The Klack
Insectoid species and civilization.
The Klack are members of the United Stars of the Galaxies. (Member Species # 1001) Joining in 3934
The Klack are an old and very powerful society, ruled by an absolute monarchy. The Queen of the Klack is mentally linked to all her subjects, which is a remnant of the hive intelligence they developed before becoming a sentient species. Unlike the Xunx who had a somewhat similar development, individual Klacks have a will and mind of their own and the concept of individuality is well developed. However all Klack are still connected to their queen and it is the queen or one of the many princesses who lay the eggs out of which individual Klack develop.
The Klack do have a resemblance to large Ants and many of their cultural and biological habits and developments are based on a hive mentality. The strict caste system of Queens, Workers and Warriors is still the base of the Klack society. Scientists, Nest Nannies, Food processors are all members of the Worker cast, while space ship captains, crews and soldiers belong to the Warrior Cast.
For over 12,000 years the Casts are no longer socially different and treated equally by the society. The concept of family is extended over the entire race and every Klack considers any other Klack a brother. (Except for the Queen and the Princesses of course).
While there is always only one Queen, to maintain such a large race and not to separate the species there are many Princesses. For every million males, one female is born and she becomes a princess. The sole purpose of a Princess is to lay eggs that are fertilized by preselected princes of the Casts. (Princes are selected in a Lottery type species wide game, every Klack participates) The Egg laying and fertilization process is now machine assisted and occurs in Klack Birth Centers.
Klack Birth Centers are a major industry within the Klack society as well as one of the biggest employers.
The Queen only lays 100-200 eggs per year that are shipped all over the Klack Empire and fertilized as female eggs to become Princess Mothers. This way the Queen's DNA is always present in all Klack.
There is a slow but steady development of Individualism that is encouraged by the Queen, and the first Family Pods started to occur where usually two male Klacks enter a marriage like Union and are encouraged to take fertilized eggs home to raise young Klacks in a family environment instead of Birth Centers.
Klacks are born full size and have all knowledge they need to fulfill their predetermined role. Queen supreme Nt'gtar the 745th implemented the “I decide for my own what I want to do in life” program that only gives the new Klack basic cultural knowledge and allows the individual to choose what occupation he wants to pursue. It is a concept readily accepted by those Klack who are in contact with other Union species but is not so well understood by the planet bound workers. The queen does not want to make the changes part of the knowledge upload and mandatory.
The Klack Queen hopes to promote more individualism that way as she is convinced that individualism will promote development of ideas and thus aide the development of the Klack culture. Only the Queen however “marries” and maintains a Harem of male Princes to fertilize her Eggs.
The Klack manipulate the DNA of their queens so they live longer and age much slower than a regular Klack. The average lifespan of a Klack is 90 standard years, while a Queen can reach up to 300 years.
Klack History
The Klack were very aggressive and expanded their Empire with brute force and with the virtually unlimited supply of readily trained soldiers. The Klack stood successful against the Y’All as they came the first time, while losing more colonies and warriors than all the other civilizations combined.
However the losses in technology and resources did throw the Klack back in development. The Klack stood against the Y’All three times and every time managed to divert the Y’All.
The Klack originally were part of the First Galactic Council, but withdrew their membership after the first Y’All attack and declared all spacefaring cultures of the Upward Sector enemies of the Klack Empire.
This all changed when Captain Horatio Benedict of the USS Memphis and his crew fought gallantly against overwhelming numbers of Shiss and Yamta raiders to protect the Queens Bark. The queen invited Benedict and his crew to Klakt the throne world, no outsider had ever set foot on, and the USS Memphis was allowed to explore and record Klack space and culture with unlimited access. At the end of that year, Captain Benedict resigned his commission and stayed on Klakt. The queen later married Benedict and made him her first mate. Even though Klack and Humans are biologically incompatible, he was considered “Klack” and received the highest honors.
The Queen decided to make the Klack Empire part of the Union the day after Benedict died of old age.
The Union doubled in size and power virtually overnight and the Klack joining made others very nervous. Many predicted that the Klack would not be good members and that they would soon leave. The opposite happened; the Klack became known as one of the fiercest defenders of the Union idea and concept and are deeply integrated in all aspects of the Union. Klack have been presidents, vice presidents and hold and held pretty much every office. The current queen again has a human lover and husband and as incompatible as it sounds Klack / human civil unions are on a steady rise.
The Red Night
The Red Night (or Red Night) refers to the 200-500 year long Red Klack / Black Klack Civil Wars of about 12,000 OTT years ago. According to Klack records 56,747 OSA (Orbits Since Awakening).
The events that led to this civil war, what happened during those years and how it ended were sealed by Queen F'Thikat "The Risen".
In 4703 OTT, Queen Nt'gtar thk the 745th ordered the seals of the Forbidden Chambers to be broken and Union scholars and scientists began the task of shifting carefully through severely decaying records.