House Shikumi

 Torlan history is wrought with Civil-War. The extinction of their ancestors after the Star Harrier Lyssis shipwreck left behind the Allied Houses known as The Shikumi, The Champaign, and The Parlini; each corresponding to specific social strata. There are other houses, such as The Karnikatai, along with untold thousands of families in the Unaffiliated Civilian population. The marriages between these houses and their politics shape Torlan life inexorably.

  House Shikumi is the Military arm of that social makeup.

  In Torlan culture your house defines as much about you as your career does, and that career is usually tied to your house’s politics. Your goal from birth is to help your house either advance through the ranks on your personal merits, or to help maintain and further establish the house of other worlds.

  Among the Shikumi your surname comes first, your personal name last. This tradition began with the Shikumi progenitor, a man named Shikumi Ling, who led the combined navy of the Torlan Alliance against Anax in the Reunion War. Anax sought to exterminate the Torlan when he discovered they alone had survived the shipwreck in Atraxia, and their genetics would erase the Serin genes in any partner they reproduced with – gradually breeding the Serin into extinction. Ling defended Torlan with his life, even when he was finally defeated and captured.

 Rather than be sterilized and carted off to a concentration camp, Ling chose to kill himself in a dignified manner, thrusting one arm towards Torlan and the other driving a blade into his own heart. This has become the Torlan Alliance military salute ever since; one hand cast downward towards home, the other in a fist over the heart.

  At least, that is how the myth goes. In reality Ling died flying his ship into Anax’s flagship.

  Either way, the Shikumi house and their solid porcelain-white skin represents the warfare arm of the Alliance. Their children are raised to believe in personal discipline and martial arts from infancy. They are known for their extreme patience, endurance, and a sense of detached awareness. They don’t speak often, preferring to communicate precisely. They rarely take time for pleasure, and are almost as known for their standoffish demeanour as their skills with a weapon. The few who are not soldiers or generals are often esteemed artists and dancers.