Dwerin

The Dwerin are an alien race native to the Vanaad galaxy. They originated on their homeworld of Dakaar, but after centuries of polluting it with heavy industry it was rendered uninhabitable and they now live on a fleet of city ships. They are starting to settle on planets again with the help of the Union, of which they are a founding member. Dwerin are notable for their skill at engineering, metalworking, and of course mining.

History
The Dwerin have the longest recorded history out of all of the Union races. It goes back about 4000 UY (Union Years). During their history the Dwerin were not particularly warlike. On their homeworld of Dakaar they constructed great works of stone, building massive mountainhalls. Besides small wars between the Mountain Kingdoms, the Dwerin were a fairly peaceful species, content to sit in their halls and mine the world for riches. Then came their industrial revolution. The Dwerin had always had an industrial mind, but when true industry could be made they did so. Quickly, they began to pollute their world. 1300 years ago they had reached the technology level of modern humans, but were polluting far worse. Their mountainhalls had become giant factories, pumping pollutants into the air. They didn't realize how damaging they were being to their planet until the damage had been done. Dakaar would be rendered uninhabitable within 100 years due to the greenhouse effect raising the temperature. The Dwerin went to space, and did what they did best: mined and built.

Dakaar had an extensive ring system, made up of captured asteroids that were as large as the mountains on the surface. The Dwerin carved out some of these asteroids and inside of them built cities. But even then they weren't safe, as resources began to run out and it was necessary that the Dwerin leave the gravity well of their own planet. 1000 years ago, after about 300 years living primarily in the asteroid belt of their homeworld and watching it slowly die, the asteroid cities became cityships. The Dwerin modified them with gigantic engines, and left their solar system which they had already picked clean. They became wanderers, going between star systems at slower than light speeds and devouring the resources of any solar system they came accross, ruining any habitable planets in the process.

400 years ago, they came across the Erythn on a colony established by Erythn generational ships. First contact with an alien race was an exciting prospect, but the Erythn knew what the Dwerin had done in the past to the planets they landed on. The Erythn saw this as an affront to their religion, which was that the universe was sacred and should not be defiled as was the will of the Creator. The Erythn attacked the Dwerin fleet, which struck back. They had a significantly large fleet of military ships, but the Erythn had the home field advantage. This was their solar system, and within it was the means of starship production. After six months of fighting, the Dwerin knew they couldn't take much more and took a final action against the colony out of sheer desperation. They bombarded it with nuclear weapons, killing everything on the planet. They were able to escape, and they returned to wandering, shaken and their supplies depleted.

87 years ago when they were crossing the void between star systems, they encountered an anomaly. Their flagship, the Dwardrukar, was sent at FTL speeds to a distant solar system, several light years from the fleet. They believed it lost. In the 1000 years they had been wandering, the Dwerin had become technologically stagnant and never developed FTL drives. They couldn't get to the Dwardrukar and it couldn't get to them. Then the Asathai found it.