Kle’tak:

Names:Kle’tak
Capital:Klen’ta Sol
Home Planet:Klen’ta 2
Military Strength:Super power
Military Purpose:Maintaining local peace, order, and Imperial dominance
Unity:Strong, bonded together by rigid cultural expectations, especially in dealing with “brotherhood” and “host-guest” relations, competitive without being violently adversarial
Species Type:Arachnid, closely related to Terran scorpions
Telepathy:Non-telepathic
Sleep:Lacking a regular sleep regimen (such as Terrans), they must sleep in order to allow their body’s metabolism to shift to heal (which is also necessary sometimes after exertion in cold or extreme heat)
General Strengths:Unity of the empire, cohesiveness when faced with an adversary, strong will often carries through the day, a well-defined sense of honor and straightforwardness makes it easy to work with them
General Weaknesses:Strong-willed to the point of excessive pride, somewhat narrow-minded, stringent dietary needs

Home World / Origins:
Klen’ta 2 is a small planet relatively close to the sun, giving it a hot, arid climate. Lacking significant bodies of water (like Terra 3, which is 75 water collected into large oceans), Klen’ta 2 instead has a patchwork of lakes and wide but shallow rivers for the 40 of the surface covered in water. The majority of forest, jungle, and higher vegetation grows above or below one of the “tropic” latitudes. Between the tropics lies primarily desert, a harsh land where only the strongest predators survived. Here the Kle’tak triumphed against the odds, using cunning to defeat the physically superior predators.

Physical Description:
Physiologically, the Kle’tak are arthropods with striking similarities to Terran Scorpions, sharing the same durable exoskeleton and vulnerability to chemical solvents. Though they use muscle tissue in addition to the pneumatics used in small scale by most arachnids, Kle’tak joints are extremely strong within a range (for example, the claws can crush steel but can be held shut with an ordinary rubber band). Supporting their high-maintenance organs flows copper-based blood, which isn’t quite as efficient at transporting oxygen as iron-based blood (such as in Terrans), but is more resistant to many chemical and biological agents.

Like many arachnids, Kle’tak are predatory carnivors, and this has become one of their greatest weaknesses: while they can eat some processed food, it must meet meticulous standards or it might damage a Kle’tack’s digestive tract. To circumvent this, most large enough settlements have live food sources.

Like most arthropods, the females are larger than the males, though males have a slightly longer tail and larger claws proportionally. Also like most arthropods, the females used to eat the males after mating, but after the first Great Awakening this act was officially abolished.

Psychological/Intellectual Disposition:
It is said a stubborn streak as deep as the Huoron Trench (like Terra 3’s Marianas Trench) runs through all Kle’tak. Once they set their mind to something, it is extremely difficult to dissuade them. They are raised in a loose caste system (in which people are appointed, rather than born, into their strata). A noble people at heart, they value honor above all other values, esteeming dignity and integrity. Fiercely loyal, this quality rubs off on everybody they meet, even prisoners. Though they fought against each other brutally before the Great Awakening, even then those within the Tribe were off-limits to injury and uncivilized behavior. After the Great Awakening, this strict brotherhood has protected the unity of the Imperium, and it is a quality shown by all its members, founding Kle’tak and the “servant races” later brought into the fold.

Territory:
Though not power mongers, Klen’ta expands aggressively. The Kle’tak officially prefer to conquer over creating new colonies, their servant races (and the empire in general) are extremely good at creating new settlements, granting many amenities to the newest communities.

History:
Centuries passed as the Kle’tak fought each other like brutal animals, fighting over water and foraging grounds. One day, a collection of families that initially banded together to fend off a rampaging herd of ??? came across the remains of another family destroyed by a rival and instead of eating the eggs as would have been expected, they took the eggs and went south. Legends tell of divine guidance, oral tradition indicates that the family ran out of food and water and was chased from several oasis but they protected their adopted eggs and found their way through a mountain pass opened in an earthquake (rare on the tectonically-stable Klen’ta 2).

This family found a rich forest beyond and when the eggs hatched they became the first clan. They swore an oath of brotherhood to each other, and spread through the wide valley they found until another earthquake re-opened the valley and they ventured forth to find that they were not the only clan to form. Centuries passed as the Kle’tak slowly were consolidated from millions of scattered families to four hundred clans. These were reduced by war, first over foraging ground and then trade routes.

The philosopher ??? began a great movement advocating unity, placing the whole above the individual clan just as the clan had superseded the hatch-family. This led to a massive unification of the clans (reducing the active number to about 200), but until the Ti’parish clan was wiped out when an experimental particle accelerator destroyed their main city it remained a dream few engaged in. Shortly after that explosion, the ???1 (on a survey mission from their homeworld only 8 light years away) made first contact and introduced a highly efficient writing system and representation scheme.

Reverse-engineering their technology, the Kle’tak sent an expedition to annex the ???1. Meanwhile, inequal distribution caused a massive (if ineffectual) civil war to break out on Klen’ta 2. Another scout from ???1 found the Kle’tak expedition and immediately declared war. They arrived on Klen’ta 2 without warning and rained fire with orbital-based airstrikes. The Kle’tak were devastated, but the war continued until ???1’s own citizens cried out against the slaughter, leading to a toppling of the then republican government. The two peoples signed a friendship treaty and ???1 discovered the ???2.

Just trying to administrate again, the Kle’tak sent an annexation invitation again, but the ???2 were more level-headed and simply denied the request until they found a large deposit of endurium in a gas giant within ???1 territory. War broke out and the Kle’tak were unable to offer significant military aid until they started cleverly deploying marines in a surprise attack that gave them the upper hand and put the ???2 at their mercy, making them the first effective servant race and truly beginning the Empire (year 0). Faced with a suddenly powerful Kle’tak that controlled the shipping routes, the ???1 followed a few years later.