Dhasath

## Appearance

Of the aliens of the Andromeda Galaxy, the dhasath are the closest to humans, so close in fact that they might easily be mistaken for one another. The most common appearance for a dhasath is like that of a human from the Eastern Mediterranean, though there are, like humans, a great range in phenotypes.

Dhasath, however, do not smell like humans to any creature with a particularly acute sense of smell (they smell slightly sweet). They can also be told apart by a simple blood test for nitrogen compounds.

## Biology

The dhasath evolved on a desert planet in what is now a part of the Ragon Empire and are supremely adapted to survival in hot, waterless environments and are also resistant to the cold.  There is, however, strong evidence that this is not their planet of origin and genetic testing by human explorers has revealed the dhasath maybe descended from hominids translocated from earth aproximately 1 million years ago.

Dhasath are extremely rapid breeders, reaching maturity faster than most other species and producing more offspring. A dhasath pregnancy lasts for around six months and the average ‘litter’ is 2.5 children while an individual is fully grown by age 14.  Under stress, however, dhasath females do not ovulate, making them next to impossible for enterprising Ragons to farm.

As a further byproduct of their adaption to harsh environments, dhasath tissue is flooded with nitrogen compounds which, if ingested by an individual of another species, gives a potent feeling of euphoria.

The natural lifespan for a Dhasath is approximately 80 years, though the average lifespan is closer to 20.

## History

In the early days of Kiellar expansion, the ‘Dhasath League’ was the major competing power in the Andromeda Galaxy. In the first Kiellar-Dhasath war, the Kiellar fleet was anihilated in the Battle of the Kawavok Sector and the Kiellar Republic was forced to pay punitive reparations to the League.

Following the reform of the Kiellar government into a military-state, the Kiellar quickly pursued vengeance.  The Second Kiellar-Dhasath war was bloody and exhausting for both sides, though the Kiellar emerged with a minort victory over their old rivals.  Reparations were ceased and the League were forced to hand over several mining stations and border outposts (though they did not hand over any habitable worlds).

Quick off the back of the Second Kiellar-Dhasath war, the League found themselves under attack from a new enemy, the Ragons.  The Ragon-Dhasath war was a one-sided affair; the Ragons swept the understrength League fleet aside capturing every dhasath planet within five years of first contact.

The euphoria that results from ingesting dhasath tissue made the species a delicacy to the Ragons, and ten years after the end of the war the dhasath were all but exterminated in Ragon space. A few refugees successfully fled into Kiellar territory and the neutral belt, though, three centuries on, the species remains seriously endangered.  Most Kiellar and Gollar experts believe the species will become extinct at some point in the next century.

While hunting of sentient species is illegal in most places outside of the Ragon Empire, Dhasath and their body parts are worth a considerable amount of money either as food or to be processed into illegal narcotics.
Mostly because of this, dhasath, when they are encountered, are usually described by others as naturally suspicious, highly alert and quick to violence.

## Religion and Philosophy

While the dhasath adhere to a variety of different religions and philosophical standpoints, there is a dominant religion, sometimes referred to as 'the League Cult'.

The League Cult is a dhasath-centric monotheism worshiping a deity referred to as 'the Maker'.  the Cult also has a concept of a being who espouses evil, 'the Enemy', though the Enemy is regarded as less powerful than the Maker in orthodox League Cult teachings (dualism is regarded as heretical).

The League Cult was originally a syncratic religion created in the early days of the Dhasath League.  It acts as a code for living well with one's neighbours while also promoting dhasath exceptionalism, taking on some aspects of a fertility cult.  Adherants are called upon to try to espouse the Six Virtues: **Prudence**, **Justice**, **Fortitude**, **Loyalty**, **Humility** and **Fecundity**.

During the time of the League, the League Cult taught that the dhasath were the chosen people of the Maker, created to spread His word to the cosmos, to journey out into the stars and multiply.  Expansion of the League was heralded as evidence of the Maker's support for both the League and His love of the dhasath people.

With the fall of the League, the Cult managed to successfully reinvent itself; framing the League's destruction as the work of The Enemy, who was given power through the arrogance of the League Leadership (arrogance being regarded as a sin against the Virtue of Humility).  The 'Dream of Saint Cai' was also added to orthodox theology at this time - essentially a prophecy of a messianic 'Chosen One' who would come to restore the League.

With the gradual decline of the Dhasath species, the Cult has come to emphasise the importance of Fecundity more and more, to the point where sexual relationships which cannot produce offspring (e.g. same-sex or relations with a sentient of another species) are now regarded as sinful, which they were not during the days of the League.

## Alpha Timeline

By 2133 it was reported that the dhasath had been hunted to extinction by the Ragons, with the last recorded sighting of a dhasath being in 2078.