Haptors

The Haptors are a sapient race of humanoids.

Biology
The Haptors are large, muscular humanoids, taller and stockier than a Human. They possess two large cornified bumps on their heads, which they call horns. They lack any body or facial hair, with the exception of a single strip running down their spine.

Culture and society
The Haptors are a clan-based society. Their homeworld of Hardhabaim-Urartu is controlled by the four Prime clans, which also run the Haptor Empire as a whole. There is no single leader, the Empire is ruled by a quadrumvrirate of four Prime clan leaders. Each of the Prime clans is responsible for one area. The other clans typically control one or more colony worlds. They are subservient to the Prime clans.

The Haptors respect strength and cunning. They are far from mindless brutes, though. They can, however, be a little shortsighted. For example, a warrior who survives a lost battle is supposed to undergo an honorable execution instead of learning from that experience and using it to win future battles. A warrior can refuse the execution, but in that case he is stripped of his rank, clan affiliation, all possessions, and even name, becoming a homeless wretch.

One notable point of interest is the complete lack of fiction in their literature and art. All of them depict real events, if sometimes embellished.

Technology
Despite being a starfaring race for millennia, the Haptor technological level is about on par with post-Invasion Humans and is actually lower in some areas. In particular, the Haptors possess antimatter weapons, but they are significantly less effective than Human ones. Their annihilators are large, bulky, and the antimatter storage tanks are dangerously exposed. Oftentimes, a single hit on the tanks can be enough to destroy a Haptor ship. Eventually, unable to successfully improve on the technology, they have chosen to abandon annihilators and, instead, arm their ships with more plasma weapons to compensate.

Another indicator of their backward state of technology is their inability to build ships with equivalent firepower to those of other galactic races. They compensate by building multi-hulled ships that allow them to bring similar firepower to bear.

Notable members

 * Sezun'paga: The "speaker" of the Kshoo Clan, whose task is to liaise with aliens on behalf of his master, Sheggeren, the overlord of the Kshoo Clan.
 * Sheggeren'kshoo: The overlord (or Thad'sho) of the Kshoo Clan. One of the four rulers of the Haptor homeworld and the Haptor Empire. The host of the Earth Federation diplomatic mission in 2600.