The Terrkarakki, or 'Krakki', are a hardy and industrious species known for their broad diet, swarming packs, and thick skin. They are the most populous sentient species in the alliance and masters of planetary colonization. Since the Krakki empire is vast, a majority of the species lives in exclusively Krakki territories with little to no contact with the rest of the galaxy. Those that do live near to the others, though, make themselves at home easily in whatever station or planet lets them in. The Krakki originate from
Vita-Ra
Biology
Anatomy
The Terrkarakki are lizard-like creatures with six limbs and four eyes. Their skin is thick and shields them from most of space's radiation, and they can digest almost any material whether its organic or not. The front two of their eyes are specialized for detecting the visual range of colors, while the back two are better at picking up heat and infrared. Their jaws are powerful, and their teeth are durable to match. Krakki teeth are sharp and, if taken care of, can last for the entirety of their life with relatively little decay. Krakki sport a crown of articulate horns on their heads that grow with age and are often used as a symbol of social status. Younger krakki will use all six of their limbs to locomote, but this number goes down to four at their second life stage, and then 2 at their third to free up the rest of their hands for manipulation and gesturing. The krakki's tails help them to balance, and in some cases can possess spikes or barbs for display. Krakki hatch from eggs.
Life Cycle
The krakki go through three distinct phases of life after hatching from their egg: each being both physically and mentally distinct from the others. The first phase of life is childhood, but also referred to as the "animal stage" of a krakki's life. During this stage, the krakki is at its smallest and dumbest. Animal stage krakki are capable of understanding simple sentences, but are not capable of speech or complex reasoning. They will only listen to their mother and are generally hostile to non-krakki outsiders as they cannot conceptualize aliens as anything but other animals. Young krakki are also voracious; they can and will eat anything given to them, or anything they can get their mouths on. A krakki will remain in this stage of development for around 8-10 years, but reach it's full childhood size within around 3.
When an animal stage krakki has survived long enough it will experience a transition known as an 'awakening'. It's brain will rapidly grow, leaving the individual in a catatonic state for a day or so while the process takes place. Once the awakening is complete, the krakki enters the second stage of life known as the "male stage" or "awakened stage". Their body will undergo a form of puberty, increasing their size and promoting the growth of the crest of horns on their head. Krakki are considered morphologically male at this stage and cannot lay eggs. Male stage krakki are properly intelligent and can reach their full capabilities within this stage of their life. In fact, only a small percentage of krakki ever advance from the male stage in their life. A male stage krakki can expect a lifespan of around 70 years. This life stage makes up the bulk of the civilized krakki population, and is considered by many to be the default form of the species.
There are many factors that go into pushing a krakki to their third stage of life, but these can mostly be boiled down to two categories: neccesity and power. A krakki colony with no active mothers will experience a surge of transitioning in order to preserve the population, but most commonly the krakki that evolve to their final stage are those who are the strongest, smartest, and wealthiest. Those with the most respect are the most likely to reach the third stage of the krakki lifecycle: the "Female stage", more commonly referred to as the "Krakki Mother". A krakki at the cusp of entering the third stage will become increasingly interested in suitors and seek as many as possible before their transformation begins. When they are ready, their size increases threefold and their build becomes stockier and more suited to upright posture. Krakki mothers also experience a boost in strength, hunger, and cunning unseen in their male stage. The most important change, however, is that krakki mothers experience a highly extended lifespan in comparison to their male counterparts. The oldest recorded mother was alleged to be nearly 600 years old before entropy claimed her. It goes without saying that krakki mothers are the only ones capable of making krakki eggs.
Appearance
Krakki are differentiated from each other by several factors beyond the life cycle. While the color of their thick skin rarely wavers from deep brown, the length, angle, and arrangement of the horns on their head varies widely. They can even vary in number and color to a degree. Krakki eyes are typically red with tinted pupils, but can also be orange, pink, or very rarely white. Their tails can also vary in length and appearance: with certain ethnicities of krakki possessing spines or spurs on the ends of their tails. Krakki often bear the scars of their rough, animal childhoods, which can be then used to help identify them in a crowd of similar siblings.
