Sharnoth


Homeworld:

Thelos

Other planets inhabited:

Marakan, Elnas, Sothe, Ghiriem

Appearance:

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 Their early history was one of internal conflict between dynastic monarchs, who soon found themselves superseded by military leaders.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.
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