Government: Oligarchy. The government of the Drazi is known as the Freehold, governing both the homeworld and all of the colonies. The chief body of the Freehold is the Shadak, made up of a council of 5. Each member of the Shadak represents one of the five branches of the Drazi Race and is chosen once every five cycles. At this time, all Drazi break into two camps, the Purple and Green, denoted by a sash. The two sides then attack each other. Normally, these attacks are not to the death but only to unconsciousness to prove the stronger side. The side that proves itself strongest at the end of the cycle chooses the Shadak from among its ranks. Both sides then return to being one people. This phenomenon is based on the great war that melded the five branches of the Drazi into a united race. In addition to the Shadak, there is a bureaucracy of committees that handle different aspects of the society and are responsible for making recommendations to the Shadak. The slowness of this bureaucracy is legendary and it can take many years for anything to clear a Drazi committee.
Religions: The Drazi have 3 main religions in their culture.
Thrazda is the Way of the Fighter, the dominant belief, a warrior code that includes worship of the sun and stars.
Kri Maru, the Sun Child, is a religion that is growing in popularity. This is a more gentle religion than Thrazda, emphasizing peaceful cooperation between all sentient beings. The prime deity of this religion is Droshalla.
Chayar, the Azure Path, is a cult religion with mystic overtones that emphasizes individual growth through study and emulation of the Drazi legends. It is not widely practiced.
There is often rivalry between the adherents of different faiths. In Drazi theology, there are also patron saints and deities of different occupations. An example of one of these is Shokalla, the patron of pilots.
Society: Drazi civilization is roughly 3,000 years old. Drazi social structure is group oriented with much rivalry amongst the groups. Family ties, business associations, religious groups, academic societies and military bands are just a few of these groupings. An individual Drazi's status in society rests on how well he or she serves the various groups. The Drazi society is male oriented. There is no obstacle to a female Drazi seeking power but culturally the females tend to shy away from such ambition, preferring family duties. The Drazi are predominantly middle class with a small lower and upper class.
The Drazi tend to be aggressive and belligerent, especially if they feel they have been cheated or insulted. They also have a keen sense of freedom and do not take well to being jailed or told what to do by anyone outside of their own authorities. They are a passionate people, though passion tends to be confined to members of their own race. Drazi marriages are almost always long-standing, both male and female Drazi are very loyal to their mates and infidelity is punishable by death.
Above all, Drazi prize bravery, honesty and loyalty. These traits make the Drazi good allies to other races. Their homeworld has been a respected member of the League of Non-Allied worlds for over 20 years, though their war-like tendencies tend to create problems at times. The Drazi are not xenophobes and will deal with most any race. Even though the Centauri Republic has withdrawn to its pre-war borders, the Drazi have not forgotten their defeat at Centauri hands and are very hostile in their diplomatic dealings with the Republic.
Technology: The Drazi are very technologically advanced. They have had interstellar flight for almost 400 Earth years and their weapons and space technology is superb. On the less warlike side, the Drazi have developed solar technology to a very high degree; powering the vast majority of their energy consumption.
Military: The Drazi are thought of as a war-like race and every male Drazi must spend at least three years in the military. As benefits their aggressive nature, the Drazi military is well-equipped and effective. The Drazi Sun Hawks, their Class-A Battle cruisers are fast, maneuverable and possess considerable firepower. Their fighters, Sky Serpents, are among the best in the League. The Drazi have maintained a warrior tradition throughout their 3,000 years of civilization.
Colonies: During the recent Centauri expansion, the Drazi lost control over most of their colonies. When the Centauri Republic retreated to its former borders, the Freehold regained the colonies that had either been seized or isolated by the Centauri forces. The most important Drazi colonies are Shambah III, Fendamir Research Colony, and Mokafa Station. Shambah III is the primary food producing center for the Freehold with extensive terraforming and land and sea farming. Fendamir Research Colony is the site of the most important factories and labs of the Drazi military-industrial complex. Mokafa Station is a huge orbital industrial factory in the asteroid belt of the Mokafa system.
