Haas Suul

The Haas Suul, also known as the Hess or the Lords of War, are a serpentine race from the heavily jungled world of Halshaa. Evolving from an apex predator species, their discovery, along with humans, by the galactic community disproved previous notions that sapient species could not arise on so-called "Death Worlds".

The Haas Suul are warm-blooded, feathered serpents. The color of feathers can vary wildly in color, from bright yellows and blues to dark reds and purples. This varied coloration is only present in males; sexual dimorphism give female Haas Suul only subdued browns and blacks, along with being slightly larger on average. Following a symmetric body plan, they range 3-4 meters from head to tail, though he lower portion of the tail is primarily used for locomotion, and the species typically only measures 1.7-2 meters when standing "upright". They have two, four-digit arms, ending in sharp claws meant for rending prey. Likewise, the species also has pronounced fangs.

The species also possesses an incredibly potent venom, produced by an organ in the throat and delivered via bite. However, this organ is normally an evolutionary vestige and only becomes active by an extremely rare genetic mutation known as Blacktooth, which usually necessitates removal of the organ, because an accidental self-bite could prove fatal as Haas Suul have no natural resistance to their own venom.

Unlike their "cousins", the humans, Haas Suul evolved as ambush predators rather than persistence hunters, preferring to either suddenly disembowel a target or snap its neck with their tail. This gives them incredibly fast reflexes, but rather poor stamina as a consequence.

Pre-Spaceflight
The Haas Suul are believed to have evolved in the massive central jungle of Halshaa, known as the Great Forest. Hunter-gatherer groups slowly spread out from their point of origin, eventually exiting the jungle and settling away from the equator. With more arable land, agricultural eventually emerged and the Haas Suul's first stationary civilizations began to form. One such civilization, the Holy Empire of Halshaa, was formed in the wake of a massive slave rebellion led by Halshaa Laraa, the first emperor of the HE. After a series of conquests in the late industrial age, the Holy Empire stood as the only remaining state on the planet, and the Haas Suul invented their first FTL engine several centuries afterward.

First Contact
By the time the Haas Suul had spread into several surrounding systems, their activity had been noticed by a scientific deep space probe, which also discovered the humans. As a sapient apex predator species had never been encountered before, a quarantine was sanctioned upon both the Haas Suul and humans, as they were expected to expend into one another's territory within an estimated 500 years.

The Haas Suul's first contact with extraterrestrial life came above the planet of Keresser, where the Holy Empire cruiser Boiling Ocean jumped into the system only to encounter the United Nations 2nd Repair Fleet. In the ensuing battle, both the Repair Fleet and the Boiling Ocean were destroyed; it is still not known which side fired the first shot, or why. Between the Haas Suul and humans, this violent first contact became known as the Blind Fight and the Sucker Punch, respectively. Animosity only continued to grow after the event, and both the Holy Empire and United Nations engaged in proxy wars and small incursions against each other for years. It is believed that the United Nations was preparing for a general invasion of the HE when both sides were attacked by the Cooperative Society of the Helbin, who had gone against previous edicts of non-intervention and launched a campaign of extermination against both species.

Despite initial successes, the Helbin were eventually pushed back to their core territories, and ultimately their homeworld. There, both the Haas Suul and humans forced the remaining Helbin government to sign an unconditional surrender, dissolving the Cooperative Society and placing its worlds under an indefinite occupation, which is ongoing to this day.

===Union===

The Intervention War had the unintended side-effect of fostering new cooperation between the Haas Suul and humans. Formerly enemies, the two species during the course of the war had become known to the rest of the galactic community as the '''Lords of War. '''The name become popular between them, and they began referring to themselves as such. In the spirit of new brotherhood, it was proposed by a human politician that the Haas Suul merge their government with the United Nations for continued mutual protection. This new political union is known as the United Empire, or the UE.

==Culture==

Though it is difficult to give any one species an overarching cultural analysis, the Haas Suul are peculiar in their predisposition towards warfare, as there are few points in Haas Suul history where there was not an ongoing conflict. They share this trait with humans, and both species have had experiences with "warrior cultures" and a tendency to romanticize violence.

One constant through most Haas Suul cultures is the veneration of the Great Forest, a massive sprawling jungle located around the equator of Halshaa. Fertile, wet, and filled with incredibly dangerous fauna, it is nonetheless considered sacred and has remain largely untouched since their late Industrial Age.

Most modern Haas Suul speak Hils, further divided into Modern and Old Hils. The language arose in the northern plateaus of Halshaa, and became the official language of the Holy Empire upon its creation. Modern Hils is the everyday, common language while Old Hils is almost entirely delegated to liturgical use and academic curiosity.

===Religion=== As Halshaa has only had one main supercontinent and relatively few geographic boundaries to prevent travel, religion amongst the Haas Suul coagulated into a single overarching faith many centuries before they achieved space travel. Simply called The Temple, it is an action-centered religion revolving around the appeal to intermediary powers (souls of ancestors or minor gods depending on local traditions) to ask major Gods for blessings or guidance. However, official Temple teachings dictate that the Gods rarely intercede with the mortal world, and the one of the most common questions of Temple theology are the reasons why the Gods choose to help some and not others. It has been compared to the mammalian Lord of Wars religions of Hinduism and Shinto, though such comparisons are usually criticized as oversimplifications.

Major gods of the Temple pantheon include:

Saraii - Empress of the gods, goddess of law and nature.

Kaa - Saraii's consort, god of warfare and luck.

Ralhali - God of wisdom and time.

Sinaas - Goddess of beauty, art, daughter of Ralhali.

The Corrupter -  Saraii's jelous sister, split from her at the beginning of time. Devotes her existence to leading mortals astray and convincing them to do evil to spite her sibling.

Emperor Halshaa I, first ruler of the Holy Empire, is widely believe to be the child of Saraii and a mortal Haas Suul known as Kes, and his most direct descendents, the UE Imperial Family, are believed to have "divine blood". According to popular myth, Halshaa I still roams the Holy Empire, now the United Empire, eternally watchful and unaging.