The Unatri are the herbivorous snake-like inhabitants originating from the planet Unatria. The modern Unatri are not a single species, but rather several distinct subspecies created by millennia of interplanetary separation after the collapse of the ancient Unatri civilization. For the majority of its post-contact history the species has lacked a strong central identity. With the diversity of the overall population some have become resentful of the dominance of the "original" Unatrian Unatri.
History[]
Unatri civilization first emerged on their homeworld of Unatri around 20,000 years ago. These ancient Unatri would reach out to the stars, developing FTL travel. They would explore much of what would become Farengeto Republic space, and colonize over a dozen worlds. According to legends they would even make contact with the then primitive Modians. Though their civilization seemed ascendant, it was not to last. Suddenly and mysteriously their entire civilization would collapse. In its aftermath much of the Unatri would die, their civilization would regress millennia, and many records would be lost. The cause and history of the collapse
Only a single ship would escape the collapse, making a chance contact with the Draconid Imperium. The descendants of these survivors would live on in the Imperium, their rescue and their home lost to the ages.
The collapse left no Unatri world untouched. Some colonies would not survive the initial fall, their population entirely wiped out. Others would not last, and over the millennia a few colonies met the same fate. On 7 worlds the Unatri would survive. Outside of a few small pockets advanced civilization nearly disappeared, many regressing to gatherer societies in the decades or centuries following the collapse. During the first millennium after the collapse Unatri population is estimated to have fell by 99.9%, with worlds of billions often reduced to only a million.
Over millennia their societies would slowly recover. The collapse and their advanced ancestors left a lasting mark on the new Unatri society, stories and ruins of the old serving as a constant reminder of what had once been. Though some would again rebuild advanced civilization, they too would often face disaster and for nearly 20,000 years no Unatri would again visit space.
In 2638 Modian explorers made first contact with the Unatri colony of Corbi. Over the next four years the Modian would discover the remaining Unatri worlds, and with their advanced technology restored contact between them for the first time in millennia. Through Modian efforts representatives from all Unatri worlds would come together and found the Unatri Republic is 2652, reuniting them under a loose federation. Despite high hopes from its founders, in the early years it was often held together only by Modian influence and force. It would become evident the Unatri Republic was intended as a Modian puppet rather than a true Unatri state.
As the Modians became embroiled in the Modian Civil War, the Unatri were able to reassert their independence. Despite its reputation the act would serve to unite the Unatri, rather than drive the subspecies apart. They would realize the collective need for self-defense, and strengthen the Republic to protect themselves against alien interference. However the Unatri still faced a deep divide between the subspecies.
The Unatri Republic would soon find itself at odds with the growing Lagahti Union. The Lagahti despised their Tolyardian Unatri creators. They feared the Unatri would seek revenge for the Tolyardian's extinction, or attempt to exploit their genetic programming to enslave them. Over the decades the two species would engage in a number of military skirmishes.
At the outbreak of the Great Farengeto War, the Unatri sided with their Modian allies against the Lagahti. The Lagahti's early offensives inflicted great losses upon the Republic, but they would fail to break the Unatri. Truly fighting together for the first time would be a pivotal moment for Unatri, helping to unite them and build their national identity.
The Unatri's movement towards unity would dominate the late 2750s and 2760s, bringing a cultural and political movement to truly unify the Unatri subspecies. As the movement exploded in popularity, it spawned the Farengeto Unification movement. Long a fringe idea, the plan found increasing mainstream support in the post-war era. Initially struggling, the movement found its strength after recruiting Unaria Harenia, then a rising Unatri politician. The movement was cemented among the Unatri with the election of Harenia as President in 2773. Under President Harenia, the Unatri Republic became a leading force for Farengeto Unification. They paved the way for the foundation of the Farengeto Republic in 2783, founding it on many of the core ideals that unified the Unatri only decades before.
Subspecies[]
The Unatrian Unatri are what might be considered the "true" Unatri subspecies. Native to the ancient homeworld of the Unatri, Unatria has been the political center of Unatri civilization through known history. In ancient history it was the cradle of the Unatri, and the capital of their empire. However millennia of Unatri civilization had all but drained the planet of its natural resources.
In the aftermath of the collapse Unatria was left with the largest and most diverse of the Unatri remnants, commonly attributed to its large pre-collapse population. Despite this the planet was among the most devastated by the collapse. The planet's redevelopment would be continually be hampered by the scarcity of many natural resources. Around 2,000 years ago their society would advance to a late pre-industrial level. Though they would develop early industrial tools, the scarcity of critical resources would severely limit their effectiveness and in time industrialization would be all but abandoned by Unatrian society.
This period would coincide with the beginning of the Great Stagnation on Unatria. For the next nearly two millennia their technological progress would greatly slow. Unatrians would increasingly suffer from shortages of raw materials. Technological progress increasingly focused on the more efficient use of existing resources, with new ideas and inventions shunned as wasteful. The ideals of sustainability would become a driving concept of Unatrian ideology, even into the modern age. Their ideology would give Unatrians a reputation as "hippies" among many races.
