Ktarian

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Ktarian
Four Letter Code	KTAR
Federation Status	Member
Planet of Origin	Ktaris
Encountered	TNG: "The Game"
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	N
List of Named Ktarians
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Ktarian is pronounced kuh-TAR-ee-uhn.

Homeworld

See also: Ktaris, Katarus

The Ktarian homeworld is covered by spectacular glaciers which makes the planet a spectacular skiing resort (and setting for skiing holodeck programs). However, Ktaris is evidently not an entirely glacial world since Ktarians are quite comfortable visiting warmer climates, such as those on the pleasure planet Risa.

History

The Ktarians achieved interstellar flight in the 2060s, before the invention of Terran warp drive by Zephram Cochran. By 2100, a small faction of the species had colonized an adjacent M class planet within their home system, to be named Katarus.

First contact with the Ktarians was initiated in 2280 by Starfleet Captain James Kirk.

In 2368, a rogue Ktarian faction used their people's superior neurological technology in an attempt to gain control of Starfleet in lieu of a sufficient military force. This faction created a a highly addictive "game" - in reality, mind-controlling technology that affected the reasoning centre of the brain - and attempted to use it in order to gain control of the vessel USS Enterprise-D. However, thanks to the efforts of a small group of the Enterprise's crew, this attempt failed, and the leading vessel was towed back to a Federation starbase.

When conflict arose against the Maquis in the 2370s, the Ktarians sympathized with the group, despite theirs being a member of the Federation.

Description

Ktarians are a humanoid race. However, there seems to be two distinct differences between the cultures living on separate planets. Ktarians from Ktaris have slightly enlarged front cranium, of which is formed into two circular halves and separated by a shallow crease in the skin. Their enlarged frontal skull and generally yellow eyes with horizontal slit pupils gives them latent feline features. Ktarians are also known to have patches of scales in a few places.

Natives to Katarus, however, have cranial ridges, seemingly small horns, that run from the middle of the forehead to the back of the skull, and but otherwise closely resemble Terrans.

Children of the two natives may have a mixture of the two varied appearances. Captain Rocar Drawoh's mother is one kind of Ktarian whilst his father is from the adjacent planet, and has a mixture of the two appearances, with slight ridges and less distinct cranial lobes.

Physiology

A Ktarian's period of gestation can be up to 18 months. Ktarian pregnancy produce cravings and the actual labour can be extremely long, difficult and painful.

The early stages of Ktarian development are marked by significant grown, as two year old Ktarians may resemble a four year old Terran child. Ktarian infants have protruding incisors up to three or four weeks after the birth - to counteract this, all female Ktarians have layers of scales over their mammary glands - and grow five centimetres over a period of three weeks. All Ktarians tend to grow to be quite tall.

Ktarian hearts had eight chambers. The sound they produced was similar to that of a pulsar cluster's EM fields vibrating against a ship's hull.

Half-Ktarians

Ktarian biology is not completely compatible with other humanoid species, and this can present difficulties for inter-racial marriage. It is however possible for Ktarians and other species to have children together with medical help.

In the case of a Ktarian/Terran hybrid, the resulting offspring could lack the bony forehead structures and yellow eyes, and instead have exocranial ridges. A rare complication of these hybrid gestations occurred when the baby shifted position in the uterus and the exocranial ridges lodged in the uterine wall. A Ktarian/Human hybrid's gestation period was about eighteen months.

Upon birth, breast feeding could begin immediately; however Human females needed to remain cautious, as the incisors of Ktarian infants erupted within three to four weeks of birth. Because Human females lacked the scales of a Ktarian, alternative measures to protect the flesh were typically recommended.

Psychology

Ktarians seem discontent with remaining in one place for a long period of time, and enjoy undergoing new experiences. A mass example of this is the majority of the species seemingly migrating planet at least once every 200 years - first to their adjacent habitable planet (Katarus), and now many live on Earth.

Society

Ktarians are quite open about their culture, and trust outsiders to carry out expeditions to even their most sacred sites. Starfleet expeditions have been allowed to visit the Ktarian burial grounds.

Natives of Ktaris tend to have meodious names, consisting of a given and surname. However, on their counterpart world, names are virtually unpronounceable by untrained humanoid tongues, and are generally only a given name.

Culture

Ktarian natives lay thousands of stones, each representing a separate prayer, around the tomb of their dead loved ones. Because of they are prayers for the dead, it is desecration to remove stones from a Ktarian tomb and is in fact illegal. Ktarians appear to be quite open about their culture, and trust outsiders to carry out expeditions to even their most sacred sites; Starfleet expeditions have been allowed to visit the famous Ktarian burial grounds.

Music

Ktarians hold festivals to celebrate their musical accomplishments; these are open to off-world visitors and are sometimes held on other planets.

Playing the Ktarian Grand Piano is difficult since it has brown keys inserted between the black and white keys to play demi-semitones.

Food

Ktarian food has worked it's way into the diet of Federation races, and in some cases has proved immensely popular. Fried Ktarian eggs are considered to be a breakfast delicacy. The eggs are large, with shells of a mottled brown and orange hue, although the yolk seems to be a rather unpalatable looking green. Ktarian desserts are rather indulgent; the Ktarian Chocolate puff contains at least 17 varieties of chocolate and is Counsellor Troi's favorite dessert.

Ktarians are renowned throughout the galaxy for their music and play host to a wide variety of alien races at their Music Festivals. They also had some famous culinary dishes popular among Federation officers, such as their Ktarian chocolate puff, Ktarian pudding, Ktarian eggs, Ktarian beer, and Ktarian Merlot.

Customs

Like many other cultures, Ktarians ritualise death, burying their dead in tombs filled with thousands of stones. Each stone is sacred, as it symbolizes a prayer for the deceased. It is forbidden to remove these stones from a Ktarian tomb.

Technology

Ktarians had technology sufficient for the creation of plasma coils as early as the 21st century.

This race is renowned for advancements in neurology, this led to their recent censure and embargo by the Federation. A Ktarian game distributed on Risa in 2368 had the neurological effect of rendering the player a tool of the Ktarian government. With this they planned a take-over of the Federation and other galactic powers. While Ktarian biotechnology is prized on the black market, the exotic technologies are banned as a sanction for their plot.

Ktarian starship technology is not nearly as advanced as available Starfleet vessels.

References

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