Arkanian

The arkanians are the second most numerous species in the Soviet Star Union, after humans.

Overview
Arkanians are a bipedal, warm-blooded, mammalian species which originates on the planet of Illarya and are classified as near-human, due to their appearance. Although physically similar to humans, arkanian DNA and anatomy is very different. Their lung analogues are larger and more complex than human lungs, an adaptation of the rarefied atmosphere of their native environment. Also, arkanians do not possess a heart, the role of pumping blood being fulfilled by a series of complex arteries which contract and dilate. As such, arkanians are more resistant to physical injury than humans, although their strength and endurance is inferior.

Arkanians are a sexually dimorphic species, with the males being stronger and the females being more intelligent. On average, they have a life expectancy of around one hundred years, although that can be extended through medicine. Arkanians give birth to live young, after a thirteen months gestation period, much longer than in humans and they take longer to mature, with females hitting puberty at the age of twenty, while males are considered sexually mature at the age of seventeen.

Ancient Period
Arkanian civilization first developed on the northern continent of their home planet and rapidly advanced from an early bronze age, to steam power and industrialization within the span of a thousand years, followed by six hundred years of technological stagnation, partly due to their religious beliefs. They did not develop spacefaring technology until after their unification under a single government and then only out of a need for resources.

As a society, they developed into a caste-based, matriarchal hereditary monarchy, with slavery being an established practice well into their spacefaring age, a philosophy which they applied when encountering other sentient species, which they viewed as inferior and often enslaved.

Soviet Conquest
Also see: Red October War

First contact between arkanian and human civilizations occurred more than four thousand years ago when a Soviet exploration ship stumbled into arkanian space. Taking advantage of their technological superiority, the arkanians invaded and attempted to subjugate the early Soviet colonies, resulting in a long and brutal war which lasted well over a century and claimed hundreds of millions of lives, mostly due to the widespread use of primitive, but effective weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear warheads and towed asteroids. Initially, the war went well for the arkanian side, but the Soviets were able to eventually close the technological gap and gain the upper hand, resulting in the complete defeat of the Arkanian Empire and its subsequent annexation by the nascent Soviet Star Union, which also brought the arkanians' thrall species into the fold.