Notes: 1) Humaniform - aka Humans, Syreen, Androsynth, Juraians. Genetically similar, able to interbreed. 2) Precursors - one of, if not the first sentient race in the universe. They achieved a level of technology unsurpassed since, but suddenly disappeared. It wasn't until recently that it was discovered that the Precursors "devolved" themselves, seeking to hide from a trio of powerful forces that they felt would destroy them. It was later discovered that these forces were the original higher-dimensional existences of Tokimi, Tsunami, and Washu (see related notes). The Precursors have been restored several times, but demand to be returned to their previous forms, even when told of the current state of their "bogeywomen". Power name: The Empire of Jurai Major Race: Humaniform, subspecies Jurai (or Juraians) (racial tendency to longevity, some energy manipulation) Minor Races: Major minorities of Humaniform races. Sentient trees. Technologial specialization: Organic (specifically Botany). Most Jurai technology is based on plant life. Interstellar?: Yes. Jurai have the most powerful navy in space. The Jurai Treeships are unsurpassed in power by anthing except Precursor battleships, and even those fall under the most powerful Treeships. All Treeships use a weapon system named the Light Hawk Wings, which provide nigh-impenetrable defenses and can also be employed to unleash devestating attacks. Allies: Humanity, Supox, Syreen Enemies: VUX, Old Mycons, Umgah, Arilou, Orz, Druuge, Ilwrath Comments: The Jurai are an very old, extremely powerful, and surprisingly small power. With their Treeships offensive and defensive capabilities, they could easily control a far larger area of space than they currently do - however, they show very little interest in expanding their territory. The origins of the Jurai empire is lost in antiquity, but what is known is that they achieved spaceflight shortly after the Ur-Quan's original wars, many millenia ago. They quickly colonized a few hundred planets, and then quietly abandoned any further expansionist plans, instead focusing their energies and resources on improving their own lot. Reports from other races in contact with the Jurai at the time reported them to be anything but isolationist, as well as anything but weak. Thanks to the power of their Treeships they have never faced any serious threat from another power. As a rule, other races find the Jurai people to be arrogant, annoying, and conciliatory. Thankfully, Jurai tend to not travel much, and have no intrest in trade, their technology advanced to the point that they don't really need much from other races. Jurai have stong allies in Humanity, with whom they have a good-natured argument over which came first - are Jurai somehow decended from transplanted Humans, is Earth a Jurai colony planet as Jurai records claim, is their similarity much like the relationship between Humanity and the Syreen - convergent evolution, or is it something else entirely? They are also allied with the Syreen due to proximity (their spheres of influence overlap) and a mutual hatred of the Vux and Old Mycons. Jurai is strongly protective of the Supox, at the insistence of their treeships, who apparently think of them as cute. The Supox find this highly amusing. The enemies of Jurai include: the VUX, whom the Jurai really have no quarrel with, but just wish would go away; the Old Mycons, whom the Jurai claim are involved in war crimes with their brainwashing of Mycon young, as well as their annoying tendency to consider Jurai planets as breeding grounds; the Umgah, whom they consider to be little more than monster breeders; the Arilou, considered meddling little sneaks; the Orz, who frequently attack Jurai colonies and installations that house Androsynth refugees; the Druuge, whom are slave traders; and the Ilwrath, whom are just a general nuisance. Power name: Ur-Quan Major Race: Kzer-Ah and Kohr-Ah (respecively Green and Black Ur-Quan). Ur-Quan resemble human-sized caterpillars. The differences between Kzer-Ah and Kohn-Ah Ur-Quan are cosmetic only. Minor Races: Dynarri, a small blob-like organizm. The Dyanri are the mindless slaves of the Ur-Quan, as punishment for their ancient crimes against sentience. Technological Specialization: Warfare. Interstellar?: Yes. The primary ship of the Ur-Quan navy is the Kzer-Ah Dreadnaught, which is armed with a fusion powered plasma cannon and a large fighter escort. The less common Kohr-Ah Marauder is armed with blade-discs (projectiles that can act as impact weapons or as mines with minimal homing abilities), and a weapon which was named by the Korh-Ah's enemies "the fiery ring of inevitable and eternal destruction." Allies: Taalo Enemies: VUX, Ilwrath Comments: The Ur-Quan were a rather simple species originally. On their home world near the tip of the Orion Arm, they evolved as solitary hunters, not even coming together to breed. However, they were highly intelligent, and were powerful latent telepaths, characteristics that made the Taalo decide to raise them to starfaring status, and