Makreal (/'mɑ:k.ri:.ɑ:l/) was a planet in the Vall`to sector of the Unknown Regions. The sentient Maki and a number of herd animals were native to Makreal.
Geography[]
Much of Makreal's landmass was covered in open fields and plains. Some were level and others hilly, but all were occupied by herds of large game beasts which fed on Makreal's abundant flora. Forests occurred, usually in small clusters rather than overwhelming swaths. Many of the forested areas and some of the plains were rocky and difficult to navigate on foot; most of Makreal's arboreal predators hunted from the trees. The planet had atypically high winds.
Makreal had only fifteen percent surface water, which was concentrated primarily in rivers which flowed down from mountains or bubbled up to the surface from springs. The planet owed the vitality of its flora (and much of its fauna) to Makreal's vast network of underground caverns and aquifers.
Many of Makreal's native species (including the Maki) were in the habit of going into underground caverns for their water needs. This, combined with the fact that Makreal had no natural satellites, contributed to the fact that the Maki and numerous insentient indegenes had night vision far superior to that found on other worlds.
Society and culture[]
Due to the both natural and cultural isolationism and introversion of the Maki, the planet had few major cities even when it reached galactic-level standards of technology and commerce. Apart from the capital and regional trade centers, the Maki favored small hamlets and villages which were spread out from one another. Many Maki lived alone, and even those who lived with significant others or roomed with friends almost never had multiple generations in the same home.
Makreal had one of the lowest marriage rates in both the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob and the Golden Empire. Its crime rate was also among the lowest in both governments; sociologists generally attributed this to the rarity of large cities and (half-)jokingly to the notion that the Maki wanted to be around one another less than they wanted to prey on one another.
Apart from the governors appointed by the Tetrarchy and the Empire, Makreal had no central government. All governmental affairs were handled at the regional or even local levels.
History[]
Makreal's wide-open spaces and fertile plains provided abundant grazing space for its herbivorous fauna. This glut of prey animals meant the predatory ancestors of the Maki could hunt in enormous ranges without encountering or having to fight one another; as a result, they generally met only to mate. Makreal's high winds also caused the Maki and numerous other species to evolve with scales or other tough hides rather than hair and more exposed flesh.
Even after the Maki evolved to their sentient form, technological progress was much slower than for nearly any other sentient species in the galaxy. The aversion to living close to one another became a cultural as well as a biological compulsion, and most Maki resisted urbanizing. Even the cities and city-states which did spring up were usually loose confederations formed for mutual convenience. Governments were very hands-off, as no Maki wanted to be told what to do by anyone else.
Introversion led even Maki scientific geniuses to avoid collaboration with others, which meant that scientific discoveries occurred more slowly and breakthroughs were not shared. Since the Maki traded only for the absolute necessities, warfare and conquest were the primary means of intellectual trade; however, most Maki were unsuited to large-scale warfare (being poorly disposed toward tight bonds among military comrades and fighting as a unit), making conquest a rarity as well.
The lack of cultural unity made Makreal an easy conquest for the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob, which had already taken Vall`to and Baes and acquired Synno without a fight. Makreal was initially a vassal world of the Tetrarchy; at some point, the contributions of individual Maki to the Tetrarchy led the planet to be reclassified as a full member world.
Makreal was far from the battlefronts during most of the Great Liberation, though most Maki maintained token loyalty to the Tetrarchy for lack of any major organized movements to the contrary. When the Golden Empire captured Baes and Vall`to and killed Admiral Garyth Quorr, however, most Maki could read the inevitable conclusion of the war. After Synno rebelled and defected, Makreal's native population and the majority of its Tetrarchy garrison also surrendered to the Empire.
Incorporated into the Empire's fold without a fight, Makreal remained something of a societal backwater in the Empire. It was not located on the Keblygrin Way or any other noteworthy trade hyperlanes, and the perceived lack of galactic society (and, in some beings' eyes, any society) meant few alien species immigrated to Makreal. The planet developed a trade in exporting its native herd animals offworld to serve as livestock on agriworlds, but only a few purchasing agents stayed onworld at any given time.