Laira Darkhold
Well-Known Member
RAK’SHIR
SPECIES INFORMATION
Name: Rak’shir
Designation: Sentient
Homeworld: Makatakhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Makatak
Language: Non-Verbal (Pheremonal Telepathy, Radio Waves, Electromagnetic Waves, Body Language)
Average Lifespan: 70
Estimated Population: Rare
Average height of adults: 2 Meters
Average length of adults: 5 Meters
Skin color: Normally Black though red, grey, and green markings may form with age.
Hair color: None
Distinctions:
Strengths:
Allergic to Vratix Flesh due to Bacta Allergy
Communication: Pheromonal Emissions, Electromagnetic and Radio Wave transmissions
Culture:
Rak’shir culture is difficult to determine. They seem to be territorial with a tribal society based around meritocracy, and have similar aspects to a hive mind or verpine colonies, however there is notable individualism within each Rak'shir in a nest. A powerful hunter or warrior will often hold authority over even larger members of the nest because they are able to best them or provide more food for the nest through innate skill, talent, or experience. The better hunter or warrior leading the nest, the more Rak’shir in the nest. They are primitive in normal circumstances, with a tribal culture wary of outsiders, communication barriers only causing additional issues between Rak'shir nests and others.
Shortly after the Four Hundred Year Darkness, the Rak'shir were reunited with their verpine cousins. In some instances Nests relocated to Verpine colonies away from Roche where they are sometimes used as guards or warrior castes alongside unintelligent drones. These Rak'shir are slightly more accepting, willing to receive guests brought to them by the Verpine, but are still very defensive of their space and young. On rare occasion a captive of a nest will survive long enough to become considered a member through extremely long exposure (Decades) to their pheromones and electromagnetic waves. While not completely different from Killik Joiners, these members are able to be rehabilitated so long as they are able to mentally restored by therapy.
Technology level:
While the Rak’shir are cunning and intelligent, able to determine that technology works, such as how a door opens, how to hide from sensor detection, and what weapons are, they are not really able to create or utilize this technology as a whole. Some have been known to mimic voices and behavior over communication lines well enough to draw prey into traps and ambushes.
Rare individuals have been known to become intelligent enough to use or even fabricate technology.
General behavior:
Many observers believe them to be non-sentient due to their bestial nature, inability to speak, and hostility to outsiders. However some former captives have revealed that they are in fact sentient. While not a hive mind, a Rak’shir nest is able to communicate instantly with every member at will. There is a discernible hierarchy in the nest not related to the largest specimen. A nest will rabidly defend its home against any outsider not brought back by a member of the nest, even then many of these may become meals rather than diplomats. Rak'shir are excessively difficult to communicate with given their natural forms of communication are various forms of telepathy which are difficult for non-insectoids to understand, much less replicate accurately enough not to upset the nest.
They are naturally curious when they believe they are not threatened, willing to tinker with objects handed to them by outsiders. This is dangerous because if given a blaster or weapon and it injures one, it will become enraged and will alert its nest to hostiles nearby.
Instead a Rak’shir nest is often commanded by a single elder Null, known for being smaller and have more powerful telepathic abilities. The largest Praetors never actually leave the nest unless it is relocating, acting as its guards protecting the young while the smaller warriors gather food and attack other species or nests that get too close to its territory. Nulls often come and go from a nest, only staying with the nest long enough to eat or have offspring.
Offspring are raised communally, though they are seemingly aware of their biological parents within a nest. Null females have very few, maybe one or two offspring throughout their life times, while Praetor females may have one a year. Offspring reach adolescence within five years, and adulthood within a decade, growing quickly.
Nulls are loners, normally operating alone separate from any nest. While uncommon, it is not unheard of for Nulls to leave the planet and roam the galaxy as they are more inclined to stay away from nests. Without a nest to protect or territory to defend, Nulls are much more accepting of outsiders. However that doesn't mean that they are docile by any means.
