Refuzuars

Refuzuars are a fictional demographic group commonly used in speculative fiction to describe sentient beings displaced from their home worlds and living in dispersed settlements across multiple star systems. The term appears in novels, role-playing games, and media franchises as a framework for exploring exile, memory, and adaptive survival.

Etymology: The name is a constructed term, often interpreted as deriving from refuge or refuge-seeking, with a suffix used in some worlds to designate people. There is no single canonical origin for the term.

Biology and physiology: Because refuzuars originate from diverse homeworld ecologies across stories, there is no universal biology. Common tropes describe high adaptability, durable immune systems, and flexible metabolism, enabling individuals to endure varied climates, gravity levels, and radiation.

Society and culture: Refuzuars typically organize in diaspora networks that span multiple settlements and starships. They may form councils or mutual-aid collectives, prioritize cultural memory and education, and emphasize nonviolent conflict resolution. Social ties often center on sharing resources and safeguarding refugees.

History and distribution: The defining historical motif is the Great Displacement, a cataclysm or collapse that drives the scattering of populations. In many narratives, refuzuars inhabit refugee camps, orbital habitats, and newly colonized worlds, maintaining routes and support networks between communities.

Representation in fiction: Depictions vary by work, ranging from political actors negotiating treaties to fragile communities surviving in resource-scarce environments. The concept is used to examine displacement ethics, identity, memory, and interstellar migration.

See also: Refugee, Diaspora, Exoplanet, Interstellar migration.