legislative body is the Board of Professors, made up of the most senior and accomplished members of the guild, while the executive body is the Master Surgeon, voted from the members of the Board by the members of the Board. The Board and the Master Surgeon work together to perform judicial duties.

Religion: While interaction with the rest of the Galactic Alliance has resulted in an influx of various spiritualities and religions, the local religion still has a strong following, particularly in the outlying rural areas. It is a duotheism, with two "sibling gods," Leptomi and Polybora, as the main objects of worship.

Leptomi is the god of life and the planets, often depicted as a greenish-blue snake with a mane of feathers running from his head down the first third of his back. According to legend, Leptomi was the one who discovered the universe in his travels and made a home for himself there; after a while, however, he became bored and lonely, so he created the first organisms out of his spit to keep him company. Leptomi can be described as having high expectations; he challenges his creations with various obstacles, ranging from a difficult situation for an individual to the threat of extinction for species. The rewards for overcoming these challenges range from good fortune to continued survival to access into a "paradise world" upon death. Leptomi is the official patron of the Medical Guild, as the founder is said to have received her knowledge of the healing arts from the Serpent himself as reward for overcoming a particularly challenging test. The insignia of the guild is Leptomi biting his tail and twisting his body into an infinity symbol.

Polybora is the goddess of death and space (the sky in ancient times), depicted as a black scavenger bird with a featherless head and neck. She is said to have followed her brother to his new-found universe after he created the first organisms and took the empty expanse of the sky/space as her domain. She is much kinder than her brother; according to myth, those who fail his challenges and do not make it to his paradise go to her instead, and she nests them in her wings, allowing them to be reborn as stars. Polybora is the official patron of the Bubonese space port.

Relation with the GA: For health and safety reasons, access to Bubo is restricted for offworlders, requiring permission from either the Commander of Star Command or the appropriate senator; access to the rest of the Galactic Alliance is likewise restricted for Bubonese, requiring permission from the Board of Professors. Bubo's main export is medical services. Doctors and their apprentices are rotated across planets that are in trade agreements with Bubo, providing free or cheap medical services to that planet's population in return for raw materials or products. Bubonese doctors, both because of the services they provide and (rather paradoxically) because of the danger they can pose if injured, are granted a protected status when traveling that almost everyone, even common criminals, respect.

Biosuit: The Bubonese biosuit has two important functions; a) prevent foreign pathogens from infecting the wearer, and b) contain the Bubonese pathogens and prevent them from infecting nearby offworlders. To fulfill these functions, the suit encompasses everything, including wing and tail feathers, and the mask contains several air filters, located in the end of the beak and under the eyeports. There are three models of biosuit:

Civilian: The most basic model, with no additional features. Because of the difficulty for civilians to get permission to off-planet, it is also the rarest seen by outsiders. The mask is black like the rest of the suit with yellow eyeports.

Battle: This model is reserved for the Bubonese Guard, the security detail for traveling Medical Guild members. It is slightly larger than the other models due to being thicker for protection, with teryllium-reinforced claws on the hands and feet and tempered and sharpened wing sleeves.The mask is red with black eyeports, and is heavily decorated with a gruesome visage to intimidate would be attackers. Features include proximity sensors, movement sensors, communication system between other battle and medical suits, low-light vision, and infrared vision. Guard members are issued hooded cloaks for travel and personal arsenals consisting of long vibro-daggers, electric fauchards with retractable poles, and laser pistols.

Medical: This model is issued to members of the Medical Guild, and is considered the most valuable due to the importance of doctors in Bubo's intergalactic trade. It is the most feature-heavy of the models, with a variety of sensors installed in the mask and gloves to measure countless bodily functions, a computer in the torso to compile and read the raw data and produce a diagnosis, and an antibacterial layer for ease of disinfection. Mask color is determined by rank; apprentices have grey masks with blue eyeports, doctors have white masks with green eyeports, professors have silver masks with red eyeports, and the Master Surgeon has a gold mask with white eyeports. Guild members are also issued a hat and coat for travel as well as a cane capable of producing paralyzing shocks for if they find themselves in a dangerous situation without any guard in a position to defend them (this is the sole exception allowed to their oath to do no harm).

Notable Individuals:
Master Surgeon Anther: The 144th Master Surgeon of the guild. He is a compassionate person who cares deeply for his people and patients, and finds himself dissatisfied with the way the current board is operating.

Professor Penicci: The current Senator of Bubo. She is a clinical and cold person, seeing her patients as broken things to fix rather than living people to care for.

Very interesting. I like the detail in which you've mapped out the species and ranks, along with the two main characters that it leads up to. As someone who is intersted in the plague virus/ plague doctors, this is interesting ^^

Alright, the bio update is complete. However, if you can think of anything that can be added, feel free to let me know~

How did the Medical Guild end up as the Bubonese government? Inquiring minds want to know!

I am so, so sorry I haven't answered this before now. I really have no excuse; I have had plenty of opportunities to do so, and yet didn't. >.>

Anyways, at the time the guild was started, the Bubonese were still divided into several nations and governments. The original intentions of Piria, the founder, was simply for the organization to help improve the quality of life and health for the Bubonese as a whole. In order to achieve this, and to prevent political machinations from interfering with her work, she attempted to convince the various leaders to allow her guild to work outside of their jurisdiction.

It worked, at first. Until they started inserting people into the guild as a way to sneak the political machinations in.

While Piria simply stamped out any that she could find, her successors decided that playing the game would be the best option for maintaining their sovereignty. They used the selection process for prospective apprentices to find those likely to be swayed to their side and gain favors from high ranking government officials, and while they never actually violated their own code, they weren't above bluffing the withdrawal of medical services if they thought they could get away with it.

Over the decades, the guild slowly consolidated and increased its influence, far beyond what was needed to protect itself. The discovery of sentient life on other planets was the final push to what was essentially a mass coup. It is still unknown how exactly it happened, but the guild somehow managed to gain control of every single government on the planet with minimal resistance. By the time Bubo made official contact with the Galactic Alliance about four years later, the merging and unification of the Bubonese nations was pretty much complete, with Dellapes, the city where the Guild headquarters was located, becoming the planetary capital.

It's okay.

That's a sneaky way to end up in charge! I bet it makes emergency services well-ordered.