ISIS

When Isis was first colonized, since the water resources were so meagre and only a series of dams kept the main river supplying all the colonists their needs, the ruler was called the Great Engineer, part of an elaborate bureaucracy, who had dictatorial powers to command others to help with the building of dams and the allotting of resources.

This lasted maybe 150 years, then in the desert, the hawk-derived Shaped (animal-derived) prophet Rusho came, preaching a religion of God's love for ALL of Earth's creatures, and the dignity and freedom of all of them, including the animal-derived Shaped hominids, who had been oppressed too long. He united the Shaped into a jihad which destroyed much of the previous government. Rusho was virtual ruler of Isis, but knew prejudices were too deep for him to rule, and was afraid of the corruption inherent with government, anyway. So he made one of the few humans he trusted, the geneticist Carlino Sanchez, the ruler over Isis, under the title Lifeshaper. Slowly he worked to unite all Isis.

Around 200 years after the foundation of Isis, giant sculptures were found in the desert, either left from a previous intelligent lifeform of Isis or by visiting aliens. In either case, it is hard to judge by the sculptures, which portray inanimate objects rather than living beings, very realistically.

A Christian variant sect also is headquartered on Isis, the Order of St. Adrian. This spearheads the xenological theological momvement to determine whether Christianity should be extended to other sentient races,especially the humanoid ones. They were masks with monkish robes, for they renounce their faces, to indicate their identity is bound up in the order.