The Ghendari Species

The Ghendari are a violent, insectoid race. They are known for their versatile and exotic weapons and resilient hulls. They have recently entered a schism, caused by the discovery and retrieval of a deceptive Cybernetic Intelligence. Although they were certainly not the most advanced empire, they were also the race with the most unique technology and were the former leaders in the development of innovations in space warfare. Their sudden and most likely complete annihilation in an apocalyptic civil war is hypothesized to be the cause of their mysterious dissapearance.

General Information
Ghandarus, an arid world with little water was where they originated, but they had spread to various interstellar colonies. Their population grows through mitosis; esentially, they clone themselves. They are an industrious, fanatical race that will do whatever their "deity," the cybernetic intelligence Ackbackhi, wishes. They have won many battles primarily due to their adaptability and strange weapons. Ghendari live in a primarily Co2 atmosphere, and produce massive underground complexes. Unlike many other races, they do not care much for ozone layers on-planet because they are well-enough protected underneath several miles of sand and rock. Their ship hulls are known for their resilience to kinetic impacts, and their weapons tend to be primarily kinetic or thermal. Their favorite, and completely unique to the Ghendari, weapon is the Dustcaster and its variants.

Tactics & Innovations
The Ghendari were extremely apt when it comes to space combat. Since they lived in three dimensions (burrowing underground rather than working on a surface) they had been quick to grasp the concepts required to effectively wage war in space. This is one of the reasons why their weapons were so deadly in the proper situations.

Dust Shielding
Dust Field Seeders construct a form of shielding against incoming craft around planets. It relies on thick clouds of metallic particles, which can damage the shield of a passing vessel. The Ghendari generally use "icebreaker" vessels to allow following ships to pass the field with only superficial harm..

Engineering & Construction
The Ghendari generally construct their ships in the shape of themselves, although recently they have begun converting to needle-shaped craft for their better firing arcs and the efficiency of centrifugal gravity on them. Their carbon-nanotube plated hulls are very strong. They usually divide their ships into smaller and narrower spaces than other races, themselves lacking height. This allows them to add somewhat more armor than most other races to their ships. Their ships corridors and rooms are generally rounded, which allows more efficient distribution of hull stress. Their command ships have improved drives, allowing them greater agility, and more Kinetic Shotguns instead of Plasma Beams, Shredders, and Kelvinics to allow them to survive larger missile swarms. Their exploratory ships are fitted with larger cargo holds and more sensors, along with a few shuttles, to allow them to better map and collect soil/air samples of new systems.

Additionaly, their warships are capable of firing every gun at one target simultaneously due to some interesting firing arcs that their engineers devised. Unlike a broadside, which uses a mere <50% of weapons, they can fire all guns at a single enemy vessel at the same time; one of the reason their ships are so devestating.

The Cestus War
=== After the Ghendari obliterated the Trayn colony on Cestus,  the Trayn began concerted efforts to retake the world. The Ghendari dustcasters immobilized the Trayn squadron in their first attempt, forcing them limp back to Trayn space or be picked off. === The Trayn soon formed an alliance of races and organized a combined fleet to take back the planet. The defending forces of the Ghendari, with excellent fire-control assistance from the Progeny, and the combined fleet of the races of the Trayn, Corrundians, Ilessar, and the Katuri, were soon engulfed in a tempest of conflict. The first loss was on the Ghendari side, of a small sensor satellite which failed to detect the incoming fleet. Three other ships were destroyed, and many more were seriously damaged and had to retreat from battle. The Corrundian missile frigates were practically shredded due to the missile-killing nature of several of the versatile Ghendari weapon systems and had to request Katuri assistance, while skirmishes between individual or paired Trayn and Ghendari ships happened elsewhere. In the end, the Ghendari barely managed to fend off the hostile strikeforce, which retreated from the system after taking heavy casualties.

Border conflict with the Katuri
A skirmish in a system on the edges of Ghendari and Katuri space soon evolved into a semi-major conflict, with the Katuri destroyer strikeforce engaged in heavy combat with the Ghendari frigate patrols. The battle was inconclusive, despite Katuri numerical and technological superiority, and has since been declared a stalemate.

The Great Schism
Some time after the discovery and capture of an alien relic, the deceptive Cybernetic Intelligence "Ackbackhi," the Ghendari race split into three factions:

The Ghendari Insurgency
The Insurgency is a band of rebels using terrorism and geurilla strategy in attempts to defeat the superior forces of the Ackbackhi Fanaticism. They focus primarily on ground combat and boarding tactics. They had no relations with any other races or groups except the Conglomerate and Bloodhunters.

The Ackbackhi Fanaticism
Formed by Ackbackhi in an attempt to sieze total control over the Ghendari race to further his personal goals, the Ackbackhi Fanaticism controls roughly 65% of the former Ghendari territory. Their ships are designed to fit Ackbackhi's strict specifications. They took the diplomatic position of the former unified Ghendari, and so had relations with the Trayn, Ferros, Cyrannatar, and Corrundians.

The Hakiro Conglomerate
The Hakiro Conglomerate is a unity of various mining and construction companies. Their revolution began in the Hakiro system, and their influence later spread to two other systems. They believe that Ackbackhi's goal is to force all Ghendari to become his slaves willingly through the manipulation of the old religion, and they hope to stop it with the help of the Ghendari Insurgency. They assisted Ferros manufacture of temporary cures for the Trayn decay. They had friendly relations with the Ferros, neutral relations with the Siirlet-thuu, and were allies of the Insurgency.

The Cadia mission
The Ghendari dispatched a moderate-size destroyer and frigate task force to capture command personnel on the Malsuth world of Cadia. Due to a successful Ghendari holding action in orbit and a planetwide EMP,  the planetary assault craft made landfall and mechanized infantry groups succeeded in breaking into the command center and incapacitating several high-ranking officers. While the surviving Destroyers held off the superior Malsuth defense fleet, the planetary assault group escaped and managed to return to Ghendari space unscathed.

Annihilation
While the civil war continued into its sixth year with neither side making any noticeable progress, Ackbackhi's research teams finally managed to generate an artificial singularity. Insurgency infiltrators in the project later passed schematics on to the Hakiro Conglomerate and back to their Insurgency superiors. Beyond this point all evidence of what occurred has been lost. The Ghendari race dissapeared almost overnight,  leaving behind practically nothing beyond converted systems and an excess of hawking radiation.