Thelos is a very light gravity world (2.2% standard), and the
Sharnoth have adapted to that situation. They are an exoskeletal
race, with six thin legs, each tipped with manipulative digits, and
a large eyed head with large mandibles and sensory antennae.
Sharnoth are relatively small, seldom exceeding a quarter meter in
size. Because of their light world evolution, Sharnoth are
structurally incapable of surviving in standard gravity. For that
reason, Sharnoth have developed mechanical personal transports to
enable them to survive in higher gravity situations. These
mechanical bodies precisely match the forms of the Sharnoth, and
the Sharnoth are connected to them through neural/electric
networks, enabling them to move naturally and easily in these
walkers. Sharnoth themselves are usually tan or light grey in
color, but these suits are uniformly black, as the Sharnoth feel
that black looks more menacing, as it does. These walkers are
usually a meter and a half in size, though there have been
experiments with much larger variants.
Leaders:
Sharnoth are ruled by a military dictatorship, which in turn is
subject to the Empire. Sharnoth that defy the dictatorship cannot
acquire the parts necessary for the maintenance of their walkers,
and must find a light gravity home, or die.
World View:
Sharnoth resent their physical incapacity, and to compensate they
despise and resent those that possess any great physical power.
In addition, they have worked very hard at turning their mechanical
walkers into battle machines, even though the vast majority of
Sharnoth will never see combat. Despite their fixation on physical
capacity, the Sharnoth never cease to make the point that their
mental capacity is far higher than that of humans, and will do
their best to humiliate human foes intellectually, before ripping
them to shreds with their walkers.
Temperament:
Sharnoth are a very insecure race, and are inclined to lash out
when the source of their insecurity, their extreme vulnerability to
physical damage, is mentioned. However, they are otherwise
intelligent and arrogant, secure in their technical superiority.
History and Culture:
The Sharnoth are a remarkably intelligent race, and are also a
vicious and cold-blooded one. Their early history was one of
internal conflict between dynastic monarchs, who soon found
themselves superseded by military leaders. Eventually one military
leader succeed in unifying the Sharnoth, and they began expansion
into space. The Sharnoth reached a level near that of hyperspace
travel, but almost at the same time that they reached that level,
their system was overwhelmed by the Yrotha. The Sharnoth were
quickly defeated by the much stronger Yrotha, and the Yrotha amused
themselves by chasing down and squashing Sharnoth, an experience of
helplessness that the Sharnoth never forgot.
The Yrotha left Thelos when a Yaeger advance threatened to cut
Thelos off from the rest of the Yrotha empire. The military
quickly regained control of the populace, and began work on the
high gravity walkers now standard among the Sharnoth. After
achieving workability, and after upgrading their spacefleet to
match the Yrotha's capabilities (most of which capabilities were
developed from abandoned Yrotha craft), the Sharnoth set off into
space to fight the Yrotha, only to discover that the Yaeger had
already destroyed them. Afraid that the Yaeger's power would soon
leave them as vulnerable as they were to the Yrotha, the Sharnoth
began conquering neighboring systems, and building up a base of
slave labor capable of handling the industrial explosion that the
Sharnoth thought that they needed.
Drained by the Yrotha war, and unwilling to play the role of sector
policeman, the Yaeger made no move to interfere with the Sharnoth's
expansion, especially as they were expanding away from the Yaeger
core, rather than towards it. Seeing the Yaeger's failure to stop
their expansion convinced the Sharnoth that they were either to
strong to be opposed, or that the Yaeger were cowards. Content to
build up their small empire, and continue development of their war
making capacity, the Sharnoth had little influence in the affairs
of the sector, until the Skathelon
expansion. Afraid of Skathelon military might (and secretly
intimidated by their great size and physical prowess), the Sharnoth
quickly allied with the Skathelon, and participated in the war
against the Yaeger.
