Nomen (D18)

A people, the presence of which was first discovered on Borella (leading them to be known as Borellian Nomen or simply Nomen), exist beyond the Red Line and remain a popular topic of idle speculation for Colonial academics. A technologically advanced species, they have not been encountered by humanity, though the ruins of a Nomen settlement on Borella have proven a tantalising source of information on the race.

A bilaterally symmetrical bipedal primate, Nomen are a robust, fur covered, mammilian species with an average lifespan of around 130 years, although some individuals achieved a much older age. There are three major, distinct subspecies and though they socailise well, do not interbreed. They consider themselves distinct in their ability to survive and continue, move from strength to strength. Their intelligence and self-awareness is a particular identifier of their sentience and though humanoid in appearance, they do not consider themselves related to humanity and are accepted as analagous with no evidence to date suggesting otherwise.

Nomen number some 19 billion, spread over sectors and sectors of space beyond the Red Line. Their concept of territory and property is less rigid and important than in human society and they are a migratory species; settling in a system and utilising ready resources only as they immediately require before moving along. They do return to areas of abundance but on a whole are characterised by their wanderlust. Nomen scouts ships have encountered fringe elements of Colonial society but are weary of non-Nomen spacecraft and have been belligerent as a result.

Nomads
Nomen place a strong importance on immediate family and tribe, organised into roving mega-fleets they are accustomed to relatively hard, modest living and are willing to compromise selflessly to ensure the wellbeing of the next generation. Strength is the most attractive quality Nomen identify, and as a result their conduct in displaying this positive trait can be considered fierce, barbaric and brutal by others. First meetings usually involve displays of aggression, literally chest beating, as a way to exchange 'credentials' and positively announce oneself. Their work ethic and fortitude is inhumanly impressive.

Travelled Space
Organised into three mega-fleets comprising small 'family' ships to large 'tribal' liners numbering in the thousands, the Nomen have covered huge swathes of the starscape in their travels though take care to leave as little a mark of their presence as possible. They revere the planets and resources that allow them to continue their journey and consider themselves caretakers of the territory they pass through. Typically it will take lifetimes for the Nomen to fully travel a sector; with scouts sweeping through quickly and identifying resources and a 'camp' planet, the bulk of the Fleet will then settle around it while factory ships move through and collect what they need to sustain the population.

Roughly about the time of the start of the Cylon War, the desert world of Borella was base for a group of Nomen scouts that encountered a party of Cylons escaping the Colonies and searching for a homeworld. This first encounter was violent and the Cylons were ruthless in dispatching the surprised Nomen. While the Colonial Fleet followed the Cylon sweep and found evidence of the battle and this new species they did not seek out contact because of the desperate conflict they were fighting. It is believed that while the Cylons and their Baseships found 'safezones' beyond the Red Line in which to locate the industry required to fight a war with the Colonials, they also engaged in full scale conflict with a Nomen mega-fleet that had been approaching Colonial space. Concerned at the possibility the two might meet and ally against the Cylons, a genocidal type of warfare against the Nomen was conducted. With a strong warrior tradition and despite sustaining great losses (the most devastating suffered inside an intense, blinding and highly radioactive star cluster) the Nomen fought the Cylons to a stalemate. The intensity of clashes have decreased as a result of neither side being able to take and hold the iniative and are usually 'just' ferocious skirmishes between raiding groups as the Nomen hurriedly disengage and move on.