History:
Little is known of Rak’shir history other than they were first discovered on Makatak, a Rakatan colonial world aligned with the Infinite Empire until its collapse. Some scientist believe they were created by the Rakata, but these have little supporting evidence. Some archeological findings believe Rak’shir may have predated the Rakata on Makatak but were subjugated due to their limited technology and tribal nature. Upon genetic research the Rak'shir are believed to hold a common ancestry with Verpine and Killiks, though they have evolved in a wildly different direction, which may explain why Rak'shir nests found off world tend to be part or near Verpine colonies.
After the Four Hundred Year Darkness, the first Rak'shir nests were found by the Verpine who were able to communicate with them naturally due to their shared methods of communication, managed to convince the Rak'shir they came in peace. Some nests were relocated to more resource rich environments and used to guard verpine colonies during this time. Afterwards humans made first contact with the technologically primitive Rak'shir and several human expeditions were destroyed or eaten by the nests who believed them to be hostile. Very few interactions with Rak'shir nests have ended well without some form of translator from the Verpine species.
Notable Player-Characters: None Yet
Intent: The Rak’shir are meant to create a unique semi-insectoid species drawing inspiration from the Alien Universe with heavy influences of existing star wars insectoid species.
REFERENCES
SPECIES INFORMATION
Name: Rak’shir
Designation: Sentient
Homeworld: Makatakhttp://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Makatak
Language: Non-Verbal (Pheremonal Telepathy, Radio Waves, Electromagnetic Waves, Body Language)
Average Lifespan: 70
Estimated Population: Rare
Average height of adults: 2 Meters
Average length of adults: 5 Meters
Skin color: Normally Black though red, grey, and green markings may form with age.
Hair color: None
Distinctions:
- Chitin Formations: The Rak’shir are covered externally in very tough and durable chitin formations, similar to verpine carahide in that it is a hardened carapace but remains flexible like skin. This covering is akin to armor, growing tougher as the specimen ages. In normal circumstances it provides similar resilience as Plastoid and Duraplast armor plating or stab resistant mesh like that Stormtroopers might wear. This chitin is flame and acid resistant, however intense heat can still damage the flesh within the chitin.
- Decentralized Bodily Functions: Within their flesh is contained with a very decentralized circulatory and respiratory system, which does not seem to contain a heart or lungs, similar to their genetic cousins the verpine or gand. It is possible that the entire circulatory system contains numerous small organs to conduct the flow of blood and their bodies are able to survive solely of ingested materials.
- Secondary Jaws: The Rak’shirs outer jaws are lined with elongated five centimeter teeth designed for shredding flesh, tendons, and ligaments. Their inner jaws however are designed for breaking bones with powerful strike forces and bite forces. This means their primary jaws can’t really puncture rigid armor.
- Prehensile Tail: A Rak’shir’s tail is completely prehensile, practically a fifth limb. Stretching two and half meters long, consisting of chitinous sections resembling vertebra and ending in a sharp barb which can be used to puncture metal plates. They often use their tail for balance when running, but are also able to use as a weapon.
- Acidic Projection: Their stomach acid is extremely potent, with which they are sometimes known to projectile vomit its contents at tough prey or a dangerous predator. They are only able to do this once or twice a day before emptying their stomachs.
- Non-Visual Senses: Rak’shir don’t have eyes, therefore they are unable to see in the traditional sense. Instead they have a pair of thermoreceptive labial pits located in the skull which allow them to detect heat signatures. Using a membrane similar to an eardrum that divides the pit into two sections of unequal size connected via a narrow duct that can be opened or closed by the surrounding muscles. By controlling this tube, the Rak'shir can balance the air pressure on either side of the membrane, which allows it to accurately detect nearby infrared radiation falling into the membrane with the two working in concert to provide the rak'shir with direction and distance of the abnormality. These pits can accurately detect moving objects less than 0.15 degrees Celsius difference than the background temperature. Their hearing allows them to use very precise echolocation keen enough to be able to recognize individuals through echolocation and smell, allowing Rak’shir to quickly map an area by emitting subsonic vibrations or simply listening to background noise to map an area.
