The Dekari are a race of humanoid Spore hosts hailing from the homeworld of Dekar. Their world was claimed as a protectorate of the Empire of a Thousand Suns over two centuries ago, but despite being a stone-age civilization at the time, the Dekori evolved quickly after an initial incident of cultural contamination. Seizing Tyrolian technology for their own, they challenged their overlords for sovereignty. Though they could not overpower the Tyrolian fleet, they have achieved a victory of sorts, in that they are permitted to leave their home system and settle the rest of the galaxy.

Lacking an Empire of their own--or even any sort of organized government, the Dekori might otherwise be a minor species. However, their tenacity, fecundity, and unbridled ambition have seen them become a very relevant member of the galactic community. They can be found anywhere and everywhere, as their genome is widely adaptable thanks to the Spore symbiont. They excel in battle, or really any sort of adversarial pursuit--there are celebrated Dekori masters of sports and games who treat them as seriously as any die-hard warrior. If there was a single world to describe the Dekori, it would be: "intense".

While their values do not align neatly with many of the galaxy's dominant species, that is not to say they do not have values. Dekori prize honor, integrity, and hard work. They believe that deeds and achievements transcend death--as long as they are remembered, they are quite willing to die to achieve something worthwhile. This obviously translates well into battlefield morale, but it can take many forms--there are stories of Dekori doctors who infected themselves with fatal diseases simply to understand them from a first-person perspective, the better to contribute to scientific understanding and an eventual cure.

Physical Traits

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Culture

Quick facts:

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Beliefs

The Circle

The overwhelming majority of Dekori follow a religion that believes that all life in the Universe is connected, that said life generates a form of energy, which flows throughout the biosphere of worlds and indeed the cosmos.

Core tenets:

Values

Honor

What does it mean? One way to put it is that the Dekori consider the worthiness of any deed based on its hypothetical value if successful, regardless of the attempt's success (as long as a good faith effort is made). A simple example: a great battle won is of course honorable, but the same battle attempted, fought to the last, and lost is just as honorable, if not more so.

It is not uncommon for the winner of a battle to call a cease in hostilities, not only to ceremonially offer honors to their defeated foes, but to invite the survivors to join their clan. Depending on personal preference, the defeated can refuse, and are offered a ceremonial death which is considered quite honorable, but there is also no dishonor in acceding the request. It is not a form of imprisonment--they have proven their honor, and the winning clan would rather gain an honorable warrior than slay a foe who has no chance to survive.

In some cultures, honor transcends generations. One being may earn honors, and their descendants will be recognized for them, possibly with titles, lands, privileges, etc. The Dekori generally despise this practice; honor is an individual thing, accrued and/or expended by the individual. The sons and daughters of the most honorable or dishonorable Dekori are a blank slate, to be judged by their own merits. Of course, they are not a monoculture, and outside of traditional tribal clans, these values are often tested against the humanoid tendency to ascribe virtues and vices of the parent to the child, but in general, Dekori value systems try to fight against this. It is generally quite insulting to point out a dishonor in a Dekoran's parent or ancestor as if it were their own, or even to feign respect for a worthy deed not done by the Dekoran themself.

Nature

Dekori tend to believe that nature--a difficult enough term to define, of course, but put simply, the opposite of sterile starships, abstract science, virtual reality, etc--is precious and worthwhile. They believe that all creatures are part of the same moral spectrum as themselves--for instance, they believe that animals have honor just the same as intelligent species. They often balk at the mere distinguishing of their own (and comparable) species as "intelligent" but an animal as "not intelligent", preferring to respect the natural strengths and weaknesses of both.

They believe that what is natural is right. That doesn't make the artificial "wrong", more sort of "neutral". This manifests in many ways, but the most obvious to other sentients tend to be:

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