Arboreal creatures who turned to cave-dwelling to survive the environmental disaster that plunged their homeworld Verrold into a deep ice age, the Yoral are adept at using their survival skills to carve out self-sufficient colonies on worlds that most other races would dismiss as uninhabitable. The Yoral are organized into regional clans, answering to a central khagan.

Blunt and direct, equally slow to forgive a slight or forget a favor, the Yoral conduct their affairs with a confidence and ferocity that belies their small size. They prefer technologies that are simple and reliable -- kinetic weapons over exotic energy beams, for example. Their fleets are rugged and often consist of large numbers of smaller vessels that can be replaced quickly and cheaply when the need arises.