Brennai are very tall, and angular, around 3.5 meters in height,
with a basically humanoid body, with some notable exceptions.
Their two legs have three joints, as do their arms, and their three
toed feet and three fingered hands are arranged along triliniar
lines. Their long and flexible necks descend from their broad
shoulders to the rather unique appearing heads. Long, with a
massive braincase, the Brennai have a nearly blank face, with no
eyes, ears, nose, or forward facing mouth. A growth of coral like
antennae fringes their cheekbones, and act as their only sensory
organs. A pair of meter long, ropy tentacles hang down from the
bottom of their face. The bioluminescent tips of these tentacles
act as their communicative organs, and the tentacles are used to
guide food into their small, toothless mouths. Brennai have a
uniform, smooth, very pale blue white hide, with no visible
external genitalia, mammaries, or any other irregularity. Brennai
do not wear clothing except for ceremonial purposes.
Leaders:
The Brennai are ruled by a Council of Elders. The Council chooses
new members from the general population, and once they are chosen,
their identities are concealed in Council by the use of Darkensilk
cloaks, and there are no rules of seniority among the Council
members. This Council officially controls all aspects of Brennai
life, though it's actual power has waxed and waned over the years.
Now it is relatively strong, and has at least a say in the major
decisions of the scientific, religious, and military communities.
World View:
The Brennai are a very xenophobic race. For them, the boundaries
of the Thorain nebula mark the edge of the universe, and the galaxy
beyond makes them uncomfortable to the extreme, and they would like
very much to keep it away from them forever.
Temperament:
The Brennai are a very intelligent race that enjoys plots of
incredible complexity, and are seldom truly happy unless taking a
course of action that is unforseen by their foes and bound to bring
them success, of at least a limited nature. They are also quite
comfortable with violence, especially when directed against non-
Brennai, who they see as being soulless, and irreconcilably hostile
toward the Brennai.
History and Culture:
An extremely ancient race, restricted to the Thorain nebula of the
Yaeger Sector, the Brennai were unimaginably old before the
Republic was founded. Brennai weaponry is based on the building up
of wave charges in the gasses found in the nebula, and their FTL
drives depend on the riding of waves of this type. For this
reason, even though the Brennai are a naturally violent race with
nothing but contempt for those of other races, they have never
founded any great empires, and indeed have never left the nebula
that they call home.
Brennai civilization has stood for over a million years
without the sort of collapse that seems inevitable in that long a
span of years. The fact that they are restricted to their home
nebula may be at least partially responsible for that fact, as
without the ability to expand they never experienced those cycles
of rapid expansion and collapse that marked other civilizations.
A civil war had erupted among the Brennai over forty thousand years
ago which seemed to hold the promise of tearing their civilization
apart, but that war was soon ended. The Brennai supporting the
Council of Elders constructed a massive warship, the Hered Na Brennah, which destroyed the planet
that the rebels were centered on, and which aided in the pursuit
and destruction of the rebel fleet. Since that time, the Hered Na
Brennah has acted as a dominating force of stability, and there
have been no major attempts at social upheaval.
Art and culture are as advanced as science and military
technology among the Brennai, and their artistic circles are as
defined by plots, counter plots, and circles of influence as the
other aspects of Brennai society. Brennai weapons are thousands of
years ahead of galactic standards when used in the unusual
surroundings of the Thorain Nebula, but are utterly useless outside
of the nebula. A sensor array, with manned stations along the
nebula's border renders the Brennai instantly aware of any
intrusion into the nebula, and the border patrol fleet quickly
disposes of any outsiders.
Tech Level:
Very high space. Most Brennai technology is based on the use and
manipulation of the gasses of the Thorain nebula, but those objects
that are not would be of inestimable value to the galaxy at large.
Brennai in the Sector:
Little is known about the Brennai by the other races of the Yaeger
Sector. A shadowy and secretive race, they are known only by their
destruction of any ship that crosses their border, and there are
those that do not believe in the Brennai, preferring to think that
some other concealed hazard is what destroys all interlopers.
A Quote:
"You should not have come here. I am afraid that was your last
mistake."
Spaceships:
The Hered Na Brennah is still the flagship of the Brennai, and
remains the incontestable superior of other Brennai craft. The Khemibard cruiser is an powerful craft that
makes up the bulk of the Brennai fleet, and it is supported by the
Abideth light cruiser and the Ulim Na Khree heavy cruiser. The Um-Chayam fighter is easily capable of
destroying any Imperial capital craft, and tens of thousands of
these ships can be launched from border space stations and the
patrolling cruisers.
Stats:
Attribute Dice: 13D
Attribute Min/Max
Dexterity: 1D/3D
Knowledge: 3D/6D+2
Mechanical: 1D+1/3D+2
Perception: 2D/5D+1
Strength: 1D/3D+1
Technical: 2D/4D+2
Move: 8/13
Special Abilities:
Electromagnetic Perception
:
Brennai are blind and deaf. All their information about their
surroundings comes from their cheekbone antennae, which give them
a keen perception of the electromagnetic fields and pulses of their
surroundings. The long tentacles that descend from the bottom of
their faces emit electromagnetic pulses, which is their only form
of communication. This method of perception enables them to sense
trouble spots in electronic systems, giving them bonuses to
diagnostic rolls.
Story Factors:
Xenophobia
:
Brennai hate and fear all non-Brennai, and must make a Heroic
willpower roll to work with them, regardless of all other factors.