The Qaerinian Empire

The Qaerinian Empire is a civilization of blue cat-like beings that inhabits the Halaxon Cluster, approximately 4,000 light years away from Earth. The empire is based on Qaerina, the planet after which the empire was named. The Qaerinian Empire is a very bitter rival of the Coluan Empire, Brainy Barker's home empire. In fact, the two empires are currently at war with each other. The Qearinians are getting increasingly suspicious about several 150 km wide objects orbiting around some of their home system's planets and moons.

History
The Qearinian Empire has a very long history. Their civilization's age is unknown, but it's estimated to have begun roughly 62 Million Earth years ago. After several million years, the Qaerinians began to master space flight, which led them to conquer the entire Halaxon Cluster, placing them at the imperial stage of development. But this created a problem when they encountered the Coluans.

The Coluans were also on the imperial stage, but they had been there far longer than the Qaerinians. Both empires attempted to negotiate with the other, but their borders hadn't been established, so conflicts over territory began quickly, ultimately exploding into war when the Coluans invaded the Halaxon Cluster. The Coluan occupation was too brutal to go into detail, but it did lead to a counterattack from the Qaerinians, whose ships were far smaller than the Coluan ships and greatly outgunned. To compensate for this, the Qaerinians built a lot more ships so they could compete with their enemy through numbers instead of size like the Coluans.

Thus far, the Coluans have been entirely on the offensive while the Qaerinians have been forced to take the defensive. The war continues to this day.

Social Structure
The Qaerinian social structure is nothing like that of a typical empire. The Coluan Empire is aristocratic and is ruled by an emperor who is placed in power by birth. The Qaerinians also have an emperor, or empress as it is now, but their emperors are elected by the people as to prevent corruption which is a fear that the Qaerinians have had since the Coluan occupation.

There are three social classes in the Qaerinian Empire : Royal, Aid-providing, and Worker.

The Royal class are relatives, family, or friends of the Empress, currently Sckhatchitco Tachgmitnar. They are free to experience the wealth and luxury of a typical imperial ruler. Unlike other empires, the Qaerinians aren't willing to concentrate power in the executive branch. Instead, power is divided between the executive and legislative branches with each being able to check the other. Also, those from other classes are welcome to visit.

The Aid-providing class are the single purpose individuals. Their only role is to provide aid to those who cannot live life as easily as the rest. That's it on them.

The worker class are the most common of the classes. They pretty much do the work necessary for individual living and economic growth. These class members can work their way up the tree, like Sckhatchitco Tachgmitnar, dur to the flexibility of their social order.

Religion and Culture
The Qaerinians take their religion seriously, but far more so than the other empires, even the Coluans! The Qaerinian myths are chaotic and often don't make sense to anyone who's not Qaerinian. They're polytheistic, meaning they believe in many gods and goddesses. The Empress is believed to be the descendent of the supreme goddess, Takhara, the Goddess of wisdom, beauty, love, and Power, after which they named the biggest planet in their home system.

The main practice point is the Capital City on Qaerina. Every Qaerinian year, the inhabitants get together for a massive feasting event to honor Takhara and her husbnd, Talamar, the God of Strength and Power. They sing religious songs, and dance religious dances in their grace, and no one complains about being bored.

Military
This is easy to explain. The main infantry unit is a soldier called a Chihkcnahgt. The only type of ship they have is a battlecruiser, but they have a lot of them.

A popular stunt the battlecruisers perform is called Asteroid Herding. In this stunt, many battlecruisers form together into a large mass and use their combined gravity to move asteroids to their desired target. The larger the asteroid, the more battlecruisers are needed to move it. This stunt has been performed many times during the ongoing war and has even become a sport, where the target is Qaerina's moon, Skypulse.

Relations with the Dog Stars
The Dog Stars were initially lost after being hit by Mechanicat's ship as they entered a wormhole. The Qaerinians took them in, but were suspicious about Brainy Barker, as she is Coluan. After she helped save the Qaerinian Empire in a heated battle against the Coluans, Brainy and her crew were honored as heroes in the empire.