Karian
One of the first races I created when I started playing SF, it was also one of the main bad guy races in a story I wrote over several years when I was young called “Galactic Rebellion”. They are obviously inspired by “The Planet of the Apes”, perhaps one of the most influential sci-fi movies in my life. It evolved from a basic simian races to what you see here. It originally was meant to be a NPC races but in evolved into a PC race.
Physical Description
Some call the Karians Yazirian without the wings, but with more attitude. They are a simian race, intelligent but violent. The usually are just shorter than the average human, and have a slight hunch. Their snout is not quite as prominent as the Yazirian, and they are fanged. They are extremely strong, and savage when angered. They vary in color and in general physiology, and can be broken down into three basic units. These units were given names by their Terran masters centuries ago.
- Gorilla caste – the warrior and worker caste. They are larger, and have black fur all over their bodies, with dark skin in the bare areas.
- Chimp caste – the religious and scholar caste. Usually they are smaller than the gorillas, with black fur and lighter skin.
- Tang caste – the leader class. Tangs are reddish fur and light skin.
Average Size: 1.7 m (males), 1.6 (females)
Average Mass: 60 kg
Average Life-span: 210 yr.
Reproduction: Heterosexual, viviparous
Body Temp: 37 degrees C
Historical Detail.
The Karian were brought into the star-faring age rather abruptly, when the Terran Expanse landed on their world, Kara. Corporations saw them as semi-intelligent beasts, attempted to enslave them and when they fought back, the Terrans were totally unprepared. The Karian fought with incredible fervor, and learned to use Terran weapons and equipment quickly. Their endurance for pain, and the ability to withstand extremes overshadowed the Terrans resources and technology. The Terrans had to abandon the Kara system, but not before interfering with the Karians so much that they would soon be reaching into the stars.
It took a few centuries, but the Karians learned from what was left behind, and developed their own FTL ships, colonized local planets, and developed a small empire.
Senses
Karians have equivalent senses to humans except in the sense of smell. Their smell sense is far superior.
Speech and Languages
Karian languages vary, but their primary language was the Terran Standard that was left behind. They speak Pan-Gal equally as well as humans.
Attitudes
Of all the races the Karians know, Humans are their sworn enemy. However, they do not have the resources or the allies to wage war with them, so they only can politically fight them. The Yazirian is a puzzlement to them, and some believe they are a lost fourth caste that the humans took from them. Others believe they are a mutation, and should be destroyed. The Karian High Council has not passed judgement on them yet, so Karians accept them.
Karians have a strong honor code like the Yazirians or the Halogai’.This honor code stems from a strict religions the Karian called simply the Faith. True Faithful are sometimes dangerous fanatics. Because of their past with the humans, the Faithful have declared a kind of secret holy war against the humans. Terrorism is one of their strongest weapons.
Social Structure and Standards
The Karian Empire is a small region of space just outside Rhianna. It wad formed once they were able to reverse engineer a few Terran FTL ships left behind after the war. With the interference of the Terran Imperials, the Karian society went through drastic changes. Much of the Terran culture was forced onto the Karians. Merged with a little of their own, the result is what is today the Karian Empire society.
The Karian religious, otherwise known as the Faithful, dominate the culture. Their society is more a theocracy than even the S’saran. At least the government is a separate entity in the S’saran society. This is not the case of the Karian society, where the government is the church.
The Karian society has a strong undercurrent of revenge flowing through it. The Karian society know that they can not take on the Humans now, but they want revenge very badly. So they quietly plot revenge against the humans.
Karian society is divided up into three castes, as mentioned above. These castes are based on the three subspecies of the Karian.
- Gorilla Caste – Made up the strongest and largest of the Karian, they are traditionally the warriors and the worker class.
- Chimp caste – Made up the smaller, more agile of the species, they are traditionally the lower class religious and scholar members of Karian society..
- Tang caste – The smallest portion of the Karian society, they are also the leaders, the government and the high priests.
Racial Abilities
Sense Presence: Because of their sense of smell, Karians can sense the presence an approaching individual. This gives the Karians a +1 to their Initiative Modifier (IM).
Climbing: All Karians receive Climbing skill for free at +X.