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Description

Forty lightyears from the world called Earth, there is a small star system with seven small worlds whipping tightly around a small red star. It is known to humans as the TRAPPIST-1 system , but to the dakeos and tomari... it is simply "mando" - home.
The dakeos and tomari (collectively called the Mandoans) are the two native sophont races in the Mando system, hailing from Kotek (T-1e) and Elayen (T-1g) respectively. The worldview of the Mandoans has been expansive from the beginning. Because of the fact that from any one planet, the other six are clearly visible in the sky, the Mandoans' worldview has always been that of bold, open curiosity. Since Kotek and Elayen perpetually hang in full view of each other's inhabitants, the two races' knowledge of each other is deeply rooted in their respective cultural histories. From the discovery of fire to the advent of agriculture to the construction of great cities, the two societies have almost always been aware of each other's existence. In their primitive ages, tribes of each species held that the other worlds in the sky were a sort of afterlife; where souls of the dead went upon their passing. However, when the first great civilizations sprang up, scholars came to the shocking realization that these were real worlds that could be visited one day, and the firelight that shone from their sister planet was a fellow race of sophonts.
Because of their curiosity and blazing desire to meet with each other, the dakeos and tomari both invented unmanned interplanetary rocketry before electromagnetic communication -a rarity in technocultural development. Small chemically-powered vessels bearing messages on scrolls were launched at the points when the orbits brought Kotek and Elayen closest, in hopes that the other world would receive their communications. Almost all of these failed, but thanks to the few that succeeded the dakeos and tomari began to decipher each other's languages.
With the dawn of radio transmission, the two species were finally able to communicate with each other in real-time. Thanks to the work of generations of linguists working from those few successful scroll rockets, translation was only a minor problem in the beginning. From this critical point, technological progress exploded forward -one of the fastest progressions to space travel in any known culture- and the Mandoans spread rapidly through their solar system, establishing an expansive infrastructure of colonies and interplanetary trade. Interplanetary transit in the Mando system is heavily planned but highly efficient given the proximity of the seven worlds, relying on the initial escape velocity burst from high-yield magnetic plasma drives to gain orbital speed and then coasting on the complex and tangled gravitational interactions between the Mandoan planets.
At the far edge of the inner Mando system is Pretek-Beraln (T-1h): a small, icy world where the Mandoans have set up a base for deep space exploration. Forays further and further into deep space with powerful radio telescopes continue to increase the Mandoans’ knowledge of the universe, and they may one day soon discover the pale blue dot known as Earth…

My entry for the group challenge ! I must say, I think this is the best piece I've made thus far. Heck, if any of you know of a way to get this as a poster I'd love to know, because I want this thing hanging on my wall.
EDIT: Holy quiznak. The file is so large that apparently dA is having trouble showing it as a thumbnail.

Description

Forty lightyears from the world called Earth, there is a small star system with seven small worlds whipping tightly around a small red star. It is known to humans as the TRAPPIST-1 system , but to the dakeos and tomari... it is simply "mando" - home.
The dakeos and tomari (collectively called the Mandoans) are the two native sophont races in the Mando system, hailing from Kotek (T-1e) and Elayen (T-1g) respectively. The worldview of the Mandoans has been expansive from the beginning. Because of the fact that from any one planet, the other six are clearly visible in the sky, the Mandoans' worldview has always been that of bold, open curiosity. Since Kotek and Elayen perpetually hang in full view of each other's inhabitants, the two races' knowledge of each other is deeply rooted in their respective cultural histories. From the discovery of fire to the advent of agriculture to the construction of great cities, the two societies have almost always been aware of each other's existence. In their primitive ages, tribes of each species held that the other worlds in the sky were a sort of afterlife; where souls of the dead went upon their passing. However, when the first great civilizations sprang up, scholars came to the shocking realization that these were real worlds that could be visited one day, and the firelight that shone from their sister planet was a fellow race of sophonts.
Because of their curiosity and blazing desire to meet with each other, the dakeos and tomari both invented unmanned interplanetary rocketry before electromagnetic communication -a rarity in technocultural development. Small chemically-powered vessels bearing messages on scrolls were launched at the points when the orbits brought Kotek and Elayen closest, in hopes that the other world would receive their communications. Almost all of these failed, but thanks to the few that succeeded the dakeos and tomari began to decipher each other's languages.
With the dawn of radio transmission, the two species were finally able to communicate with each other in real-time. Thanks to the work of generations of linguists working from those few successful scroll rockets, translation was only a minor problem in the beginning. From this critical point, technological progress exploded forward -one of the fastest progressions to space travel in any known culture- and the Mandoans spread rapidly through their solar system, establishing an expansive infrastructure of colonies and interplanetary trade. Interplanetary transit in the Mando system is heavily planned but highly efficient given the proximity of the seven worlds, relying on the initial escape velocity burst from high-yield magnetic plasma drives to gain orbital speed and then coasting on the complex and tangled gravitational interactions between the Mandoan planets.
At the far edge of the inner Mando system is Pretek-Beraln (T-1h): a small, icy world where the Mandoans have set up a base for deep space exploration. Forays further and further into deep space with powerful radio telescopes continue to increase the Mandoans’ knowledge of the universe, and they may one day soon discover the pale blue dot known as Earth…

My entry for the group challenge ! I must say, I think this is the best piece I've made thus far. Heck, if any of you know of a way to get this as a poster I'd love to know, because I want this thing hanging on my wall.
EDIT: Holy quiznak. The file is so large that apparently dA is having trouble showing it as a thumbnail.