Karman

The Karmans are a sapient species of intelligent simians in the AT-43 Universe.

Physiology
The forerunner species of the Karmans, the gorilla beringei beringei of Sol III, had disapeared many thousands of years before, but its genetic code had been saved in the EMI grid. As part of one of their plans, the Therians gave birth to the Karmans based on this species. With subtle alterations to their genome the Karmans were taller, stronger and were able to develop into an advanced civilization.

History
The Karmans call the birth of their species the Elevation, when the Therians created them to develop a suitable species that would assist the the Hyperlife Project. The Therians encouraged their creations to develop into an industrial society that would eventually weaken their world's environment to be suitable for theriazation. However the Karmans though grateful for their creators parts in giving life to their species, deviated and centered the technology and civilization on environmental and self-sustainable technologies.

In the less a thousand years the Karmans grew from a primitive race to spacefaring race. At the space age the Karmans knowing full well of the dark intentions of their creators created Libra to administer the fate of their own species. Libra staged a civil war to promote aggression and fool the Therians in believing that their creations' path were going according to plan and thus sparing their species from extinction. After the war on Karma ended their society was fill with an excess amount of warriors without purpose. The Therians called on the aid of their children after they were losing wars on two fronts against the Cogs and the Krygans.

The Karmans experienced in the art of war managed to stalemate the Cogs through guerrilla tactics. Eventually C-Nap Line negotiated a peace treaty that the other three Cog Lines grudging accepted. The War with the Krygans however became their greatest shame when they drove the Krygans back to their homeworld, and rendered them extinct on the Therians orders.

Karman society split into another faction known as Nova that was dedicated to preserving other specis as a way to atone for their genocide. Flux, a more survialist faction of warriors was born from Libra to prepare for a war that may come in which they would have to fight against their creators for freedom.

Mobilis in mobile
The philosophy of the karma, unknown to any other species in the galaxy, influences Karman society in many ways. The Karmans envision the universe, as a whole, in motion and its every element, which are also mobile, are all inter-connected.

Altering one of these elements induces great responsibility since the slightest change will have repercussions on every other element. And destroying one of them is, at best, an act of immaturity, at worse, an unspeakable crime: the choice of destruction is irreversible and ends many possibilities.

Faithful to this understanding of the universe, the Karmans sparingly use the natural resources of their planets. This explains why certain events in their history represent such particularly deep traumas: their unnatural creation by the Therians, the destruction of the Krygs and the schisms that split their society into factions.

Unity of the body, unity of the mind
The Karmans understand that the quest for karma takes place on several karmic scales: individual, cultural and universal. These three scales are what structures their mentality and their social interactions.

Each Karman is responsible for his own karma, as well as that of his children before they reach the age of reason. Such autonomy means great responsibility: the misery of an individual is generally seen as the direct consequence of his wrong choices. So, Karmans sometimes consider bad luck, poverty or infirmity as the direct consequence of misjudgment.

Helping a wretched soul could even be considered an act of selfishness: the benefactor would be working for his own karma, preventing the one he is helping from improving their own karma.

On another scale, the Karmans consider that their culture has its own karma. Individual karma vanishes before that of their civilization. This mindset avoids many social conflicts among the Karmans and makes military discipline easier.

The lightning progress of their species is proof enough for them that they have made the right choices. However, their progressive engagement in the galactic war has sparked great social debate: Is it this expiation of a fault, a preparatory trial to further evolution or the hour of triumph for Karman thinking?

Karmic equilibrium is taken into account in Karman law. When a Karman is convicted of a crime, he is generally forced to repair the prejudice or give his victim what was taken from him. “You steal an eye, you lend an eye. Steal both, you become the eyes” as the proverb says. Hence, many Karmans are condemned to serve a brother to whom they have a karmic debt. The ultimate karmic scale is that of the universe. As an intelligent civilization aware of the karma, Karmans have taken it upon themselves to be the custodians of the galaxy. For thousands of years, they have been observing other civilizations and have intervened whenever karmic equilibrium was in danger. The other species struggle to understand the reasons behind the action or passivity of the Karmans when faced with certain galactic conflicts. The few who do understand their philosophy are divided on the question: some despise the Karmans’ overblown arrogance; the others respect the abnegation of this young civilization.

KARMANS AND DEATH

Death from a Karman point of view is not always a karmic sentence. It can be the consequence of the body’s failure, an accident or the result of another individual’s choice. To the Karmans, the bodily frame is part of the inanimate and owes its mobility to the power of the mind.

Many Karman sages, philosophers or scientists, seek to defeat death or discover what awaits the spirit beyond demise. Until now, their research has been fruitless. Death keeps all its mystery.