Rheleign

Rheleign Appearance and Characteristic Behavior

The Rheleign are a race of feline that evolved with the ability to walk upright. Rheleign range in height from 1 1/3 to 1 2/3 meters. Their bodies are covered in a fine layer of fur that can be colored in any number of ways from solid colors, to striped, to mottled, and everything in between. The shortness of their body hair seems to have been reversed on their head, where the hair grows quickly. As a result, long hair for both genders is very popular.

The roots of the Rheleign culture are extremely matriarchal and it is only relatively recently that males have been granted equality in Rheleign society. Rheleigns are very social, but generally respond best to others of their own gender. Rheleign of both genders are vain to one degree or another and spend a lot of time worrying about their appearance.

Events that shaped Rheleign culture

For a thousand or more years, the Rheleign culture was extremely stratified. At the bottom were the slaves, bound into magical servitude by the Rheleign Summoning magic. Above them were the various classes of Rheleign Male. At the top of the strata were the Female Rheleign, of which the lowest class was still of a higher class than the highest male.

Rheleign Summoning magic was actually a complex process that evolved from a binding ritual that had to be done in front of the intended target to being able to transport the subject from centralized holding pens up to 50,000km away. Rheleign Harvesters collected useful creatures from all over the planet, and after the discovery of the Slingshot Drive, from many other planets. For new colonies, holding pens were often on stations in high orbit around the planet.

The magical binding was a permanent effect that lasted until broken by the caster or the death of the slave. The bond was such that none under the effect could develop the desire to get free. Each Rheleign was limited to a number of summoned slaves that was determined by the strength of their personality. Maintaining five simultaneous summons was considered a exemplary feat.

This style of summoning was later changed after the Rheleign vs Human conflict. Though their ways were tolerated by the other 4 races participating in the Dragon Accords, few were actually comfortable with the slavery. The non-interference clauses that enabled successful trade prevented any other race from trying to force their moral code on the Rheleign.

During the negotiations for cesstation of hostilities, the Spaetor, Belarth, and Darvots put pressure on the Rheleign to accept the Human's demand for the abolition of slavery. Obviously such a move would be a huge change for their culture, so it took a fair amount of time to come to a compromise. The Rheleign would no longer bind intelligent beings to their will without compensation. The types of compensation could involve money, transfer of mana (for mana poor worlds), or anything that the summonees felt was fair. After this change, the use of summoning magic by other races actually increased significantly.

The politics of the Rheleign people

The Rheleign have a type of parlimentary government. The members of Parliment are elected by people of the regions that they represent. The term for a representative in Parliment varies depending on the region and can be anywhere from 2 to 6 years. The Prime Minister is elected by members of the Parliment. This person may or may not be already a part of the Parliment.

The Rheleign don't have formalized political parties. Functionally, there are only two. Those that support the current Prime Minister and those that don't. The Rheleign people and therefore the Rheleign Parliment are very fickle and as such, votes of no confidence are relatively easy to initiate.

A Rhelign Prime Minister maintains her (there have as yet been no male Prime Ministers despite movement towards equality) power by keeping the Parliment happy. This usually translates into whatever it takes to keep those supporting Representatives in power. If those in support of the Prime Minister feel that their power is jeopardized by actions of the Prime Minister, they will not hesitate to replace her. The Prime Minister does not have the power to dissolve Parliment and force elections.

Regional governments have elected Governors and a representative legislature. The Local governments are comprised of an elected governor and council, with the governor sharing executive power with the council. Judicial appointments for all areas are handled by the executive body for that juridisction (Prime Minister for Federal, Mayor for local, etc) and all judges serve for life. The appointments are only official if, after three days, the executive who made them is still in power. This allows the legislative bodies to veto the appointments by removing the executive from power.