Rakin --Climate-- The planet of Rakin is primarily desert in apperance; under the surface, however, there is a wealth of minerals and valuable natural products. There are several places where agriculture florishes though, which allowed the planet to become a powerful force in the universe when the Rakin people struck out into the galaxy. The most unique feature of the planet, however, is the 'black'. Surrounding the planet is a dead zone, where communications and other survelance gear simply fails. The reason for this is the low frequency light that the sun gives out, not only does it create a perfect natural defense, it also gives the planet a distorted appearence, making it very complicated for anyone but the most skilled navigators to reach the planet. --Physical Appearance-- Rakins are generally tall and rippled with muscles, the species seems built for war and with recent events it seems they were built well. Their skin color is usually darker reds and purples with some blues and oranges thrown it, they also are lightly speckled with white, giving them a kind of snow covered look. Rakins have a larger, sloping brow and no noticeable eyebrows (though they do have fine hairs where the eyebrow would normally be); their hair colors vary from silver to gold and they usually have s lightly metallic look. Like Velkins, Rakins have a great deal natural protection, but unlike Velkins a Rakin’s defenses are under the skin. The bone structure of a Rakin is super dense, stopping even the most powerful blades and projectiles, their ribcage is made of dozens of bones all tightly knit, allowing for unrestricted movement but superior protection. A Rakin’s heart is unique, placed lower than most races the Heart is surrounded by thick bone with only small holes allowing blood flow; their lungs have also adapted to their home world’s lower oxygen content and can survive without air for over six minutes comfortably and an two hours if unconscious. Their vital veins are nearly identical to a human however, the neck and wrist vein are just as susceptible to injury as most races. Rakins live longer than Velkins, but not by much, generally passing on in their eightieth or ninetieth year. Rakins have always preferred to die in battle, just as the Velkins, but unlike the Velkins they sometimes don’t bother to wait for old age, choosing to die with honor at a young age has become a troubling trend in recent years. --Early History and Early Culture-- The Rakin race has one of the more brutal cultures, divided into small clans made up of only twenty or thirty individuals early Rakins were territorial and defensive. Frequently clans would make tenuous alliances to wage war on their enemies and after defeating those enemies the allies would usually turn on each other and perpetuate the battle. Rakin culture is unique due to the fact that it was only in the last two hundred years or so did the ritualistic sacrifice of their people stop, initially the Rakin people had dozens of different gods one for each season and one for each part of battle and it took a rather large body count to keep their gods happy. Rakin’s tend to be more brawlers, forgoing standard fighting styles Rakins simply prefer to hit as hard as they possible can and continue to do so until their opponents are dead. Unlike their ‘brothers’, the Velkins, Rakins never attempted to use their love of fighting as a way to unify their people, they simply used their warrior nature for war…which Rakin’s preferred just fine. During the later part of 1600 a prophet was born on Rakin, claiming that he was the son of the war god Kayooshen the man initially conquered his neighboring clans but after being struck down over seventeen times rumors of his divinity began to spread and soon he was inundated with new followers. The Kayooshen claims that he is immortal, which may be true considering he has lived nearly four-hundred years. Shortly after coming into power The Kayooshen brought peace to his world and began a quest to bring their technology into the new century, after only seven years Rakin reached short ranged space fairing levels of technology and the race struck out into the universe. --The War-- The Rakin people were one of the original founders of the Trader’s Alliance, but when the Velkins and Zargonians began to push for a one universe government The Kayooshen thought that he should be instated as the ‘king’…this didn’t go over well with the other planets and after The Kayooshen began plastering the Versnet with religious rhetoric saying that everyone who didn’t agree with him would burn, Rakin was politely asked to leave the alliance. The Kayooshen began to circumvent the newly formed GASP by forming The Brotherhood…which started to gain power when Airosia entered into talks with The Brotherhood to form their own alliance. Sadly the talks with Airosia eventually disintegrated and The Kayooshen made a preemptive strike against the planet, killing most of the inhabitants and officially starting the War. --Current Events-- Currently Rakin is controlled by a Theocracy with The Kayooshen at its head, most of the decisions and treaties are made under The Kayooshen’s close observation. In recent years only the privileged few have actually laid eyes on The Kayooshen, causing some dissention in his ranks, leading to the idea that perhaps their leader is actually long dead. The only appearances he has made recently were digitally recorded and distributed, even then only his outline was visible. The Brotherhood is actually a fully self sustained economic force, with planets serving as their food producers and others serving as mining operations. Very little is imported from outside sources, the products that are imported are usually smuggled in by a series of mercenaries with no ties to the Brotherhood, except the ties that money bind. Recently the death of Roto, one of the three generals of the KC, has thrown the organization into confusion. Roto served as the ‘High Prophet’ in the army, though the title was self assigned Roto came to stand for the religious aspect of the organization and his death caused several subgroups to begin questioning their leaders divinity. Though The Kayooshen has recently appeared in a video extolling his now dead servant’s virtues and proclaiming that in his death he will serve his father, Kayooshen, there are still murmurings that the ‘son of god’ may not be as powerful or righteous as he may claim.