Shingan
A sophont species, now extinct, once native to Maaruur.
History[edit]
The Shingans had an uncomfortable relationship with colonizing Humans. Their graspers enabled them to create a primitive agrarian society, but the inability to craft more advanced tools kept them at approximately TL-1 when they were first contacted by the Vilani. Under the Ziru Sirka and Rule of Man, the Shingans formed a societal underclass, taking service and labour roles. Progressive Human scientists eventually developed prostheses for the Shingans, which enabled them to do the same things as their Human counterparts, but this technology was outlawed during the Long Night, returning the Shingans to their traditional roles.
Despite their inability to craft items of technology beyond stone tools, the Shingans were a philosophical people who were very much in touch with their environment. They cultivated a vast array of narcotics from the fauna and flora of Maaruur, which were consumed for medical, religious and recreational use. Scientific studies of these biochemical interactions were left largely incomplete, but early research discovered that the Shingan biome extended heavily into their brain tissue. The various microbes living on the Shingan brainstem served as a biological middleman, catalysing much stronger effects than would otherwise occur.
During the early Third Imperium era, Shingan shamans discovered a rare natural substance that enabled them to commandeer the conscious mind of Humans and other animals. Frequent usage of the substance eventually subsumed it into the cerebral biome of the Shingans to the point where they no longer had to imbibe it to achieve these effects. The shamans led the Shingan people in a revolt against the Humans. In 350, the Imperial Navy interdicted Maaruur before the Shingans were able to export the mind-controlling agents. Five dreadnoughts were brought into the system, three of which orbitally assaulted population centres with particle weapons and mass drivers, while the other two bombarded the planet with planetoids gathered from the system's belts. Maaruur was cleansed of virtually all life forms within weeks.
The 1,300 people at the highport -- 400 of whom were Shingans -- were quarantined and examined for the presence of the dangerous narcotic. Those who were free of its effects were relocated to the Khaam System. The 400 or so surviving Shingans weren't a large enough sample to revive the race, and the Shingan species went extinct within a few generations.