- Joined
- Aug 28, 2015
- Messages
- 37
- Reaction score
- 5
- Name: The Graug
- Designation: Sentient
- Homeworld: Gratos
- Language: Graug Speak [only aristocrats and top military/government leaders usually speak Basic or other languages]
- Average height of adults: 2.2 meters
- Skin color: Pale and green, pale and dark green, pale green and pale
- Hair color: None
- Breathes: Type 1 Atmospheres
- Strengths:
Violence: The Graug soldiers are very violent by nature and it is only enhanced by the specie’s genetic mutation of unborn children in the womb. This genetic tampering gives all children an unquenchable addiction and thirst for adrenaline once they start receiving it. In battle they will go into what can only be described as a psychotic killing mindset in which they put taking others lives ahead of keeping their own.
Darkside sensitivity: The species is naturally sensitive to the darkside of the force and extremely attracted to its presence. However, only the females and select males are actually able to wield it effectively. While fighting on planets or in places where the darkside is heavily saturated, the species gain a natural boost from its assistance.
Resistance to disease and poison: A unique trait of the species is the presence of naturally occurring micro-bacteria in their blood stream. The bacteria is believed to have evolved with the help of the darkside presence on their home planet as well as the need to resist the abnormal amount of plagues and poisons found in the dense jungles of their homeworld. These bacteria attack any foreign bodies like ants and are much more aggressive than their blood-cells. With the assistance of the darkside the bacteria can quickly destroy disease without any harm to the creatures while a few hours of rest and weakness will destroy even the strongest of poisons.
Durable: The Graug are covered in a tough scale-like skin that can deflect most of any natural threats. It offers a slight resistance to blaster bolts and slug throwers and serves as great protection from sharp cutting weapons.
- Weaknesses:
Dependence: It is rare for a naturally occurring intellectual to be born among the species and it is even rarer on the homeworld where genetic mutation almost always twists this code. Most Graug are naturally born without the ability to make sound decisions and produce advanced logical thought, relying on natural survival instinct. However, a surprising anomaly occurs when a genetic superior is born. The genetic lesser of the species will flock to the new leader almost instantly after birth, as if something beckons them to do so. These leaders are naturally more intelligent and it is speculated that a loose form of a hive mind is applied in this situation. It is more than obvious that this connection has to do with the species darkside sensitivity.
Primitive: The species as a whole is very primitive, even considering they have achieved space flight. The species has no great thinkers or scientists as they have grown content with their current technology. Their primitive mindset has also led to a lack of diplomatic skill and an infestation mentality to conquer, destroy and pillage. They also tend to be highly xenophobic and bent on the idea of "The Master People" a belief that tells that one day, the most pure in strength will rule all of existence. These traits have made them very undesirable and feared throughout the galaxy, most don’t even trust to use them as mercenaries. This can make work outside of their home system hard to find and near impossible in places such as the Republic.
Lightside phobia: The species, due to its connection to the darkside, have grown a phobia to the aura of the lightside. The servant classes of the species are almost always guaranteed to flee at a display of power from a exceptional lightsider. This can only be countered with a strong leader who is potent in the darkside of the force, or a battlefield riddled with dark energy. Even then, a strong enough lightside presence can be enough to cause the creatures to flee.
Prone to Insanity: The violent nature and addiction to adrenaline has its downside. If a servant class of the species activates its addiction and is not supplied with a steady amount of it, in the form of combat, the unquenchable addiction will drive them to madness. It is not uncommon to find a low class Graug talking to non-existent voices or going on serial rampages.
- Distinctions: Males have Reptilian skin and no hair, they are also bulky and tall. Their mouths are lined with razor sharp teeth for tearing into meat and long, dangerous claws.
- Females appear more human with the exception of sharp teeth, not nearly as long as the males. They also grow hair and do not possess the hides of the males, though they are known to exhibit very alien distinctions such as reptilian eyes.
