Matriarchal-based Democratic Republic
First contact with the Ratarian Empire by the Federation was made in 2378 when the starship Copernicus, a deep-space science vessel, sent out a general distress call and a Ratarian battlecruiser responded by demanding the starship leave Ratarian space or face the consequences destruction. The Copernicus was able to eventually limp out of the area and finally assisted by another Federation vessel. In the months following, nothing was heard from the Ratarians until another science ship began to stray close to Ratarian space which was an easily diffused situation culminating with the second retreat of a Starfleet vessel from the likes of a Ratarian vessel.
Shortly after Deep Space 13 was constructed and the Omega Antares Sector was beginning to be colonized by the Federation, the Ratarian's once again made their presence known by attacking smaller ships and unarmed freighters. At first there were only a handful of ships to help protect the area, and the true might of the Ratarians was completely unknown by Starfleet. Soon after, though, Starfleet was able to gather the aid of the Romulan Star Empire in turning their ventures in the Omega Antares Sector into a joint-venture. The Romulans provided support in the form of troops, warbirds, and shipping materials back and forth from Deep Space 13 and Beta Antares Fleet Yards. In return for their assistance, Starfleet has given the Romulan's permission to assign a garrison of troops to Deep Space 13 as well as set up headquarters on the station with all their ships in the area operating from the station. All in all, this was noticed by the Ratarians and their aggressive stance continued and escalated.
Several intelligence gathering missions were successful after the Starfleet presence in the area was well established. A single Romulan ship was able to penetrate twenty six light years into Ratarian space to one of their major space stations and ascertain a good count of their fleet in that system, as well as a better sense of their technological capabilities. What the Romulans found was that the Ratarians were a sizable empire comparable to the rest of the major empires. It is also now believed that the Ratarians may be an ancient empire that was a contemporary of the Kalandan civilization, although their exact galactic role in the time of antiquity is unknown. Through rumors from freighter captains and races in the area who have visited Deep Space 13, Starfleet now believes that sometime after the fall of the other civilizations of the time that the Ratarians retreated into their numerous core territories and kept to their corner of the galaxy to improve upon their own race and empire.
Ratarians are a humanoid carbon based life form that evolved on an M-Class planetoid "Rataria" and are made up of two genders: of the masculine and feminine. Both male and female Ratarians posses a large frontal cranial plate which gives them the appearance of raised brows and a large lower forehead. Male Ratarians average at about 1.8 meters in height and 87 kilograms in weight while females average at 1.5 meters in height and 61 kilograms in weight.
Ratarians, both male and female, have a great lower body strength while lacking as much strength in the upper body; this upper body strength could be almost comparable to a Terran of the similar, respective genders. Their enhanced lower body strength has helped dictate their hand-to-hand combat techniques and their speed on foot. Both eyesight and hearing for Ratarians are also superior then most other species. Their eyes are protected by a secondary eye lid and have comparable eye sight to Terrans in the dark; however in the day time their range is much more superior.
So far Starfleet has been able to put together a small physiological profile of the race as being partially xenophobic and territorial to a point. It's believe that his perhaps is a recently developed trait due to their self-induced isolationism ideals that came at the downfall of the last great "age" in this galaxy which they were able to survive. This is also further exampled by their extreme distaste for Federation presence so close to their borders. The Ratarians are also very straight forward with their dealings of other species and much prefer to deal with the matters of importance first, then, if applicable, have time for small talk with other species they encounter. It also seems as though they prefer the simple things in life however have come to learn that type of life is hard to achieve with so many other species in the galaxy and at their level of technology.
The Ratarians are a highly technologically advanced empire compared to the Federation in many vast ways. Although they don't primarily focus on military technology as much as many of the other major empires of the galaxy do, and this is primarily due to the reduced need for any type of arms race as they were the only major presence in their part of the galaxy for well over three thousand years. The Ratarians are somewhat on par with the Dominion in many ways when it comes to military technology, and they utilize a form of high powered tetryon-based disruptor technology as their main offense weaponry to compliment their plasma torpedoes.
In battle they are a very strategic race that prefers to plan their attacks or defense rather than rush in head long as some races, notably Klingons, are famous for. Ratarian ship commanders are also known for using natural phenomena to their advantage such as hiding in a nebula to make a strike, or using a planets magnetic field for sensor cover.
The Ratarians are also millennia ahead of the Federation on other technologies such as terraforming. The Ratarians have the unique capabilities of terraforming a dead world into a habitable planet in weeks. Perhaps their most astonishing feats are the ability to induce fusion on a gas giant, turning it into a star, and the ability to revert a stars fusion process and thus prolong its stellar life. This has helped their empire achieve much success in industry as well as preventing over population and famine. This method was rumored around the joint Federation-Romulan fleet at Deep Space 13 for months until it was finally observed by the USS Ares while they were on their way to the station for assignment.
Instead of a conventional warp drive the Ratarian's achieve light speed travel through the use of a Soliton wave generator which allows the ship to go to warp speeds when needed and even make course corrections which the Federation has never been able to achieve with their experimental development of the technology; this type of propulsion has been something that the Federation has been interested in but have yet to even come close to being able to use, let alone to the extent or ability that the Ratarian's do. Instead of needing a starting point for the wave, in fact, the Ratarians use their Soliton warp drive systems in the same way that any other race uses their warp drive systems with it built into their starship. Thus, in practice, the method seems the same to the casual observer; jumping to warp speeds when needed. The truly main difference is the method of power generation with nowhere near the same type of matter/anti-matter generation on a conventional warp drive starship.
The Ratarian fleet itself is very similar to Starfleet in that its bulk is made up by fully scientifically capable vessels which is ironic considering their xenophobic nature. However, because of their extensive experience and age as a space-faring empire, their ships are massive in size and impressive in firepower as well.
Understanding of the Ratarian political or social systems and circles is relatively unknown, and what is known is mostly vague description. There are a few things that are known, though. The Ratarians run their government and empire with a very straight forward democratic republic political system based heavily on their matriarchal society. This is in contrast with their military makeup which achieves more even balance of both male and female troops.
Politically they run very similar to a basic democratic republic seen throughout the galaxy. Every inhabited planet in the Ratarian space is led by a governor who is in turn voted into office by the legalized citizens of the planet they represent. Upon ascension to the position of governor, that person is responsible to vote for nominees hoping to obtain many of the higher level positions in the Ratarian government. The chief political leader of the Ratarian Republic, the Archon, is elected by truly democratic popular vote, though, and is expected to speak for all the people and uphold the laws which govern the empire.
|TASK FORCE 72|
|Overview|| Artemis Group Sims • Athena Group Sims • Hecate Group Sims • Hermes Group Sims|
Overview • Forums
|Area of Operations||Inconnu Expanse • Gavarian Corridor • Galen IV • Valoris Nebula • The Badlands • Bajor|
|Federation Assets|| Starbase 72 • Carnwennan Station • Deep Space 7 (Destroyed) • Deep Space 9|
Deep Space 10 • Deep Space 12 • Roosevelt Station
|Powers|| United Federation of Planets • Cardassian Union • Ferengi Alliance • Lagashi • Ratarian Republic|
Alrakis Pact • Breen Confederacy • Ravagers • Talarian Empire • Tzenkethi Coalition
|Additional Data||Cardassian Advance of 2388 • Freedom's Legion • Gavarian Exploration Agreement|
|Resources||Task Force History • Command History • Astrometrics • Powers • Lifeforms|