Haad

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The Haad are a sapient species found throughout the Cloud of Tatra. They are notable for their mercenary society and their dead homeworld.

A rendition of a Haad

Physiology

The Haad are large, multipedal vertebrate myriapoids with eleven pairs of legs, two pairs of arms and a pair of limbs bearing large claws. They grow up to 2m long and 1.8m tall, and mass up to 84kg. Males and steriles are around 1.5 times bigger than females.

They have one pair of eyes, with slitted pupils and good colour vision. They also have internal ears and nostrils down their necks which enable them to smell trace scents effectively. Males are usually bright yellow or orange in colour, though females are a drab brown.

Their legs and arms end in two-clawed extremities. The claws are very powerful, and are often used to hold other animals in place.

Haad mouthparts have three mandibles arranged around each other, which all move from side to side during chewing. They have large, hooked teeth.

Diet

The Haad are omnivores, able to eat meat and vegetables.

Reproduction

Haad are viviparous. However, they have three genders- males, which produce sperm, females, which carry eggs, and steriles, which incapable of either. The steriles survive because of their usefulness in defending males and females, and the fact that the genes which induce sterility are placed in a location where removal is almost impossible without meaning the death of the organism. Steriles make up around half of the Haad population.

Offspring gestate over the course of seven months. All the children from one birth have the same gender, and take sixteen to nineteen years to grow to their full size.

Intelligence

The Haad are reasonably intelligent sapients. Cultural pressures prevent many Haad intellectuals from arising, however.

Society

Since the loss of the Haad homeworld, they have become nomadic and spread to the worlds and colonies of the other species in the Cloud of Tatra. Large populations are present in many locations.

As they are usually looked down upon by other races of the region, they are usually restricted to lowly jobs such as cleaning and labour. Some have managed to receive an education and become scientists or people performing higher jobs, but they are definitely the exception.

Many Haad have become mercenaries, or joined the forces of the Tatric Alliance.

Technology

Most of the old Haad technology is lost, either destroyed with their civilisation or made obsolete by that of other species. Very little survives.

History

The Haad were a flourishing renaissance-level society when they had their first contact, after the Raai and Inehmud came to their planet. They uplifted them, carrying them around the Cloud. They began to integrate into the region's society when a disaster occurred.

A scouting War Machine force entered the Cloud and destroyed everything in its path. Frantically trying to organise resistance, the Raai and Inehmud sacrificed several worlds to the War Machine, one of which was the Haad homeworld. The invaders reduced the surface of the planet to slag and then moved on.

Fortunately, the Cyrians intervened and halted the War Machine advance, then drove them back out of the Cloud. They then set up the Tatric Alliance to prevent such an attack causing so much damage again.

Homeless and scattered, the Haad had no chance of regaining their former glory.

Relations with other races

The Haad are not a single entity, but instead spread around the region. Different species tend to have certain outlooks on them.

Cyrians

The Cyrians have no real use for the Haad, and usually think of them as labourers and cannon fodder.

Raai

The Raai are the race which use the services of the Haad most often, allowing large communities of Haad to build up in their colonies. They are also the least segregating, deliberately planning housing so that Haad and Raai intermingle and no 'ghettoes' form.

Inehmud

The Inehmud are scornful of the Haad, using them only as military support and as construction workers or cleaners.

Erek

The Erek are content to allow the Haad to work for them.