The Kamori

The Kamori developed on the second world orbiting the Red Giant primary of a binary star system.  The other primary, a distant pulsar, provided only intermittent radiation baths across the surface of their cool desert world.  Vegetation and animal life adapted and thrived in rocky outcrops, caves, and other similarly sheltered areas carved out by the seasonal winds.  With little warmth to render much moisture airborne, most of the planetary water supply remained subsurface, accessible as underground lakes in large caves.  With the surface of the planet bathed in radiation, the native flora and fauna have a radiation tolerance several magnitudes greater than that of most other races encountered.

The Kamori themselves are an evolved form of hexapod.  A simple description for Terran references would be a six-legged tailless bearcat with an armadillo like shell of sand polished shell with six claws capable of ripping through sandstone to get to water and buried “sand bunnies” at the end of three long toes with two opposable dew claws.  Kamori males range between 1.9 meters to 2.5 meters long and approximately 180 kg to 230 kg in weight.   Females are about 80-percent of this size and give birth to 2-4 cubs per litter after a 185-day gestational period.  Kamori grow to functional adult status within 5 years and are assigned mentors within their clan to teach them additional appropriate skills suited for their abilities.

Komari Clans

With resources scarce and competition fierce on their homeworld, the Kamori race divided into several clans, each of which has its own internal government, policies, agenda, and philosophies.  These differences extend into their military as well, despite having the same overall technical base (TL 0).  Each fleet is built according to their clan ideology with tactics that make the most of their capabilities. 
Generally, the Kamori clans will war amongst themselves for resources and dominance unless an external threat to their species appears at which time the clans will band their fleets together with fearsome effect.

Enemy boarders suffer from the radiation levels of the Kamori ships unless well armored and equipped for radioactive environments.  Unprotected marines will suffer one ‘squad casualty' per turn while on-board a Kamori ship.  Kamori trade vessels have specially shielded areas for non-native passengers and sensitive cargo.  As a rule however, most travelers prefer other means of transport than a Kamori trade ship.

(Clan names have been rendered into English due to Kamori's inability to be written or pronounced by terran languages.)

Farstriker Clan-
The Farstriker Clan favor striking from long range, softening their prey up before closing in for the kill.  Their ships are designed to fire salvos of long range missiles (strikers/seekers) backed by medium-long range energy beams with only average speed and defenses. 

While the energy weapon mounts are not particularly powerful, they are sufficiently numerous and strong enough to coup de grace ships damaged by the initial missile strikes. The Battlecruiser is the clan capitol ship of choice with both a dedicated missile carrier and fighter carrier providing additional long range punch.  Farstriker clan ships do not carry shipboard marines and are susceptible to boarding actions, assuming that an enemy survives to get close enough to make the attempt.

In a combined clan fleet scenario, the Farstriker Clan provides a solid long range strike capability and fighter element.

Stoneshell Clan-
The Stoneshell clan favor building ships with heavy defenses at the expense of speed and range.  They simply absorb the damage being directed against them until within range of the enemy with their energy torpedoes and plasma bolters.

The Battleship is the clan capitol ship of choice, being able to sustain substantial damage as well as carrying enough weapon mounts to inflict a disproportionate amount of carnage for its tonnage.  Stoneshell clan ships always carry a compliment of marines to repel boarders.

In a combined clan fleet scenario, the Stoneshell Clan provides the main battle line and defensive elements.  As one Terran officer observed, “these critters invented hey diddle diddle right up the middle” as a battlefield tactic.

Sandknife Clan-
The Sandknife clan favors stealth and speed, seeking to bleed their foes with slashing attacks before closing in for the kill.  As a result, their ships have few defenses and less weapons than the other clans though their ships are at least twice, if not more, faster than comparative vessels.  The weapons they do have are placed to fire oblique and broadside arcs to facilitate their favored raking tactics.

The Fast Cruiser is the clan ship of choice, with speed approaching that of most fighters  and a good selection of weaponry it is well suited for the fast slashing tactics favored of the clan.

In a combined clan fleet scenario, the Sandknife Clan provides a fast reaction and flanking force. Able to quickly close with the enemy and then break away, they can strip an enemy formation of its escort vessels and fighter screen creating dangerous weaknesses in the enemy fleet that the other clans can exploit to their best advantage.