Yehat

The Yehat are a Pterodactyl-like race that has travelled the stars for many centuries. They were a significant force in the Alliance of Free Stars before defecting to the Hierarchy. In the late 2150s, a civil war splits the Yehat into Rebel and Loyalist factions.

Biology
The Yehat resemble ancient Earth Pterodactyls in that the last finger bone of each hand is extended to support wing-like patagia and their heads have that animal's characteristic crest. They are capable of at least gliding, if not full flight. They appear to walk upright, but with difficulty.

The Yehat are, by description, a race of avians. Nothing about their physical appearance, however, suggests that. In fact, their seemingly featherless condition, their pointed head, membranous wings, and their bizarre polydactyl hands (the Yehat have 6 fingers -- three as wing supports, as bats, and three more in the thumb position, as pterodons) suggests a tight convergence with prehistoric pterosaurs, instead of birds. Their feathered offshoots, the Pkunk, also defy easy classification, but at least they share some bird-like traits.

The Yehat are said to have evolved in a strongly magnetic environment, as highly advanced predators. While not nearly as territorial as the Ur-Quan genus, they nevertheless were predisposed towards a fair amount of infighting, and, as earth raptors are commonly known to do, possible siblicide and cannibalism. Their odd quirk of polarizing magnetic fields to their defense found its start early in Yehat culture; those who were best able to hone their strange powers were best able to survive nest-hood.

The Clans which the Yehat organize themselves in assuredly had their start in family groups which nested, hunted, and defended their young together. As with Earth tribes, the Yehat certainly outbred, with the result that neighboring groups were tied by blood to one another, to the result that the Clans spread far and wide across their lush, forested home.

While the appearances are not completely similar, the Pkunk, the Yehat, the Melnorme, and certain reliable sources all seem to agree that the Yehat and Pkunk are distant biological relatives, having diverged more than a thousand years ago. The separation of the two races was not amicable, and there is still clear hostility between the species. Despite their common ancestry, the cause of the morphological differences between the two species is unknown.

Culture
The Yehat race consists of different warrior clans, that have in the past fought bloody wars on their homeworld. They have a strong sense of honor toward their clan and its leader. This trait drew them into a close alliance with the Shofixti, which the Yehat sometimes consider their adopted children. Yehat society is primariliy matriarchal and the clans are lead by Queens. A Queen of the Veep-Neep clan was able to put a stop to the wars and unify the Yehat as they eventually made their way to the stars. The Yehat are very proud of the fact that they made this advancement to space on their own, and grant Humanity great honor for achieving the same.

History
Yehat prehistory was marked by a long period of strife known as the "Wars of Ascension," where warlords led their clans in battle to achieve dominance over their rivals, and in turn were overthrown in bloody, savage raids. Nests were sacked, yolk spilled. The Yehat look upon their ancestors as "murderers all," untamed and feral warriors so caught up in their struggle to eradicate their enemies that they did not realize they were cutting their own future short.

It may be during this time that the Pkunk, the peaceful brethren of the Yehat, first heard Weeny Wikki Beeki Birdi utter the Original Squak, "Rup-rup-rup-BGAK." The newly aware Pkunk, realizing that the Yehat conflict entailed needless bloodshed, strove to form a peaceful commune apart from the savagery of their brothers. As this was hardly possible on their stife-ridden homeworld, the Pkunk chose exodus, an aim which the hostile Yehat gladly encouraged. If this is, indeed, how the Pkunk came to separate from their ancestor's people, it is unknown, but highly likely.

The Wars of Ascension ended, however, when the warlord of the Veep-Neep clan took Caer Zeep-Reep. This victory was even more spectacular than most, for the warlord was a female Yehat, marking the first in a long dynasty of Veep-Neep queens. She won the allegiance of the clans with a simple promise, held true throughout her reign: Under her wing, the allied Yehat would never know defeat. To this aim, the Yehat clans unified, and stood fast for over two millennia.

Towards the reign of the last queen, the Yehat discovered the sub-sapient Shofixti on nearby Delta Gorno. Although the primitive meta-marsupials attacked the Yehat at first, the latter took their courage in face of a superior foe as a sign of worth, and reacted to the Shofixti's brave stand in peace and friendship. In return, the semi-feral race looked up to the Yehat as their wise guardians and teachers, eagerly embracing Yehat culture, values, and technology. Their relationship was one of parent and child, with the Yehat ever encouraging the Shofixti to grow in their own image.

As the Yehat clans occupied more and more territory within their sphere of influence, and the Star-Faring clans interacted less and less with the homeworld, had retainers assigned to them to speak for them in counsel. The last Veep-Neep monarch, apparently chosen out of noble lineage rather than noble purpose, seems to have been more impressed with the loyalty of her own retainers than of the clans. To please her toadying minions, she turned the spokesbirds into warlords, thusly robbing the distant clans not only of a voice in counsel, but their own autonomy, as the former speakers became rulers. The Yehat, ever loyal to the queen, chafed under the new authority, but dared not object.

When War broke out across the quadrant and the Yehat were called upon to join, they did so without reservations -- from all but the queen. She gave the semblance of faith in the Alliance cause, but secretly feared their defeat, thus annulling the pact that kept the clans so tightly under her wing claw. As her worst expectations became realized, there were only two options: Make a desperate, last stand with the Shofixti in the feign hopes of turning back the Hierarchy task force; or ally with the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za, thus side stepping the probability of losing the battle and the Veep-Neep legacy. She chose the latter.

The incredulous Star-Faring clans heard the order of retreat, and obeyed. The Shofixti were abandoned to their fate against the mighty task force of Dreadnoughts, the outcome known to all. The Terminator, now pressed into the fold of the Hierarchy, would not fight alongside the Scout. When the star at Delta Gorno erupted into a fiery supernova, the Yehat assumed their child race had been extinguished in the flames, thus hiding their shame under a cloak of extinction.

During the rebellion, the Yehat Star-Faring clans offered only sympathies to the allied forces, unable to turn against the wishes of their queen and the mandates of a Hierarchy Battle Thrall. However, once the Zeep-Zeep clan was shown a living Shofixti, the horror of their actions shed light on the traitorous, cowardly decision of the Veep-Neep queen. A revolution was declared, with the clans divided evenly among loyalty to their leader, or to justice and honor. Cheep-Guava's renegade alliance, consisting primarily of the Zeep-Zeep and Veep-Kreep clans, were equally matched against the queen's own forces, including the Feep-Eeep clan. Their war may have gone on forever, had it not been for the Pkunk.

The Pkunk, attuned to some harmonic alignment of the stars, planets, and less tangible phenomena, decided the time was right for their triumphant return to their home stars and Yehat brethren. The peaceable avians entered en masse, to suddenly drop off of all scanners. While the Yehat would not speak of the absorption, their cultures fused irreversibly, and peace was declared when, at long last, a new queen had been found -- this time, a Pkunk. Thus unified once again, the allied Yehat could turn their attentions to the Ur-Quan threat and lend a wing in the destruction of the Sa-Matra Battle Platform. In fact, just as the Pkunk had predicted, because the resistance had befriended a "certain bird-like race," they would be saved at the last moment. Presumably, the Yehat and Pkunk, in addition to detaching several ships to join the resistance, held incoming Dreadnoughts and Marauders at bay while the Precursor vessel could be wedged into the Sa-Matra's asteroid fortification and detonated.

Military
In Earthling terms, the Starship Clans are the Yehat navy. Each Clan serves as a fleet or operational group. During the Revolution, certain Clans break their allegiance to the Queen and fight against those that remain loyal. The Captain encounters only three clans. This neither confirms nor refutes the existence of more clans.