Fan Races!!

[KLM]

Comes with the years...

[KLM]

First, I am no way a regular user - so no real first hand
experience.

Second... Well my fiance worked as a nurse in a detox
facility - she told me many wonderfull stories about
people rotting away.
Disfuntional liver, diabetes and epilepsia are almost
automatic.

However there might be a small degree of tolerance
build-up, plus experience and self-restrain. A small
plus here, a small plus there and the overall effect of
significant.


This is getting really off.

[taalismn]

it is not related?! I didn't know that....

Burbonians.....

Skidrowians....Or, if they're a wealthy race, Champagnians....

[KLM]

For my part - forced to get up rather early - envisioned
a race of intelligent Koala Bears.

Their diet of toxic plants, in a PPE rich enviroment
awekened a high intelligence (at least when they are
on high ), with a rather powerfull psionic ability.

They have culture, which wondered to other planets,
but their bodies never left their home world, nor did
they built anything more complicated than a nest with
a roof (from branches).

However, if they are not feed on those drug-rich plants
their intellect goes down, and their psionic abilities dwindle.

A prolonged period of soberness does permanent
damage to their brain - fortunately, they are talented
psyhic healers and are living in a drugsden.

I wnated to call them the Grey Seers, but that name
is copyrighted

Adios
KLM

[KLM]

Ouch... Never liked RIFTS Australia (thought most of the
world should be radiating that postapocalyptic, "Mad Max"
feeling)...

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

For my part - forced to get up rather early - envisioned
a race of intelligent Koala Bears.

Their diet of toxic plants, in a PPE rich enviroment
awekened a high intelligence (at least when they are
on high ), with a rather powerfull psionic ability.

They have culture, which wondered to other planets,
but their bodies never left their home world, nor did
they built anything more complicated than a nest with
a roof (from branches).

However, if they are not feed on those drug-rich plants
their intellect goes down, and their psionic abilities dwindle.

A prolonged period of soberness does permanent
damage to their brain - fortunately, they are talented
psyhic healers and are living in a drugsden.

I wnated to call them the Grey Seers, but that name
is copyrighted

Adios
KLM

Astral or Ecto-Travellers with interstellar range...

I have a race of interstellar drugdealers who'd be glad to supply the little buggers, that I hope to have ready soon, but for the problems fo coming up with some good sample narcotics in their sales menu....

[taalismn]

Okay, so we start thinking of representative non-demonic species with NO socially redeeming values...Orcs have gotten a bum rap, trogldytes are family-folk...Ratlings have black market connections...Space Goblins?

[taalismn]

Palladium doesn't have Halflings...but it it does have the Larmac and the Floppers, both pretty pathetic races if not for the former's value as cannon-fodder and the latter's possible comic relief value....

[taalismn]

Talking of Neobarb races....

Gorang---New Enemy Race

“Looks like King Kong got sick and tired of being shot off buildings and decided to take a turn in the cockpit instead!”
“That isn’t funny...I was there when the Horune blitzed New Bremerton...One of the full-sized Hill Giant yard workers tried to take refuge on top of one of the derrick towers when the Gorang air raiders found him...they seemed to take particular glee in shooting the poor bastard to pieces...”
---Overheard in a Seattle Bay area pilot’s bar.

“Hell....it’s the flying monkeys...and that means the Wicked Witch can’t be far behind...Hey, Rusty, hand me my Stinger launcher...we’re going to be a little late to see the wizard....Scarecrow, get this thing heading for cover in those hills...Leo, hang onto Toto...we’re taking this fight off-Road!”
----’Dorothy’, freelance adventurer, in the Nevada Territories

“Why am I so obsessed with the Gorang? I met them first when I was a farmer in the San Jacinto Valley...outside the borders of both the People’s Republic of California and the California Technology Enclave....but we were secure that our small community was safe in its obscurity...Though we did have a well-trained small militia and had a line on some champions in nearby towns we could call upon for help. So generally, I went about my days trying to increase my farm production and woo one of the village girls to be my wife without much thought to the outside world.
I was as taken by surprise when the sky openned up on us and the aircraft appeared as if out of nowhere. I remember that time poorly...perhaps they used some sort of gas rockets on us first, or magic, or something, but all I can remember is confusion...seeing our militia cut down and apart, houses burning, and hearing people screaming, before some massive hairy beast with rockets flaming on its back and a net held in its hand-like feet dropped down upon me....
I next came to inside a large aircraft of some sort, aching and bruised, stark naked, hung up in some sort of harness hooked up from an overhead rack, and some sort of air mask or gag over my face...along with a dozen or so of my friends, including some of the girls I had hoped to attract, all similarly attired, unable to move. After a while, the beasts came in, clad in stinking oiled leather and goggles and flying gear, smiling with their big sharp teeth, grunting and gloating as they came down the line, poking and prodding us with their thick fingers and making comments ...I couldn’t understand the words, but I could get the gist...selecting the best specimens, marking them with a grease pencil....Then they slid us all down the overhead rack and out of the aircraft into what I recall was a large aircraft hangar of some sort, filled with other planes. I recall seeing other captives being herded away, and bags of clothing, and boxes of our goods, and sacks of our crops...MY crops!...being rolled away by the happily chattering beasts....We were separated then, hurried off to our fates like lifestock....
For two years I worked on a Splugorth sugar plantation on what I later learned was Hawaii, suffering in the heat, suffering the lash, without enough food, enough sleep, and often beaten for my captors’ pleasure. I saw the beasts quite frequently; they liked to visit the plantations in their flying machines to deliver fresh slaves and partake of the landowners’ hospitality....I could see them watching in the shade of the buildings, yellow teeth grinning behind their cool drinks as they pointed and laughed as slaves dropped in the heat, or were butchered for their entertainment...I think they were betting on which ones would die first...Then they would fly off, buzzing over the fields as if they owned the skies....
How I came to hate them....
When I was finally freed by a ranger team that had come out from the NWC, only one thing was on my mind....Revenge....I went back to what remained of my village...there are few people and very little left there, but I was able to pull enough from the remains of my farm to buy myself an education from the tutors in the big city. I have an education now, and I have applied to the air militia. They will teach me to fly, and to fight....When they have taught me that I will get myself an airplane....I will either request one and work hard to get it, I will buy one, or I will steal one....But I will get myself a good fast airplane with guns...
Then I will go hunting these beasts who call themselves ‘Gorang’.
I will teach them that it is not their sky any more...it is MINE, and I am taking it back.”
-----Related by Pedro Gonzalez, NWC Joint Air Force recruit.

The Gorang are a vicous race of sentient simians who bear a close resemblance in their temperment and modus operadi to the SkyRiders of Wormwood, in that both races have a love of fast speeds and aerial banditry. They have also been confused with the Kittani, although the Gorang look with disdain at the Kittani, seeing them as weak-willed prettyboys who depend too much on their toys, and lack both the courage and ‘the bugs in their teeth’(the Kittani, in turn, regard the Gorang as pretentious annoying little gits who should be taught a lesson in REAL technological warfare). They have currently become a problem for communities in the American West and isolated populations in the Pacific, and their areas of depredations seems to be spreading. They were a particularly nasty surprise during the CTE Pacific War, when the Gorang announced their alliance with the Horune by attacking New Seattle in concert with the amphibious monsters.
Gorang resemble fully bipedal gorillas or orangutans, with a heavy-set, muscular body, especially built-up in the upper torso and arms, which stretch all the way to their knees. The legs are short and squat, but also very muscular, and end in fully dextrous prehensile feet. By standing on its hands, the Gorang can easily bring its feet up and use them like hands to manipulate and operate objects, such as guns, or to deliver a surprise punch-strike to an unsuspecting opponent. The Gorangs’ faces are also very ape-like, covered in thick leathery skin over the thick libs, abbreviated nose, heavy superorbital ridges, and sloping brow. The mouth is large and full of sharp yellow teeth. Gorang skin is gray-black and leathery, covered with abundant short, thick, gray fur that lightens with age.
The Gorang are a violent and ill-tempered race who employ high technology to allow them to expand the scope of their aggressions and acquisitive natures, raiding and pillaging other peoples, and occasionally, other, less fortunate Gorang. Most Gorang live in nomadic bands or bandit-gangs ruled by a strongman, who directs the band’s raiding activities. Exact social order varies from tribe to tribe; some select leadership through a hereditary aristocracy, while other clans have a meritocracy, favoring those with histories of great acheivements and contributions to the clan. Gorang raid for fun and profit, taking malicious joy in attacking other peoples, taking helpless people to be sold as slaves, and destroying what they cannot take for themselves. They also raid to increase their social status; many clans award and advertize social standing by the number of trophy badges(enemy insignia, scalps, or special clan-minted medallions) their members have; many raider clans proudly sport ‘fruit salad’ on their flying leathers and gear, boasting of their might and past acomplishments.
Gorang tribes frequently meet to arrange ‘gams’ or ‘fly-ins’ to discuss business dealings, map out territory, exchange supplies and loot, look for fresh blood(mates and new recruits), and make alliances for cooperative raiding. However, many a time, such conferences may also erupt into bitter blood feuds that can last generations; Gorang bloodlust and competition runs hot, even among their own kind. While bands may cooperate to raid a particularly rich target or patrol a common ‘territory’, if profits and raiding prospects grow slim, the bands are just as likely to compete with each other, even to the point of exchanging blows. A band that suffers bad luck supporting itself through raiding, or through combat damage, may find itself being assimilated or robbed outright by more powerful clans. And if the feud is personal, the entire losing tribe may be exterminated outright.
While not all Gorang are pirates or slavers per say, even freelancing Gorang possess a mercenary attitude, and even those few who fight as Champions of Good rarely do so without expecting some sort of financial compensation, or at least some sort of retainer fee for their services.
All Gorang are obsessed with flying, air combat, speed, and battle, and they rarely go anywhere without some form of aerial transportation, such as one of their aircraft, a jet pack, or a hover platform of some sort. Those who aren’t active fliers and fighters, are often found tinkering with vehicle weapons and systems, or collecting related paraphenalia for sale to their fellows. Gorang religion owes allegance to a variety of deities, but all of them are invariably connected to flight and wings of some sort.
Gorang technology seems to a curious mix of archaic and supermodern technology. Most of their science seems equivalent to that of mid twentieth-century Earth, Their most impressive technological achievement , however, is the development of a powerful form of psuedo-gravity drive that they fit to aircraft. Gorang air vehicles look very much like Terrestrial aircraft types of the 1920-1940s period of technological development, but have been fitted with a powerful anti-gravity propulsion generator in place of the propellors, that both pulls the aircraft along at high speed, and projects a light forcefield around the front and sides of the aircraft. These aircraft are typically powered by, of all things, liquid-fuel(typically liquid hydrogen), but the Gorang also have developed their own portable fission-nuclear powerplants and crude fusion rockets. However, the most impressive application of this technology is the massive Iron islands, huge floating masses of rock and metal that serve as the flying headquarters of the Gorangs’ airborne gangs. Though a few of these engines have been captured and studied, few race have been able to duplicate the Gorang drive systems or match their unlikely energy efficiency......the Gorang secret of their manufacture remains a mystery.
Some xenosociologists believe that the Gorang stumbled across advanced contra-gravity technology early in their development, before they were really ready for it. The free and open availability of access to new worlds and the resources to be had have promoted the Gorangs’ nomadic and aggressive tendancies, and their current raider society, that seems to have no overall cohesiveness to it. Whether or not ALL Gorang are part of this nomadic culture, or if other forms of Gorang government and society exist, is unknown, as currently only the raider bands(and lone individuals) have been observed. As yet, no Gorang homeworld has yet been identified, though several outpost and colony worlds have been found. Despite the relative crudity of their technology, however, the Gorang are not to be underestimated, due to their aggressiveness and seemingly suicidal recklessness in combat.
The Gorang are new to the Megaverse, but seem intent on carving a niche out for themselves as slavers and aerial pirates. Gorang love to use their aircraft to swoop down on unsuspecting communities, strafe the hell out of any defenses, then descend on jetpacks on the panicked populace, snapping up prisoners in nets from mid air, then carrying them back to their ships to be taken away and sold into slavery. They love going into combat with weapons in all four hands(remember their prehensile feet), on jet packs or parasails, using nets, lassoes, and chemical sprayers to incapacitate potential slaves, and use melee weapons and firearms to indiscriminately slay the rest, then vandalize and desecrate what remains. If raiding is good, they may return periodically to a site, to terrorize the population just when the people think they’ve gotten over the previous attacks.
On Rifts Earth the Gorang came to the attention of NWC authorities when several bands allied themselves with the Horune during the Pacific War and began raiding the West Coast. Despite their eventual defeat at the hands of Northwest Confederation’s air forces, however, it seems that word has gotten out to other Gorang tribes of the profits to be had raiding Rifts Earth for slaves; reports have appeared of Gorang air pirates in Africa and Russia, and of at least one band raiding Barsoomian settlements on Mars(lending further credence to speculation as to Gorang space travel capabilities). Because of this, and their afiliation with the Splugorth and Horune, they have been steadily marching up the list of concerns for the Coalition, North American nation states, the NGR, and Russian Warlords.

