Taian Empire

The Taian Empire is a severely expansionist power that has recently emerged onto the galactic stage. Their sudden expansion was caused by a devastating revolution in which the then-industrialized Taian threw off the shackles of the occupying Atrin Confederacy, co-opted their technology for their own purposes, and began a period of perpetual warfare with them.

History
The Taian were discovered by greater galactic society after a particularly harsh war between rival factions on Taian itself drew the attention of the Atrin, a group of humanoids native to a neighboring system. The aliens decided the survival of the newly-discovered war-like species depended on intervention of some sort, and after much debate, an invasion and occupation was decided upon as the best course of action. The attacking Atrinian forces swept through the divided Taian defenses, taking most of the planet by the end of the first week. The surviving members of the various local militaries either surrendered or retreated to jungle strongholds, where they continued a mostly futile guerilla war against their new overlords.

However, two decades into the occupation, several Atrinian garrisons on the surface mutinied, releasing Atrinian technology and training to the Taian in hopes of gaining manpower and support for their revolt. The Taian promptly killed them all, overran the remaining loyal garrisons, and, using the new technology, beat back the Atrinian relief force that had been sent upon receiving news of the mutiny, even preventing them from landing troops on the homeworld’s surface. The uprising was greeted with celebration on Taian, and, for the first time in the planet’s history, solidarity. The species had a common enemy now, and the various nations on Taian united into one government, the Directorate, controlled mainly by the military leaders who had masterminded the defense of the planet from the Atrinian relief force.

The species then embarked on a war of extermination, harassing Atrinian military and civilian convoys, killing everyone on board, and then vanishing into the depths of space. The Atrinians, an otherwise peaceful species, had not seen true war for thousands of years and were caught completely unprepared for a war that would drag on for ten long years and end with the utter extermination of the Atrin as a stationary race.

After the final conquest of Atrin, the Directorate began the long and tedious process of stamping out the remnants of Atrin resistance, who found themselves reduced to the same situation they had subjected the Taian to 20 years before. The survivors of the capture of their homeworld lived a nomadic lifestyle, striking out against Taian forces where they could but ultimately keeping to themselves, hoping to escape the notice of their new overlords.

The Taian, meanwhile, were not happy with this state of affairs and began a policy of destroying any unregistered ship in their space, but this policy was largely unsuccessful in that it only succeeded in pushing most Atrin out of Taian space—an unacceptable conclusion to the war for the Directorate. Consequentially, ITF patrols can frequently be found outside of Taian space, occasionally intruding on other species’ territory in search of surviving Atrin. They will usually not engage non-Atrinian ships, but accidents have been known to happen and the smart spacer knows to stay away from any ship belonging to the ITF.

This policy has continued to the present, and although the Taian have stopped using the old Atrinian ships in favor of newer designs, their ground forces and marines remain fairly primitive, outfitted with projectile weapons and treads instead of anti-grav units. As a result, they prefer ship-to-ship warfare and have focused most of their R&D on developing better naval designs.

Physiology
The average Taian male stands at around 2 meters tall, roughly the same size as an adult human. The Taian are an avian species, and human observers have noted a passing resemblance to the ancient Egyptian god Horus; however, the Taian's stooped posture and spindly bodies render this comparison inaccurate. The Taian have vestigial wings that have evolved into clawed trydactyl hands.