Observations:

1 The Hissho (and Yuusho) are always shown in official artworks with some kind of face covering.

2 The Vodyani and virtual endless share a suspiciously humanoid shape.

Headcanon:

1. In Hissho (and Yuusho) culture, one's face is only to be shown those you are emotionally close to and noone else.

2. The Vodyani, virtual endless and humans are related to some, most certainly very distant and irrelevant, connection.

3. Vaulters crew suffer from pebbles (and pebble-sized objects) getting in their shoes so often that the word has become slang for any minor issue, especially those that mostly just make doing a certain activity more uncomfortable, but also require too much effort to immediately fix them. Thanks to their prolonged stay on Auriga they also got a lot of synonyms for snow.

4. Every faction makes video games, with "Love Thyself" being a prime example of the things Horatio publish. The Sophons, for example, got their hands on DOOM (1993) and it's sequel, famous for "running on anything" and significantly optimized it, to the point that their version allows you to run both "Nuts 3" and "Russian Overkill" together in GZDOOM on everything the regular DOOM can run on (for those that don't know: GZDOOM is a sourceport that is commonly used by most mods and maps, Russian Overkill is a hilariously overpowered weapon mod, where the greatest threat to your survival is killing yourself with said OP weapons. Generally not very technically demanding, except when you pair it with a map with lots of enemies that you kill a lot of very quickly. Nuts 3 is a sequel of a sequel of a Doom Map that has one big room and a METRIC MEGATON OF ENEMIES in that big room. It was too much to handle for many a PC at the time, but due to more modern PCs getting better and better, the sequels were made with even greater enemy numbers.)

On the other hand, the Lumeris also make games, and if I had to describe them I would just point to the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, with the main difference being the race/species of the people and that they glorify oganized crime to a severe extent (also not as japanese as the Yakuza/Like a Dragon Games due to the whole "Lumeris not being Japanese" thing).

The Cravers by comparison make the most realistic combat simulators in the galaxy.

Video Games in the UE fall into 2 broad categories: They are either Call of Duty except with severe propaganda or they are a management game that is at minimum melancholic (for reference watch the Video of the channel "Bricky" about the videogame Frostpunk).

Question:

#1 (Technically 2 questions, but they are related to the same factions and this way it shares numbers with the related observation/headcanon) What do the faces of Hissho (and Yuusho) look like? And, aside from the names and the fact one is a major, the other a minor faction, are there major cultural/societal differences between Hissho and Yuusho?

1. Under masks they look like this. On a serious note, they should look like those early designs. Oh, and Hissho and Yuusho have different numbers of fingers on their palms, so I expect other physiological differences, one having more prominant avian look, and other more humanoid as the result of their evolution manipulation by the Endless. 

2. Vodyani have humanoid shape to their cloth, because Endless had it, both Concrete Endless or Virtual prior to Virtualisation. Vodyani can also occupy tank-mechs, and those aren't as humanoid, if at all.

1. That still leaves the question why those faces are rarely if ever visible, and 2 is very much the weakest question of mine, but it's still an odd pattern that they all share that same body shape, so I don't want to dismiss it.

Ani_Taneen wrote:

AndreasArchibald wrote:

And, aside from the names and the fact one is a major, the other a minor faction, are there major cultural/societal differences between Hissho and Yuusho?

It's not a canon answer, and I do apologize, I was hoping to have this finished two weeks ago, but I am giving them almost biological differences for the next update of this: https://community.amplitude-studios.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/forums/76-creations/threads/49459-tabletop-rpg-endless-space-in-pathfinder-document?page=1

So my answer is completely fanfiction, but here are the differences in the next version (which should go out this or next month):

When creating a Hissho, you share many attributes with your species:

Ability Modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Int. Hissho were bred from experiments to make soldiers and gladiators. 

Hit Points: 2

Size and Type: Hissho are Medium humanoids and have the Hissho subtype.

Built for Speed. Engineered from birds, Hisso legs are designed to allow for quick and graceful movement. They gain Jet Dash as a bonus feat at 1st level. This Feat can be found in Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 158

Fearless. Hissho receive a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against fear effects.

Keen Senses. Hissho receive a +2 racial bonus to Perception skill checks.

Weapon Familiarity. Hissho are proficient with basic and advanced melee weapons and gain specialization with those weapons at 3rd level.

Alternate Racial Traits. Yuusho have the following alternate traits at character creation

Brawny. The Yuusho retain martial traditions made for entertainment and not war. Yuusho gain a +2 racial bonus to Athletics and Acrobatics checks.This replaces Fearless.

Natural Gladiator. The Yuusho were designed by the Endless for gladiatorial combat and possess fewer avian traits. To this day their culture and education retains this heritage. When a Yuusho has 0 Stamina Points, they gain a +1 insight bonus to melee attack rolls. They also gain the Blood in Their Eyes feat found in Character Operations Manual pg. 113. This replaces Built for Speed.

So, from a physical standpoint the hissho are more agile and the Yuusho more physically strong, while from a cultural perspective both races had the same start, but for the hissho gladiatorial combat became an art of war, while the Yuusho treat it more as a sport. Interesting interpretation.

AndreasArchibald wrote:

Ani_Taneen wrote:

AndreasArchibald wrote:

And, aside from the names and the fact one is a major, the other a minor faction, are there major cultural/societal differences between Hissho and Yuusho?

It's not a canon answer, and I do apologize, I was hoping to have this finished two weeks ago, but I am giving them almost biological differences for the next update of this: https://community.amplitude-studios.com/amplitude-studios/endless-space-2/forums/76-creations/threads/49459-tabletop-rpg-endless-space-in-pathfinder-document?page=1

So my answer is completely fanfiction, but here are the differences in the next version (which should go out this or next month):

When creating a Hissho, you share many attributes with your species:

Ability Modifiers: +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Int. Hissho were bred from experiments to make soldiers and gladiators. 

Hit Points: 2

Size and Type: Hissho are Medium humanoids and have the Hissho subtype.

Built for Speed. Engineered from birds, Hisso legs are designed to allow for quick and graceful movement. They gain Jet Dash as a bonus feat at 1st level. This Feat can be found in Starfinder Core Rulebook pg. 158

Fearless. Hissho receive a +2 racial bonus to saving throws against fear effects.

Keen Senses. Hissho receive a +2 racial bonus to Perception skill checks.

Weapon Familiarity. Hissho are proficient with basic and advanced melee weapons and gain specialization with those weapons at 3rd level.

Alternate Racial Traits. Yuusho have the following alternate traits at character creation

Brawny. The Yuusho retain martial traditions made for entertainment and not war. Yuusho gain a +2 racial bonus to Athletics and Acrobatics checks.This replaces Fearless.

Natural Gladiator. The Yuusho were designed by the Endless for gladiatorial combat and possess fewer avian traits. To this day their culture and education retains this heritage. When a Yuusho has 0 Stamina Points, they gain a +1 insight bonus to melee attack rolls. They also gain the Blood in Their Eyes feat found in Character Operations Manual pg. 113. This replaces Built for Speed.

So, from a physical standpoint the hissho are more agile and the Yuusho more physically strong, while from a cultural perspective both races had the same start, but for the hissho gladiatorial combat became an art of war, while the Yuusho treat it more as a sport. Interesting interpretation.

I see the Yussho and Hissho as 2 halves of war, The Yussho are the Hissho of Endless Space 1, and back then were depicted as much more savage and barbaric than the Hissho of ES2, so I could see lorewise, that between the 2, the Hissho are the honorable, more noble warriors, and the Yussho having a more bloodthirsty style of waging war.