A to Z: Z is for Zoni

The Zoni are a Minor Race native to the planet Lur in the Nolgor Subsector of the RimWorlds Sector. Bipedal crustaceanoids, the Zoni have, at times, proven to be implacable enemies of Imperial expansion through Nolgor Subsector, delaying the Imperial advance across the Perrsherrik Rift and hampering Sector Duke Kolin II’s initial campaign of the 1st Rimward War in the early 550’s.

The Zoni have proved difficult to study and discourage visitors to their inner system and home world. They appear to move through cycles of quiescence, followed by periods of raiding, and then full blown invasion of surrounding space. It is believed that the Zoni population is divided amongst a number of Hives or lineages. These are engaged in a perpetual power struggle for dominance. As the overall Zoni population increases, the need to demonstrate prowess and superiority encourages Hives to send out raiding parties. As the conflict between the Hives intensifies, full scale war breaks out. The sudden explosion of Zoni warfleet activity in the volume of space around Lur is both linked to this period of warfare, and symptomatic of less successful lineages attempting to find new resource centres away from the home system. Following a period of warfare, the Zoni population suffers a massive die off that can persist for decades or centuries until the next cycle of population growth and conflict begins.

It is believed that the Shenni population of Shenn is actually a Zoni Hive that successfully established itself in the deep desert region prior to the arrival of the Theocrats of Lotarf. From what little has been learned of the reclusive Shenni, it would appear they share similar physiological and societal patterns to the Zoni of Lur.

The last major Zoni incursion into Imperial Space occurred between 1090 and 1095 and is known as the Zoni Wars. Prior conflicts in the mid 6^th Century and the mid 8^th Century had lead scientists to speculate that the Zoni population reaches a crisis point every two centuries or so. Unfortunately, the peace in 1095 was the result of negotiation, not victory over the Zoni. As rogue states such as Naos VI had been supplying illegal technology to the Hives, there is a real fear that another eruption of Zoni raiding is imminent and that the Zoni will be a much greater threat to Imperial worlds than hitherto.