Rakik (Insectoids)

The Rakik are a dark-skinned race of Insectoids from the planet Skalorm.
Being a nation of industrialists, the Rakik have evolved to work at maximum efficiency. Their four arms allow them to perform many tasks at once, and the blades on the forearms allow for the carrying of heavier weights. Moving up the body, the nodules on the forehead allow for the co-ordination of workflow, as do their many eyes. The Vast legions of Rakik workers also sport a rather muscular build that allows them to move heavy objects with less effort.
However, there are drawbacks to this efficiency. The Rakik did not develop tounges during evolution, and instead communicate with a clicking sound made by their mandibles. In addition, the Rakik lack vital reproductive organs and conceiving a child is an extremely difficult feat to accomplish for even the most sexually active of Rakik. The Rakik make up for this with their long life spans, as they can live for up to 200 years old.
Those rare children that are birthed have their fates decided for them by their skin. The Rakik base social class on a caste system, with darker colours being a lower class and lighter being a higher class. The majority of the Rakik are dark greens, browns and blacks, and only a select few can claim to be of the higher classes of white, yellow and silver.
Those of the lower classes are categorised further, by the markings on their necks. The largest splotches of colour on the skin around their neck dictate which of the two Corpuratis they belong to. Ikak's workers are marked with greens, while Crucak's are painted with blacks. The remainder of the smaller marks on the neck display the worker's position and the job they carry out. Every Rakit is marked with these, even those of the highest position. No Rakit is free from the Corpuratis.

The Rakik are not a violent race; it is far too inefficient and costly, as the Rakik once learned. Disputes within the Rakik society are settled through a strange battle of industry. If a quarrel arises between two Rakik they lodge a formal complaint with their respective Corpurati, which is processed within a day or two. Once the complaint has been processed, the two Rakit are monitored at work by an official for two weeks. Whichever Rakit is the most productive during this time is declared the winner of the dispute, and is awarded with the item the two fought about. For example, if Rakit A killed Rakit B's wife and B made a complaint and won, B could kill A's wife.
Rakit take little pleasure in personal possessions, no matter what their class. They view them as unnecessary and a distraction from their work, and their homes are sparsely furnished. Even the upper classes do not bother with much more than a few chairs and a bed.
Rakit classes, unlike other races, only determine what work the Rakit will do. The upper classes are designated jobs in management and administration, while the lower classes work in much more labour based jobs. Every Rakit labours for the benefit of their Corpurati, rather than their own personal gain. The old Rakit saying "What is good for the Corpurati is good for the Rakit" best sums up the power structure.
These Corpurati are the "heads"of Rakit society, as between them they both own all of the planet's industry. Corpuratis Ikak and Corpuratis Crucak are the two current Corpurati and are bitter rivals, as is the tradition with Corpurati. Corpuratis Ikak controls industry relating to the gathering of raw materials, while Crucak deals with the conversion of these resources into useable items such as ships. The two are reliant on each other, and despite the rivalry between the two and their respective work forces, they must co-operate to survive.

The First Industrious Legion of the Rakik

Skalorm:
Skalorm is a desolate and grey planet. One would almost think the planet evolved with the Rakit themselves, as it contains only the bare essentials and is efficient in what it produces. There is no native fauna or wildlife on the planet, and any lakes dried up long ago. The planet's true wealth lies below it's crusty surface; minerals. The Rakit have tapped into this abundant resource and base their whole existence around it. It is their lifeblood. Factories spring up around the most abundant veins of minerals, and choke the air with their smog.
Cities are thus based around the factories. The factories are sealed in domes that have small openings in them to allow the workers to enter. Once a week these domes open to allow the toxic fumes into the air, where they are less harmful to the Rakit. Outside the domes is where the cities are found. The buildings are made of grey and black metal, and are small and tightly packed together to make efficient use of the limited space. A typical city houses up to a few thousand Rakit, and the planet is home to around just under a million Rakit.

-- Toughness: 2-Working most of their lives, the Rakit have developed some degree of toughness. Their skin is hard so as to protect vital organs from damage. They are muscular and can withstand the weight of heavy loads, but when faced with real weapons their bodies offer little to no resistance.

-- Reproduction: 0-Lacking vital sex organs, the Rakit find it immensely hard to reproduce. Reproduction occurs only when the males produce a liquid called Yakut, and drip it into a females mouth, however the liquid takes many years to produce, and even more years to fertilise the female. An average female will birth one youngling in 200 years if she is lucky, and neither parent ever lives to see their child grow to more than 10 years of age.

-- Industry: 4-The Rakit are an extremely industrious race. Their whole existence is based on working in the massive factories that dot the planet's landscape, and their machinery is highly advanced to this end. Luxuries and personal possessions are surrendered for the advance of industry.

-- Psyche:3-While the Rakit spend their lives working and serving the Corpurati, this does not diminish their intelligence. Rakit enjoy having debates between rival workers for sport, and their acute minds have allowed their technology to advance greatly over the years. Even the lowest of Rakit is still intelligent, as it is the most efficient way for their small population to survive.

-- Morale:1-Not being engaged in war for many years, the Rakit's morale has been decreased greatly. They pour all their energy into their work and cannot handle defeat and destruction well. It is almost certain Rakit suicides would be common, if it was not so inefficient to kill themselves.

Every Rakit knows the history of Skalorm, for it reminds them that the way of the Corpurati is best.

Many hundreds of years ago, the Rakit were little more than simple tribesmen, scraping a meagre living of the barren planet they called home. They had no ambition or drive and lived and died without knowing about the world beyond their huts. However, one day this was destined to change.

A wild and dangerous race of creatures, whose name has been forgotten in the mists of time, existed on the planet also. They slowly began to hunt and kill the Rakit, growing bolder every day. The Rakit were dying more and more and faced the threat of extinction, unable to fight the creatures, until the Great General Mukotux taught the Rakit how to build weapons. He showed them how to make guns and spears and a great many more types of weapons, and showed them how to kill the beasts. The Rakit began to fight back.

Mukotux lead his people in a vicious campaign, hunting and destroying the evil creatures wherever he found them. Of those he led, two stood out as the best and brightest; Rucux and Luxik. They became Mukotux's seconds in command and while they shared a position, they did not share the same ideas. The two were bitter rivals with each other, and agreed only that the beats must be killed. Rucux urged a direct assault, while Luxik suggested guerrilla warfare. Over time, the two gained followers in the Rakit people and General Mukotux was put under increasing pressure to choose one tactic over the other.

Before he was able to do so however, he was killed. The beats charged into the Rakit camp and laid waste to the people, murdering the General in the process. The seconds-in-commands survived, and split the remainder of the Rakit between them, before going their separate ways.

Over the years the two new tribes fought each other and the beats. There were many casualties, and even though the beasts were eventually killed, the two tribes continued to fight each other. New leaders came and went, but the original rivalry remained and the fighting continued until the Rakit finally realised that they were going to exterminate each other. The two tribes reluctantly began to work together to build a new society, and over time the violence grew to nothing. The Rakit focused on creating new tools and inventions rather than weapons, and lived in a shaky peace. However, the rivalry between the two leaders remained, and manifested itself into the two Corpurati on the planet today. The old followers of the separate tribes became the new workers for the separate industries, and the civilisation advanced to it's current state.

In recent years the Rakit have been developing their ability to leave their planet and transverse their solar system, in an attempt to find new planets to harvest resources from. This has led to the newly developed FTL drive, and the decision to begin sending out Rakit to colonise new worlds.