Catshubanni

The Catshubanni were a feline-humanoid race from the far outer rim of the galaxy. Their bodies were covered in fur, ranging from long to short, and of various colours. They were often gentle, but could get violent when their family or friends were endangered. They were long lived, with an average lifespan of 500-600 years. They valued both honour and courage in their society, although they did make skilled assassins, as well.

History
The Catshubanni race was, for the most part isolated from the rest of the known galaxy, until 5 BDK. Originally thought to be un-sentient by a survey team, the team attempted to capture several Catshubanni, in the forests of their homeworld, Catshuban. Not only did the Catshubanni out-manuever their pursuers, they led them into an ambush, which resulted in the death of all but one member of the team. The survivor was interrogated, and led a scouting party back to the ship. The ship was left alone after several Catshubanni attempted, and failed to activate it.

When a second survey team landed on the planet, they discovered dozens of the felinoid people waiting for them. Realizing that the Catshubanni were indeed sentient creatures, offered to bring them into the Galactic Alliance remnant. Despite reservations on the part of most of the planets inhabitants, the ruling council, a group of nine clan heads, the eldest of their kind, agreed.

In the years before the end of the Sith-Alliance war, Catshubanni assassins began appearing on battlefields, assisting alliance forces in retaking several planets. After the end of the war, the Catshubanni assassins' returned, spreading stories of space travel and amazing new planets.

In 1 ADK, with help from the Galactic Interplanetary Alliance, the Catshubanni developped their own space travel, and immediately set about colonizing the planets in the Rifus Sector. By 12 ADK, at the beginning of the third galalctic civil war, the Catshubanni were one of the more powerful races aligned with the GIA.

Biology and Appearance
Catshubanni had four limbs, and a tail, ranging between half a metre to a metre. Their arms ended in hands, with four fingers and a thumb. Their legs ended in five toes, and all their digits had claws, that could be sheathed or unsheathed at the twitch of fingers or toes. These claws were sharp enough to cut through flesh and scales with ease, and were often used in combat as often as traditional weapons. Catshubanni were mostly carnivorous, with four sharp fangs, two longer upper canine fangs, and two shorter fangs on their lower jaw.

The rest of their teeth are very jagged, made for chewing meat, and were more than capable of puncturing the soft skin of aliens and humans alike. Due to their vicious nature, it is more than likely that Catshubanni use their natural weapons to fight their enemies, as much or more than traditional melee and ranged weaponry. Many species found the tall, muscled, lithe Catshubanni impressive, and many times intimidating,

Most of them were very muscled, due to the fact that Catshubann was a planet almost completely covered in forests, and plains. Many of the species made their homes in the higher branches of the trees, and instead of using turbolifts or ladders, they simply climbed using their claws. Do to their feline heritage, they had an excellent sense of eyesight, smell, and hearing. Being a predatory race, the eyes of Catshubanni faced forwards, and ranged from dark brown to a silvery blue.

Most Catshubanni had darker coloured furs, black, dark brown, grey, although quite a few had sandy coloured fur, or mixed black and white, or completely white. Many of these lived in the desert or snowy climates of Catshuban, or other planets beloinging to the Catshubanni. Many Catshubanni with mixed darker colours, such as dark grey,brown,  black, and a grey-blue, were often used as hunters and ambush units, their fur allowing them to blend in with foliage easily.

Catshubanni hearing was very impressive, and most were able to hear prey or enemies from kilometres away. The fur in their ears prevented noises that were overly loud, protecting their hearing during battles. Catshubanni eyes, like those of most felines an reflect lightsources, allowing them to have excellent night vision. They also had whiskers, about five around their noses, and five more above each eye.

The natural habitat of the Catshubanni was the great forests of Catshuban, although they were also comfortable in the surprisingly mild deserts and freezing cold of the planets tundras and deserts.

Like most humanoids, Catshubanni had two sexes, male and female. The males were often taller, slightly more muscular, and tended to have slightly larger heads and fangs. The females were smaller, more slender, had two breasts, and gave birth to live-young, usually a litter between six and eight kittens, also known as kits. Young Catshubanni were blind for their first couple of weeks, but after that they grew and learned very quickly.

Life Cycle
The average lifespan of around six hundred years, and were considered adults once they were sixteen years of age. At half a century, Catshubanni were expected to take a mate, and start a family, called a clan. At two hundred years, they were considered middle aged, at four hundred, elderly, and at six hundred, they were seen as ancient, and cared for by the rest of the clan, and taught the younger members of the clan.

Society and Culture
Catshubanni mated for life, and formed large clans, usually six to nine members in the clan. It wasn't unusual for the female to have as much influence on clan decisions as the male, meaning their was no gender biase among the species, although two out of the five Catshubanni deities were female, and both were heavily worshipped by the Catshubanni. However, males were often seen as the agressive, quick to act, and sometimes even rash and unthinking when enraged, while females, although just as vicious, were more moderate, and willing to listen to reason, rather than attack.

