Antarans

The Antarans are one of the Great Powers of Known Space. The Antarans are a sentient, bipedal FTL travel-capable race originally from the world known as Old Earth, in the Galactic Rim. They are one of the two most populous of the Great Power races and are one of the more accepted, as they tend to be less judgmental of racial differences and have proven their capacities as mediators and diplomats. They are the driving force behind the Antaran Empire and were one of the Founding Peoples of the Galactic Council.

Biology
Antarans are a warm-blooded, bilaterally symmetrical bipedal primate species. They have two hands and two feet, each of which has five digits. Their hands have opposable thumbs and their fingers have multiple points of articulation. As of current date, the average Antaran lifespan is 125 years. The species has two genders - male and female. A female Antaran is fertile once per month after reaching the onset of puberty until a biochemical shift known as menopause, which commonly effects women in their 60s. Antaran gestation occurs over a period of nine months, and the species is known to be one of the most widely compatible races in terms of crossbreeding with the other races.

While not as physically formidable as some races, as fast or as perceptive of subtle environmental differences, Antarans are particularly resilient in many ways which continually baffle other races. Said to be more adaptabe to incarceration, they have a surprisingly high threshold for pain when in adverse situations. They can survive with only one lung or kidney, although they have two of both organs. They can go up to four days without water and on average up to three weeks without food. They have a much more adaptive capacity to endure extremes in temperature than many races, and they have extremely acute hearing in comparison with a majority of the Unbound races.

Antaran blood is an iron-based hemoglobin that is blue when in their veins and red upon exposure and oxidation. The species also is possessed of very strong emotions that can frequently overwhelm more rational or logical thought, and these feelings can be expressed in countless ways and can also be elicited by non-sentient or non-animate entities.

The Antaran race has a considerable reputation for exploration, innovation and on-the-fly thinking. Their high degree of adaptability and creativity, coupled with their emotional points of view and unpredictability, make them very dangerous foes for those races that rely on logic or patterns to determine future actions. These traits have helped them to contribute extensively to science and art in the Known Galaxy.

Culture
Antarans are an outworldly, expansionistic race that are well-known for both their reasonably optimistic view of the galaxy and their driven nature. Because of the near-extinction they faced on Old Earth ago and what it took for them to escape that fate to re-settle among the stars, they have abandoned some of the oldest misconceptions about themselves and have gained a galactic reputation for being deeply spiritual, highly disciplined and dedicated to their nation and their people.

Being highly family oriented, Antarans are said to value their loved ones above all else save "God and Emperor". From the highest aristocrat to the average commoner, Antarans are proud of their Empire and the strength and prosperity it has built. They can be deeply contradictive, as they can be capable of great works of beauty or shocking violence, but their cruel awakening all those centuries ago excised some of the worst of those traits from the Antaran mindset. They are a race with omnivorous origins, but have evolved a more vegetarian diet since fleeing Old Earth.

Thanks in large part to the men and women of the Bastion colony on Old Earth, who developed the sciences that led them into the stars, the race has become dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and science. They remain wary of some scientific endeavors - "playing God" via genetics remains an issue Antarans will not tolerate - but they hold a deep-seated belief that the sum of knowledge awaits those who pursue it.