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Tech thread superstar!
- The Kort -
[Artist Link]
Designation - Sentient.
Homeworld - Kortil.
Language - Kortese, Bocce.
Average height of adults - 1 standard meter.
Shell color - Reddish brown or mottled green.
Breathes - Type I atmosphere.
Strengths -
- Instinctual survivors.
- Excellent eyesight.
- Able to drink salt water.
- Vulnerable to suffocation without access to liquid water.
- Even minor carapace injuries can lead to chronic dehydration and suffocation.
- Cannot breathe underwater, unlike certain other crustaceoid species.
The Kort possess a shield-like armored carapace on their backs, as well as ten limbs, including four legs and three sets of arms ending in pincer-like articulated claws, plus a spike-like tail used primarily for balance. The Kort exoskeleton is tough, lightweight and surprisingly flexible, though damage to it can lead to moisture loss, a deadly condition for arthropods who must keep their gill-like lungs moist.
Kort have excellent eyesight, possessing incredibly complex compound eyes capable of astonishing clarity, Kort are known to be able to spot details with the naked eye that most other races would need magnifying instruments to see. They can also much more easily track and identify the details of fast-moving objects. Kort have two sets of eyes; a pair of large main eyes located near the top of their head, and a set of small "backup" eyes located near their mouth-parts.
Of particular note, Kort blood is based on hemocyanin rather than hemoglobin, and clots when exposed to most known bacterial toxins. This property is considered valuable for the testing of medical equipment and processes; there is a thriving black market for Kort blood - often involuntarily given - for this reason.
Average Lifespan - 200 years.
Estimated Population - 12-14 billion.
Diet - Kort enjoy a protein-rich diet primarily consisting of aquatic plants and smaller invertebrates; they can technically digest most non-toxic substances, however. Traditional Kort cuisine is primarily fried or steamed whole, with sides of condiments including pastes and dipping sauces.
Communication - Kort communicate vocally using special diaphragms near their lungs; they are one of the few arthropod species considered capable of speaking languages common to vertebrate species without a pronounced accent, though their voices sound as if they are coming from their chest cavity rather than their mouth. Most speak the trade language Bocce as a second language, with Kortese, their native language, as their first.
Culture - Kort culture is tied directly to their long history. Unusual for an arthropod species, the Kort are not hive-minded nor intensely social, with their civilization more closely resembling a human society than an insectoid one. Kort are born by the clutch, however, and thus most members of their species have large extended families; Kort family reunions are thus large and important affairs.
Kort society is dominated by an obsession with labor-saving and autonomous devices, particularly droids. This affinity is ancient indeed, and has its roots in the species' mythic past, during which time a metal visitor was said to have come from the sky to bring science and technology to the early Kort, a tale many still believe. Most Kort hold complex machinery of any kind in reverence.
Of note, the Kort have in recent generations spawned a subculture known as the Parl, not technically a subspecies but endeavoring to become one. The Parl wish to return to their species' prehistoric roots; using minor surgery to convert their rudimentary lungs back into gills - or, less drastically, equipping themselves with mechanical prosthesis - they have forsaken dry land to return to their species' origins in the waters of their planet's ocean. Many Parl colonies have been built in the shallow coastal waters off the Kort home-world's single large continent, supported primarily by aquaculture, as well as submarine mining and other specialized undersea industries. Recently, the Parl have begun to look into the possibility of genetic engineering to impart their anatomical modifications more permanently to future generations.
Technology level - The Kort have achieved a technological level roughly on par with the Galactic standard, though this has been a relatively recent development; in fact, they have reached their current level a good deal more quickly than most races tend to, a fact which has led to much speculation as to its impetus. In particular, however, the Kort have a passion for droids and automation, an obsession which has its roots deep in their archaic history. The Kort also have a slight edge in metallurgy and computer design compared to many others in the Galaxy.
