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[Edit: sorry I realize I should have put this in the new races thread", I'm just sleepy now].
Introduction - Crustacean-like amnesiacs with a talent for zoo-keeping.
Homeworld - A huge almost totally barren planet containing a huge interstellar zoo.
A reason for leaving the home planet - To find out who they are and who made them who they are. And because they're afraid the people who did that might come back.
Physical description - Covered in crab-like exoskeleton they have a 3m long by 1m wide base with 6 legs from which rises a torso with two arms ending in a four -sided claw. Colour varies from bright red to greenish-orange. Technically egg-laying, although the young emerge minutes after laying.
Social Structure - Fundamentally egalitarian with only a little desire for dominance over other Kla-Lak. Family groups are large (10-50) and households include up to second cousins.
History - One day the Kla-Lak woke up to find themselves in giant cage filled with what they now assume are plants native to their homeworld. They have no memory of how they got there or what they were or did before then. Breaking out of the cage they found a huge complex of cages and sealed habitats containing creatures from vastly different ecosystems, from lava pools to methane ice environments that heated to room temperature every 5 years. They called it "the zoo" for apparently they still had memory of their (or someone eles's) language. The place was apparently automated but any attempt to break into the machines to see how they worked caused them to dissolve in grey dust. They can listen and point sensors at them though and so learn something. Perhaps a security measure to prevent people figuring out who ran the place? Exploring the planet they found found a big barren almost-wasteland. They would have starved if they hadn't figured out how to get into the more useful habitats for resources. Figuring out which ones were useful and which ones dangerous was a bit hit-and-miss, some were both. Using scrounged resources from they set up a civilization and figured out how to farm, make factories etc. Researching their memory loss they discovered strange structures in their brain that allow their memories to be wiped externally. With research and meditation they discovered they could wipe their own memories of specific things either permanently or for a number of hours. They also learned how to protect themselves from outside "wipes" or so they believed. Who knows if it actually works or not?
Race Attributes - Kla-Lak can blank out their own memories permanently or for limited times. This makes espionage against them incredibly difficult. Even telepaths have been known to come away empty handed. Also slightly better than average at espionage because they can forget they're doing it, making them very calm and believable for much of the mission. Their efforts to tame a world unsuited to them and their observation of different habitats give bonuses to planetology techs. They start out with a world that's poor in food but has Artifacts (the zoo). Very good at producing food (because in the initial years they had to be). Also very brave (because in the early years they had to be) giving a slight ground combat advantage.
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