- Telepathic Communication: Rak’shir don’t speak basic, they are unable to. Instead they rely on body language and various forms of telepathy to communicate with each other. The achieve this through pheromone emissions which can have some mild effects in other sentients such as causing feelings of fear and dread to creep into the minds of nearby sentient beings or other emotions however these are not normally debilitating or extreme such as Zeltron or Falleen pheromones, electromagnetic transmissions and emitting radio waves to one another allowing them to communicate with other members of their species across vast distances instantly without the need for communication devices. Some Rak’shir have been known to tap into local communications to send messages to comlinks.
Strengths:
- Regeneration: While not visible in combat, Rak’shir recover from injuries that are not inherently fatal or amputations, within two or three days due to their slight regenerative process and decentralized circulatory and respiratory systems which also renders them highly resistant to conventional stun weaponry (but not paralyzing weapons like Paddle Beamers, Paralysis Beams, etc).
- Resilient Chitin: Their chitin and body is not as susceptible to damage as skin is, allowing their skin to deflect blades and survive glancing blaster bolts, shrug off average slugthrower bolts, and resist physical trauma. Their skin is roughly equivalent to Stormtrooper Armor (5-6 Armor Quality)
- Physically Imposing: Rak'shir are comparable to Wookiees, Yuzzem, or Gand in terms of physical strength and abilities, quick and agile compared to humans, able to run and climb up walls and ceilings with relative ease, and when running on all fours they are very fast, about 90km/h for short bursts.
- Telepathic: Rak’shir are innately Telepathic. This allows them to instantly communicate with one another across vast distances, and due to the nature of their telepathy such communication is secure. They are also able to tap into local communication lines and transmit through comlink frequencies as well as intercepting such frequencies. After prolonged exposure (months) a rak’shir may glean information and skills from a captive, such as mechanical proficiency or etiquette, though only rudimentary information.
- Bacta Allergy: All Rak’shir are allergic to bacta, causing exposed parts of their bodies to swell noticeable minutes after exposure. When injected or ingested it can cause seizures and even death.
- Blind: Rak’shir are blind. They cannot see, which can cause problems. Unless ships are specifically modified they cannot fly it, they are unable to detect very far from themselves and cannot use data screens not modified especially for them. They are also unable to see hologram projections, colors, or text.
- Delicate Sensory Organs: Rak’shir’s sensory organs in their head and internal antennae which allow them to detect prey are fairly sensitive. Loud noises can disorient them, as well intense heat such as fire causing them pain as the thermoreceptive pits in their heads are overpowered attempting to adjust to detect the intense temperature. Powerful Electromagnetic pulses can stun them much like a flash bang grenade as it interferes with their innate telepathic organs.
- Primitive: As a whole, Rak'shir don't mess with even the simplest technology. They don't use firearms, they don't build factories, they don't fly spaceships, and they prefer their physical weapons over even swords and improvised swords. The rare individual may learn the some technical skill.
- Telepathy: While they are able to communicate across vast distances nearly instantly, their natural communication is done at near light-speed, meaning attempting to communicate across large distances causes a noticeable delay, and intergalactic communication is unfeasible. Additionally their form of telepathy does not allow them to communicate with any and all species mentally, but only those with similar means of communication.
- Null: Noted for smoother cranial formations and slightly smaller size in comparison to their kin. Null are often loners, operating independently of one another as scouts, infiltrators, or lone hunters not associated with any nest. Their telepathic ranges are vastly greater than their kin, possibly ranging to interplanetary distances (From a planet to its moon or neighboring planet).
- Praetors: Noted for having cranial ridges and slightly increased muscle mass and size. Praetors are the mainstay of their society, larger and physically more imposing, they rarely venture very far from a nest unless provoked.
Allergic to Vratix Flesh due to Bacta Allergy
Communication: Pheromonal Emissions, Electromagnetic and Radio Wave transmissions
Culture:
Rak’shir culture is difficult to determine. They seem to be territorial with a tribal society based around meritocracy, and have similar aspects to a hive mind or verpine colonies, however there is notable individualism within each Rak'shir in a nest. A powerful hunter or warrior will often hold authority over even larger members of the nest because they are able to best them or provide more food for the nest through innate skill, talent, or experience. The better hunter or warrior leading the nest, the more Rak’shir in the nest. They are primitive in normal circumstances, with a tribal culture wary of outsiders, communication barriers only causing additional issues between Rak'shir nests and others.
