Unreviewed Zhaqir Deepborn

[Darth Prazutis]

• Intent: To create a sentient, Sithspawn aquatic species that serves as the Kainate's loyal "sea devils", coastal enforcers, deep-ocean hunters, and a dark cult society that worships Darth Prazutis as a living god and polices the waters of Dromund Kaas and the Tof Exclusion Zone.
• Image Credit:
  • Click - ChatGPT by Me
  • Headers - Teresa Zambrano | Darth Pellax
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• Name: Zhaqir Deepborn (Singular: Zhaqir, Plural: Zhaqiri. Basic epithets include "Deeptide Devils", "Sea-Wraiths", "Tide Fiends", or "Prazutis' Drowned")
• Designation:
  
  • Sentient
• Origins:
  • Tof Exclusionary Zone - Noctyrr Vault
  • Secondary breeding and holding sites on Dromund Kaas and select Kainate-controlled worlds and installations
• Average Lifespan:
  
  • 70-90 Galactic Standard Years
  • 120-200 By High Caste Priest and Warlord Broods
• Estimated Population: Scattered - Restricted to the Tof Exclusionary Zone, Dromund Kaas, and select Kainate worlds.
• Description: The Zhaqiri are a lithe, predatory, amphibious Sithspawn people: saurian-piscine silhouettes with finned crests, scaled hides, and hooked talons made for tearing flesh and coral alike. Their eyes burn with deep crimson, amber or abyssal yellow, and their jaws bristle with needle teeth. On campaign they wear ritualized shell-plate and dark iron scale, bearing barbed tridents and tide-blades etched in Kainate sigils. To coastal populations they are known only as "Dreadtide Devils", nightmare raiders that emerge from storm-torn surf, preceded by the sound of horn-shells and the shriek of enslaved beasts.

• Breathes: Type I Atmosphere and Water (Dual gill-lung system; Fully amphibious but physiologically optimized for aquatic environments)
• Average Height of Adults:
  • 1.9–2.3 meters (Males & war-caste)
  • 1.7–2.1 meters (Females & priest-caste; often more lightly built)
• Average Length of Adults: N/A (Digitigrade humanoids with finned tails; Overall body length, 2.8-3.2m including tail)
• Skin Color:
  • Deep sea-green, slate blue, dark teal, black-green; often mottled or striped. Older individuals accumulate pale scar-lines and alchemical inking in crimson or obsidian tones.
• Hair Color: N/A Instead fin-crests and spines in hues of bone, coral red, black, or sickly yellow.
• Distinctions:
  • Amphibious, digitigrade, powerfully muscled frames built for explosive bursts in water and agile movement on reefs and wet stone.
  • Webbed hands and feet with wicked talons; some war-castes have one arm terminating in a heavy, hooked killing claw (a deliberate alchemical mutation used for boarding and climbing) while the other retains more dexterous fingers for wielding weapons.
  • Prominent dorsal fin and lateral fin-webbing along forearms, calves, and jawline. These flares shift subtly with mood and are used for communication and intimidation.
  • Layered scale-plates over chest and shoulders; denser ridged plating along spine and shins, thinner scales on underbelly and throat.
  • Double-hinged jaws with several rows of small, recurved teeth designed to grab and shred; bite pressure sufficient to shear bone and light armor.
  • Nictitating membranes over the eyes for high-speed water movement; Capable of seeing in deep darkness with excellent low-light acuity.
  • Electro-receptive and pressure-sensitive pores along the snout, jaw, and forearms allowing them to "feel" heartbeats, motion, and electrical activity in the water.
  • Many high-caste individuals bear ritual bioluminescent markings along their crests, cheeks, and chest, Sith runes that glow dully red or violet during rites and when channeling the Dark Side.
• Races:
  • Reefclaw Zhaqir: The most common strain, bred for coastal raids and littoral warfare. Reefclaws are a bit leaner and faster than other Zhaqir, with bright fin-crests and spines that range from rust-red to poisonous yellow-green. They make up the bulk of war-bands deployed along shorelines, harbors, and rig-cities, serving as skirmishers, hunters, and line infantry.
  • Abyssborn Zhaqir: Bred and hatched in deep trench temples and Leviathan Runs, Abyssborn are larger, darker, and heavier-plated than their reef-dwelling kin. Their scales tend toward near-black or dull slate with faint bioluminescent rune-patterns along the gills and spine. These are the shock-troops and heavy elites of the species, often assigned to guard Kainate undersea facilities, Blackwake Leviathans, and abyssal nexuses.
  • Drowned Oracle Zhaqir: A rare mutant strain pulled from broods that gestate near strong dark side nexuses. Drowned Oracles are thinner and more elongated, with pallid or dark-glass eyes, extra fin-frills around the skull, and sensory tendrils along the throat and collar. They show the highest rate of Force-sensitivity and serve as seers, chanters, and priest-caste for the Zhaqir's worship of Darth Prazutis. Their presence in a war-band elevates it to a religious crusade.
  • Ironfin Zhaqir: A forged strain created specifically for surface and mixed-environment operations. Ironfins have reinforced limb structure, thicker claws, and partially alchemized bone spurs along their arms and backs, making them better suited to prolonged land engagements and fighting aboard ships, rigs, and docks.
• Force Sensitivity: High - Many Zhaqiri are born with latent sensitivity, resulting in widespread low-level instinctive talents (beast empathy, bodily enhancement, battlefield awareness). Only a focused minority are trained into true Sith adepts or priests.