had them join a group called the Sentient Milieu, a peaceful federation of spacefaring races. The Ur-Quan faced their first crisis - their very nature made them want to attack and kill all other races they came into contact with (excepting the Taalo). They constantly battled this aspect of their makeup even as they became valuable members of the Milieu, especially as scouts and explorers. It was this exploration that ended up causing the Milieu's downfall. An Ur-Quan scount discovered a planet upon which a small, aparently defenseless creature had become the dominant lifeform. It wasn't until it was too late was it discovered why the creatures were dominant - they were incredibly powerful telepaths. The creatures, which called themselves the Dynarri, enslaved the Ur-Quan, and through them the rest of the Milieu. The only species immune were the Taalo, which the Dynarri quickly instructed the rest of their slaves to destroy. The Dynarri would have been successful if it hadn't been due to their sadism. They instructed their Ur-Quan slaves to stuff the last of the Taalo and their seed crystals into an experimental Subspace ship, and then launch it. The Dynarri expected the Taalo to die painfully as the beings of Subspace fed on them - fortunately, one of the Taalo was a Gifted, and they managed to survive the trip, unbeknownst to the Dynarri and Ur-Quan. The Dynarri ruled the Milieu for thousands of years, performing drastic genetic modifications on the Ur-Quan, their favorite slaves, creating the Greens (thinkers and scientists) and the Black (workers and warriors). The also exterminated the rest of the Milieu races, since they were "inferior" slaves. This state of affairs went on until a Green Ur-Quan, named Kzer-Ah, discovered that the Dynarri would apparently release control of any slave when the slave experienced pain. He tested his hypothesis on himself and managed to slay his master. The word spread from him to other Ur-Quan, who began to wound themselves in various ways in order to break free from the Dynarri. The revolution was swift and brutal, and the remaining Dynarri were treated to their own genetic modification, turning the entire race into mindless slaves, their telepathic abilities reduced to simple translation abilities. The newly freed Ur-Quan then faced a crisis - how do they prevent such a thing from ever happening again? The Green Ur-Quan, led by Kzer-Ah, proposed a path upon which they would enslave all other races in the galaxy, ensuring that the Ur-Quan would be dominant over all life. The Black Ur-Quan, led by the insane Kohr-Ah, desired to take it a step further and exterminate all other life. The two groups fought a brutal war for centuries. Finally, the Green Ur-Quan, who had taken the name of their first leader Kzer-Ah, discovered a Precursor Battleship, called the Sa-Matra. With the Sa-Matra, the Kzer-Ah quickly achieved victory, but in their moment of triumph they felt doubt - what if they were wrong? An agreement was reached with the defeated Kohr-Ah. The two would travel around the galaxy, and meet at the opposite end in a final war - the Kohr-Ah against the Kzerh-Ah and their slaves. The victor would dictate the philosophy they would all follow. The two peoples began their trek down the Orion arm towards the galactic core - and met the Jurai. The Ur-Quan fleets quickly discovered that their worst fear had already come to pass. The Jurai Treeships overpowered all of the Dreadnaughts and Marauders, resulting in devestating Ur-Quan losses. When the Sa-Matra was finally deployed, it destroyed almost a dozen Treeships until the Jurai flagship eliminated it. The Ur-Quan were stuck - they could easily go around the Jurai - but they were psychologically incapable of ignoring them, and futilely continued their offensive. This continued for several millenia until the Taalo survivors returned to the region, carrying with them a device with which they hoped to free their friends. The Ur-Quan then faced another crisis. Here was their greatest regret made naught. Not only that, while they were engaged in civil war and had tried to begin another war against all other sentients, the only species they called "friend" had been trying to return to help them. Their martial ambitions collapsed, as they tried to find a new direction for their people. The Ur-Quan are a people in conflict with themselves. They distrust all other races except the Taalo, yet realize that they must try to change this within themselves. They are paranoid contact with others, but realize that this is the only way they can find a future. In practice, this means that they tend to be isolationist, but there are always Ur-Quan adventurers (usually Greens) who actively go out to discover more about other races. Thankfully, they are watched constantly by the Taalo, who have commited themselves to guiding their wards into a new future. The Ur-Quan only count the Taalo as their allies, although they find the Chejensu, Chmrr, and Mmrnhrmm intriguing (they, like the Taalo don't set off the Ur-Quan aggressive