Repetrans are a humanoid race with apparent reptilian ancestry. Originally repetrans lived in clans, and when crises threatened the clans would come together under one leader, determined by a battle ascension through the various clans. Then when the crisis was over, the clans would drift apart again. There are legends of a time before the clans, when all repetrans were united under one banner, when they were known as "Space Avengers" with dread by all the races of the galaxy...but that time is gone. With it, too, into the past has gone the time of clan ascensions. Now the repetran race is split amongst the stars, ekeing out their lives on a hundred barren worlds, choking under the yoke of oppresive conquerors.
The repetrans have always been inclined to battle. The highest honors are recognitions of fighting prowess. Repetrans honor particularly valiant foes with the ritual Laknasc, or devouring of brain to absorb the strength and cunning of one's enemy. Repet ran society is built around the idea of freedom within rank, reflecting the military even in provate life: the higher 'ranks' give the individuals under their command great leeway, but those underneath are expected to obey instantly commands from above. This makes Repetran tactics rather confusing, as units will fight as an organized group of individuals rather than as one unified force. Individual initiative is vital to the repetran sense of accomplishment on the battlefield and thus over instructive leaders are not common.
The repetran empire once covered a full third of the galaxy, and every single repetran is painfully aware of how far they have fallen: the oral history is taught to them when they first learn to speak. They learn how the Light Age ended with the disappearance of the repetrans' great foes, the so-called Space Seekers, how the Repetran military went on to conquer hundreds of worlds, and how the military machine ground to a halt when met with no resistance. The repetrans grew soft in their empire, enjoying the other races as food and slaves too much to pay attention to what was happening outside the empire. Meanwhile, the galactic custodians left behind by the Seekers, arrogantly calling themselves "Star Knights", built up their forces with technology plundered from abandoned Seeker stations, craft, and worlds, creating a vast fighting force of idiots with no understanding of science or the honor of the battlefield. As the repetran military deteriorated, the clans regained ascendancy and slowly became aware of the burgeoning might of the Star Knights.
Seeing this as a new challenge, the repetrans united under the Garskal clan's champion, one Lazu, to take the battle to the stars once again. Confident of their superior technology and fighting prowess, based upon the versatility of the personal ratsarudnem fighter craft, the repetran went forth to do battle with the upstarts...and found defeat when the Star Knights used treacherous methods to overcome their forces. The Star Knights released toxins into the repetran atmosphere in a suicide mission. The repetran defenders ground their brains into the dust -- a sign of contempt for one's enemy, denying the foe's honor -- but it was already too late. The plague transformed the population of the home world into docile mutants and left the remaining repetran forces without leaders to control the war's direction.
The repetrans have fought on for years still, as the Star Knights inevitably hunt them down, denying them honorable deaths, forcing them to the purgatory of servitude. Some independent planets remain, free from Star Knight control. Most of them are back wards worlds with no military strength, but some have communities of like-minded refugees from other worlds, ready to take the battle to the Star Knights once again...