Skathelon
Homeworld:
Skathos
Other planets inhabited:
Masdusa, Nahashar, Keslos, Orobos, Shildor, Kashin, Shidorah,
Eshabien, Shalos.
Appearance:
The Skathelon are a reptilian race, with a long and powerful tail
as the main section of their body. Skathelon have a relatively
humanlike upper body, set atop that tail, with four arms, and a
flat, broad head set on a long and flexible neck. The skin of
Skathelon is covered with overlapping scales, naturally moist, and
usually green tinged yellow in color, with brown and black patterns
on their backs, and broader, pinkish yellow scales on their
bellies. Skathelon do not stop growing as they age, and the oldest
Skathelon are physically huge. The largest Skathelon can reach
over fifteen meters in length, and a meter and half in width. Most
Skathelon are somewhat more modest in build, but still reach around
eight meters in length, and three quarters of a meter in diameter.
Skathelon move in a distinctly snakelike fashion, with the
length of their tail moving along the ground, and their upper body
held erect. The arms of the Skathelon are occasionally used in
conjunction with their tail when they are climbing, but despite the
strength of their arms, they are incapable of carrying the
great weight of their tail. Skathelon have very large slit pupil
eyes, heat sensor pits behind those eyes, and a forked, highly
sensitive tongue.
Leaders:
Skathelon are ruled by a council of elders, which has ultimate
power over the rest of the race. Entrance to the council depends
on age, recommendation of a sitting member, and approval by the
council as a whole. The council of elders never goes over fifty
members, and has never had less than twenty five members, and the
usual average is somewhere between those numbers.
World View:
Skathelon are tremendously strong, and they know it, feeling
themselves to be superior to physically weaker races. They are a
territorial race, and their instinctive territorial acquisitiveness
is one of the reasons for their conflict with the other races of
the sector. Skathelon see nothing wrong with murder, as it is an
expression of territorial aggression, and they constantly guard
against plots by their employees, friends, and family members.
Temperament:
Skathelon are usually laid back, and relaxed appearing, but that
hides a core of deep vindictiveness, and the possibility for sudden
violence.
History and Culture:
On their homeworld of Skathos, the Skathelons went through
thousands of years of conflict between warring petty kings and
princes. Contacted by galactic traders of some sort (the records
are unclear), the Skathelon acquired the secrets of hyperspace
travel, and began expanding out to the stars, still bearing the
disunity of their homeworld. The feuding Skathelon colonies proved
easy prey to the Yrotha, and they soon found themselves enslaved.
During the years of Yrotha domination, the Skathelon became
organized under the council of elders, and when the Yrotha grew
weak, the Skathelon rebelled against their Yrotha masters, and soon
found themselves both independent and in possession of some of the
Yrotha's most powerful warships. Working from these models, the
Skathelon soon developed a relatively high level of technology and
began their war of conquest. While their fleet was not as advanced
as that of many of their foes, it was somewhat larger, and the
Skathelon are fearsome ground fighters, large enough to use high
scale weaponry without adjustment.
As the Skathelon expanded, they incorporated other races into
their empire, using them as sources of labor and technical know
how. The Skathelon seemed destined to rule the sector, until they
met the same stumbling block that the Yrotha had, the Ien Yaeger
humans and their allies. The Skathelon war ended in a tactical
draw, as the Yaeger were not able to penetrate into the Skathelon's
core, and the Skathelon were not able to capture the Yaeger
planets. However, the Yaeger succeeded in the end, because once
the Skathelon stopped expanding, their empire began to falter, and
soon collapsed under it's own weight.
The Skathelon eventually wound up with a few more worlds than
they had started with, and an undying enmity toward the Yaeger.
When the Asber began their expansion, the
Skathelon quickly formed an alliance with them. Genetic
investigation soon determined that the physical similarities
between the two races were a good deal more than skin deep. The
Skathelon and the Asber are genetic siblings, both descending from
a far more primitive race, the Gritai. The Asber-Skathelon
alliance became the Pan-Gritai, and later the Pangritai.
When the Empire came, the Pangritai were one of their most
enthusiastic recruits, seeing the Empire as an opportunity to
challenge the then superior military might of the Ien Yaeger. They
soon found out that they had signed up for more than an attack at
an old foe, but by that time Doran had large enough forces on their
homeworlds that the could not change their minds. The Skathelon
now provide much of the Yaeger Imperium's brute labor, as well as
crewing their own ships, now under the Imperial flag. Skathelon do
have some skill at Command and co-ordination, and wind up being the
foremen and low level bosses in the imperial industrial machine.
Tech Level:
Medium space. The Skathelon are not an inventive race on their
own, but they are very good at getting their hands on the
technology of other races.
Skathelon in the Sector:
Many of the races of the Yaeger sector have long memory, and the
Skathelon war, and the Pangritai expansion gives them reasons to
hate and fear the Skathelon.
A Quote:
"Sssssssso, you ssswould attack me ssshere..."
Spaceships:
Skathelon ships are somewhat less sophisticated than galactic
standards, but they are large, powerful, and numerous, a
combination that Moff Rulduk likes. The
state of the Skathelon art is the Thantos
Heavy cruiser.
Stats:
- Attribute Dice: 12D
- Attribute Min/Max
- Dexterity: 1D+1/3D+2
- Knowledge: 1D+1/3D+2
- Mechanical: 1D/3D+1
- Perception: 2D/4D+1
- Strength: 3D/6D+1
- Technical: 1D/2D+2
- Move: 10/13
Special Abilities:
Heat Sense:
Skathelon can see heat differentials for a very limited range (3
meters). In this range they can detect even the most subtle heat
differentials, such as those between ink and paper.
Constriction Attack:
Skathelon descend from a species of constrictor, and they still
retain sophisticated constriction abilities. Their tail can wrap
around opponents, and squeeze those opponents hard enough to
pulverize every bone in their bodies. In game terms, the tail can
only be used on targets 4 meters or less in height. Against these
targets, it inflicts STR in damage, but once it scores a successful
hit at more than 10 over the dodge or parry roll, the tail wraps
around the opponent. Once this hit is scored, the Skathelon need
not roll for attack anymore, just for damage, and the captured
individual must roll an opposed STR check to free any of his limbs,
and cannot free his body unless the Skathelon is killed or chooses
to release him.
Story Factors:
Size:
Skathelon are huge, and must face many problems do to their size,
such as insufficient quarters, insufficient space in vehicles, vast
amounts of food and water required, and inability to fit in rooms.
Cold Blooded:
As the temperature drops, Skathelon become more and more sluggish,
eventually becoming comatose if they spend to long in temperatures
below freezing, not waking until they are warmed.
geocities
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