This is from a Codex I wrote for one of my earlier fanfic projects. I decided to put it on ice to work on my Regenesis reboot. Might make it into an expansion pack or something given that it took place after an alternate, less retarded ME3 ending.
5.1 – Doouka: Biology
Doouka are physically robust and extremely strong creatures evolved to perform menial labor at peak performance. A doouka worker can lift almost twenty times its weight, and can cause significant bodily injuries to unprotected opponents in close quarters, even if unarmed.
Doouka are divided into castes, depending on gender. Workers, soldiers, overseers, attendants and advisors are all male. Maidens, matrons, matriarchs and autocratesses are all stages of the doouka female.
Doouka sizes vary depending on caste. Workers stand at 2.2 meters, soldiers at 2.5 meters. Overseers, Attendants and Advisors match the workers, and maidens, matrons, matriarchs and autocratesses all stand at 2.3 meters.
Doouka are very insectoid in appearance, but maintain a firmly bipedal body shape. The head is rounded, without a neck, and boasts two antennae used to communicate with other doouka and to “smell” the air. The mouth is a mess of mandibles and tentacles. Their bodies are covered in chitinous, shell-like skin plates similar to that of arthropods. Their skin is effectively a form of exoskeleton, but they also possess an endoskeleton beneath it. Each hand has three large, powerful fingers and each foot has two large and sturdy toes. They have digitigrade legs. Despite being largely insectoid in appearance, they strangely possess colorful mammalian eyes – a feature that makes them easier to relate to for many of the Council species.
Male doouka are stockier than females, and while they are anything but clumsy in motion, they tend to plod when not hard at work. Females are much slimmer, more nimble and move gracefully, and also possess wings. Only female doouka can become biotics.
Doouka have a significant range of color genotypes. All workers can perform the same types of work, but they operate in color-coded teams based on the color combination and pattern they were born with. This is an intricate system of categorization that even the most intelligent non-doouka would have trouble grasping.
Doouka reproduce like arthropods living in colonies, such as ants. The autocratess has 6-month cycles during which she goes into an almost hibernating state. During this state, she grows an extremely large distended abdomen that ovulates at a rate around 1000 eggs per day. When the cycle is at an end, she comes out of the hibernating state and detaches the abdomen from her genitalia, and resumes an active role in the politics of the colony for 6 months after which she starts breeding again.
Autocratesses can breed via parthenogenesis, but rely on a special caste called Attendants to randomize the genes of new young with their sperm in order to prevent genetic depression. This works even if the attendants impregnating her are her own offspring. How this process of inbreeding randomization works is poorly understood by Council biologists.
The lifespan of doouka depends on caste. Workers rarely live over 40 years, while soldiers, advisors, overseers, attendants and advisors can live up to 120 years. Females have a significantly longer lifespan, covering the maiden, matron and matriarch stages in 100 years, after which they become autocratesses, who are said to be able to live as long as 2000 years, or in the case of Dooukahlen, 25,000 years.
Doouka have the ability to store genetic memories, but only females can extract and pass them on. The autocratesses argue that this ability is proof that Dooukahlen is not a mythological figure since they can “regress” into her memories and experience the world like she did. All doouka castes can regress into memories of their ancestors, and they regularly do when sleeping.
5.2 – Doouka: Culture
Despite being likened to ants and termites, individual doouka do have personalities and more esoteric hopes and wants. Autocratesses maintain order and productivity via pheromones and low-frequency sounds that stimulates obedience, but the doouka are not automated slaves. They are genetically and culturally groomed to value the colony over the individual, but they still dream of being individually part of something larger – more often than not earning the right to become a Freed. For the majority of doouka, their final and most honorable service to the colony is on the day of their death when they are processed into food by the Nutrient Vats.
Doouka enjoy music and often work to music. Female doouka can produce song-like sounds. Theatres do not exist in their culture, but there is a religious equivalent of dramatic monologuing in which matrons or matriarchs gather a community and tell tales of historical freed or the history of Co’oban and Dooukahlen before the Protheans and the Reapers.
