Tibran

Biology

If you can get past the fact that Tibrans are slimy and smell rather unpleasant, then they're actually rather good looking specimens. Generally podgy, standing a mere 4 and a half feet tall with 4 arms, 2 legs, green skin, an oversized head and big brown milky eyes, they almost look as if they should be sold in a children's toy shop. Their squeaky voices make you want to cuddle them even more, but don't try it because they hate it and will defend themselves with the secretion of a sticky, corrosive goo that burns like fire and smells horrendous.

There are four main distinctions to be made in Tibran biology are male, female, royalty and peasantry. Whilst the differences are obvious to Tibrans, no one else has ever managed to see any difference. Autopsies on Tibrans reveal them to be structurally identical in all regards with all individuals possessing both sets of sexual organs. Tibrans take immense offence at being incorrectly categorized so if for some reason you find yourself talking to a naked Tibran, use the most neutral language you can until they give you a hint as to their gender and class.

Planet Tibrar is a gentle place with a higher than average mass. With no natural predators, Tibrans have evolved no natural defences and as such, although quite strong, are fairly easy targets. Somewhat humanoid, the Tibran stands on 2 short stumpy legs ending with 2 soft, padded feet. From the sides of its barrel chest extend 2 pairs of arms, with each arm being the same, long dexterous and very strong, terminating with an eight fingered, two thumbed hand. Without predators to make them sharp, Tibran sensory perception is rather blunt and it's easy to sneak up behind them and scare them, although very dangerous because when scared, Tibrans often emit highly toxic bodily gases.

Strong and dexterous in a small package, Tibran biology makes them good for mining, piloting micro fighters and factory work.

Government / Religion

Tibrar, has and has always been a monarchy. The system is a matriarchy with the Tibran Queen being the ultimate power player. Whilst she is alive then her daughters are next in the power chain, then her sons' wives, then her husband and sons. Interestingly if a female in the royal family dies, her husband does not take her power, rather it transfers to the next highest female that she has given her approval to at some time, an individual who is rarely related by blood.

The Royal 'Family' is not really a family as such, more a massive and highly complex organisation that with incredibly loyal members, functions to an acceptable level. However, compared to the governments of other legions, it is slow and inefficient.

Tibrans have a monotheistic religion with an accompanying set of rigid laws as to how they should conduct themselves. Whilst seemingly incredibly old fashioned, the result is a peaceful and generally happy civilization.

Society / Behaviour

Tibran society is classed into two broad groups, Royalty and Peasantry. Members of Royalty are those who have earned the right to give orders, whereas members of the peasantry are those who must take orders. Royal status is not always a good thing because on becoming Royal, your assets become those of the Royal Family. As it stands the wealthiest individuals are certain peasants operating corporations that are yet to have received Royal Status. Inevitably though the largest companies are noticed and 'acquired' by the Royal Family. All individuals consider it a great honour to be awarded Royal Status even if it means losing their personal fortune. All individuals are born as peasants and must prove themselves worthy to be accepted into Royalty which is not granted easily due to the fact that once granted it can't be revoked.

The Royalty tend to treat the Peasantry in a rather rude manner. This is despite the fact that often the Peasant are more qualified, intelligent and successful than their masters. Even so, all Peasants will respectfully accept the treatment and not complain about it later.

Tibrans seem to choose their gender at an early age and spend the rest of their life playing the role, even though they could easily change at any time. The clue as to Tibrans status and gender is to look at how they dress and the jewellery they wear. Only the Royal Family has access to precious metals because they are so rare, and will wear a small ornament sewn carefully into their foreheads. Peasants will not have such an adornment and it is considered extremely low browed to try and imitate it with a stick on. Males will almost always wear clothing with red, braided fringes whereas females fringe their clothes with yellow.

The Path to Space

Scientific progress was always slow for Tibrans, mainly due to their system of government but also due in part to the fact that they are generally very peaceful. They plodded along fairly slowly and although they launched their first rocket into space in 1942, it was over 100 years before they discovered jump gates, finally finding them in 2052.

The Royal Family being ever expansionist and dreaming of colonising far away space for the glory of Tibrar, immediately set about exploring and in only a few short years had already discovered 4 new sectors. Unfortunately they over extended themselves far too early with very little in the way of a combat fleet, and with a general level of technology far lower than other legions they soon found they had a problem on their hands. Because of their archaic system of governance, in a short time almost all of the Royal Family's attention was being devoted to trying to manage the new colonies and the fleet. As such Garen was the last sector the Tibran could afford to explore, doing so in 2062.

