The Hareccans are a species from the planet Harecca in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Biology[]
Hareccans had a body that of a tiger or a lion, but their heads were more like a kangaroo, except with a face that had been shortened. Hareccans had three fingers on each hand to go with their thumbs.
History[]
In recent years the Hareccans are leading a coalition of other races against the Taxons who had attacked an Hareccan ally. By 535 A.A. the Terran ship, The Cutty Sark was deployed to open first contact with the Hareccans. Initially the Hareccan commander of the system that the Terran ship visited looked at the humans in contempt and their Troodon allies, though upon seeing their trade goods, the silicon computer chips, the Hareccans then allowed trade talks to begin. From there the Hareccan allowed the Terrans to join their Alliance.
Over the course of the Taxon War, the humans had grown disillusioned with their Hareccan allies, stemming from their treatment of their allies, and especially with their treatment of prisoners of war. After the Hareccans had managed to copy the silicon computer chip schematics and produce versions of their own in vast quantities, the Terrans found that their competitive market was no longer theirs. However it was fine for the New Federation. who had been secretly ordering their military and economic centers to withhold their advance technological capabilities from the Hareccans. After some years spent as an Alliance member, the New Federation made the decision to pull out and make a peaceful gesture to the Taxon Empire.
The Hareccans accepted the Terrans decision to withdraw, having never been impressed with the "lesser species" and their exit would not be perceived as a total loss in their war against the Taxons. However they ordered the rest of the Alliance species to stop trading with New Earth. Almost all races of the Alliance complied with this trade ban, save for the Gormon who secretly continued trade relations with the Terrans using the Lotharn as intermediaries.
Culture[]
The Hareccans are one of two largest powers in the galaxy.
The Hareccans view themselves as the most advanced species in the galaxy. A claim which to humans took with amused disdain it deserved. As the Hareccans occupy less than one percent of the galaxy, which was less than the percentage of Space humanity explored in their original universe, where humans had not found any aliens within the five percent of the galaxy.
Before the arrival of the Terrans, Hareccans were regarded to possess the most advanced technology. Though compared to humanity they fall behind computing chips, as the Terrans had already advanced into molecular computing while Hareccans and the rest of the spacefaring races still utilize silicon chips.
Hareccans are prejudice against bipedal species, viewing them as barbarians.
Government[]
The Hareccan Republic administers to the interests of the species. Despite being a self-proclaimed Republic, in practice, it was an oligarchy run by the twelve senior families.
The heads of the twelve families formed the Hareccan Upper Council, which supposedly answered to the House of Delegates, the body of elected representatives from all the Hareccan planets. In reality, it appeared that the Upper Council made the decisions, and the House of Delegates approved them as a formality.
Through the Republic, the species head Hareccan Alliance which was largely situated between New Earth and the Taxons.
The Hareccans spread their influence through their hegemonic monopoly of trade. Any new race that wants to enter the galactic market needs to be inducted as a member of the Alliance. Part of the commitment into the Alliance required member races to offer military support to the Hareccans and its allies.
While Hareccans Alliance appears to be an cooperative umbrella, Hareccans are not adverse to enslaving other races or even wiping them out like the Troodons. They had done the same to several races they had deemed not worth persisting with and had also absorbed numerous minor races into their hegemony. Those races were not necessarily enjoying the process as most of them had very limited rights, not full citizenship.
Species that join the Hareccan Alliance fundamentally involves them contributing to the military effort of the Alliance. Normally this would consist of sending a couple of warships to join a patrol squadron. When the Hareccans are at war, all members of the Alliance must contribute twice their normal peacekeeping force and preferably volunteer extra forces on top of that.
Source[]
- Taxon War by Peter Rhodan (2023)