The Aryochi are a race of aviary bipeds with a long history of shady dealings. They have talons on their feet for gripping, though generations of handling delicate tools and electronics have reduced their hand talons to nothing. They stand typically 7 meters and run the gamut of colors.

There's a saying that fighter pilots live their lives as if a spotlight were being shone on them since birth. After all, flying solo up there, diving, rolling and all those other neat things you can do when you move in three dimensions. Well, that applies to your average Aryochi with a vengeance. Highly individualistic and competitive, working with another was left to those who couldn't take care of themselves.

As such you would imagine, the Aryochi, as a civilization, developed rather slowly. Which isn't to say that they were slow learners, by any stretch of the imagination, but "team efforts" and "sharing" were rarely heard of. By the time the Falcorians were exploring their solar system, most Aryochi as a whole were just learning of the wonders of steam power, save for the few pockets of them whose ancestors and friends' ancestors gave theme cool engine schematics to pour over and improve upon and tinker with.

This all changed, however, with the coming of the Vek. The Vek were an expansionist race who had developed in the Eribi system, and bent on establishing a galaxy spanning space empire, with them as the slavers, should any other "intelligent" race try to stop them. Seeing the Aryochi's relatively primitive civilization, they struck with very little preparation. The Aryochi, while they had exited their atmosphere in small craft fairly often, had few starships with weapons, all of which were family owned and very few.

Seeing a new threat from the stars, the news of invaders taking Aryochi as slaves spread quickly. Every family with something that could get into orbit with a weapon made a simultaneous decision to attack. The few weapons they had amongst themselves proved to be more effective than the Vek's. Luckily for them, the Vek's underestimation proved to be their downfall. Other than few snub fighters, the Vek fleet was limited to a few nearly defenseless troop carriers. Most were destroyed, but enough were captured intact to teach them about their new enemy. The returners were faced with fanfare as they landed in the largest community, Erylie.

But the news wasn't good. From studying starmaps and comparing it with their own, they determined that their enemy was quite near. And experiments with the captured ships proved that they indeed had mastered what few Aryochi were even trying: traveling faster than light. With a bit of tinkering, the few dedicated scientists of the species figured that they were about three years away with that drive.

Few slaves survived the boarding and destruction of the carriers, but their news was just as disturbing: They were to be taken as a slave race, and the Vek had no intention of stopping at anything for what they wanted. This news, coupled with the realization of even having neighbors at all, shocked the Aryochi as a whole. The same individualistic spirit that stopped them from uniting as a species for all those centuries was the thing that would end up uniting them now and keep them from the bondage of a hostile species.

Everything, literally, opened up. Knowledge that had never been seen outside the halls of a few privileged clans were available to everyone. Small "factories" that had previously only been used for little tools and crafts of other privileged factions were increased in size, refitted with the best equipment that could be mass-produced, and went to building ships. The troop carriers were also cannibalized and refitted with as many weapon batteries as possible. The next time the enemy came, they were determined to be ready. By the end of those three years, they had produced a Starfleet that would make any small, backward people beam with pride, and the Aryochi Republic was birthed.

The Vek never arrived. As it turned out, the small expeditionary force that they had sent out never reported back on their findings. The Vek leadership chalked it up to a "black hole or something". The Aryochi chalked this up to their bravery scaring them off. Both were satisfied with their answers.

The Aryochi now are a people united only by old bonds and fear. And, despite their considerable stretch of territory (including the home system of their former would-be masters, Eribi) , their government is fairly weak. The main power in the Aryochi Republic are the corporations. Their desire to out-do one another is manifested now in a system of fierce, lasseiz-faire capitalism. The desire doesn't end there. It extends to every branch of their culture. Their scientists correct and outdo each other ferociously, not necessarily out of desire for knowledge, but just to be right. This has proven very beneficial to the Aryochi people.

The world of the Aryochi are truly sights to behold. Every building is a literal sky-scraper, with flight as the main mode of travel. The frequent visitors are usually ferried around by their hosts or small repulsor devices.

As a species who move in three dimensions from birth, the Aryochi also have a deep understanding of space flight, particularly in fighter craft. There is no draft in The Republic, but they receive enough volunteers from head-strong young people that think that is a good way to rise up. Because of their often self-centered reasons and lifestyles, loyalty and morale among their ground troops is often low.

The Aryochi control the Zeldair, Eribi and Nadej systems, located in the great North Tip Asteroid Belt. This offers a nice defensive advantage, as well as giving rise to the business of refining and selling the precious ores within.