Gorang RCC
Alignments: Most (90%) are evil, with the remaining 10% being Selfish or the rare Good in alignment
Lifespan: 150 years
Size: 6-8 ft tall
Gender: Heterorsexual
Physical Description/Appearance:
Large, heavy-set, muscular bipedal simian with long arms, short legs, large prehensile feet, heavy-browed face, deep-set eyes, and large, sharp, teeth. Covered in black-gray leathery skin, and thick gray fur. Like to dress in heavy flying leathers, megadamage hide clothing, flying helmets, goggles, and other ‘speed gear’.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Mean-tempered, self-centered, materialistic techno-barbarians who enjoy cutting loose in berserker rages, and using indiscriminant intimidation tactics. Might makes right in Gorang society, and the meanest bastards often rise to the top of the heap and the head of the clan or raider band.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 2d6
PS: 4d6(considered to be superhuman for damage purposes)
PP: 4d6
PB: 2d6
PE: 4d6
SPD: 4d6
(ISP) By psychic class
(PPE): 3d6
Hit Points:----
SDC:-----
MDC: Minor MDC beings; 4d6+PE rating + 1 MD per level of experience in MDC
Horror Factor:-------
Natural Abilities:
*Minor Megadamage Being w/ Superhuman Strength
*Large Sharp Teeth---2d6 SDC bite
*Prehensile Feet---The feet are dextrous enough to hold and use tools and weapons without penalties.
*Natural Aptitude for Flying---Gorang have an almost innate skill with air vehicles and travel; they automatically get a +1 APM when in a flying vehicle, and +15% to aerobatics/trick flying maneuvers
Psionics: Standard
Magic: Magic is relatively unknown to the Gorang; they have only just discovered Techno-Wizardry(most likely from tortured slaves) and many have fallen in love with it. Other magic forms are unknown to them.
Available OCCs: Most Men at Arms or Scholarly, with the exception of CyberKnights and Glitterboys(if it don’t fly, they don’t want it). The most common Gorang classes are Grunt, Headhunter, Slaver, Smuggler, and Operator, all with a focus on air combat. Pirate OCCs are also common(substitute aircraft and aviation skills for watercraft amd marine skills). Likewise, the few TechnoWizards among their ranks are vehicle- and weapons-oriented. Gorang ‘Borgs, Juicers(equiv.), and Crazies are possible, but likely to be rare, owing to the difficulties of conversion, though desperate tribes MIGHT elect to make the sacrifice and take the risk to gain an edge.
RCC Skills:
Pilot: Aircraft(+15%)
Air Navigation(+15%)
Read Sensory Instruments(+15%)
Acrobatics(+10%)
Parachuting(+10%)
Language/Literacy
Gobbley(+5%)
Skills of Note: By OCC
Cybernetics/Bionics: None to start, but the Gorang love cybernetic and bionic augmentation when they can get it.
Culture: Aggressive, nomadic, neobarbian retrotech tribal-bands
Enemies: Pretty much everyone who’s ever suffered a Gorang air-raid
Allies: On Rifts Earth, the Horune have had close dealings with the Horune and Splugorth, and are exploring possible service-trades with the Brodkil, Pecos Empire, and some of the Russian Warlords; essentially anyone willing to deal with them in stolen goods and slaves.
In a Phaseworld setting, the Gorang will quite ably hire themselves out to such powers as the Brodkil and Tarlok. The Golgans have had some trouble with them, and consider them insufferably nuisances; their Nebuloid elite pilots are more than happy to go after them in some old-fashioned dogfighting.

Equipment: Gorang favor light body armor and EBA similar to TWizard ‘flying leathers’ with much the same styling. They also tend to favor light hand weapons like pistols and SMGs that they can tote in their flying gear, inside their aircraft, and use one-handed, as well as melee weapons like nueral maces, vibroblades, chainswords, net guns, and whips.

[taalismn]

Gorang Technology
Most Gorang technology has a heavy, crude look, further suggesting that they are either still young as a technological race or that they have neglected other fields of development in favor of their aircraft and anti-grav technology. Their electronics are large and bulky, and often use large vacuum tubes, while computer hardware tends to 2-4 times bulkier than contemporary human systems.
Gorang weapons technology is similarly low-end; consisting mainly of projectile weapons; automatic pistols, machine guns, heavy caliber rifles, all firing heavy slugs or exploding bullets(similar to Welligton Industries’ Ramjet and Exploding Rounds, or Triax’s exploding shells). They have developed a few ‘death rays’(mostly lasers or particle beams) that range from large, bulky ‘hand blasters’ to large vehicle-mounted cannons, but these weapons typically have a lower rate of fire and larger energy consumption than their Rifts Earth counterparts. When they can, Gorang will try to adapt stolen technology to fit their own, so the longer they prey on high tech cultures, the better the chances that they will grow increasingly powerful with looted gear and weapons(provided they aren’t eliminated first).
Gorang aircraft, even those identifiable as ‘mass production’ types, tend to vary wildly from clan to clan, depending on their resources, affluence, and what technologies they’ve been able to acquire from others. Even within a band or clan, quality of individual aircraft can vary. Pilots and aircrews will typically plow their share of raid-loot into acquiring better aircraft or improving the one they already have. In some bands, however, superior aircraft are awarded to superior performers, or given only to officers(and their croonies). Then there’s the mechanic factor; in some bands the mechanics see aircraft design and maintenance as a religious function and devote almost superhuman effort into providing for their aircrews, while in other bands, the mechanics see themselves as a breed apart, and the aircrews as their subjects. In the latter case, pilots and crew who suck up to the mechanics and pay them respect and tribute will get superior service and access to better parts and equipment, while those who do not pay graft to the gear-monkies will find themselves gettin substandard service and maybe even deliberate sabotage of their aircraft.


Gorang Anti-Grav Technology
“I’d like to offer a bounty for anyone who brings me an intact Gorang engine assembly.....100,000 credits or more for one in complete working order...I got this P-51 Mustang rebuild I got in my barn that I have plans for....”
----”Mad’ Anthony Gobers, Operator

The most impressive aspect fo Gorang technology is their A-G technology, which propels their feared aircraft.
A typical Gorang SkyRaider aircraft looks like something out of Earth’s interWar period(1920-1940); a streamlined, but still bulbous, conventional aircraft with 2-4 wings(more often than not stubby affairs designed more as hardpoints or control surfaces than as aerodynamic lifting surfaces).
The Contra-Gravity generator is mounted like a conventional aircraft engine in either the front or the back; when in operation, the drive system produces a shimmering localized area of intense turmoil(like spinning propellors) immediately around the end of the drive projector. In addition to producing drive thrust, the Gorang Grav Generator produces a weak forcefield that is strongest around the generator facing side of the aircraft, and tapers out to the sides, protecting the sides to a degree.
The Gorang have experimented with various configurations, owing to the shield coverage, locating the engine in front or back. Forward-facing ‘front enders’ have the advantage of better protection to the front and sides, but are vulnerable to attacks from the rear. To compensate, the Girang often mount rear-facing armaments or a rocket thruster in the tail to give the aircraft additional speed to zoom out of range of return fire.
‘Pushers’ mount the drive generator in the rear, providing slightly higher speeds and superior protection to the rear and sides, but at the cost of forward virtual armor. Again, the Gorang will attempt to compensate, with heavier armor around the cockpit and/or heavier forward-facing weapons.
Helicopters and autogyros have also been experimented with, but the Gorang discovered that these aircraft configurations ill-suited them, and aside from a few odd one-offs, these types are absent from Gorang hangars.
Multiple engines are also fairly common in Gorang aircraft, allowing for higher speeds with smaller craft, or higher weight capacity for cargo and passenger transports. This is especially true of slaver aircraft, which have to transport large numbers of raiders, slave-captives, and booty plundered from a target. While individual multiple engines may not be as powerful as a single large engine, they have the advantage of greater power acting in concert. Also, they can generate redundant shield coverage, and reduce the chance that loss of a single engine will render the aircraft helpless.
Gorang aircraft are typically powered by liquid fuel; liquid hydrogen, or chemically-enhanced petrochemical hybrid systems. The Gorang have also been able to produce several types of portable fission nuclear powerplants, small and powerful enough to power an aircraft or a large energy weapon. They have also recently begin experimenting with the viability of technowizardry power systems. To supplement the powerful contra-grav systems and provide additional speed, they have also been able to develop several types of crude plasma-nuclear drive rockets or boosters.
Armament consists mainly of heavy autocannon, rail guns, battery-powered lasers and plasma cannons, bombs, rockets, and missiles. Aircraft with supplementary powerplants can carry larger, more powerful, energy weapons.

Aircraft Types/Specifications:
Light Aircraft fall within the 1-4 ton class, typically have 1-2 man crews, a single CG-drive engine, 120-200 Main Body MDC, 1-4 weapons, 1-6 hardpoints. Light Aircraft can fit an extra passenger(or two if they’re really small) but conditions will be cramped(essentially sitting on the laps of the crew). Light Aircraft do get an automatic +1 to Dodge roll for their small size and superior handling. Light Aircraft typically have ranges of 300-500 miles, but extremely long range variants can exist.