Unatria would not recover from its stagnation until Modian first contact in 2639. Modian traders would give them the means to access the vast off-world resources of their home system. Supplied with resources and technology Unatria would rapidly redevelop. As the homeworld of the Unatri and one of the most populous remnants, Unatria became the capital of the newly formed Unatri Republic.
The Tolyardian Unatri are one of a few Unatri colonies which survived the Collapse but did not survive to the present day. Though they became extinct their legacy lives on through their creations, the Lagahti. They were born in an unstable time for their planet. Their industrial age would tip the delicate balance, and set in motion a runaway collapse of the biosphere. They created the Lagahti as slave labour, to cultivate and rebuild their dying world. Their treatment of the Lagahti would to the massive Lagahti revolt, and the war that followed drove the Tolyardians to extinction.
The Tolyardians maintain a fixed legacy among the Unatri. The creation of the Lagahti was the pinnacle of their advancement, but their enslavement of the Lagahti would lead to their extinction and later spark decades of conflict between the Unatri and Lagahti. The near destruction of their homeworld would further leave them with a negative reputation from both species.
The Oppelatus are victims of unfortunate circumstances. The collapse would nearly exterminate their population. Only a single group of no more than a few hundred individuals surviving beyond the collapse. With its population reduced so significantly, the Oppelatus would suffer from a severe genetic bottleneck. Across its history their entire civilization has suffered from the effects of inbreeding. Their population was historically small, and commonly suffered from poor health.
The Oppelatus place a high importance on the regulation of sexual reproduction, particularly in the selection of sexual partners. For much of its modern history their government has relied on careful control of reproduction to minimize the widespread genetic illnesses in their subspecies. Their society has a strong disconnect between reproductive and romantic partners, with the two commonly being separate. Unapproved sexual acts are strongly frowned upon for the genetic risks it creates, with many Oppelatus nations historically criminalizing it by punishment of death. The influx of new genes from other Unatri subspecies over several generation has served to revitalize the health. The reproductive controls remain prominent among most Oppelatus, and their family lineages remain commonly tracked.
The Criony are one of the more unusual cases of the Unatri subspecies. Unatri settlement occurred at the end of an interglacial period for the planet, and the time since the collapse saw the rapid onset of an ice age.
Whereas most Unatri subspecies have seen only minor genetic drift, the Criony experienced a much larger change. Living primarily in the planet's now frozen regions, the Criony have developed significant adaptation to the cold given the short evolutionary timeframe.
With suitable land limited by the ice, their civilization's development was severely impaired. They would only redevelop agriculture in the last several thousand years, after lowering water levels opened a land bridge to a fertile and warmer continent At the time of first contact they were the most primitive of the Unatri worlds, with the more advanced cities at a level comparable to that of the early bronze age. They have historically been clustered into three main groups: the sedentary states of the south, the nomadic peoples in the frozen regions of the north, and the pastoral and tribal peoples who lie in between.
The Criony are often subject to derision from other Unatri for their "primitiveness". While the more sedentary groups have seen a rapid and often forcible development, the nomadic groups still tightly claim to their heritage and it has become an integral part of their identity.The Corbi's fame was a matter of luck and circumstance. Their world was the most distant of the ancient Unatri colonies, and the closest to the Modian homeworld. By the 2600s their world had advanced to the level of an industrial civilization, and had developed radio communications. In 2638, Modian explorers detected their radio transmissions from a nearby system. Following the source of the transmissions the Modians would reach the world and establish first contact with the Unatri.
Toberth and Aestris are often known as the twin worlds. Their stars orbited in a wide binary pair, separated by less than a parsec at their peak. The two worlds discovered radio communications only decades apart. In the 2500s they would discover the other's transmissions. Though limited by their distance, the two planets began sending the other messages. They would both soon realize the impossible similarity between their species, and began piecing together lost clues of their shared origins. The discoveries drove a frenzy space exploration research. Both worlds began a number of long-range missions in attempt to reach the other. The most ambitious plan was that of the "Arasion", a vessel launched in 2623 to transport a crew of Toberthian astronauts on a decades long voyage to Aestris. After being "towed" by Modian explorers, the ship's crew would be part of the team to make the first physical contact with their Aestre relatives. By some estimates the worlds may have only been years away from independently inventing FTL travel at the time of Modian first contact.
Biology[]
The Unatri are an extremely agile species, traits believed to have evolved to aid their early ancestors in escaping from predators among the trees of the jungles in which they evolved. Their physical appearance varies among the subspecies, but the average adult Unatri measures around 6-7m in length and typically exceeds 120kg in mass.
Posture varies by social and biological factors, but most Unatri typically "stand" around 2m in height when interacting, though most will alter their "height" to reflect the heights of others or to express behaviours such as intimidation.
Unatri possess a single pair of limbs in the form of arms, with clawed four-fingered hands. These limbs have a lower muscle relative to the body, and serve primarily for grasping rather than their grip or strength.
