The Aolu (pronounced either /eɪ.ˈoʊ.ˌluː/ or /aʊ.luː/) are a race of sapients who were semi-uplifted by the Iskian Empire and now serve them as soldiers.
Background History[]
The Aolu did not evolve without intervention. A precursor race, now long forgotten, landed upon their world and discovered their ancestors. Presumably considering themselves artists of some kind, they chose to sculpt the genes of these primitive creatures, and in the end both gave them awkward legs and built a set of four extensions from their heads at the crown of their skull, which each held a pair of eyes. Oddly, instead of making these eyes useful in any way, they made the eyes face each other, which ultimately caused the Aolu to often become dizzy and disoriented when keeping all eyes open. Those who do not believe their precursor race were artists sometimes adhere to the idea that this had been an experiment to see how a race could evolve to deal with such a debilitating evolution or protesters of sorts, who built them that way to state why genetic manipulation of a species may be a bad thing to do. However, no one can be absolutely certain what was the real reason behind this alteration as the precursor race is either extinct or has never shown itself and claimed the Aolu as theirs. The Aolu never successfully found a purpose for their "crosseyes", as they tend to be referred to as.
Tribesman
Eventually, the Aolu reached sapience and later, founded tribal societies, though it was a somewhat slow and grueling process due to these crosseyes. This was to be the start of their complex social customs that would eventually come to define their race throughout the Kyklos Galaxy. In an attempt to find a way to deal with the perpetual stare they gave themselves every day. This manifested in the form of elaborate masks to hide each eye from the others. As time went on, these began to consist of beautiful blossoming flora, different for each eye, so they could shut the eyes to view the blossoms they felt like looking at at the given time.
Social Norman
As time went on, they eventually adapted an actual civilization, as as the centuries went on, the various nations that sprung up developed their own cultural norms and taboos, eventually evolving into very odd designs. The people of these days became referred to as the "Social Normans" by later people who did not live during that time, although the people of the era simply referred to themselves by their national terms. They remained like this for several centuries although their customs evolved over time, and eventually one ruling nation presided over the others, and their customs were the customary norm for the populace of their homeworld. They were this way, too, when they entered their space era, and were like this during their discovery by the Isk and the subsequent war with them that ensued.
When they were finally integrated into the empire by the Isk, they were encouraged to keep their strange social customs simply because the Isk found them to be hilarious. For centuries they would laugh behind the Aolu's backs without their knowledge. At the same time, other member races of the empire considered them and their social norms a disgust or a joke as well. This eventually changed, however, as the social customs continued to adapt and progress to a state where they had evolved into impressive environmental suits. Ultimately, the Isk came to start patting themselves on the back for encouraging this evolution in the Aolu, as if it had been intentional all along, which it far from actually was.