BLESSED NATION OF IRRI
League of noble houses, part of the Vaiaelon War Pact
Systems under control: data varies due to mostly nomadic lifestyle of the species
Planets under control: 7
Homeworld: Itteri'Cra, decaying mountainous world
Leaders: Council of Noble Houses and the Holy Empress Erri'Yirv
Irri is a short-lived, fragile bird-like species. They are naturally curious fast-learners who are eager to leave their trace in galactic history; at the same time, Irri have a traumatic first
contact experience, leading to a somewhat paranoid and xenophobic attitude towards any alien lifeforms (and especially humans).
Galaxy knows these birds mostly as recklessly curious spacefarers, mercenaries, explorers and scavengers, travelling across the void in their agile ships in search of knowledge, glory and new skies to conquer. Many young Irri colonies can be found in various habitable worlds, fighting for survival against aggressive environments and local lifeforms; these impulsive birds are new to space exploration, and they often make rough mistakes, compensating for that lack of wisdom with their outstanding insight, natural caution and seemingly endless enthusiasm.
Modern Irri state lacks centralised government; previously an empire, united by the divine monarch, nowadays Blessed Nation became a semi-homogenous league of noble houses where Holy Empress is only a national symbol and religious figure that has barely any actual power. Despite that, Empress still has quite a lot of influence over noble houses since she and her court are the last people known to possess a mythical Irri relic- The Protocol, "cradle of all knowledge" and central object of worship for Irri religion known as the Perpetual Chant.
Blessed Nation of Irri is a part of the Vaiaelon War Pact, accepting most of the laws and policies of this alliance.
KNIGHTLY VOIDFLEET
Irri space fleets are more than just military units. After the collapse of the Irri empire and the death of almost all members of the High Command in the fleeting First Contact War, the entire structure of Irri regular army was thrown several generations back. Crippled chain of command fell apart, revealing strife and squabbling for power; noble houses saw an opportunity to rise and find profit in that chaos, deliberately preventing the return of the old order. Middle-level commanders, in absence of higher officers, turned into a gathering of independent warlords with rapidly growing ambitions- and Empress together with civil authorities, under the threat of a coup, was forced to make numerous concessions, returning multiple long-forgotten privileges to the Knightly Estate.
It was a long process. New noble houses arose, challenging older ones in a power struggle. There were assassinations, betrayals, local armed conflicts, even a full-fledged war; most heated confrontations were quickly extinguished by the curators from Vaiaelon War Pact, others died off on their own. Eventually, the Irri army turned into what it is right now- a barely organized group of private military forces that align themselves with the certain noble houses, and only after that- with the entire Blessed Nation. Many military leaders consider themselves to be Knights, which makes their regiment a noble house of its own; those are disliked yet tolerated by more orthodox house lords.
IRRI SPACECRAFT
For a noble house, a spaceship is not just a weapon or vehicle. First Contact war heavily destabilized the ecosystem of the Itteri'Cra, causing multiple atmospheric and seismic disturbances; Irri homeworld was overpopulated even before that, but now it clearly was unable to sustain minimal needs of the Blessed Nation. Avians were forced to migrate, and flocks of their spaceships rushed into the unknown, searching for new homes.
The search for Promised Land is not a short or simple task; for a fleet of a nomadic noble house, it takes several generations of Irri to find a place safe to settle in. Until that time, the spaceship is a home for its inhabitants- the best and only home they will ever get. There are all needed procedures to keep the physical state of the ship's crew unaffected by the life onboard; there are machines and chemicals to keep their muscles fit, libraries full of wise texts to sate hunger for knowledge and aero tubes to train their flight skills. Most wealthy house lords often enjoy intricate artificial gardens used for meditation and physical training; such places usually have sophisticated atmospheric simulations, perfectly customized to fit the flight preferences of their noble users.
Spaceship for Irri is a symbol of hope and progress; it's your very own fortress that protects you and your loved ones from the hungry void of Cosmos while simultaneously moving you towards your destiny. You live here, your ancestors did and your descendants will.
