The Hsssttsk
A White Paper
By: Paul Hollingsworth

At the very nadir of the Federation Treaty Zone, in an unexplored region of space, lies an unimpressive star system with three planets. The star is a category F2 star, hot and bright. All three planets are within the star’s Habitability Zone; the first planet just within the inner boundary, the other two farther out in the system.

Sentient life evolved on the first planet--a hot, humid, tectonically unstable place. The Hsssttsk (translated as "The People") are reptilian in form with a violent culture. The Hsssttsk are voracious carnivores and prefer their food still alive. Cannibalism, especially of the injured, is common. They have bred another lifeform, called Ghugh ("Food"), and keep these smaller reptilian creatures in large fenced pens on every continent.

There are four castes: The Queens, Guidons, Warriors and Drones.

Queens are omnipotent and must be obeyed immediately. Other than giving orders their prime function is to produce eggs—hundreds at a time. These eggs are separated from the Queen and fed a special diet which will turn them into one of the four castes.

Guidons make the Queens’ wishes and desires reality. They, in the name of The Queen, control the other two castes, and are the scientists, politicians, accountants and administrators of the planet. Their position is roughly equivalent to a "white collar worker."

Warriors are slightly larger in size and are quick, agile and fearless. They fight to the death and will suicide rather than be captured by a rival.

The Drones are simple-minded slaves who exist only to serve The Queen, Guidons and Warriors.

When a new Queen is hatched she is guarded carefully by Warriors until she is able to establish her own Swarm (the name for the followers of a particular Queen). At that time she is taken to another locality as far from her birth Swarm as possible and provided a nucleus of Guidons to serve her and mate with her. The new Queen rapidly builds another Swarm to do her bidding.

The Hsssttsk developed spaceflight in order to expand their population to the other two planets in the system. Continued population pressures have resulted in the development of faster-than-light travel and the Hsssttsk are now leaving their home system with the imperative to expand their species—by conquest.

No other information on the Hsssttsk is available and this report is based upon broad conjecture and the result of a single archeological discovery on an orphaned planet far outside the FTZ.