Many krakki make use of tattoos to differentiate themselves from their peers. Their thick skin allows for colors, materials, and effects not seen in other species. Examples of this would be embedding gems directly into the skin in order to add a "sparkle" to the pattern, or making use of normally toxic chemicals to create glowing or color-changing effects.
Culture
Names
Krakki language is guttural and uses a lot of sounds that are formed in the back of the mouth and throat (such as G, K, Ng, H, and Y). Some phonemes that are made at the end of the mouth in other languages are absent from their language and may be difficult for some krakki to pronounce if they have not practiced (Sounds like P, B, M, and W are not present). Adult Krakki have a given name and a surname. Their surname is based on their mother's chosen family name. When a krakki reaches this phase in life, they will invent a new surname for themselves. Since krakki mothers can have a lot of children, shared last names are extremely common in areas where mothers reside. Surnames tend to be shorter than given names.
Example Full Names: Kraicco Gruig, Ikkigi Leyeng, Trakkagar Halg, Kovral Leng, Drastahok Drasta, Gukkgukk Hols, Nurfk Kad
R-Selected Child-Rearing
Unlike a majority of the sentient species of the galaxy, the krakki do not spend much of their energy on raising their young. In fact, across krakki culture young krakki are the most disposable and replenishable resource available to the species. Instead of having a handful of children to raise and protect, a krakki mother produces so many children that to spend time with every individual is a waste. Young krakki are regarded on the same level as animals during the first stage of development by the rest of their kind. They are smart enough to follow simple commands and will instinctively follow and protect their mother, but do not speak or think critically. Due to the surplus of mouths to feed that come with being a krakki mother, it is a common and routine practice for their young to become food for the rest of the pack. Cannibalization of krakki children occurs most frequently in space where having too many mouths to feed will starve the rest of a crew, but is practiced even in affluent krakki cities. Their eggs will be eaten before they hatch, or an already-grown child will simply be selected for culling by the mother or greater will of the pack.
When a krakki has survived long enough to enter the second stage of its life it becomes socially looked down upon to try and eat them, and the mother will take interest in beginning their education. For this reason, mothers that don't want the burden of a young mind to nurture will specifically select older children for culling before they can mature.
This cannibalistic practice is not received well by many of the krakki's galactic neighbors. In particular humans, jalgar, and trallyr can struggle to form partnerships or friendships with krakki mothers, and despite the fact that the krakki have been living this way for their entire existence there are small sects of enraged non-krakki that seek to put an end to this tendency. Second stage male krakki make up an increasing majority of krakki diplomats to help remove as much hostility as possible between the species they seek to trade with.
Packs and Relationships
Krakki are very social: forming friendships and family bonds with those from and from outside their own species. Young krakki form packs with their siblings, but this behavior is subdued upon reaching adulthood. Instead, younger male-stage krakki will choose to either stay with their mother's pack, or form a smaller pack with their friends and similarly-aged siblings. Living in groups is preferrable for those who have only recently begun to act independently. A byproduct of this is that younger male-stage krakki are very easy to get along with and gain as friends, whereas older individuals are less desperate for company.
Krakki put a lot of trust in those that they consider friends, much like the other social species. The older the krakki, the pickier they become with who they consider close to them. Their loyalty also strengthens as their pool of acquaintances shrinks. When interacting with shorter-lived species, it's very common for krakki mothers to consider friendships consistent between parents and their children. While some of their cultural practices put other species on edge, krakki are seen as the most open when it comes to getting along with those who think differently than them, and thus get defensive when others judge them for things they consider natural, as a krakki will rarely judge other species by their own standards. With the exception of mothers, adult krakki don't have to worry about reproducing. They do still seek out romantic relationships, though. These tend to behave more like flings than commitments, but are nevertheless a valuable aspect of krakki society. Even those in relationships with older females will still come and go as interests grow and fade.
To Be Exceptional
A strong force within Krakki society is the belief in- and pursuit of- exceptionalism. As only a few krakki youth make it to their adult stage, and even fewer to the mother stage, there is a strong pressure among male-stage krakki to 'earn' their existence and stand out from their peers. For some, this is based in the desire to advance to the third, longest lived, stage of their life (something that seemingly can be triggered by grand achievements and social standing). For others, however, the goal is to make their mark on society in any way that they can. The Krakki population is so massive that standing out in any way is a monumental task. It might be easy to become notable in your town, or even on your station. Becoming a planet-wide name, however, or a figure known across systems, is not so simple. As their empire expands across star clusters, more and more krakki crave the immortality that comes with having your name on the tongues of the entire galaxy.
