Caraadian

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

Caraadian
Four Letter Code	CRDN
Federation Status	Neutral
Planet of Origin	Caraad and numerous colonies across the Par'tha Expanse region
Encountered	USS Atlantis
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	N+
List of Named Caraadians
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"As long as the Houses stand together our glory will last."

a Caraadian proverb.

The Caraadian are an ancient species who achieved space travel over 13,000 years ago and used it to create an empire that is vastly different now than it was originally.

Home System

• Quadrant: Alpha
• Location: Expanse Sector (coordinates A27-0002-1300??)
• Proper Name: Caraadian system
• Star: It orbits a class B (Blue-White) star
• Distance from Star: it's orbit is approximately 46 million km
• Companions: It is the 4th of 17 planets in the system. 4 other planets have been colonized and another 3 have large colonies. Also 11 moons have been either terraformed or altered for use.

Home World

• Proper Name: Caraad
• Diameter: 14,??? km (9,792 miles)
• Gravity: 1.01 standard gravity with a density of 4.5
• Axial Tilt: 7.4%, with minimal seasonal changes
• Orbital Period: 429 days
• Rotational Period: 25.1 hours
• Classification: M
  • Surface Water: 54%
  • Atmosphere: 0.98% is a standard pressure with 74% nitrogen, 26% oxygen, 2% trace chemicals
  • Climate: Mainly a temperate planet with mountain chains.
  • Population: Just over 8 billion on their homeworld and another 13 billion in the system.

History

Some believe that the Caraadians were the first intelligent species to evolve within the Par'tha Expanse. Certainly all of the data would seem to support this. There are ruins and archeological evidence to support the existence of communities, cities and limited infrastructure on their homeworld over 22,000 years ago.

According to their records they were a strong, independent species who were relatively peaceful with few internal conflicts. They developed at a reasonable pace and first achieved space fight over 13,000 years ago. For the next 1,500 years they worked on exploring their system, establishing colonies, learning how to terraform planets, moons and establishing numerous works projects throughout the system.

This program temporarily delayed their development of warp drive technology as they concentrated on other developments but they quickly made up for it by entering into an expansionist period once they did develop warp drives. One that saw them creating a number of colonies and start work on numerous terraforming projects. By the time they were done they had established over 100 colonies over the next 1,500 years.

They continued to expand, building colonies, terraforming worlds, moons and establishing numerous other facilities across the entire Par’tha Expanse and beyond. They went virtually unchallenged for almost 6,000 years, the supreme power in this region of space. Most species that they encountered were to inferior technologically or not evolved enough to be considered a problem and as such they were usually simply ignored.

This period of peaceful expansionism made them complacent and unprepared for what came next. They encountered a new species, one that was not so inferior technologically, a species with very aggressive qualities, violent in the extreme and determined to be the dominant power.

The war caught the Caraadians flat footed and unprepared. They lost a dozen facilities and a couple colonies before they could even start to get prepared for the war. After that they were fighting a losing battle of attrition. It took them just over 32 years to build the ships and equip them with new, modern technology. Once they did the balance of power shifted and they were able to stop and then push back the enemy.

Even with the numbers and economy to allow them to produce ships by the hundreds it took them almost 47 years to exterminate the enemy. All efforts to achieve some form of peaceful dialogue with them failed. It was kill or be killed with no surrender, no quarter and no holds barred. A dreadful war with every method possible used to achieve some measure of military advantage.

In the end the Caraadians were forced to conduct a massive bombardment of the enemies homeworld from space using bombs, chemical weapons, asteroids and other forms of mass destruction. It cracked the crust of the enemies planet and resulted in it being completely destroyed and with it all evidence that the enemy had ever existed.

What followed was a short period of peace, one that lasted less than a hundred years. Various factions with in the Caraadian Empire were at odds with one another. This slowly started to escalate into border conflicts, trade embargoes, raids etc. Eventually a state of war seemed to exist from one end of their empire to another. It would take almost 3,000 years before a lasting peace could be reached. In that time much changed. A new power emerged, the Valcarian, one that was stronger, more vital and still in a period of positive expansion. Also the Romulan Star Empire made significant strides in expanding into the expanse.

The Caraadians were able to defeat and drive back the Romulans. Unfortunately this left them weakened and exposed. A state that the Valcarian government took advantage of by taking control of a number of smaller colonies, all of those worlds that had been abandoned for one reason or another and in the process became the new power in the Par’tha Expanse.

Caraadians are still the most populous species in the Expanse with an estimated total population of some where around 164 billion and their presence is felt on every habitable world in the Expanse to varying degrees. An uneasy state of peace exists between them, the Valcarians and the Freeworlds Council which is a collection of all the other species within the Expanse not controlled or governed by the Caraadians or Valcarians.

