Race: Kakt
Empire: Shesthki Croui (Translated: The Unified Societies)
Capital: Seytir
Description: The Kakt are an aquatic race, evolved from creatures to which the closest comparison is a squid. Hosting tri-lateral symmetry, six of their tentacles, evenly spaced, are strong, with a suction-cup/adhesive to allow them to cling to almost any object found on their home world. Three 'arms', each of which splits into four opposable, muscular 'fingers', and hosting retractable barbs to grip on softer surfaces or tear flesh, allow them to operate machinery. Their 'eyes', six slits which allow them to see in the infrared and visible light spectrums, are not keen compared to even a human's. Light is not common at the bottom of their oceans. However, sonar glands allow the Vrot to use their sonar with extreme potency. Their color is typically a pale white, though shades up to deep red are not uncommon. Due to their reliance on sound, a Vrot typically describes another of their species, or anything really, by it's sound. They live about 230 years on average, thanks to modern medicines and technology, and reach physical maturity around 30. They also have very little interest in reproducing past the half-decade cycles that create a breeding season. These last around half of their year, which in turn is somewhere around 270 earth days. They have split this into nine 'months', most having 36 days(their days being shorter than earth ones). Clothes do exist and are worn, though the Kakt are cold-blooded, and so rely more on heaters and water conditioners than clothing... Compared to humans, the Kakt are more intelligent and less compassionate, but not necessarily in the way that implies. Racism, sexism, and other baseless discrimination is near-nonexistent, and harshly punished. However, caring for those with genetic abnormalities and defects is viewed as not only a burden, but scorned; it does not aid the gene-pool. Vrot do not sleep, as such; at least one third of their mind is awake, to keep the sonar going, and make sure no predators approach. They do, however, require rest. Carnivores, the Vrot find eating another of their kind to be an act of desperation; not for any moral reason, but because their organs lose the ability to process between themselves and the food they eat, in time digesting their own body...and while that takes years of the act, diseases are easily transmitted through consumption, as cooking food is not something they do(or usually need to; they have excellent immune systems). Drying it is unfeasible, and so the only other method of keeping their food fresh and unspoiled is to pickle or salt it, though a few more advanced and interesting methods have been invented.
Description empire/society: Currently, the Kakt have only recently found a way to use FTL travel; it is a slow process to start, though some experimenters say that there are better ways, if riskier. First, powerful electromagnetic fields are used to bend time and space around the Vrot, effectively creating a bubble which can move in relation to light outside of it differently; light is no longer a constant in relation to it. This causes the edge of the bubble to appear warped and bent as light is scattered across and through it. Then, an oscillation drive is used to propel the craft forward; these are quite bulky and inefficient, but incredibly reliable. This is good, as the Kakt have a psychological need for consistency and reliability. Too much change or risk can send them into fits or cause other mental breakdowns, similar to what may happen if a human goes through many frightful experiences in a short time. However, Kakt also possess an incredible capability to withstand the pressures of life in other situations; though they may become upset if they have to move their home several times in a few years, fighting a Cafirt(a shark-like beast, with edged fins and a grasping tongue) will only leave them wondering where it came from. The Unified Societies is a conglomeration of various nations who decided to stop fighting after a catastrophic event evaporated much of one of the oceans, killing billions of Kakt. To combat future, similar threats, they decided that even if they would run their individual societies differently, something needed to be done to ensure that in times of need, differences could be shelved and the species work together. Of utmost importance to the US is the gene-pool; the Kakt have a saying; "History has already been done, and cannot be changed; The present is formed from it, and shapes what comes; The future is that which can happen, and decides one's fate." They care little for the past, and greatly for the future, and so anything which might endanger it is bad. Religions do exist, but there are few, as science and reason has been able to conclusively disprove many, and most others simply do not care to spend their time on it. Most are helpful, if only because harmful ones are quickly stamped out. Recently, they have spread to two more inhabitable worlds; a moon with thermal vents keeping the ocean within warm, though a mile of ice rest between it and the surface, and a strangely barren world filled with all the ingredients and time needed for life to develop, but not even bacteria has been found...
Power structure: Republic. Each Society has 6 representatives. There are about 234 current Societies.
Power: Meritocratic representative democracy. Those who do the most for their society are placed higher; thus an engineer or teacher might by a representative, rather than an attorney.
Traits:
Pros: Advanced Agriculture, Industrial, Traders, Explorers, Naval(Aerial?)
Cons: Unionized Society, Traditionalist, Slow Growth, Pacifistic, Low Tech
Tldr; Strong at colonization and strong at homeworld, just slow.