Survival

Ok I've finished the Human Reference so now I'm moving onto the Flist. No ones complained about these References do I'll keep going with them.

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Flist: Government

The primative Flist of X-23 on the whole do not have a functioning government. They resided within small to medium sized tribes with around 200 Flist in a medium tribe and live in caves. The primative Flist have tools to build wooden homes but prefer the stone caves for safety. Their are two leaders within each tribe, a Chieftain and a Priestess. The Chieftain is chosen not by succession like a monarchy but rather by physical prowess. He is the strongest warrior in his tribe and to become the new Chieftain you'd have to kill the other one in open battle.

To challenge a Chieftain the warrior will flare his headspikes in front of the Chieftain, a common sign of a challenge for dominance. The Chieftain is recognised by his iron crown.

The Priestess on the other hand is chosen by luck rather then skill. When the Priestess is old and near death she will chose a female child and proclaim that this child is to be the new Priestess upon her death. This is random although the Priestess will swear that it was the Skies will. The Priestess is the only female with any social standing within a tribe. She can be identifed by the flowers that adorn her body. A Priestess must be a celibate virgin and any Priestess who mates with a male is killed. It is belived that she must be pure as the Sky or great tragedy will befall the tribe.

There have been many wars between tribes as the Flist are by nature possessive. Land, stolen items and hunting grounds are the reasons for most of the wars.

After the Unity the female Flist have joined with the stratocratic government of Humanity. The male Flist or Raiders maintain the tribal ruling.

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Flist: Social structure

The Flist social structure is a primative Patriarchal society in that men are in charge and women have no rights. I mention the word primative in that women are given no attempted safety by law or society. The women are treated much like the Human women in the cave man period of Earth are believed to have been treated. A woman is good for sex, making food and raising the kids. If a woman could not have children she was deemed useless and killed. The only women with any rights within the Flist society is the Priestess.

Men within the Flist were hunter gathers and leaders while women were housewives. The better the warrior a male was the more standing he had within the Flist society. The strongest warrior would eventually challenge the Chieftain for power, if he won he became the leader. Losing however means death. For the Flist women there were no ways of raising within the social structure.

The Flist use metals only for construction of the Chieftains crown. When the old Chieftain dies his body is buried with his crown and a new one must be forged for the new Chieftain. Because of this metals are deemed sacred and are used for making crowns. Metal tools are considered dirty because they believe that using the sacred metal for digging and chopping is wrong. Making or owning metal tools equals death. The only metal weapon is a sword given to a warrior who manages to kill the monstrous tyrannosaur like creatures called Fleshrippers.

Only three Flist in history have ever earned a metal sword, one of them the Legendary Strider.

Earning a metal sword practically makes you a Chieftain and a tribe that owns one of these metal weapons is considered powerful and feared. The tribe however must present evidence that a Fleshripper was killed in the form of its skull. Lying about killing a Fleshripper and forging a metal sword unjustly means the destruction of the tribe. Only one tribe has ever done this and in retaliation 17 tribes gathered a large army and wiped out every man, woman and child of the lying tribe.

The modern female Flist enjoy the equal rights laws of Humanity while the male Flist still consider a metal sword a great accomplishment.

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Flist: Religion

The Flist, primative and modern, worship the Sky, the SkyGods, Strider and loath the SkyDemons. The Flist think that the night sky is the afterlife, the Void, and stars are actually the souls of the dead watching over them.

They believe the day Sky to be the the Bringer of Life, the Sun. While the night Sky is the Bringer of Death, the Moon. The Flist call the Sun the Bringer of Life due to the fact that crops grow during the day. They call the Moon the Bringer of Death because most deadly predators on their world are nocturnal.

The Priestess within each tribes is believed to be able to commune with the Sky. Using this the Chieftain believes that the Priestess's word is the Skies word. Many tribes have gone to war because a Priestess said that it would please the Sky. Winged animals are considered sacred beings and killing a winged animal means banishment or death. There are many rituals practiced by the Flist, the most important ritual being the Appeasement ritual. This ritual is performed during every eclipse as a means of appeasing the angry Sky. The Flist think that an eclipse means that someone within one of the tribes has angered the Sky and that they are all going to be punished.

