The Synrises are a fairly populous race. Traditionally they have a monarchic form of government, and the king is not only their secular leader but also a religious one — a sacred figure for the race. The race specializes in biotechnology, and the most revered figures after the king are the Biomages, the builders of biomachines. Although the race is quite advanced in ordinary technology as well, biomachines play an enormous role in its life. As a rule they are created for a single task: there are combat biomachines, construction ones, and many other kinds. Giant biomachines are grown, and a sentient being's brain must always be built into them — this is called splicing. Since biomachines often become objects of a cult, cultists voluntarily submit to splicing.
The Biomages are usually divided into guilds: there are both huge biomage corporations and small artels. The mutator guilds, for example, modify wild and domestic animals so they can perform a specific role — a small predator can be altered to destroy rodents and pests and protect crops. Among the best-known biomage guilds are the transnational corporation AgroSen, which develops crops and plants resistant to harsh environments, and ZhivoGen, which produces biomachines for industry — for instance the rabodon-zhg, large animals up to 5 m used as an analogue of trucks.
Despite their high level of technological development, the metal-poverty of the Synrise home planet led them to use modified animals instead of machines. Even now the Synrises rely heavily on biomachines in everyday life; the sole exception is their starship-building industry.
The Yellow Tunics are a special service answerable only to the kings, whose primary task is oversight of the Biomages. In some kingdoms their authority reaches further, but they are the most influential special service of the kingdoms — some consider them even more powerful than the kings themselves, since the Yellow Tunics of different states maintain very strong horizontal ties.
Calorie merchants are sellers of enriched food, a popular staple in Synrise society, especially among workers and peasants. They would buy ordinary food, enrich it with the help of Biomages, and sell it on the streets.
Peasants and workers are the disenfranchised part of society, obliged — on top of their regular work — to render duties to the king. For two weeks each of them must work the king's fields, after which they were branded with a mark that police could check; the absence of the mark was a serious crime.
Rickshaws — the country's relatively low level of automobilization and mechanization made this profession very popular. It required little investment: just a bicycle and a fee to a Biomage to strengthen the leg muscles. Rickshaw pullers usually came from peasant or worker estates, and the work did not exempt them from laboring on the king's fields.