- Average Lifespan: 200 years years
- Races:
Imperial Clan of the Horde Mother: The Imperial Clan seized control of the Graug homeworld after the “Cleansing War”. They operate in a matriarch system with a single queen as head of state and her sons acting as generals. They are the strongest of the clans and are considered the ruling body in the Gratos system.
The Lost Clan of the Dread Father: The Lost Clan was one of the three clans run off of the homeworld by the Horde Mother. They are the second strongest of the four clans and live on one of the habitable moons of Gratos, known as Kador. Kador has a severe lack of animals and sufficient building materials which has lead to the clan of the Dread Father becoming a band of pirates who use Kador as they base of operations as they go forth to plunder trade routes. The leaders are chosen solely by the rule of the strong; any being with sufficient intelligence to lead must kill the current Dread Father to claim power.
The Holy Clan of the Seka Jor: The Holy Clan is a collection of highly intelligent Graug who did not take direct part in the cleansing war until the Imperial Clan tried forcing them from their temples. They fought bravely but were overcome by the much more numerous Imperials. They could have been slaughtered to extinction, but this particular collective was the sole religious body of the species and for this reason they were allowed to live. However, as punishment for their uprising, they were sent away to the second habitable moon of Gratos, Illio. The moon has sufficient food for them to survive and the Imperials provide them with materials, woman to repopulate their numbers. They are lead by the Seka Jorian (Or Spirit of Jor) a religious figure believed to be the prophet of the gods.
The Forbidden Clan of the Shamed Sister: The forbidden clan is the last clan of the four and is the weakest. The clan was lead by the current first Horde Mother’s sister and was the first to rebel against her rule. Before the war, the clan was known as the Valley Clan, but after the Cleansing war the sister was killed and her clan sent away to the fourth planet in the star system, Torfen. Here the clan would be separated from the rest of the galaxy and blockaded by the Imperials, with barely enough women to repopulate. Eventually the clan began to decline and became savage, reverting back to nomadic ways with no clear leaders.
- Diet: The species is carnivorous and is capable of eating both raw and cooked meats. While they can consume alcohol it has no real affect on them on account of the bacteria in their bloodstream. They cannot eat anything vegetarian as it will make them deathly ill and will not support their bodies.
- Communication: Verbal
- Culture: The culture of the Graug is a long and interesting story. As stated they are a violent species, war and bloodshed being their sport and a common ritual of life. The species is divided into clans (as of right now there are four clans) and each is lead by what is considered a “genetic superior” (this not including the Forbidden Clan). A genetic superior is exactly what it sounds like, a member of the species who is superior to his brethren on a mental and physical level. Each clan has its own way of ruling itself with a slightly different culture than the others. Names between each clan tend to be short, rough names (Krag, Tork, Pog, etc).
Imperial Clan: The Imperial clan is centered a Horde Mother, or a queen to outsiders, who rules over the clan. The Horde Mother gives birth to her children; the males serve as generals and the woman as official mating partners to her sons. All of the children born to the Horde Mother's grand children live only to serve and are modified to do so. While this seems like a tedious process, many genetic alterations are at the clan’s disposal to excel birth rate. Plus, it is not uncommon for the children of the Horde Mother to have literally hundreds of children.
This taboo ritual is then used to justify the Horde Mother’s title, as she is seen as the beginning of the entire clan. The Imperial Clan’s culture circles around domination of the others clans and eventually the universe, every year a religious festival is even held once in a generation which individuals willingly sacrifice themselves in the name of “Garakar” the god of war and the sea. The Horde Mother also takes part by meeting with the most successful of her sons and matting with him publicly to conceive the next Horde Mother who will be modified to ensure perfection and then nurtured from a child at a normal growth rate. This particular clan is known for its massive Imperial Palaces made of natural stones and its massive mining metropolises underground.
