Breaker of Minds
The Ebruchized
"That hideous, meaningless gibbering that comes from their cells at all hours will haunt me." -Imperial Cloner
"Dark science, cloning, secrets only the Sith knew." -Beaumont Kin
"Where we're going, we don't need eyes to see." -Dr. Weir
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To develop BotM lore from the Copero dominion, and provide a gross, scary threat for the liberation of Copero.
- Image Credit: Edited together from three images, all screenshots from the video game Call of Cthulhu (2018)
- Left Image: Call of Cthulhu Cultist, via Steam
- Middle Image: Thumbnail from E3 Trailer, via YouTube
- Right Image: Charles Hawkins, via TV Tropes
- Canon: Chiss, Ebruchi
- Permissions: N/A
- Links: Aberrant Clone, Strand-Cast, Ozyly-esehembo, Third Sight, Brotherhood of the Maw, Mawite Dominion of Copero
- Name: The Ebruchized
- Designation: Sentient
- Origins: Cloning Facilities on Copero
- Average Lifespan: 2 - 5 GSY
- Estimated Population: Rare
Description: The Ebruchized are strand-cast clones of Force-sensitive Chiss children known as Ozyly-esehembo, or "Sky-Walkers", genetically engineered by the Brotherhood of the Maw to incorporate Ebruchi DNA. The vast majority of them are mad, gibbering wrecks, insane with torment and violent toward all living beings, much like the Brotherhood's Moon Children. The few true successes from the project are highly prized navigators, employed as advisors to Mawite warfleets to grant them a powerful navigational advantage throughout the Unknown Regions and beyond. Horrifically physically malformed, no two of them are alike, each wearing a unique blend of Chiss and Ebruchi features that develops at random during their growth-accelerated development.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average Height of Adults: 1.8m
- Average Length of Adults: N/A
- Skin color: Blue
- Hair color: Black, if any
- Races: N/A
- Force Sensitivity: All
Distinctions: The Ebruchized resemble adult Chiss who have been hideously mutated. Each of them has a different blend of Chiss and Ebruchi features, with most of them bearing some combination of wriggling facial tentacles, bulbous extra eyes, strange knot-like growths, and large patches of rubbery flesh. Some appear more recognizably Chiss than others, but virtually none could pass for an ordinary member of the species. Some are hunched and compact, their spines curved in the Ebruchi fashion to make them appear less tall than they actually are, while others are tall and lanky. Both male and female Ebruchized clones have been created, and show standard Chiss sexual dimorphism. Their mutations are equally random and severe regardless of biological sex.
- Third Sight: Ebruchized clones, thanks to their Chiss Sky-Walker DNA and memory flash imprinting, are gifted in the Force technique known to the Chiss as Third Sight. This precognitive ability makes them exceptional Navigators, among the only beings capable of charting swift and safe routes through the dangerous spaceways of the Unknown Regions. Only the rare sane clones can use this sophisticated ability, but all Ebruchized clones - sane or not - can use their precognitive ability to see enemy strikes just before they happen. This can give them a minor edge in combat.
- Second Sight: Ebruchized clones also have an innate Force Telepathy ability, known to the Chiss as Second Sight. Since many do not have functional vocal cords (or even mouths) due to their severe mutations, this is often the only way they can communicate. Sane clones can project their thoughts and emotions through images, and even share their precognitive visions, making them excellent fleet advisors when paired with their navigational abilities. Mad clones merely project a jumble of images and sensations, a shattered mirror of horror that can unnerve a foe.
- Rubbery Durability: The Ebruchization process was invented to transfer some of the Ebruchi's considerable physical durability to Chiss clones, and it succeeded in this regard. Ebruchized clones have thick, rubbery flesh that bleeds only sluggishly, is slow to burn, and hardly bruises at all. Injuries that would break bones or cause severe blood loss on an ordinary Chiss (or Human) are often minimized by this blubbery bounce factor.
- Force Psychosis: The vast majority of Ebruchized clones go immediately and irrevocably insane upon first awakening. They suffer from a combination of clone madness from their accelerated growth, confusion from their innate precognitive talents, and the maddening agony of their mutated bodies. Mad clones can go little but gibber, wander around, and attack anything that crosses their path. Roughly one in a hundred clones is sane enough to function in their intended capacity, and even these sit on the razor's edge of sanity. Most go mad within a few years... or after a few traumatic experiences.
- Twisted Biology: Ebruchized clones are not built for long-term survival. Their digestive, circulatory, and respiratory systems are often hideously mutated, as are their skeletons, and their genetic code is highly unstable. This leaves them extremely prone to conditions such as organ failure and cancer, in addition to causing them near-constant pain. Their biological clocks run fast, and virtually all of them develop physical complications they cannot possibly survive within five years. They heal poorly from injuries as well, which can significantly reduce their already-poor life expectancy.