General behavior - Kort are a curious, gregarious people, though they have finely honed survival instincts which tend to keep them out of trouble. Of note, when deprived of anywhere to go, or any other means of defense, the species tends to hunker down beneath their carapace when threatened, sinking their claws into the ground if possible and resisting any attempts to be moved until they have perceived that the danger has passed, or at least can be convinced of such. The carapace is sturdy enough to withstand moderate physical blows, but is no protection against slugthrower rounds or blaster fire.
- History -
The Kort are a relatively young race, unusual in that their sentience appeared relatively early in their evolutionary history; their lineage has a fairly short fossil record, and many believe that intense competition between species within their planet's primordial oceans drove the ancestors of the Kort to develop their intelligence rapidly, already being formidable before they left the water to colonize the land, evolving further into the species as it appears today.
That is not to say that the Kort have a lesser history compared to other, older races. Indeed, Kort history is far from boring, and it is long indeed.
The first modern Kort were hunter-gatherers, forming small tribes which settled their planet's vast coastal wetlands, eventually following the waterways inland to settle the interior of the single large continent. Curious and intelligent, the Kort advanced slowly but steadily, developing aquaculture, which allowed their small villages to grow into their first true cities, and leading to more and more complex cultural development.
It was during this period that the Kort received their first visitations from the stars.
"Now go to sleep, little ones, or the Thirsty Ones might come to drink your blood!"
_Kort parent.
Historical and archaeological records are sketchy as to the exact date, but the period known in myth and legend as the Time of the Thirsty is believed to have occurred some 20,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, and is known among the Kort even to this day as a time of evil and despair. Accounts passed down in aural traditions and later recorded in ancient chronicles tell of whole villages found dessicated, even tucked securely beneath their carapaces, puncture wounds in their backs. The tales say that "Thirsty Ones" from the sky were responsible for the carnage, terrifying beings who possessed no carapace, only exposed flesh. Because Kort who received damage to their exoskeletons were vulnerable to severe dehydration, and because the Thirsty Ones appeared to steal the blood of their victims, it was believed that the beings killed because they were desperately thirsty, evil spirits cursed by the gods to seek the blood of mortals to moisten their parched lungs. It is speculated by modern scholars that these accounts have a less than supernatural explanation, though perhaps one which is no less chilling; it is possible that ancient spacefarers, probably humanoids from the nearby Tion Cluster or Hutt Space, came to the Kort home-world to harvest the locals' blood - which is and was incredibly valuable for various medical procedures and tests - in massive quantities.
Whatever the origin of the Thirsty Ones, the ancient Kort were powerless to resist them. The vampiric aliens towered over their prey, and had far superior technology to the primitive arthropods, felling even the most powerful of the species' warriors from afar with their "light rods" and traveling at great speed aboard the miraculous flying ships which had brought them from the sky. Unable to do anything to defend themselves against the marauders, who would appear without warning in their sky-ships, the Kort could only pray to their gods for protection.
One day, their prayers were seemingly answered.
"One day, the Thirsty Ones fought another like themselves; the challenger was burned from the sky, and the ground shook. Warriors and shamans went to look upon what had fallen. This was the coming of the Iron One, the savior of our people."
_Quotation from the Tale of the Iron One.
According to legend, there was a great battle in the skies above the Kort home-world, during which several of the Thirsty Ones' great ships threw their lightning at another vessel, similar but different. The new ship managed to destroy two of the Thirsty Ones' ships, but was grievously wounded itself, and came to earth deep in a mountain range where the marauders did not bother to pursue it. Fearful but inquisitive, the nearest Kort city sent a group of warriors and shamans to investigate the crash, from which they returned with a startling discovery.The creature the investigation party brought back from the crashed sky vessel appeared in form to be like the Thirsty Ones, but even larger, and unlike them, encased in an impenetrable carapace of polished iron. The people of the city were fearful of the bizarre creature, but the warriors and shamans assured all that it wished them no harm; its fight was apparently with the Thirsty Ones, and unlike them, it needed no blood to moisten its lungs.
