Cervan Empire

The Cerva are an offshoot of the Vulcan race, originating soon after the Time of Awakening. They are the biological cousins of both the Vulcans and the Romulans. Though they have no official home planet, their capital planet is called Adelira. Their territory lies just past the Romulan Star Empire, inside the Beta Quadrant. Though significantly less powerful than the United Federation of Planets, the Romulan Star Empire, or the Commonwealth of Independent Systems, the Cervan Empire is a strong political and military power.

The Time of Awakening

 * Main Article: Time of Awakening

During the Vulcan Time of Awakening, several groups of Vulcans who did not agree with Surak's teachings left the planet on board large generation-ships. The Travelers left Vulcan in search of new homeworlds, where they could practice their own beliefs as they chose.

The Journey Begins
At first, the Travelers kept their ships together in a large group. Soon, however, it became apparent that the journey was too dangerous for all of the ships to travel as one unit, and ships began to break off and continue on their own. Most of these ships were lost to accidents or attacks. One ship, commanded by a group of particularly aggressive Travelers, managed to avoid this fate. However, it would face troubles of its own.

Disaster
The lone Traveler ship was struck by a rare disease that devastated the male population while leaving the female population healthy. With their population cut nearly in half and most of their breeding stock gone, the Travelers feared that their journey was at a premature end. Despite this near certain end, the Travelers forged ahead, determined to continue. Soon, though, with few people to make repairs and perform maintenance, the ship began to fall into disrepair.

Assistance
Soon after the tragedy on the Travelers' ship, they encountered a sympathetic, kind species manning a living starship. This kind species invited the Travelers on board their own ship, providing food, shelter, and medical care. The Travelers initially grateful for this help, aware that without the assistance of these people, they would not have survived.

Rise of the Cerva
After a time, the female Travelers became restless. The living starship was not going where they wanted to go, and they were beginning to feel un-welcomed by the ship's existing crew. The Travelers decided to take over the living starship. During an intense battle for control of the ship, nearly all of the remaining male Travelers and all of the female aliens were killed. The Travelers kept the alien males for breeding stock, and a new species emerged. They called themselves the Cerva.

The Cerva soon found the breeding ground of the living starships and forged a pact with them, forming a symbiotic relationship. Ship and Cerva alike quickly became masters of the art of war. The bioships learned how to form weapons and armor on their outer hulls, as well as shield generating technology while the Cerva learned to telepathically bond with the living starships, becoming pilots of unmatched power and grace.

First Contact with the Romulans
In 2380, Romulan warbirds encountered the Cervan bioships, and the resulting skirmish ignited a decades-long feud between the two cousin races. The Romulans felt entitled to the space that the Cerva had claimed as their own, and the Cerva felt that the Romulan Star Empire was encroaching on their territory. Skirmishes escalated to a state of war that would last into the 25th century.

The Cervan Conflict
Soon after its first contact with the Romulans, the Cervan Empire discovered a joint Federation-Romulan starbase, Starbase Republic, in their space, in orbit above the planet Timorel. The Cerva considered the planet Holy Ground and promptly declared war on the Federation. During the war, Starfleet Command assigned the only Cervan officer in Starfleet to Starbase Republic, prompting further aggression against the station from the Cerva. Though the war was relatively short, it was a brutal war the prompted a small sect of Cerva to defect, forming the Cervan Republic.

The Cervan Conflict came to an abrupt end when the Cerva realized that, despite their military prowess, they could not defeat Starfleet in battle.

An Uneasy Peace
Though the Cervan Empire maintained its feud with the Romulan Star Empire, they entered into a state of uneasy peace with the rest of the major powers in the early 2380's. This peace, though strained, kept relations between the Federation and the Cervan Empire relatively calm. They also maintained a casual peace with the Cervan Republic, despite having fought against them during the Cervan Conflict.

Second Dominion War
When the Second Dominion War began in the 2390's, the Cervan Empire chose to side with the Dominion because of their similar admiration of the art of war. Again, the Cervan Empire and the Federation were at war. The Cervan Republic, on the other hand, sided with the Federation and her allies, leading to a further split between the two Cervan governments.

Reunification
After the end of the Second Dominion War in 2400, the Cervan Empire and the Cervan Republic reunited under the Cervan Empire flag. Though some feuds carried over from their time spent fighting on opposite sides, the Cervan Reunification was a time of prosperity and hope. The Cervan people settled in the territory that they'd controlled for centuries, finally selecting a capital planet. For a time, the planet was referred to as "Cerva Prime" before a final name was selected. The final name selected for the Cervan capital world was Adelira, which means "home" in the Cervan language.

Society
The Cerva are a matriarchal society, with only women allowed to hold government offices and to serve in the military. Male Cerva serve primarily as breeding stock and servants, and there is an active sex slave trade within the Cervan Empire. Class and marriage hold distinct places in Cervan society, with married women held in higher esteem and men of high classes often used to gain power through marriage. The Cerva are a warrior race, revering war as a form of art.