• Tide-Born Hunters: In water, Zhaqiri are terrifyingly efficient. They swim with great speed and maneuverability, can strike from beneath waves with explosive force, and fight as coordinated packs. Amphibious physiology allows seamless transition from ocean assault to shoreline and harbor warfare.
• Dreadtide Dominion (Aquatic Beast-Command): All Zhaqiri possess an innate dark empathy with aquatic predators, from common sharks to native titans. Through a combination of pheromonal cues, electro-receptive signaling, and Force-borne instinct, they can guide, agitate, or calm most non-sapient marine life in proximity. Trained priest-caste and war-sorcerers can extend this into true battle-command, driving shoals into feeding frenzies, directing Riftmaws and Surfskinners, or synchronizing strikes alongside greater Sithspawn. Elder choirs can even influence Blackwake Leviathans and other massive creations, though never with perfect, risk-free control.
• Pack Tactics & Shock Assault: Zhaqiri fight as coordinated hunting packs rather than conventional infantry. They use water, cliffs, docks, flooded tunnels, and rig superstructures to attack from above, below, and behind, surrounding enemies before tearing them apart. In defensive terrain such as reefs, rig-cities, and submerged passages, they turn the environment into a maze of ambush points where outsiders are isolated, overwhelmed, and dragged into the depths.
• Darkside-Honed Physiology: As Sithspawn, they boast superior strength, reflexes, and resilience compared to baseline humanoids. Their scales and natural plating offer respectable baseline protection, and many war-castes undergo ritual enhancements, bone-spiking, muscle reinforcement, drug-glands for berserker surges in battle.

• Hydro-Dependence: While they can breathe air indefinitely, Zhaqiri dehydrate quickly without regular immersion or heavy humidity. Prolonged deployment in arid or temperate inland environments leads to cracked scales, reduced mobility, and systemic organ stress; away from large bodies of water their combat effectiveness steadily declines.
• Light & Sonic Sensitivity: Their eyes and sensory pores are adapted to dark, pressure-heavy environments. Intense flashes, ultraviolet floods, or sustained sonic/sonic-ionized weapons can disorient or incapacitate them, disrupting their electro-receptive sense and coordination.
• Vulnerability to Force Light: As dark side alchemical creations, Zhaqiri are highly susceptible to Force Light and related sanctifying disciplines.
• Bound to the Dreadtide: Culturally and metaphysically, the Zhaqiri are bound to Darth Prazutis and the Kainate. Their rituals, control spurs, and even the alchemical patterns in their blood carry imprinting that ties their loyalty to the Dreadtide Sovereign (Their name for him). Attempts to "liberate" or repurpose them are met with instinctive hostility, madness, or spiritual collapse. They are not a species easily co-opted by outside powers.