For a kit to be recognized as a mature adult at the age of sixteen, they were required to hunt and kill one of the Xani lemurs, large, tree dwelling creatures, that had large, club-like tails. Once the kit had returned with the lemurs tail as proof, they were accepted as an adult into their clan. It was not unusual for young Catshubbanni to leave their homeworld, expanding their knowledge of the greater galaxy,and sometimes becoming mercenaries or bounty hunters.

Most clans were fiercely territorial, and violence tended to occur when one clan enroached upon anothers hunting grounds or territories. However, any weapons besides claws and fangs were strictly forbidden. This resulted in most disputes being settled with few injuries, and both sides coming to an agreement.

Catshubanni valued honour and bravery, but they also saw cunning as vital to their survival, which lead many to believe that they felinoid race didn't hold anything in much value. However, they were feircesome enemies, and loyal friends.

Religion
The Catshubanni had five gods, two of which held higher status than the other three. The first, primary goddess, was Ashari, the Mother. She was associated with the creation of the first Catshubanni, and the creation of the world. She is also associated with fertility, and protection. The second primary god, is Vashar, the Protector. He is said to safe-guard the Catshubanni people, and Catshubann itself. The Catshu, a non-sentient, three metre long by two metres tall creature is said to embody Vashar, due to its' protective nature of its' rider and territory. The goddess of night and stealth, Ni'Sare, is revered by Catshubanni assassins, and embodied by the secretive Nightclaw clan.

M'Zar is the god of war and vengeance, which is said to watch over warriors as they go to battle. He is not embodied by any sole clan, but rather the Catshubanni people as a whole, when they go to war. Finally, is the Guen'Vere, the hunter. She is believed to guide both hunters and trackers, leading them to sucess.

Warfare
"Fighting the Catshubanni was like fighting shadows. They would arrive, do as much damage as possible, and then fade away"- Sith lord Galrus, reflecting on the battle of Zarsen.

Catshubanni saw warfare differently than most species in the galaxy, except, perhaps Barabel. They viewed their enemies as 'prey' and often saw battles as hunts, and wars as great hunts. This could have been an attempt by the felinoids to disturb their enemies, although even when among their own species, they referred to their enemy as prey. It is unlikely that they actually fed on fallen foes, though rumours started after the Sith attempted to take one of the Catshubanni colonies, Zarsen, in the outer rim.

Catshubanni usually worked in groups ranging from five to ten warriors, in tandem with a larger force. Scouts were sent out to collect information on the enemy formation, and report back to the hunt master. Based on the information collected, hunt masters would usually select a location to defend, usually in the path of the attacking enemy,with a moderate force, and send the bulk of the Catshubanni warriors to engage the enemy. Unlike most armies, the Catshubbanni forces would go out of their way, initially, to avoid the enemy.

Once in position, they launched hit and run attacks, using their superior knowledge of the terrain and chokepoints to ambush and devastate enemy units. These surprise attacks usually whittled the enemy units down until they were equal to or smaller than the defending Catshubanni army. With the enemy demoralised and confused, the defenders would launch a full scale attack, which ended in heavy casualties for their enemy, and the sudden change in tactics served to further confuse the enemy.

Every member of a clan was expected to fight, once they'd passed their initiation, and excepting the elders. The younger warriors were used as scouts, building experience until they were likely to survive as full-fledged warriors in a battle. Warriors were both male and female.

When on the offensive, Catshubanni employed hit and run attacks, in many smaller groups, using a much larger, constantly moving force as an anchor. In space battles, usually a single cruiser or destroyer served as the anchor, while fighters, frigates, and corvettes harrassed enemy forces. Catshubanni only committed themselves to a full scale assault after they were certain their enemy had been whittled down sufficiently. Otherwise, they believed in withdrawing, to minimalize their casualties.

Weaponry and Armour
Catshubanni used heavy, powerful recurve bows, and metal tipped arrows, for both hunting and combat. The weapons was usually as tall as its' user, and was powerful enough to punch through medium combat armour. The weapon was extremely accurate, to most blaster rifle ranges, and the arrows it fired were around a metre in length. Additionally, it was very silent, allowing it's users to launch ambushes, and almost always score the first hit.

This didn't mean that they didn't use modern weaponry such as blasters and grenades, and most warriors carried a short blaster rifle with them into combat. Other weapons used by the Catshubanni were specially designed axes, that were used one handed, about a metre in length, and had serrated edges, allowing the warriors using them to do as much damage as possible. Catshubanni assassin carried Luur knives, short bladed weapons that were curved very much like a cats claws.

Catshubanni armour is remarkably lightweight, and imbued with camoflage technology, to help the wearer blend in with his or her surroundings. Unlike most soldiers body armour, Catshubanni armour is made up of thirteen peices, consisting of gauntlets, shoulder bells, two breast plates, a backplate, a flexible mesh that covers the area from the ribs to waist, and thigh and shin armour.