Government
The Cervan Empire is led by Empress Eneas Adonia. All of the government officials in the Empire are female, as males are seen as weak, soft, and unable to lead. Though the Cervan Empire has other high-level political offices, the word of the Empress can overrule any of them and overturn any laws. This can sometimes lead to chaotic times for the Cerva.

Military
Serving in the military is considered the highest Cervan honor, as it offers female Cerva the opportunity to bond with one of the living starships. Though only pilots and commanders share a deep bond with the bioships, all female Cerva on board the ship have at least a small bond with the creature.

Masters of the art of war, the Cerva are a formidable opponent on any battlefield. Though a large amount of this skill comes from intense training, it seems that at least some of it is "bred into" the female Cerva, as some take more easily to it than others.

Religion
The Cerva are a polytheistic people, worshipping a large collection of gods and goddesses. Because of this, priestesses are held in high regard, ranking directly below government and military officials. Though the overwhelming majority of Cerva practice this religion, the Empire maintains no position on on official religion, and the Cervan people are free to practice any religion they would like.

Naming Conventions
Similar to Japanese and Bajoran names, the Cervan family name is placed before the personal name. Military ranks are placed at the very end of the name. Cervan officers dealing directly with Starfleet may choose to introduce themselves with their rank first to avoid confusion, but they will almost never rearrange their name to please others.

In marriage, the male takes the female's family name.

Biology
The Cerva are a Vulcanoid people, cousin to the Vulcans and Romulans. Due to interbreeding with another race at the beginning of their development, certain genetic markers make the Cerva entirely unique.

Appearance
Female Cerva tend to be near six feet in height with average weights for such height, while the males are typically smaller and lighter. Like their Vulcan and Romulan cousins, the Cerva have a very slight green cast to their complexion. The Cervan ear is delicately pointed, revealing their Vulcan ancestry, but not so drastic as the Vulcan ear. Cerva may have eyes of any color, and the color is the same from birth. Silver eyes appear only in females, often signifying a particularly dominant personality, and gold eyes appear in only males, often signifying a particularly submissive personality. Hair colors run the spectrum from blonde to black, with dark hair more prominent than light hair.

Senses
Cerva have hearing and visual acuity on par with their Vulcan cousins. Like the Vulcans, female Cerva have a slightly heightened sense of smell. Though the Cerva are highly sensitive to touch, they seem to have a fairly high pain tolerance.

Telepathy
Telepathy has been observed only in the female of the species, a fact that puzzles even the Cervan scientists. It is not clear why males do not possess the natural telepathic talent. In the majority of Cervan females, this telepathy is mild, enabling them to sense strong emotion and, upon touching someone, to perform something akin to the Vulcan mind meld. In a minority, however, the telepathic ability is very strong, more similar to Betazoid telepathy than Vulcan. There is no explanation for this phenomenon.

Mating Bond
The Cervan mating bond is an extension of the telepathy exhibited by the female of the species. A female Cerva will telepathically bond the male of her choosing to her, which is the Cervan equivalent to marriage. Though this bond can be broken, to do so is often considered sacrilegious. The telepathic bond soon develops to include a physical bond, making it difficult, and sometimes impossible, for a mated pair to be apart for long periods of time.

Mother-Child Bond
A Cervan mother often has a telepathic bond with her children. Though weaker and not of the same nature as the mating bond, it is a similar process.

Commander/Pilot-Starship Bond
Commanders and pilots of the living starships are often deeply bonded to the ships. Pilots become so deeply bonded to their ships that they cannot leave the vessel of their own free will and will often die if forcibly removed. When a living starship dies or is killed, its pilot often dies as well. Though a commander can survive the destruction of her vessel, it can be extremely difficult to move on and bond with a new ship.

Technology
The Cerva are both scavengers and inventors. They will often adapt other species technology to work with their living starships and are constantly working to improve their designs. The ships themselves can also invent new technologies to adapt to a situation, designing and developing new weapons and engines on the fly.

Living Starships
A typical mature Cervan bioship is roughly the size of an Intrepid class starship, making them fast, maneuverable, and extremely deadly. Immature ships are not used in battle; they are instead used as supply ships. Some mature bioships grow to such large sizes that they are called "worldships". These worldships are often very old and not very maneuverable. Worldships are used as Cervan colony "worlds" or for long voyages that may require a generation ship. Use of these worldships as permanent homes has fallen out of favor, as the Cervan Empire now controls several planets.

Bio-mechanical Cloaking Device
The Cervan Empires most impressive technological development is the bio-mechanical cloaking device. This cloaking device is immune to standard cloak detection technologies and nearly impossible to penetrate. It leaves no detectable background radiation, making a cloaked bioship very difficult to find.



Cerva Serving in Starfleet
Only one Cerva has ever served in Starfleet, Clio Scott (formerly Eneas Clio). Clio Scott transferred into the Strategic Services Agency for a number of years, but has since returned to Starfleet proper in command of the USS Angha.