Djunnetic Dominion

Structure

The Djunnetic Dominion is structured as a unitary semi-theocratic monarchy. It is typically classified as an authoritarian mixed-market autocracy, with moderate levels of corruption.

The Dominion's government is centred around its ruler, the Genelord. The Genelord is a hereditary position tasked with the responsibility of guiding the Dominion, as well as ensuring the continued genetic prosperity of the Djunn species. Historically, this has meant that Genelords have been trained from birth in administration, diplomacy, and genetic engineering.

Due to decades of advanced genetic engineering and xeno DNA incorporation altering the genomic profile of the species, and in particular, the ruling class, the Genelord now reserves the right to consume the body of "Honoured Ones": particularly intelligent, talented, or accomplished members of society that have died and been specially preserved. By consuming their prepared body, the Genelord is able to directly incorporate their genetics and experiences into themselves.

The Genelord is supported by a council of trusted advisors, who are headed by a Chancellor. The Chancellor is responsible for day-to-day governance of the Dominion, freeing the Genelord to focus on guiding the genetic prosperity of the species, issuing edicts and commands where necessary. The heir to the Genelord, the Crown Prince, is also a member of the council in order to gain experience governing the state in preparation for their ascension.

The central government of the Dominion relies heavily on populist support for its legitimacy. Many government functions are heavily devolved to local rulers, and planetary governors mostly exist to synchronise the efforts of these local rulers.

History

Djunni civilisation on Fulsi has, historically, been very violent. From their origin as genetically adaptive hunters, Djunn have competed extremely fiercely with each other to secure the best genetics on their homeworld. As civilisation developed, this turned from inter-personal conflict to inter-tribe, and then to inter-state. When technology advanced, the level of violence merely escalated.

During the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries CE, industrial-scale wars ravaged the surface and orbit of Fulsi. After the invention of atomic weapons in the mid-21st century CE, major conflicts cooled somewhat as world-ending stockpiles created an environment of mutually-assured destruction. However, most Djunn believed a total nuclear conflict between the major powers was inevitable, followed by the destruction of their entire civilisation.

It wasn't nuclear fire that caused civilisational collapse, but uncontrolled climate change. By the turn of the 22nd century CE, climate patterns had been completely disrupted across Fulsi, creating billions of refugees and causing the collapse of most states. In one of the surviving states, a decorated genetic scientist and military officer named Hortius seized power in a dramatic coup. Styling himself as the new 'Genelord', he used his newfound power to expand his state's power and annex or subjugate nearby polities. Although climate mitigation technologies were being developed and deployed, Genelord Hortius instead promoted an ideology of evolutionary adaptation: use the innate adaptive genetics of the Djunn to thrive in their new environment.

This ideology spread like wildfire across Fulsi, drawing billions of supporters and resulting in the overthrow of foreign governments by their populations. Genelord Hortius was able to ride this populist wave to planetary unification, cementing his popularity by distributing the bounty of asteroid mining to the population rather than the elites. Although he had to fight off several coups, each only further strengthened his position and ideology of genetic adaptation.

Although Hortius died in the late 22nd century CE, his son - Genelord Tumpus - had a smooth ascension to the throne. When the first hyper drive was developed at the end of the century, its schematics were distributed across the planet, allowing anyone to design and build interstellar starships and rapidly expanding the Dominion's borders.

Demographics

Virtually the entire population of the Dominion is Djunn, and little effort is spared to accomodate non-Djunn species. However, due to the genetic instability present in the Djunn genome, the species experiences significant numbers of mutations. This has resulted in hundreds, if not thousands of Djunn 'sub-species' depending on their home world, profession, and whether they are up-to-date on government-issued genetic material. In many respects, the Djunn government attempts to keep its population genetically updated in a way similar to a computer receiving software updates, in an effort to streamline medical care - a significant expense for the state.

While the best education is reserved for the elite and powerful, every Djunn can expect a decent education as they age. Those with the means to afford it attend private schools, while lower strata Djunn attend less prestigious public academies. This is similarly true for healthcare, though the wide variance in Djunn genetic and physical makeup often require multiple specialists to effectively treat one individual.

