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Ophiuchi are erect, feathered, bipeds which resemble Terran avians in many respects. Their bodies conform to those of very tall (up to 2.5 meters in height) and lean, almost emaciated, humanoids, but they are considerably lighter than their size would lead a Terran to suspect because their skeletons are hollow-boned. Their home world's gravity is approximately 1.3 times that of Earth, which puts it just inside the "Terrestroid" range and gives it a sea-level atmosphere much denser than Earth's - a fact which played an important role in Ophiuchi evolution.    Ophiuchi have very pronounced wing membranes along their "arms," and as recently as fourteen hundred years ago, well within their own recorded history, they retained a limited gliding capability. Oral tradition and fossil remains indicate they were once capable of extended flight, much as the Terran albatross, but this ability was lost as they grew larger and specialized more and more as tool users. Modern Ophiuchi cannot fly without assistance, yet they remain avid hang-gliders and are capable of skydiving feats no Terran would dare to attempt.    Ophiuchi retain the feathers, ferocious hooked beaks, and tall crests of their ancestors and do not require clothes in most environments. Their hands are remarkably human-like but for the addition of a second thumb in place of the human little finger, which gives them a degree of manual dexterity significantly greater than a Terran's. Their feet have evolved to meet the needs of prolonged walking but still possess the long, claw-armed toes and "spur" of their taloned ancestors. Although the Ophiuchi are now a peaceful race, these claws are deadly in the martial art of hanaakaat ("talon fist"), which is particularly central to the life style of the elohardaa hanaak ("wind brothers of the talon"), the traditional warrior caste.    The Ophiuchi family structure centers on the mother, though the society most certainly is not matriarchal. The mother is the arbiter of family matters and the parent to whom children turn for guidance, whereas the father is absolved of most child-rearing responsibilities but expected to be the provider and protector of his family unit. The Ophiuchi are egglayers, the female usually producing two to three eggs at a time. As with the Orion concept of "littermate," this species places a special emphasis upon the kinship between naahardaa ("nest brothers"), these being the offspring of a single hatching.    The Ophiuchi venerate a divine being known as Ophiuahaard. Ophiuahaard is envisioned as the ultimate expression of the nobility and purpose of the bird of prey. He is not cruel, nor is he particularly compassionate. Instead, he reflects the Ophiuchi belief that all beings fill a place in the orderly working of the universe. It is the role of the predator to kill to feed himself and to improve the breed of his prey by removing the slow and foolish, but not out of cruelty or the simple joy of killing. Ophiuahaard is the ultimate predator (indeed, he is sometimes referred to as "The Predator" or "The Slayer"). His function is to strengthen and challenge the Ophiuchi race, and when he must, he takes lives without malice or hatred.    There is no organized priesthood. Each individual is responsible for his or her own spiritual well-being and personal relationship with Ophiuahaard.    Ophiuchi philosophy rests on the Taainohk, or "Four Virtues." The first of these is queemharda, or "self-brotherhood," which is not an arrogant concern with self, but rather a quality similar to the ancient Terran Zen focus on self-knowledge and acceptance. Second to queemharda comes naraham, or "detachment," the ability to stand aside from the momentary harassments and concerns of the day and maintain a sense of poise, calm, and balance. The next most highly valued quality is quurohok, or "place knowing." This term expresses the Ophiuchi insistence on each individual's responsibility to know and fulfill his appointed function in life, and it is impossible to attain quurohok without queemharda. The fourth and final virtue is querhomaz, "self determination," which means the absolute determination to fulfill one's allottedallofted role, whatever it may be, at whatever cost may be demanded.    As can be seen, Ophiuchi philosophy, by Terran standards, is dispassionate and extremely duty-oriented. But the Ophiuchi do not perceive it in this light, for they believe that only by living with these standards can one feel fulfilled and at peace - and how, they would ask, can it be a "duty" to be fulfilled and at peace?    The Ophiuchi imperium is called the Ophiuchi Association because it is a free association of independent planets and species. Any Associated World may legally withdraw from the Association at any time, though none has ever done so. Despite the autonomy of its member planets, the Association is by no means a hamstrung or splintered entity, however. The Ophiuchi military, for example, is an Association-wide force which draws its personnel from all planets but is commanded by a separate political entity - The Association - rather along the lines of the 21st-century Federated Government of Earth. This force is small compared to those maintained by other star nations, but it is highly professional and possesses high esprit de corps.    