| Cuna | |
|---|---|
| Groups | Department of Species Integration of the Superiority |
| Homeworld | Starsight |
| Universe | Skyward Universe |
“The different ways species act is a strength of our union, not a flaw in it. ”
—Cuna[1]
Cuna is a dione who lives on Starsight and the head of the Superiority's Department of Species Integration.[2]
Appearance and Personality
Cuna is a tall, slender dione[3] with vivid blue skin and androgynous features. They lack hair and have prominent eye ridges and cheek bones. Cuna wears a set of robes a shade of blue just lighter than their skin tone the first time they meet Spensa.[2]
Cuna is a nonaggressive dione, like most of the other races of primary intelligence in the Superiority. Cuna is cold and calculating, analyzing everything people say, which makes them a skilled politician and an excellent schemer.[4] They are quite smart, engaged in a power struggle with Winzik and the Department of Protective Services. Cuna is also quite caring and affectionate, trying to smile at Spensa, a non-dione facial expression, to be welcoming and make her species' transition to Superiority life as smooth and comfortable as possible.[1]
Although Cuna publicly holds the common Superiority view that aggressive species should not be deemed of primary intelligence, they are more tolerant than many of their colleagues, believing that there is room in the Superiority for species of different temperances than the races of primary intelligence. They conceived the Delver Resistance Program with Winzik, in the hope that when a delver threatened the Superiority, a member of a so-called aggressive species from the program would save the day and convince the races of primary intelligence that some aggression is useful, and that the different ways species act is the strength of the Superiority, not its weakness.[1]
History
Cuna and Winzik created the Delver Resistance Program together, Cuna doing it to convince the Superiority races of primary intelligence that there was value in having more aggressive races in their society, while Winzik's motivation was to provide himself with a fleet of starfighters so he could control the Superiority.[1]
Cuna first met Spensa when M-Bot landed in Starsight's docking bay. Cuna then told Spensa they were glad to meet her, as it had been at their personal request that the Superiority reach out to the UrDail. Cuna told Spensa that they had reached out to the UrDail in hopes that they would send pilots to the Superiority's new Delver Resistance Program. Their hope was that if Spensa's training went well, then more UrDail pilots could come to the Superiority and hopefully earn their race secondary Superiority citizenship.
Cuna led Spensa to the UrDail embassy, on the way explaining the danger of having cytonics around, but told her that the Superiority needed aggressive pilots to use a superweapon prepared specifically to combat the delvers.
Cuna then told Spensa about the dangers of using AI and radio communications, and told her that the Superiority had exclusive access to cytonic hyperdrives, and that by limiting certain species' access, the Superiority could maintain galactic peace by keeping aggressive and bellicose races isolated.
Cuna then told Spensa that although they as a member of the Department of Species Integration had a certain amount of say in the Delver Resistance Program, the Department of Protective Services, the group that monitored Detritus, was the lead group in the project. Cuna then told Spensa that if she and the other UrDail pilots performed well, Cuna might even shepherd the UrDail to primary citizenship. Cuna attempted to smile at Spensa, but then as alarms went off and a human woman approached the embassy, Cuna held Spensa back and told her that they would handle the situation.[2]