This social pressure drives intense competition between peers, families, and even entire planets.
On top of this mindset is the way that krakki tend to revere those who do gain such status. The simplest way this manifests is in the hierarchy between the second and third stage krakki. Krakki mothers tend to outrank male-stage krakki socially. It would take a significant stain on the name of a krakki mother for her to not command the polite respect of those younger than her. Outside of this, though, even those krakki that never advance to their final life stage can become figures of idolatry if their actions and impact are strong enough to linger in the minds of their people. The great figures of Krakki history are more than role models to those who look up to them, but command feelings akin to that of religion. It's very common for younger krakki to select a role model from their history to emulate and look up to. Many of these great individuals are long dead, but those lucky enough to experience this worship while alive find their status elevated to untouchable levels.
History
Pre-Space
The Terrkarakki of Vita-ra used to form warring kingdoms led by the mothers of a region to fight for every inch of available space. With the discovery of proper agriculture and animal farming, their populations rocketed to never before seen heights and life quickly became about staking claim to whatever space you could. In pursuit of planetary dominance, the krakki engaged in a generations-long arms race. Their quality of life improved alongside their ability to slaughter each other in the thousands, but each improvement only meant more mouths to feed and more enemies to fight. Centuries of war have honed the krakki to be vigilant and strong willed. Historical texts tell of times where entire valleys of Vita-ra seemed alive with the sheer number of krakki engaged in battle. It would seem almost guaranteed they would wipe themselves out via weapons of mass destruction, but this was not so. While nuclear bombs were used in the wars of the krakki, the native life of vita-ra had evolved under the weak magnetic field of their planet and could endure the radiation far better than any other known ecosystem could. Not every species could withstand being exploded, however, which had deadly impact on the agriculture of the krakki. It wasn't soon before they would turn their eyes to the stars, and to new frontiers.
Space Age
The natural radioactive resistance and wide diet of the krakki lent well to the idea of space. Their technology had advanced to the point where once they set their minds to it, spacefaring was a breeze. Krakki spacecraft are notorious for looking like they were slapped together from random parts, but the krakki simply love to reuse what they can from older models anytime their technology improves.
The first new frontiers were the 9 moons of Vita-ra, but it wasn't long before they went further. Grand Colonization. The destiny of the krakki was in the stars: all these unsettled planets were theirs for the taking. With the realization the space was now infinite for their population, the Terrkarakki wasted no time in claiming the nearest planets for their civilization, then the nearest star systems, and so on into the inky void. Instead of slaughtering each other over land (though this does still happen), increasingly the krakki would choose to aid their kin in simply finding somewhere else to live. With so many planets, asteroids, and trade routes at their disposal the krakki empire grew just as unfathomably rich as it did large.
War
The
Glycean civilization was the first the krakki encountered, and their meeting was not a kind one. The krakki of the
Karhakkhas' Queendom , ever expansionist, saw their planet lush with life, and sought to claim it. Because the physiology of the krakki was so different from that of the glyci, the two were unable to formally communicate, but they were very capable of going to war. The krakki had numbers, but the Glyci's defensive technology was superior to that of the krakki and the glyci did not rely on their own manpower, but that of robotics, to defend their home. Opportunistic krakki would kidnap and use glyceans as batteries for new technologies, something they have not been fully forgiven for, and still happens in some sectors today. Eventually, it became apparent that the conflict was doing little more than wear out the resources of either side. The krakki had made no ground on the waterlogged planet, and their leader had passed away over the decades of fighting. It soon became possible for the two species to communicate through their research and technologies, and the two had started to negotiate a tense peace when it came to light that they were not alone in their sector anymore.
Joining the Alliance
Upon meeting the displaced trallyr, the peace between the glyci and the krakki was shakily solidified. Due to the krakki's dominance over the sector, the terms of the alliance were crafted heavily in their favor.
