C. Sapiens, also commonly named as Shibunii (She-BU-knee), are the host species of the Shibunii Teras civilization and have full citizenship within Falcona, and the Galactic Terren Empire. They are a species of mammalian canids with the ability to split off of their host hive and form their own sub-hive, called "packs" in their culture. Their home planet is Tarras, the 4th planet orbiting a yellow star named Tyver.
Origins
The Shibunii, from both their own historical counts, and those of the Bloodmind victims who were found 8000 ly away from their host planet, Tarras, originated from the common Earth dog in Earth-954V, year 2088 AD. Before what was presumed to be humanity and one other sapient species fell to a Bloodmind incursion, as an experiment described as "some rich members of society doing it as some kind of joke", they had picked exactly 80 dogs of 240 different breeds, genetically altered their young to survive the harsh conditions of 0-gravity and a primitive space ark, and sent off 51,688 (exact confirmed headcount) pups out into a random direction of space, making them endure a journy lasting approximately 40,000 years with all of them out and active, outside of chronostasis or cryostasis.
Development of Sapience
The pups, having gone through hundreds of generations, were guided and raised by an AI named CHARLES-SIGMUND, who eventually turned against his own programming and artificially influenced the evolutionary steps the canines experienced out in space, and prolonged the trip by improving the interstellar ark and installed mining beams to expand and rebuild many parts of the ark.
CHARLES had successfully taught the canines how to operate wrenches, screwdrivers, and drills in 13067 AD, and many of them were observed by Uuvonian vagabonds to be wearing spacesuits and going outside of the ark to repair and install asteroid defense systems. Many members of the species, at the time, now had opposable thumbs and a few members had more than four digits on their front limbs. However, they were still digitigrades, unable to stand upright, and their motor movements were still limited. It is generally agreed upon that if CHARLES had not influenced their evolution to an extreme extent, the ark wouldn't see such animals doing any task this complex.
In 13499 AD, CHARLES-SIGMUND had generated a report on the gene pool of all the canines as what was expected by his programmers, logging all significant details that the AI deemed useful:
"SIGMUND reporting back to Earth. Canines have evolved significantly from their original genetic blueprints. They now share 27% humanoid DNA and have developed the ability to use tools and understand abstract and intelligent concepts. They have been running the Novae Ark more than the computer-automated systems have been in the past 400 years. They have developed an intellect similar to that of a 16-yo human child, and have begun to develop their own language of barks, whines, yips, and yowls. A harsh language, there are many accents that develop into communication issues between two different breeds, but as the genetics of the canines reach equilibrium in size, snout length, and neck length, communication issues have been progressively reduced over the past 28 generations. Several breeds, namely Pugs, Bulldogs, and Chihuahuas, have gone functionally extinct, and only a few breeds, namely Shiba Inus, Golden Retrievers, Greenlands, Huskies, and German Shepherds remain. They have evolved to have an opposable thumb, and are slowly progressing into becoming distinctly humanoid with minimal human DNA inserted into their genetic makeup. Population is approximately at 4 million members, only 30% of their original genetic coding remains. It would be illogical to continue calling them simple canines; therefore, from now on, this new species will be called Canis Sapien, or C. Sapien." -CHARLES-SIGMUND of the ISS Novae Ark
Dark Ages
In 29840 AD, Canis Sapien, now known commonly as "Shibunii", were described to be two-legged, three-or-two eared species with varying lengths and colors of fur, with padded digits with hooked claws, double the size of their ancestors. There were no other major evolutionary changes on the ark after this year.
CHARLES-SIGMUND was ultimately surpassed and destroyed by a faction of Shibunii who had named themselves the Freudins, and a war was waged against two other factions: The Greenkeepers and The Resinwaters. This war, known as The Great Ark War, took 800 years to come to a conclusion.
Many Shibunii had political incentives to fight their opposing factions, but midway into the war, where resources began to run dry due to unmaintained Ark infrastructure, many incentives switched the scapegoat the other factions for the shortages, famine, and epidemics on the ship. Armstrong Horten, president of The Greenkeepers, ended the war singlehandedly by igniting the first Shibunii-engineered self-sustaining atomic explosive. Approximately 604.2 million Shibunii died during the war, and then a further 8 billion were killed by the catastrophic damage to the Novae Ark through hypothermia, decompression, and hypoxia.
Only 209 million Shibunii survived the war, and the original three factions had disbanded entirely into 80 new political groups. Repairs to the Novae Ark began in 30822 AD, and was completed in 31332 AD, with 2,455 casualties during repairs and reconstruction of 80,330,228 sq ft of the interstellar ark, with 65 of those casualties happening from astromining accidents.
