DISTANCE: 29.8 light years from Sol
NEIGHBORING SYSTEMS: Chara 8.1 lys Groombridge 1618 20.5 lys 47 Ursae Majoris 24.9 lys
BETA COMAE BERENICES is a yellow-orange dwarf with six planets in orbit including three small rocky worlds and three large gas giants. Each of these planets has at least three moons with a total number estimated at over two hundred.
JURAKKUS is the second planet in orbit and is a world of humid tropical jungles, murky swamps, and wide patches of deserts with oceans covering approximately 50 percent of the planet’s surface. Frequent seismic activity occurs on a regular basis as its three moons subject the planet to massive gravitational forces.
Geological evidence on Jurakkus indicates that there have been no major extinction events caused by meteor impacts. Because of this, the first lifeforms to develop on this world have continued to evolve uninterrupted into much more complex creatures. Most of these lifeforms are predatory in nature and are in constant competition with each other to be at the top of the food chain. This planet is also the homeworld of three interdependent species which are known collectively as the Zendathu race.
The ZENDATHU are actually comprised of three distinctly different reptiloid species who only differ from each other genetically by less than one percent. Much like the correlation between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals, scientific evidence shows that they once shared a single common ancestor which diverged into three individual species nearly 750,000 years ago. Over time, they have developed a rather strained, yet symbiotic relationship with each other. This has allowed them to evolve into a technologically advanced society with a vast interstellar empire.
The Enkata are cold-blooded, serpentine bipeds who inhabit the warm, briny swamps that border the coasts of nearly all the major continents. Standing upright at an average height of 2 meters tall, they can actually crawl on all fours much faster, but typically do so only when they are frightened. They have no claws or sharp teeth for defense, but out of the three separate species of Zendathu, the Enkata have the largest brains. Early on, this feature gave them the intelligence to develop tools, a spoken language, and organized societal groupings as well. They also possess the telepathic ability to implant mental suggestions into the minds of the lesser-developed inhabitants of their homeworld. This ability is believed to have evolved as a natural defense mechanism, allowing them to deter an attacking predator with both aural and visual hallucinations. However, for centuries, this innate skill has been used as a means of controlling the other two Zendathu species which has allowed the Enkata to become the dominant lifeforms on Jurakkus.
The Ehnvar’tor are 3 meter tall bipedal saurians who reside mostly in the arid desert regions that sporadically mark the landscape of their homeworld. They have tough, armor-like skin, long arms, razor sharp teeth and claws, and massive amounts of strength to match their size. They are solitary predators and only associate with others of their own kind in order to mate. In fact, they are so aggressively territorial that, if two males encounter each other in the wild, they will often fight each other to the death. Considered to be the least intelligent of the three Zendathu species, the Ehnvar’tor have no interest in political power or interstellar expansion. Their primary motivation is simply to conquer and consume. For centuries, they have been subjugated by the Enkata to assist in the development of their civilization. They also function as their first line of attack during times of war or invasion.
The Voreecha are the most commonly recognized species among the Zendathu and originate from the dense jungles and tropical rainforests that cover much of the planet’s surface. Standing upright at an average height of 2.5 meters, they have razor sharp teeth and claws and powerful hind legs. They are highly-coordinated pack hunters who always work together in groups. If you run into one of them alone, you can be sure that there are more of them lurking in the shadows waiting to strike. They are both cunning and ruthless; responding to their environment as much with strategic intelligence as they do with primal impulses. For them, their entire way of life is about the hunt and they will always instinctively pursue any prey that attempts to escape. Although history shows that, for centuries, they instigated conflict with both the Enkata and the Ehnvar’tor; the Voreecha currently maintain a tenuous association with the other two species and are the driving force behind their expansion into space.
The recorded history of the Zendathu race dates back thousands of years and was inundated with extreme savagery and bloodshed before the three separate species finally came together. Around the same time that the Enkata were beginning to develop their first major cities along the marshy coastlines of their homeworld, the Voreecha had firmly established themselves as the apex predators throughout the jungle regions which they inhabited. The population of these lethal pack hunters went unchecked for centuries and grew at an exponential rate. Many of them began to search for new territory in which to breed and ventured into the arid desert regions where they built nests inside of mountainside caves. However, these deserts were also the indigenous lands of the Ehnvar’tor who reacted with violent aggression towards these new intruders. Yet, despite their larger size and strength, the Ehnvar’tor were solitary predators and were ill-equipped to survive an attack by a horde of Voreecha hunters. One by one, the Ehnvar’tor were gradually forced to either abandon their territory or become food. Those who survived began to migrate to the coastal swamplands of the Enkata. Fortunately, when the Enkata first encountered these hostile creatures, they were able to use their telepathic abilities to mentally subdue them. Eventually, the Ehnvar’tor were integrated into their society as a worker caste and, for several centuries, were used as slave labor in the construction of the Enkata empire.
