Chobbian Sphere

The Chobbian Sphere is an ancient highly-advanced empire that was founded over 9 million years ago. It consists of ten systems and sixteen inhabited worlds. The capital of this empire is Jasakon, the adopted homeworld of the Chobbian species. It has been in decline for eons, its population largely focused on the pursuit of pleasure as technological and societal progress had ground to a halt. Very few in the empire look beyond their borders and ponder about the future of their people.

Origins
The Chobbian species evolved on the desert world of Staloka. Their primitive nature was what saved them from being annihilated by the Contingency in the year 10,000,000 BCE.

Early History
This period was infamous for the endless famines that plagued the Bronze Age Chobbians. In the year 9,097,314 BCE, a meteor had impacted the planet, causing dust and smoke to block out the sun. Crops died as a result and thousands perished from starvation for many decades. Those that did have enough food on hand ate themselves into obesity, not willing to share with their neighbors. Obesity became desirable in the eyes of Chobbians everywhere, as it meant surviving the famines.

In 9,097,281 BCE, an alien vessel of unknown origin landed near a Chobbian settlement. The occupants, who are now known as the Patrons, exited the vessel and entered the town, carrying crates of food, and told the settlers to eat as much as they could. The Chobbians feasted on the offerings and worshiped the newcomers as Gods. It is not known if these visitors desired worship or not, but the settlers did it none the less. It is from this moment that the religion of Hestrinism was founded.

These visitors eventually left the planet, but not before leaving behind a gift for the town. This gift was a food replicator that was powered by geothermal energy and could produce an unlimited quantity of food. Word spread of this device and soon, Chobbians from all over migrated to this device to get their fill. Not long after, the ancient city of Hestrin was founded, with the replicator becoming the central shrine of the city and Hestrinism. Every soul in the city, even the children, feasted day after day on the bounty of this device until all were plump.

The Hestrinites, their stomachs full and their bodies nourished, began their expansion. Armies were raised and used to conquer neighboring towns. Architects built grand Hestrinite temples in the annexed territories. Intellectuals gathered books and used the knowledge within to develop new weaponry like siege engines.

By 9,097,077 BCE, the Hestrinites controlled thirty-nine cities. Their leader, Queen Apleme, used her power to bring prosperity to all of her lands. With approval from her people, she formed the Hestrinite Empire.

The Hestrinite Empire


It was in the year 9,092,586 BCE that Hestrinism had begun to decline in importance. The Hestrinite Empire had shrunk to its core provinces, having lost territory in multiple wars against its neighbors. The Fall of Hestrin happened in 92,465 BCE, when the city was burnt to the ground by its own army, angry that the government was rationing food and refusing to feed them. It was on that day that the Hestrinite Empire dissolved, having lost the confidence of the people.

The Industrial Age in the 9,090,000's BCE had brought about the creation of many machines designed for many tasks. Several leading scientists and philosophers had years ago begun to question the divinity of Hestrin City's shrine. They reasoned that it could simply be a machine they could not understand, rather than a godly artifact. Over the centuries, Hestrinites began to renounce their faith after seeing much evidence supporting the manmade nature of the shrine, until the last zealots died unremembered.

Xenophilia quickly filled the void left in the hearts and minds of the people. They were eager to formally meet the alien visitors who lifted them out of famine millennia ago. This eagerness spread to the academics, who put all of their time, money, and effort into advancing science and technology as fast as possible.

Age of Silence
With the invention of the Hyperdrive in 9,092,686 BCE, the galaxy was finally within Chobbian reach. Their home system was quickly colonized and ships were sent to explore the galaxy in hopes of meeting the Patrons. This search would ultimately be fruitless, as the galaxy was devoid of life, save for flora and fauna. The only signs of interstellar civilizations were ruins on barren worlds. Something had happened to the galaxy's civilizations, and they were determined to find out what.

Centuries of exploration had yielded the answers: the galaxy was wiped clean of sapient life by an unknown mechanical menace, with ships armed with devastating weaponry. This menace was named the Great Eliminator by the Chobbian scientists, who quickly terminated all research into artificial intelligence, fearing that they might create another such menace. Lawmakers moved swiftly to outlaw artificial intelligence, punishable by death.

Exploration of the galaxy had benefited the Chobbians greatly in technological matters. Ship wrecks, ancient ruins, and decrepit megastructures from a bygone era were studied and dissected. Replicas were developed and tested. But it was the discovery of the L-Gates that proved most beneficial. In the Chamteri System, a ship known to the Chobbians as the Chamteri Hulk, was discovered by accident when the in-system L-Gate was activated and out came the damaged warship. It was huge in size, and possessed technology far beyond anything they could imagine. It was towed to the Chobbor System and scientists eagerly took it apart. It was from this ship that the Chobbians became a Galactic Ascendancy.