As the Association's founders and most powerful single species, the Ophiuchi enjoy tremendous prestige among their fellow Association members. As a result, Ophiuchi cultural values tend to be accepted as the Association's integrating common denominator.    Ophiuchi society is dominated by the elohardaa ("wind brothers"), an aristocracy with a rigidly prescribed order of precedence and a stern code of honor. Within the nobility, the elohardaa hanaak form a select group with special prestige, despite the low militancy of the Ophiuchi. The elohardaa hanaak are somewhat akin to the Terran Japanese samurai, but they are the highest ranking of Ophiuchi nobles, not warrior retainers.    The elohardaa as a whole practice quurohok and querhomaz very strongly, believing that it is their role in life to provide and guard the stability and security of their society. They serve as officials, bureaucrats, and civil servants, and the elohardaa hanaak provide an amazingly high percentage of Ophiuchi Association military officers.    The elohardaa are headed by the Elosarkad ("wind lord"), who was once an absolute monarch. In modern Ophiuchi history, the Elosarkad's power relies on deference, not the force of law, but his prestige is so high he can virtually veto almost any act by any government of any Association planet. Yet he realizes that his mandate will lose its power should he intervene often or capriciously, and so exercises it only when absolutely necessary or in cases likely to prove popular (once the immediate furor dies down) with Association citizens.    There are few social distinctions below the elohardaa. Ophiuchi are honored more for their success in conforming with the Four Virtues than for birth or wealth, and there are few poor among them, though Ophiuchi welfare systems are very underdeveloped by Terran Heart World standards. Their highly industrialized society provides a very comfortable lifestyle for citizens willing to work, and those who are poor fall into two classes: the shihohardaa ("honor holders") and mosaakd ("dirt burrowers.") The shihohardaa are poor because they choose to be so in accordance with their understanding of quurohok and querhomaz; the mosaakd are regarded as "trash" without the will to avail themselves of the opportunities their society offers.    The Ophiuchi honor code seems oddly flexible to non-OphiuchinonOphiuchi, but, again, this derives from their philosophy. An act is honorable if it conforms to the Four Virtues as understood by the person committing the act, thus the only true dishonor lies in purposely ignoring one or more of the Virtues in one's own life.    The Association is not particularly militant. The Ophiuchi attained a world state well before leaving their own system and spent generations eradicating militaristic traditions.    The Ophiuchi Association Defense Command (OADC) has two branches: (1) The Ophiuchi Association Defense Command (Navy), or OADC(N) (2) The Ophiuchi Association Defense Command (Planetary), or OADC(P)    The OADC(N) functions as navy, survey command, and customs patrol. The OADC(P) provides ground troops, atmospheric aircraft, and low orbit assault craft and fire support in conjunction with the Navy. In addition, most member planets maintain local "militia" forces.    The OADC(N) is unabashedly a carrier force, and its fighter groups (not surprisingly, given their superb pilots) are its cutting edge. Its role as defined by OADC military doctrine is to function as a "risk fleet." That is, it is to retain a powerful and technically innovative "fleet in being" of sufficient power to deter potential aggressors. This reflects the Association's pragmatic awareness that it is too small to function as a Galactic Power without allies, and its chosen ally for over two centuries has been the Terran Federation.    The OADC(P) maintains Assault and Garrison Commands. The policing of member planets is the responsibility of individual planetary governments, so OADC(P) garrisons are generally quite small and designed only to man planetary defense centers. OADC(P) assault forces also tend to be small, but they are drawn from an elite force. In effect, the entire OADC(P) Assault Command is composed of the equivalent of Terran Marine raiders; heavily-armored troops provided with massive and flexible firepower and backed by powerful air support. The OADC(P)'s planetary defense centers are among the most heavily armed and armored installations in the galaxy to compensate for its low manpower levels.    The OADC has both suffered and profited from the lack of a modern Ophiuchi military tradition. Given their non-militaristic world state, their first space-going military organizations were makeshift units, thrown together with common sense and desperation as their only guides, but the modern OADC maintains a highly professional and unprejudiced view of its duties while recognizing the essentially anti-militaristic orientation of its parent culture. The result is uniquely Ophiuchian: a military machine with virtually no "military tradition" which is nonetheless clear-sighted, logical, intensely professional, and arguably the most efficient force in space in terms of equipment and training.    