Konen

The Konen are a sentient species from Aiedi Prime. They are telepaths of considerable note, easily the equal of full-blood Betazoids. However, unlike the openness that Betazoid philosophy engendered, among the Konen, telepathy simply opened the book on all ill-intentions.

Appearance
The skin-tone of the Konen runs from a very pale purple to a rich royal purple or a near-black dark purple. They have a distinctive raised diamond shape on their foreheads. Their rather large irises come in colours of indigo, red, or gold. Their hair colours are most commonly red, pink, or green.

Society
Konen society and government functions via mutual networks of fear. In the vein of a well-armed society is a polite-society, it is extremely difficult to betray someone who can telepathically see it coming. It can happen, with great skill and imagination, but it is rare. Thus their society retains much greater 'functionality' than may be presumed by their somewhat blood-curdling nature. If you do find yourself in a situation where a Konen can exploit you without consequence, however, watch out.

Government is the Aegis of Aeidi. Naval service is the Aegis Interstellar Fleet.

The Old Gods
"Old Gods" is a bit of a double-entendre. The gods of the Konen are "old" in the sense that belief in them is no longer literal, but among some konen sects they were called "old" even before that, as their natures and the concepts they embody are seen as intrinsic to reality itself. While the Konen no longer worship them, they continue to practice many of the rituals as cultural traditions, and adhere to intellectualized versions of many of the philosophies.

Central to these traditions is a practice known as "vesselage," during which a group of konen will summon one of the gods to inhabit their bodies and unify their actions toward a specific task salient to the god's nature. In truth, this is simply a multi-way telepathic network that the konen establish through which they can psionically reinforce one another's zeal, coordination, and focus to a state of near singlemindedness. The konen of today are aware that there's nothing actually supernatural going on, but they tend to go through the ritual movements and words when initiating the link out of tradition.

The three konen gods best known to the Federation are Yuga of wrath and murder, who konen soldiers channel in combat, Thess of seed and womansblood, who is channeled by women in childbirth and the doctors or nurses who assist them, and Othar of the piercing eye, who scientists and scholars channel when focused on a specific intellectual puzzle. There is another god related to leadership who the oligarchic leaders of the Konen channel when engaged in council, but the name and titles of this deity are kept secret.

Notable Konen

 * Hybor, deceased Konen Admiral, commander during the Enio Campaign