Deep in the nice part... well, not actually really nice, but rather slightly less nice than really nice, but not quite "less nice" part of the Perseus arm of the galaxy, lies the planet Xaxis; the most ancient functional democracy in galactic history.

The Xaxisians are a humanoid species, being a standard upright bipedal lifeform evolved from what can best be described as a mammalian subspecies of similar, simian structure, but having shaken off the more primal behaviors associated with the basic survival that other, far less interesting forms of life exhibit long ago. They now resemble a bulkier, more medicated, and less emotionally stable version of their ancient predecessors. They sustain themselves mostly on a diet of fast food, packaged snacks, and carbonated fluids. Economically, the planet is powered by video games, reality television, lifestyle magazines, and the all-powerful 24-hour military-industrial news complex.

Then earliest known verifiable historical and archaeological records of Xaxis determined it originally to be a collection of border-defined individual democracies a little over 11 thousand Xaxisian years ago. Eventually, however, the individual planetary governments joined to form an imperial multi-national conglomerate following the industrial drive in video game development fueled by the fall of Zirsla, their closest neighbor. That lasted until the reunification treaty, which was a direct result of the digital MMO&FPS war in the year of 5241.6, whereupon the whole system was restructured under the Xaxisian Military-Industrial News Complex as a continuation of an amalgamation of the nations of the pre-corporation planetary situation called "The United Xaxisian Republic", which operates as a Democracy with a few significant quirks.

The supreme leader of this modern age governing democratic system holds very little direct power, serves a four-year term, may not be elected more than two terms, and, as in most democracies, must be chosen from one of only two pre-determined candidates, selected by entrenched political power systems.

Voting is done by adult aged, politically engaged Xaxisians. In this case, the legal voting age for Xaxisians is 10 years old, even though the legal adult age for buying the best video games and lifestyle magazines, as well as the legal age to own property, engage in contracts, or imbibe alcohol is still 18. The vote is divided up along the lines of formerly existing democracies from the ancient era in what is commonly referred to as the representative democratic electoral system, which always takes place in a college. This division of the vote exists so that no form of direct democracy can be allowed to override the illegitimacy of any given election. In the 6000 years since the system was set up, only a very few, minor details of the process have changed.

Every four years, the Xaxisians who can be bothered enough to do so line up to cast their vote for the new local, regional, and supreme leaders via a variety of methods of questionable ethics, and though very few Xaxisians engage in the system these days, it does nothing to quell their predictable outrage at the results of the eventual election outcome. The occasional Xaxisian will raise the concern that the whole system might be dysfunctional at best, but very few enough people ever listen to them and even fewer of the ones who do have any ideas about how to make it better, while a grand total of "none at all" are willing to put in the work to change it. On the once-in-a-millennia event where things look like they might actually change, it doesn't take long for the newest celebrity lifestyle fad, an update about the Zirslan war, or the latest cause in social justice to take their brief moment of sanity and rationality away.

The modern election candidate is always a member of some reptile species, though never a snake, as they are not seen as "electable" and usually only receive appointment positions like positions in the federal judiciary or the tax department. Rather, the most prestigious offices are always run for by one of the larger species of iguana, whereas most of the relevant positions (where the work actually gets done) are run for by turtles, and though the occasional alligator does get in, when it comes to necessary government offices, it's mostly just the turtles all the way down. The leadership of the two political ideology corporations are also all lizards.

The Xaxisian people whom this system governs do not actually hold or ever even run for political offices, though some do take positions as aides and interns and get paid a great deal of money to campaign for or report on the candidates running for office throughout the campaign season. The campaign season usually lasts for about three and a half years, during which news crews can follow their own favorite candidates from the politio-minor leagues of local government through the basic credential-building era of regional government and all the way up to whatever high office they aspire to. The lizards themselves seem unconcerned with the whole affair, being only primitive reptiles with no comprehension of politics or administration. The Xaxisian people seem to make the whole thing work, despite this. Some will go so far as to say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to the government, while others who represent the counter argument think that the first set of people can go and stick their heads in buckets of boiling acid.

The election process itself is a grueling process consisting of three main parts: Selection, Election, and Destruction. First, the pre-appointed candidates are surrounded by their political familiars until it becomes evident which lizard has the most financial capital propping it up. This part of the process can take the longest and have the biggest impact on public morale since the eventual chosen lizard will inevitably be the one with the highest unfavourability rating amongst the general public. Once a lizard has been selected by each of the only two accepted political ideological corporations, those two parties will begin a relentless diatribe of slander and abuse against each other at a handful of relevant geographical locations while avoiding most of the planet. This process will last all the way up until the day(s) of election (which can be extended if the lizard not intended needs their lead suspended and if, to reach the pre-determined outcome, numbers need be mended), after which, the election is ended. Then, everyone who did not vote, as well as the supporters of those who lost the election will briefly march into the streets and engage in the third and final part of the political process: Destruction, where they will riot continuously in response to the election results until they get tired, run out of toilet paper, or as is most often the case, both. The whole process is then wrapped up with the inauguration of the chosen lizards to their respective elected positions. After about 3 months, there is usually enough political capital to start the whole process over again, gearing up the pundits and newscasters and propelling the all-powerful 24-hour military-industrial news complex back above the video game industry as the most profitable of all Xaxisian economic efforts.

As far as the average Xaxisian sees it, they all have the right to vote, so they all just assume that the government they voted into power is the government that they wanted, choosing not to think about it too much and returning to their video games, comfortable in their collective belief that everything is finally going to change back to the same way things have always been... which they also choose not to think about too much.

Even though this behavior may seem bizarre to the outside observer, there is no species in the galaxy who is not guilty, at least in some small way, of something similar.

The Zirslan war, or "The Thousand Years' War" Has been going on longer than any Xaxisian can remember. The original dispute seemed to be over an inhabited moon between the two planets which had high natural resources and a primitive, easily exploited native species, but has expanded to include several other planetoids, a few thousand asteroids and even a minor wandering star in the area. It is noteworthy to point out that no Xaxisian nor any Zirslan has died in the war for thousands of years and that the war is completely automated on both sides at this point, with even the officer corps of the militaries staffed entirely by robots, computers, and battle machines. It could be said that there have been no organic casualties of the war at all for thousands of years if the territories where most of the fighting takes place were not inhabited. Many of the robots designed by the Xaxisian and Zirslan forces have, from time to time, wandered off to find what they call "a more worthy species to serve" which can cause the war effort to wain and push the front into new areas with new inhabited planetoids and more primitive species to sacrifice in the name of military progress. Whenever this happens, a few simple programming corrections can usually help to put the war back into full swing and re-establish the proper and understood balance of power between the two fighting planets for at least a few generations. Neither Xaxis nor Zirsla is interested in winning the war since, without the existential threat of complete hypothetical annihilation from and ancient and deadly foe, their respective societies would collapse and no new video game DLC in the world will be able to save them this time.

A clever hitchhiker can usually persuade a Xaxisian battle brigade warship to travel immediately to any location in the galaxy, no matter how far away, if they can successfully convince the craft's mainframe command system computer that there is something nice or worth noticing in that location. Xaxisian Battle brigade warships are quite unwelcome in most of the more affluent parts of the galaxy, but there are also plenty of other areas which are always open and eager to the prospect of a long, protracted war.