Rorn

The Rorn are a large bipedal race that have a historically friendly relationship with the Human race

### Summary

Rorn are large, slightly gorilla like aliens.  The average Rorn is huge, standing around eight foot tall.  The Rorn are very physically powerful, with great endurance.

The Rorn are not an aggressive race and do not find physical violence enjoyable.  They were briefly subjugated by the Karkouri Empire until intervention from the Tranoans and the Vatu

### he Rorn

The Rorn are a large, heavily built physically imposing race.  They evolved on a jungle world and were at the top of the food-chain, despite being natural herbivores.  Rorn are tall, muscular and strong, standing somewhere between seven feet and eight feet tall and often weighing upwards of three hundred pounds.  Rorn females are physically identical to Rorn males to most outsiders.

Rorn mate for life and produce an average of one litter every three or four years.  Rorn are intensely protective over their young and it's one of the rare things that will make a Rorn willing to use violence.  Rorn live, on average, around ninety years to one hundred years.

Due to their high metabolism, Rorn are a very quiet and still a lot of the time.  Rorn do not like wasted energy and most actions that a Rorn will make will seem slow and deliberate to any race that is non-Rorn.

#### Rorn Culture

The Rorn are a race of farmers, merchants and scientists. They value co-operation, peace, stillness and knowledge.  They are known for being one of the more peaceful races in the quadrant and they do not like violence.  Incidents of Rorn on Rorn violence are unheard of

The Rorn are a cultured race who have a rich tradition of art and literature.  Rorn literature is often highly complex and layered and to non-Rorn can appear boring and inpenetrable.  The stories are often long tomes of self-reflection.

#### Religion

The Rorn follow a monotheistic faith where they worship "The Creator".  This worship is organised but in a fairly informal manner.  Devotion consists of prayer, fasting and meditation.

Rorn believe there is an afterlife which all sapient beings enter into.

Around 45% of Rorn are religious in some form.  Another 35% are atheist

### Rorn Government

The Rorn are ruled by a council of elders.  There is no electoral process as such, the eldest and most wise Rorn are appointed by a common acclamation.  These elders are often members of the Government and Political life but sometimes are just very well thought of Rorn.  The council of Elder's appoints one of their number as chairman but this is far from a Presidential post

Rorn Civil Service is relatively strong.  Most Rorn believe in serving their government and consequently a lot of them do civil service at some point.  Rorn Government has quite a lot of bureaucracy and is slow moving and slow to adapt

### The Rorn and the Federation

The Federation became allies to the Rorn for the first time in 2085 just before the so called "Tomahawk War".  Over the next one hundred years the two powers have become closer and closer, fighting together in the Four Empires War, the Nacht-Volker wars and the 2nd Karkouri War.  The two powers have also moved towards a possible "unification" of the two states.  It is assumed that eventually the Rorn worlds will be offered membership into the Federation.

The Rorn are largely in favor of such a move.  They are nervous of Federation militarism but feel that perhaps they can temper this with their own caution and peacefulness.

The Rorn and the Federation have undertaken extensive cross training and swapping of personnel.  Hundreds of Rorn have served on Federation ships and nearly one hundred humans have served on Rorn ships.  There is also a large number of exchanges in inter-governmental departments.

Rorn serving in the Federation are generally noted for their great work rate and well turned out appearance.

By the 2160's the Rorn and the Federation's alliance had no "sunset" on it for either race and was an open-ended alliance.  Cooperation between the civil services began in the 2170's.  When all aliens were granted full rights to become Federations citizens, there was a small migration of Rorn to Federation space to become Federation citizens.

Most Rorn believed that during the 23rd or 24th century the Rorn Federation would be absorbed into the Terran Federation to create a greater Federation.  Most Rorn welcomed this idea or were at least neutral towards it.  Some believed, however, that Rorn culture would be lost.

The collapse of the Federation and the subsequent civil war put an end to this potential future. Since that time Terran / Rorn relations have cooled somewhat.