- Limited Skills: Ebruchized clones are imprinted with knowledge of Third Sight and Mawite theology through memory flashes, but this is already overwhelming to their developing minds, and there is little room to teach them anything else. Most cannot use weapons or tools beyond the most basic, and none have any fine motor skills to speak of. Asking an Ebruchized clone to wield a lightsaber or fire a blaster is like asking a toddler to do so, and is equally likely to end in disaster.
- Diet: Ebruchized clones that have mouths can, like Ebruchi, subsist on almost anything. Mouthless clones need intravenous feeding.
- Communication:
- Ebruchized clones that retain their sanity are usually silent, communicating through Force Telepathy (the Chiss "Second Sight").
- Ebruchized clones that go mad during the process babble, gibber, howl, and scream unintelligibly. If they have mouths, anyway.
- Technology level: Galactic Standard, usually with specific access to Brotherhood of the Maw technology.
- Religion/Beliefs: Sane Ebruchized clones are instilled with fervent belief in the Gospel of the Hidden Maw. Mad clones know only pain.
General behavior: Most Ebruchized clones are driven mad by the process, their developing minds shattered by pain and flashes of Force-sensitivity before they are ready to handle them. Mad clones feel nothing but hatred and agony. They roam around in a stupor, gibbering and moaning. Should they encounter another living thing, or even a droid, they tend to scream and vent their fury upon it by attacking in a blind rage. They do not attack other Ebruchized clones, however, perhaps sensing a kinship. Sane Ebruchized clones are imprinted with Mawite religious doctrine and Chiss Third Sight techniques through memory flashes. Most end up brainwashed to serve the Maw through this process, though it's possible one could retain some amount of free thought.
When the Brotherhood of the Maw boiled out of the Unknown Regions, the first major challenge to their conquest was the Chiss Ascendancy. Despite a powerful first strike that destroyed the planet Csilla and scattered the Ascendancy's leadership, interventions by the Galactic Alliance and New Imperial Order prevented the swift conquest that the Mawites had expected to follow. The result was the long, grinding conflict that became known as the Second Great Hyperspace War. In the war's early years, all three of the warring powers were involved in a scramble for Chiss Space, with battle lines ultimately splitting the Ascendancy's former territory down the middle. The Brotherhood, occupying the western reaches of the region, crept steadily eastward, battling Chiss and Alliance forces along the way.
As the Chiss and Mawite forces clashed, the Brotherhood became aware of the Ozyly-esehembo, or "Sky-Walkers". Force-Sensitives are rare among the Chiss, and are usually of this type: 7 - 14 year old children, usually girls, with what the Chiss call "Third Sight", a type of incredible navigational ability that allows them to chart sure courses through the turbulent Unknown Regions. When the Brotherhood learned of these highly-valued, well-protected navigators, they immediately began looking for an opportunity to seize the Sky-Walkers and their gifts. They got their chance during the invasion of Copero, capturing a small number of Sky-Walkers in addition to the planet's shipyards. However, the children were too far few to widely deploy, and the Brotherhood had no reliable way to secure more of them.
Instead, the Mawites studied the Sky-Walkers. Using ancient Strand-Cast cloning and genetic engineering techniques recovered from the Sith laboratories on Exegol, they attempted to clone growth-accelerated Sky-Walkers, trying to rush them to the point when their Force gifts would develop within weeks or months rather than seven long years. The initial trials were disastrous. Cloning of Force-sensitive beings has always presented significant challenges, and strand-cast techniques are known for severe physical complications. Every last one of the subjects in the first several batches died before reaching physical maturity, their twisted forms incomplete and mutated beyond the possibility of survival. Those few that ever woke merely screamed in endless pain, and were thus useless.
Noting the bodily complications, Taskmaster Tu'teggacha of the Brotherhood hit upon an idea. His species, the Ebruchi, were known for the resilience of their compact frames and rubbery flesh. If some Ebruchi traits could be incorporated into the Sky-Walker clones, they might stand a better chance of surviving the physical rigors of the strand-casting process. Through a vile fusion of dark mysticism and forbidden science, he developed the process of Ebruchization, infusing Ebruchi DNA into cloned subjects. The results, although twisted and malformed, did largely survive to maturity, their stronger bodies capable of enduring the strain on their bones and organs. Most, however, still lost their minds. Mad with the pain, they amounted to nothing but gibbering wrecks, unable to use their Third Sight.
Some, however, endured. Perhaps one out of every hundred retained a stable enough mind to endure the memory flashes that would teach them how to use the Third Sight - and instill in them absolute loyalty to the Maw. These few successful Mawite Sky-Walkers were deployed as navigators and advisors among the Brotherhood war fleets, using their abilities to aid their creators in the ongoing war. The rest of the creatures were dumped into the tunnels beneath the Brotherhood research facility on Copero, or allowed to roam the grounds. Effectively just more durable Moon Children, these creatures attacked any intruders on sight with berserk fury, venting their endless pain on anyone who crossed their path. Overall, the program was deemed a modest success, and continued until the Alliance reconquest of Copero.
Some say that the secrets of their creation were also carried back to Exegol, and the program continued...
