Kuborano (WIP)

⊍<⊔⟃⟔⅃⊡⟃

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Overview

Kuborano is a modern-technology civilisation made up of two primary races, the cube-people and the frog-folk. It features brutalist steampunk cities, giant insects, multi-dimensional war and the story of two very different peoples forging a friendship that transcends space and time itself.

History

The Formation Of Kuborano

The two nations first came together after the frog-folk were forced from their ancestral home. previously, many frog-folk houses lived in the wetlands, some as peaceful farmers and others as travelling nomads. Wars in hostile neighbouring nations soon spilled out into these wetlands. Though the frog-folk are fierce fighters, their numbers were fewer and their weapons less advanced and they were forced to flee. The frog-folk soon began to migrate West, and would eventually come to the sea which separated the mainland from Cube Island where the cube-people dwelt.

The frog-folk pleaded for asylum which the cube-people granted. Though settling the frog-folk was at first difficult, the two species soon found that their ways and customs, though different, were very complimentary. The frog-folk were able to settle the areas of Cube Island which the cube-people could not, the lowland swamps and craggy peaks which were ideal for the frog-folk and their insect farms. The cube-people were fascinated with the culture of the frog-folk and adored the music and art that the frog-folk created. Meanwhile, the frog-folk were protected by the cube-people and their technology which was advanced enough that the hostile nations which were formerly a danger to the survival of the frog-folk were no longer a threat. The cube-people shared their written language with the frog-folk, who had no written language of their own and passed on their history via oral tradition. They soon began sharing their great mythologies with adoring cube-people audiences through the beautiful frog-folk medium of croak singing.

The two nations decided to unite as one, renaming Cube Island to Kuborano (⊍<⊔⟃⟔⅃⊡⟃ in cube-person script) which means Cube-Frog in the frog-folk language. They also named the capital, cube-city to Amikeco, which means friendship. Within a generation not only had a new nation formed but a new culture, built upon the grand and historic traditions of two very different species living together in beautiful symbiotic harmony.

Alas, all would not stay peaceful. A century after Kuborano's formation, alien intervention into the war on the mainland tore a rift in space-time which caused Kuborano to fall into a mirror-universe. There they would encounter the sphere-people and toad-tribes, the nation of Pilkobufo (⸅｢⦝⊍⟃⊔<⊏⟃) which would soon become the mortal enemy of Kuborano.

The War With Pilkobufo

The sphere-people were a force of chaos, social Darwinists who stood for all that the cube-people loathed, disunity and destruction. Whilst the frog-folk were lovers of art, beauty and music, the toad-tribes were philistines who hated such distractions. Beyond that they were a cruel and unjust people. The toad-tribes and the sphere-people had united into the nation of Pilkobufo in their world in order to destroy or subjugate all other peoples, taking slaves to built ugly monuments to the toad-tribe leaders and giant Rube-Goldberg machines for the entertainment of the sphere-people, who would then destroy the machines and the statues for further amusement.

When Kuborano entered this mirror-universe, they were immediately attacked by the forces of Pilkobufo. But the combined might of Kuborano proved a match for their foul counterparts. Spiteful spheres smashed into phalanxes of noble cube paladins whilst fine frog warriors set out on their scorpion steeds to slay the toad barbarians on their battle-crabs. The war raged for years, with many ebbs and flows, never quite falling to the advantage of either side.

It may well have gone on forever, two equal and opposing forces clashing against one another unto the end of time.

Luckily, this was not the case. The fact that Kuborano had been teleported into the mirror-universe had not gone unnoticed by the grey aliens who had inadvertently caused it to happen. They returned to the mirror universe in order to right their wrong and return Kuborano to its rightful place in the multiverse. Whilst the aliens attempted to recreate their original mistake, Kuborano retreated from the front lines to prepare to jump back to their old universe. They were aided by the aliens' allies from another alternate universe, the pyramid-people and salamander-sages who had once formed the high-tech magical nation of Konudrako (⊍⟃⊡<⊐⟔⅃⊍⟃). The Konudrakoans were few in number, for their own world had been destroyed and the greys had been able to save only a few pyramid-people and salamander-sages. However, just a few of these mighty warriors were enough to hold off the forces of Pilkobufo.

The greys managed to recreate the accident which had sent Kuborano into the mirror-universe, destroying themselves in the process achieving a noble martyrdom. But alas, they did not send Kuborano back to its original universe. They were instead sent to a strange new world no-one had heard of before.

A world called Earth.

Kuborano crashed down into the Atlantic ocean around 500 km (approx. 310 miles) North-West of Spain in July 2019. Now the people of Kuborano must learn to live in this strange new world, with these strange new people who call themselves 'humans'. But the Kuboranoans are hopeful. For if cubes and frogs can learn to live together, as well as some toad defectors, pyramid-people and salamander-sages (but not awful sphere-people who are all terrible), then surely humans can also learn to live with them.