### Rorn Military

The Rorn never wanted a military as such and only developed their own military force after they were invaded by the Karkouri.  The Rorn had only been space faring for five years at that point and they were easily defeated by the Karkouri in the war.  The occupation of the Rorn homeworld was a different matter.  Rorn fight fiercely when pushed and were willing to use whatever weapons they could get hold of to fight off their oppressors

The newly formed Rorn military is small but elite.  Rorn soldiers and pilots are very well trained and whilst they are willing to use violence if it comes to it, they have an almost zen-like quality.  The Rorn fleet is small but advanced.  The Rorn military, known as the Athan-Ari train extensively.  They also have a cadet branch known as the Parak-Ari

Athan-Ari literally means "I Serve" and stresses obedience and calm

The Rorn Military and the federation Fleet Service have exchanged some officers and there has been some cross-training

By 2105 the Federation and Rorn were quite practiced in integration and cross training.  There were more than 50 Rorn officers serving the FAS.

In 2140 The first Rorn officer achieved the rank of Captain and was given command of the FSS Pursuit A, this was the first Rorn officer to be given an independent command in FAS

### Rorn Foreign Relations

The Federation- The Rorn and the Federation have been trading partners for fifteen years and enjoy a thriving economic partnership.  The Rorn signed a full military alliance in 2085 which expires in 2095.  This treaty was re-signed in 2094 to a new ten year treaty, lasting until 2105.  The Rorn-Federation treaty was renewed in 2105 to 2130 and then again until 2170 when a new treaty was signed with no expiry on it.  The Federation and the Rorn have become very close as a races and have extensive cross training.

The Tranoans- The Tranoan's helped to uplift the Rorn.  The Rorn have always had a close trading relationship with the Tranoans.  When the Rorn were occupied by the Karkouri, the Tranoans were critical to saving the Rorn and fought off their occupiers.  The Tranoans and the Rorn are still trading partners

The Vatu- The Rorn find the warlike Vatu difficult to get on with and yet, they have a very friendly relationship with them due to the Vatu role in liberating the Rorn from the Karkouri.  Currently they have a friendly non-aggression pact but they have no trading compact.  The relationship between these powers has improved since the Vatu became de-facto allies of the Federation

The Mor-Du-The Rorn and Mor-Du are both quite peaceful races and share a long mutual border.  They formed a trading partnership in 2072 which they renewed in 2086.  The Mor-Du and Rorn scientists are competitive in a very friendly way

The Bl'Hud- The Rorn and Bl'Hud are friendly due to their scientific pursuits and peaceful natures.  The Bl'Hud signed a trading compact in 2078 which is up for renewal in 2098.  The two powers were part of a tri-party military alliance from 2108-2138.

The Gannid- The Rorn adn the Gannid have both been victims of Karkouri imperialism and have a mutual defence pact and a trading compact.  The Gannid gradually became major competitors to the Rorn in terms of trade and the economy.   The two powers were allied by proxy when the Gannid and the Federation were miliary allies from 2172-2181.

The Tazzyn- With no mutual borders, these two powers have little to do with each other but the Tazzyn are quite dismissive of the Rorn, as they are of all ape-descended creatures

The Indirians- Strangely these two races are very friendly and the Indirians very rarely rade the Rorn.  The Rorn have often been willing to offer some territory as a safe haven to the Indirians.  Their relationship was badly soured by the Rorn military aid to the Federation during the Tomahawk War

The Karkouri-  The Rorn dislike the Karkouri intensely.  The Karkouri invaded Rorn space and occupied their homeworld after a brief war.  The Karkouri used Rorn as slave labour and attempted to create an occupational Government, headed by Karkouri nobles.  However the Rorn resisted and then eventually the Tranoan and Vatu fleets defeated the Karkouri in open battle to drive them out of Rorn space

### Rorn Technology

Rorn technology is more advanced than Terran Technology but not by a huge amount.  The Rorn and the Federation have a friendly trade compact signed in 2082.  In 2086 the Federation and the Rorn completed a complex military alliance that features mutual integration of technology and military