Reptid
"The Reptids invaded Solar space during the Solar Commonwealth era. They took slaves from the human worlds that they ravaged, and were quite surprised to find that humans take special exception to that. At the end of the hostilities, the homeworld of the Reptids was uninhabitable, their most populous world was split in half, and their entire royal line reduced to a single adolescent who was forced to sign a treaty agreeing to never take arms against the humans again. The Reptid Star Empire was rattled, and they've been crumbling ever since with subjugated species, some never before seen by man, rebelling."
A Once Great Empire
The Reptids once owned most of the Orion Spur. Their empire was based on slavery, a relic of their ancient history. They installed their people at the heads of hundreds if not thousands of species, either by force or by subterfuge. They held sway over vast swathes of space.
A Stubborn Knot
They approached the Sol System once they determined humans sufficiently advanced to be useful. Their first attempts took the form of surgically altered Reptids infiltrating human society, but this eventually failed as the Great Timocracy government didn't exercise enough control to assert dominance after a coup. The Reptids, as is their standard practice, invaded. To their surprise, the human military failed to collapse, and they left with many fewer captives than they'd intended, a few million at most. They decided to launch a full scale war with an eye to enslaving or annihilating the entire species, which entered the Sol System in the waning days of the Solar Commonwealth Era. They failed again, and the humans pursued. A peace treaty was signed, but the Reptids considered it void after a coup formed the Reformed Solar Commonwealth. The new government proactively sent an envoy to the Reptids to sue for peace, but were refused. The envoy was followed by a war fleet.
After an ultimatum, the Martian Battlecruiser Doomed Crusade, at the head of a carrier group, annihilated the local Reptid fleet. They move on to bombard the surface into liquid magma, and moved on to the next planet, they again offered the same peace agreement ending with the words 'or else.' Again they were refused, and they dropped Genesis Bombs on the planet until it cracked in half. The carrier group split apart, and a rapid ground war saw humans securing all Reptid worlds in their home system. The final member of the Reptid monarchy, an adolescent, agreed to the human terms.
The Shattering
After the humiliation of losing to the humans, the Reptids found their empire coming apart. The species that they had subjugated, some of them no longer even having a record of being free millennia before, began to rise up. At first it was a few, but as the Reptid military became more bogged down in insurgencies more worlds rose up. Even some worlds that were simply fully Reptid colonies broke away, seeking their independence. In the end, the great irony came to the Reptids in the Year 100, when the humans moved a fleet to protect the Reptids' final homeworlds from vengeful enemies. Corporations moved in to help the Reptids rebuild on their worlds, opening a whole new market share.
Who They Are
Reptids appear to be semihumanoid reptiles, though they are warm blooded and give live birth. They have scales over fibrous hide, and thick tails where they store their fats and fluids. They have a face full of 'whiskers,' which are actually thin sensory tentacles or feelers that can sense both taste and touch. They are carnivorous, with pronounced tearing fangs and a raspy tonguelike appendage. Their most advanced technology is Bioronics, and many of them alter themselves. Wing grafts are especially popular in the species. When they kill, they prefer to do it up close with their natural weapons, the fang and the tooth. Their technological weapons are designed to cause fear or pain and subdue enemies rather than kill them, using a form of neural weaponry that has since been adapted by humanity. Even after the reforms that saw them free their slaves, they still keep the mentality of preferring to take captives, and their warriors earn personal honor and accolades for living prisoners. Their fashion sense has been influenced by the Corporations that have descended on their homeworlds and set up shop. Many older reptids still prefer the simple textile stoles that denote rank and station, while the younger ones are more likely to sport vests and hats.
Reptid technology is largely bioronic in nature; they grow their technology organically from engineered creatures. For instance, their primary weapon is a 'spear' that's actually a mollusc-like creature that extends through the haft. It is itself a neural weapon, able to impose psionic terror or subservience both at some range and especially when the 'tip' touches the actual body of a target. The tip is three finger-length tentacles that can withdraw into the haft for protection. Their armor is a series of turtle-like shells grown on sedentary entities that are also a staple livestock. Their starships and buildings are built by programmed 'beetles' that use an enzyme to break down metal into an amalgam paste and respond to pheremones which tells them which 'blueprint' they're supposed to be building.
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