The Eubians (also called Traders) refers to the fictional people of the Eubian Concord in the Saga of the Skolian Empire by Catherine Asaro. They are often portrayed as antagonists in those novels, enemy to the rivaling Skolian Empire.
Eubian Concord is an interstellar civilization consisting of several thousand planets, with an economy based on slavery. Named after its founder Eube Qox, the Concord is governed by an emperor, who acts as an absolute ruler. So far all five emperors have been from the House of Qox, direct descendants of Eube Qox, with Eube being the first emperor, followed by Jaibriol I, Ur, Jaibriol II and Jaibriol III.
Several thousand Aristos occupy the highest echelon of Eubian society, controlling the government, wealth and the military. They are the only free people in the Concord, all other Eubians are slaves. The two trillion majority of the population are called taskmakers, and have varying degrees of freedom. The lowest echelon of the Eubian Concord comprises a few thousand providers, who are psions enslaved by the Aristos, both for pleasure and for transcendence.
Aristos are the ruling class of Eubian Concord. They are in general extremely wealthy and own entire worlds inclusive the enslaved inhabitants. The most known Aristo noble Houses are the Qox, Muze, Xir, Iquar, Taratus, Kaliga and Raziquon. Because Aristos intermarry quite often, most of the Houses are already closely related to each other.
The appearance of Aristos is marked by their characteristic red eyes and black shimmering hair. His or her looks is very important for an Aristo, as it may be useful for gaining influential position. It belongs to good manners to look good, young and well shaped. If an Aristo is old, fat or ugly, it is recommended to visit a body sculptor, who can get people in top form with the help of modern plastic surgery.
As a race, Aristos are an unfortunate result of the Rhon project. Led by a geneticist named Hezahr Rhon, this project was originally started to produce a psion who would possess strong empathic and telepathic abilities but wouldn't suffer when experiencing the unpleasant emotions of others, like pain or fear.