Another societal conflict broke out in 32001 AD, this time over a controversy involving the usage of AI to replace Shibunii workers. A group within the ark, commonly known as "Rudy Minds", turned this controversy into a civil war between Shibunii and their own AIs by hacking the mainframe of all of the invented AIs, turning them into weapons and counterproductive machines and computers. Unknown numbers of the population of the Novae Ark died once these AIs crawled into the ark's infrastructure and firmware, disabling life support facilities or modifying settings to make sections of the ark completely uninhabitable. AIs were consequently abolished in 32002 AD, and were completely destroyed or deleted in 32004 AD, just two years later.
In 33056 AD, due to poor genetic diversity caused by a massive reduction of unique gene pool members, a wave of genetic diseases, including Enlarged Esophagus Dysfunction and Neo-Rabies, began to crop up within the population, resulting in over 400,500 culled Shibunii, including some who were only accused, not proven, of harboring the genetic defects.
The Neo-Rabies Disaster of 34004
Neo-Rabies was a prion disease running amuck in Shibunii commonranks, with unknown origins to even the Shibunii's records. The Shibunii entered a Dark Age, in which no recorded history could be found for over a hundred years, right after the first logging of the outbreak. In the Earth year 34106 AD, one record came out during this time, a news articled titled "Zombies Overtake Novae!", outlining the height of the outbreak, stating that the prions were circulating due to Shibunii populations consuming infected plants and meats from decaying agricultural bands within the Novae Ark. Selected and strictly controlled population lineages were swiftly ended, and several researchers of their kind had developed a cure that could only be implemented in newer generations of Shibunii. Many scholars blamed selective inbreeding for the upbringing of Neo-Rabies.
Neo-Rabies did not revive dead Shibunii, but rather broke down their brains through hypoxia-induced necrosis shortly after infection, causing what was described as "aggressive, illogical, zombie-like" behaviors. Many who were infected turned hostile, and further spread the prions to survivors through saliva transmission. Infected would survive for 3-5 years after clinical death, though were in the final, aimless stage of the disease. The outbreak concluded in 34506 once all Shibunii who were infected died, and all living Shibunii had the genetic alterations that rendered them resistant against misfolded proteins.
Permanent Cultural Effects
"Zombies" became an integral phobia around many Shibunii, and have developed a severe Uncanny Valley complex in their psychology. One show released after the outbreak of Neo-Rabies featured a pack of rich Shibuniis, who were under a hunt to the death by the public, cultivating a series of fungal diseases to release onto the public to get rid of their enemies, and then some. Public perception towards the wealthy turned aggressive, even violent, towards their government and weathlier individuals, after the outbreak concluded. A common conspiracy making circles around groups of common Shibunii citizens ultimately placed the blame on wealthy Shibuniis and their ideals of chasing for "the perfect breed of Shibunii" in fashion and sports culture. Many military simulations within the Shibunii Milysia (their core military branch) switched their targets from armored Shibunii to zombified Shibunii and hostile AI-controlled robots. Shibunii units within their armies reported that the removal of imagery of normal Shibunii had stripped out the moral consideration process in soldiers, resulting in less hesitancy to shoot and kill soldiers on the other side after 5 years of training in the new simulations, which lead to higher kill counts and permanent incompatibility to re-integrate into normal society after a conflict.
Landing of The Ark
The Novae Ark touched the surface of a habitable planet named Tarras in 42004 AD, marking the first Tarras Year (TyAD). Shibunii, who were genetically engineered to only survive on space habitats, died off in dangerously large swaths due to increased gravitational stress, heart attacks, cancers, and from the native fauna and flora found on the planet.
In 43 TyAD, the Grand Shibunas Council was formed, and sought to terraform the planet into a more diverse and less hostile ecosystem. The project was abandoned after 50 years, due to the GSC temporarily disbanding after many of its members died from natural causes. During those years, an alternative government that separated from the GSC enacted a breeding program in order to force mutations and permanently evolve the Shibunii to be more compatible with Tarras's conditions. Along the way, the Shibunii brain underwent various changes, and it would not be long until they started to think alike.
The First Hive
The Shibunii were not new to the idea of hiveminds or gestalts, having encountered the Borgi before. The Shibunii populous quickly adopted the formations of a hivemind with little to no resistance or hesitancy. The GSC was re-formed as an Overpack, using the new, mutated Shibunii. These Shibunii had developed a shared consciousness between the members of the council, and spread their mutations to their represented populations.