Lhessali has started the trend of allowing beastmasters to fight with trained animals in large, enclosed arenas with millions of spectators watching. It is their closest equivalent to a sports event.
Family is an unknown concept to low-caste doouka, but friendship is not. The notion of gathering to intoxicate oneself with friends is alien to doouka, but they have an equivalent of social gatherings during feeding hours when workers, soldiers and overseers gather to drink liquid food from the Nutrient Vats. During these gatherings doouka can share their experiences and try to gain perspectives on themselves and their society.
5.3 – Doouka: Government
The doouka is ruled by absolute autocracy. The formal rulers of dooukan society, the autocratesses, are called just that because of their absolute rule. However, matters concerning billions are too much for the autocratesses to handle on their own, which is why they rely on their maiden, matron and matriarch daughters to rule regionally and locally in their place.
There is also a second layer of control to the dooukan form of government – the advisors. They are a caste of doouka males completely immune to the autocratesses pheromones and low-frequency suggestions. This is an evolutionary trait designed to allow them to give the autocratesses outside and alternate perspectives to help them rule, but also to give them a critical, imaginative thinking that stimulates the pursuit of knowledge and science. Besides giving the autocratesses advice on political matters, Advisors are also responsible for developing technology and gathering knowledge – including wartime intelligence. These are tasks they share with maidens and matrons.
5.4 – Doouka: Military Doctrine
Doouka fight their battles in vastly different way based on factors like natural environment, genes, adaptability and upbringing. But one thing that unites them is that all doouka military forces, regardless of allegiance, almost always rely on superior numbers and rapid breeding.
Despite fighting with a swarm mentality, doouka never attack without knowing their enemy’s strengths and weaknesses. This also stimulates adaptivity – a war between doouka is rarely fought the same way twice.
Females without biotics may serve as high-ranking officers in intelligence if they so desire. Females with biotics tend to serve in elite, all-female combat units specializing in biotic combat, but also long-range and close-range combat. While male soldiers are disposable, female units are greatly valued – entire male regiments can be thrown away to take pressure off of female units.
All doouka are fiercely territorial. They will never surrender territory or abandon colonies to the enemy.
5.5 – Doouka: Religion
Dooukan religion is centered on their mythological and actual historical leader, the autocratess Dooukahlen, for whom the species is named. Dooukahlen was considered nothing short of a goddess during the apex of Co’oban civilization – mythological texts stated her to have lived since the dawn of time, and she was said to be the mother of every autocratess born on Co’oban between “Emergence” 75,000 years ago and until the Reapers invaded 50,000 years ago.
All of the autocratesses argue that the religious history is the truth – they claim they can “regress” into genetic memories of Dooukahlen reigning over the primitive doouka, and that no matter which past memory they peer into, the imposing visage of Dooukahlen is present in it.
Doouka revere the memory of Dooukahlen by serving their autocratesses without order and question. There are no priests. Doouka believe that those who serve well can become “Freed” to become fully independent like the Advisor caste, and stand at Dooukahlen’s side when the Star-Touched return. As a consequence, very few Advisors believe in dooukan religion.
An autocratess can declare any doouka Freed, but it is not a blessing given lightly. The doouka being Freed earns the right to a name, to be preserved after death and be reborn by Dooukahlen when the Star-Touched return to bring them to the heavens. This stands in stark contrast to non-Freed doouka, who are processed into food in the Nutrient Vats after death.
Doouka have the ritual of visiting the preserved remains of ancient Freed and reading their history and the reason why they were declared Freed. To many doouka, this serves as an uplifting morale and spiritual boost to help them with their daily chores in hopes of one day becoming Freed themselves.
5.6 – Doouka: The Civil War
The dooukan Civil Wars began during a summit of all autocratesses in doouka space where the matter of electing the prime leader after Syyhura’s death was in focus. Much emphasis was placed on the matter of amassing a force powerful enough to defeat the Reapers when they inevitably returned. Autocratess Jurahlla of Syyhura argued that she was deserving of the title as she was Autocratess Syyhura’s direct descendant. This claim was rebuked by the other autocratesses, who believed they had the same right, being Syyhura’s daughters as well.