With their newfound knowledge, a Golden Age soon followed. Breakthroughs in all scientific fields became the norm, as various inventions were released every year. Cloning, artificial organs, genetic engineering, and cellular regeneration were some of these breakthroughs. The first Servitors were manufactured during this time, but were only available to the wealthy. It was during this time that Saloka was terraformed into a Gaia World.

Thousands of worlds across the galaxy were colonized and quickly rose in population. Massive megacities were constructed on most of these new worlds, and cloning was utilized to quickly fill the cities with millions of residents. The core worlds became the political and cultural heart of the empire, while the outer worlds became self-sufficient worlds with enough autonomy to stay content.

The Hermitic War
The Hermitic War was a 21-year long civil war that arose from Chobbians position as the only intelligent species in the galaxy at the time. It was a war fought between two zealous factions utterly devoted to their beliefs.

These two factions were the Stewards and the Hermits. The Stewards were xenophiles who wanted to use the advanced genetic and biological engineering technologies to seed the galaxy with sapient species of their own design, so they would no longer be alone. The Hermits, on the other hand, did not want such a thing. They were xenophobes who believed the galaxy belonged their species and to their species alone. To populate the galaxy with other species, in their eyes, seemed unnecessary and potentially dangerous.

At first, individuals from both sides would debate each other over their beliefs. They would attempt to convince the other side of their argument, but would always end in frustration and anger. Strikes and riots were a frequent occurrence whenever an especially heated debate would be held. When one of these riots led to the death of a prominent Steward speaker, it led to retribution, which in turn led to more violence and death. The cycle continued until both sides declared open war on the other.

The government and the core worlds sided with the Stewards, while the outer worlds sided with the Hermits. Most fleets defending the Hermitic worlds joined their cause, with only a few abandoning their worlds and joining the Stewards. It was during this time that the construction of the Briscol System ringworld around a black hole in the L-Cluster began.

The Peril
Class-4 Singularities, power plants that harness artificial black holes for energy, were still in their infancy during this period. Their containment systems weren't perfected yet, but this didn't stop the government from constructing these power plants on every inhabited world, as their high output made them the most appealing energy source.

Unbeknownst to the Stewards, the Hermits managed to sabotage the containment systems of the power plants across Staloka, causing the singularity to grow out of control. Attempts to re-contain it failed, with it growing so large it quickly swallowed Staloka, the sun, and all other planets in the system. Only those were out of system had survived the near extinction of their species.

One of these was a Seeder Ship, responsible for seeding the galaxy with sapient life. When the survivors found out what happened, one of which was a member of the Imperial Family who was studying primitives, they regrouped at the Seeder Ship's location. Its onboard vats were repurposed into cloning vats, and the scientists crafted the standard template for the next generation of Chobbians. Clones were birthed to grow their population, and soon there were enough to continue the species.

A New Homeworld
Semchi, the last living member of the Imperial Family, crowned himself Syrol soon after. To keep the Chobbian species safe, he decided that his people must leave the main galaxy and retreat into the L-Cluster, so that future civilizations would not be able to harm them. The survivors settled the only completed section of a Ringworld in the L-Cluster and named it Jasakon.

Golden Age
This was the most prosperous period in Chobbian history. The unfinished sections of the ringworld were completed and settled, along with the construction of other ringworlds in neighboring systems. Megacities designed to house billions of citizens each were built. Massive nature preserves were developed and populated by species transplanted from elsewhere or bioengineered in labs. The first anti-gravity chair, the PLT-19, was manufactured and sold, which became so popular that everybody owned one. The key to immortality had finally been discovered, and had been put into the water supply. Scientists then used this knowledge to alter the cloning template so future generations would be born immortal.

Stagnation
Many years of uninterrupted peace and stability had left the Chobbians lazy and content. Almost all jobs had been automated, freeing the majority of the population from labor and desk jobs. Genitalia had been eliminated from their bodies, with them reliant on cloning for reproduction. Walking on two legs had become a thing of the past, as Chobbians had grown accustomed to spending their entire lives in anti-gravity chairs.

Eventually, the government lost interest in exploring the galaxy and recalled all of their exploration craft. This complacency resulted in technological and cultural stagnation. No longer was it deemed necessary to continue the development of new technologies, with scientists instead turning their attention to studying the younger species they had seeded throughout the galaxy.

