Taar

Taar are one of two warring antagonists in Dark Colony, representing the aliens who wish to seize Mars and Earth.

Overview
The Taar, as the aliens call themselves, are a race of interstellar wanderers seeking a new home. Their planet has been ravaged by a plague which left them close to extinction.

Nebres Warship-T had spent the past 500 years searching for a new home before settling on the outskirts of a suitable solar system. A contingent of four ships were dispatched to investigate the blue-green planet, third from the sun, to determine if it proved suitable for coloization. The fleet of saucers arrived in the summer of 1947 and despite losing one member of their team somewhere in the New Mexico desert, they have since remained undetected while continuing their medical and technological research on mankind and their planet. The colonization of Earth was not a practical solution, due to mankind's wonderful job of plundering all natural resources and poisoning the environment beyond repair. Taar scout ships have been secretly conducting bio-research on how to defeat Earthlings and claim Mars before the humans do.

Undamaged, undefended, and with plenty of natural resources, the red planet would make an ideal new home, if it only were habitable. It took the human discovery of Petra-7, a Martian universal energy source, to make the terra-forming of this planet feasible. Mankind's most ambitious project was underway. The aliens watched and waited... It is now 2137. Mars has been transformed into a lush, vibrant planet that could sustain life, and the humans have commenced their colonization plans. The time was ready for the TAAR to move into their new home.

The Taar have also found the same ruins and artifacts on Mars that the Humans have. More shocking than that, is the rumor that not only are the artifacts able to evoke destructive power for whoever discovers them, but that there are more artifacts hidden somewhere in the underground catacombs of the ancient ruins.

The Taar have one goal: to destroy any foothold the humans establish on Mars while searching for "Portalis," an ancient portal that when re-activated, becomes a doorway to gather together the scattered remnants of the Taar species. They will then be ready for the real battle: the war for Earth.

Organization
The Taar are a psionic, communal species. While individuals exist, a hive mind connects all grays into one within a given clan. Inductions into a clan or the Taar High Council are possible, leading to the joining of the mind of one Taar with others.