Dwerin

The Dwerin are a humanoid species native to the planet Dwerenis, now uninhabitable, in the Verion Cluster, and are one of the three member races of the Union. They are short, stocky humanoids similar in appearance to Terrans, usually with long beards. They live primarily in massive Cityships that roam Union space. Previously, their fleet was much larger, however much of it was destroyed in the war with the Itana, leaving them with only three Cityships.

History
The Dwerin have a long history, beginning about 3500 years ago. The first Dwerin civilizations arose on their homeworld of Dwerenis, building great underground halls and conquering the known world. Dwerin history is not filled with many large wars, though they had their fare share. With the industrial revolution, the Dwerin built mighty factories within the mountains of their world, spewing pollutants into the air. As their technology advanced, the pollutants choking the atmosphere got worse and worse, with the Dwerin failing to realize what they were doing until it was too late. Their world slowly became uninhabitable, and by the time they realized what they had done, they were beyond the point of no return. The Dwerin had already developed space travel by this time, and had set up colonies on their moon and the closest planet. Those, too, had been polluted. Desperate for a solution to the problem, 500 years ago the Dwerin turned several large asteroids into mobile city ships, and used them to flee their home. They slowly crept towards the next habitable star system, finally reaching it and establishing colonies on it.

435 years ago, the first Dwerin FTL drive was created. They used it to expand, fitting it to their cityships. Once they had used the resources the planet had to offer, they left for the next one. And then the next. And the next. Leaving in their wake ruined worlds, stripped of all useful resources and polluted to near-uninhabitable levels. The Itana took notice of this, and for their desecration of worlds declared war on the Dwerin. Many ships of the Nomad Fleet were destroyed, but the Dwerin bravely fought the Itana off. At the time, the Itana and Dwerin were on-par technologically, though the Dwerin's slowness to advance new technology would lead the Itana to outpace them. For many more years the Dwerin continued their cycle of stripping planets of resources and moving on, until 100 years ago they met their first real alien friends, the Asathai. In exchange for FTL technology the Asathai traded the Dwerin the valuable resources they needed to maintain their civilization. They had not found a suitable planet in decades, and their supplies were running low.

Their second war with the Itana would leave their population devastated, and their cityships greatly reduced in number. During the war, they fought bravely as soldiers alongside the Asathai and later the Krath. For several decades the Dwerin were close to extinction as a race. The Asathai, now having reclaimed several colonies, extended an invitation to the Dwerin to live on their worlds. Soon afterwards, the Union was formed between the Dwerin, Asathai, and the Krath. They serve as the Union's engineers, builders, and crafters, and occassionally soldiers.

Physiology and Appearance
Dwerin are short, averaging at 4 feet, or 1.2 meters. They appear similar to Terrans, other than their height. Male Dwerin almost always have long beards. Their eyes are most often brown, sometimes green or blue. Their hair is almost always brown or black, though some are blonde.

They are extremely durable. Their bones are very strong, able to withstand large amounts of force. They also heal from injuries fairly quickly compared to other species.