The Flist say that 'When day turns to night and the Bringer of Life is swallowed by Death, you will know sorrow. For no cave shall hide you from the Skies wrath'

The ritual entails the sacrifice of eight animals as a way of quenching the Skies bloodlust. The animals are killed by the Priestess with a bone knife and the blood is then poured into a blue river. The Flist believe that the rivers, being the same blue colour of the Sky, are actually the Skys blood because water is necessary for life. The ritual ends when the 'Sky rivers run red' there by quenching the Skies want for death.

When the Locust first arrived on X-23 they were believed to be sacred beings who descended from the Sky to reward them for their faith. The Flist expected to ascend to the Sky realm but were instead killed and eaten by the Locust. Word quickly spread through out the Flist tribes that these sacred beings were actually monsters and 43 Flist tribes rallied a massive army, lead by the Legendary Strider to combat the SkyDemons. They were massacred by the Locust in the Battle of Bloody Valley, with Strider being the only survivor. The Flist tribes were being wiped out one by one with many praying to the Sky for safety.

Then one day the SkyDemons started leaving. The Flist thought that their prays were answered. In reality the Human-Locust war was in full swing and the Locust had to deploy the X-23 Locusts to the battlefront. The Locusts had left and the Flist were hurriedly preparing for their return. It wasn't until six months later that the Flist found out what was going on.

The Locust had been wiped out by the common cold and some of the few dying survivors fled to the Harvesting facility on X-23's moon for safety from the Human armies. A Locust on the planets surface attacked a tribe to gather Flist to be made into food. Luckily Strider was near by and fought and beat the dying Locust. The Locust was tortured until it finally revealed what had happened. It told the Flist about the Humans that had beaten them in war. It told them about the Human ships, weapons and military might. It told them that it and all Locust were dying because of the soft skinned Human people. When the Locust was finished Strider turned to the tribe and proclaimed 'The SkyGods have defeated the SkyDemons! We are saved!'

Humanity or the SkyGods became a part of the Flist religion. The SkyGods were the valiant children of the Sky who had answered the Flists prayers and slain the SkyDemons. Warriors would pray to the SkyGods for strength and women would pray for safety. Strider, the most powerful warrior amongst the Flist people and the only Flist to beat a SkyDemon was believed to be the beloved Chosen one of the SkyGods. Strider, bolstered by being called the Chosen one, traveled from tribe to tribe telling everyone about the SkyGods. The Flist consider Strider to be a sort of Demigod who has earned a place with the SkyGods.

The captured Locust was dying but was furious at being beaten by a Flist. So in revenge when Strider visited the Locust to gloat the Locust transported Strider to the Harvesting facility on the moon. When the Flist demanded to know what had happened the Locust happily told them that Strider would be frozen until Strider was ready to be cooked. An hour later the Locust died and the Flist now believe that one day Strider will return, standing side by side with the SkyGods to bring the Flist to the Sky realm and to glory.

In the Modern Flist Religion the SkyGods are now called by their true name Humans by the female Flist. The male Flist call Humans the Sons of the Moon meaning bringers of death.

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Flist: Strider

Strider is the most loved and hated figure amongst the Flist people. Strider was a warrior without compare amongst the Flist, the chosen of the SkyGods and the only Flist to beat a SkyDemon in combat. The reason Strider is hated aswell as loved is a simple one.

Strider is a female Flist.

Amongst the primative Flist people women have no rights and are considered expendable. Strider however was different. Whenever a hunting party went out Strider secretly would follow and watch. Later in private she would steal a stone spear and practice what she saw obsessively. Strider didn't want to be an abused housewife like the other female Flist. When she approached the Chieftain about becoming a warrior he laughed in her face and in response she challenged him to a fight for leadership by flaring her headspikes.

Normally any woman who demanded such a thing would be beaten by the tribe warriors but the Chieftain told Strider to defeat every warrior in the tribe. If she did he would fight her for leadership. He thought it would be funny to show Strider her place but he was wrong.

Warrior after warrior fell in single combat to Strider. No one could beat her and those that lost hated her because of the humiliation of losing to a woman. Finally she had beaten every warrior in the tribe and challenged the Chieftain again for leadership.

He was furious at this turn of events. When the other tribes had learned that his warriors were being beaten by a WOMAN they laughed at him. His tribe is now considered the weakest and most pathetic because of Striders victories. He was looking forward to killing her. But it was not to be, six minutes into the fight Strider killed the Chieftain but instead of being named Chieftain the other warriors ganged up on her and tried to kill her. Strider was forced to flee.

And so Strider wandered X-23, helping any tribe she came across and saving many lives.