Economy

The Djunnetic Dominion is a small, industrial mixed-market economy. Government investment is primarily directed toward the education and healthcare sectors, but most other sectors are dominated by the private sector. Due to a lack of regulation and wealth redistribution, wealth disparity in the Dominion is very high. However, many of the wealthiest Djunn often create independent foundations to channel their excess wealth into what society considers to be productive causes, like research and development. This is part of an unspoken, unwritten contract between the government and elites: so long as the elites work in the interests of the Genelord, they will remain mostly unregulated.

On occasion, the Dominion has been known to exchange some of their advanced genetic technology with other states, in return for resources or other technological transfers. Djunn genetic technology is considered to be extremely valuable throughout the galaxy, on par with that of the Gorthikan Alliance. However, due to the reclusive nature of the Dominion, it is difficult to access. Democratic nations often have an easier time acquiring Gorthikan technology, leaving autocratic states the primary foreign trade partners of the Dominion.

Society

The core precepts of Djunn society are loyalty, adaptability, vigilance, and innovativeness. These are typically understood as loyalty to the state, genetic adaptability, vigilance against xeno threats, and innovativeness that furthers society as a whole. The Genelord is widely regarded as the pinnacle and bleeding edge of Djunn evolution, a being which all other members of the species aspire to. Being more intelligent and genetically refined, the Genelord is seen as being the best suited being to rule over the Dominion by its population. In return, the Genelord guides the Dominion through a perilous galaxy and ensures genetic prosperity for the entire species. This is the social contract that the Dominion is founded upon, and continues to be governed by.

Although the government and Genelord are the most important part of Dominion society, religion plays a vital role as well. Only one official religion is permitted by the state, though the rooting out of heresy is left to local governments - with mixed interest and results. Dominion state religion proclaims Djunn superiority over all other species, claiming their unique ability to incorporate foreign genetic material is proof of the divine. Through this ability, the Djunn can ascend to become more perfect and more divine themselves.

Despite the authoritarianism of the Dominion, it encourages low-level, grassroots innovation and development. Built out of the early populism that defined the rise of Genelord Hortius, individuals and open-source development dominate the Dominion's R&D sector. Intellectual property laws are extremely lax, allowing innovators to build off each other much faster than in more restrictive IP regimes. Due to this encouragement of innovation, cooperation, and dialogue among the population, anti-government movements are commonplace. The government tolerates these to some extent, as long as they don't interfere with what are considered core operations or doubt the legitimacy of the Genelord. In some instances, these anti-government groups have managed to have their own agendas implemented, particularly with regards to labour regulations. This is rare for a stellar autocracy, but feeds back into the Genelord's populist-based legitimacy.

Unlike virtually every single other stellar nation known to exist, the Dominion uses a radically different kind of technology: bio-tech. Rather than forging components in furnances from mined metals, ship and building components are grown organically in a combination of plantation and foundry. While some mechanical components can't be fully replaced, Dominion ship hulls are almost universally organic. Instead of artificial intelligence or manual control, these bio-ships use the instinctual abilities of their semi-living ships to navigate, augmented by computer systems integrated into the organic "brain", like cybernetics. This also extends to planetary infrastructure, which is assembled from organic components or even grown entirely in situ.

Military

Like most other stellar nations, the Djunnetic Dominion operates both an Army and Navy. Both services use a combination of professional and conscripted troops, with conscription numbers swelling during wartime. The Navy is predominantly professional, while the Army makes more use from conscripted infantry. Djunn ground troops undergo advanced genetic augmentation upon enlistment, transforming them into vastly more powerful "super-soldiers". This process is reserved for professional troops, as the procedure would be far to costly to perform on temporary conscripts.

The Dominion Navy exclusively uses bio-ships, rather than typical mechanical ships. Due to this, they also use an entirely different classification of ship class. Bio-ships are less fixed constructs, and more actively-growing living entities. Instead of being constructed from pre-fabricated components in a shipyard, bio-ships are grown in incubation chambers. As the ship grows, cybernetic components and crew amenities are added in, until it is considered ready for action. These ships continue to age even after they have entered into service, and can end up twice as large as they started out after decades of growth (or a few years with special glands and treatments).