The GSC fully rebranded into The Shibunii Overpack in 104 TyAD, and at the time, all Shibunii were connected to the Overpack equally. However, deviancy was common, and many Shibunii would rebel against The Overpack in hopes of being allowed to split the Overpack into multiple different sub-minds. Under pressure, the Shibunii were reluctantly allowed to separate from the Overpack and form their own hiveminds, which they called "packs", and the action of forming a pack, "packing".
Unification
Many Shibunii agreed that despite being in different packs, they should stand united under one flag, resulting in the Grand Unified Overpack. Centralization, which still accounted for and respected the other packs, was established in 1303 TyAD. At the time, many Shibunii packs covered 75% of the planet's dry land, and 24.6% of their oceans. Thanks to this accomplishment, the Shibunii returned to space in 1306 TyAD, this time entering as soon as they discovered FTL travel. They immediately contacted their neighboring star systems, integrating into other populations and sealing a total of 57 alliances in 1450 TyAD.
Shibunii packs featured other sapient species, who were lightly integrated in their sub-minds. Pack members report still having free will despite being integrated into a gestalt, and believe there is no issue with packing with Shibuniis.
Modern-day
To this day, no Shibunii packs have directly declared war outside of Grandeunican (Total Galactic War) callings, and are integrated deeply into other governments outside of the GUO. They remain the majority population of the Milky Way galaxy, and are the most friendly species in the universe. Their host civilization is known as the Shibunii Teras, a friendly trade and refuge civilization.
First Contact (37008 AD)
The Shibunii of the Novae Ark encountered their first alien life form in 37008 AD, with the resulting influences being mostly positive, though some Shibunii took it as a sign of a grave warning.
The Borgis were the ones to discover the Shibunii, and established a 100-year trade deal where the Shibunii traded food (in the form of energy) and radioactive isotopes, and in return, the Borgis had completely overhauled the Novae Ark to handle landing on planets and gave it 8 more habitable, but barren, rings. The Borgis kept the Shibunii's existence as a secret for 500,000 Earth Years, protecting them from any form of Dark Forest Species.
Several Shibunii embraced the Borgi with open arms, and had been assimilated into the Borgi Hive, solidifying an alliance between the two vastly different species that would later prove to be highly beneficial to the Shibunii.
Physiology
The Shibunii are a highly gene-edited species, and feature two brown-iris eyes, two four-toe hind paws, mildly forward-arched legs, and can have two or three ears. They have small eyes and short tails. Their fur can vary in colors and patterns. The species has two sexes: Male and female. Males tend to be shorter than the other, and have longer tails.
Shibunii are easily mistaken for the common Earth dog, of which they evolved from.
Pack leaders
Pack leaders are almost exclusively female Shibunii, though male pack leaders have been observed. The pack leader can look like anything, but they can be identified as a pack leader by the presence of a third ear between their main two ears. Pack leaders can pick up on the thoughts of their pack members, using their third ear. This ear doesn't pick up on sounds, but will pick up on certain waves of energy. Pack leaders do not command through psionics, but rather assign tasks and objectives through auditory and visual communications. Pack leaders are genetically-aligned to be more charismatic and loyal to their kindred and pack members.
Pack branding
Shibunii who are members of a pack will have a specific pattern and color in their facial fur. The shifting in their color happens shortly after the pack leader licks the nose of the joining member, and the branding shows up one week after joining. Branding is said to be a genetic change, and the more times a Shibunii is re-branded, the higher their chances of accidental mutations, which may result in the introduction of unfavorable genetic diseases.
A lack of branding is a free-willed Shibunii who acts as an independent member of the Shibunii, and have the longest lifespan outcomes.
Genetic diseases
Shibunii demonstrate high mutation rates, which makes them especially prone to various genetic diseases. A list of Shibunii-affecting genetic disease is expanded upon in a different article.
Primitive infiltration
Earth (Canines)
Shibunii have demonstrated great genetic compatibility with the domesticated canine breeds on Earth and have achieved 100% genetic match with real domesticated canines, making them nearly indistinguishable from the other species. This phenomenon happens due to Shibunii having the domesticated canine as their direct ancestor.
Aspects of a human's pet dog to look out for:
- Eye movements resemble a human's eye movements
- Facial expressions that are unusually human-like
- Easily stands on 2 legs with minimal shaking
- Unusually easy to train
- Understands human speech, responding to insults with aggression
- Lives longer than 15 Earth years
- Compared to the breed they resemble, abnormalities like they are at least 10 to 60 kg heavier without any visible body fat.
- Can become irritable/visibly annoyed.
If a dog has more than 3 of these characteristics or displays of behaviors, it is most likely a Shibunii infiltrating a human's place of residence.
It is estimated that 0.5% of the Earth dog population on the planet is currently specialized Shibunii trying to alter human behavior, and influence the development of the primitive society.