Shortly after the Four Hundred Year Darkness, the Rak'shir were reunited with their verpine cousins. In some instances Nests relocated to Verpine colonies away from Roche where they are sometimes used as guards or warrior castes alongside unintelligent drones. These Rak'shir are slightly more accepting, willing to receive guests brought to them by the Verpine, but are still very defensive of their space and young. On rare occasion a captive of a nest will survive long enough to become considered a member through extremely long exposure (Decades) to their pheromones and electromagnetic waves. While not completely different from Killik Joiners, these members are able to be rehabilitated so long as they are able to mentally restored by therapy.
Technology level:
While the Rak’shir are cunning and intelligent, able to determine that technology works, such as how a door opens, how to hide from sensor detection, and what weapons are, they are not really able to create or utilize this technology as a whole. Some have been known to mimic voices and behavior over communication lines well enough to draw prey into traps and ambushes.
Rare individuals have been known to become intelligent enough to use or even fabricate technology.
General behavior:
Many observers believe them to be non-sentient due to their bestial nature, inability to speak, and hostility to outsiders. However some former captives have revealed that they are in fact sentient. While not a hive mind, a Rak’shir nest is able to communicate instantly with every member at will. There is a discernible hierarchy in the nest not related to the largest specimen. A nest will rabidly defend its home against any outsider not brought back by a member of the nest, even then many of these may become meals rather than diplomats. Rak'shir are excessively difficult to communicate with given their natural forms of communication are various forms of telepathy which are difficult for non-insectoids to understand, much less replicate accurately enough not to upset the nest.
They are naturally curious when they believe they are not threatened, willing to tinker with objects handed to them by outsiders. This is dangerous because if given a blaster or weapon and it injures one, it will become enraged and will alert its nest to hostiles nearby.
Instead a Rak’shir nest is often commanded by a single elder Null, known for being smaller and have more powerful telepathic abilities. The largest Praetors never actually leave the nest unless it is relocating, acting as its guards protecting the young while the smaller warriors gather food and attack other species or nests that get too close to its territory. Nulls often come and go from a nest, only staying with the nest long enough to eat or have offspring.
Offspring are raised communally, though they are seemingly aware of their biological parents within a nest. Null females have very few, maybe one or two offspring throughout their life times, while Praetor females may have one a year. Offspring reach adolescence within five years, and adulthood within a decade, growing quickly.
Nulls are loners, normally operating alone separate from any nest. While uncommon, it is not unheard of for Nulls to leave the planet and roam the galaxy as they are more inclined to stay away from nests. Without a nest to protect or territory to defend, Nulls are much more accepting of outsiders. However that doesn't mean that they are docile by any means.
History:
Little is known of Rak’shir history other than they were first discovered on Makatak, a Rakatan colonial world aligned with the Infinite Empire until its collapse. Some scientist believe they were created by the Rakata, but these have little supporting evidence. Some archeological findings believe Rak’shir may have predated the Rakata on Makatak but were subjugated due to their limited technology and tribal nature. Upon genetic research the Rak'shir are believed to hold a common ancestry with Verpine and Killiks, though they have evolved in a wildly different direction, which may explain why Rak'shir nests found off world tend to be part or near Verpine colonies.
After the Four Hundred Year Darkness, the first Rak'shir nests were found by the Verpine who were able to communicate with them naturally due to their shared methods of communication, managed to convince the Rak'shir they came in peace. Some nests were relocated to more resource rich environments and used to guard verpine colonies during this time. Afterwards humans made first contact with the technologically primitive Rak'shir and several human expeditions were destroyed or eaten by the nests who believed them to be hostile. Very few interactions with Rak'shir nests have ended well without some form of translator from the Verpine species.
Notable Player-Characters: None Yet
Intent: The Rak’shir are meant to create a unique semi-insectoid species drawing inspiration from the Alien Universe with heavy influences of existing star wars insectoid species.
REFERENCES
- http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Xenomorph
- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Xenomorph
- http://starwarsrp.net/topic/85048-talisman-of-the-dream-singer/
- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Killik
- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Verpine/Legends
- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Fefze
- http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gand/Legends
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_viper