The millennia of conflict, which ended in the defeat of the
Skathelon, allowed the Sharnoth to develop their military
technology to a frighteningly high degree. It was around this time
that the Sharnoth's personal walkers reached the degree of
sophistication that they currently display, with full neural
linkage between the Sharnoth and their walker. With the defeat of
the Skathelon, the Sharnoth lost many of the worlds that they had
won in the Yrotha protectorate, but were able to retain some of
those by virtue of the fact that as natives of the Yrotha
protectorate they had certain rights in Yaeger law, a fact that the
Sharnoth saw as another sign of weakness in the Yaeger.
When the Empire expanded into the sector, the Sharnoth saw
that massive military machine as the ultimate in strength through
technology, and enthusiastically joined an alliance with them.
Moff Doran was far from immune to the prejudices against aliens
that Imperial officials were prone to harbor, but the value that he
saw in the Sharnoth overcame those preconceptions, and he allowed
Sharnoth to hold positions of actual authority, primarily in the
Engineering and Research and Development areas, but also in the
Imperial Navy command corp, as many of the Sharnoth proved to be
cold and precise commanders. When Moff
Rulduk succeed Moff Doran, not only did he continue in the
relatively enlightened manner of his predecessor, he expanded the
relationships with the alien races further, and now Sharnoth
vessels fight alongside the Imperial fleets of the sector.
The Sharnoth have a great deal invested in the Yaeger Imperium, and
will do anything to prevent it's collapse. As with the other
native species incorporated into the Yaeger Imperium, the Sharnoth
are opposed to negotiation with the Ien Yaeger humans, but while
they may covertly try to sabotage those negotiations, they will
take no direct actions against such things, as the disassociation
with the Chakh Empire made the tenuous position of the native races
within the Imperium quite clear.
Tech Level:
High Space. The Sharnoth are just as advanced as the Empire in
many areas, and beyond them in one or two others, such as
microservomotor design, and neural engineering.
Sharnoth in the Sector:
For most of the galaxy, the Sharnoth are known only by their
walkers, and are thought of as a race of self replicating droids,
or once organic life cyborged beyond all recognition. This
perception, as well as their arrogant and amoral behavior have made
them hated and feared throughout the sector, even by their allies.
The only races with a view of the Sharnoth that is even slightly
more positive than that are the Skathelon, who view them as
reliable enough allies, and the Brennai, who may have had some hand
in their early development.
A Quote:
"Your death is a logical result of your actions. Imbecile."
Spaceships:
The Sharnoth have rather advanced warships, with the Shadow Cruiser and Cray
Fighter being top of the line. Their use of radiation weapons
makes these ships particularly deadly, but does nothing to improve
the Sharnoth's reputation. Recently, Moff Rulduk has not employed
any Sharnoth craft, hoping to improve his own reputation.
Stats:
Attribute Dice: 12D
Attribute Min/Max
Dexterity: 1D/3D
Knowledge: 2D/5D
Mechanical: 1D+1/4D
Perception: 1D/2D
Strength: 2D/5D
Technical: 3D/5D
Move: 11/13
Special Abilities:
Personal Walker:
The STR and DEX scores of the Sharnoth reflect the capacity of
their mechanical suits, rather than their own capacity. For this
reason, upgrading any scores in these categories requires
additional credits and parts, at the GM's discretion, and these
skills cannot be raised over 10D without some sort of technological
breakthrough. In addition, the Sharnoth take damage on the vehicle
damage chart (ignoring the passengers injured results), and require
repair rather than first aid. The Sharnoth themselves are encased
in a low gravity durasteel chamber that acts as the walker's
braincase, and is usually cast free when the walker is destroyed.
These walkers can be upgraded, replaced, or modified. They are
also usually fitted with weapon systems of one sort or another,
from vibroblades to repeating blasters, and Sharnoth can be assumed
to get a +1D bonus when using internal weapon systems, unless more
accurate fire control devices are installed.
Story Factors:
Reputation:
The Sharnoth suffer all the social stigmata that attach to droids,
plus additional ill will caused by their reputation. A Sharnoth on
it's own can expect to be attacked, unless it is obviously strong
enough to take care of itself.