Ghar'Taera

The **Ghar'Taera** are a sophont, spacefaring, reptilian-like race native to the planet Eicheron. They are primarily located along the opposite side of the Diploma Cluster in relation to the Co-Federation. Their primary government is the United Taeran Hegemony, in which over 90% of Ghar'Taeran's reside.

### Etymology

It is unknown where the modern word "Ghar'Taera" first originated. Throughout history, hundreds of languages have independently developed words whos pronunciation and definition could have led to the word's common meaning.

### History

The history of the Ghar'Taera, from an outsider's perspective, is cold, dark, and bloody. While it is true that the Ghar'Taera have had significantly more large scale wars compared to other spacefaring civilizations, their history is just as rich as any other.

#### Evolution

The modern lineage of the Ghar'Taeran's genus, called protaerans, evolved approximately 4.2 million years ago. They are pack hunters in the sparse forests and grasslands of Eicheron. Family groups called "militias" are composed of around 10-20 individuals, with the largest ones reaching sizes up to 60. Militias are run by a single alpha male, with a couple other Ghar'Taerans serving him to help maintain order and loyalty.

Protaerans hunt by a combination of ambush and pursuit hunting, mostly feasting on the great megafauna of the era. A gang of taerans would hide in the treetops for unsuspecting prey to pass nearby or underneath them. Then, all of the protos would simultaneously drop from the tree into the area around the animal without actually landing on it. This is done to put the animal into an immediate panic-mode, and send them running away. The protaerans would then sprint after the prey until it is too exhausted to fight back, and would butcher the animal. The reason why protaerans didn't, and still don't, simply attempt to kill the animal in the ambush phase is because their prey animals are significantly stronger than them, and could easily kill many protaerans in an attacking gang. Many people today believe they chase their prey down simply for the thrill of the hunt.

As the hundreds of thousands of years passed, large game animals became rarer and rarer from predation and shifting climate, and many protaeran species became extinct. Those who remained were reduced to hunting smaller prey animals, who were more agile and provided less food.

540,000 years ago, a lineage of protaerans had devised a new hunting tactic unique to their lineage: toolmaking. The modern Ghar'Taerans had evolved. Already being intelligent animals from their social behavior and partly from treetop navigation, they built simple spears to stab prey from above, or simply dropped large, blunt rocks on them. Eventually, simple traps, such as trapping pits and snares, negating the need to hunt and altogether.

#### Early Society

The Ghar'Taeran's agricultural revolution came surprisingly late in their technological history. By the time the first farms were constructed, villages and even small cities had already emerged. The first farms were not for harvesting plants, but were pastures for domesticated animals.

The first Ghar'Taeran civilization emerged in the lower altitudes of Eicheron's eastern mountain range (note: they were not limited to river valleys like early human civilizations, because they did not farm crops) approximately 20,500 years ago. This civilization housed around 100,000 people at its maximum, and had developments such as simple metallurgy, the wheel, and even a government. Surprisingly, they didn't have a writing system, which wouldn't be invented for another 8,000 years. Over the years, many states would emerge in this eastern area. Despite reaching a civilization level of development over 10,000 years earlier in relation to humanity, the Ghar'Taera stayed at a level of technology comparable to the bronze age for significantly longer. The reason for this is unclear, but possibly due to harsher environment limiting civilization lifespan and expansion.

Because animal farming requires significantly more land and resources than plant farming, there were often many conflicts between civilizations for land. Combined with their predatory aggressiveness and instincts from their ancient territorial ancestors, large-scale wars were common.