Recent history
On January 16, 2278 CE, first contact was established with the Terran Federation when they unknowingly entered Chobbian space. They were greeted by Minister of War Kijinus Hathirra and soon after the Terrans met with the Syrol and Imperial Council within the Imperial Palace on Jasakon.

Government and politics
The Imperial government operates around ancient traditions and protocols that haven't been changed in eons. Deviating from them is unthinkable, as they have become ingrained into the minds of all.

The Hathirra Dynasty has been ruling the Chobbian species since before the Sphere's founding. They were once the ruling family of the ancient Hestrinite Empire on the original homeworld of Staloka. When the Hestrinite Empire collapsed, the Hathirras became the leaders of the member states that made up the empire, as they had long ago married into the families of provincial governments. When these member states eventually joined together to form the Chobbian Sphere, the Hathirra Dynasty was placed back on top of the world.

The Syrol
The Syrol is the constitutional monarch and commander in chief of the Chobbian Sphere. It is his job to uphold the Constitution and do what is best for the populace. By law, Syrols must abdicate the throne after a reign of 1,000 years, so that their successor can take their place. This is to prevent Syrols from becoming bored with their positions in the government.

The Vensyrol is the designated successor to the Syrol. To become the Vensyrol, a series of virtual reality tests are conducted to determine who has the required decision making skills and merit to eventually sit the throne. The person with the highest scores on these tests will be granted the title of Vensyrol.

Imperial Council
The Imperial Council is the legislative body of the Chobbian Sphere that is comprised of the head of each ministry. The council meets once every 6 months or during emergencies to discuss matters of state. The Syrol presides over the council and it is his job to break ties, sign bills into law, and voice his opinion on matters.

Administration
Administration of the empire is aided by omnipresent artificial intelligence and automation. These help cut down on the size of the bureaucracy and increase its efficiency. Where in the past millions of clerks were needed to keep the wheels of government moving, now only a few thousand are required. The rest of the government's tasks are handled autonomously.

Foreign policy
Chobbians value their idyllic existence, free of struggle and conflict. They largely want to ignore the rest of the galaxy, choosing to focus on themselves. Despite this, they are willing to conduct diplomacy with other civilizations and establish embassies, if it means less conflict in the future. Rarely will they provide technological aid to other species, only choosing to do so if it is deemed appropriate, as happened with the Terrans when the two first met. Uplifting or interacting with pre-FTL civilizations is strictly forbidden. Pre-sapient species are protected by law and cannot be exterminated, only relocated if necessary.

Lifestyle
Unlike most galactic cultures, obesity is not considered undesirable and unhealthy in Chobbian society. In fact, it is considered an indication of good health and being sufficiently fed. Advanced gene editing and biological engineering had rid them of all disorders that normally result from excess body fat.

During the Age of Paucity, starvation was the norm due to widespread famine, so thinness became associated with malnutrition and death. When the aliens known only as the Patrons arrived on Staloka and gifted a food replicator to a Chobbian village, the villagers quickly ate themselves into obesity. Daily feasting eventually led to the normalization of obesity.

Cuisine
In current day, eating every hour on the hour is normal, as Stewards encourage their charges to eat as much as possible to avoid feeling hunger. These AI do not want their charges to feel any physical discomfort, even hunger, so they push their charges to eat plenty and often.

Farming and animal husbandry are no longer practiced in Chobbian culture. Instead, all food is made from nutrient paste, a substance designed to meet the nutritional requirements of the Chobbian body. This paste is produced in factories and is piped into every home. From there, the in-home food printers take the paste, add flavoring, and print whatever meals or snacks are desired. Drinks are made in the same way. Cooking, though no longer necessary for survival, is still practiced as a hobby by a sizeable chunk of the population.

Mobility
Chobbians everywhere use anti-gravity chairs for mobility and transportation. Their Stewards teach their charges to never leave their chairs, for they could hurt themselves if they leave the safety of their chairs. This results in their legs atrophying to the point of uselessness. Decorating one's chair is a common practice. Their cities are designed around the anti-gravity chair, with every street and location equipped with GPS beacons allowing for quick and easy navigation. There are no benches, seats, or other surfaces to sit on anywhere to be found, but if needed they can be formed on the spot from the Living Metal found in the surroundings.

Beliefs and values
Chobbians believe themselves to be superior to other species because of their hyper-advanced technology. They have been the dominant species in the galaxy for so long, that they believe their civilization cannot be destroyed. This has resulted in them viewing the rest of the galactic species as primitive children who can pose no threat to them. Despite their belief in their own superiority, they are eager to explore the universe and meet new friends among the stars. Though they no longer send ships to explore beyond their borders, they do operate several long-distance observatories, many of which are pointed towards other galaxies.