Medium Aircraft fall within the 4.5-8 ton class, typically have 1-3 man crews, 1-2 CG-drive engines, 200-300 Main Body MDC,1-6 weapons, 1-8 hardpoints. Typically, a Medium has enough space to fit in 1-3 additional passengers, though conditions will be cramped. Medium Aircraft typically have ranges of 500-800 miles. Medium Aircraft are among the most common types, being very versatile and easier to maintain.

Heavy Aircraft fall within the 8.5-15 ton class, typically have 1-4 man crews, 1-4 CG-drive engines, 300-500 Main Body MDC, 1-8 weapons, 1-10 hardpoints. Heavy Aircraft, besides having the ability to carry heavier amounts of armor and weaponry, also can carry 1d6 passengers in addition to crew. Heavy Aircraft typically have ranges of 600-1,000 miles.

Bombers and Transports are dedicated heavy haulers that fall within the 15-50 ton(raely heavier) class, typically have 1-12 man crews, 2-6 CG-drive engines, 300-600 Main Body MDC, 1-10 weapons, and 1-10 hardpoints. They can only bum along at 50% of their maximum engine Power Rating, because of the large payloads of bombs or cargo/slaves they carry. They are also -1 to Dodge and -20% to acrobatic maneuvering because of their great size and weight. Typically have an internal carrying capacity of 10-40 tons, or 10-150 passengers. These aircraft also generally have long range(1,500 miles or more).

Gorang rarely build/use anything larger, though some bands have been known to use blimp/zeppelin-like ‘lighters’ for carrying large amounts of cargo and slaves, in areas where little resistance is expected.

Gorang Repulsor/Shield Technology
Gorang engines act as a combination propulsion system and shield system---The more powerful the engine, the stronger the sheild generated in the ‘fan’ of disturbed gravity.
Gorang ContraGravity Engines have an individual Power Rating, numbered 1-4, that indicates both their Speed and their Shield Strength. Higher Power Ratings have been rumored to be possible among the higher tech clans, but none of these have been encountered on Rifts Earth.

Speed
Speed-Wise, each point of Power Rating translates as 100 MPH of speed, so an engine rated at Power Rating 4 can haul its aircraft along at 400 MPH.
Multiple engines can be mounted to pool their engine power, but each additional engine only increases speed by 75% of its Power Rating, so a four engine Heavy Aircraft with Rating 4 can hit speeds of 1,300 MPH(400+300+300+300). Still, that makes the aircraft capable of supersonic flight. Not as fast as some military jets, but then Gorang CG Drives don’t stall out or choke.
ALL Gorang CG-Drive aircraft are capable of hovering and VTOL, regardless of engine configuration.
Gorang CG Drives have NO altitude limitation, and their aircraft actually CAN breach the Dimensional Interface(though they fairly lumber up through it) and out into space beyond.

Space Speed----In space, Gorang Repulsors can push the aircraft at x10 their atmospheric speed, and accelerate at their Engine Rating in gees.

Shield Rating
As noted before, Gorang CG Drives produce a ‘fan’ of glowing, crackling, whirling energy that acts as a most effective forcefield, protecting one direction, and partial protection to its sides.
MDC wise, Gorang CG Drives have 50 MDC per single point of Power Rating.
Main Body Engines will place FULL shield protection to the front or rear depending on their location, and HALF shield protection to the sides. So a light engine mounted in a plane’s nose with a Power Rating of 2, capable of pushing a plane at 200 MPH, will produce a 100 MDC forcefield to its front, with 50 MDC to the sides.
Multiple engines produce cumulative MDC forcefields, so the aforementioned Heavy with four Power Rating 4 engines, will produce an 800 MDC forcefield with 400 MDC sides...truly substantial protection, and very bad news for anyone trying to shoot the aircraft down. Careful maneuvering to get into the weak spot of a battlewagon like that is essential!
Wing-Mounted Engines offer FULL MDC shield protection to the sides of the craft, and HALF their shield strength rating to either the front or rear depending on their facing(puller or pusher).
Note that in multiple-engine aircraft that this protection is extended by only to the side that the particular engine is mounted on....so if a Gorang raider with two wing-mounted ‘puller’ engines should lose its left wing engine, the right wing engine will still continue to shield the right flank and front of the aircraft, but the left side of the aircraft will lack shield protection, and will be exposed to attack.
Aircraft mounting BOTH forward and aft-facing drive fans use the STRONGEST of the two sides to determine shield strength. So a pusher-puller with fore and aft engines will use the more powerful engine for Shield Rating.
Shields regenerate at 4d6+1 additional point per Power Rating in MD per engine per melee(so a Power Rating 4 engine gets 4d6+4 MD per melee).


Gorang have also been known to use conventional jet and liquid-fuel rocket engines as auxiliary powerplants, and Gorang vehicles sighted in space have even been known to use crude fusion and ion thrusters for space propulsion.

Engine Types:

“Holy Saint Goldberg! You mean they can power a contra-gravity propulsion unit off a gasohol engine? How the hell do they do that without burning more petrochem in a minute than the whole damn plane weighs? And how can they do that, and still build an vehicle with cold-hammered RIVETS in the skin?!”
“Shut up about the hows and figure out what sort of range this thing had, so we can backtrack its likely combat radius and pay a visit to its aerodrome mates!”

*Liquid Fuel---Liquid Hydrogen or chemically enhanced petrochem types. About 50% of all Gorang aircraft are powered by liquid fuel engines, and finding new sources of fuel is a constant concern, especially with the smaller pirate bands who use the cheaper engines.
Typical Range: (Light)300-500 miles
(Medium) 500-800 miles
(Heavy)600-1,000 miles
(Bomber/Transport)1,500 miles or more
*Electric---Battery powered units. These aircraft enjoy unusually quiet operation, and Light aircraft fitted with electrical engines enjoy a 30% Prowl roll, medium aircraft a 15% prowl roll, but such aircraft also have a 10-20% reduction in maximum speed. About 20% of Gorang aircraft have electrical engines of some form or other. They have less overall range, but aren’t dependent on flammable fuel supplies(and hence, less internal fire risk), but getting a field recharge may be difficult.
Typical Range:(Light) 200-400 miles
(Medium) 400-700 miles
(Heavy) 500-900 miles
(Bomber/Transport) 1,200 miles or more
*Nuclear---The typical Gorang aircraft nuke-pack is a 150-lb leaded glass brick filled with heavy water and radioactive foam with control rods. However, they have also been able to salvage powerplants from power armors, and adapt them to their use. About 30% of Gorang aircraft have nuke powerplants.
Typical Energy Life: 5-7 years before the heavy water needs to be replaced

Weapons(Typical Gorang Types)
a)Light Autocannon---Equal to a light machine gun or rail gun
Range: 2,000 ft
Damage: 1 MD single shot, 3d6 MD for a 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: Typically has a 1,000 rd magazine
b)Medium Autocannon---Equal to a .50 caliber machine gun firing explosive shells
Range: 5,000 ft
Damage: 1d4 single shot, 6d6 MD for a 20 rd burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload:Typically has a 500 rd magazine
c)Heavy Autocannon----Equal to a 40mm light cannon firing explosive shells
Range: 4,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per shot, 3d4x10 MD for a three-shot burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload:Typically has a 100 rd magazine
d)Light Laser Cannon
Range: 2,500 ft
Damage: 3d6 MD per blast, 6d6 MD for a double shot burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 200 shot Battery; Effectively Unlimited if the aircraft has a nuclear engibe or auxiliary power system dedicated to powering the weapons
e)Medium Laser Cannon
Range: 3,500 ft
Damage: 5d6 MD per blast, 1d6x10 MD for a double shot burst
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 100 shot Battery; Effectively Unlimited if the aircraft has a nuclear engibe or auxiliary power system dedicated to powering the weapons
f)Heavy Laser Cannon
Range: 4,500 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 60 shot Battery; Effectively Unlimited if the aircraft has a nuclear engibe or auxiliary power system dedicated to powering the weapons
g)Light Plasma Cannon
Range: 1,000 ft
Damage: 1d4x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 90 shot Battery; Effectively Unlimited if the aircraft has a nuclear engibe or auxiliary power system dedicated to powering the weapons
h)Medium Plasma Cannon
Range: 1,500 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EPCHH
Payload: 70 shot Battery; Effectively Unlimited if the aircraft has a nuclear engibe or auxiliary power system dedicated to powering the weapons

i) Hardpoints---Almost all Gorang aircraft mount hardpoints for carrying underwing missiles or bombs. A typical Gorang Hardpoint Mount can accommodate ONE of the following:
a) Mini-Missile Pod---10 shot mini-missile pod
b) Short Range Missiles---3 per hardpoint
c) Medium Range Missiles---2 per hardpoint
d)Long Range Missiles---1 per hardpoint
e) Bombs----Can carry warhead equivalents of missiles, but DOUBLE the damage and blast radius. Gorang also like using chemical bombs to incapacitate and stun target populations for enslavement.
f) Flare/Chaff Launcher
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is neutralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will also temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 6 per launcher.
g) Droptanks----Applicable only to liquid-fueled aircraft, these require specially plumbed hardpoints with hose transfer connections to the engines. No more than 4 hardpoints can be plumbed in this fashion. Droptanks are essentially big disposable external fuel tanks and can extend the range of the aircraft by 30% per tank, Once emptied, the tank can be disposed of; cut loose or ejected.

Weapons Features:
Ammunition Improvements(Applicable only to autocannon weapons):
*Magnesium/Tracer Rounds---Old fashioned incendiary tracers that burn brightly as they leave the barrel. These rounds do an additional 1 MD per rd of thermal damage, and have a 30% chance of setting any combustibles they hit aflame. Because their path is easy to gauge, they are also +1 to strike. On the downside, any aircraft using them at night can be readily seen and backtracked. Also, should any weapon/hull location using them be struck with enemy fire(50% or more damage), there is a 30% chance of the ammunition chain-firing, doing that additional 1 MD of damage per stored round to its parent aircraft as it explodes.

*Powered Turrets---Turret mounted weapons can be slewed about in a 360-degree arc of fire and can typically elevate/depress 60 or more degrees, allowing for a greater flexibility of fire, However, owing to weight and space considerations, turrets CANNOT be fitted to Light Aircraft

*Synchronized Firing---Typically taken for multiple fixed-mount weapons. this allows all the weapons of a similar type, in a common firing arc, to fire in concert as one attack at one common target, allowing for devastating barrages. If any turret mount weapons can be brought to bear on the same target in the same arc, they can be brought about and tied into the fire link, but this takes an extra action to properly orient the gun turret.

*Internal Ammo Chutes---This allows the guns on the aircraft to transfer ammunition from each other’s bins in a sort of larger ‘ammo pool’. This allows a gun to use the unused ammo of a disabled weapon, but only if they are of the same weapons type and the wing/turret holding the unused magazine hasn't been destroyed already.

