Vrah

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Vrah
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Homeworld:

Kesurus (conquered by Kerarans)

Height:

up to 1.95 metres

Diet:

Omnivorous

Intelligence:

Sapient

Technology:

Very advanced (Class VIII)

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The Vrah are a technological sapient species from the Viperius Galaxy.

Physiology

Vrah are a humanoid species, erect bipeds with human-like proportions, getting up to 1.9m tall and massing up to 90kg. They have four eyes on their oval-shaped head, of which the bottom two see near-infrared to red and the top two see green to near-UV.

Their hearing and eyesight is very sensitive, and they have a similiar audio range to a dog. They have good night vision.

They have an opposable thumb and four clawed fingers, as well as four clawed toes. These make them fast runners and climbers, also able to hang on to thin ropes and the like. Wiry, they have strength that belies their size, and are capable of very long leaps and jumps, often leaping eight metres at a time. They have shock-absorbent fibres in their arms and legs, allowing them to land harder than a human ever could. They have light bones, strong and quick to repair, apart from the thick, dense spine. The spine encloses the important spinal cord and is partially made from metal oxides, strengthened by cartilage and therefore extremely durable.

Their brain is smaller than a human's, but more dense and faster in its action. Their nervous system is suspended in electrofluid, so motions and reactions are faster. They learn fast, and their 'muscle memory' is as good as a very well-trained gymnast's.

Their skin is fairly soft, but absorbent and hard to abrade, with a thick epidermis.

They have a powerful heart, and their red blood cells (biconcave and nonnucleate) carry more haemoglobin. Their lung capacity is also large, and they have a cartilage-strengthened windpipe that makes their breathing hard to prevent. They have a fast metabolism and regenerative rate, but live up to eighty.

Diet

Omnivores, Vrah can survive on slim pickings. They have a well-developed love of sugary and fatty foods, needed to produce the energy they require. Their digestive system, while less than 2m long in total, is very effective at breaking down tough material. They can also metabolise most poisons safely.

Reproduction

Sexual animals, Vrah lay membranous eggs, just thick enough to avoid dessication. The egg is fertilised once out of the female's body (they are released at will when available) by the male. They take a month from fertilisation to hatching, but a female cannot lay more than five eggs in her lifetime.

Children take ten years to become sexually mature, and at this time changes in the brain and body also make them ready to hunt.

Intelligence and Society

Vrah are sapient, but despite this they have no interest in building cities or living together. Loners by nature, they don't like to be tied down in groups. Females stay with their children, however, and males usually hunt for their families until the children mature. When they become too old to hunt, they commit ritual suicide.

Now that they are spread throughout the universe, they are mercenaries for hire, for example within the Iron Skulls corporation. They accept missions in exchange for currency and provisions, taking pride in their work.

They determine success by the number of kills made and the quality of your equipment, as they ritually take useful equipment from foes. It is dishonourable to kill females and young children amongst sapients.

However, they have had armourers and poets for a long time. Armourers independently discovered mining, smelting, and casting, and traded their produce in exchange for hunted food and supplies. It became dishonourable to kill smiths. These days, they get their equipment for vendors, accepting stealthy missions for other species for currency.

Poets regaled young Vrah with tales of great heroes and their gods, showing them the ideal of the silent, deadly assassin. They were well loved, and travelled around between Vrah families, where they are treated like siblings. Poets were no strangers to battle either, hunting for themselves between families. Many Vrah have now been influenced by other cultures, but still like to listen to traditional poetry.

Religion

Historically, the Vrah believed in a pantheon of gods, such as Lix, god of lightning and speed.

However, most are now irreligious or follow other religions.

Technology

Vrah have advanced technology, mostly absorbed from other races.

Spaceships

They do not have their own FTL spaceships, but ride on those belonging to other species instead. High-reputation Vrah have a personal shuttle, armed with small cannons, lasers and equipped with a metamaterial hull that lessens protection in exchange for extreme stealth, making them invisible to radar and infrared vision, and less visible using conventional light. These usually have jet and chemical engines, but are not designed for long stays in space.

Weaponry

Vrah most commonly use sniper rifles, which use railguns to accelerate small metal projectiles, massing around 10g, to 3km/s or less. The guns are designed to fold up and be portable, and are equipped with powerful and complex scopes, sights and rangefinders linked to the battlesuit's computers. There is specialised ammunition- armour penetration, incendiary, and explosive, which is magazine-fed.

They also usually carry chain-bladed knives, on which the belt moves at high speed, and scoped pistols (such as the Snakebite Sniper Pistol).

Battlesuits

Vrah wear complex battlesuits. These recycle waste and also purify incoming air and water, and are airtight, enabling the Vrah to spend reasonably long times underwater or in space. They have climate control and drug solutions in case of injury, also being self-repairing and tough enough to stop weaker bullets and knives.

Tougher battlesuits are slightly heavier, but have tough titanium alloy plates and better cooling systems.

There is a HUD that assists in targeting and ammunition management, also filtering sounds and sights. Waypoints can be marked, and radar is built in.

History

The Vrah originally come from Kesurus, now a dead planet. It was then very highly populated, and the Vrah preyed on such creatures as the Shadowleaper.

They achieved First Contact with the Iridi, and as such as on good terms. However, soon after this, the Kerarans came to their homeworld. The Kerarans invaded Kesurus, killing Vrah whenever they met them. The Vrah were constantly beaten back due to their divided state, and only the Iridi intervention saved them from extinction.

The Iridi equipped and organised the Vrah for guerilla warfare, as they too were at war with the Kerarans. In what is known as the Redsky War, the Kerarans defeated the Iridi-Vrah alliance and captured Kesurus with great losses. The surviving Vrah were taken by the Iridi to their colonies, and then spread around the galaxy.

They retain a hatred for the Kerarans.

Relations with other races

Vrah live amongst and work for the following races:

Vrah have encountered but do not work for the following races:

Vrah have declared hatred of the following races:

In Fiction