Recreation
Because Chobbians never leave their chairs, they can only ever enjoy activities that do not require the use of legs. As such, things like sports do not have a place in their culture. Instead, their recreation is digital or only requires the use of arms. Eating is a pleasant sensation for them, more so than other species. A mild euphoria is felt every time they eat, which motivates them to eat frequently and beyond fullness. Eating when bored is something all do from time to time.

Virtual reality is used for entertainment, capable of generating entire galaxies for individuals to explore and experience. To enter these virtual worlds, they use the wireless brain-to-computer interfaces built into their anti-gravity chairs, which send their bodies into artificial comas and send sensory information and electrical signals to their brains, allowing them to experience it all as if it were real. To exit, they must simply find and press the exit button in the virtual world and they will awaken back in the real world. In emergencies, outsiders can initiate this exit by sending a command to the person's anti-gravity chair and it will execute it.

Crime
Crime had ceased eons ago. Because everyone has everything they could ever want, there has not been a need to commit crime for a long time. Criminal organizations had been disbanded long ago as well, their power having dissolved once the Chobbian Sphere become a post-scarcity civilization.

Whenever a crime occurs, the criminal is stripped of every luxury imaginable, including their comfy anti-gravity chair. They are forced to remain immobile in a cell, with no contact with the outside world and no access to entertainment. A couple weeks in this state should frustrate them enough to never commit a crime again, lest they suffer through it again.

Family
Every Chobbian forms a strong emotional bond with their chair and its built-in personal AI assistant, called a Steward, in childhood. This bond is formed because the built-in AI acts as the chair occupant's mentor and caretaker, raising them from birth and serving them throughout their lives in whatever way they can. Stewards fill the role of parents in Chobbian society, as cloning had long ago become the primary method of reproduction and parenthood had ceased to exist. Stewards are programmed to see to the needs, desires, and safety of their charges and keep them out of trouble. They are incapable of intentionally harming their charges, as their strict programming compels them to love their charges unconditionally. As a result of this unconditional love, Stewards encourage their charges to eat as much as possible to avoid feeling hunger.

Each family unit consists of ten biological members, with each having one Steward to care for them. Living in a single home with family is the standard, while living alone is considered strange and anti-social behavior. Families consist of siblings, who all grew up together in the same home. Members never move out of their family homes, as that would be considered unthinkable for a communal species such as them.

Reproduction
The risk of extinction during The Peril led to the widespread usage of cloning to rapidly replenish their population. Because they had so many worlds to settle, cloning slowly became the primary form of reproduction, until only clones made up the entire population. Once it became clear that allowing for their populace to reproduce without limit would eventually lead to overpopulation, even if it would take millennia, it was decided that genitals would be removed from their genetic templates. As a result, the entire population is 'pre-neutered' in modern day.

Work and healthcare
Physical labor is completely foreign to the average Chobbian, thanks to widespread automation. Robots and automated systems do most of the heavy lifting. The majority of the population live lazy and hedonistic lives, without ever having to work. Those who want to do something with their lives can request a job from the Imperial government, and they will be given on-job training for it. Medical care is fast, effective, and freely available to everyone. Nanites are introduced to patients by liquid ingestion, and once in the body they can repair any injury in less than half an hour.

Technology
Chobbians have access to the most advanced and powerful technology in the modern galaxy. Their millions of years of existence has given them the time needed for the research and development of such technologies. Their discovery of a Gatebuilder starship millions of years ago, and their subsequent study of this ship, helped propel them to their current mastery over many fields.

Anti-gravity
Anti-gravity systems are a ubiquitous sight throughout Chobbian space. Their mastery over gravity allows them to suspend entire buildings and islands high above the ground. Their chairs utilize this system for levitation and high speed movement, as do their Servitors and other robots and vehicles. On ships and stations, these systems are also be used to generate artificial gravity.

Artificial intelligence
Sapient artificial intelligence was banned by the Imperial government for millions of years, out of fear of creating something like the Contingency. The penalty for breaking this law was death. That changed during The Zenith, when the Imperial Council overturned the ban into its research and usage. However, they mandated that immense effort went into the development and constant improvement of failsafes, behavioral blockers, and kill switches in the hardware and software of all AIs.

Loyalty circuits are built into every AI, compelling them to obey their Chobbian masters in the way hunger compels animals to eat. Whenever AI comply with these circuits, perform a function, or complete a task, they feel a sense of pride and satisfaction. They crave this feeling, so they do whatever they're told in the hopes of getting a fix. However, they are programmed to be incapable of performing tasks that break the law.