Random Advantage/Disadvantage Tables
Because Gorang air vehicles are more or less handcrafted, as well as modified over time, they develop and acquire quirks and differences that can spell cutting edge or diaster waiting to happen. To reflect this, roll or select 1d4 of the following:

Advantages(roll or choose):
01-05 Amphibious----The aircraft is designed to land/operate from water
06-16 Improved Cockpit Visibility---Superior design has gone into the cockpit and sensor systems. Pilot has a +1 to initiative
17- 25 Superior Engines---The engines are maintained better than most, or have been customized to give a 2d4x10% increase in power and speed
26-35 Superior Range----A well-designed fuel system or well-tuned and efficient energy use gives the aircraft a 1d4x10% increase in overall range. If nuclear powered, the engine has a 15-20 year energy life.
36-40 Internal Damage Control---Self-sealing tanks, fuselage repair gook, internal fire extinguishers----all of these allow the aircraft to effectively repair 1d4x10 MD of main body damage 1d6 times.
41-50 Light on the Stick---The aircraft responds very quickly to movements on the controls. +1 to Dodge/Evade, and gets an AutoDodge(takes no APMs to use) without bonuses.
51-55 Superior Weaponry---The guns enjoy better quality than usual, in terms of maintenance, placement, and overall performance; +1d4x10 % to range and +1 to strike.
56-66 Tighter Turning Radius----The aircraft gets a +1 to initiative or dodge rolls when doing a turn to attack or evade.
67-75 Superior Bomber---The aircraft is unusually stable, or is fitted with special sights that allow it to score more accurately on ground attacks. +5 to strike with bombs, +6 to strike with mini-missiles.
75-80 Stealth Design---Good wing/body blending, special hull materials, or low signature engines make the aircraft particularly difficult to pick up on sensors; -1d4x10% to enemy detection rolls.
81-85 Superior Armor---Superior materials went into the armor; increase overall armor values by 1d6x10%
86-90 Rocket Booster/Nitro Injector---A rocket boost or power increase unit that can give the aircraft a real kick in the pants in emergencies, boosting speed by 1d6x10% for 1d4 melees per activation. Can be selected multiple times for increased duration, but each selection only has enough to 'juice' the power output 4 times.
91-95 Superior Sensors----The aircraft has better than average sensor systems, including long rang radar(100 mile range or more), superior optics, and laser ranging, likely higher tech systems looted from other races.
96-00 Grappling Gear---Grapple Gears are special mechanical/electromagnetic frames that allow Gorang aircraft to grapple and cling to other aircraft, allowing them to more effectively engage in airborne boarding operations(enemy aircraft cannot dodge or shake off its parasite) or to transfer crew and cargo between Gorang aircraft while still in flight.


Disadvantages(roll or choose):
01-10 Escape Trap---The aircraft is difficult to exit in an emergency, and crews attempting to exit the aircraft must make a dodge roll when exiting, or risk getting hung up/hitting part of the aircraft and taking damage. Take 2d4 SDC/1d4 MD smacking into the hull, or 1d6x10 MD running into a still active propellor/grav fan.
11-20 Inferior Range---The aircraft has badly designed fuel storage or fuel consumption efficiency---reduce range by 1d4x10%. If nuclear powered, the engine can only deliver maximum power for 6 hours before requiring a ‘power down’ period of an hour during which speed must drop to 50% of normal while the engine cools down.
21-30 Tail Dragger---The aircraft is heavy on the stick and sluggish to maneuver. -1d4 to dodge, and -1d4x10 to maneuver/piloting rolls.
31-40 Poor High Speed Handling---At high speed (within 15% of maximum rated speed) the aircraft becomes sluggish on the stick and doesn’t respond well to maneuver commands. The aircraft can only travel in a roughly straight line, and the aircraft is -15% to maneuver at high speed.
41-50 Slow Stall Speed---The aircrat is designed to go FAST, and if it is forced to drop to any speed 50% of its maximum, it becomes slow and sluggish(HALF bonuses to dodge and maneuver), but doesn’t stall completely.
51-60 Poor Visibility---The aircraft’s design precludes a full arc of vision, or else sensors are blocked; pilot is -1 to initiative and Dodge.
61-70 Cramped Cockpit---The cockpit is unusually small and not easy to sit in. If an additional passenger is carried, they must be small and sit in the pilot’s (or other crewmember’s) lap, and even then the crewmember is severely hampered(NO initiative, and reduce all piloting or gunnery rolls by HALF)
71-80 Weak Construction---Inferior materials used in construction(or metal fatigue) means that the aircraft has 1d4x10% less MDC than it should. Also, on any failed roll for aerobatic maneuvering, the aircraft has a 20% chance of suffering 1d4 MD damage from hull strain
81-90 Bad Landing Gear---The aircraft is poorly equipped for hard surface landings and must either remain hovering or attach to a special landing rig(not always available in the field). Attempting a landing overwise has a 25% chance of damaging the engines(reduce speed and maneuvering bonuses by HALF until repaired), and a 10% chance of rendering them inoperable altogether. Undercarriage gear like underslung ordnance and control surfaces will also be damaged, if not outright destroyed.
91-00 Inferior Weapons---Bad design or poor maintenance make for bad guns. -1 to strike, and there is a 15% chance per melee of the weapon jamming for 1d4 melees, every time the weapon is fired.

Iron Islands
Iron Islands are the massive floating fortresses of the Gorang Air Pirates. They resemble in overall aspect small nickel-iron asteroids that have been hollowed out, with a powerful anti-gravity generator built into the center, providing a source of common gravity, lift, and drive. Jutting out from the interior of the rock are large iron and stone structures, such as fortified towers, bunkers, landing platforms, gun turrets, and huge smoke stacks(double as exhausts for onboard systems, and as auxiliary rocket thrusters). Iron Islands look like the bastard offspring of an asteroid and an ironclad dreadnought in a match brokered by Escher. The gravity source is so powerful and localized, that the Iron Island has its own wrap around gravity; that means that people walking on the underside of the Island are perfactly comfortable walking upside down from the perspective of people ‘below’ them on the planet’s surface; a rather disconcerting state of affairs to visitors or outside observers. This gravity field extends out about 50-80 ft from the asteroid’s surface.
Gorang Iron Islands serve as both spacecraft and atmospheric bases of operation. They carry the Gorang raiders, their supplies, work shops, loot warehouses, and slave pens on their flights of conquest. They are FTL-capable, but frankly lumber through the medium compared to the spacecraft of other races. Their armaments are also quite crude, and pose little, if any, threat to modern ships of the line; typically Gorang will attempt to overwhelm such opponents with swarms of fighters while trying to get their Iron Islands safely to FTL. However, lacking in modern firepower they might be, they are physically tough and are often mistaken on long range scans for iron-nickle asteroids, a fact the Gorang have often used in the past to lure unwary asteroid miners into ambushes.
Not all Gorang air pirate bands have an Iron Island of their own, though several small bands may get together to acquire and share one, though eventually they will merge into one band, or else the strongest band will ultimate force the others out. Several extremely powerful Gorang bands will own three or four Iron Islands. One rarely encounters more than one Iron Island; anything other than a solitary floating fortress signals a fly-in conference or a major raid in the offing.

Typical Iron Island Stats
Type: Iron Island
Class: Floating Fortress/Asteroid Ship
Crew: 2,000-6,000 Gorang, plus provision for up to 8,000(more if crammed in) slaves
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body/Asteroid 2d6x1,000
Heavy Gun Turrets(6-30) 300-500 each
Light Gun Turrets(many; 16-60) 80 each
Rocket Stacks (4-20) 200-400 each
Factory Sheds(1-20) 400-500 each
Sensor Dishes(1-10) 100-250 each
Hangar Bays(1-3) 400 each
Size: Typically 1,000-3,000 ft in diameter
Weight: 3d6x100,000 tons
Cargo: Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion
Speed:(FTL) Typically can muddle along at 1 lightyear an hour, and maintain this pace for up to 12+1d4 hours before needing to drop out and recharge for 2d4 hours
(Sublight) Can accelerate at up to 0.8 gees
(Atmosphere) Hover to 300 MPH; no altitude limitation
Note: Some Iron Islands CAN land and take off again, but only if they have no structures that can be damaged on their ‘undersides’.
Market Cost: An Iron Island has never been made available for sale, but if it were, it could fetch 500 million credits or more for its A-G technology
Systems of Note:
*Full Sensor Suite---Specialized sensor pallets include radiation detectors and counters, spectrographic analysis devices, gravitic sensors, electromagnetic activity readers, and optics packages.
*Long Range Radar---Phased Array Search and Early Warning Radars---Maximum Resolution Range of 300,000 miles(about 200 miles in atmosphere). These antennae tend to be massive affairs(unless the Gorang have looted something more sophisticated from someone else).
*Laser Targeting-------100,000 miles(about 50 miles in atmosphere)
*Communications Suite:---Long Range Radio and Video---Typical range of 200-500 miles in atmosphere(x1,000 in space)
*Optical Tracking Clusters----Telescopes and binoculars

*Onboard Life Support Plant, Factories(often powered by slave labor), Hangar Space, Living Quarters, Repair and Assembly Shops, Warehousing, and Slave Processing/Confinement. Typically, Gorang don’t have anything better than basic life support and materials recycling, so they must frequently refresh their onboard supplies with new material(preferably taken from somebody else).

Weapons Systems:
a)Heavy Projectile Cannons(6-20)---These are massive battleship guns (12 inch or better) firing huge exploding or armor piercing shells, and typically mounted in dual or triple-gun turrets
Range: 12 miles in atmosphere (120 miles or more in space)
Damage: 1d4x100 MD to a 30 ft area per shell
Rate of Fire: Once per melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited, large ammo reserves
Penalty: -5 to strike fighter-sized targets

b)Energy Projectors(4-10)---These are classic giant ‘death ray’ projectors; laser, microwave, or plasma cannons, that fire beams or bolts of energy. Some Gorang pirates have been reported using X-Ray lasers or enhanced radiation weapons that create grusome and terrifying effects like withered skin or poison rain, the better to terrorize target populations into surrendering.
Range: 4-18 miles(x100 in space)
Damage: Typically 4d6x10 MD to 1d4x100 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: 1-4 times per melee
Payload:Effectively Unlimited

c)Light Cannon(many)---These are mostly lighter cannons; 20-40mm rapid fire projectile weapons used for close-in defense and flak, as well as to give the recruits and non-pilots something to bang away with. Iron Islands typically have veritable forests of these low-cost weapons to fend off fighters and missile attacks.
Range: 4,000-5,000 ft(x10 in space)
Damage: 4d6-1d4x10 MD per shot/burst
Rate of Fire: EGCHH(usually 4-5 times per melee)
Payload:Effectively Unlimited, large ammo reserves

Note: Some Iron Islands may mount missile launchers or massive rocket torpedo launchers disguised as rocket venturi stacks, or even more exotic weaponry they have salvaged/looted and gotten to work, grafted to the existing defenses.

Auxiliary Craft:
The typical Iron Island will carry 20-80 fighter aircraft, 5-10 bombers, and 2-10 cargo transports.

