Jre

''This page pertains to the collaborative "Thrive Universe" project, and is not necessarily part of Thrive's official development. More information here and here ''"'What is trade for a civilization? Trade is the life blood of any culture. It brings goods, it brings ideas, it brings understanding. What is war for a civilization? War is the end of any culture. It brings terror, it brings loss, it brings violence. Truly, the world would be a better, and more profitable, place if everyone understood this' ~Great Jaws of the Great Emerald Hive"

Biology
Jre are large millipede-like aliens, about 4-3 meters (13 feet and 1 inch to 9 feet and 10 inches)) long and 1 meter (3 feet and 3 inches) big. They have many small legs, which end about 1 meter away from the head. They have tentacles, which are also used for scent, in this area. On their head, they have 4 round and gelatinous eyes. Jre have an exoskeleton made up of many flexible plates. All Jre castes have a beak.

Castes
The Jre are divided into 3 castes: the Workers, who are relatively short and stubby, have shorter but stronger and thicker tentacles, and have a proboscis-like beak which secretes an adhesive, used to bond rocks and other materials to build their hives. The Hunters, who are long and slender, have longer and more slender tentacles made for keeping prey down and ripping exoskeletons apart, and a nutcracker like beak, which is used as a literal nutcracker on exoskeletons. And finally, the Fertilizers, which are the shortest and stubbiest, have extremely short tentacles and a small parrot like beak which is basically useless for almost everything. Workers traditionally build the hives and bring food around. They love monotony and dislike change. In modern times, they mainly work as factory workers or bureaucrats. Hunters traditionally go out to look for food, explore new areas, and fight wars with other hives. They abhor monotony, and always go out to seek change. In modern times, they work as leaders and businessmen, soldiers and explorers. Fertilizers traditionally stay inside the hive for their entire lives and fertilize the eggs workers lay. This has not changed in modern times.

Collections
Jre traditionally build their hives out of various collectibles (e.g used shells, stones etc), these hives are referred to as 'Collections'. This has led to an instinctual obsession of collecting. Jre require to regularly add new objects to their own personal collections in order to maintain psychological health. Jre are, thanks to their eusocial instincts, almost incapable of going directly against the will of the collective, instead preferring more passive methods of disagreement, like trying to change the opinion of their peers, or even leaving the Hive (although this is also near impossible if they are important to the Hive in one way or another).

Evolution
The Jre developed on one of the many deserts of Jaron. In order to better survive this hostile environment, their ancestors developed eusocial instincts. They also developed longer front legs in order to grab their prey, which eventually lost their exoskeleton and became the tentacles Jre now have. Eventually, these early Jre started building Collection-hives near sources of water, like a river or an underground lake. This led to bigger hives, and more complex social structures. This, in combination with more complex hunting strategies, led to sapience in the Jre species.

Culture
All Jre cultures are obsessed with money. Money is seen as one of the most important things in life, and those that have a lot of it are looked upon with a great deal of respect. However, as a consequence of their eusocial instincts, they also simultaneously tend to care little for the individual, instead always looking at the greater good. Thusly, whilst individuals with a lot of money do earn respect, this respect usually goes to their Hive.

Jre culture is also obsessed with collectibles. Even though money is usually the main indicator of success in the eyes of the Jre, a large collection will most likely get even more respect from them. It is custom for any Jre that is visiting any place in the galaxy to buy collectibles from said place for themselves and their hive. Jre also produce a ridiculous amount of figurine's, statues and similar things to act as collectibles.

The Hives are also immensely important to Jre culture. These remnants of early Jre history are now less treated like nations, but as 'clans' of some kind. Every Hive gets representation in local governments, and Jre often assume the personality of an individual based on their Hives. Because most Hives are centuries old, their names tend to be fairly over the top, like 'the Great Emerald Hive' or 'the Red Swarm' or 'the Hive of the Blue Void'.

Naming Conventions
Jre are named after what generation (a Jre generation ends after 30 earth years) they're in, what caste they are, what number of this caste they are, and their hive. For example, the name 'Worker 145-300 of the Immortal Cities of the Sands', means that this Jre is the 145th Worker born in the 300th generation within the hive 'the Immortal Cities of the Sands'. This system is relatively recent, in the past names were based on qualities an individual had.

Art and Architecture
Jre art is usually pretty bad by the standards of other sapient species. They mainly produce various figurines of heroes, important businessmen, gods and similar. Their music is disharmonious, and sounds rather unpleasant to most sapient species. Statues are usually either abstract, or true to life. Paintings do not exist.

Their architecture is still based on the old hives they used to build, and looks quite organic in a way. Their buildings look like a chaotic pile of various things they could find from the outside, but from the inside they look like a modern and structured building. Their halls are extremely small, to the point that most other sapients get claustrophobic from walking in them. Their cities are infamous for their incredibly complex street patterns and strange statues and buildings. Visitors from other species often call these cities 'Hive-Cities', a name the Jre have adopted since. The only place that's even pleasing to the eyes of of most sapients would be the market places. These gigantic districts of the Hive-Cities have been set apart for the sake of trading, and are filled with small stores, supermarkets, banks and hotels and apartments for visiting xenos.

Their ships are quite similar to their buildings; seemingly a chaotic mess of collectibles on the outside, but complex and structured on the inside.

Religion and Philosophy
Modern Jre culture is mainly influenced by a philosopher called 'Great Jaws of the Great Emerald Hive', who was the first Jre to state that peaceful trade is more profitable than war and pillaging. Modern Jre culture still lives according to this, as they always prefer trade over violence. Though, they tend to be more than open to old-fashioned war and pillaging when diplomacy fails.

