As part of your course, you will be learning about some of the fallen civilizations in the galaxy. Once the Regulian Empire's greatest foe, the Lupiad-Sirian Empire eventually fell from its former glory and was annexed into the Regulian Empire.
Lupiads:
Lupiads appear very similar to the animal that you might be familiar with known as the gray wolf. The average height of them is 6'1. They have a strong social culture and usually form packs inside whatever culture they're a part of, which usually consists of immediate relatives and also mates, slaves, and other lone Lupiads that are adopted. All are considered to be members of the family, even the slaves (Some contend this means they were treated more fairly than the average Regulian slave, however it also meant that said slaves were very rarely released from servitude in comparison to the Regulian Empire.) and the pack is very loyal to all its members, so long as each member acts as expected of the pack.
Along with that, all Lupiads are considered to be members of a greater pack, which eventually translated to a planetary federal government that was very rigid and hierarchical. All Lupiads and visitors to Lupus are silently assigned a position in the greater pack which only Lupiads and Sirians seem to be able to instinctively pick up on. Acting greater than your perceived role is grounds for hazing, which in the past often meant challenging to a fight or forcing the target into a public display of submission; modern Lupiad culture is more likely to passive-aggressively solve such transgressions with some minor social bullying, such as pressuring the subject into buying the pack a round of drinks, which is expected to end as soon as they behave within their expectations.
Lupiad culture has always birthed warriors and they're very proud of this fact. Lupiads make up a great deal of the Regulian Imperial Army leadership and soldiery.
Lupiads are usually monogamous, although some have begun copying their Regulian overlords and engaging in polygamy. Homosexuality has been common in their culture since ancient times, much like Regulian culture although the Lupiads have no taboo regarding openly displaying who the passive partner is. A dominant Lupiad may make the submissive partner do some light, lewd public displays of affection without anyone on Lupus batting an eye. The average Lupiad litter is four to six pups.
Sirians:
Sirians appear very similar to the Earthen animal known as the domestic dog and much like that animal, they vary greatly in size and shapes. Some Sirians are as short as 4 feet tall while others average around 6 feet.
Sirians have a similar rigid hierarchy as the Lupiads, but they are much more flexible with it, not holding outsiders to the same standards. Consequently, one can visit Sirius without fear of getting into an argument because you held your head too high in front of a superior nor will you be adopted into a pack without your knowledge. Sirians are often drawn to the worlds of diplomacy and economics, having an intense business culture that emphasizes good relations and honest deals with fellow businessmen.
Since their early history, most Sirian civilizations have possessed a monarch who is elected upon the death of the former. Eventually, with enough diplomatic marriages made, a few economic promises here and there, and perhaps a few wars when things got serious, the planet unified under such a system. All free Sirians were able to vote on a monarch, which barred the numerous Sirians in peonage or debt to their patrons.
Even now, Sirians make up a lot of off-world business owners, second only to the Regulians themselves.
Sirian mating rituals are very similar to the Lupiads. The only key difference is that although they don't have a taboo about being publicly known as being a submissive partner, they are less prone to public displays of affection. The average Sirian litter is four to six pups.
Dual Monarchy:
Upon the Lupiads discovering the Sirians, the two species were overwhelmed by their common physical traits. Any plans the Lupiads had of extorting or conquering the less developed Sirians (Who had just invented the steam engine, while the Lupiads were traveling the stars) were instantly put aside.
Even greater was the discovery that the two species could birth healthy cross-species litters. It didn't take long for the two planets to agree to a unification. The Dual Monarchy was born.
Lupiads and Sirians would each elect a monarch from their species and those monarchs would be married. Each monarch would have a lot of autonomy over their own planet, but a Dual Monarchy government, appointed by both monarchs, would handle most off-world affairs. Although traditionally, they would alternate between a King and a Queen for each species, there was no rule saying that two males or two females couldn't be elected and there were cases where this happened.
Although the system had good intentions, it quickly became corrupt and inflexible. Many elections were decided because groups of Lupiad-Sirians thought two candidates for the monarchy looked like a good couple, rather than their qualifications for rule. One such infamous incident resulted in two males being elected who were bitter political rivals and aside from spending the mandated first night in bed together, they refused to talk afterwards and the government stopped functioning until they both were forced to abdicate.
On top of that, when new systems got added to the Dual Monarchy, the joint government system began to buckle over determining who would be given rights to new planets. Although officially representing both species interests, they were pressured into giving special rights to Lupiads or Sirians to new planets.
Even worse would be their future diplomatic failures. Upon discovering the Vulpeculans, both Lupiad and Sirian officials hoped for a similar miracle as when the two species first met, seeing the Vulpeculans were also canines. However, they got ahead of themselves and found that the Vulpeculans were not nearly as gregarious as them with strangers and worst of all, were not genetically compatible. Some genetic experiments were done to try and make them compatible, mostly done on kidnapped Vulpeculans, which did nothing to endear them to the locals. This would end up pushing the Vulpeculans to the Regulian Empire for protection and would be the last diplomatic failure of the Lupiad-Sirian Empire, with both species blaming the other for the failure.
Collapse:
The Second Lupiad-Sirian War would prove to be the final nail in the Dual Monarchy's coffin and the ultimate reassurance of the virtues of the Regulian Imperial System.
Once the Regulian Navy dealt a decisive blow to the Dual Monarchy's fleet, the Sirian Monarch made a separate peace with the Regulian Empire. This had the effect of instantly shattering the two species cultural ties and after a period of chaos, the Lupiads also surrendered.
Under the Regulian Protectorate, restoring good relations between the two species has been an important goal. As of the current year, a majority of both species have put their differences aside and both Sirius and Lupus are home to a large minority of the other species who live in relative harmony.
There have been attempts to revive the Lupiad-Sirian Empire but these have always been thwarted by the good citizens of the Regulian Empire
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