A solitary tribe she came upon were worried by a nearby Fleshripper and so Strider took up the call to arms and proclaimed she would kill the Fleshripper. They laughed at her and told her if she killed a Fleshripper that they would forge for her a sacred metal sword. Later that night the tribe felt the ground shake and they rushed to find the source. Entering a clearing they saw Strider, covered in blood calmly sitting atop a dead Fleshripper. They stayed true to their word and forged for her a metal sword. Strider continued her travels and her fame only grew.

When the Locust first arrived it was Strider who saw the looks of hunger in the Locusts eyes. When she tried to warn people they brushed it off. After all what would a woman who wasn't a Priestess know about sacred beings who descended from the sky. When the Locusts turned on the Flist tribe it was Strider who spread the news of the monstrous SkyDemons. Fearing the extinction of her people she travelled from tribe to tribe, using her fame and sacred sword to gather an army. She had gathered an army of thousands and led them to the Great Valley, a massive valley where the ground forces of the Locust had set up camp.

With Strider leading the charge they advanced upon the SkyDemons but it was a losing battle. Locust ships dropped bombs and the Locust themselves mowed down the Flist army with automated turrets and plasma rifles. Strider was the only one left alive and the Locust let her go, hoping that the story of their defeat would weaken the Flist. The Great Valley is now known as Bloody Valley because of the red grass created by the spilt blood of the Flist army.

After her defeat Strider wandered the world again, desperately following rumors and legends of weapons capable of killing the SkyDemons. She found none but was determined to find a way to save her people and finally prove that women are equal to men. When the SkyDemons started to leave Strider stopped her search for weapons to try and discover why they left. Six months later she came across a tribe being attacked by a SkyDemon and when it was reloading its plasma rifle she struck and cut off the SkyDemons right arm holding the plasma rifle. With the SkyDemon captured and defeated the Flist learned of Humanity or the SkyGods who beat the SkyDemons in war.

It was believed that Strider was the beloved Chosen one of the SkyGods and that it was the cause of her fighting skills. She took this mantle with pride and travelled between tribes trying to recruit men and women and create a tribe where men and women are equal, saying that it was the SkyGods will. Alas when she visited the tribe holding the SkyDemon it used the last charge in its transporter beacon to send Strider to the Harvesting facility in revenge. Some Human archaeologists believe that if Strider was not kidnapped then the Flist may have become an equal rights society.

After Strider was kidnapped by the SkyDemons her name fell into legend and most modern Flist think that Strider didn't really exist or that Strider was really a man. Some of the Flist, the Valkyrie leader Luna in particular, believe in the legend of Strider and that one day Strider will be found and turn the Valkyries into an unstoppable force.

Most modern Flist women make sure to tell their daughters of Strider and emphasize that women are just as good as men.

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Flist: Relationships

The Flist are by nature possessive. Many of the primative Flist wars were due to stolen items or ownership of land. The primative male Flist would kill their mates rather then let them leave them. The female primative Flist never got to experience their own natural possessiveness. Anything a female Flist had belonged to her male mate, trying to take it back would result in a beating or even death. This treatment repressed the female Flists natural possessiveness. A mated Flist would wear a zig zag pattern on their arms made from a organic paste, this paste had to put on every morning. It was a symbol of ownership between the two. A male Flist with a zig zag pattern on his arms meant that he owned a female, while a female Flist with a zig zag pattern on her arms meant she was owned by a male.

Interestingly enough when a woman was raped it was the woman who was killed, not the rapist. If a woman is about to be raped she is fully expected to kill herself rather then betray her mate by letting herself get raped. The male believed that his mate was no longer pure and there for must be killed for her betrayal.

Political relationships consisted of trade and arranged marriages. The tribes would trade food for weapons or tools or vice versa and arranged marriages were created as a way of showing thanks. Some tribes will approach one of the tribes owning a sacred metal sword and offer the Chieftain anything he wanted in exchange for the sword. This only succeeded once when the Chieftain traded the metal sword in exchange for that tribes Priestess. He believed that having two Priestess's would make his tribe stronger and the other tribe weaker and easier to defeat. He was wrong.

Modern Flist males no longer have females to mate with and so no longer care about relationships.

Modern Flist women have fully embraced their natural possessiveness which is allowed to flourish under the Humans equal rights laws. Some Flist women have actually killed eachother because another women tried to steal her mate. The modern female Flist usually agree to a Human wedding but all Flist women insist on the zig zag patterns on the arms of their mate. The Mated pattern is now a tattoo. Most Human men think that the Mated pattern their new mates put on them is like a wedding ring when in actuality the Mated pattern is a sign of ownership.