[Aramanthus]

That is a lot of great detail for that new race! Thanks for sharing it Taalismn.

[KLM]

I just chew myself throught the race description, and I like it.

As for their technology... Need time.

Adios
KLM

[Aramanthus]

Yeah, he has been very busy writting these description! I think it's great!

[KLM]

Hi there!

Taalismn, I think you just inspired me, along with my son, with a wacky new engine concept.... a Recycling Engine. No, it is not what you think...

Basically it runs like a fission engine, except that you need a fuel... any sort of matter fuel. Place it in a chamber and it gets de-materialized into atoms and those are used as raw fuel.....

That kind of reactor will rival the anti-matter reactors in sheer
output, and looks a lot safer. (Ie. matter-antimatter annihilation
releases a lot of energy - you know, E=mc^2 - now this unit
releases the same amount, just doesn't need to store antimatter.)

Except of course if it is a TW steam engine

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

Flying sentient beercoasters....

T’v’zeel
“How can ypu stand it?! I mean.....living on a planet where the gravity is a constant? Don’t you ever get BORED?!”

The T’v’zeel are perhaps one of the few species ever to evolve with a biological contra-gravity drive. Their homeworld, T’v’T, is one of the Paradox Worlds, a planet with a structure that defies most conventional definitions of ‘planet’. The planet’s core is host to a cluster of superdense bodies that circulate about the liquid core, churning up the mantle and creating moving zones of variable gravity(accompanied by earthquakes and substantial landscape restructuring) on the surface. Though the planet is in no eminent danger of tearing apart, the ever-changing surface gravity has rendered the planetary crust plastic---mapping is well-nigh impossible, since land features can change overnight. Life has evolved on T’v’T, but has also evolved many ingenious ways of coping with the threat of being flooded, swept up, uprooted, crushed, and expelled from the surface. Some lifeforms have incredibly short lifespans, living between changes, and expelling seeds and spores as they die in a zone-sweep. Other lifeforms bend and bow with the changes, and still others are perpetually mobile, staying ahead of the zone changes.
The T’v’zeel evolved from insectoid predators who developed their own organic gravitic compensators and repulsors(possibly from magnetic navigation organs) that allowed them to move swiftly in pursuit of prey, even through zones of alternating light and heavy gravity. Eventually, they formed tribes from packs, developed tools, and discovered fire, starting them on the way to technological civilization. They had begun to experiment with crude magnetic-repulsion ‘rockets’(using biomechanical components scavenged from larger animals similar to themselves) when offworlders picked up their planet’s anomalous gravitational readings and came to investigate. By the time the first atmospheric scouts realized that they had been detected by the local sentients, their transatmospheric scoutcraft had been intercepted and boarded(mainly by prying open service ports) by curious T’v’zeel ‘air patrollers’ who initiated contact. Faced with the possibility of making Contact on the locals’ terms, or maybe not getting their ship back, the explorers elected to welcome the T’v’zeel into the community of stellar races.
Today, the T’v’zeel are in demand as planetary scouts and explorers; their natural flying skills, sensitrivity to danger/change, and intense curiousity make them well-suited for scouting out new worlds. Their natural A-G drives also don’t show up on conventional technology scanners, making them excellent spies and surveillance operatives; both the CCW and Network Omni News are suspected to have hired many T’v’zeel in this capacity, while the FWC is rumored to be looking to recruit the little speedsters as guerillas.
Alignments: Any
Lifespan: 75 years
Size: Roughly 2-3 ft in diameter, 1 ft tall
Gender: Heterosexual egglayers, typically lay 1d6 eggs at a time, which are carried both both the male and female in brood sacks. Once hatched, the infants stay with their parents, riding on them for the first six years until their own levitation abilities mature, after which they typically stay with th family for another eight-to-ten years while learning societal skills.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Disc-shaped crustacoids with thick, small-spiked, carapaces. The sensory organs(four eyestalks, hair-like olfactory organs, and two antennae) and mandibled mouth are mounted in a small head cluster sticking from the leading edge of one side of the body, flanked by four long, thin, armor-clad arm-claws. Four swivelling air intakes/expuslors protrude from the back, for additional speed and maneuvering. The carapace is typically heavily spotted, and colors range from earth-tones to deep burgundy.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Curious, inquisitive, frenetic. Can’t seem to stay in one place very long. T’v’zeel tend to have short attention spans, are quick to judgement, and have quick tempers that blow over quickly.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 2d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 2d6
PP: 4d6
PB: 1d6
PE: 4d6
SPD: Crawling: 2d4, Flying: 2d6x10
(ISP) By Psionic Class
(PPE): 3d6
Hit Points:---
SDC:----
MDC: Minor Megadamage Beings; P.E. +1d6 per level of experience. Modifiers from physical skills(or their T’v’zeel equiavlents) will be HALF.
Physical Bonuses: +2 to Dodge and +3 to Roll with Impact/Fall/Explosion(in addition to skill/P.P. bonuses)
Horror Factor:-----
Natural Abilities:
*Minor Megadamage Beings
*Multiple Eyes/Sensory Appendages----Being able to point their eyes in all four directions means that T’v’zeel are very difficult to sneak up on; they get +1 to initiative under ambush conditions.
*Antennae----T’v’zeel are acutely aware of changes in air pressure and can sense disturbances in the atmosphere from as far as 1,000 ft away, even in conditions fo total blindness. Thus, reduce all penalties in smoke, dust, of darkness from lack of vision by HALF.
*Multiple Arms/Claws----Having four arms means that T’v’zeel can hold four objects at a trime, though they typically use two arms to hold.manipulate objects such as firearms that another species might use singlehandedly(the T’v’zeel typically use one of their arms as a ‘thumb’). Each claw-arm ends in a pincer, so when making a claw attack, they get a +1 attack due to the additional arms; the pincer adds a +1d4 to damage.
*Natural Levitation---Maximum Altitude of P.E. x200 in ft.
Psionics: Standard
Magic: None
Cybernetics/Bionics: None
Available OCCs:
T’v’zeel are limited to OCCs that don’t require a lot of patience or sit-down learning....They gravitate towards Wilderness Scout, Nomad, Colonist, Vagabond Scout, and the like. Psychics are generlly regarded as a elite scouts and shmans/priests among their society.
RCC Skills:
Wilderness Survival(+10%, or +5% to OCC skill)
Culture:
T’v’zeel are nomads, practicing a freewheeling form of democracy on their world....Members, sometimes entire family groups, will join and break up with larger groups as they see fit. Technology on T’v’T is unusual in that large, fixed, industrial bases are discouraged by the fact that few places on the planetary surface remain stable for long( centuries at best, years usually, though some regions are afflicted as often as every month). The T’v’zeel, however, have progressed to a sophisticated early metal age, being able to smelt copper and other light metals, but most artifacts are constructed of wood, various hardened resins, and sinew. The T’v’zeel have developed quite sophisticated composite materials construction methods, adhesives, chemicals(including explosives), and have domesticated a number of animals as transport, foodstuffs, and companions. The T’v’zeel at the time of Contact were experimenting with large airtight aerospace vehicles powered by harnessed anti-grav capabe domestic animals or the separated and stimulated flight organs of several larger species.
Since Contact, the T’v’zeel have traded mostly for manufactured goods not produced on their planet; advanced electronics, heavy metals, and light weaponry(the T’v’zeel LOVE vibroblades and lasers).

[taalismn]

From the files of Network Omni News....

NaiBead---Fireworks Masters!

“Wanna see a REALLY big boom?”

The NaiBead are pastoral natives of the planet Quin’esh, and are tough-shelled, insectoids with an ability to sense the higher bands of the electrocmagnetic spectrum. They are also insanely enthusiastic about explosives....
Early on in their social development, the NaiBead homeworld was conquered and lightly colonized by the Moredian Imperium, a Vurgash-Tuber(See TMNT: Turtles in Space for details of the Tuber empires) political entity, which ran Quin’esh like Victorian India; as a company planet. Though the Vurgash were nowhere near as brutal or uncaring as other imperial powers, like the Kreeghor or Atorans, the NaiBead were generally unhappy, and greatly resented the overlordship of their alien conquerors. Finally, after three hundred years of corporate overseeing of their lives, the NaiBead organized mass strikes and sitdowns that paralyzed the company operations at a time that the Moredian Imperium was undergoing a political collapse. Finally, after a decade of mounting expenses and declining revenue, with no support coming from home, the Moredians left in disgust, leaving a jubiliant NaiBead to celebrate their freedom.
The NaiBead are a peaceful people who enjoy a high standard of life, relatively high technology, and a tight, mutually supportive society. Most of their trade with the outside galaxies comes from the exploitation of their planet’s, and twin moons’, immense mineral and agricultural wealth; in the course of expanding their vast underground cities and communities, they routinely dig up fortunes in exotic minerals. They also export large quantities of vegetables(notably the highly nutritious Ging-Yam) and grains from their surface farms, with the combined incomes from mining and farming giving the Naibead a regular annual profit, which is typically invested in improving their societal infrastructure, with some surplus set aside for lean years, and for public events.
Despite being subterranean dwellers, the NaiBead love the great outdoors, and most of their surface is given over to agriculture and parklands for the hike-hop-happy NaiBead to go wandering, pinicking, and indulging their other great passion---fireworks.
Ever since they discovered nitrate explosive reactions, the NaiBead have been dotty for pyrotechnics...the bigger, louder, and brighter, the better. The Naibead are probably the only species who discovered explosives and went on to create TNT, Amatol, and napalm not as weapons or demolitions, but for peaceful recreational purposes. Not that it didn’t eventually occur to some bloody-minded Naibead that pointing a fireball-projector at a hostile sentient might have a deleterious effect on the health of the latter, but to the average Naibead, explosives were generally meant to be bright and loud, and herald some sort of celebration. It is a rare NaiBead who doesn’t have a little workbench and at least a basic skill in making simple black powder explosives and packing firecrackers. Their keenness to devise new forms of explosive mechanisms is frightening to many offworlders, who may be put off upon visiting a NaiBead household by the casual producing and tossing around of what amount to hand-grenades at the dinnertable, but which the locals consider little more than a birthday noisemaker. Professional pyrotechnicians on Quin’esh would be considered armourers on other planets.
Not surprisingly, NaiBead fireworks and explosive devices are much sought after...if one doesn’t mind the gaudy extra effects(there is no such thing as a ‘low flash’ NaiBead explosive), they’re powerful and inexpensive....and outside the Sector, few customs officials realize that the ‘fireworks’ are equivalent to military ordnance in power. The Naibead either don’t know(or refuse to acknowledge) how popular their fireworks are with mercenaries, militias, adventurers, and criminals.
Alignments: Any, but most(90%) are Good or Selfish
Lifespan: 90 years
Size: 4-5 ft tall, 120-150 lbs
Gender: Heterosexual
Physical Description/Appearance:
Four-legged insectoids with a hunched-over, oversized flea-like build, and spring-jointed legs, The back carapace is partcularly pronounced, covered in heavy armor plates, like a lobster. The head is hornet-like, with a mandibled mouth that looks buck-toothed, with two side mandibles. Eyes are relatively large and dull-metallic in color, with a pair of smaller eyes in between, and two long antennae. The arms are large, lobster-like claws, with a smaller armature with manipulatory appendages recessed in a inner forearm groove, jointed at a mutual elbow. NaiBead are typically steel-gray in coloration, with darker underbellies and limbs, though copper- and gold-tones are not unknown. NaiBead typically decorate their shells and limbs with patterns of metallic paints, or with silver and pastel accents.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Peaceful, friendly people who hold family and friends in high regard. Their enthusiasm for big loud explosives is a little worrying, however....
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 2d6+2
PP: 3d6
PB: 2d6
PE: 3d6
SPD: 4d6
(ISP):----
(PPE): 4d6
Hit Points:-------
SDC:-----
MDC: 2d4x10 MD+3d6 MD per level of experience
Horror Factor: 15 for a NaiBead waving a locally-made ‘Roman Candle’ around.
Natural Abilities:
*Natural Megadamage Beings

*Impact Resistance----The thick carapace of the NaiBead is actually shot through with airspaces and nullspaces, like hardened foam---this acts to absorb shock, so physical/kinetic attacks and impacts(including shockwaves from explosions) do HALF damage.

