The Privateers

The Privateers were the first of all races to achieve space travel. Fortunately for the other races the Privateers were only bands of roving pirates, at that time. Not the unified and organized force that they are today. They were more concerned about fighting each other for dominance than with bothering any of the other races.

This race evolved on their native planet, much like the other races. The Privateers became a humanoid race although the skin color of the Privateers ranges from a green color to a blue.

The Privateers have long ago shown their aptitude for piracy. During the sea-faring days of their evolution they discovered that it was much more cost efficient to steal the ships you need than actually building them yourself. This idea has stayed with the Privateers and they have adopted it as their creed to live by, as is evident by their actions as space travel was developed and the other races were discovering each other.

In the pursuit of self-preservation the Privateers had ventured out into the Echo Cluster and were observing many of the other races as they developed. They even stole a starship here or there and in that way stole the technology they needed to survive.

To their credit the Privateer scientists were able to develop a scientific breakthrough of their own. This breakthrough is known as the gravitonic accelerator. This device when coupled with specific starships of the Privateers (the BR4 Gunboat, BR5 Kaye Class Torpedo Boat, and Meteor Class Blockade Runner) will cause the engines on those hull designs to move at double the standard movement rate for any selected warp factor and burn only the normal amount of fuel. (i.e., At warp factor 9 a Privateer starship will move 162 light years but only burn fuel equivalent to 81 light years of movement).

For a long time the Privateers were content to be independent bands competing with each other to see who did a better job harassing the other developing races that they knew of (Feds, Lizards, Bird Men and Fascists). One day an experience by one of the bands changed this races entire outlook on the universe.

One day, one of the Privateer bands was exploring a new section of the Echo Cluster and, in their exploration, they came across a fleet of starships of an unknown design. When they were spotted by the enemy the Privateers we immediately fired on. Large quantities of green plasma energy came spewing forth from the oncoming fleet. This the small Privateer starship were prepared to handle. Their shields were quite strong and they knew that these enemies would soon start launching torpedoes at them, just like the other races are known to do. They were unprepared for what actually happened next.

Most of the enemy starships started launching enormous amounts of fighters at the Privateers. The Privateers had never seen such a display of fighter firepower. They knew that their starships would never be able to withstand the kind of punishment a wave of fighters that size could produce. So they immediately turned tail and fled back to their homeworld with a report on this horrendous experience.

The disclosure of this encounter caused the separate bands of Privateers to decide to unify and work together as a group. They knew that as individual groups they could never withstand the kind of starships they had witnessed but if they unified they could steal any number of starships that would come seeking them. They knew as a group they would be a force to be reckoned with.