The creature was injured, but still lived, and refused the medicines the shamans offered it. Instead, it commissioned items from the town's resident smith, teaching the man the secrets of forging a new metal from a mixture of elements, as well as techniques for precise measurements which allowed for the production of multiple identical pieces. The Iron One then opened its carapace, revealing insides which were not of flesh, but instead of metal and jewels. Using the items the smith had forged, the Iron One replaced parts of itself which were damaged, and being metal, would not heal on their own as flesh did.
Shortly after the Iron One repaired itself, it got the chance to finish its fight with the Thirsty Ones.
The Thirsty Ones came to the city in the night, leaving their great ships at the outskirts and breaking through the gates with their light weapons, slaughtering the warriors they encountered and draining the blood of all they caught. The people of the city were in a panic, fleeing for their lives or sheltering fearfully beneath their carapaces, warriors throwing themselves hopelessly against the attackers' might.
But then came the Iron One.
The great metal being marched on the Thirsty Ones, its shining carapace turning their beams. It answered with its own, lances of power striking down scores of the marauders, many of whom turned and tried to flee. But the Iron One was merciless; none of the attackers made it back out of the gates, and by morning, the streets ran slick with their unnatural crimson blood.
The tales say that the Iron One stayed among the Kort for only a brief time after it had slain the Thirsty Ones. It revealed to them that it had been commissioned by another to destroy the marauders, and that it must soon return to the sky and report back to them that its task had been completed. Its ship was damaged in the crash, however, and it recruited a number of locals to assist it in scavenging items from the Thirsty Ones' ships and using them to repair its own. Besides this, the Iron One commissioned items from the people of the city of its own design, educating them in the skills and techniques necessary for their construction. In time, the Iron One repaired its ship, and bid grateful farewell to the Kort, returning to the sky from whence it had come.
The Iron One left the Kort greatly uplifted; the metal being had given them the rudiments of the scientific method, not to mention countless advances in metallurgy, mathematics and engineering. Barely out of their hunter-gatherer stage, the Kort suddenly had the raw knowledge to advance their society by leaps and bounds, and their future looked bright indeed.
In time, the Iron One came to take its place among the great gods of Kort mythology, with shrines erected across the planet in its honor which can still be found to this day. In the present, many have noted the similarity between bronzium depictions of the Iron One in ancient shrines and the design of Xim era war robots.
Today, the Kort are an up-and-coming spacefaring race, with technology roughly on par with anything in the Galaxy at large. Kort technology has a particular focus on automation; the species reveres droids, and has a long history of creating them, starting with early gear-work automatons dating back to ancient times, meant to imitate their savior and showcase mastery of the skills the Iron One had taught. First-degree droids are even given the same rights as organics on the Kort home-world and its colonies. Kort trained at their home-world's many automaton design academies are highly sought after by engineering firms the Galaxy over.
Having gotten out into the Galaxy at large, Kort are a fairly common sight at many spaceports throughout the Outer Rim, working in various professions, though usually having something to do with the droid industry.
Though the Kort have had to weather the storm of cataclysmic events which have rocked the Galaxy over the last few centuries, the species and its culture have managed to survive more or less intact. During the worst of the Gulag Virus outbreak, the Kort effectively quarantined their world by using droid proxies for much of their off-world business, and in fact volunteered their skills manufacturing medical automatons for - and even donating samples of their remarkable blood to - aid groups treating the plague on other worlds. Once the virus had subsided in their region of the Galaxy, however, the Kort did finally reemerge from their physical isolation.
As for the Netherworld event of more recent memory, the Kort were not so lucky. As with much of the rest of the Galaxy, the Kort lost thousands, including a number of prominent government officials. This loss caused brief panic and upheaval, though thankfully it occurred on the eve of an election, meaning that most of those who had disappeared immediately had their vacancies filled. Even so, the loss of so many was a blow to the Kort, and the absence of the vanished is keenly felt and remembered with great sadness.
Notable Player-Characters - To be added.
Intent - The Kort are indirectly a result of the ancient war droid ZERR's adventures in the distant past, adding some weight to his back-story, though his relationship to them in the present is too far removed to be of direct benefit to him. In the present, I would have them as something like a less militant and more personable version of the Geonosians: skilled droid builders eager to supply their wares to the Galaxy.
