| Tamaran | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| Created by | Marv Wolfman |
| In story information | |
| Type | Planet |
| Notable people | Starfire Blackfire |
| Notable races | Tamaraneans |
Tamaran is a fictional planet in DC Comics, inhabited by Tamaraneans, an extraterrestrial race. The first Tamaranean introduced was Koriand'r, better known as Starfire. The only other named Tamaraneans are Komand'r, Starfire's sister (also known as Blackfire), her younger brother Ryand'r and her parents, Myand'r and Luand'r. (In the Teen Titans animated series, Galfore, Starfire's "k'norfka", the equivalent of a nanny, appears as well, though her parents do not.) The planet was destroyed in a war, along with Starfire's parents and many of its people. However, enough evacuated that they were able to settle on a new planet, though that planet was also destroyed. The most recent Tamaranean home was the planet Karna.
Before its destruction, Tamaran had not one ruling family, but rather many ruling families. When the planet was led to war by the Citadel race, Starfire's parents became the planet's sole ruling family. However, Blackfire later seized control from her parents. Blackfire has since been the ruler of the Tamaranean people, even after the repeated destruction of their home world.
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Tamaraneans are golden-skinned humanoid people who descended from a feline-like race. Tamaraneans traditionally worship the goddess X'Hal. Tamaraneans have the power to convert ultraviolet radiation into energy for flight with the females producing a distinctive contrail that seems to flow from their hair. They are ruled by their emotions and were renowned as excellent warriors. Both Starfire and Blackfire gained the ability to fire "starbolts", beams of energy, as a result of experiments performed by the Psions.
The Tamaraneans used scientific skills to make Tamaran a tropical paradise where man and nature stood side by side. The Tamareaneans fought a war with the Citadel for a century until princess Komand'r gave up secrets which resulted in a major loss on the part of the Tamareans. After this, King Myand'r agreed to a treaty in which the Citadel would leave the planet alone, but Tamaran would give up their warrior culture in favor of a more agricultural living. As well, Princess Koriand'r was given up for slavery to the Citadel. The Citadel was defeated by the Omega Men and Tamaran was plunged into civil war. This was ultimately resolved with Komand'r being given command of the planet.
In the Relaunch it is unknown how much of the universe has changed, but there have been significant changes in the history and culture of the Tamaranean people. Komand'r is said to have sold her sister for the safety of Tamaran from the Citadel, it's current state is unknown. A major change is that, Tamaraneans are said to only view humans as sensory experiences to the point they forgets them if not around the person. It's also said, they do not to believe emotions are apart of the sexual experience, recreational or reproduction wise.[1]
The Tamaranean People have visited the planet earth on multiple occasions as explained by Crux, as he lost his parents to a War Cruiser crashing into their car. Another example of his research is he found a Tamaranean Transsubstantiator in an ancient Mayan temple, he uses it to drain Starfire's power and left by Crux as a "human".[2]
In the Teen Titans animated series, the only area of Tamaran shown appears as a barren, mountainous wasteland (a stark contrast to the lush, tropical climate of its comic book counterpart), although Starfire thinks it looks lovely. Additionally, Starfire's parents and younger brother Ryand'r are never seen, though her guardian, Galfore, does appear in the episode "Betrothed". In the same episode, Blackfire is seen as the ruler of Tamaran. Also in the animated series, Tamaraneans go through a second puberty known as the "Transformation" at around the time of the first, human-like adolescence. This process creates temporary random mutations in the Tamaranean's body, as told in "Transformation" that can range from turning purple for two days (Blackfire), or a series of gruesome changes that end in growing a chrysalis for a short period (Starfire). When her Transformation is complete, Starfire's body is returned to normal with the newfound ability to fire a starbolt out of her eyes. The animated Tamaraneans also have a prehensile tongue and nine stomachs.
Ryand'r plays an integral part in issue #46 of the Teen Titans Go! comic series, in which his name is translated as "Wildfire". The same comic series reveals that Tamaran once had an ecosystem like the mainstream comics, but the subsequent Gordanian invasion reduced it to the barren wasteland seen in "Betrothed".
In the animated series, Starfire's abilities of flight, superhuman strength and starbolts are common to all Tamaraneans, being racial abilities rather than the result of Psion experiments (which is confirmed in issue #46 of Teen Titans Go!, the tie-in comic book series). All of their powers are tied into their emotional state; starbolts are fueled by fury, strength by confidence, and flight by joy.
In the animated series, Tamaraneans believe in the value of friendship. Friendship is honored in the "Blorthog" festival in which friends exchange gifts. They fear the "rekmas", the point at which friends begin drifting apart.
Tamaran's warrior culture is so prevalent in the animated series that the Tamaranean language reportedly has no word for "nice", and the nearest equivalent word translates as "weak".
Tamaraneans can also learn any language by "lip contact". In the episode Go!, upon arriving on Earth and being freed from handcuffs, Starfire kisses Robin to learn English. She uses the same method to learn Japanese from a Japanese boy in the movie Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo.