The Logiquartz are a sentient species of the Ryccian Empire.

Information

The Logiquartz are native to the planet of Chilshert, located in the northeastern Farlands. They live in the planet's many caves grouped into colonies.

They are thought to have arisen as a species 150,000 years ago. Due to their sentience, they drove all other non-rational species of crystalline life extinct as they were able to think logically in order to crush their competition efficiently. This is by their own admission, as colonies can keep records of up to 10,000 years in the past in their collective mind, and key memories of their ancestors can be passed on to future generations, meaning that the most crucial moments of a colony's history are never erased under normal circumstances.

The Ryccian Empire made contact with the Logiquartz approximately 700 years ago, when mining companies funded the settlement of their planet. Unaware that the planet was inhabited by sentient life, the mining conglomerates thought that Chilshert was exceptionally rich in minerals and thus began digging, accidentally killing several Logiquartz colonies in the process. Their mistakes were revealed three months later when miners observed and reported a group of fleeing mobile Logiquartz searching for a new colony after most of their kin were killed. Upon hearing of this, the Imperial government ordered an immediate halt to all mining operations in the planet in order to investigate these anomalies. Upon much observation and study, Ryccian scientists were able to analyze this crystalline form of life and managed to decipher their language based off electromagnetic signals.

The Ryccian Empire decided to initiate first contact with the Logiquartz, with the most damaged colonies being a priority. The colonies demanded compensation for the mass killings of their kin, which was to be delivered in the form of minerals. The Ryccian government obliged, purchasing minerals worth billions of credits to aid the afflicted Logiquartz in rebuilding their colonies. Slowly but surely, the Ryccian Empire contacted all the colonies they could find, offering them protection and citizenship. After developing a droid body for the Logiquartz to be able to interact and communicate with others by translating their electromagnetic signals into English, the Logiquartz were also granted Senatorial representation. There are 178,845 registered colonies that have affiliated themselves with the Empire, albeit 17 known colonies as of yet have refused to sign up. These holdouts are left alone by the authorities, and thus they are self-governing and stateless by choice. The recorded population of Logiquartzes in the registered colonies as of the latest census was around 546 million.

Today, the Ryccian Empire maintains a garrison in the planet to guard the Logiquartz colonies against intruders, as well as a planetary blockade enforced by the Imperial Navy after Chilshert's senators petitioned for one. Elections amongst the Logiquartz are administered by national authorities and the colonies in a joint effort, with the former translating the latter's electromagnetic signals into English and interpreting the electoral result. Campaigning in Chilshert is unlike anything else in the Empire, as the national authorities inform the crystalline colonies of the available candidates and their platforms. Many colonies have aided the Imperial government's efforts by offering one of their own to serve as their "messangers" to the authorities, uprooting them and placing them in a robotic suit so they can gather information instead for the whole colony. As there are thousands of colonies in the planet and they are disconnected from each other, hundreds of candidates often stand. Logiquartz citizens rank their choices in an Alternative Vote system, and they can take hours, days or even whole weeks to vote. Due to this peculiar voting process and the disconnected nature of the colonies, planetary elections can sometimes take months.

As a gesture of goodwill, the current Emperor Alexander offered to settle 1,000 Logiquartzes in the royal family's personal world of Arzixia, located in The Imperial Rim.

The Logiquartz are normally immobile, but they are able to move to form new colonies when, over the hundreds of years of their existence, they have accumulated enough energy to create certain crystalline "legs" which they are able to utilize to move around to search areas inside the cave proper or exit the cave to find a new one in order to start a new colony. If they find a spot for their new colony, they insert their temporary "legs" and try to drill into a cave's rock, joining these "legs" to form what shall in time become a complex root system.

Although they are able to think independently and can even close off their minds to the rest of their colony, the Logiquartz share a sort of collective thought that can act as a sort of public forum. This collective mind is forged through the complex system of crystalline roots buried deep inside their caves.

