The Arvax Populate and their Dominion

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The Arvaxine Populate

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Starting Region: 54 (Veehra)

Geography

The surface land that the Arvax Populate lays claim to is remarkably dull. It's little more than flat, grassy plains from the beaches to the mountains. The real marvel is the massive system of pre-bombardment bunkers and tunnels that lay beneath the surface, and wind their way incredibly deep. These bunkers were by and large quite primitive for their time, but robust nonetheless. The arvax themselves refurbished them with new stone and metal, and began delving deep into them and expanding them. Though much of the original system fell into disarray, the facilities still contain all manner of subterranean reactors, greenhouses, laboratories, foundries and manufactories, lodging, temples, transport, hangars and all other assortments of function, most of them rebuilt by the arvax themselves with the knowledge they accrued. These structures are quite nice if you like to look at metal and stone, but the land itself does not end in this way. The complex opens up and expands into natural cave systems, underground seas, and forests of crystal and fungi with ecosystems that evolved cut off from anything else in the world. Few outsiders will ever see this hidden world, sequestered under stone and shielding, but to those who know it as the arvax do, it is the truest part of the planet.

History

Much like any other, their genesis chapter begins in the heavens. But where their story begins, so does another end. When the powers that be unleashed their final judgment on so many others. Some would try to hide away in their fortified bunkers, deep below the surface, where they could continue in their purposes. But there is no escaping fate. Ghastly etheric weapons pieced through kilometers of stone, and slaughtered the bunker-dwellers within, leaving no survivors. No sapient ones, at least. But through mutagenic factors in the environment, a new species of sapient life emerged over time from a species that had found its way into the bunker system, and came to inhabit the ruins of these derelict mass graves.
Deep in their underground microcosm they would wage their private pretty battles with one another, evolving rapidly in technology and in biology, from spears and rocks to railguns and radiation, eventually restarting the reactors that lay deep in the earth.
In the time that this occurred, settlers moved into the land, the arvax would realize that their isolation was not permanent, and would unify their forces and emerge from the depths of the earth to lay claim to what was rightfully theirs. Which they did quite handily, because the settlers were not so fortunate to have evolved with a silver spoon in their mouth or fusion reactor in their cradle. These were the first non-arvax that were assimilated into the Populate, and they would not be the last.

People

Mammalian organisms of indeterminate origin. Nobody who has actually seen a mammal can really decide what mammal they look like, but it can be largely assumed that’s what they are.
The sum of traits ascribed to them is that they aren’t notably colorful, they aren’t much larger than a human, have pointed ears, jagged claws and fangs, and hairless tails, and aren't exactly known for smelling like roses either. Generally unpleasant to outsiders, although I'm sure outsiders would find many other things to be unhappy about. They are usually a bit twitchy and paranoid in their mannerists. Anything other than that is harder to pin down, because they tend to avoid outside contact. Until now, where they have been seen more frequently in the outside world.
Their sense of fashion and jewelry is inconsistent at best, the arvax themselves can get away with wearing comfortable robes in their own hallways or at diplomatic events, but in a situation of hard work, they fall back on simple utilitarian bodysuits. But they don't have a strong sense of color, as their vision is only dichromatic. Their symbolism is very ring-centric as evidenced by their symbol being a big ring.
They have a cultural concept of gender, but there's not a tremendous amount of dimorphism, and their society acts accordingly. In actual number, there are in the low tens of millions, but they themselves rarely run any sort of census to verify.

Government, Leadership, and Lifestyle

The Arvaxine Populate democratically elect their leaders. These leaders are usually figureheads, but more charismatic leaders have had much stronger control over the people, and have, in the past, managed to have themselves voted into an indefinite state of dictatorship which grants the power to automatically confirm or veto all decisions the Populate might put forward. Their good will with the people is only ensured through conservative use of these powers, making it a rather precarious system.
The current Arvax President (prounced preside-ent because I can say it is) is Edrajek of the First Territory (The bunker itself being partition into non-arbitrary partitions by exactly what vital function of the bunker system each territory controls.) Who is Edrajek? He's the latest leader elected from the people, for his successful oversight of the reconstruction of the hangar bay system with the attainment of new spacecraft technologies. He did a marginally good job at it, and got thrust into a position of power, where he now has a notable degree of authority over the Populate. So far he's been in this position for a few months. The last leader before him was deposed for abuse of the powers granted to him in a time of peace, and the one before that was removed for being too ineffectual in a time of need (the Last Guardianship War in the depths of 10th Territory). So Edrajek is a bit nervous about treading the line between the two paths.
Of course only members of the arvax species can vote to elect a president or any other decision, with some exceptions, and their policies result in generally low economic and social freedoms for all people within the civilization, especially non-arvax, who are treated as second-class citizens, and forced to fulfill less desirable jobs.
But let’s look at the less fortunate of society. The Populate’s second class is composed of any non-arvax species, as well as arvax who are in any way physically or genetically unfit, or anything of a similar nature. All citizens, first-class or otherwise, are still ensured a level of healthcare, a place to live, and food. This is because the bunker system is a very large and relatively self-sustaining location, as long as it is maintained. But they lack political influence, and many other freedoms, such as having highly limited reproductive rights and meritocratic job selection (rather than getting to choose their own fields of study and occuptations) For most second-class citizens of the Populate, their aptitude is working the reactors or manufactories.

Faith: The Way of Returning

The arvax were born of the apocalypse, and they believe that they will die by the apocalypse. All things must end so that new things might exist. There are only so many souls that can exist. Reincarnation must occur by force. History is inherently cyclical and the rise and fall of civilizations is a fact of life.
The Way of Returning is a very anarchic faith. There is no single church, but many smaller sects and ideologues. It is a deeply ingrained cultural belief, one reflected in arvaxine architecture and design since their very inception as a species. In fact, some archaeologists believe that the Way of Returning itself may be a 'reincarnation' itself of the bunker-dwellers’ original Faith, though this theory isn’t a proven one. It's more likely the original inhabitants of the bunkers liked circles as a shape, but it's hard to say, since they were completely eradicated.

Other faiths inevitably exist in the non-arvax population, typically drawn from surrounding regions. These don't have a majority hold on the governing arvax population. 

Resources & Starting Technologies

Resources
They Have in Abundance: Fuel and Power, in the form of Deuterium also known as Heavy Water.
They Need Greatly: Laborers, more non-arvax to work and monitor the vital systems and menial jobs of the bunker-complex.

Starting Technologies
*Fusion Reactors - very big ones at that.
* Wet Navy Ships - in the form of submarines, no less.