instincts) and in general are curious about other races - from afar. They actively hate the VUX and Ilwrath, since the VUX seem to take delight in irritating the Ur-Quan and the Ilwrath are little more than pirates. They have wary respect for the Jurai. The Ur-Quan still have a mighty war machine, and are considered a major power, if an isolationist one. Power name: Taalo Major Race: Taalo. Taalo are huge reddish crystals the size of a blue whale and shaped like a cigar. They are powerful telepaths and telekinetics, and each is a warp-capabable craft in and of itself. Minor Races: none Technological Specialization: Crystiline Interstellar: Yes. Taalo have little need for offensive or defensive capabilities, but when they must, their telekinetic abilities fulfill those roles admirably. Allies: All, espeically Ur-Quan, Chmmr, and Humanity. Enemies: Orz, Druuge, Arilou Comments: The Taalo were old when most other planets were developing single-celled organisms. Even they don't know how they evolved, although the Taalo suspect that the Precursors had some involvement in their creation, perhaps as an attempt to create a new vessel for their life force to hide in. They do however have a great deal of knowledge on practically every race in the Orion Arm, and remember the Precursors before they hid in their devolved forms. They are possibly the third or fourth sentient race ever to exist in the galaxy. After their Precursor companions went into hiding, the Taalo wandered the galaxy looking for other sentient races. They found some in the far reaches of the Orion Arm (the Taalo have mentioned that the Orion Arm of the galaxy is curiously rife with sentience, almost 90% of the sentient races in the galaxy reside there). Over the period of many hundreds of millenia, they guided many into a sufficient level of maturity that they could join a federation of races called the Sentient Milieu. The final race they raised were the Ur-Quan. The Ur-Quan's discovery of the Dynarri and the resultant carnage resulted in the last of the Taalo stuffed into an experimental Subspace ship and sent to die. Fortunately for the Taalo, one of their leaders (named Delta Trion) happened to be Gifted, and his very nature protected the craft from the dangers of Subspace. They returned from Subspace somewhere between the Milky Way and Andromeda, their Susbspace drive burned out and their only means of returning to save their Ur-Quan friends their own warp-capable bodies, a journey of many thousands of years. The Taalo's trip was not peaceful, however. Their sojourn in Subspace had brought them to the attention of a technologically advanced Subspace species called the Orz. The Orz harrassed the Taalo for nearly the entire journey, only stopping their torment a few centuries before the Taalo returned to the Milky way. The Taalo returned to find their Ur-Quan friends changed horribly by the Dynarri, both physically and psychologically, and insanely trying to destroy an enemy they could not defeat, the Jurai. They used their respect among the Ur-Quan to end the bloodshed and set themselves upon their next greatest labour - healing the Ur-Quan. They are calm, logical species with a deep and profound sense of decency and morality. They have no real enemies, other than the Orz (who do not pass up opportunities to attack them), the Druuge (who see the Taalo as the perfect fuel for their Life-Furnaces), and the Arilou (whose secrets the Taalo give up to any who ask). They are of course strong allies of the Ur-Quan, but are also close to the Chejensu and Chmrr, who they find fascinating as brother crystiline races, especially the Chmrr, who have made a point of rising above their progenitors' martial ambitions. They are also particularly interested in Humanity, apparently because of the high proportion of Gifted the race produces. While there are few Taalo, they are a major power in the region due to the extraordinary respect they are accorded by other races and their guardianship over the Ur-Quan. When a Taalo speaks, everyone listens. Power name: Chmrr Protectorate Major Race: Chmrr, which are largish (human sized) white/translucent/blue crystals that appear to be encased and incorporated in a grey ring-like chassis that features Precursor-level circuitry technology. The chassis can manipulate objects via servo arms or a projected electro-magnetic field. Minor Races: 1) Chejensu, man-sized white/translucent/blue crystrals . They manipulate objects using a projects electro-magnitic field. 2) Mmrnhrmm, sentient robotic ships which can transform between two forms of radically different abilities. Technological Specialization: Crystiline, Mechanical, Computers Interstellar: Yes: 1) The Chmrr Avatar is an incredibly powerful ship, on par with a the weaker Jurai Treeships. It has a medium-ranged Terawatt laser firing from the bow of the ship, three Zap-sats that orbit the ship as shields and point-defense systems, and a gravitational tractor beam. It is relatively rare, however. It is warp-capable. 