Kammee by Nicoy

The Kammee are a Taianese caste of engineered lifeforms created early during the post liang_war period. Most Kammee reside within the Empire of Tai Pan working labor intensive jobs on behalf of higher castes, but some manage to escape and roam across the sector looking for their own happiness.

• Capital: Liang (Tai Pan)
• Major Populations: Empire of Tai Pan, Alarie
• Minor Populations: The Interstellar Alliance, Solarity of Kowloon

Kammee often have harsh, challenging lives of exploitation or flight, and many are hardy, self-motivating, and relish the comfort of others. They can come from a variety of backgrounds and life paths, from humble construction workers, paper pushers, servants to vaunted Dragons, or those who've fled abroad. Particularly motivated Kammee may purchase their own limited form of freedom within the empire.

Possible Kammee backgrounds:

• Labor worker: Sent wherever the Tai Pan empire needs to send lots of bodies, the average kammee worker has served in menial roles supporting high forms in everything from hard labor and construction, to cultural and entertainment industries.
• Free-Range Agent: Within Tai Pan kammee are able to earn a measure of freedom by paying for a license to undertake whatever labor or endeavor they wish. The cost of this freedom is not cheap, and payments are frequent. Failure to deliver means being sent back to the labor units.
• Escaped or Dumped: Sometimes Kammee search for freedom, sometimes it is dumped upon them due to “cultural contamination”. Kammee can be found throughout the sector plying a variety of trades, and even captaining their own starships enjoying freedom enough, but many remain haunted by the shadow of an empire.

During the period immediately after the Liang War, the Taianese population had been pushed to its limits after being decimated by the war, and now having wrested control of Liang had not the population to maintain and forge it. Despite the taianese mastery of genetics, regular Tai Pan forms were expensive to produce and took too long to mature to be useful.

The Mandate cast came up with a coldly logical solution. They required a new caste to fill in the gaps of the land they had conquered, and they had existing lifeforms from which to base it off of. They opted to formulate a mixed organism of human, elf, and perhaps a little other genetic material to produce something they could control, and endlessly modify to their own ends.

The first Kammee were engineered to be servants and workers. Almost indistinguishable from humans or half-elves, but this was insufficient. The dragons needed to push the Kammee beyond their human origin to be what they needed. Augmentation. After a decade the Kammee numbered in millions and labored in the forges of Tai Pan (Liang) to make the planet into the image the Mandate desired.

Kammee are a mass-produced engineered organism, and as such batches of them often appear very much alike. When “born”, Kammee are a fully formed adolescent. They are then rapidly augmented with all manner of cybernetics befitting their assigned profession, all the while subjecting the growing body to neural stimulation and education to make them a productive citizen immediately after release.

Kammee with less extreme cybernetic augmentations appear very similar to humans with unique ethnic stylings. Their faces and ears hint and elf heritage, while their eyes sparkle with human intelligence. Their skin is unusually smooth, and birth marks are rare. Unless specificed, however, this appearance may easily change as their bodies are augmented to fit their role. Many of their adaptions, while useful, may fundamentally change the appearance of the Kammee in question. Resulting in half-machine amalgamations and distressingly invasive augmentation.

Kammee can eat any human compatible food, however being a low caste and highly augmented, many are able to subsist off of nutrient rich fluids and processed foods.

Kammee are able to survive in any environment with humans, however they may receive specialized skin augments to cope with extreme atmospheres such as frontier planets. Kammee themselves often live in small, cramped quarters with the rest of their labor unit whenever they aren’t working long shifts at whatever their assigned work is.

Being a rapidly engineered and lower caste of the Taianese strata, Kammee genetic sequencing is less precise and rather more random than regular Tai Pan citizens. The staggering short start-stop sequence of their growth cycle introduces all new factors to their adult aging. While some will live only forty or so years, a few well preserved individuals may live up to 200 years.

Kammee culture is fostered by the Taipan Empire to be one of minimalist living, collectivized identity, and strong work ethic. Where their loyalty will be rewarded, and they are given the chance to improve themselves through the purchase of more desirable cybernetic upgrades. They are paid in a unique chit based on the labor hours, and have a modest amount of social mobility for Tai Pan, with limited numbers of Kammee being able to change labor units if they can purchase the right augmentations.

Particularly dedicated kammee may purchase a license to not participate in the group labor and instead pursue other ventures, starting their own business' and industries. However these licenses are not cheap to get or maintain, and unsuccessful free-range kammee are brought back to group spec and placed back in the labor pool if these payments cannot be made good.

Kammee clothing often features integrated technology, with rugged construction and hardy materials. They are most often seen in their work uniforms which can be an array of dazzling safety measures and high-visibility strips.

Kammee food tends between the dull but nutritious food cubes they are given during working hours, and the vast array of unusual creations they concoct on their off-work hours for their own amusement. The ground floors of many of their complexes are converted into miniature market places, with their own food outlets run by free-range kammee.

Most are only able to speak Kantongo, however some may speak a variety of languages as opportunity and duties allow. While the Taianese specifically forbid the use of slang words in their planned language, many kammee play faster and looser with the language for expediency. This practice is frowned upon by many higher castes, and so is a rather underground affair among the units of kammee.

Kammee names are created based on where they are expected to be placed. Each labor unit takes up one of the 44,000 names of the Taipan, then subdivided into a unit, usually taking a sign such as Delta, Ash, or other, and then a six digit hex number. Due to the Kammee being dynamic with their language they often adopt short names among their friends and collegues to keep better track within their own units.

Example Kammee names:

• Chan Gamma 14-02-08
• Dai-ze Pi 06-12-09
• Sutar Delta 02-04-16
• Konna Alpha B1-AF-D3

Kammee are the lowest form of Taianese and participate in all three castes as servants, workers, and soldiers. Due to this status and deliberate repression and misdirection from Taipan society they have very limited social power, being expected to do what they’re told. However, to mistreat kammee is considered a grave misdeed, and will generally cause an intervention. Praise and reward of kammee is often enthusiastic for good behavior and results, in a manner that is often patronizing to outsider observers.

The closest kammee have to a merchant class would be those who’ve taken a Economic Free-Range agreement with the state, attempted to produce more incentive credits from their own efforts than what the consistent and exorbitant fees of such a license demand. This merchant class often fills service roles for other kammee, such as manufacturing augmentations for other kammee, or running of specialty food outlets.

Kammee produce very little technology themselves, most of the items they need for work being created for them by their Taianese masters. However, those with Economic free-range do manage to produce good from either purchased, or repurposed Taianese technology. Indeed many of these mechanics and technical experts are very skilled at the repair and reuse of Taianese technology.

Home-grown Kammee tech tends to be very low-tech and ingenious, including pneumatic firearms and cobbled together machinery to make alcohol, flavorings, and music.

Kammee are motivated both by a heavily enforced work ethic and an internal chit currency they may use to purchase personal items during their limited off time. Many of these items are personal upgrades to their augmentations, improving their performance or aesthetics.

By accumulating enough of this chit currency some kammee may purchase a license of Economic Free-Range, attempting to acquire more chit through their own activity. Being economically Free-Range is often a razors edge of staying productive, the fees of such license are frequent and steep.

Jimmy's Notes: Kammee are an interesting race that can be played almost anywhere in the setting, and give players enormous options on where and how their characters are in the setting. Planned expansions include a greater explanation of Free-Range Kammee, further expanding on the roles in Taianese society, including kammee working in culture and entertainment, tourist management, and acting. Eventually I would like to make a Kammee Character Creation page.

• Kammee by Nicoy, owned by Jimmy