Lost Clan: The lost Clan is the second largest of the clans but is not nearly as sophisticated as the third or first. The clan was forced to turn to pirating to survive after being expelled from the homeworld for helping in the rebellion. Their culture is centered on worshipping “The Harvest God”, the deity said to be in control of all that is plentiful and good. They do not hold any festivals and their main mode of worship is burning a portion of their loot as sacrifice to the Harvest God "Lamok". They have never built anything extravagant on their new home and use scrapped capital ships and their pirating vessels for shelter.
The clan is lead by the Dread Father who is believed to be the strongest of the clan as chosen by Lamok. Only the toughest and most genetically superior can claim this title and they must fight to the death for the right. They have made an unstable peace with the Imperial Clan and the two try to stay out of each others way.
The Holy Clan: The Holy Clan is by far the most sophisticated of the four. They are completely made up of genetically modified beings who share a very close IQ. Instead of developing a solid, unconscious hivemind the priests actually elect the religious leader. This elected priest is then asked to go forth onto the homeworld, by blessing of the Horde Mother, and single handedly killing a Colossal Blukthran (Blood Spider). Killing a Colossal Blood Spider alone is believed to be an act only one blessed by the gods can achieve. Once returning with proof of the deed, the priest is named as the Seka Jor.
At the current moment, the Holy Clan and the Imperial Clan have a loose alliance. The Imperials provide them with what they require and in return the priests send a few of their kind back to the homeworld to maintain a religious order. They participate in battle and are very attuned to the darkside of the force, using their gifts to sway the tide of battle and raising the spirits of the Imperial’s armies.
The Forbidden Clan: The Forbidden clan has no real culture and has all but forgotten its old ways. They have turned feral and resorted back to tribal living; some tribes have leaders while others are just roaming nomads who stick together out of survival instinct. They have multiple versions of deities and there is no solid governmental system, calling it a clan anymore is just a way for the rest of the species to refer to them.
- Technology level: The three major clans all have blaster technology and are capable of at least basic hyperspace travel. The Imperial Clan is the most advanced, having the ability to produce warships capable of going against a modern fleet. The Other clans rely on less reliable ships, meant for pirating or hit and runs.
The forbidden clan is stuck in tribal stages, barely able to use makeshift weapons.
- General behavior: The species is very violent, even the religious leaders thinking of war as the best way to live. No matter how well the soldiers do in combat, it is always the leaders who gain the honor as the subordinates are nothing more than servants. Praying to the gods is common practice and each of the gods has their own purpose among every clan. The ones smart enough to interact with other species and races have a massive superiority complex and are always up for a fight.
History: The Species started as a collection of hundreds of clans across their homeworld. No one is quite sure how the Graug came to be, or how their evolutionary history is written, but most speculate that they are simply a by-product of reptilian life attempting to survive in a harsh environment. Other, more skeptical, beings speculate that the Force had a large part to play in their creation than some would like to believe. Regardless of how they came to be, The Graug have proven themselves to be highly motivated and industrious throughout their history of violence.
Prehistoric drawings will tell stories of great battles waged around the planet. Stories of clans growing massive in size, only to be destroyed by fate or their own greed. All of this and more can be seen etched into cave walls or stone tablets. The first true instance of Graug civilization was in the form of small villages that gathered to hunt and stay safe from the ever more violent animals of their dangerous homeplanet. These small parties eventually grew in size, growing into clans and tribes that would fight for control of hunting grounds. The first Empires were seen early in Graug history. Ruins discovered by explorers point to the theory that the first true Empire on Gratos was formed mere decades after the wheel was first invented by their species.
This quickly led to war, but because of their low technological achievement at the time, wars were mainly won by numbers. The more space you had and the more animals you killed, the more warriors you had to always win. Thus, Empires were born extremely early when compared to other societies in the galaxy; but merely as a means of survival. This would forever shape the Graug culture; making them the warlike species that they are in modern times.
