Asathai

The Asathai are a reptillian race of humanoids from the planet Indath in the Vanaad Galaxy. They are one of three founding races in the Union, and are renowned scientists and diplomats. They are also known for their race-wide psionic ability, which allows almost all of them a limited degree of telekinesis.

History
The Asathai have a long past filled with war and strife. Their recorded history goes back about 2000 UY (Union Years). Like most sapient species, the Asathai were divided up into nations, and often got into armed conflicts with eachother. Not much of note occurred until about 500 years ago, when the Asathai nations fell into a massive world war. The war ended when it went nuclear, and much of the planet was decimated by nuclear strikes and reduced to irradiated desert. Several nations survived mostly unscathed, thanks to experimental laser defense systems destroying the nuclear missiles before they could hit. The surviving nations banded together out of a common goal: escape Indath. The planet would not be able to support Asathai life for at least 200 years. They quickly developed the means to begin colonizing the rest of their solar system, Tekkan. The first Asathai landed on Ilkith, the nearest planet to Indath, 437 years ago.

But the Asathai were still a young and warlike species, and the peace did not last. Eventually the colonies wanted independance, and broke off from the Unified Asathai Government... sometimes violently. The colonies then fought amongst themselves over resources, ideology, territory and some of the most petty things ever. The UAG fought to bring the colonies back under its heels, but they were outnumbered by the colonial militias. The Interplanetary Wars as they were called dragged on for decades, finally ending 379 years ago, 40 years after they began. Many colonies had been outright annihilated, while others had survived and grew into prosperous societies. The war was devastating enough that the Asathai were set back at least one hundred fifty years, and would not develop space travel again until 223 years ago.

Eventually they recovered their lost technology, but they were still divided. With their homeworld Indath now recovering from the nuclear war, and the colonies having access to other planets again, a race to recolonize the homeworld began. It ended as soon as it began, because one colony, Ilkith, was already their. They had more advanced technology than the other Asathai, why exactly is not known. It is possible they lost less in the Interplanetary Wars, or they were simply smarter. In any case, most of the other colonies were militarily weak, while Ilkith was strong. They had been preparing for this day for a long time. They swept through the Tekkan system, violently or peacefully absorbing all of the other colonies into their domain. After the insurrections died down 194 years ago, the Asathai entered into an age of peace under Ilkith's rule.

137 years ago, on the anniversary of the first Asathai landing on Ilkith, the Unified Asathai Government unveiled their latest scientific advancement: An FTL Drive. Hyperdrive, to be specific. They had developed it and the ship that would test it in secret for the last 10 years, and had decided to reveal it to the public on this historic day. The first Asathai FTL spacecraft, the ASV Eternal, went from Indath to Ilkith in minutes, rather than the months it took conventional spacecraft. With the drive working properly, the UAG greenlit the Exploration Project. The Eternal and other ships like it would begin exploring and colonizing other systems.