Kuborano On Earth

Earth is very different to the previous planets Kuborano was located upon and there is much to learn. The primary difference is that on Kuborano's original world, the internal combustion engine was never invented. This does not mean that Kuboranoan technology is less advanced than Earth's technology, merely that it developed along different lines with some notable differences, primarily in regards to transportation.

For example, before the formation of Kuborano, long-distance transport consisted of co-operational telekinetic carriage travel in which multiple cube-people would use their combined powers to quickly propel a carriage in which they all sat. After the arrival of frog-folk, large beetles were used to haul carriages and the frog-folk's giant centipedes were also utilised as steeds across difficult, off-road terrain. Now that Kuborano has reached Earth, they have been introduced to the concept of cars, though the environmentally conscious Kuboranoans have only introduced electric cars to the island and insect-based transport is still very popular. Kuborano also never developed air-travel and the concept of planes is fascinating to them, but once again the environmental ramifications of air travel leave them concerned.

Another change is the addition of human populations. Many humans visit the island as tourist and a small but growing minority have migrated to Kuborano to build a life for themselves there. Humans are capable of living in cube-cities, frog-settlements and the mixed areas adjusted for the needs of cube-people and frog-folk, so relatively little change is needed for the accommodation of human beings. Whilst it is difficult for many to live on the island with strange new species, the humans who do choose to move there find themselves welcome. Kuboranoan history highlights the great value in different peoples working together after all.

Whilst Kuborano has welcomed its population of human migrants to the island, the reverse is not universally true. Whilst many nations have engaged with Kuborano in the spirit of friendliness and diplomacy, there has been a mixed speciesist response from many factions in many countries across the globe and some nations have closed their borders to any non-human. In contrast, the only nation Kuborano avoided upon its arrival was France due to their reputation for eating frogs' legs, though this faux pas was quickly corrected and remedied.

Physiology

Cube-people

The cube-people are cubes which usually grow to somewhere between 4x4x4 ft and 5x5x5 ft at adulthood. They travel via telekinetic levitation and can usually move at around 3 or 4 mph, though they can move at up to 10 to 15 mph if they exert themselves. They also manipulate objects in the world around them through telekinesis. Most cube-people are capable of lifting roughly the same amount of weight as an average human, though like humans the amount of weight a cube-person is capable of lifting depends on the degree of training that cube person has done. Whilst a strong human can be spotted via muscle-mass, a strong cube-person can be spotted by how brightly they glow when performing telekinesis. Cube-people come in various shades of green due to the chlorophyll found in their bodies for the purposes of photosynthesis, which is how the cube-people eat. They absorb water and oxygen through their skin, which is how they drink and breathe.

Frog-folk

The frog-folk usually grow to around 6 feet long (around 3 feet, 6 inches high) and come in an array of vibrant colours. Some frogs of different houses are poisonous. They are not anthropomorphic humanoid frogs. Rather, they look like very large versions of ordinary frogs with opposable thumbs which allow them to use tools. Most frog-folk alternate between walking on 4 legs or waddling on 2 legs depending on whether their hands are occupied and comfortably rest in an upright squatting position when not in motion. Some frog-folk have trained themselves to stand upright with their legs fully extended, which increases their height to around 9 feet, though moving when stood upright like a human is almost impossible for them, which is why they aren't classed as humanoid.

Culture

Cube-people

The cube-people are logical and utilitarian in nature. They build cities of brutalist, utilitarian buildings and live in cube-hives which are essentially warehouses with padded square holes cut in the walls which cube-people rest in. Upon their arrival on Earth, cube-people voices were compared to those of the battle-droids from the Star Wars prequels. After viewing the movies, Kuboranoan diplomats agreed to this assertion.

The cube-people greatly love sport, their favourite of which is boxing. However, cube-person boxing is an entirely different sport to human boxing, which has led to much confusion. Cube-person boxing involves a literal box, which members of two opposing teams attempt to wear for the longest period of time in an hour. Another cube-person sport is called pushio which is essentially human sumo-wrestling. Pushio is popular amongst all Kuboranoans as it can be played by any species given that a cube-person's telekinetic strength is roughly equivalent to that of a frog-folk or human.

Frog-folk

Insect farming is a big part of frog-person society, they use insects for a variety of purposes. Giant centipedes are bred to ride upon, as are the great lugger beetles, who are also used for labour along with giant ants. Many different varieties of fly are bred for consumption, and shiny beetles, ladybirds and other attractive insects are kept as pleasant pets. The bravest of frog-folk become scorpion-riders. It is a difficult vocation to master and many frog-folk die trying, for when riding the scorpion one must always remain in full control lest they be stung. The frog-folk who master the skill are renowned as great heroes.

