Vaadwaur

Vaadwaur
Basic Information
Major Species	Vaadwaur
Founded	300
Official Language(s)	Vaad-ishh
Political Information
Governance Type	Autocracy
Leader	Supreme Leader Gaul
Template:Government

The Vaadwaur are a militaristic space-faring humanoid species native to the Gradin Belt of the Delta Quadrant. The Vaadwaur were once known as the Vaadwaur Supremacy, a vast empire that commanded great swaths of the Delta Quadrant through its control over the Underspace. The Vaadwaur Supremacy was destroyed by the Turei Alliance in 1484, and their homeworld was the subject of a massive orbital bombardment by plasma bombs, which wiped out all life on the surface and caused a nuclear winter that rendered the planet uninhabitable for centuries. A battalion and their families, approximately 600 Vaadwaur, managed to survive in stasis, only to be reawakened in 2376. Since then, the Vaadwaur have begun to rebuild using their deep knowledge of the Underspace.

Physiology

Vaadwaur have small ridges on their chins and two horizontal ridges just above their noses. A large fin-like crest ran across the center of their foreheads, becoming wider as it reached the tops of their skulls. Their hair grew from around the mid-region of their skulls, just where their fin ridges seemed to end. Neck ridges extended from their ears, down along their necks, and onto their shoulders where they curled in towards the centers of their chests.

Current

Since the fall of the Vaadwaur Supremacy, the Turei Alliance has maintained control over much of the Underspace network through a mix of militant policing and diplomatic treaties. While they have always struggled with pirates, traders and minor powers attempting to use the network, the Vaadwaur survivors have knowledge of the network unlike any other. To this end, the Vaadwaur survivors have creatively used the Underspace network since their reawakening to to build alliances, gain power, and elude the Turei military.

Today, the Vaadwaur are seeking to re-establish their Supremacy. Despite their original technology being nine hundred years out of date, the Vaadwaur have made an impressive comeback over the years and now sport some of the most powerful raiders in the Gradin Belt. The Hazari have open doors to the displaced Vaadwaur fleet with hopes that they will share their immense knowledge of the Underspace. The Hazari and Vaadwaur often attack together, and their crews are commonly mixed as the Hazari fill in gaps due to the sparse population of surviving Vaadwaur. To address their small numbers, there have also been whispers that the Vaadwaur are experimenting with cloning technologies to strengthen their position.

History

Vaadwaur Supremacy

The Vaadwaur Supremacy ruled much of the Delta Quadrant at its height, using a network of subspace corridors known as the Underspace to launch raids on systems throughout the quadrant. In the 15th century, the Turei Alliance led a successful interstellar campaign against the Vaadwaur and destroyed many of their colonies, forcing the last survivors into stasis in the hopes of one day rebuilding their culture.

Reawakening

The surviving Vaadwaur were reawakened by the crew of the USS Voyager in 2376 when they took shelter from the Turei on the planet's surface. At that time, the planet's atmosphere was still heavily contaminated with gamma radiation and radiogenic particles. While the crew of Voyager initially helped the Vaadwaur start to rebuild, they eventually discovered the nature of the culture they'd revived and were forced to flee before the Vaadwaur could capture their vessel. Several dozen of Vaadwaur ships escaped the planet.

This was once a vibrant colony of the Vaadwaur that was destroyed by a coalition comprising the Turei and other species.  Their campaign culminated in the orbital bombardment of the Vaadwaur homeworld in 1484 (it is largely believed that this planet was their homeworld).  A Vaadwaur battalion, numbering six hundred, managed to survive the attack underground in stasis units and many ruins of their formal cities can be seen across the planet’s surface.  The planet's atmosphere is still irradiated centuries after the bombardment.  The Vaadwaur have since moved on.