The way Logiquartzes reproduce is quite unusual compared to most known forms of sentient life. Upon accumulating sufficient energy and genetic material, young Logiquartzes in their 100-300s shall once every fifty years initiate their "mating" season, whereupon the young try to court other Logiquartzes for reproduction. They are not attracted by feelings or anything of the sort. Rather, through electromagnetic waves, they communicate their genetic material to potential suitors and they in turn choose the data that they prefer best. Upon integrating this information into their body, they begin mixing their genetic material with their mate's, creating new shards inside their bodies that grow for 20 years. These shards then "hatch" out of their parent's body. As they are incredibly small at this stage, the hole is not life-threatening and the parent's body fixes it quickly. These young shardlings are born with the crystalline "legs" mentioned earlier, and thus they are highly mobile at this stage, burying themselves into the cave's rocky surface near their parent's colony. In a collective effort, the colony then begins to expand its roots after sending out signals to detect their community's newborns in order to connect them to the rest of the colony.

Colonies are usually ruled democratically, and leaders are chosen for their ability to direct the colony's substenance and expansion. They attempt to convince their fellow kin in the collective mind, speaking about their plans and so forth. There have been a few cases where a colony reveres a certain Logiquartz so ferevently that they elect the individual as dictators due to their satisfaction with their performance, but these cases are rare. As all Logiquartzes are independent beings and cannot inflict pain on each other, a tyrannical despot or an inefficient leader often gets censured by the collective, as groups of Logiquartzes are able to organize in order to recall their leaders. There have been a few but incredibly rare instances of recorded "civil wars" in certain colonies, where factions try to siphoon resources the colony's roots collect and manage for the growth of the whole, but as such colonies are destined to die, they are always resolved quickly and peacefully.

Colonies can vary in size, with the largest examples having hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. The largest-ever recorded colony, Seekers of Hope, has 864,721 members and occupies a large section of a cave complex.

The Logiquartz are able to sustain themselves by absorbing and excreting mineral and organic compounds that are either found in their cave's surface or in the air. Their most common "foodstuff" is silica which they transform into SiO4 and complex silicon-based molecules, albeit a few colonies are able to feed off other metals and metalloids to "reinforce" themselves internally or externally. This subgroup, which is prevalent in a region of Chilshert rich in iron and other sturdy minerals, can often exhibit "patches" of metals in their exterior or even coat themselves entirely in them. They must still make their essential body parts out of their traditional molecules, however.

The "sleeping" patterns of Logiquartzes are, yet again, unlike anything ever encountered. As they are able to accumulate energy, the Logiquartzes can go on a long "hibernation" period once every 10-25 years, with such instances lasting six months to two years. In this inactive state, the rest of the colony supplies materials to the dormant shard as it subconsciously sustains itself with such support. Reasons for hibernation may range from a need to ration materials in the colony to preserving energy for an upcoming mating season or for creating a new colony, albeit some individuals have been known to hibernate due to personal tragedy, which most often includes losing key friends and family members the shard held dear. Recently in their history, the colonies have woken these dormant shards for election season and, unlike other times they are forced to wake up, they often go back to sleep once the elections have concluded.

Logiquartzes are known to be extremely patient and thoughtful due to their ability to live for thousands of years. As their biology constrained them from moving often, they were not able to develop an advanced civilization of their own, instead living in their colonial societies, nor did they need to. However, this does not mean that they did not try to forge complex works of art and philosophy, as their collective minds have not only stored essential information and memories from their past, but also a vast collection of novels, essays and philosophical texts that can last for hundreds or even thousands of years. If they are of particular importance for the whole colony, however, they are memorized forever. Ryccian scientists and historians are working tirelessly to record these works by collaborating with many colonies in this effort.

A few Logiquartzes have decided to break from tradition, choosing to insert themselves into droids and live out a lifestyle comparable to other sentient beings. This new development has caused controversy in many colonies, with some arguing that these free-spirited shards are betraying their heritage and their responsibility to their homes, whilst others in these colonies have defended them, arguing that they are individuals that have a right to live freely. Whilst most of these cybernetic shards have migrated to other worlds, some have still chosen to remain on Chilshert, getting hired by the Imperial government to serve as civil servants or as diplomats to communicate with other colonies.

The Logiquartz are able to engage in commerce with the Ryccian Empire by selling their "excrement" in exchange for the molecules and minerals that compose their diet. This excrement is composed of several silicon-based compounds, including those otherwise made synthetically, and thus they are sold to whatever companies and researchers want them. In this matter, colonies often choose to sign up to the Chilshert Economic Association, a middleman organization run by the Ministry of Finance, but a few colonies have opted to educate and send their own representatives to engage in commerce. In order to ensure that they do not starve, the Imperial government also provides subsidies for economically deficient and mineral-starved colonies.