Government

In the wake of the insanity caused by the infighting between the various different factions that had risen to power with in the Caraadian empire a compromise was achieved that resulted in the creation of the Great Council.

The Great Council, along with its many sub-councils, is the primary legislative body in the Par'tha Expanse. It is made up of the various Caraadian noble families (houses) which are aliened into different factions. The houses influence affairs by forming coalitions within the Great Council, hopefully gaining enough votes to get their way. For two decades, Larokon has held together a strong coalition which allows it to impose its will on the rest of the sector. There are signs that this coalition is weakening, however.

The Great Council is lead by a prime minister who not only passes the laws of the sector, but also sits in judgement over certain court cases, and confers offices and grants pardons. However, with over 2000 members, it is far too large to effectively attend to all of its duties. In reality, it mostly exists to elect officials and review the acts of the many smaller councils and committees under it.

The real power lies with the Senate, the largest and most important of the Great Council's lesser councils. The Senate, which is made up of 80 senior Great Council members (appointed by their retiring predecessors), in addition to various appointed military leaders and ambassadors, deliberates on such matters as tariffs, negotiations, armaments, laws, and taxes.

In handling crucial issues of foreign policy, finance, and internal security, the prime minister may bypass the Senate by taking proposals to the Council of Ten, an inner circle of senior Great Council members (which actually has 35 members). The Great Council has become very exclusive over time, and does not admit new families when old ones die out, as it did in the Dynastic Era.

Description

Just like humans and a large number of other species that resemble humans they have a wide range of hair and eye color with various types of body shapes, heights and weights being the normal. For the most part they all seem to be Caucasians in skin tone with the range in color being from a pale shade to a light tan complexion.

Physiology

As with most intelligent humanoid species they have a very complex system with specialized organs, and unique hormones, chemicals and enzymes. They are typical humanoids with most of the physical, mental and biological medical problems that seem to plague most humanoids. Caraadians do not have a predisposition towards mental abilities such as telepathy, telekinesis, or empathy.

Psychology

As with most intelligent species they can and sometimes do suffer from various different types of mental illness. Fortunately they have an excellent treatment program and progressive ideology when it comes to treatment.

Religion

Over the 20,000 plus years that the Caraadians have existed as an intelligent species they have established numerous colonies. Many of which are now thousands of years old. As a result what started out as a single set of religious beliefs has with time and due to other factors been transformed into a vast and diverse collection of beliefs, many of them with almost no similarity with their original beliefs?

Mythology

While many of the newer colonies all have some abridged collections of old myths, tales and legends passed down to them from their ancestors who first came to their colony many of the older colonies have vast collections that are completely and entirely their own, created by their ancestors who settled their colony.

Society

There is a vast amount of different between the style and quality of life on various worlds and between the various factions and houses. So much so that they can and often do run the gamut between one extreme and the other.

Culture

As an intelligent and sophisticated species who have been around for more than 22,000 years they have an incredibly diverse and wide ranging collection of art and art forms. Most worlds have massive art collections in museums as well as numerous pieces that belong to various important people. Music, dance and songs come in a veritable maelstrom of styles, varieties and personal preferences. All in all it combines together to create a fertile ground for future original works.

Customs

Over the 20,000 plus years that the Caraadians have existed as an intelligent species they have established numerous colonies. Many of which are now thousands of years old. As a result the customs have evolved and changed in such a way that they will and often do differ greatly between worlds, factions and houses.

Technology

They have a well developed technological base and it seems to be fairly widely spread across all of their colonies and outposts. Unfortunately their no longer seems to be much in the way of a unified scientific research as each faction, world or house funds their own programs and research.

Economy

They have a fairly strong and diverse economy with trade between all of their colonies and those belonging to the Freeworlds and the Valcarians. Some worlds, factions or houses are better off than others and all of them seem to be in it for themselves.

Military

The Caraadians have a very large military with over 50 different standard ship classes and about that many again which are specialized for one purpose or another. All most all of these belong to individual houses, factions or planets. However each and every one of these houses, factions and planets also are expected to provide 3 ships of any class to the Grand Councils Imperial Fleet. Due to this fact the Grand Council has almost 150 large warships, nearly 400 medium vessels and close to 1,000 small ships with which to enforce their will and conduct patrols with.

Federation Intelligence Files

Members of this species were encountered by the crew of the USS Atlantis on an away mission to Urlista Station in the Aelann system on 238207.26

Since then their have been numerous encounters between the various Caraadian factions, houses and the Federation. For the most part these have all been fairly peaceful.

Sources

This is an original Starbase 118 species created by the crew of the USS Atlantis.

		SPECIES PROFILE UPDATED This profile was revised by the Species Development Committee.		REV 239201.03
		Please add any new information discovered during the course of a mission or shore leave.
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