Gilgamesh



People of the Zhen home-world, Gilgamesh, who call themselves "the undying" are a lithe people in both form and mind. 89% of Gilgamesh is urbanized, and as the second closest planet to its star, it is a relatively temperate climate. The people of Gilgamesh are the known predecessors of slipstream technology, and are the leaders in the cluster to cluster medicine-trade. Gilgamesh has maintained relatively minimal contact with out of cluster beings until quite recently. It has taken centuries for aliens from outside the cluster to replicate the spacecraft-construction techniques that have defined Gilgamesh as a technological giant. Every ship from Gilgamesh is an andriod vessel; a biological (and potentially sentient) fully operational spacecraft with metal-allow chassis. Sentience in rocket-science is something the peoples from out of cluster can only begin to speculate about.

Roughly 4% of Gilgamesh's population is in the ruling class. Known as the "Purveyors," these individuals are the indiscriminate policy holder's in governmental affairs. Unfortunately not what it once was, the purveyor senate has grown restless since the out of cluster trading began (circa. 437 years). Since that time, Gluttony has become the sin among these distant rulers. The masses have followed their monarchs into the ether-madness of decadence.

Tradition keeps the masses at task. The caste system is the heart of this cultures motivations and longevities. Roughly 67% of the population has been borne through "artificial genetic modifications" which result in physical and mental dispositions towards work according to family lines. Red hair and pale eyes have been features bred in by popularity that came to dominate the population for the last two centuries or so. Roughly 12% of the population is created entirely in a laboratory setting (i.e. without sexual intercourse). These members are considered the labor class, identified by hairlessness and nearly unanimous lack of pigmentation. Generally this group is bred to keep the more unstable genetic patterns alive and available to the rest of the species. From this group, less than 1% is identified as containing a particularly desirable mutation. They are harvested of DNA and become the building blocks for new genetic experimentation and improvement. There is speculation concerning Gilgamesh's illicit slave trade; particularly that the undying are desperate to harvest DNA from out of the Zhen system, hoping to increase the longevity of the species.

Nothing is wasted on Gilgamesh, even the dead are harvested. Every body is donated to science, and in fact much of this "recovered DNA" leads to new genetic spearheading such as clone experimentation, organ harvesting, gene-trading, life unto life unto life unto...

Moon(s): Horus

Imports: (Illicit) Slaves

Exports: Starcraft Technology, Medicine