Exoi

The Exoi (//, singular also "Exoi") were a race of hailing from Toriafas in the. Thousands of years before the, they formed the Exoi Kritocracy, an empire ruled by the Governing Judges on behalf of the Exoi God-King. The Exoi Kritocracy was defeated by the and entered millennia of decline.

Biology and appearance
The Exoi towered over most other sentients, averaging 2.16–2.34 meters in height. However, they had thin, willowy builds, and consequently could be overwhelmed not only by similarly tall beings such as Massassi, s, and Fyaar, but even by strongly built Humans. All Exoi had six arms in three pairs, each ending in a hand with three fingers and a thumb. Exoi had seven legs which ended in small, circular "feet". Though Exoi had a "scuttling" look when moving at top speed, their gait was normally smooth and gave the appearance of floating over the ground.

Exoi faces branched out in a shape not unlike two crescents set one atop the other, one curving up and the other down. Each of the four rounded ends had an eye, and it was rare for Exoi to have sclera and irises which were different colors; this was often the sign of a genetic or birth defect or disease. Exoi could alter the visual spectra in which their eyes saw, ranging from some ultraviolet perception, through all variations of the Human visible light spectrum, and into infrared.

Exoi mouths were located at the junction of the two crescents on their faces. They could breathe through their mouths, which connected to both lungs and stomach, but had a number of skin flaps on their long necks which could open to permit breathing through them, as well. The Exoi were omnivorous.

Exoi had two hearts; one pumped blood to the lower torso and legs, while the other circulated for the upper torso, arms, and head. An Exoi's brain was unique, shaped in the double crescent of its head, with a central brain stem extending down roughly half the length of its neck. Exoi had only a single, large lung.

Exoi reproductive organs and excretory orifices were both located in the center of their seven legs. Female Exoi bore live young with limp arms and legs after twelve standard months of gestation. Exoi grew to physical maturity in approximately twenty-eight years.

Society and culture
Many Exoi were deeply xenophobic, believing the Exoi to be the pinnacle of species evolution. This view was rampant during the rule of the Exoi Kritocracy, and persisted among the upper class even over the millennia of the Kritocracy's decline. However, they were capable of adapting to new ideas with relative ease, and greatly valued learning. "Learned" (e.g. "Gooforcht the Learned" or "the Most Learned Gooforcht") was an appellation of deepest respect.

Rule by judges meant that law, legal work, and even law enforcement were among the most highly respected professions. The military was also widely revered during the Kritocracy's golden age, though as the empire declined and decayed, military service became much less respected, eventually becoming something of a joke, as the Kritocracy's forces were a shadow of their former glory and mainly functioned as backup police and ceremonial soldiers.

In the distant past, the Exoi had numerous religious traditions, most of which were mercilessly stamped out by a cult which came to dominate the planet. Salbin preached the special nature of the Exoi and their creation by the Gods Beyond Galaxies, divine beings which dwelt in the void between galaxies and brought stellar formations into beings. As Salbin merged with the Kritocracy, the Exoi came to believe a single divinity had become Exoi and the progenitor of a line of demigod beings, the Exoi God-Kings. In the millennia that followed the Kritocracy's defeat by the Chiss, the royal family became increasingly incestuous and inbred, to the point that the God-Kings around the time the Golden Empire encountered the Exoi were severely retarded and incapable of independent function. The God-Kings were attended by a cult of Acolytes. Most Exoi common citizens revered the royal family.

The Exoi were inventive, and compensated for their physical frailty through mechanical means. Exoi battle armor fueled the early conquests of the Kritocracy, as did a variety of s.

History
The Exoi evolved from herbivores, developing the ability to digest meat somewhere along the evolutionary chain; non-sentient ancestors who were roughly the same height as modern Exoi grazed from tree branches while their hands plucked insects or lower-growing fruit from tree trunks. Exoi biologists believed their unusual extent of vision and the ability to alter the visual fields they perceived was the result of Toriafas orbiting a binary star.

Some xenobiologists believed that Exoi sentience had been bestowed rather than evolving naturally, feeling the species' unusual biology and lack of natural defenses made them too easy of prey for predators otherwise. Those who subscribed to this theory tended to attribute this "gift" of sentience to the due to some Rakatan artifacts found on Toriafas. Many Exoi, who found the notion deeply offensive, argued that this demonstrated only correlation, not causation. Toriafas's role or significance in the was unknown.