When one Human man discovered this he panicked and had the Mated pattern removed. His mate was furious and hurt, she demanded that he get the Mated pattern put back on and he refused. Later while he slept she drugged him and had a Flist pattern maker put it back on with a little something extra. When he awoke to find the Mated pattern on his arms he told his mate that he would simply get it removed again. To which she replied "I had the pattern maker put nanites in the ink. When they come into contact with the laser used to remove tattoo's they'll attack your nerves and put you in excruciating pain until the laser stops".

When he asked why she would do something like that she smiled and said "because your mine"

Putting nanites in the Mated pattern ink has become a common practice amongst the Flist women and they tell their Human mates it's to prevent infection on the newly tattoed skin. To be fair the Flist women also have these pain inducing nanites in their Mated pattern as well.

Other then that Flist female and Human male relationships are about the same as the relationships were between Human men and women.

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Flist: Technology

The modern Flist have no original technology. All of their technology was given or stolen from Humanity.

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Flist: Raider

Raider is the term given to the male Flist who have sworn to wipe out Humanity. This anger stems from the fact that Flist women have traded Flist men for Human men. In truth the reason Flist women were eager to join Humanity is due to the many equal rights laws and beliefs sacred to Humanity. Some people believe that if the Flist men had not treated their women so badly then the males of the Flist species would not be doomed to extinction. The Raiders pilot old ships stolen from ship graveyards.

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Flist: Valkyries

The Valkyries are a group of special operations soliders, all of them are Flist women. Each Valkyrie has some form of horror story of their treatment at the hands of Flist men. Because of this the Valkyries have sworn to wipe out the Raiders. The Valkyries fly the most advanced ship created by Humanity, a dreadnought called the Nautilus. The Nautilus carrys the first anti-matter bomb called Eclipse. The Eclipse bomb is capable of destroying an entire planet. The Valkyries hate the Revival project and it is feared that when the Raiders are all destroyed the Valkyries will go after the Revival Project.

A common fear amongst the Flist women is that the Revival project will work and resurrect Human women. The Flist fear that the Human women will turn the Human men against them and force the Flist back to X-23, back to their cold caves and abusive mates. The Flist, being by nature possessive, hope that the Valkyries will prevent this. When the Valkyrie leader, Luna, was asked her opinion on the Revival project her only response was "Human men belong with Flist women"

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Flist: Ascension

The Flist women call the joining with Humanity Ascension due to the fact that they ascended to the stars.

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Flist: The Cleansing

The Cleansing is the name given to the process that saved Humanity but doomed the Flist men to extinction. When Commander Steven Baker and the Flist woman Alias first had sex it was in the hope that a Human girl would be born from the union. The Flist have a 39 percent genetic similarity to Humans, add Humanities natural adaption and boost it with genetic engineering and nanites and you have the real possiblity of a Human girl being born from a female Flist. Unfortunatly it did not work, Alias was pregnant with a Human boy and a Flist girl.

Dr. Ulysses discovered that the creation of a Human girl from Alias was impossible but the real surprise was when he explained that Alias lost the ability to give birth to Flist men.

Because of the virus created by the Locust that wiped out Human women, any traces of DNA chromosome that could possibly be used to create a Human female from a Human males body were wiped out by the virus. With out anything Human female to work with the nanites were forced to use Alias's DNA to create a girl. A Flist girl.

The nanites destroyed any chance of a male Flist being born by replicating the viruses effects in her body so that the male Human DNA would always work. In short Alias had lost the ability to give birth to male Flist and she will never be able to give birth to a human girl. Any child born from a union between a male Human and female Flist will always result in Human boys and Flist girls.

When this became public Alias and the Flist women who first joined Humanity urged the Flist women to go through with the Cleansing artifically to save Humanity.

There are now no known Flist women in the galaxy capable of giving birth to Flist men.

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Flist: For Skies sake

Common Flist swear

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Flist: Nudity

Due to the tropical climate of X-23 Flist don't like to wear clothes. The Flist women joined with Humanity will wear clothes until they are home, at which point they'll strip down to their underwear. It is unknown if Flist men wear clothes at home and no one wants to find out.

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Well thats it for the Flist, hope that cleared some things up. If not then don't be afraid to ask.

Next up: The Locust