The Marihays are a race of humanoids fairly widespread in the galaxy. The Marihays see the chief purpose of their lives in conspicuous consumption and making money. Conspicuous consumption and standing in society are extremely important to them. There are two paths to achieving this — the first is one's own business or a career within a corporation, the second is a career as a lawyer, which for many Marihays is a dream.
There is a separate segment of the Marihays who reject the chase after wealth and influence and lead a thoroughly hedonistic lifestyle, eating cheap food and drink.
The Marihays can be fairly clearly divided into urban and rural. The rural ones — free farmers — are often the butt of jokes from city dwellers, who consider themselves superior to the former.
Marihaycy society is heavily tied to the banking and credit system, and Marihay banks are often controlled by the Zherzy. This race has serious influence over the Marihays. Although the Marihays themselves are everyday racists who believe their own race is superior to all others.
Another feature of the Marihays is their drive toward a democratic society. They will not accept dictatorship. That said, their society is far from always genuinely democratic. It is often controlled by bankers and corporations, who merely create the appearance of elections. But at least the appearance is deemed necessary.
An important subset within this race's society are the so-called Prods — short for “the advanced.” Prods are members of the race who have subjected themselves to large-scale gene therapy. It is somewhat easier for the Marihays to undergo it than for humans or other humanoid races. This is why Prods achieve better results compared to tehags. What Prods become is one of two things: either upholders of the law or criminals. For this reason, Prods are banned in many Marihay states. But there are plenty of other countries where Prods carry out law-enforcement duties, occupying a niche somewhere between special forces and superstars. Black Prods — individuals who set themselves against the pro-state Prods — often describe themselves as liberators of the Marihay race. They oppose Zherzy influence and believe that only the breakdown of the current political system will allow the Marihays to be free.
A separate business in Marihay states is the trade in mutagens. Mutagens allow Prods to enhance their genetic modifications and are also needed to keep them in fighting trim. The most potent mutagens are not manufactured but harvested from a wide variety of sources across the galaxy. These can include the roots of the dzitau tree and a substance that affects only the Marihays known as “kpida.”