Using tools and simple machines to defeat the native animals more dangerous than themselves, the Exoi came to rely on machinery to resolve any physical limitations. Unlike many species, they saw relatively little large-scale war or conflict. Early Exoi honored philosophers and teachers, but this gradually gave way to respect for lawyers, judges, and lawgivers, as the Exoi believed law was the foundation of civilized society. Some societies maintained a separation between judges and law enforcement, while others combined the two functions.

As Salbin became the dominant religion of the Exoi, it served to unite the species under a single government. The God-King served as chief lawgiver for the people, and various levels of magistrates interpreted and enforced the law.

After salvaging Rakatan technology, Exoi were able to develop s and journey off their homeworld. Their encounters with neighboring aliens were violent, forcing the Exoi back to Toriafas. Incensed at their reception by what they had come to view as lesser beings, the Exoi took many years to develop a powerful military. They had kept the peace on Toriafas through basic weaponry able to deal with one another, but now they forged battle armor and war droids capable of waging warfare on a galactic level.

Returned to the stars decades after their initial offworld ventures, now armed with war vessels and mechanized infantry, the Exoi spread out not as explorers, but conquerors. Planets were subjugated beneath the Exoi Kritocracy and subjected to Exoi law, administered by Exoi judges. Conquests provided new resources to fuel the ever-growing Kritocracy war machine.

In 3,784 BBY, the Kritocracy ruled over 896 worlds and set their sights on the territory of the. In the ensuing Kritocracy-Ascendancy War, the Exoi finally met their match, suffering brutal defeats at the hands of the and losing world after world to the Chiss. The Ascendancy was still relatively new to the scene and was occupied with other threats, and so was unable to pursue the Exoi to eradication. However, the Kritocracy lost hundreds of worlds to invasion by aliens, riots, and rebellions.

By 155 ABY, the Kritocracy was reduced to just nineteen worlds, having lost more after the initial wave due to starvation and exhaustion of resources. Many of the Exoi on Toriafas remained convinced that theirs was an exceptional race destined for a return to glory, despite the decay of their civilization and the gradual degeneration of the line of God-Kings. Other Exoi offworld were less ambitious, seeking only some revival for their worlds.

In 155, Rin Sakaros, Sovereign of the Golden Empire, arrived with the Prime Fleet at Toriafas and met the Governing Judges. Hearing their side of the story, she invited the Exoi and their worlds to join the Empire, but many of the Judges said such a decision belonged to the God-King. Journeying to the Temple of Incarnate Glory, she discovered the profoundly physically and mentally retarded God-King and deduced that his Acolytes had been running the government for generations. Rin killed the God-King, her Royal Guards slaughtered the Acolytes responsible for the deception, and the queen placed governance of the Exoi worlds entirely in the hands of the stunned Governing Judges.

The majority of Governing Judges ultimately bowed to Rin, and the Exoi worlds were absorbed into the Empire. Rin's involvement in the death of the God-King was mostly covered up, as all involved blamed the Acolytes for deceiving the people. Faith in Salbin suffered with the extinction of the royal line; some few fanatics re-oriented toward Rin herself and became a branch of the Cult of Rin, but many simply lost faith altogether and resigned themselves to the belief that, if the Gods Beyond Galaxies did exist, they had permanently forsaken the Exoi by allowing the line of kings to fail.

In the galaxy
During the preeminence of the Exoi Kritocracy, many of the species conquered by the Exoi regarded them with loathing and distrust. Some, however, conceded that the Exoi were relatively evenhanded in their approach to justice and not ones to grossly misinterpret precedent simply to give themselves more power.

As the Kritocracy declined, the worlds which remained in its control grew resentful of their masters and the decay of their civilization. Many alien species under the Kritocracy's rule gradually asserted more and more power, filling the roles of lesser judges, though no aliens ever became Governing Judges. The majority of Exoi welcomed the Golden Empire with some relief despite the societal upheaval that accompanied the end of the Kritocracy and the demise of the God-Kings.

Appearances

 * The Final Judgment