War also propelled their technological achievement. As Empires grew larger and hunting grounds more scarce, the need to have better weapons grew. By the time the Graug reached what is considered the equivalent to the bronze era, their Empires had stabilized and wars were much harder to win on numbers alone. Thus, weapon advancements were made to win battles more decisively. Transports crafted to get troops to the battlefield quicker. On and on this cycle went, until the species had surpassed the the blackpowder age and moved into the dreadful era of nuclear power. Luckily for the Graug, the materials for nuclear weapons were not present on their planet and their disease resistance kept biological weapons from being a problem.
But peace can only last so long. Some Empires grew unhappy with the territory they received on the moons, demanding that they be given better locations. Of course, no clan was willing to give over their land and so war ensued. This war is commonly referred to as the Cleansing War. Lines were drawn between each nation, some vying to take power of the homeworld (The Imperialists) while others simply did not partake (The Holy Clans).Once again, entire cities were destroyed and whole clans made extinct through the fires of war. The war waged for years and, in the end, the Imperialists took power over Gratos and forced the losers into exile or worse. It was not long after the cleansing war that the rest of the galaxy took notice of the Graug and their primitive little planet. Explorers and hopefuls from all over the galaxy began to flock to Gratos, hoping to find fortune, fame or convert misguided species to their faith.
The first waves of these explorers were met with hostility and were attacked by Krag and his forces. However, their superior technology was enough to thwart the Graug attempts at battle; leaving the species in awe. Thus, more peaceful alternatives were perused by the Graug.
Initial interactions were tense, but as the Graug began to show-off their abundant supply of Durasteel and Ultrachrome to the explorers, things began to settle. Through the use of pictures and specialized droids, the Explorers were able to strike small deals with Krag and the Horde Mother for minerals in exchange for advanced hyperdrives and weapons.
And so trade continued for over twenty years. Only special teams of Graug scouts were permitted by the Horde Mother to leave the planet and multiple mineral deposits were pinpointed by the explorers; which were then dug up by the Graug. Society and culture on Gratos were rapidly advanced by centuries. Instead of staying as a tribal empire that resembled the Huns, the Graug became a structured mining society that resembled an ant colony. When the Graug built mines, they built them to operate as massive underground cities; one that could be easily defended and enclosed in the event of attack. Eventually, this style of city became the norm throughout Gratos and with it came a new style of social hierarchy.
Due to the high volume of trade and industry that struck Gratos without warning, the society shifted away from having a civilization built upon specialized jobs. Instead, Graug society began to train all male members of its culture as warriors and workers; while all women (who are the minority in Graug society) are trained as warriors and treated as royalty. This made Graug society highly functional, as all members of the species were able to fill any position needed and all of them were proficient warriors. Soon after this social hierarchy developed, the Graug began to create special machines to control the mostly violent and carnivorous animals on their planet. By armoring them and upgrading them with weapons or construction equipment, the Graug were able to supplement their lack of construction and military vehicles with powerful warbeasts that could be easily bred, cloned and trained in shorter amounts of time then it would take them to build the factories needed to make the vehicles.
Graug population exploded as society could form above and below ground and the already high rate of Graug births escalated as the female numbers increased. To Krag's mother, it was proof that the prophecy had been true. Her son was making the Graug strong. By the time the species formed an adequate military, the outside galaxy was preparing to integrate Gratos into the larger economic wheel. However, the Graug had already prepared their genocide of the aliens. Without warning, the Graug forces attacked explorer settlements and decimated trade vehicles, looting millions in technology and slaughtering thousands. This prompted a quick response from planets whose citizens had been murdered by the Graug. Known to the Graug as "The Night of Sky Fire", a massive attack was launched in which a technologically superior force of military craft decimated Graug space and air power; bombarding military complexes and surface cities. Most of Graug society was forced to flee the surface as cities were turned to dust.
Intent: To Create a new and interesting species for people to play around with and allow them to create characters of this species.
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