Possibly the only native species to Sector 10, the Ssujak have been aware of Vinaed (and vice versa) for some time. Prizing information above all else, the Ssujak listened and observed for a few decades, comfortable in the knowledge that the Coalition seemed uninterested in them as a target for hostilities. Historically self-sufficient, they ingored all Coalition attempts at direct communication and remained aloof – until their government finally decided that the Oban were not a threat they would be wise to face alone.
The Ssujak are keyed to subtlety, favoring the indirect route when in pursuit of a goal, using non-verbal signals over words in conversation, and choosing ambush over assault in combat. Specifically remarkable at understanding and interpreting language due to a specialized region of the brain, the Ssujak are excellent at scouting and reconaissance. The species are consummate believers in knowledge as the ultimate form of power, and that belief strongly permeates all aspects of their culture.
Ssujak aesthetics are simple and muted; architecture and equipment are recognizeably sleek, seamless and minimalistic. While the Ssujaks’ personal stealth units have ironically attracted quite a bit of attention on the part of the Coalition military and are presently under observation, it’s the various, extensively-deployed Ssujak-made user interfaces – all powered by advanced heuristic processors – that have caught the fancy of Sector 9 professionals and civilians alike. It is widely believed that these UIs will see rapid adoption in Sector 9 once the basic specs are released.
The Ssujak are a bipedal, roughly humanoid species with a vestigial digitigrade stance, clawed hands and feet, and a hissing language. They are hairless, with elongated skulls, a toothy maw, slitted nose, and dark, narrow, forward-facing eyes. Like every living thing on their home world, the Ssujak are uniformly black in color. Males are slightly larger than females. Their lean and agile frames are protected by a smooth, close-fitting exoskeleton; this layer of chitin is thin and supple at birth, toughening by a good measure and thickening by only a small amount as the individual ages. All Ssujak have a long, segmented tail ending in a knife-like barb; outside of combat, this prehensile appendage is willfully kept still, as the Ssujak consider it rude when used as part of expression. Ssujak are naturally adapted to low-light environments; as a result, they suffer a diminished ability to view color in the visible light spectrum. Individuals typically wear enviromental suits when operating conditions risk being sub-optimal.
The average Ssujak is shrewd, standoffish and pragmatic. The Ssujak discourage demonstrativeness; expressive discourse and non-verbal interaction are reserved for family and close friends only, and individuals who casually err in this are viewed as uncouth. Ssujak place a high value on trustworthiness; it is for this reason that they are loathe to form relationships quickly, opting instead to spend more time gathering information.
The Ssujak home world and the seat of their species’ government is Ssujak-resk, a lone planet orbiting a dim star. The Ssujak species has spread far, however, and many of their neat colonies pepper Sector 10. All Ssujak colonies thrive under a single collectivist government – the Caucus, symbolized by a barbed spiral or briar.
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