U'tani

			Intelligent Lifeform Index

U'tani
Four Letter Code	UTAN
Federation Status	Neutral
Planet of Origin	Qu’Tani
Encountered	ENT: Rajiin
T/E Rating	T0/E0
Current Tech Level	N-
List of Named U'tanis
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"Praise Qua’LiKk, giver of fortune, but fear his servants the bearers of death."

a U’tani saying.

The U’tani are a humanoid reptile species with a reputation for illegal activities and questionable morals.

Home System

• Quadrant: Beta
• Location: Tiris Sector (coordinates B27-0001-1302)
• Proper Name: Peadar system
• Star: It orbits a class A (White) star
• Distance from Star: it's orbit is approximately 41 million km
• Companions: It is the 3rd of 8 planets in the system

Home World

• Proper Name: Qu’Tani
• Diameter: 14,165 km (8,802 miles)
• Gravity: 0.99 standard gravity with a density of 4.9
• Axial Tilt: 7.6%, with minimal seasonal changes
• Orbital Period: 342 days
• Rotational Period: 23.3 hours
• Classification: M
  • Surface Water: 78%
  • Atmosphere: 1.08% is a standard pressure with 72% nitrogen, 25% oxygen, 3% trace chemicals
  • Climate: Mainly a tropical world with many vast swamps.
  • Population: Just over 8 billion

History

They evolved from an amphibious lifeform that developed in the swamps of their world. In the early days they had to struggle for survival. Their biggest threat came from a smaller cousin to the servants of Qua’LiKk, which were numerous and just as savage a predator.

Eventually they learned how to avoid these creatures and set traps to kill them. As a result they were able to finally exterminate all of these creatures and as a result their population swiftly grew and expanded. They learned to build boats and cross the few bodies of deep water but here they meet the savage servants of Qua’LiKk. A creature almost 8 times larger than the one they had finally wiped out.

They were virtually impossible to kill and seemed to be possessed of unheard of intelligence. Any meeting with these monsters of the deep always ended in death for those U’tani unlucky enough to be selected by the creatures as food.

Over time a religion developed around these predators. Some felt they were sent by Qua’LiKk as some kind of revenge for the U’tani hunting the smaller ones into extinction. Because of this the need to placate Qua’LiKk with living sacrifices developed.

Now the reason no longer matters and while they have either developed or traded for technology that would make hunting these beasts into extinction child’s play they are protected instead. In fact it is now against the law to harm a single one of these savage monsters of the deep.

Life was easy, food was plentiful and they were well suited to their environment. Technological advancement was fairly slow but in many cases this did not seem to matter to them. Civil unrest was usually on a small scale and wars relatively unknown to them. Crime was rampant and corruption an accepted way of life.

Even after they eventually developed space travel and met other species, their way of life really did not change. The only thing that did was the rich got richer and the poorer got poorer. They discovered that there was a very lucrative market for many of their goods and it did not matter if that market was more often than not a black market. Profit was profit and rules that interfered in business were illogical and stupid as so to be avoided and ignored.

Government

They have council of 100 made up of the most successful businessmen, traders and smugglers on the planet. In theory they work together to ensure the furtherance of policies to better life for all their people. In reality they only care about themselves. Their votes are available to the highest bidder and if they are caught being involved in some form of corruption or illegal action they simply conscript some unlucky soul to be sacrificed to Qua”LiKk in their place.

Description

They are a humanoid species with faint reptilian hold overs from their origins. They are covered in a soft, scaly skin in pale green that fades to pure white on the face with a few highlight, bright colored areas around the eyes and cheeks that tends to blend in between the two areas. Females have long black, dark brown wavy hair that starts very high up on their heads and the males keep their shorter and tied back into a single braid.

The females are slim, athletic, curvy and move with a sensual grace that catches the attention. The males are more muscular, stocky and move with less grace and more of a fluid transition from position to position.

Physiology

As with most intelligent humanoid species they have a very complex system with specialized organs, and unique hormones, chemicals and enzymes. Due to the nature of their planet it is no surprise that they evolved from an amphibian life form. As a result they can breathe for short periods of time underwater and their skin is very water resistant.

Females emit a faint pheromone that excites and activates the pleasure centers on most species males. Unlike the Orion females they can not use it to control a male, simple to get them excited.

