Weird, seems that my original upload of this artwork is gone, going to go ahead and re-post it, if the old post reappears I'll likely delete this one. well, we'll see what happens.
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Warning: wall-o-text to follow!
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The Kepler (though they refer to themselves as the "Rothal") are Physically powerful species native to the planet Kemi, which Humans have referred to in the past as Kepler 22b, hence why most humans still refer to the species as the Kelper simply out of habit. They have the distinction of being the first alien civilization ever encountered by Humans and as such the second to ever develop FTL travel.

Home world: Kemi is a terrestrial world 2 1/2 times the size of Earth with an average surface temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit, and located 620 light-years from our own world. The planet boasts a wide variety of different biomes. However, with all that said, what Kemi is most notorious for is it's impressively large menagerie of deadly and nightmarish predatory species.

Physiology: The Kepler are a Mammalian species averaging between 7'-8' in height with broad shoulders, barrel-chest. They have a large, dense bone structure to support their powerful musculature, as well as provide additional protection as their rib cage is comprised of flattened, and overlapping ribs with additional 'floating' ribs within the abdomen as well. It should be noted that the Kepler's brain is not located in their head, rather it is located along the spine below the shoulder blades, their brain is protected not only by a dense skull-like bone casing, but also the Kepler have an additional small shell over this area composed of several layers of hardened dentin and enamel (you can't see the shell from this angle in the picture). The Kepler possess powerful arms and legs with disproportionately large, opposable claws for hands and feet, based on fossil records the Kepler are believed to have evolved from a burrowing species similar to Earth's moles, and these features may have been originally for digging. Kepler also have an equally disproportionately small head atop a long neck with large eyes, bat-like ears, and a long, narrow snout full of sharp hooked teeth. The Kepler have a remarkably fast cellular regeneration able to quickly recover from serious injuries including regrowing severed limbs, tail, and even their head will regrow if severed, however, it seems that this does not completely extend to the torso as injuries here can become much more crippling and among the elderly of their species this ability becomes severely diminished.

Society: As mentioned previously, Fossil records on Kemi suggest that the Kepler likely evolved from an ancient, burrowing species, and while Kepler societies are as varied and diverse as Humans, certain traits of that distant origin can still be seen across the species. As one major example, Kepler cities generally build downward rather than upward. Kepler cities are comprised of a network of underground galleries which serve as central areas with living and working spaces running along it's sides, these galleries are then interconnected by a seemingly labyrinthine network of tunnels. The city's 'surface district' (i.e. the area directly above the city) is largely comprised of warehouses, venting for the city's ventilation systems as well as to release smoke from it's industries, transit hubs (airports, train stations, etc...), as well as housing their military garrison(s). Another possible callback to the Kepler's ancestry is the prevalence of mild agoraphobia found across the species many societies. Just as many humans prefer open spaces (as seen in many examples of human architecture and urban design) Kepler prefer small, enclosed spaces, such that many visitors to kepler settlements or have been aboard a Kepler ship typically describe them as 'claustrophobic'. In fact, when in a large, open space for an extended time will cause most kepler to become anxious and nervous. Because of this behavior, many people tend to have a false impression of Kepler as being a neurotic and cowardly species.

First Contact: Even before first contact, the Kepler already had a largely industrialized civilization, with powered flight, mass-scale industry, computers and even a few Kepler nations already had fledgling space programs. It was during this time that Humans launched the Beagle probe to study Kepler 22b. The Beagle probe was brought about by the limits of FTL travel at that time, using the FTL systems of that era, it would still mean travel to the Kepler 22 system would take four years each way, and at a time when artificial gravity would not yet be developed and rotating segments proved too problematic to see large-scale use meant that an unmanned probe was the only practical solution at that time. The probe's original mission was to travel to Kepler 22b, orbit the planet for 2 years sending down unmanned lander to gather surface data, then travel back to human space to transmit it's findings. as destruction of the probe would mean data would be lost, it's primitive AI was programmed with a sense of self-preservation, if it should feel threatened, it would abort the mission and return with what findings it had. After six months in orbit the Beagle probe collided with a Kepler weather satellite, and it's self-preservation routine kicked in and aborted the mission. This discovery brought an uproar to not just Earth, but all of humanity was in an uproar. This lead to the launching of the Ambassador 1 probe to travel back to Kepler 22b, to make formal first contact with the Kepler, this would then be followed by the Ambassador 2, 3, & 4 probes which allowed humans and Kepler to exchange information between each other about their respective species, including the knowledge of FTL travel which the Kepler quickly used to explore and colonize their own local star cluster. When FTL travel had become advanced enough to make a manned mission to the Kepler System viable, it was considered a momentous occasion and was seen as the moment when both Humans and Kepler had truly become an interstellar people.