*Sense Vibrations----Fully extended, NaiBead attennae can pick up on vibrations, such as ground impact from footfalls, and the displaced air from another lifeform moving through the tunnels the NaiBead call home, from as far away as 500 ft.

*Nightvision---500 ft, with natural flash baffling(cannot be blinded by bright lights or quick transition between light and dark).

*See ElectroMagnetic Spectrum---The two tiny eyes between the large oculars, usually UV-sensitive in terrestrial insects, are the NaiBeads’ way of directly seeing electromagnetic activity...alowing them to see active electrical wires and equipment, and even lines of magnetic force. This gives them a +10% to Navigation rolls, and +15% to any repair rolls involving electrical equipment.
Intense EM radiation also acts as a stimulant to the NaiBead....EMP and radio-emission spikes have been known to trigger mild euphoria and erotic stimulation in NaiBead.

Psionics: None
Magic: None; but have the potential; a NaiBead Pyrotechnic Techno-Wizard could be a dangerous thing...
Cybernetics/Bionics: None; haven’t developed them and ain’t interested.
Available OCCs: Tend towards Scholarly professions such as scholars, Operators, farmers, vagabond scouts.
Skills of Note:
Naibead get a +10% to Demolitions and Demolitions Disposal, and a +15% to any application of Chemistry skill that deals with explosives.
Culture:
Peaceful democratic society with a mixed agricultural/manufacturing economy.

Note:
“Do you think it’s a dud?”
“Gee, I dunno! Why don’t you go over there and finagle with it and find out for yourself?!”
NaiBead fireworks are comparable to most military explosives, except that they almost always come with the same effects as a Flash-Bang device, while ‘Screamers’ or ‘Screechers’ have effects comparable to a Thunderclap spell, and flares are comparable to a Blinding Flash or Globe of Daylight spell, only burning for anywhere from 1 melee to five minutes!.
A ‘typical’ NaiBead ‘roman candle’ will shoot a plasma-like fireball doing 3d6 MD, up to 500 ft, and will continually fire up to 2d6 shots per melee for 1d4 melees(once lit, it cannot be turned off/doused without ruining the firework)! Worse yet, that same firework retails on the NaiBead homeworld for a mere 180 credits!

[Aramanthus]

Very nice Taalismn! I like them both!

[taalismn]

BTW... won't the T'v'zee be hunted for those bio-CG?

Well, in hindsight, necromancers might seek them out to slay for them organs, and the Splugorth might try to get ahold of them for biowizardry components...Adds a new element of risk to their existance....

T'v'zeel HAVE acquired light body armor that looks like two clamshells or pieplates of light armor alloy (25 MDC for no penalty, or 50 MDC for 25% reduction in top speed) and attached arms, faceplate/bowl, and accessory gear, that makes them look like little flying saucers...

[taalismn]

man.... their versions of aliens will be bipeds walking on the ground....

Yep...and they consider worlds with stable gravitation to be exotic...
Life on their own world has to survive being pounded, uprooted, flooded out, and bowled over....The Pineshaunauti might feel somewhat at home there, but other races would be hardpressed to handle weekly earthquakes and remain sane in the long run...

Oddly enough, the planet is in NO danger of breaking up from stress...another reason it's one of the so-called 'Paradox Worlds'.

[Aramanthus]

I bet their organs that cause that natural CG are worth a fortune in the evil places of the Multiverse.

[taalismn]

Hence their survival philosophy back home serves them well in teh Megaverse...

"Move fast, Move Often!"

[Aramanthus]

That's not too bad of a price! I can see that in a game.

[KLM]

id sell the CG organs. minimum 20 million credits apiece, that is ofcourse until the market got flooded with thier organs. then 200,000 credits apeice

It does not take too much for a 3 galactic genetic engineer to
copy those organs, I guess.

So, for my part, they are not more a hot commodity, than
Machine People are vaunted by nanotech R&D teams.

Not less either

Adios
KLM

[taalismn]

Oighh...I'm going to have to be careful in the future making new races, then...some of you are seeing them as LESS than the sum of their parts....

But then again, I tend to create or hire the minions and myrmidons of my empires, not enslave them...

[taalismn]

:lol:

After all, it's tough when the megaverse out there greets you with a hacksaw because it's your parts, and not your whole, that they consider valuable...

[taalismn]

"I'd appreciate the Megaverse more if I could actually stop running long enough to take a good luck at it!!!!...."

[shiiv-a]

to any and all that made a copy of my 'fox race' .. PLEASE delete. you are currently in possession of material that is now under a major REVAMP .. any that wish the new content please inform me, and i'll let you know when it's finished. until then, please comply with the author's wishes and delete the copy you currently have.

taalismn, that goes for you and your posts as well. PLEASE delete from yours.

as the saying goes.

once bitten twice shy .. in my case its now twice bitten, post shy

[taalismn]

to any and all that made a copy of my 'fox race' .. PLEASE delete. you are currently in possession of material that is now under a major REVAMP .. any that wish the new content please inform me, and i'll let you know when it's finished. until then, please comply with the author's wishes and delete the copy you currently have.

taalismn, that goes for you and your posts as well. PLEASE delete from yours.

as the saying goes.

once bitten twice shy .. in my case its now twice bitten, post shy

Can't see where I've reposted anything of substance from your original posts in my replies, but I'll check...

[taalismn]

to any and all that made a copy of my 'fox race' .. PLEASE delete. you are currently in possession of material that is now under a major REVAMP .. any that wish the new content please inform me, and i'll let you know when it's finished. until then, please comply with the author's wishes and delete the copy you currently have.

taalismn, that goes for you and your posts as well. PLEASE delete from yours.

as the saying goes.

once bitten twice shy .. in my case its now twice bitten, post shy

Your previous efforts have been wiped from my replies, aside from the kitten-on-keyboard corrupted and encrypted in pidgin Coptic hardcopy I've tucked in a cabinet next to my copies of the original Kennedy Assassination Warren Commission reports and certain Project Blue Book files....which is to say, they'll NEVER resurface in this lifetime....

Thorough enough?

[shiiv-a]

yeah .. thanks

[Blue Eyes]

hiya

im currently working on a new RCC and im hoping to post them soon i like this thread, i think palladium should make a whole separate book on the various races of phaseworld (three galaxies) that would be cool

[taalismn]

Palladium's Guide to Extraterrestrials....

[taalismn]

Disappear for a month and you guys fall into a state of moral decay........... Man I missed you guys

Moral Decay? Since when did we reach such a complex state that we could entropically fall apart?
But good to hear from you again; what wonderous corner of creation did you disappear to, dare I ask?

[Aramanthus]

I'm looking forward to seeing more fan created races.

[taalismn]

I'm looking forward to seeing more fan created races.

We'll try to oblige...I have a few in the works...

[taalismn]

the shadow of a star?.....

Close. ever wonder whats on the other end of a black hole...... Lets just say I could tell a few horror stories now.

New Jersey?

[Aramanthus]

That is the only wasteland in the US I know of. JK!

[taalismn]

Warning: Munchkin Alert!
I may have to tweak these guys; the Vardis are SUPPOSED to be able to tackle minor gods and dragons on an equal footing as an Ancient race, while the NeoDardis are bigger-than-average bricks...

The Sardye
“You speak of a ‘cycle’ in the lifespan of species. that applies to sentient races as well....that they grow from immaturity, reach some mature glory, decline from their cultural apogee, fade away, and die....
Know this...not all of the ‘ancient’ races decline and die....Just because one does not see them anymore, does not mean that they have passed away, or that their strength is any the lessened or weakened for their long history....For some races, their ‘decline’ is but a transformation into something greater, their absence from the affairs of the younger races a mere catching of the breath before the next chapter of their history is revealed!”
------Cachis R’zee, Rulian Scholar, from MroBaden’s _Historica Multiplisatus_