Whilst Tibrar struggled to retain control and keep things orderly (especially the Moons of Kaarp), the other legions stirred and first contact was made in Garen with Ajaxians in the year 2071 in the sector Garen. The Tibrans ships at the time were not equipped to fight whereas the Ajaxians were. Contact was made between the two and the Ajaxian diplomats politely demanded the Tibrans accept Ajaxian Law and pay a tax for being in the sector they had just discovered giving the Tibran ships 48 hours to do so. On board the Tibran ships, no one had any idea of what the strange alien was babbling and so they sat and waited. After 48 hours, outraged by the arrogance of the Tibran ships the Ajaxians attacked forcing the Tibrans to immediately retreat through the jump gate to Canopus West, in the process giving away the gate's location.

Before too long, the Tibrans had an Ajaxian war fleet on their doorstep and not ready to fight took heavy damage before finally being able to push the Ajaxians, who were of a comparable technological level, back. No sooner had the Tibrans fought off the Ajaxians when they found themselves making contact with Krilgorian ships that had jumped straight into their home sector in the year 2075. Pretty soon, the Tibrans had another major fight on their hands, but luckily for them, the Krilgorian fleet due to the effects of holovision on the folks back home were weak and, although losing almost all remaining combat craft in the process managed to break the Krilgorian attack. Meanwhile the Ajaxians, now aware of the Krilgorians had been building strength in Canopus and in 2086 after Krilgore was all but gone from space and the Tibran fleet non existent, they seized upon their opportunity and attacked Tibrar.

With no defences, the Ajaxians easily took control of the planet and set about 'civilizing' the primitive Tibrans in accordance with Section 156, paragraph 17.3.34, clause III.

This saw the Tibrans being made into slaves, forced to work in the massive mines the Ajaxians had built to strip mine the planet.

For the next 50 or so years, the Ajaxians brutally ruled Tibrar, plundering its natural resources and brutalising the population. Little did the Tibs know, but things were about to get even worse. Having learned the exact location of all known sectors and of the existence of alien life, after a brief pause to rebuild after the discovery of Red Sky, the Boraxian fleet with even greater strength than before set off to try and conquer their first alien legion. Having long since determined the strength of the various legions, the natural first target was Tibrar, and in 2140, a Boraxian battle fleet jumped straight into Tibrar, surprising the hell out of the small Ajaxian suppression fleet there.

With superior technology and tactics, the Boraxians quickly squashed the Ajaxian defenders and dividing their fleet sent the bulk of it up through Canopus West pushing the panicking Ajaxians all the way back to The Three Suns where they stopped their advance, and not wanting to wage two wars at once returned to Tibrar, where not content to simply use the Tibrans as slaves, they set about destroying all evidence of their civilization and massacring almost the entire Royal Family in order to break the will of the Peasants. It was clear to the Tibrans that once the Boraxians were done mining the planet they would utterly annihilate all life on it and replace it with their own.

Unnoticed by the Boraxian oppressors who rarely paid attention to what was going on inside the mines, a Tibran resistance movement had for years been building an underground complex, complete with a spaceship launching tube and producing a massive stash of nuclear weapons.

The return of Krilgore in force to space diverted most of the Boraxian ships away and by 2162, the other three legions had all encountered each other and skirmishes were frequent. Eager to finish the Tibrans off before being drawn into massive conflict elsewhere, the Boraxians began an extermination program on Tibrar and in sheer desperation the Tibran resistance, years earlier than it had intended to, launched its attack.

In the year 2163, the ramshackle Tibran fleet managed to catch by surprise and destroy the few Boraxian defenders, and then in a desperate attempt to buy some time a few suicide ships fully loaded with illegal atomic weapons jumped to the Asteroids and detonated them in the middle of the 3 legion fight that was occurring there.

The huge disturbance this caused interfered with all known hypergates shutting them down temporarily. All ships that were in the process of hypering were destroyed and in the aftermath it was seen that many of the gate locations had shifted entirely. Coupled with the fact that the other 3 legions lost the bulk of their fleets in the explosion a universal ceasefire was signed and an early version of the Galactic Council first formed.

Freed from the threat temporarily, the Tibran legion burning with hatred scrambled like crazy to rebuild their civilization and tack together a fleet.

Fighting Characteristics

Tibrans were always slower than everyone else when it came to technological development and after the destruction wreaked on their planet by Ajaxus and then Boraxus, they are by far the weakest fleet, with their ships basically tacked together with scrap.

They make up for this with their ability to fight. Driven by a searing hatred that burns right to their core and an incredible loyalty to Tibrar and the Royal Family, Tibran pilots will fight more aggressively than even Krils when given the chance, especially when they encounter Boraxians.

The Tibs aren't pleased and it shows.

Information acquired from [http://www.tvsgames.com/tvs/help/manual/tibrar.asp The TVS Manual]