The lack of a pre-space military tradition also explains the assimilative nature of the OADC. This tendency to "borrow" from other successful militaries can be clearly seen in the OADC rank structure.    Prior to the Second Interstellar War, the OADC's ranks were a hodgepodge of the various member planets' small, individual militias and space fleets. During ISW-2, as a Terran ally, the Association simply adopted Terran Federation Naval ranks and rank insignia for both branches. Thus, what a Terran would call a Marine "major" actually holds the rank of an OADC(P) lieutenant commander. This can confuse Terran military personnel initially but is a logical system given the Association's rational and essentially non-militaristic nature.    Some Association planets conscript personnel for their individual militias, but all OADC personnel are volunteers. The OADC enjoys a high degree of interspecies integration, limited only by the need for compatible life-support environments. Although the bulk of the OADC is made up of Ophiuchis (who represent 80% of the total citizenry of the Association), almost a quarterqu r@ter of its personnel are non-OphiuchinonOphiuchi, and there is virtually no rivalry or discrimination between different races. Associated species can expect equality of advancement, for not even the Federation approaches the degree of integration of opportunity seen in the OADC's ranks. Most officers are careerists, of whom 65% come up through the ranks via OCS programs at various OADC academies. This "promote from within" policy may explain, in part, the very high morale of the OADC; the rank and file know that two-thirds of their officers have first-hand experience at the lower levels of the organization.    Another 25% of OADC officers come from staff colleges operated by the Association. They seldom hold combat commands, but rather serve as skilled technicians and provide the staff support to implement command decisions. The bulk of OADC R&D personnel also come from this group of officers.    The final 10% of the OADC's officer corps consists of transfers from member-planet militias. Such officers are normally accepted only if of extraordinary quality and, once accepted for OADC service, retain their "home militia" ranks as reserve commissions while serving as regular OADC off icers.    The OADC can baffle non-Ophiuchi military analysts, for it has virtually no protocol at all. It regards itself as a professional organization which, almost coincidentally, happens to have a military function. Salutes, rituals of rank, sideboys, and all the other traditions so beloved of Terran and Orion alike are unknown in the OADC, where a superior officer is simply the fellow in charge. Even the Ophiuchi "uniform" reflects this attitude. The Ophiuchi, well protected by their downy feathers, have no tradition of clothing as costume, and their anti-clothing orientation, coupled with the diversity of species serving in the OADC, hardly provides an astonishing range of uniforms.    The only common element in OADC uniforms is the collar badge rank and branch insignia, largely copied from the Federation. Although referred to as "collar" badges, they are actually worn on a very wide variety of devices, ranging from true collars to necklaces and necklets. One species - the Lirkrinish - even wears its insignia surgically implanted in its thick cranial carapace! When hostile-environment gear is required, the OADC follows the Terran practice of stenciling rank and unit insignias in appropriate places, but, given the wide range of body forms in the OADC, this location tends to vary from species to species.    Only two bodies within the OADC have special distinguishing badges: the Corthohardaa ("Space Brothers") and Dahanaak ("Talon Strike") units. The Corthohardaa are the fighter pilots of the OADC(N), and all are racial Ophiuchi for the simple reason that the Ophiuchi, who retain the innate sense of motion in three dimensions of their flying ancestors, are the finest fighter pilots in the galaxy. The Dahanaak are the elite first wave echelon - the storm troopers - of the OADC(P). The Corthohardaa's branch badges are surmounted by a stylized Hasfrazi head - the "Screaming Eagle," as Terran personnel are wont to call it - and the Dahanaak's emblem is a stylized representation of an attacking assault shuttle.    The OADC is well suited to the Ophiuchi view of the galaxy, for the Ophiuchi do not see themselves as the creators of a galactic state. The diversity of their own society virtually precludes any sort of monolithic cultural template on which to build one, of course, but the real reason is the basic Ophiuchi belief that each race must be free, insofar as compatible with Ophiuchi security, to pursue its own concept of the Four Virtues. Their alliance with the Federation seems to stem from their belief that the Federation is least likely to interfere with their own pursuit of these goals and most likely to eventually pursue them on its own part. It should be noted, however, that the Ophiuchi concept of performing well one's "role" in the universe extends to the political and military agreements the race enters into. The Ophiuchi thus make loyal and powerful allies... and dangerous foes.    Back