• Diet: Carnivore. Prefer fresh raw meat, particularly:
  • Large marine prey (Sharks, eels, reef dwellers)
  • Humanoid flesh (Considered the highest "war-meat," reserved for ritual feasts)
  • Occasionally consume smaller Sithspawn and failed alchemical stock in sanctioned culling rites.
  • They can metabolize preserved rations and high-protein nutrient slurries aboard ships or rigs, but regard such food as "storm fare" and spiritually empty.
• Communication:
  • Spoken language: Zhaqiri, a sibilant, click-laden tongue with many glottal stops and trilled consonants, optimized for both water and air.
  • Underwater: Complex pattern of clicks, growls, body posturing, fin-flares, and low-frequency pulses.
  • Dark-tide Cant: Among priest-castes and war-sorcerers, a ritualized telepathic "chorus" used during hunts and rites, piggy-backing on the same instinct that binds their beast empathy.
• Technology Level: Above Galactic standard when integrated with Kainate support:
  • Use Kainate-pattern armor, melee weapons, slugthrowers, and underwater-optimized blasters and more.
  • Native craftsmanship excels in shell-plate, coral-bone construction, bone/tide-glass weaponry, and primitive but effective undersea traps and fortifications.
  • They do not build starships themselves but serve as boarding troops, wet-work specialists, and guardians of ocean rigs, Leviathan forges, and flooded citadels.
• Religion/Beliefs:
  • Prazutis as "Dreadtide Sovereign": The Zhaqiri believe Darth Prazutis carved them from the black waters of oblivion. They depict him as a colossal shadow beneath the storm sea, eyes like sinking suns, crowned in bone and lightning. He is their world-breaker, creator, and ultimate judge.
  • The Black Wake: A metaphysical concept representing both the literal wake of a Leviathan and the spiritual path of annihilation left by the Kainate. To "Enter the Black Wake" is to embrace total service: Raiding, culling, and drowning the enemies of their god until nothing remains but obedience and silence.
  • Tide-Oaths: Zhaqiri bind all major vows, service, vengeance, alliance, by cutting their palms and casting blood into the surf while chanting in the dark. False oaths are believed (and in some cases engineered via alchemy) to result in physical wasting and eventual death.
  • Clerical roles are filled by Priest-Queens and Tide-Seers, nearly always female or Shell-Crowned mutants, who interpret the will of the Dreadtide Sovereign via storms, Leviathan dreams, and Kainate directives.
• General Behavior:
  • Social Structure: Strongly martial meritocracy within a theocratic framework. Clutches are raised communally in flooded brood-chambers. Pups are tested early via controlled hunts and trials; weak or disobedient young are culled without sentiment and fed to beasts or alchemical vats. Zhaqiri civilization is a theocratic war-brood hierarchy, the highest native authority among the Zhaqiri is the Abyssal Synod, also called the Dreadtide Synod. This ruling council is composed of the most powerful Priest-Queens, Tide-Seers, Brood-Matriarchs, Leviathan-Singers, and Dreadtide Champions. It governs the species in matters of faith, war, breeding, beast-command, and relations with the wider Kainate when no direct command from Prazutis or his appointed Sith is present.
    
    The Synod's most sacred office is the First Priest-Queen, the supreme spiritual interpreter of the Dreadtide Sovereign's will. She sanctifies wars, judges heresy, governs great rites, and decides which omens, storms, leviathan dreams, and Kainate directives carry divine weight. Alongside her stands the Crown-Warlord of the Black Wake, the highest native military commander of the Zhaqiri, usually a Shell-Crowned mutant, Abyssborn giant, or Dreadtide Champion who has proven themselves in repeated campaigns.
    
