Ve

Although Strondovarian culture is dominated by a singular idea of what it means to be “Strondovarian Culture” there are, in fact, still different groups that divide the population among their number. These groups, called Ve, hold a place in society similar to that of national identities for humanity, but without being tied to any physical place. Instead, your membership in one of these groups is based on your ideals and traditions, so in a way it could be considered closer to a religion. That said, the word “Ve” would more literally translate to English as “community” or “team” so let’s go with those terms.

There are dozens of Ve recognized by the Knowledge Banks, but we’ll just take a look at a few, to get a sampling of what they offer.

• Ve Tillayath: Currently the largest of the Strondo nations, Ve Tillayath is the dominant force in Strondovarian politics. Governed by a supposedly-just committee of elected elders, Ve Tillayath exerts pressure on all the other nations to keep in line.
• Ve Marbava: An ancient culture, probably the oldest still-extant nation of Gurx, Ve Marbava doesn’t have the cultural cachet you might think their history would merit. Some of the other nations even claim they’re coasting off their former triumphs.
• Ve Reliss: Though not as old as Ve Marbava, Ve Reliss was once much larger than now, and the populace of today revels in its former glory with lots of traditions and rituals that date back to distant history.
• Ve Pwoora: Ve Pwoora is ruled by cultish dictatorship and prefers to keep its populace secluded from the rest of the world whenever possible, which does connect them more to individual physical territory than most other nations. It is a crime among them for the low-ranking to even access the Knowledge Bank. As such, large numbers of their people are unimportant in the eyes of the rest of the world, which means nobody cares that their rulers force them to work in the Gurxian equivalent of sweatshops and slave conditions.
• Ve Auonaooa: One of the youngest nations, Ve Auonaooa was first formed on a colony world in a different stellar system, intending to have a society that did things differently. Over time, to become more accepted as valid by other nations, their mores have drifted more in keeping with the rest, though they still retain a reputation for being “odd”.
• Ve Okoliok: Attempting to gain more prowess among the nations, Ve Okoliok accepts any worthy Strondo who seeks to join, and actively reaches out to notable individuals and offers them incentives to join. Many other nations consider this gauche, but if it pays off in the end, it could be worth it.
• Ve Obiss: While largely a standard Strondo nation that follows along the accepted norms, Ve Obiss has an interesting practice that might be likened to knighthoods from medieval Earth, except their equivalent of “knights” pilot combat mechs and fight in space battles. But otherwise, it’s a standard Strondo nation.
• Ve Gleaudaran: While the people of Ve Gleaudaran still buy into the Strondovarian ideals that wealth and worth are defined by fame and notoriety, they try to be more egalitarian about it. They work for the fame and notoriety of their nation, not for themselves. Sadly, they’re not one of the more successful nations within Strondo culture so far.

Stinger Apini, played by Sean Bean, is a character from the film Jupiter Ascending. Without getting into the macro-level details of the movie’s sci-fi setting, I can say this much about Stinger: he’s a genetically-engineered space cop who has been demoted and posted on Earth where he lives with his daughter and keeps bees. And it does seem that he’s good at the beekeeping, a trait that may well bred into him at a genetic level. His farm not only has multiple hives, but the home is covered in still more honeycombs, apparently placed wherever the bees felt like it. From what we see, the bees have a lot of leeway on this farm.

It is definitely worth noting that the bees we see on Stinger’s farm have a certain supernatural style. They can sense royalty in a person, for example, and respond to that person’s actions, to the extent that they’ll attack bad guys to help protect the film’s main character. Stinger says, “bees are genetically designed to recognize royalty… bees aren’t like humans, they don’t question or doubt. Bees don’t lie.” But Stinger says this is true of all bees, not just his. If all this is just a fact of bees in this sci-fi world, I can’t give Stinger any credit for it.

What I can give Stinger credit for is that he’s also an excellent fighter with a long history in space battles. He even had wings up until he acted nobly (taking credit for the actions of a soldier under his command) and was punished for it. While this did result in his disgrace, and his anger over it (and his desire to protect his daughter) led to him betraying his allies, he came back around to rejoin the protagonists. He wasn’t so overcome with rage that it became a problem in the long run.

He’s definitely a skilled combatant and a decent beekeeper. Even his name, Stinger Apini, is cool and thematically appropriate. But look, I have to be honest. My own opinion of the very concept of royalty is working against Stinger in this review. The idea that being “royal” is not made-up bullshit but is, in fact, an actual quantifiable physical attribute of a person and makes them “better” than other people and that bees can recognize and defer to it… none of this gets PDR’s approval.

Three Honeycombs out of Five.

Along the shore of a small, lazy river we see a Heyohayo stopping for a drink. A bunch of Louk cloud around it, looking to suck its blood, which in turn is a welcome feast for a Biddooa in the river.

Heyohayo

Heyohayo are a large, flightless species of Glounaph. They mostly feed on the vegetation that grows alongside rivers, but will eat small animals from time to time. Larger predators do try to make a meal of Heyohayo when they can, but the large spotted beast has a powerful poke that can do a lot of damage to a potential threat if it can get a good hit in. That said, little tiny creatures like the Louk can prey on Heyohayo while barely being noticed.

Louk

A small kind of flying Vootuph, the Louk pierce the skin of larger animals and suck out the blood and juices they find within, so they love when a big clumsy beast like a Heyohayo wanders by the ol’ watering hole. As with most Vootuph, they have sight organs at one end and the mouth at the other. Their compound eye is on a flexible stalk that allows them to see predators, but isn’t always effective, which is good for the next animal…

Biddooa

The Biddooa are a particularly ancient species of Lapaouger that have remained largely unchanged since days long ago. Four of their six limbs are devoted to locomotion, but their topmost limbs have sticky pads that are ideal for capturing small flying Vootuph. They can snag a few and then bring the catch to their Rel for consumption. You can’t see it in my little drawings here, but the bottoms of the legs on a Biddooa look wrinkly and bumpy and rough, all the better for gripping onto the rocks at the bottom of running water.