The first question is of course: What is an Avatar? An Avatar is a person (like a Federation Admiral) or something similar (like a directive for the Borg) which you can chose beside your race. These Avatar will then grant you new units or special bonuses.
Here are a few Avtaras. Every race will have two Avatars to chose in Beta3, but there will be additional ones in later betas.
Fleet Admiral Mayson - United Federation of Planets
Directive: Perfection - The Borg Collective
TaQ'roja - Klingon House of DurasHow to select an Avatar
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12345[/color][ol type=\'1\'][*]First off, you select your race as always. Till now you - and your enemy - don't see anything about what Avatar you are going to use.[*]As soon as you are in the game, you will notice that you only start with a Starbase and a Scout. If you select your Starbase you will find a menu to chose your Avatar. In the description of each Avatar you can see what special bonuses it can offer and what new ships you will get.[*]If you have chosen one, a information message will pop up and now you can begin to construct up your base as always.[*]Soon you will notice that some things have changed. In this example B'rel is equipped with a Torpedo Launcher, which is a special ability of Warchief TaQ'roja.[*]And finally some Veqlaragh and Chargh Class vessels, the 2 new starship classes which can be built if you chose TaQ'roja from the House of Duras as your Avatar.[/ol]Note: The stats of these vessels may change until the releaseOptec