    Equally feared is the First Leviathan-Singer, the master of the beast-choirs who guide Riftmaw packs, Surfskinner war-beasts, Blackwake Leviathans, and other aquatic horrors. The Brood-Matriarch of the Deep Reefs oversees hatcheries, brood purity, bloodline cultivation, and the culling or elevation of young. Together, these apex figures form the inner power structure of Zhaqiri society beneath the Kainate.
    
    Beneath the Synod are the Reef-Crowns, local ruling circles that govern individual reef-cities, trench-temples, island-coast enclaves, and colonial holdings such as those in the Tof Exclusionary Zone. Each Reef-Crown usually includes a Priest-Queen, a warlord, several Tide-Seers, brood overseers, beast-handlers, and Abyss-Wardens. Beneath them are the war-clans and clutches, which function as extended families, military companies, hunting packs, and religious cells all at once.
    
    Zhaqiri are not raised as private children of individual households, but as members of communal broods. Hatchlings are tested early through controlled hunts, pain trials, obedience rites, and blood-scent exercises. Those who prove strong are sorted into useful roles. Those who show Force aptitude may be taken by the Tide-Seers. Those who show beast-bonding talent may become Leviathan-Singers. Those who display great size, mutation, or violence may be marked as future champions. Weak, disobedient, or malformed young are culled without sentiment and fed to beasts, the priesthood, or the alchemical vats.
    • Castes:
      
      • Reef-Hunters: Rank-and-file warriors, scouts, and raiders.
      • Abyss-Wardens: Deep trench guardians, Leviathan handlers, and prison wardens for undersea facilities.
      • Tide-Seers & Priest-Queens: Spiritual and strategic leadership; many serve as intermediaries with Sith overseers, receiving visions and orders.
      • Dreadtide Champions: Mutant barons with increased size, secondary arm-growth, or pronounced shell-crowns; often bonded personally to Prazutis or senior Kainate lords.
  • Family & Reproduction: Clutch-based reproduction with large broods; eggs are kept in guarded brood-reefs, often near dark side nexuses or industrial outflows, believed to "harden" the young. Genetic and alchemical manipulation is ongoing; desirable traits (strong beast-bond, Force aptitude, physical mutations) are selectively bred and cultivated.
    
    • Relations with Others:
      
      • The Kainate: Absolute loyalty and religious devotion. The Zhaqiri view service to the Kainate as both sacred purpose and biological destiny. They believe Darth Prazutis, the Dreadtide Sovereign, called them from oblivion and gave them the sea as a weapon. Sith are regarded as Storm Lords beneath him: divine officers, living omens, and masters to be feared and obeyed.
      • Non-Kainate Offworlders: At best prey, at worst trespassers. Unauthorized outsiders entering Zhaqiri waters are hunted, drowned, enslaved, or taken alive as "song-meat" for ritual drowning, interrogation, sacrifice, or experimentation. Diplomacy is possible only through Kainate authority; without such protection, most offworlders are treated as meat that has not yet stopped speaking.
      • Other Sithspawn: The Zhaqiri respect strength above all things. Lesser Sithspawn may be used as hunting beasts, war-assets, or expendable biological tools. Greater aquatic horrors such as Blackwake Leviathans and Thalassûr Kraken are revered as Elder Teeth of the Dreadtide, sacred monsters that embody the hunger of Prazutis' dominion over the sea. The Zhaqiri do not believe these beasts are gods, but they do believe they are holy weapons.
      • Swamp Undines: The Zhaqiri regard the Swamp Undines as Mire-Sisters or Wetland Wraiths, fellow Kainate-made amphibious Sithspawn who belong to the shallows, swamps, wetlands, and drowned forests rather than the open ocean and abyss. Relations between the two species are generally cooperative but edged with predatory rivalry. The Zhaqiri consider themselves the superior children of the deep sea, while the Swamp Undines often see the Zhaqiri as severe, fanatical, and over-proud. Despite this tension, both species share enough biology, Sithspawn nature, and Kainate conditioning to work together with brutal efficiency.
        
