A peculiar little species can be found on planet Snirg. Snirg, home to curious ecosystems, a humongous swamp known as Tribok, surrounded by one big ocean, holds more than sixhundredthousand species. Life on Snirg is almost always of aquatic or amphibian lifestyle but cannot be compared to life on earth at all. Tribok, home to the terrifiying Underks, the magnificient Troubadoux, and the short lived Snips, has brought up a sapient species known as the Mollakians.
Here you see a picture of a Mollakian:
The Mollakian is an amphibious species, living in the swamps of Snirg. They are most likely to be compared with mollusk typed animals from earth. Over the years, the once aquatic specimen moved to the shallower waters, then to Tribok itself and reshaped so that two of it tentacles became several limbs. Not relying on a bone structure, but strong muscles, the Mollakians were able to become adept climbers of the High reaching Mushreets, which are comparable to a hybrid of mammoth trees and mushrooms. They used this ability to sneak up on prey from above, and also they could feed of the roof of the Zritmushreet, which has a high protein amount. Their omnivorous nature makes the Mollakian an adept survivor, even without its intelligence. Their sapience was gained over several millions of years, while using simple tools to catch Fnips out of their nets and Hulus out of their buildings.
Their physique grants them highly developed senses, as their skin is 500 times as effective as a human's, this is used to feel poisons and toxins before they reach the epidermis. When poison is found, by the way, a gland secretes a antitoxin or a repellant in oil form. Their eyes can see in the darky as the Mushreets cover most of the light away, while they can hear as good as a mouse. The Mollakians need to live at least 10 hours per day in the water, as their skin begins to dry and they lose the ability to move. Mollakians have two genders, the male sprouts on the eggs which the female lays into a safe pond.
Over the years, as previously stated, the Mollakians developed intelligence, and with it a strange culture. It is a result of several conflicts and philosophical trends. At the beginning of the Mollakian phase, the Mollakians were not much more than animals, roaming about the swamp of Tribok. This was until they learned to harvest and plant small Mushkeets with high nutritions onto the wet and slippery bases of Greater Mushkeets. With plantation there came the first building, which was a seperated pool with a roof, and crude pumps to change the water from time to time. The first buildings were inhabitted by mostly entire tribes, each Mollakian taking shifts to pump in new water. Their pump, by the way, were basically shovels which carried water out, while there was a floodgate to refill the roofpools. Over time the Mollakians developed pool systems as their population grew. Aquapolis developed several thousand years later, but not until the fire was discovered. (there are several Mushreets with highly flammable liquids inside) The fire was kept hanging down from the roof, build by rocks found on the bottom of the swamps. The other technology needed to develop Aquapolis was the use of iron and bronze, which was found in rock layers on the swamp floors.
After several hundred of years, the system of Aquapolis had spread all over Snirg, and conflicts arose over land. There were several Aquapolis which have to be noted: Urug, Invent, and Tra. These three cities, of completely different cultures, were the cultural, philosophical, religious, technological, and industrial centers of the world. While Urug had a philosophy based on Arat Mak, which proposed prosperity by trade, and ethics of peace, Invent followed the way of Murlak the Misanthrope, who believed that there should be one ruler for all Mollakians, and this ruler had to prove himself as a battle hero as well as a cunning prince (his works can be compared to Machiavelli, Sun-Tzu, and the Bushido). Tra taught and lived the teachings of Miros Candaba, who believed in rationality, and industry. Over the year there were several wars and conflicts up until Drugusla the Little One, a daughter of a merchant family and a philosopher, proposed to end the wars by imposing a festival of competition. Here all the disciplines would be proven, and the heros of these battles could claim land to themselves becoming vassals of their home Aquapolis. There were competitions in fighting, the arts, sports, philosophy, basically everything, they even had a technology display. This competition was accepted by all the Aquapolis, except for a minor one named Trench, which recently joined the League though. This international competition not only stopped the wars, it also brought a rapid growth in technology and philosophy, as they all wanted to win to gain power. This went on, up until there was no land left to give away. The portions were almost equally divided, many smaller nations submitted themselves to the major powers of Urug, Invent, and Tra. The next problem arose, if there was no land to gain anymore, there was no reason not to take the others out to gain more. The Great Lords of the three polis were already planning on military action, while many vassals of all nations met at the infamous Rifnak Assembly (Rifnak is now the Capital of Snirg). Over the years of competition, the people learned from one another and saw many similarities. They did not want to go to war with each other so they planned an action of revolution. They allied up, and proposed a system, not unlike democracy, to the Great Lords, abashed by the sheer numbers of dissidents they unwillingly agreed. The competitions went on, bringing in trade, technology, and fame, now granting the ability to be apointed to go to the government (this was to assure that only the greatest could go into the governments. Not only 300 years later the nations decided to create one nation (and the competition goes on) and they decided on Rifnak to be their capital, not only as it was the center of the Swamp, but also because it had a beautiful historical background.
