Thunderians

The Thunderians are a race of humanoid cats that live on Third Earth

History
The origins of the Cat race may have developed across the galaxy, thousands of years ago, before the species landed on Third Earth. It is unknown what planet they were originally from, but at a time they once served and were ruled by Mumm-Ra the ever Living. Mumm-Ra found the species to have great potential as he stated that their kind is most cunning. He gave them superior authority over the other animals believing that they "inspire fear" in them, allowing the cats to enslave the animals and assist Mumm-Ra in controling the galaxy, in order to search for a War Stone (later the eye of Thundera), while accompanying him on his ship, the Black Pyramid. This came to an end when Leo, a young Lion, lead a rebellion against Mumm-Ra, in order to free the other animals from his tyranny. In doing so the Sword of Omens was forged with the warstone, now called The Eye of Thundera, with Leo (who became the first Lord of the Thundercats) as its wielder who manged to strip Mumm-Ra of his power stones. During the battle and Mumm-Ra's downfall, Mumm-Ra's ship crashed on Third Earth. The surviving Cats lead by Leo, who was now their King, built Thundera, with the exception of the Tiger Clan, which were banished because of their loyalty to Mumm-Ra. The Book of Omens, along with the power stones, were hidden to prevent anyone from obtaining such powerful artifacts. Because the War Stone was still embedded in the Sword of Omens (and was now known as the Eye of Thundera), it remained with the ThunderCats empire with Leo as its weilder and passed it down generation after generation in his family. The Spirit Stone was taken by the Elephants, who hid it through a portal in their village and the Tech Stone was taken by the Bird race (who wouldn't leave technology like the rest of the animals) to power their city in the sky, Avista.

Over the past few centuries Thundera grew into a powerful empire as it flourished across Third Earth, while stories of Mumm-Ra and technology became nothing more than a fable. However a prophecy would foretell that a King would rise among the people, who will lead them into a new age of hope and glory and defeat Ancient Spirit's of Evil (Mumm-Ra). Thunderians being more advanced than any other colony of animals controlled most of the best lands and resources leaving the rest the other animals to fight over nothing. This cemented a deep hatred for their kind, especially by another species called the Lizards. Jealous and envious of the Cats high rank and advancement, this lead to the Lizard War. The Cats, lead by Claudus (the current king at the time and a descendant of Leo), defeated them with ease.

After the return of Mumm-Ra, who revealed himself to be real and aligned himself with Grune (a treachorous Thunderian) and the Lizards (promising them ultimate power and technology) the destruction and vanquish of the cats empire was fulfilled, killing Claudus in the process. Lion-O, son of Claudus, became the new lord of the Thundercats and began a search for the Book of Omens, having always believed technology and hope, he is accompanied by the newly formed Thundercats which are Tygra his adoptive brother, Cheetarathe sole survivor of the clerics (the fabled gaurdians of the crown), Panthro a highly skilled Thunderian general and two orphan cubs WilyKit and WilyKat, to find the lost power stones and unite all the other animals to overthrow Mumm-Ra as their ancestors had done in the past, thus one day fulfilling the prophecy.

In The Pit, it is shown that Pumyra was a slave in the gladiator arena called the Pit which is in a city that is inhabited by Dogs. When Pumyra is freed, she tells Lion-O that there are other Cat slaves at Mount Plun-Darr.

In Curse of Ratilla, it is shown that some of the Cat survivors were slaves that were being forced by Ratar-O to mine for the Sword of Plun-Darr. After Lion-O fended off Ratar-O, he told the slave cats to return to the ruins of Thundera and take refuge.

Appearance
The people have many feline traits. Some of these traits appear to lead to racial divisions among the Cats, as different groups have different dominating traits, such as those with and without tails. The Lion race are regarded as royalty, who control the Thunderian population.

Civilization
The Cats civilization was considered to be highly advanced, before it was vanquished. Many animal colonies were considered inadequate (in Cat's terms) through cultural and progression of advancement such as military skill and battle strategy. An example could include comparing the Thunderian Royal Army to the Lizards which was armed with primitives who used only spears, axes and clubs, had almost no metal armor and was poorly organized. Music and Games were plentiful, food and agriculture was prosperous (due to controlling the best lands and resources), architect and building strategy was superior and ranking among the cats lead to division of races and noble classes (High ranking was given to royalty such as the Lion Clan while street merchants and alley cats were simply ignored though Jaga found this ranking unnecessary when meeting Cheetara for the first time).

Species

 * Lions
 * Tigers
 * Cheetahs
 * Leopards
 * Jaguars
 * Pumas
 * Wildcats and Domestic Cats
 * Smilodons or Saber-Tooth Cats
 * Lynxs
 * Ocelots

Trivia

 * In Chris the Lion meets The ThunderCats