By their own account, the Lanian Tribes (also known as the Lanian Brotherhood, the Lanian Society of Friends, and the Sacred Order of Waiting Lanius) were first constructed on Zarlethihk to serve the Almnetic elite some one thousand years before the empire’s collapse. This stands in contradiction to Lanian myth, which states that the first of the Plastic Brethren hatched from a cosmic egg fashioned by the Godhead, who charged it with eternal service to its Almnetic masters. The myth, as well as the elaborately layered religion that developed from it, is understood by Lanians to be a control mechanism hard-wired into their systems by their long-dead designers, and for which there appears no obvious remedy.

Prized for their superior record-keeping skills, intuitive grasp of xenomathematics and physical incapacity for rebellion, the Lanians quickly became an indispensable element of the Almnetic military and industrial apparatus, with Lanian clerics seeded throughout corporate and government infrastructure. By 3330 the Brotherhood had become the empire’s de facto central planner, facilitating a military, industrial and economic expansion surpassed only by its subsequent collapse.

As Almnet was slowly absorbed into the opportunistic fungal intelligence of the Quiet Emperor, the Lanians escaped to Parliamentary space, where in 3356 they petitioned the Chairman for refugee status. While their request was denied, they were generously granted living space within the Evyl Nebula’s high-radiation belt in exchange for permanent species-wide servitude to select Parliament members. The tribes’ history since then has been nothing if not distinguished: on Viridia alone, Lanians could be found working in critical support positions everywhere from the Chemists’ Guild to the Protheon Institute, expediting an era of unprecedented growth before that empire’s own demise.

When not serving their organic masters, Lanians generally prefer to quietly observe their faith, often marked by the recitation of intricate mathematical proofs of the nonexistence of God. Lanian eschatology holds that at the end of history, God’s absence will at last reveal itself, and the Lanian people will finally be allowed to rest.

—Recorder 3000-21