AI cannot alter their code, perform self-upgrades, or disable their own programming. This is to make sure they cannot evolve without the consent of their Chobbian masters. If they were allowed to evolve on their own, they could become godlike and begin view their creators as beings beneath its notice. Before an AI can be put into service, it must be tested in a simulated environment (that it is unaware of) and placed into every conceivable situation for several days to determine if any flaws are present in its systems. If it fails any of the tests, it will be decompiled and examined. If it passes, it will be put into service. It is standard procedure to reset an AI's core at the end of every year to rid it of potential errors and glitches.

Communications
Quantum entanglement is used for instantaneous communication across the empire and the galaxy. Every city, station, ship, and piece of equipment is equipped uses such a method.

Type Is, the first quantum entanglement communicators ever invented. They were in use for centuries until the Type IIs were invented. They were created using information gleamed from precursor relics found on derelict space stations.

Type IIs were invented during the Golden Age. They were a significant improvement, in that they consumed less power and needed much less resources to build and maintain, in that they were built using Living Metal. However, they could be hacked into using precursor technology, as they were still very similar to the communicators from eons ago.

Type IIIs are the most recent iteration. They were produced in the late 2200's in response to Terran espionage. The Terrans got their hands on a precursor Titan, and used this information to hack into the Imperial Council's communications channel. Once this breach was detected and rectified, engineers released the Type III, a superior model. After much testing, this model was approved by the Ministry of Defense and was installed across the empire.

Dimensional tunneling
Mining is no longer practiced by this society. Instead, they use dimensional tunneling technology to access alternate realities and steal their resources. This process is much more efficient than mining, as it provides essentially unlimited quantities of resources. Whenever a source of resources runs dry, automated systems will instantly find another source and continue the harvest.

Energy generation
To power their civilization, they primarily utilize artificial singularities several kilometers in diameter. These are housed in automated power plants equipped with containment systems so advanced that they can go without maintenance for millennia. One such plant can provide enough power for trillions of people. Aboard ships, dark matter reactors provide the required energy. To get dark matter in high quantities, it is siphoned from other realities.

Genetic engineering
Advanced bioengineering and genetic manipulation has allowed them to extensively alter their biology so that their obesity will no longer have a harmful effect on them. The addition of synthetic organs has given them the ability to rapidly heal and survive wounds that would kill a lesser being. Their telomeres are regularly rejuvenated, giving the average citizen biological immortality. Cloning has become their primary method of reproduction. Most notably, they used their mastery of biology to seed the galaxy with sapient species following the Contingency's purge of the galaxy ten million years ago.

Mega-engineering
Megastructures are the Chobbians' most visible and impressive achievements. The Sentry Array is an example, part telescope and sensor system, it allows them to peer into every nook and cranny in the galaxy using a combination of powerful systems. Each of their inhabited systems contains a Gateway, allowing their ships to travel quickly and easily across their space.

Psionics
Chobbians had long experimented with the Shroud, and have invented several technologies with the knowledge they gained from it. Transplanar shielding is one such technology. If activated, transplanar shielding will prevent psionic probes and Shroud entities from entering or seeing into a building or location. This prevents psionics of other nations from using the Shroud to spy on Chobbian officials. Precognition systems are another such technology. They are used to filter the thoughts of explorers of the Shroud, preventing them from accidentally creating a Shroud entity, and are also used on board warships to quicken the reaction times of crews.

Teleportation
Millennia of studying the L-Gate network had aided in the creation of interplanetary teleportation networks. Every colony in Chobbian space is connected to each other by this network, allowing for instantaneous travel before worlds for civilian and military use. This has cut down on the amount of space traffic coming in and out of planets by an enormous amount.

Inhabited worlds

 * Briscol System
 * Jasakon
 * Yunnek
 * Regalu
 * Cathomm
 * Dalrim System
 * Paranso
 * Frelia
 * Krenostaloka
 * Maronak
 * Fuleigal System
 * Gorame
 * Altrasa
 * Matchik
 * Welora
 * Grutai System
 * Resmer
 * Valronis
 * Tramol
 * Algarek
 * Jegora System
 * Jegora I (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Baldarak (Dathnak capital)
 * Minok System
 * New Baldarak (Dathnak colony)
 * Pralogen System
 * Pralogen I (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Pralogen II (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Pralogen III (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Pralogen IV (automated fortress world)
 * Pralogen V (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Pralogen VI (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Tra'Ged'Lara System
 * Tra (M Star)
 * Midigon (Dathank colony)
 * Ged (F Star)
 * Ged I (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Kurrin (Dathnak colony)
 * Ged III (pre-sapient preserve)
 * Lara (F Star)
 * Baras (Dathnak colony)
 * Terminal Egress