The Official Guide to the Okal Rel Universe

Sevolites - Super-pilots and Feudal Politics

Sevolites were bioengineered 1,000 years ago on Earth to be better at reality skimming than any natural human. Reality skimming is hard on bodies which is why Sevolites are tough and regenerative. It also demands a quality called grip which measures one's ability to stay focused on the here-and-now. Having a good grip implies a passionate personality.

Ironically, Sevolites do not know they are bioengineered and would probably exterminate you for pointing it out to them. In fact, many of them have superstitious ideas about the biological sciences for nasty historical reasons. They do, however, possess engineering knowledge with regard to space flight in particular, and maintain tightly controlled pockets of knowledge even with regard to such controversial subjects as medicine. Lack of will to share knowledge between houses inhibits progress of the sort modern humans take for granted.

There are three main sub-classes of Sevolite with distinct traits of character, but despite the stereotypes sketched below all Sevolites are human enough to breed with other humans.

Lorel Sevolites are intellectually gifted and tend to meddle in the affairs of other people. They were dominant in the early days of the empire, a thousand years ago, but there are no pure Lorels left at court by the time of the ten novel series. People suspect there may be some on the mysterious world of Luverthan but no empire Gelacks know how to get there. People interact with Luverthan solely through their outpost, TouchGate Hospital Station, which is located near the jump into the Reach of Luverthan. House Monitum mediates all trade with the Luverthanians. While pure Lorels are extinct in the empire, however, their blood lives on in the families they interbred with centuries ago. Lorel hybrids of significance are the Lor'Vrellish (Lorel/Vrellish mix), the Monatese of House Monitum (Lorel/Vrellish mix with Beyonder influence) and the H'Usians who are also known as the Silver Demish. Early in the history of the empire, when it was still cool to be associated with powerful Lorels, the H'Usians called themselves the Lor'Demish. Claiming Lorel ancestry became unfashionable following scandals over Lorel abuses of bioscience circa -800 (The Purity Wars). At that time, the Lor'Demish changed their name from House Lor'Dem to House H'Us. H'Us was the name of a popular anti-Lorel leader.

Vrellish Sevolites are the best pilots because of their sheer aggressive potential and live in artificial habitats by preference. They are also emotionally and physically different from ordinary humans in ways that contradict some of our core assumptions about "boy meets girl" scenarios. Red Vrellish are the most purely Vrellish strain, and keep to themselves in Red Reach. Houses of Fountain Court who count themselves Vrellish, on cultural grounds as well as genetic inheritance, are: Monitum, Vrel and Nersal.

Demish Sevolites are arch-conservatives preoccupied by social status and hierarchy. The Blue Demish are the original Demish stock surviving only as pockets of middle-class (nobleborn) traders by the time of the series. Silver Demish, also know as H'Usians, are dominant. Silver Demish families scheme, on a generational scale, to advance their cause through marriages, judicious cost-benefit conscious engagement with Sword Law, currying favour with superiors, and throwing the best parties by securing the most fascinating and important guests. One special subclass of Demish known as Golden Demish, have religious significance to followers of the variation on Okal Rel known as Okal Lumens.

Court Gelacks use a ranking system based on the percentage of a person's genes that test positive for Sevolite markers. The Demish version of the system is the most elaborate, with nine subdivisions known as birth ranks and have varied in complexity over the centuries. The birth ranks in use at the Ava's Court, on Gelion, at the time of the series are:

1. Pureblood (100%)
2. Royalblood (50% to 100%)
3. Highlord (36.80% to 50%)
4. Seniorlord (25% to 36.80%)
5. Midlord (18% to 25%)
7. Pettylord (in the 6% to 18% range)
8. Fractional (usually at least 2 or 3%)
9. Commoner

The rank of "High Commoner" sometimes constitutes a tenth category, and is used to distinguish higher ranking servants from your run of the mill commoner in settings where such niceties matter (e.g. among servants in a Demish household). Another common solution is for important commoners to claim honorary Fractional status.

Birth ranks are sometimes called grammar classes because courtly Gelacks (people ruled by and socially influenced by the Ava's court on Gelion) need to know your birth rank to be able to construct the correct pronoun for referring to you.

Vrellish Sevolites group people according to ability. The best pilots are highborn, second class ones are nobleborn, and everyone else is a commoner. Being highborn depends on highborn syndrome, a complex of interlocking physiological traits unique to Sevolites. The lowest Sevolite ever to manifest a highborn syndrome was 36.80% Sevolite, which is why the cut off is set there. In reality, there is no guarantee that someone born more than 36.80% Sevolite will manifest as highborn because it depends on how the genes shuffle in people significantly less than 50% Sevolite. The courtly Demish would treat such a person like a highborn, but the Red Reach Vrellish would consider him or her a nobleborn.

Sword Law is a system of self-governance based on personal combat. Sevolites use it, among themselves, to settle conflicts without trashing the neighborhood. It depends on combatants having a liege (a Sevolite authority) in common, or at least a shared cultural acceptance of the dueling system of conflict resolution, enforced by peers. Problems sometimes break out along the cultural divides between sub-groups of Sevolites, leading to conflicts in space known as shake-ups, or even to space wars in rare cases. But just as most quarrels in our world end in law courts, most quarrels among Sevolites end on the challenge floor.

A key rule of Sword Law is that quarrels must be played out "within challenge class". Challenge classes, even among the Demish, parallel the Vrellish approach to dividing up Sevolites.

HIGHBORN CHALLENGE CLASS 
• Pureblood Birth Rank 
• Royal Birth Rank 
• Highlord Birth Rank

NOBLEBORN CHALLENGE CLASS 
• Seniorlord Birth Rank 
• Midlord Birth Rank

PETTY SEVOLITE CHALLENGE CLASS
• Pettylord Birth Rank
• Fractional Birth Rank

Commoners have no rights under Sword Law, so it is a moot point whether they constitute a challenge class or not.