Though taken for granted today, one of the most shocking revelations of the Terran diaspora to other worlds was the discovery of extraterrestrial human civilizations. These are races on other worlds with no obvious cultural, linguistic, or historical connection to Earth who nonetheless look like terrestrial humans. In fact, their DNA is so similar to the human baseline that most of them can breed true with earthlings. None can say exactly how this occurred. The general belief across galactic Christendom is that this is a matter of enormous theological import, that newly arising races will naturally be human since the advent of the Theanthropos. Secularists hold that it is a demonstration of a strict Anthropic Principle and that the universe is becoming more and more accommodating to human life over time. For some of these civilizations, there is evidence that other, non-human powers long ago took earthlings to seed far-away worlds for their inscrutable purposes.
The most famous such example of these are the Thongorim, the dominant race of the planet Thongor. Technologically advanced but planet-bound, the Thongorim are hybrid organic/cybernetic, receiving exotic biomechanical implants at a young age, the most notable of which are a pair of aether-manipulating wings that allow them to fly both in atmospheres and through the void of space.
Located on the far side of the Voormi Gulf, a stellar void that is difficult to cross even today, Thongor shows no evidence of even rudimentary jump-capable ships. Instead it is accessed primarily by means of ‘stargates’, fixed hyperspace travel nodes located on six-score known worlds in settled space. Thongorim myth holds the creators of these stargates as their gods and their ancient history records that they once served them before either (the legend varies) the gods abandoned them or were overthrown.
Whatever the facts, the pagan Thongorim have been recalcitrant converts to Christianity and almost impossible to integrate into wider human civilization. No doubt part of this is because of their extremely unusual social organization. Due perhaps to an imbalance in reproduction that produces 1.5 males for every female live birth, Thongorim society is matriarchal and polyandrous. The inevitable social stratification and civil strife produced by widespread polygamy is amplified because only a few of the highest class women are allowed to hold harems. Whether by natural gift or by some abominable biological modification in the past, this gynocratic elite produce powerful pheromones that render their male harems servile and decadent and their lesser women obsequious. Thongorim society is thus incredibly warlike, with matriarchs sending their male janissaries to wage bloody reprisals on rival matriarchs out of spite or offended honor. Meanwhile, many subaltern females, not content to a future of guaranteed celibacy and childlessness, strike out on their own as mercenaries or adventurers in wider human space.
These latter soldiers of fortune are the most often encountered representatives of their race. These winged, battlsuited ‘war angels’ sell their lives cheaply for any cause that will allow them to prove their merit or to find a valiant husband.
The above bit of world building is my attempt to explain the origins of these 20+ year old Urban Mammoth VASA Archangel miniatures within the universe of our online sci-fi campaign. I mentioned some of the mysteries of not just humanoid, but human alien races in an earlier post, and as you can probably tell there’s a bit of musing on both Stargate and the Thanagarians (of Hawkman fame) here.
I’ve used these minis as part of my nearly all-female Stargrave crew, but they are freshly painted. The rest of the crew will certainly make an appearance in Xiandao battle reports, though perhaps their name and theme is a bit inappropriate for a Christian wargaming website. 😉