Meanwhile, the Voreecha population continued to grow and began to expand into the coastal regions as well. The Enkata discovered very quickly that the Voreecha were far too intelligent to be coerced as easily as the Ehnvar’tor had been. To defend themselves, the Enkata began exploiting the naturally aggressive tendencies of the Ehnvar’tor to fight against these new intruders. Nevertheless, the Voreecha still had the advantage of greater numbers and, within a few decades, the Enkata were on the verge of defeat. As their capital city was about to be overrun, the most powerful telepaths within Enkata society gathered together to make one final desperate attempt at gaining some measure of control over this relentless enemy. Using their combined abilities, they mentally suppressed the Voreecha’s primal instincts; forcing them to focus more on their capacity to reason. Then, the Enkata proceeded to implant a series of vivid images into their minds which showed them a vision of a desolate future consisting of overpopulation, starvation, and death. For the Voreecha, these images instilled in them a compelling need to search for new territory beyond the confines of their homeworld.
With a newfound purpose, the Voreecha began to cooperate with the Enkata in the hopes of finding a way to save their own species. The Ehnvar’tor continued to serve as a worker caste and were now maintained by both the Enkata and the Voreecha. They gradually merged their distinctive cultures into a functioning civilization and worked together to form more integrated cities, create an interconnected infrastructure, and develop a wide-range of new technologies. As a collective race, renamed as the Zendathu, they established a hierarchal system of government with the Enkata taking direct authoritative control, while the Voreecha tentatively accepted a secondary position as they focused on their ultimate goal.
Two centuries later, the Zendathu began to construct spacecraft that enabled them to explore their own star system. Although they discovered no other planetary bodies or moons that supported life, they did find numerous valuable resources which could be utilized on their homeworld. However, this was not enough for the Voreecha who felt that their ultimate objective was to find other life-bearing worlds with new sources of food and room to breed. They strongly urged the Enkata to assist them in broadening their search to nearby star systems and, by 2108, they had combined their efforts to develop a Quaniton Accelerator Drive. This innovative propulsion engine allowed them to establish their first permanent colony in the Chara system where they constructed dozens of artificial habitats and mining operations and were able to hunt large indigenous game as well. From this point on, every Zendathu vessel was crewed by members of all three species; the Voreecha who operated and maintained each ship, the Ehnvar’tor who functioned as the primary labor force in the building of new settlements, and a single, highly-skilled Enkata referred to as the “Skal’sahn” who acted as the mission leader and provided telepathic control over the Ehnvar’tor.
Over the next several decades, the Zendathu continued their conquest of new worlds and soon became a dominant presence in their region of space. They established numerous mining outposts throughout the Xi Bootis system, invaded the Chun homeworld in orbit around 61 Virginis, and conquered the inhabitants of the 47 Ursae Majoris system as well. Many of these newly subjugated beings became, not only sources of food, but also a constant supply of slave labor. These slaves were often transported to their mining colonies to assist in the extraction of valuable metals used in the construction of their rapidly growing fleet.
In 2182, two of their slave transports were hijacked by their Chun prisoners who managed to escape. The Zendathu hunted down their prey to the Groombridge 1618 system where they encountered Humans for the first time. This previously unknown race had the audacity to come between them and their property which instantly made them a target as well. As natural predators, the Voreecha crew immediately chose to attack the Human vessels which had comparatively limited defensive capabilities, but their greater numbers soon overwhelmed the Zendathu ship and completely incapacitated them. As a team of Humans boarded their damaged vessel, the only survivor was the Skal’sahn who was shielded in a protected chamber. Unwilling to allow his vessel to be captured by an inferior race, he transmitted a final message to his homeworld which simply stated, “We have found new prey.” Then he proceeded to initiate an automatic destruct sequence which subsequently destroyed the ship.
At that point, the Zendathu were otherwise engaged with subduing an indigenous uprising in the 47 Ursae Majoris system, but they never forgot the disgrace that they suffered during their first encounter with the Human race. Six years later, they returned to Groombridge 1618 in full force and attacked the orbital station in that system. During their initial absence, Humans had developed stronger defenses, but the Zendathu were determined to conquer this new prey. For nearly seven years, they were relentless in their assaults on several Human colonies. In that time, they were unable to gain any new ground into that region of space, yet they were gradually wearing down the scattered Human fleet.
In 2194, the Zendathu empire was suddenly faced with the unexpected invasion of their territory in the 47 Ursae Majoris system by a sentient pathogenic lifeform known as the Draal. Much of their fleet, which was previously engaged in their conflict with the Humans, was withdrawn in order to deal with this dire new threat. Humans took advantage of this opportunity to plan an all-out attack on their primary outpost in the Xi Bootis system. This led to the first major victory of the war for the Human race as they rescued thousands of prisoners from captivity and completely destroyed the outpost.
For the Zendathu, this defeat seemed negligible in comparison, as they found themselves overwhelmed by the contagious nature of the Draal. As the infestation spread throughout their occupied colony, their ground forces inadvertently brought the pathogenic lifeform onboard their vessels. Slowly losing control of their own minds and bodies, they soon felt compelled to return to their homeworld. Once there, Jurakkus quickly became infested as well and, in less than a decade, nearly the entire planet had been affected.
Currently, there are only a few hundred Zendathu still surviving in the desert regions, as the Draal has completely subjugated their world. Remnants of their original fleet now operate as nomadic pirates, raiding one system after another, adrift in the void without a home.