The inability to decide a rightful leader and the animosity that followed caused a schism that eventually degenerated into outright war. Over the millennia, the main reason for the schism and why the war broke out has been forgotten, replaced by inherited, baseless animosity. Some doouka leaders, and mainly advisors in service to all seven nations, argued that the doouka needed to remember why they were fighting for power – the Reapers.
These attempts to broker peace were called Co’oban Summits, where meetings were held in orbit around Co’oban to remind them of what their species had lost and what they would lose if they did not ready themselves for the Reapers. Unfortunately, peace rarely lasted for long.
Since the Council discovered the doouka and announced the Reapers' defeat, the leading autocratesses have sworn a truce with each other, but many believe that not even this brokered peace will last.
5.7 – Doouka: War with the Protheans
50,000 years ago, after “gifting” FTL to the doouka and allowing them to colonize their own star system, the Protheans made first contact and demanded that they join their empire. Dooukahlen allegedly refused, claiming her people would only bow to the “Star-Touched” from ancient history, which the protheans believed to be the Inusannon. Thinking Dooukahlen knew no better, the protheans had claimed they were the Star-Touched. She called them on their bluff and attempted to drive them out of their system. The protheans did not resist, and left on their own accord.
The protheans returned a few years later with a sizeable fleet and initiated first strike by bombarding the dooukan colonies from orbit, starting a war that would last for decades. At first they were overwhelmed by the sheer number of doouka rolling over their forward bases, but prothean ingenuity prevailed in the end as they deployed biological, chemical weapons and radiological weapons that interfered with doouka breeding capabilities. As dooukan young died in the thousands, the protheans gained the advantage and began to push them back.
Unfortunately for both species, the Reapers interrupted them in the middle of their conflict. The Prothean forces retreated to fight the war on their own worlds, while the debilitated doouka were left easy prey for the Reapers.
6.1 – Dooukan Nutrient Vats
The Nutrient Vat is a dooukan invention that uses a viscous liquid of water and chemicals to break down dooukan bodies into nutrients. The inedible parts of the body amass on the surface of the vat as non-sticky foam which is removed, after which the mixture goes to processing and becomes food for the workers.
As dooukan populations began to exceed stable numbers, the necessity for alternative food sources became apparent. With crops approaching the size of countries and animal farms being unable to reproduce fast enough to feed the entire population, the only real alternative was to literally eat the dead.
Having one’s body sent to the Nutrient Vats is considered an honor to low-caste doouka, who find the idea of being able to sustain the colony with their body appealing.
6.2 – Dooukan Weather Control
In order to protect and optimize the production of crops, the doouka early on developed techniques to control the weather. The most common method is to build large towers dispersing chemicals that alter cloud formations. Terraforming also became widespread to control the effects of weather, especially by lowering, raising or creating mountains to affect precipitation.
6.3 – Dooukan Terraforming
When dooukan core worlds started to become excessively overpopulated, the doouka resorted to inventing techniques to alter the state of lifeless or harsh life bearing planets to support dooukan colonies.
Algae-bombing was a common technique to rapidly introduce oxygen into an environment, but it required natural bodies of water. To create water, the doouka would haul readily available ice asteroids into the planet’s surface.
On worlds with low mass, Mass Effect generators were used to evenly blanket the surface of the planet or moon with an even field capable of retaining an atmosphere and a tolerable gravitational level.
6.4 – Dooukan Cluster Cities
In order to keep populations together and prevent urbanization from spoiling fertile land, the doouka came up with the concept of Cluster Cities – building 10 kilometers high (7 kilometers above ground, 3 kilometers below), 1 kilometer radius wide spires interconnected very tightly with support beams and sky bridges. Inside the spires, the doouka live in very tight conditions, eating, sleeping and working together at all times. As few as 25,000 and as many as 10 million spires can be interconnected.
Cluster Cities can be built in very different ways, but the general idea stays the same. Due to their nature, they can often be seen from space.
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