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The Prikkiki-Ti are an amphibian species from the planet Gish that resemble large terrestrial geckos, though unlike geckos they are fully bipedal and possess opposable thumbs. Standing at around 25 centimeters in height when fully grown (or a little less than 1 foot) the Prikki are among the smallest sentient species in the Galaxy. They are also among the most xenophobic, blood thirsty, and genocidal; a byproduct of the Prikki’s own brutal history, during which they were preyed upon for almost their entire existence as a species by the numerous predators of their world, achieving sentience and the use of tools as a means of self defense. Being herbivores, the Prikki had no use for hunting and used weapons primarily to exterminate any species on their world that posed even the smallest threat to them. And there were many. They would carry this mindset with them to the stars.
History[]
The Prikkiki-Ti emerged from a desert world located in the Galactic East and achieved interstellar travel via the hyperlanes around the earth year 1860 CE. They expanded rapidly over that time until they made first contact with the Kingdom of Partoga which had up until that point been enjoying slow expansion using STL drives since the year 670 CE, made possible due to the Partogans long lifespan and use of preservation technology that was suitable for their anthropoidal physiology. In one of the universes ironies, the Partogans were the exact opposite of the Prikki in almost every way imaginable. Wile the Prikki were small, the Partogans were enormous, growing to around 3 meters in length and weighing in at 600 pounds when fully grown. Their crab like appearance also closely resembled one of the many (and more feared) natural predators that still existed on their homeworld due largely to its ability to hide in deep ocean. The Prikki would unleash a genocidal war on the Partogans, but the haphazard method with which they engaged with it allowed the outer colonies of the Kingdom to capture several of their vessels and transmit their findings back to the homeworlds before ultimately being overrun and exterminated. By 2000 CE, the Partogans had developed hyperdrives of their own, but still remained at a decided disadvantage to the Prikki.
Luckily at around the same time the Prikki made contact with the Pux and Ru and reacted in much the same, engaging them on all three fronts. By now, having been the first to achieve hyperdrive travel in their region the Prikik had expanded to being the largest power in their region of the Galaxy though one beset on all sides by enemies of their own creation. The war was on the cusp of being turned against them when contact was made with the Tyrum Conciousness in 2009 CE. The Tyrum would attack all the warring parties indiscriminantly, and while not ignored, would in a round about fashion give the Prikki a long reprieve as the Pux, Ruu, and Partogans turned their attentions towards the more immediate threat. A threat that would also keep the Prikki contained as they too were forced to deal with Tyrum raids into their space that slowly chipped away at their territory. The Partogans would be permanently effected by their war with the Prikki, which while ultimately successful resulted in them losing the vast majority of their territory and population. They would be the smallest of the big 3 consisting of themselves, the Pux Directorate and the Ruu confederated worlds.
Following the formation of the Star Concord in 2322 with the signing of the Charter of Razana, the Prikki were put permanently on the backfoot and were ultimately annexed by the Star Concord who placed the entire species on the three planets that constituted the core of their former empire. Much like the Tyrum exclusion zone the Concord established around Byrum prior to the planets destruction at the hands of the GTU. The Prikki would be allowed to maintain their society on the planet surface but were prohibited from building any vessel capable of leaving the atmospheric boundary of their world. Individual Prikki were free to leave the planets if they so desired, though few did out of instinctual fear of anything not themselves. Located deep inside the territory of the Concord, the Prikki would survive the War in Heaven unscathed. With the Concord in economic and political collapse in the aftermath of that calamity, many of the Prikki's senior leadership feel the time is now right to once more attempt to seize the stars that were denied to them.
Relations with the GTU[]
Relations between the GTU and the Prikkiki-Ti were limited due to distance, and usually only extended into the trading of diplomatic insults. For all that however, the Prikki held an outsized cultural influence on the GTU as they were the perfect foil for propaganda purposes. Combining a determined zeal for destroying all sentient life with an equal measure of incompetence and diminutive biological form made them a frequently recurring theme in comedic action movies as inept villains and in children's cartoon serials. A popular children's show that had a near 5 decade run was Prikki and Brian where the titular Prikki was an invading alien determined to destroy a newly formed GTU colony on the outer rim but was repeatedly foiled by a young human boy named Brian and his rag tag band of friends. Stuffed animals made in the likeness of the Prikkiki-Ti (and at their natural size to boot) became a major seller and for a brief time living Prikki captured by military intelligence were sold to high tier citizens as pets, though the practice was banned after one escaped and killed the child of a senior Assemblyman. An event that was likewise used for Propaganda purposes in later years to warn the population of the dangers of consorting with the Alien.
Following the War in Heaven, the Prikki would attempt to once more embark upon their genocidal wars. Seizing the concord observation platforms in orbit of their planets that had been largely unmanned in the wake of their central governments efforts to reorganize and recover from the war, the Priki swiftly rebuilt their fleets from a combination of new construction tools that had been built in secret, and abandoned Concord hulls that were found along the way. The Kingdom of Partoga, in no position to deal with the sudden attack, petitioned the GTU for protection. In 47 AWH the Prikki Pacification War began and ended a year later with the Prikki completely subjugated by the Terran military. This would be the first major war of the Unification Campaigns and one that dashed any hope that the War in Heaven would result in a more peaceful galaxy. Efforts to rehabilitate them to terran standards were largely frustrated due to their evolutionary path as a prey species. After 5 decades of failed reeducation the National Council authorized the use of genetic engineering to remove their ingrained fear responses. The resulting High Prikki were much less prone to panicked violence and ultimately were integrated into the Union as citizens.