Velok the Younger
When I Was A Young Warthog
Name: Qo'saarai tuk'ata (loosely translated, 'tuk'ata of the true way')
Designation: Sentient
Homeworld: Created on Kelsier and Tash-Taral
Language: Common Sith, High Sith
Average height of adults: 2.3m, when standing
Skin color: Gray-blue
Hair color: N/A
Breathes: Type I
Strengths: The largest advantage of the qo'saarai tuk'ata is the fully opposable thumb; they can walk on all fours, thumb-claw flattening out to the side, but they can grab things with humanoid-like dexterity. Likewise, they are capable of spending much of their time on their hind legs, though all tuk'ata can switch between bipedal and quadripedal locomotion. They are partially resistant to the Force, and can exercise a high degree of agency when exposed to telepathic influence, Animal Friendship, and so forth.
Weaknesses: Though qo'saarai tuk'ata are fully capable of running on all fours, they do not run as quickly as other tuk'ata. They are often mistaken for beasts.
Distinctions: The qo'saarai tuk'ata were created through recent alchemical alteration. They are sentient, like many standard tuk'ata. Their reproductive cycle is quicker than that of normal tuk'ata; under laboratory conditions, with proper flash learning, they can be viable in a matter of months. When left to their own devices, without alchemical acceleration, they reach adulthood and produce children on a timeframe comparable to a humanoid. Like most tuk'ata, they are capable of hibernating for centuries and subsisting entirely off the Force. They are derived, largely, from tuk'ata subspecies that do not have impractically massive tusks. Their key characteristics (opposable thumbs and hips more conducive to bipedal locomotion) are heritable and dominant, and they breed true when in relationships with other races of tuk'ata. The offspring of a normal tuk'ata and a qo'saarai tuk'ata will be, more often than not, a qo'saarai tuk'ata. Visually, they look exactly like normal tuk'ata, save for their paws and the fact that they stand more often.
Average Lifespan: The same as a normal tuk'ata. Without hibernation, they can live for decades or, perhaps, centuries; with hibernation periods, they can survive for millennia.
Races: Their population is small enough and new enough that racial differentiation is still a direct reflection of standard tuk'ata variation.
Estimated Population: Being of recent creation, though many varieties of accelerated maturition technology and process have been employed, their population is small but growing. The biotech/alchemy/vivisection facility on Kelsier generally holds a couple of hundred qo'saarai tuk'ata. Their environmental reintegration preserve on Tash-Taral holds a few thousand, and several dozen have made their way offworld, often to work at AEL's terentatek farms.
Diet: If necessary, tuk'ata can live off the Force alone, though they prefer to hibernate during those periods. When awake and fully functional, they are carnivorous and insectivorous, though their hardy digestive tracts allows them to function as omnivores in extremis.
Communication: Verbal. Also pack-based telepathy and short-range mindspeech with non-tuk'ata.
Culture: The culture of the qo'saarai tuk'ata is much like normal tuk'ata culture. It venerates caves and tombs, darkness and secrecy. It venerates what is old; it is very patient. It can place great value on ferocity, but also on pack loyalty. Major differences include a general lack of subservience to Sith, though they are more willing to let people pass unharmed when visitors can speak Ancient Sith. Qo'saarai tuk'ata have trouble respecting others' claims to ownership of intangibles and concepts, though they fully understand territory. They are ambivalent on the subject of clothing.
Technology level: Generally quite low, though qo'saarai tuk'ata learn as quickly as humanoids.
General behavior: Highly individualistic, for the most part. Many qo'saarai tuk'ata are pleased to keep guarding ancient tombs and hunting in the desert. Others find new purpose in their new capabilities. Most often, or on average, qo'saarai tuk'ata find themselves contemptuous of the aspects of 'civilization' that they find impractical, silly, hypocritical or self-indulgent. When called before a court to testify against an associate, for example, one qo'saarai tuk'ata called the judge insane for thinking he would betray his friend, then killed the judge (a mercy killing -- the rabid must be put down) and walked out. In short, qo'saarai tuk'ata frequently conform to what some call the barbarian ideal. In combat, they are fully competent with teeth and poisonous claws, as well as weapons of choice. Their behavior runs as broad a spectrum as any sentient behavior.
History: The qo'saarai tuk'ata were uplifted by Rave Merrill, out of a conviction that the partially or fully sentient tuk'ata, longtime faithful guardians of others' tombs, deserved their own chance at power and progress. Alchemical alteration, vivisection, Kaminoan flash-learning, accelerated maturition, and inclusion of Charon biotechnology allowed Merrill and a team of surgical droids to not only alter tuk'ata to her specifications, but make those acquired characteristics heritable. Generations of qo'saarai tuk'ata were released into the wild, educated, and trained. They have spread into the galaxy in small numbers. (Development project investigated and explored here.)
Notable Player-Characters: Soon
Intent: To make tuk'ata more easily playable.