2) The Chejensu Broodhome is an imposing ship that doesn't quite live up to its appearance. The Broodhome can fire a crystal missile which can explode on command, causing damage in a small radius, or can launch an independent fighter known as a DOGI. The DOGI tracks the enemy and rams him repeatedly, causing massive damage. It is warp-capable. 3) All Mmrnhrmm are warp capable craft (called X-forms) with variable geometry of an extreme sort. They have two configurations: a manuverable but slow ship with a pair of powerful short-range lasers, and a swift but clumsy craft with homing missiles. They are a challenging opponent for inexperienced captains only. Allies: Taalo, Jurai Enemies: Ilwrath. Comments: The story of the Chmmr finds its roots in the Chejensu and the Mmrnhrmm. The Chejensu were a crystaline race that evolved on a barren, vacuum world that orbitted extremely close to their sun. They procreated by using their electro-magnetic manipulation powers to form new crystal bodies from the molten material of their world and then using those same powers to "program" the new crystal with sentience. The more pure the crystal was, the more intelligent and powerful the Chejensu was. The Mmrnhrmm's origins are well known, thanks to the Taalo. The Mmrnhrmm were developed by the Precursors as an attempt to create a hosing for their race that they could hide from their "enemies" in. When this failed, they transformed the Mmrnhrmm into a sort of semi-sentient exploration engine. Over the millenia they somehow lost their records of their origins, and became fully sentient in the process. Soon after achieving sentience, the Mmrnhrmm all went asleep, until wakened roughly 1000 years ago by a Chejensu explorer. Mmrnhrmm are all built by a central unit called the Mother Ark. The Chejensu and the Mmrnhrmm happened to end up with spheres of influence that was ajacent to each other and the Jurai, which limited their expansion, since the Jurai could crush them like a bug. None of this was too hard on either race at first, since they were both primarily peaceful. However, as time went on, a group of renegade Chejensu began to find the balance of power in their region more and more unacceptabe. This stemmed from a sort of superiority complex on the renegade's part - power belonged in their hands, not in those of these unruly children. At the same time as this sentiment was rising in Chejensu space, a crisis was occuring in Mmrnhrmm space. The Mother Ark appeared to be dying, and could not be repaired. The Mmrnhrmm were faced with eventual extinction if they couldn't find a new method of procreation. It didn't take long for the two races to turn to each other. The Chejensu saw the Mmrnhrmm as a means of increasing their power - they had reached the limits of their ability to improve themselves, since the modern Chejensu was composed of the purest crystal possible, and Mmrnhrmm circuitry could take them beyond those limits. The Mmrnhrmm saw the Chejensu as a means to continue their species, since the Chejensu could show them how to program sentience. The result of their collaboration was the Chmrr. The Chmrr feature a Chejensu crystal as a core, augmented by a ring of Mmrnhrmm circuitry. They are highly intellient, and absolutely not what their projenitors expected or wanted. Much to the Chejensu's chagrin, the Chmrr rejected their martial ambitions, instead seeking to become a peaceful (but not pacifistic) part of the interstellar community. They took on a role of rulership and guardianship over their progenitors, preventing any further problems from renegades in the Chejensu, and aiding the Mmrnhrmm to procreate further by creating a new Mother Ark. For the most part, neither subject race has any real problem with this arrangement - the Chejensu realize the Chmrr are far more intelligent (and benevolent) than the average Chejensu, and the Mmrnhrmm don't really care as long as they get to play. A Chmrr comes across as being over-analytic and completely lacking in compassion. While the first is true, the second is not - the Chmrr just don't know how to show it very well. They are abolutely commited to peace and brotherhood among races. The average Chejensu is benign, wise, honest, and incredibly supercilious, which makes them harder to get along with than a Chmrr. The average Mmrnhrmm has two sides, like their ship has two forms. The primary personality is preoccupied with exploration and entertainment - the Mmrnhrmm lives to have fun and see new things. The secondary personality is hard, remorseless, and totally commited to the goal. The only time the second personality has been seen is when the Mmrnhrmm were faced with extinction. The Chmrr Protectorate is close with the Taalo, and absolutely allied with the Jurai (much to the Jurai's relief). They make a point of destroying every Ilwrath they come across, since Ilwrath raiders constantly attack their borders. It is a large power as much due to its ships as its close relationship with other large powers. The idea of a combined Jurai and Chmrr fleet is the cause of more than a few nightmares.