The RAT like the DIE were introduced a few months after the game started as one of the several new Darkfold affiliations. They like the DIE were disbanded around a year later.

when the civil war broke out Samuel and his supporters were forced to leave the empire, when they did many people followed him into exile. The majority followed as they believed him to be the rightful emperor but Some however only followed as they saw an opportunity to get rich. Once the Confederacy had discovered the Darkfold periphery and began building there empire the 'entrepenurs' that had also followed formed there own organization. However the direction that they would initially take caused a lot of disagreement and within a few weeks the group had split. The hard-line criminals left to find and join the RIP, those who wanted to be Mercenaries formed the DIE. Those that wanted to be gun runners and smuggles formed the RAT.

The RAT initially was very close to the Confederacy and worked with them in helping establish there empire and in return was helped in building up there home colonies Buccaneer's Den on R'Yleigh . However once the permanent link between the Capellan and Darkfold Systems was found it was decided that the RAT should be Neutral in order to maximize its potential (and profit). Initially this was a good policy but was not really believed by the Imperials who did not trust them. The IMP classed them as Confederate Pirates and the FET viewed them as competition and neither would work with them. The RAT therefore mostly sold its services to the Confederacy, RIP, AFT & DEN which it was able to get along with. The RAT had very strong links with the BHD even after leaving the Confederacy, they signed a mutual defense pact, an agreement in technology trade and pooling of resources and data from exploration which helped both affiliations to build up there strength very quickly.

As the RAT grew in strength they established more bases of operation, at the height of there strength they had 5 colonies spread through out the galaxy. As well as there HQ colonies they had Serpents Hold, Atlantis, Entropy & Sin City. Sin City was setup in the Capellan System on Utopia, the RAT had bought an Outpost of Hypso and built the colony there. Due to the nature of the Capellan system no combat was allowed so the IMP were unable to remove it which was very frustrating for them.

As time went on the RAT slowly expanded but the need for Smugglers died out. The RAT had only focused there activities in this area, they had invested all there research into the Runner ship class which was perfectly suited for there kind of work. Now they were facing inactivity and unemployment. Using ships supplied by the Confederacy they branched out as Mercenaries only to find that they had invested resources to break into an already drained market, the DIE affiliation who were better suited was having great trouble finding work as it is so what chance had the RAT.

A deal with the RIP came at an opportune time, the RIP were planning a small scale invasion and the RAT would help in the transport of the supplies. After completing there mission the RAT sent a ship to collect the 600,000 stellars the pirates owed them however upon arriving the ship was destroyed by the pirates ending the RAT's and RIP's friendship.

The RAT were always taking the initiative and finding new ways to survive and do things and as time went by this survivalist instinct kept them alive. When the FET captured the RAT Runner 'Cosmic Joke' the RAT knowing they could not recapture it without risk to there own dwindling fleet enlisted the help of a CIA colony to build a Limpet Mine (the only one ever to exist) to blow up the ship, it was never used but it was a good example of the RAT's creativity in order to get a job done.

However in the end with no work the RAT lost focus and ended up rejoining the confederacy. Most of there assets were taken over by the growing CIA who were keen to get there hands on the Runner ship design which they used to build the newer improved Runner that is active to this day. RAT captains finally had a new direction and enjoyed an active dangerous life that they had always wanted in the service of Samuel.

RAT Abilities:-

1) The RAT can cloak ships for 6 TU's per turn without using Korondite.

2) All 4Tu transactions take 3Tu's due to the RAT expertise at moving stuff around.

3)The RAT operated the Runner 4/32/17 B.S.1.1 that could cloak for 12tu's

2) The RAT can setup Black markers

All info on the RAT was supplied by John Furniss, many thanks :)

Any comments please send to:- Flagritz@hotmail.com