Frog-folk also breed the mojo bug, which is used for recreational purposes. When ingested, the mojo bug causes a feeling of great lightness and elation as well as hallucinations amongst the frog-folk. The mojo bug has been bred by insect farmers for generations and is often consumed as a right of passage for frog-folk upon entering adulthood. Human beings seem to be unaffected by the effects of the mojo bug. However, humans do get a strange high when licking certain types of frog-folk and some toad-folk. As a result of this, Kuborano has developed a small sub-section of their tourism industry which is based around places dubbed "lango parlours" meaning "tongue parlours", where people can come to lick the workers there to attain a high.

Military

The Kuboranoan military is mighty indeed thanks to the regimented organisation of the cube-people, the passion of the frog-folk warriors and the hardened experience which comes after fighting decades of war. Kuboranoan soldiers are well trained, well armed and always willing to fight for their fellow citizens. It's numbers stand at around 1.08 million, with around a 5:3 ratio of frog-folk to cube-people.

Cube-people

The standard cube-person soldier is placed within a metal box which acts as armour and given an assault rifle which they can wield telekinetically. The standard cube-people strategy in combat similar to the human Napoleonic-era infantry square, which involves cube-people forming into square formations using their armoured bodies as the shields for those behind them whilst firing at the enemy with their rifles. When the front line needs to reload, they retreat backwards and are replaced by a new wall of cube-people.

Special cube-person units in the military include the night-cubes, who take advantage of their silent hovering along with stealth armour and silenced weapons to perform stealth-attacks. There are also paladins, who wear thick, spiked armour and are a purely defensive unit who act as phalanxes and withstand the brunt of enemy fire to advance upon opposing forces and help their fellow soldiers move around the battlefield. Paladins use up the majority of their telekinetic strength through carrying their heavy armour and as such cannot wield guns at the same time, relying upon melee attacks from their armour-spikes or backup from nearby units to overcome foes.

Frog-folk

The standard frog-folk soldier is armed with a similar assault rifle to their cube-person counterparts and are also permitted to carry an array of close-combat weapons such as knifes and swords in accordance with ancient frog-folk warrior traditions. Frog-folk combat tends to be similar to modern human warfare, with the added aspect of high mobility, as the frog-folk can jump long distances to reach more strategically advantageous positions with relative ease.

Special frog-folk units include scorpion-riders, who are famous and hold great prestige amongst the frog-folk and make for terrifying ambush fighters. The giant scorpions are sturdy and dangerous and work in perfect harmony with their rider, who will have trained with the scorpion for years to earn its respect. Frog-folk also make for excellent guerrilla combatants and commandos, especially when close to water.

Konodrakoans

As well as cube-people and frog-folk, the Kuboranoan army is bolstered by the 321 pyramid-people and salamander-sages who stayed with Kuborano when it was transported to Earth. Both of these species are from the mystical nation of Konodrako which was destroyed when their universe died and are both powerful magic users in their own way. The pyramid-people utilise magical-geometry and sacred trigonometry to warp space and perform feats of divination whilst the salamander-sages are mighty fire wizards.

The Konodrakoans have said that they will assist Kuborano in protecting their homeland from external threats, meaning that the Konodrakoans are limited only to the defence of the nation. Even so, their powers are formidable. When working in tandem, they would be able to alter the course of incoming missiles and bombs away from the island and would be able to bombard enemies with fireballs and summon walls of flame to help prevent enemy forces from setting foot on Kuboranoan land.

Politics

Kuborano as a nation bears many elements of what Earth would see as democratic socialism, such the public ownership of the means of production and worker self-management. It is run a parliament composed of elected representatives from across Kuborano. As well as these representatives, cube-people and frog-folk each elect a speaker for their respective races who help to form the ruling triumvirate along with the Prime Minister, who is elected by all Kuboranoan citizens of all species. The cube-person speaker is ⊔⦝｢⊍ (Blik) the rhomboid and the frog-folk speaker is Spriteco of House Tamburo.

The Prime Minister

The Prime Minister is "Red" Ruĝa of House Veneno. Ruĝa is well liked across Kuborano, he is a very humorous and good-natured individual who's quick to joke, but always treats serious topics with the tact and decorum expected of a true leader. He is a veteran of the war with Pilkobufo and was one of the last soldiers to leave the front lines. As a member of House Veneno he is a poisonous frog and is said to have killed a toad using his poison after punching the toad-tribe soldier in the mouth in combat. Ruĝa was elected as PM of Kuborano shortly after arriving on Earth. With experience as both a politician and a soldier, the citizens of Kuborano decided he would be the best choice to pioneer Kuborano's journey in this new universe it found itself in. The human populations of Earth seem to view Ruĝa positively, thanks to his pleasant and friendly demeanour. He also sounds a lot like the human actor Kieth David, which has sparked the creation of human memes regarding the pair, which Ruĝa has stated he finds hilarious.

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