Type of Government: Matriarchal, leader chosen by challenge or trial-by-combat.

Level of Technology: Analogous .9

T-Sublight interstellar, stargate capability

W-Sonics and isolated energies

C-T-comm

P-Biomagnetics, molecular bonding, atomic alloy

A female dominated society, these arachnoid bipeds have large, dark, wide-set eyes and eyelids hinged on the tops and bottoms. Females are lithe and muscular, males are either small, weak service drones or large and virile worker drones. Breeders, the so-called love slaves of the ruling females, are specially raised and trained for their service. Males born outside of regular society tend to be lithe and muscular like the females, though not quite as tall. Females average the height of human females except for the warrior caste which are usually taller and more muscular. Natural-born males tend to be a few inches shorter than the females, though the hormone treatments make the service drones considerably smaller, almost child-like in size, and the workers roughly equal to the size of warriors. Education for workers and breeders is practically non-existent and for service drones is usually limited to their function. Despite this, Atriarian higher learning is equal to almost any other world of similar technological advancement, for females, anyway.

The extremely dexterous Atriarians live in cities built throughout their environment, favoring high, heavily wooded mountains, maze-like caverns and sheer cliff faces bordering deep canyons. Most planet-based manufacturing is done on the plains near the oceans and on islands that are otherwise unsuitable, in their opinions, for habitation. Highly agile beings, they are capable of climbing and sprinting with great speed and have a natural talent with ropes. whips and nets. One of their few weaknesses is an unease in open spaces which sometimes manifests itself as full-blown agoraphobia.

The females worship their goddess of war and domination, Tip'q'tas (Tip-uh-KWA-tus) who is usually pictured as an oversized version of the warrior caste. She is also called the Sleeping Goddess as she is always pictured with her eyes closed though she clutches a sword and net close to her chest, the Atriarian version of blind justice, ready to deal out death to the weak and foolish in equal measure.

All females are placed into a caste at birth based on their skin color which they believe indicates gifts or predispositions. Shiny black females are warrior queens, any of whom may become the Queen Warrior if she can best the old queen in armed combat or convince her to step down without a fight. Upon her ascension, she earns the right to wear the symbol of her position, the red hourglass, on her abdomen. This symbol graces all Atriarian ships and government documents. Warrior queens make most of the decisions in government and produce most of the eggs for future generations. Grey or silver females are warrior primes, fierce fighters with no ambition but to fight for and protect the queens. The most favored of them may also provide eggs for procreation. Tan or brown females are warrior drones and though proficient fighters they are stripped of their own eggs and may carry the fertilized eggs of the queens and primes. They bear, raise and train the young females in their caste responsibilities.

Males are studied carefully during early childhood for signs of aggression and unruliness. Rebellious young males are castrated and given hormone treatments to makes them large, muscular, workers. The most subservient may be castrated as young men and made small by hormone treatments to become service drones. Those deemed most physically gifted that do not show over much rebelliousness may be raised to be breeders, essentially love slaves for the queens. Their genes are used most often to fertilize chosen eggs. Once in a great while a male is born outside of civilized areas or escapes before castration. They frequently become members of a small but active rebellion fighting to break female domination. Some groups believe that males should dominate females, others believe in a more equal society, still other feel that female domination should be moderated but not disappear altogether. Their methods vary as much as their goals, from civil disobedience to armed insurrection and random acts of terrorism. This factionalization keeps the rebels from making any serious change in their society. For obvious reasons, such "wild" males are always put to death, frequetly on sight or upon capture.

The four systems of the Atriarian holdings include their home system around the star named after their Sleeping Goddess. The other three are named after her three daughters, the warrior queen Renn, the warrior prime Crenn, and the warrior drone Jenn (These are believed to be loose translations of the original names). In Atriarian religion, each of these heavenly princesses is the patron of their caste and are supposed to represent their interests to their Queen Warrior mother.

Renn System

21 Planets, 15 Gas giants, The source of most of their materials and the location of their shipyards, it is located two systems away from any potential adversary so it has little protection except for defensive stations near their main shipyards. There are mining and production facilities on almost every planet, moon and large asteroid but the main settlement is on the cold, barely livable moon of the seventh planet. This world is named after Acarides, the daughter of the warrior queen goddess for whom the system is named.

Crenn System

Nine planets, four of which are gas giants. There is some agricultural production and mining going on in this system. Being the closest system to the near-by L'narri Empire, it is also the most heavily defended. The fifth planet is named after the Warrior Prime's daughter, Acarina, and is the base of all operations in this system.

Jenn System

Five planets with no gas giants and no asteroid belt. There is however a vast oort cloud of subplanetary debris, perhaps a failed outer system. Transit through this system is dangerous at best and the connecting stargate to the Meganthan systems is rarely used and barely guarded. Vast agricultural complexes, mostly robotic and on the two largest planets, help feed the rest of the empire and even allow some trade with their neighbors. The third world is named for the mythical demigoddess and daughter of the Warrior drone Jenn. Aimee is said to be the most beautiful of Tip'q'tas' three granddaughters and this world of lush rainforests and verdant mountains is certainly one of the most beautiful in the Atriarian systems.

Space Fleet

Most ships are modeled after the same basic design, that of a black widow spider with the red hourglass on the underside. The bulk of their fleet is left over from their early explorations. After the non-aggression pact signed with the Meganthans and L'narri in 19,985, they took a page from the Alliance playbook and mothballed most of their fleet, leaving it available for future actions.

Type of Ship	# Crew	# in fleet
Scout/Courier (SC)	8	100
Explorer (EX)	20	100
Fighter (FR)	2	1800
Battle Carrier (BC)	800 (Inc. fighter crews)	18
Dreadnaught	300	20
Destroyer (DS)	80	800