Originally developed in the so-called Rat Barrel habitat in the Old Solar System, Rat provolves spread out into the interstellar colonies rapidly, often by stowing away on board starships without the knowledge of the occupants. They are particularly common on populous worlds with exensive urban areas (especially in the MPA), but are also found among Hider and Backgrounder cultures.
The most common rat provolve is the Raffin, an upright, metre-tall sophont; other, more modified examples include flying rats, sewer-pigs , water rats (aka steerpike), bristle-spiders (which actually use facial whiskers as walking appendages),and so on.
In some parts of the Orion Arm a significant number of the more disreputable Rat provolves are associated with hedonic drug distribution and smuggling.
A very few Rat-only worlds are found in the Zoeific Biopolity; the Rats generally prefer to live on worlds colonised by other species, at least partly hidden from the main culture. Rat provolves are often found in association with, or in competition with, Ratbots.
Rat - Text by M. Alan Kazlev Any of several species of adaptable, intelligent terragen rodent. All through history rats have proved adaptable and were one of the few types of animals to thrive with the ascendence of baseline hu. Easily kept and bred, they are popular with geneers and spacers, and it is estimated that several million species have been created, hybridized, or have evolved naturally, in the period since mindkind first ventured into space. Rat splices, rat tweaks, and ratborgs have proved their worth on ships, especially relativistic and pioneer vessels, many time, and often develop into unique and indigenous ecosystems. Rat provolves are also common, although not as common as cat or dog provolves.