Chakat Universe

The Chakat Universe is a fictional world created largely by Bernard Doove. Further contributions from other artists and writers have expanded and enriched it greatly, and it would not be what it is today without Bernard's vision and the support and love of so many who have offered up their creative energies.
It should be clearly understood that Bernard is the final arbiter of what is and is not considered as canon - that is to say, official and/or authoritative. However, bear in mind that some deeply significant contributions have been brought into this wonderful world by other writers and artists, and they may wish to make the determination as to what is and is not canon for the races, worlds, and institutions they have created. As an example, Roy Pounds is the creator of the Quange and the Garetta foxtaurs, and Bob Reijns created the skunktaurs.
Any shared universe must have commonly agreed-upon rules as to how things work and because the fans who come to read and play in the Chakat universe are a creative lot, the rules are constantly expanding. Thus, if you find information here that contradicts information on the Chakat's Den website, please take a moment to update the information here, and provide links to the new or updated source info!
Here, extracted from the Den, are some of the more common rules for working in the Chakat Universe.
=Questions and Answers=
==Are chakats part of the Star Trek universe?==
No. There are many terms used in common - 'Star Fleet', 'Federation', 'warp drive', etc. - but the organizations and technology have significant differences.
==What are the special Talents?==
There are five basic psionic abilities which are known to manifest. All psionics must fall into these categories. For more information, please see the article on Talents.
==Are they (chakats) partially derivative from Titanides?==
No. Bernard had created chakats before reading John Varley's work.
==What is a chakamil?==
These are an illegally-created variant of chakat, meant for military employment. For more information, please see the article on chakamils.
==Are there any birdmorphs?==
No. Any such would have died out during the Gene Wars.
==Is there magic in the Chakat Universe?==
No. This is not to say authors and artists cannot write stories of chakats with magic; just that such stories will not be accepted as canon.
==The Prime Directive==
Again, the Chakat Universe is not Star Trek despite superficial similarities. The Prime Directive does not exist.
==Time travel==
The only form of time travel in the Chakat Universe is the one we all experience, moving forward at the rate of one second per second.  There are no time machines.
Relativistic effects are also the norm, with local time slowing down as a result of velocity and gravity, though this is not usually considered "time travel" in-universe.
Parallel alternate realities may also be encountered, but are extremely uncommon.  These are not strictly "time travel" either.
==Cyborgs==
There are no cyborgs in the Chakat Universe. The emphasis has been on the development of genetic engineering. There are some quite advance prostheses but they are never as good as the real thing, and certainly not advanced enough to have, say, an organic brain in a completely cybernetic/robotic body. There are a couple of stories wherein people have as much as half their bodies replaced with prosthetics; Bernard has not ruled on whether or not this is canon.
==Human/biped-to-taur conversion==
The technology exists to convert someone from one race to another. However, the process is extremely expensive and fraught with dangers. In short, the only way to convert someone from a bipedal species to a taur species is via the Oceanwalker Process, which (as of the mid-2330s) is still in clinical trials. It is neither cheap nor automatically accessible. Biped-to-taur conversion via genetic engineering is not possible.
=Authoritative Source Documents=
Some, but by no means all, of the source documents for this Wiki.
*An Introduction to Chakats - creator: Bernard Doove
*Chakamil - creator: John R. Plunkett
*An Introduction to Skunktaurs - creator: Bob Reijns
*Foxtaur Facts
*Stellar Foxtaurs
*Sentient Races
:*Stariionae - creator: John R. Plunkett
:*Faleshkarti - creator: Bernard Doove
:*Renzar Review - Ben Zider
*Infrequently Asked Questions - Bernard Doove
*No-Nos: Things that do not belong in the CU - Bernard Doove
*Talents - Bernard Doove
Category:Canon