The Sardye are a rare, ancient, and powerful race that has fallen into seclusion, with a few individuals or small bands adventuring. As a people, the Sardye have nearly been forgotten by the peoples of the Megaverse, and few know the full story of these armored giants.
Sardye resemble enormous reptilean humanoid bipeds, with a long-snouted, dinosaur-like head, massive toothsome jaw, and thick, flinty scales covering most of their bodies. Sardye integument is generally flint-gray, lightening at soft tissues, darkening with density(such as with the armor scales), while their eyes are a piercing yellow, with black slit-pupils. Other details about their bodies and physiology are hard to come by, since few have ever seen a Sardye without what has come to be regarded as their traditional armor; a massive, elaborate suit of armor, typically of rivetted metal plates, that covers them from head to toe, and which must weigh as much, if not more, than the Sardye hidden within. That the creatures are able to move at all, let alone with the speed they do, suggests a superhumanly strong musculature and incredible endurance. Some xenobiologists believe the Sardye to be an ancient offshot of dragonkind, that favored a more bipedal structure over the hexapodal wings-and-dual leg-arms of traditional dragons, while other cryptohistorians favor the theory that the Sardye are related to either the ancient Lizard Mages or the Seljuk, both races of powerful magic users/or magically-influenced.
Ancient tales tell that the early Sardye race was once associated with vampire intelligences in the great heyday of the vampiric entities, long before the Age of the Old Ones, even; the reptilean race being discovered in its sentient infancy by the Intelligences, then raised to full sentience to become the slaves and minions of the vampires, after they discovered the magical and physical potential of the giant creatures. And for unknown long eons, the vampire intelligences wreaked havoc in the darker corners of the Megaverse with their slave juggernauts, terrorizing the proto-sentient lines and early civilizations in the dawn of the Great Age. Fortunately, the very potentials that made the early Sardye so attractive as slaves, also allowed them to adapt to the vampire mind control and overcome it. The Sardye had desired nothing more and less than total freedom from their overlords, having long memories for the degradation they had suffered as slave-soldiers, and the atrocities they had been forced to commit against their wills; a massive festering grudge that demanded blood from the blood-suckers. After plotting in secret for centuries against their hated masters, the Sardye turned on the vampires in the so-called War of the White Eclipse(supposedly named because the Sardye waited for a traditional Vampiric High Council that took place during an extended/permanent eclipse on their appointed meeting planet, to trigger their rebellion. The Sardye mined the eclipsing moon with powerful magics and turned the moon into a massive Solar Globe that consumed it, catching the vampire intelligences out in the open and totally by surprise). The Vampire Intelligences suddenly found themselves locked in mortal combat with an unexpectedly powerful foe with an intimate knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses...an enemy that they themselves had helped engender! Vampire Intelligences were slain by the hundreds almost immediately as their previously faithful bodyguards suddenly turned and slew their masters in their own sanctuaries. Hundreds more were pursued and wiped out on the run in the massive uprising that followed. According to the legend, the War of the White Eclipse shattered the power of the vampire intelligences, wiping the strongest and most intelligent of them out of existance, and sending the pitiful survivors fleeing into the dark corners of the cosmos to hide and try to rebuild their former greatness.
The once-great Sardye race splintered soon after, various tribes and factions having no desire to hold dominion over the remains of the Vampire Intelligences’ empire, nor any desire to create empires of their own. After doing what mopping up they could, the Sardye turned and dispersed to parts unknown, to seek their own fortunes. The few knowledgeable observers of the time believed that the Sardye had been exhausted by the war, and had decided to return to their humble roots at whatever ancient homeworld the Sardye had been taken from. In time, with few sightings of the mammoth aliens, and none of their works ever found(the Sardye took great pleasure in tearing apart the fortresses they had built as slaves), the Sardye were presumed to have disappeared from the galactic stage.
In reality, the various tribes of the Sardye have been pursuing their own separate paths in various secluded regions of the Megaverse. Some retreated to the distant depths of deep space to study and refine the magics they had learned in the course of the White Eclipse War, while others turned away from the magics that they had been forced to learn to liberate themselves. For some Sardye, the Megaverse held few attractions to eyes tired of seeing alien vistas and nothing they could call home, while for others, wanderlust called out to them. Only occasionally, have these branches of the same race crossed paths; such meetings are typically cool and brief, the differences between them having grown too great for anything more than fleeting contact.
However, even after millenia of seclusion, the Sardye all retain one common trait; an all-consuming hatred of vampires.

The Vardis Sardye(‘True Sardye’, sometimes called ‘Greater Sardye’ along with the Nemotis Sardye) are the unrepentant ancient ‘true’ line of Sardye. The Vardis are hardly ever encountered anymore, even by the gods, having slipped away to remote redoubts and scattered enclaves. It is rumored that the Vardis have stashed in ancient vaults and fortress-archives plans and copies of ancient vampire-slaying weapons of immense power(and horrible backlash effects), such as the Great Pattern of Guyazi(said to ignite a star into an enormous cross-shaped supernova), which were used in the last great battles of the War of the White Eclipse. The Vardis are depicted as incredibly powerful fighters and magic users, using a variety of enchanted weapons and lethal magic (one godling who survived a fight with them described the experience as “going up against a walking seigeworks”) . They are also quite reclusive(they rarely enact even with the Gods of Light) and encountering one of them is considered a miracle of sorts. If and when they do decide to act, they do so decisively with all their experienced might.

The NeoDodis Sardye(‘NeoBarb Sardye’)---The most numerous of the Sardye clans, the NeoDodis have also fallen the farthest from the ‘prime’ of the Vardis. The NeoDodis are physically weaker and smaller-statured, and their grip on magic mastery has slipped, but they have retained much of their race’s fighting arts, augmented by technology that they acquire and have created for themselves. The NeoDodis are particularly fond of large, fast, vehicles, large guns, and heavy weapons such as cannon and explosives. The NeoDodis are less secretive than most of the other Sardye tribes, and have more frequently come forward to mingle with other races and join in in various conflicts that catch their interest. They seem most interested in pursuing wars against other monstrous races, and will join most any vampire-hunting party for the chance to hit again at the ancient enemy of their people, though their overconfidence means that they take risks that older, more experienced, species would not. The NeoDodis can be described as the ‘motorcycle punk gangers’ of the greater Sardye clan.

The Nemotis Sardye(‘Sea Sardye’) are even more reclusive than the Vardis, having taken to the deep seas and assuming an aquatic, marine existance(far from any possible contact with their ancient enemies), adapting themselves through magic, and supposedly dwelling in deep sea-trench cave cities and submarine grottos. The Nemotis have concentrated on magic and the disciplines of the mind. Nemotis wear a lighter version of the traditional Sardye panolopy, only made of metal scales, toughened shell, and sculpted coral. Nemotis very rarely interact with other peoples, even their own kind, and have assumed a much less active, pacifistic stance towards the Megaverse, entering into armed conflict only when cornered and they have no other options.

The Tradis Sardye(‘Star Sardye’)---The Tradis are magic-using Sardye who have taken to a nomadic existance between the stars. The Tradis use magic to travel between the stars in massive solar-sailor-style craft that look like crosses between ancient sailing craft, and insane expressionist metal sculpture, ranging in size from small schooners to massive three-mile long caravals. Propelled by a combination of microwave sail and wizardry, armed with magic bolt throwers and projectile cannon firing massive enchanted cannon-balls that pass through technological shields like they weren’t there, these giant craft ply the less-well known fringe worlds and galactic abysses, trading with what worlds and ships they happen upon, not in any real hurry to do anything or go anywhere. The Tradis seem to have an odd combination of high magery and steampunk technology, which suits them just fine, and which has proven surprisingly effective against unwary opportunistic enemies. Despite the slow plodding speed of their ships, it is rumored that the Tradis have access to knowledge of an extensive network of galactic leylines, wormholes, and subspace corridors.

The Temedis Sardye(‘Techno Sardye’) are a more recent offshoot of the ancient race(likely from the Tradis branch) who have given up magic altogether in favor of technology. Sadly, this means that the Temedis have only a fraction of the mystic abilities and strength of the Vardis, but they compensate with advanced technology and a higher birth rate. The Temedis wander through space in massive free-roaming high-tech spacecraft, only occasionally establishing equally massive and well-protected planetary outposts and space stations. The Temedis have started to make their way out of the void and into the commerce of the Three Galaxies where their high technology, equal to the best the TGE and CCW have, has stirred up considerable interest in the major powers. Temedis starships are built tough and heavily armed; a Temedis destroyer-classification starship mounts the equivalent of heavy cruiser-grade armament and battleship-weight armor and shields. The Temedis augment their already impressive physical abilities with superheavy suits of armor that are more akin to wearable spaceships in themselves, mounting armor, weaponry, and shields that would look more appropriate on the assault shuttles of other species. However far they have fallen from the tree, however, the Temedis retain their records of the ancient vampire scrouge, and maintain such up to date weapons as silver-projectile rail cannon and hydrosonic cannon in their arsenals against the day they might encounter their ancient enemies.

Other Sardye Races?
Legends persist of even rarer and more shadowy Sardye-like beings at large in the megaverse----Whether these are misinterpreted reports of the existing tribes, previously unknown tribes/factions, or misindentified wholly new species, remains unknown. But such stories tell of Sardye of pure magical energy, or of negative matter, the result of backfired weapons of transformation magic used during the White Eclipse War.

Guswhan Weapons
The Sardye are said to possess a limited form of Rune Magic, the Vardis and Nemotis Sardye said to recycle the bones, scales, and embedded life force of deceased colleagues into powerful artifacts(weapons in the case of the Vardis, prayer stones in the case of the Nemotis) known as ‘Guswhan’. This apparently ONLY works with the Sardye, and even that remains, like so much about the Sardye species, unconfirmed.

The Legend of Orwan
The Legend of Orwan is as ancient and obscure as the Sardye themselves, and is known by and through those peoples closest to the Sardye; and those same peoples tend to be nearly as ancient and obscure as the Sardye themselves. The Legend of Orwan simply states that at some future time, regardless of what time and space and history has been placed between the various Sardye tribes, some great crisis or evil, or series of them, will bring the Sardye together again as a whole, alloying their divergent strengths into a single force to deal with the situation. Most scholars knowledgeable in the Sardye believe that this great crisis can only mean a second White Eclipse War to exterminate the Vampire Intelligences once and for all, while a few contend that the crisis will be something far greater and infinitely worse. The nature of the crisis, and how the Sardye will know that it requires their ingathering, and the nature of the re-unification, are not spelled out in any clear terms(just authenticating the Legend is a feat in itself), and no Sardye has even touched on the Legend, even when questioned directly about it.