Jre follow many religions, though the most popular is one called 'Arajism'. Arajism teaches that every individual is a minor spirit. Together, these spirits make up a god for a hive (or hive-equivalent). These hive-gods then make up gods of nations. Which in turn make gods for species, which make up gods for alliances between species, which make gods for sectors of a galaxy, which make up gods for galaxies, and so all the way up to a singular god of the universe. Worship is mainly based on doing good things for ones hive, and praying.

Technology
Jre are a spacefaring race, using warp drives to hop from star to star. They have also developed extremely accurate energy weapons, which they use for both warfare, mining and surgery. They also have access to translator-robots thanks to the Commonwealth of Stars. Finally, they have developed digital catalogs which contain information on almost any material or object in the galaxy, and can also estimate the price of anything in the entire galaxy.

Early History
For most of their history, the Jre were anarchistic, relying on the order put in place by their eusocial instincts. This was until animal husbandry, and eventually agriculture were developed. These developments led to bigger hives, (often needing multiple Collections to house their members), which eventually made the anarchistic system of government impossible to maintain. The first organised governments were based on how many collectibles one could find, with the individual with the most collectibles becoming the ruler of the hive. Similarly, collectibles made for the first form of currency.

Writing was developed extremely early by the Jre, in order to properly record trade and taxes. Although the Jre usually don't use writing for much else than trade and taxes.

Eventually, Jre were forced to abandon their primitive collectible-based system of government and trade. The exact reasons for this change are unknown, but it was most likely due to an almost worldwide economic crisis after one, or multiple, hives starting doing something that got them massive amounts of collectibles. Evidence for this is the decreased amount of tax and trade based writings found dating from the period Jre are suspected to have started using rare metals as a currency. The governments from this period were usually based on money.

For much of their history, the Jre were violent and warlike. Using raiding and piracy to get money for their hives. This was until the philosopher Great Jaws of the Great Emerald Hive wrote his book 'On Profits', which still influences Jre society today. It is suspected that Great Jaws wrote this book because their hive, the Great Emerald Hive, got most of it's resources from the trades of emeralds and other minerals. As such, it was most profitable for them, and their hive, to foster trade instead of war.

Modern History
The Jre unified in an almost organic way. As globalization gave rise to incredibly powerful corporations, hive-governments lost more and more power. Eventually, these corporations had more power than the the governments of Jaron. This led them to found the United Trade Committee of Jaron. Originally, the Committee was only meant to oversee trade, and foster a good economy, but over time the Committee grew to become an actual government.

Eventually, the Jre discovered Warp Drives. This led to a new era of exploration, colonization, and above all trade. This ended when they made first contact with the Toshra and the Pakoph. The species could not get along for various reasons and the Contact Wars (184 BSE-150 BSE) started. These wars came to an end after a Zorkan Star Destroyer threatened the three species in the First Zorkan Invasion. The threat that came from this led these species to ally, and eventually found the Commonwealth of Stars.

Within the Commonwealth, the Jre have taken the role of traders. It is thanks to them that the Commonwealth has such a stable economy. They have also pushed for a a Commonwealth-wide institution for overseeing trade, and a unified currency. Sadly, many of the Jre have taken to piracy as a quick way to get rich.

Timeline
6 000 000 BSE: First Jre develop on Jaron

1 500 000 BSE: Modern Jre develop

11 000 BSE: First evidence of animal husbandry and agriculture is found

11 000 BSE: First evidence of writing is found

11 000 BSE: First evidence of trade and organised government structures is found

7 000 BSE: First evidence of metalworking is discovered

7 500 BSE: Rare metals are used as a currency

3 500 BSE: Great Jaws of the Great Emerald Hive writes his 'On Trade'

2 000 BSE: Arajism is founded

1 000 BSE: Gunpowder is developed

456 BSE: The first steam engine is developed

420 BSE: Printing press is developed

380 BSE: The first computers are developed

370 BSE: First atomic weapon is used on Jaron

300 BSE: Due to rising globalisation, corporations on Jaron get more and more power

250 BSE: The corporations of Jaron found the United Trade Committee of Jaron

200 BSE: The first Warp Drive is discovered by the UTCJ

190 BSE: First off-world colony is founded by the UTCJ

185 BSE: UTCJ makes first contact with the Shakar Kingdom (Toshra species)

184 BSE: UTCJ makes first contact with the Holy Republic of Pakolon (Pakoph species)

184 BSE: War breaks out between the UTCJ, the Shakar Kingdom and the Holy Republic of Pakolon (Contact Wars)

150 BSE: The UTCJ is attacked in the Zorkan invasion

150 BSE: Due to shared threat, the UTCJ, the Shakar Kingdom, and the Holy Republic of Pakolon agree to ally against the Zorkans. End of the Contact Wars

145 BSE: In a joined effort between them, the Shakar Kingdom and the Holy Republic of Pakolon, the UTCJ destroys the Zorkan Star Destroyer that was threatening them.

140 BSE: The UTCJ agrees to join the newly established Commonwealth of Stars as a member state.

140 BSE: Void Swarms are founded by bitter veterans who did not want to ally with the Toshra or the Pakoph

130 BSE: The Golden Hives are founded by individuals who prefer violence over trade

120 BSE: The Stellar Stalkers are founded by a collection of criminals, veterans and outcasts from all over the Commonwealth of Stars