Psychology

The U’tani tend not to trust other species especially those that are so stupid as to not treat their females as property. After all they are inferior. Regardless of these beliefs most males are amoral; doing whatever they feel is in their best interests, especially if it will earn them more latnium.

Religion

They believe in a rather dark and bloody deity, one to whom they must make regular living sacrifices. These sacrifices are every 18 days for a total of 19 times a year and occur in 18 different locations around the planet resulting in a total of 342 sacrifices each year. This god (Qua’LiKk) is personified by a vicious predator that prowls the deeper waters and attacks suddenly. Sacrifices are always alive and fully aware of what is about to happen to them.

These sacrifices can be children, females and those males who own debts, have incurred the wrath of more powerful U’tani males or off worlders who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Before being tossed into deep water the spectators bet on how long the sacrifice will survive and how many servants of Qua’LiKk will strike and rip the sacrifice apart. Once the betting is done the sacrifice has a small cut applied to the middle of their back, enough to draw blood. Then they are tossed naked into the deep water.

Mythology

They have a number of very dark and savage myths and legends about their god Qua’LiKk who devours the unwary, ripping them to bloody shreds before he devours them.

Society

They have a distinctly male dominated society, one where females are considered to be property to be bought, traded and sold at will. Their communities are haphazard affairs with little to no thought given to layout, design or civic planning. Most of their buildings are built on stilts so as to be just above the water. Very few communities are on dry land.

The rich live well and the poor suffer in squalid hovels. Only those who can afford it have any rights and many never receive any formal education, medical aid or opportunities. Any and all crimes usually result in only one penalty. Death by sacrifice.

Culture

Little though is given to most artistic forms of expression, however they all seem to have the gambling bug and every single community has at least a couple facilities dedicated to any and every form of gambling that they have ever been exposed to.

Customs

They only really have two deep set customs. The first is the almost instinctual drive to gamble. As a result every male has by adult hood, normally become fixated on one specific form of gambling. The other is the desire to visit and watch the next regularly scheduled sacrifice. This also usually results in them gambling as well.

Technology

They have traded for a lot, mostly with shady organizations like the Orion Syndicate. Their own research efforts have been greatly reduced since they learned they could more easily buy new technology off the black market.

Economy

While they are mainly self-sufficient they do trade pearls which are plentiful and come in a number of different colors, exotic fruit, exotic wildlife and many of their own females who have been trained to be exceptional sex slaves. They also trade a number of natural substances and plants that have been found to have medicinal qualities.

They even trade a few that are purely recreational and have been banned by the Federation. Not very surprising when it is an proven fact that they have had dealings with various shady organizations like the Orion Syndicate. These dealings started shortly after they developed efficient space travel, sometime around 2095.

In exchange they import a number of exotic luxury goods including wines, gems, clothe and small technological devices that make their lives easier.

Military

They do not have any formal military but since becoming a space faring species all of their freighters are considered to be part of their merchant fleet. These ships come in two sizes. A small, quick, single cargo hold express freighter and a large 8 cargo hold freighter.

As might be expected these freighters are more heavily armed than most freighters with better than average shield capabilities as well. All of these ships have a small detachment of heavily armed security guards and twice the normal number of crew that would be expected to be found on a ship of this size. As a result the small freighter has 10 guards and 11 crew normally and the large have 20 guards and 21 crew.

While each and every one of these freighters is considered to be part of their merchant fleet and are expected to maintain the proper size crew and security detail it is pretty much left up to each ship’s captain. As a result many ships often have fewer men than expected and some may have more.

Federation Intelligence Files

The U'tani are a species whose females are colloquially referred to as "serpent women." Zjod sold two U'tani sex slaves to some Xindi-Reptilians in September 2153.

Currently Starfleet believes that a number of captains with the U’tani merchant fleet are involved in smuggling, piracy and drug trafficking. Exact numbers are unknown.

Sources

Both Memory Alpha and Memory Beta were used as references as well as the TV episode, ENT: Rajiin.

Content from this article may have
come partially, or entirely from
 Memory Alpha

		SPECIES PROFILE UPDATED This profile was revised by the Species Development Committee.		REV 239107.01
		Please add any new information discovered during the course of a mission or shore leave.
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