Usually Irri fleet consists of one massive carrier where the entire house lives, several escort ships and various compact spacecraft fitted to perform short small-scale operations. Carrier, or House-ship, usually bears the same name as its clan; in fact, it is the most obvious representation of its owners, bearing their symbols and carrying their most sacred relics; and the most important of these relics is The Protocol.
Protocol is a half-mythical sacred text, said to contain knowledge of everything Irri has ever created or discovered. Once a book, then library, then an entire city of libraries, nowadays it is a massive database capable of deep analysis and automatic learning... and maybe even more than that.
The problem is, original and fully operational Protocol is preserved by the Holy Empress and her servants. Even the most influential and powerful noble houses possess only one fraction of The Protocol, related to their primary activity or specialization... and, most importantly, to keep their software running and to regularly update their databases, house lords need to pay a so-called "Data Tribute", once per year transferring information about their discoveries and inventions as well as technical logs of their ships to one of the mainframes mounted on Imperial Tribute bases.
TECH (WIP)
ADDITIONAL LORE
you don't have to read it honestly
The short lifespan of Irri and their physical weakness have always forced them to act in large groups to achieve any serious success - and often the completion of ambitious projects required the participation of several generations of Irri. This principle has become the basis for a system of Noble Houses; Irri society is a complex bureaucratic meritocracy, where almost any legal acts are aimed at interaction with the family-clan and its lineage rather than a singular person. Short lifespan has also greatly affected Irri culture and mentality; for them, it's crucial to leave something memorable for their descendants, be it a masterwork piece of art, a scientific discovery or some sort of treasure. Important figures and achievements of the Irri family clan are displayed at its coat of arms with help of the sophisticated heraldic cypher, allowing the long-deceased ancestors to live on with their house. When the coat of arms gets filled, the Noble House has to split into multiple successor-houses, who will preserve a copy of that banner as a relic while also starting their very own story from the scratch; nowadays the most decorated and famous families keep hundreds of heraldic banners from their forerunners.
For centuries this whole system was regulated by the amorphous religious and philosophical cult, known as "Perpetual Chant", that gave rise to hundreds of relatively peacefully coexisting currents. The official and "pure" version of this faith have no specific object of worship; the Irri do not recognize gods or supernatural forces. Instead, they honour knowledge, memory, discovery and evolution. The priests of the cult are teachers, philosophers and scientists; they spread the basic postulates of the Irri culture - cautious curiosity, thirst for challenges and achievements, analytical thinking and reverence for knowledge.
Their teaching revolves around the principle of global causality; according to the Irri philosophers, our reality is a massive interconnecting spiral of consequences that originate to one major cause, which at the same time is The Reason and The Act, The Answer and The Question, The Justice and The Truth. Everything spirals down to this primordial event and every action is to some degree justified by it. The reality, in the eyes of Irri, does not include present time; the moment we live in is only a mere consequence of the past that we cannot change, and our actions can influence only the future. In "Perpetual Chant" philosophy this concept is extrapolated on everything to the most absurd scale; they think that the Cause Of Everything gave our reality such a strong "historical momentum" that even joint actions of multiple people can only affect the very distant future. Wellbeing and personal achievements of Irri are mostly a result of the historical momentum, built up by their society and the work of their ancestors, while individual decisions of Irri can barely shift tiny details about their daily routine... which ultimately is just a waste of energy, because instead of that these individual decisions might be replaced by joint collective decisions that will affect the future of the whole Blessed Nation.
Such a culture shaped Irri into a highly hierarchical, collectivistic and somewhat cruel society, where most influential clans reign over smaller ones with little to no regard for the personal needs of "non-essential" individuals. For Irri individuality is a privilege, and they fight to achieve it with reckless determination, dedicating their whole short lives to obtain recognition and place in history.
...or at least it was like that until now, before the Irri empire has collapsed. Many modern Noble Houses abolished old customs and traditions, embracing elements of Vaiaelon and Musavian cultures.
All art made by me, Tasty Coffee. Thank you for reading! ^^