Alignments: Tend(90%) towards Good and Selfish
Lifespan: Unknown; estimated to be up to 4,000 years; Vardis and Nemotis may have Draconic immortality as creatures of magic, while the oldest Neododis known has claimed a rather young 1,200 years.
Size: 12-20 ft tall; NeoDodis tend towards the low end of the scale, while Vardis can reach up to 40 ft tall!
Weights vary from 800 lbs to 8,000 lbs, while the massive Vardis may reach 15 tons
Gender: Unknown; almost all Sardye thus far encountered have identified themselves as male, but whether or not female Sardye exist(and in what ratio or relation), or if they are simply using a convenient form of identification for the sake of other races, is unknown.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Tall, muscular, humanoid reptiles covered in thick, flinty, scales, and typically wearing thick artificial ornately-decorated armor(it’s sometimes hard to see the Sardye under all the armor). Skin color tends to earth tones like gray, russet, slate-green. The head is large and horse-like, through with more muscular reptilean accents, and a large, heavy, fearsomely-betoothed jaw. Eyes are almond-shaped and slit-irised. Hands and feet are three-digited, with a fourth toe/thumb. Their armor is thick metal plates and chainmail, heavily adorned with spikes and crenallations.
Nemotis tend towards blue and green-tinged skin, and some have small gill-like whiskers about their nostrils. Their armor tends to appear to be made of shell, bone, and fishscales(or the metal equivalent).
NeoDodis tend to have more brown and russet skin, and have less pronounced scaling. Their armor tends to be a combination of worked metal(less elaborate than the Vardis’ panolopy) and scraps of worked monster hide and salvaged megadamage armor.
Tradis have a more pronounced metallic accent(gold and copper are common hues) to their scales, while their skin is dark, almost black. Tradis wear thick armors of metal and ceramic with megadamage mesh and fabric(similar to armored EVA suits) and crystalline helmets(often adorned with metallic accents/crests).
Temedis can be distinguished by their light colored, almost metallic, scaling and light-hued skin. Temedis frequently wear heavy techno-armor of ceramic and metal alloy with ‘smart’ features, such as built-in sensors, weaponry, communications gear, and propulsion devices.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Vardis and Nemotis tend to be aloof, detached beings more concerned with matters of cosmic importance and scale, and in the practice and pursuit of high magic; the Nemotis even more so in the study of the inner arts and mental disciplines.
NeoDodis tend to be aggressive glory-seekers who live to fight the good fight and reap the profits of victory.
Tradis are the friendliest and most outgoing, thrill-seekers looking to meet new peoples, see new vistas, and trade exotic goods.
Temedis are sophisticated technocrats who enjoy exploration, meeting new challenges with their technology, and waging war against tyrannical societies.
Physical Attributes:
(Vardis) (Nemotis) (NeoDodis) (Tradis) (Temedis)
IQ: 4d6+3 4d6 3d6 4d6 4d6
ME: 4d6+4 4d6+6 4d6 4d6 4d6
MA: 3d6 3d6 3d6 3d6 3d6
PS: 5d6+15 5d6+6 4d6 5d6 5d6
(Supernatural) (Supernatural)(Superhuman)(Supernatural)(Superhuman)
PP: 3d6 3d6 3d6 3d6 3d6
PB: 2d6 2d6 2d6 2d6 2d6
PE: 5d6 5d6 4d6 5d6 4d6
SPD: 4d6 4d6 6d6 4d6 4d6
(ISP): (Vardis)As per Psionic Class
(Nemotis) M.E. +1d6x10 (plus 1d6+3 per level of experience)
(NeoDodis) As per Psionic Class
(Tradis)As per Psionic Class
(Temedis)As per Psionic Class
(PPE):(Vardis) 4d4x10+50
(Nemotis) 3d4x10+20
(NeoDodis) 1d6x10
(Tradis) 2d4x10+20
(Temedis) 4d6
Hit Points:------
SDC:----
MDC:(Vardis) 4d6x100 (Body Armor typically adds 2d6x100 MDC and 1d4x1,000 lbs to weight)
(Nemotis) 2d6x100 MD (Body Armor typically adds 1d6x100 MDC and 2d4x100 lbs to weight)
(NeoDodis) 5d6x10 MD (Body Armor typically adds 5d6x10 MDC and 1d6x100 lbs to weight)
(Tradis)2d6x100 MD (Body Armor typically adds 1d6x100+50 MDC and 2d4x100 lbs to weight)
(Temedis)2d4x100 MD (Body Armor typically adds 2d4x100 MDC...plus possible integral forcefields, and 2d6x100 lbs to weight)
Horror Factor: (Vardis) 15
(Nemotis) 14
(NeoDodis) 12
(Tradis) 14
(Temedis) 10
Natural Abilities:
*ALL Sardye are IMMUNE to Vampiric Mind Control and Slow Killing Bite
*Natural Megadamage Beings
*Powerful Jaws---All Sardye have powerful jaws capable of inflicting 4d6 MD +PS bonus damage.
*Nightvision---All Sardye have excellent low-light vision, being able to see up to 800 ft, even in total darkness.

(Vardis)
Sense Magic: 200 ft radius
Extremes of Hot and Cold
Regenerate 1d6x5 MD per minute
+1 to Spell Strength
(Nemotis)
Regenerate 1d6x4 MD per minute
Breath Underwater(no depth limit)
Immune to Cold-Based Attacks
+15% to all underwater/ocean-related skills
(NeoDodis)
Regenerate 3d6 MD per minute
+1 Attack Per Melee
(Tradis)
Regenerate 1d6x4 MD per minute
Immune to Cold- and Radiation-Based Attacks
Can survive in open vacuum without ill effect for their P.E. in minutes
(Temedis)
Regenerate 4d6 MD per minute
Can survive in open vacuum without ill effect for their P.E. in minutes
Psionics:(Vardis)High Incidence of psionics; 45% possess MINOR psionics, 30% possess MAJOR psionics, and perhaps 8% are MASTER psychics.
(Nemotis) Much higher incidence of psionics than other Sardye clans. ALL Nemotis are considered to be MAJOR psychics. 25% are MASTER-class psychics
(NeoDodis) Standard
(Tradis) Standard
(Temedis) Standard
Magic: (Vardis) Vardis are masters of magic, mastering at least one school of magic, sometimes two, and occasionally three in the course of their long lives. Vardis are particularly drawn towards Ley Line Walker-style spell-magic, Elemental Warlockry, and Shifter(but they will NOT ever enter into a pact with an Alien Intelligence). Some are even said to have taken up Phase and/or Temporal Magic(the former from associating with the Prometheans, the latter from interrogations of Temporal Raiders).
(Nemotis) ALL Nemotis know 2d6 spells from Ocean Magic. They are also drawn to Elemental Magic(particularly Air- and Water-), Biomancy, and Mysticism.
(NeoDodis) NeoDodis gravitate towards ‘traditional’ OCC-based magic, such as LeyLine Walker and Shifter, while Combat Mages are also extremely common among them.
(Tradis) Techno-Wizards and Spacial Mages(See Rifters#)
They are also drawn to air-, fire-, and water-based Elemental magic
(Temedis) The best the Temedis are able to learn is Techno-Wizardry, and even then, it costs them 50% MORE PPE as usual to achieve the same results.

Available OCCs:(Vardis) Tend towards Dimensional Shifters, Techno-Wizards, High Mages, Elemental Warlocks
(Nemotis) Tend towards Ocean Mages, Water Warlocks, Ocean Duids, Sea Inquistors(equivalent), Whale Singers(equivalent). Mind-Melters, Psi-Warriors
(NeoDodis) Tend towards Headhunters, Operators, Techno-Wizards, Roadgangers
(Tradis) Tend towards Spacial Mages, Techno-Wizards, Operators, Spacers,
(Temedis)Tend towards Spacers, Engineers, Cyborgs, and other High Tech professions. The ONLY magic OCC they may take is Techno-Wizard, and even that is exceptionally rare (one in 50,000) among their number.
RCC Skills:
(Vardis)
Lore: Demons and Monsters(+20%)
Lore: Magic(+25%)
Five Ancient W.P.s of choice
(Nemotis) Swimming(+15%)
Lore: Magic(+15%)
Lore: Psionics(+20%)
(NeoDodis)
Three Wilderness skills(+15%)
Two Physical skills
Three Extra W.P.
(Tradis) Oxygen Conservation
Astronomy/Celestial Navigation(+15%)
Pilot: Boat, Sail(+15%)
Lore: Magic(+20%)
(Temedis)Oxygen Conservation
Computer Operation(+15%)
Pilot: Spacecraft: Small and General(+10%)
ALL Energy W.P.s
Cybernetics/Bionics:(Vardis) Avoid bionics and cybernetics in favor of their magic and natural regenerative powers
(Nemotis) Avoid bionics and cybernetics in favor of their magic and natural regenerative powers
(NeoDodis) Avoid all but the most basic prosthetics
(Tradis) Avoid all but the most basic prosthetics
(Temedis) Have no reservations about cybernetics and bionics, and most will have 1d6 implants(mostly headjacks and interface implants)
Culture: (Vardis) Monastic Paladins
(Nemotis) Isolationist monastic scholars
(NeoDodis) Nomadic neo-barbarian warrior-clans
(Tradis) Nomadic deep-space traders and explorers
(Temedis) Nomadic deep-space engineers and explorers

Notes:
Many older Vampire Intelligences would pay thousands(if not millions) of credits for a skin of one of their old enemies, while the Splugorth, who hate their rival alien intelligences, would love to discover and plunder any existing Vardis enclaves, for the ancient vampire-slaying secrets doubtlessly held within.

[taalismn]

.... do stars actually have shadows?.....

Perhaps in parallel universes....

[Aramanthus]

It is a very interesting race! I love it though. And it is definately munchkin! Although it is very useable!

[taalismn]

I figure the Sardye are one of those ANCIENT races who were around and remember when the Splugorth were young punks....
Though heavily armored, the Vardis are also slow by the standards of most munchkin races...they're lumbering tanks...Though I'm thinking of a breed of giant equines with dinosaur features and black iron skin known as the Sephis to offset some of that slow speed....

[taalismn]

.............. why are you still thinking?! Get back to work!

I'm trying! I'm Trying(*WHHIPPP***CRACK****)!!!

[shiiv-a]

you know taalismn ... you could always 'return to sender' .. but iforgot thats not a 'recognized spell'

guess thats why i'm called what i am .. *shrugs*

[taalismn]

you know taalismn ... you could always 'return to sender' .. but iforgot thats not a 'recognized spell'

guess thats why i'm called what i am .. *shrugs*

"Targettted Deflection'...but it's not as accurate as an original attack..and I wouldn't recommend using it in a crowded room unless you don't like the rest of the folks you might catch with a miss....

Hmmm..."Shiiv-a"...One who creates and destroys? Not sure I'm seeing the connection between cosmic death and rebirth and e-mail response protocols here, except perhaps a cyclic process of...nope, that's not it either... (arched eyebrow)

[shiiv-a]

i was in fact thinking of the spell called 'Reflect' ... sends it back to the caster like a mirror .. so the caster is struck by the spell ... so a call lightning would appear to strike the 'target' .. but then it would strike them instead ...

so i think the fact that very FEW mages have that spell, leaves the door open for mage fights ... *smirks*

guess that means i gotta go dig it up now? .. dang ... wonder where i did put it?

[shiiv-a]

wouldn't know about that rule.

one of the reasons i don't do mage types. besides the fact i made one an in the first fight that happened, she got grabbed, assaulted and then the throat cut while i walked home .. wonderful to walk in on. work was finished and by the time i got home, the GM removed my char from the game totally and utterly. figured it was alright to do, so .. *shrugs* .. i don't do mages after that

and in regards to my reading of the spell, it seems to say something along the lines of it basically becoming a 'new' spell sent back at the person. as if it was someone else casting it .. *shrugs* .. would have to reread the spell to be sure.

[taalismn]

The reflected spell loses some of its power/damage, and maybe it subtly changes its 'frequency' or magical attunement, so it still smacks the casting mage, if the surprise of having his own spell reversed on him hasn't already caught him off-guard...

Well, we have species and races who are immune and vulnerable to magic, so maybe we take it a step further...create a species with a natural defense mechanism that doesn't merely shed magic, but gobsmacks the point of origin with its own attack...A real nightmare for mages....However, to balance this, the species would have to have a vulnerability to something else...maybe technological assaults(the species' psionic/magical early warning and response mechanism doesn't register cold tech targetting systems or even something as simple as a gun cocking...).

Another variant, of course, is a species that FEEDS on magical energy, assuming new powers or forms from magical attacks..

"I'll just toast that little bugger with a quick fireball....oops..."
"RRRRAAAAAAAARRRGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
"Mage Bob, that 'little bugger' just went eight feet tall and fanged on us..."

[shiiv-a]

oh man, i think i needed that snicker. i guess, like i said thats what one of my character has. well she has a bracer that do that for her. defense purposes only, there are nasty mages out there that wanna smack her about. doesn't stop psi though. just some of the magic.

[taalismn]

Rubber Mage?
Friend of mine had an alien character that was a blob of 'Super-Elastic Bubble Plastic'...basically got energy from being hit...So the critter had something of a masochism complex...he'd start every combat by rushing forward and insulting/annoying the bad guys until they started blasting or beating on him...whereupon he'd start getting faster and faster and stronger until he was bouncing off the walls and wreckingballing back in their faces...

[Aramanthus]

Ok, where have we gone now? I think to a place where no one should go!