        In joint operations, Swamp Undines are valued as wetland scouts, ambushers, infiltrators, skirmishers, and swamp-war auxiliaries, while the Zhaqiri dominate deeper waters, coastlines, reefs, harbors, and aquatic beast-command. Together they are especially dangerous in mangroves, river deltas, flooded cities, marsh-coasts, jungle wetlands, and storm-swamped battlefields. Zhaqiri Tide-Seers and Undine matriarchs sometimes coordinate through telepathy, horn-calls, and dark side ritual chants, creating mixed hunting parties that move between swamp, surf, and sea with little warning.
        
        The relationship is not gentle. Duels, dominance displays, trophy exchanges, and inter-tribal feuds are common where their territories overlap. Both species understand that they are weapons of the same empire. When unleashed together, they do not compete over whether the prey will die; only over who gets to drag it beneath the water first.

The Zhaqiri were not born, they were designed.

In the wake of his consolidation over Dromund Kaas, Darth Prazutis looked upon the storm-lashed seas of his throneworld and saw both threat and opportunity. The Umbral Maw and its surrounding waters were wild, dangerous, and rich in ancient predators and submerged ruins. To fully claim the world, the Kainate needed more than ships and droids. It needed a people who belonged to the sea as thoroughly as the Sith belonged to the dark.

Within abyssal trench-labs and flooded biovaults beneath the Kaasian seas, Sith bio-alchemists and the Shadow Mind took to work. Samples were harvested from native ocean predators, ancient aquatic species, and even captured offworld stock. Under the Mortarch's directives, these were broken down and re-forged according to a single principle: create a sentient, loyal, amphibious warrior society that could think like a Sith, move like a shark, and breed like a reef.

Early iterations were failures. Some broods were mindless beasts, tearing one another apart the moment they hatched. Others formed coherent tribes but rejected Kainate indoctrination, turning their violence against handlers and flooding lower labs in crimson. Whole facilities were quietly "sterilized".

The breakthrough came when the alchemists bound embryonic broods to a structured mythos from their first moments of awareness. Through neuro-alchemical imprinting, dream-choruses, and ritualized exposure to Prazutis' presence in the Force, the developing minds were saturated with a single, overwhelming narrative: You are the Deepborn. You were called from nothing by the Dreadtide Sovereign. Your purpose is to drown his enemies.

This spiritual architecture, combined with carefully controlled exposure to the Dark Side and strict culling, produced the first stable Zhaqiri clutches. They awoke in flooded brood-chambers already hearing distant storm-chants and feeling the gravity of a god that lived above and below them. They did not merely obey the Kainate; they believed their obedience was the only reason the sea itself did not swallow them back into oblivion.

The Zhaqiri proved their worth first on Dromund Kaas, clearing deep-sea wrecks, hunting rogue Sithspawn, and sealing undersea ruins that defied conventional forces. They established reef-cities, gothic arches of coral, bone, and dark iron grown around control spires and ritual pits, beneath key coastal fortresses and the approaches. Smugglers and infiltrators who once tried to slip through the planet's raging storms and utilize submersibles to traverse its continents began to vanish without trace, leaving only twisted hulls and bite-scarred plating on the trench walls.

When the Kainate turned its gaze upon Firefist and the Tof Kingdom, the Deepborn went with them. After the surface fortresses fell and the Blackwake Leviathans were seeded into the poisoned seas, Zhaqiri clans were established in the drowned harbors and trench-cities of the new Tof Exclusionary Zone. There, they oversaw mining rigs, Leviathan forges, and undersea prison reefs, acting as both wardens and local overlords. Tof survivors quickly learned that fleeing by sea was folly; the Dreadtide had eyes and teeth beneath the waves as well as in the sky.

Today, Zhaqiri culture is inseparable from Kainate dominion over the water. They are the knife in the surf, the shadow beneath the hull, the chanting silhouettes around a Blackwake's resting trench. To the rest of the galaxy they are rumors and nightmares, stories of sea devils. To Darth Prazutis, they are one more perfected instrument of correction: A people whose only horizon is the next drowned enemy, whose prayers are recited in bubbles and blood.