Doloy

The Doloy (//, singular also "Doloy") were a species native to Dolomir in the.

Biology and appearance
Doloy greatly resembled s and s, except for their green skin and white hair. Doloy infants were born with black hair, but due to a species-wide condition, it lost the ability to add pigmentation to new hair almost immediately. Doloy would thus usually get through one or two haircuts at most before all the black hair had been cut off and their hair was uniformly white.

Doloy females carried their young for gestation periods of roughly eight standard months before giving birth to live children. Most Doloy had only one child at a time, though a rare genetic mutation in the mother could make her predisposed to triplets.

Society and culture
Doloy were known for conservatism in dress and appearance, with men usually wearing their hair short. Some Doloy would dye their hair, though this was viewed as childish rebellion or unbecoming faddishness by the majority of the species; even black, their original natural hair color, was not considered acceptable.

The Doloy were known throughout the galaxy as an opportunistic species who sought power and influence. They courted prestige and continually sought advancement throughout life. However, most Doloy were willing to work for their ambitions, and they earned a reputation in both the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob and the Golden Empire for their almost unnerving hard work and dedication. While most Doloy would take power given half a chance, relatively few would do so illegally.

The desire for prestige also extended to family members, and parents would often do everything in their power to give their children an edge over their peer group. Many Doloy parents put intense pressure on their children to live up to the family's reputation or enhance it. However, the Doloy families were very close and parents usually very protective of their children. Doloy native to Dolomir itself often had a similarly protective attitude toward their planet and species, though usually only when contrasted against other worlds or species.

Due to numerous factors, including the presence of the Dolomir Merchant Officers Academy and the Astrogation and Starship Commission on their homeworld, Doloy were often assumed to be experts at space travel. The truth of this varied from one Doloy to the next, although all educational facilities on Dolomir were mandated to teach astrophysics and interstellar navigation concepts to students.

History
While the ancestor species of the Doloy were prey to only a handful of large and dangerous predators, they faced competition for resources with numerous similar omnivores. The Doloy alone evolved sentience, but xenobiologists theorized this ancestral life of day-to-day competition installed the instinctive drive to get ahead. The Doloy themselves were not particularly receptive to this theory, as they felt the drive to succeed was a virtue, not an abnormality which required explanation.

Their innate tendency to take advantage of any opportunity made the Doloy good innovators and reseachers, and scientific progress went more quickly on Dolomir than many other worlds. By the time the Tetrarchy found Dolomir, the Doloy had already reached space and explored the Doloy system. They had also accurately charted the stars and were investigating the primitive precursors to and lightspeed technologies.

The Tetrarchs believed the scientific prowess of the Doloy could be useful and offered Dolomir membership in their government. The Doloy accepted and quickly set about importing specialists and educators in space travel. Within a century, navigators, astrogators, and astrocartographers from Dolomir rivaled those of any other world in the Tetrarchy. The Dolomir Space Bureau was established to log and update navigational data, and it quickly spread its influence throughout the Tetrarchy, acquiring ship logs on many member worlds.

The presence of the Space Bureau, as well as numerous high-level educational facilities and think tanks, made Dolomir vital to the Tetrarchy's continued success and expansion. The first time one of the four founding species of the Tetrarchy (Mezzel, Hudrelan, Dronos, and Umdal) was not represented among the four Tetrarchs, it was a Doloy who took the vacant seat. Doloy spread throughout the Tetrarchy, often as scientific consultants; a large Doloy expatriate population existed at Baes, serving as technical advisors to the engineers at the Baes Shipyards.

The Doloy remained loyal to the Tetrarchy through most of the Great Liberation, and Doloy scientists attempted to calculate the best hyperlanes to enter the Golden Empire and take the fight to the enemy, resulting in the Empire's defeat at Tershin. The fall of the Xoquon sector after the Battle of Tizgo V did little to dissuade Tetrarchy loyalists, and indeed many Doloy volunteered for military service to help fight the invaders.

The capture of the Vall`to sector had a very different effect on Doloy morale. The conquest of Vall`to—and with it the Vall`to Sector Bank—subjected the Tetrum to skyrocketing inflation and sent the entire Mezlag sector's economy into a nosedive. Many middle class Doloy were faced with poverty, and many poor Doloy were pushed to the brink of starvation. When the Tetrarchy's governors attempted to blame the Empire for the condition, even though many Doloy agreed, they were also aware that the Empire's victory was nearly certain.

The Tetrarchy recalled most of its ships in the Mezlag sector to defend Mezlagob itself, leaving other planet largely defenseless. The Empire's final mop-up of the Tetrarchy began with the surrender of Telacia and a quick victory at Hudrel. Before it could attack Dolomir, a rebellion broke out among the Doloy. The Empire arrived in time to assist the rebels in rounding up the Tetrarchy's agents. The governor and senior administrators were executed, while those who had been involved in military and suppression actions received long prison sentences.

In the wake of the final defeat of the Tetrarchy at Ommol, the Doloy reoriented themselves to the new government. They were not entirely trusted by many species, who thought they had defected to the Empire out of their trademark opportunism rather than for any lack of loyalty to the Tetrarchy and its principles. However, their scientific aptitude led them to receive more acceptance than species like the Mezzels, Hudrelans, and much-reviled Umdals. A large number of Doloy immigrated to Iscandar to work with the native Iscali, who in saw large delegations of their own species immigrating to Dolomir.

Dolomir remained a hub of scientific and starship research until 149 ABY. In that year, the Reawakened and their army of Skavik sacked the planet, butchering billions of Doloy, as well as resident aliens. Offworld Doloy were outraged, and many volunteered for military service or gave contributions to charities aimed at rehabilitating Dolomir. When the were finally defeated, it was at Dolomir itself. In the wake of the Empire's final victory, Doloy Vice Admiral Rensi Shal-Shatir was appointed Consul of Dolomir.

Shal-Shatir began a program of encouraging expatriate Doloy to return to their native world, even those whose families had lived offworld for generations. The Empire donated cash and resources to rebuild the devastated surface of the planet, and many volunteer groups and several Centurions went to Dolomir to assist as well. Shal-Shatir secured corporate backing to fund the reconstruction of the Dolomir Merchant Officers Academy and new think tanks on the surface, which increased the flow of credits and allowed the construction of a new.

In the galaxy
Rensi Shal-Shatir was a distinguished officer of the Royal Navy who commanded the space portion of the Battle of Shest Minor. Promoted to Vice Admiral after the Tribulation, he was a constant advocate for the recapture of Dolomir during the Nightmare War and served as Consul of his homeworld when the planet was finally retaken.

Aside from service in the Armada, particularly the Royal Navy, a number of Doloy also found work in the Ministry of Science and Technology, and several worked for the Astrogation and Starship Commission.

Appearances

 * "It Takes Only One"