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Metatranie
They were like great centauroid roaming tanks, and nearly as large. Like great saurial dinosaurs from before the dawn of man, then reimagined by the fantasists of greek mythology, the beasts, with a somewhat humanoid torso, would rear up, firing their heavy weapons while careening in to the infantry defense lines, trampling every soldier that stood in their way. It was clear that they loved war, and they loved us for the opportunity.
The Metatranie, called Saurials by colonists abroad, are six-limbed sauropods with extended necks, lengthy tails, and complex digits on their two front limbs. They rear up, a bit like centaurs of mythology, moving about on their four hind legs. They are three toed creatures, with their two fore-most limbs on the upward rising torso acting as arms, with five fingers to each hand. They lack complex wrist movement, as with humans, and so seem fairly clumsy by human standards when dealing with equipment designed for hominids.
Metatranie heads are at the ends of three to five foot long necks, and have wide mouths filled with grinding herbivorous teeth, and forward facing eyes for stereoscopic vision. They have a ridge of bone platelets which run from the tip of their nose to about a foot down the length of their necks. These platelets serve to provide ventilation for their bodies, which are used to a very hot (150 degree) climate. Additional platelets run along the lengths of their torsos. In action, these bony parts move in a breathing fashion, flaring out several inches and then receding, serving to provide relief from extremely hot environments.
Metatranie are purely incapable of speaking most hominid languages, and have difficulty even dealing with the languages of similiar reptilian sentients. Their vocal apparatus and mouths are better at enunciating clicks, whistles, and wails, which they in fact use for the bulk of their own languages, which can sound quite primitive yet almost musical and eerie to humans. As such, when interacting with humanity, they need to use artificial translators and other mechanisms for communication.
Metatranie have been a star faring race for about two centuries. They were sold STL ships early on in their industrial age of development by Astratran traders, who are notorious for their disregard for the capacity of a given species to deal with future shock. At the time, Metatranie society was settling from its first world war, in which the old guard was brought down by a new movement in saurial culture to expand technology and development. The Astratran traders who took advantage of this situation soon found that, within a decade of acquiring STL travel, the old guard, militant and xenocentric, decided the saurial civilization should expand to rival that of the Astratran and other alien species. A new era of warfare and expansion occurred, shortly after profit minded Astratran proceeded to provide the saurials with FTL wormhole gate technology.
Two centuries later, the Metatranie have been at war with themselves, the Anageni, the Muridani Collective, their old allies the Astratrani, and the various corporations of the Human Federated Commonwealth. They are rigid colonialists who disregard the rights of other beings in favor of their own interests. They are a male dominated culture driven by war, but their females are given great power in civic affairs. Metatranie dislike human technology, and are not seen in the core world regions. They hold at least 17 worlds in the Free world Zone.
Sample Metatranie:
Attributes: EB3777
Skills: Climbing D6, Fighting D8, Intimidation D8, Persuasion D6, Survival D8
Special Abilities:
Giant Creatures: Metatranie are elephantine in their strength and roll 4D6 for it. They gain 3D6 End and only 1D6 Dex, however.
Natural Weapon - Charging Trample: Metatranie can engage in a trampling charge attack at full speed for Str X2 damage. They are at –2 to any dodge reactions when trampling that round.
Extreme Heat resistance: Metatranie are used to extremely hot temperatures of up to 180 fahrenheit, and may receive a +2 bonus to any End checks in such environments for damage of survival.
Females Only: Social Edge: Female metatranie are more prestigious in their society, and gain a +2 Social Standing bonus to their score.
All text copyright 2011 by Nicholas Torbin Bergquist, all rights reserved
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