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The Dirdir


I've saved the best for last. The Dirdir are starting to be the main villains in my campaign, as they begin a new expansion into the realms of the upstart humans.

Race: Dirdir Planet: Sibol

Average.

Str: 3d6+1 11-12

Con: 4d6 14

Siz: 2d6+7 14

Int: 3d6 10-11

Pow: 3d6 10-11

Dex: 2d6+5 12

App: 3d6 10-11

Move: 12 Hit Points: 14 Damage Bonus: 1d4 Armour: 2 points of skin.

Powers: Keen Sense: Hearing +20% (minor). Dirdir also have antennae that glow when they are excited, so Luminesence (minor) may be appropriate.

Attacks: Bite 30% 1d4+ db Claw 50% 1d6+ db

Skills: Hunting/Tracking 60% Brawling 60% Knowledge: Survival 50% Pilot: Sky raft 60% Navigate 50% Plasma rifle 50% ( see page 256 of the BRP book) Dodge 40% Half shield 50%

Notes: Dirdir stand approximately human height, and move with sinister quickness, like lizards on a hot day. Their dermal surfaces suggest polished bone; their crania raised into sharp blade-like crests, with incandescent antennae streaming back at either side, known as effulgences. The contours of the faces are oddly human, with deep eye-sockets, the scalp crests descending to suggest nasal ridges. They half-hop, half-lope, like leopards walking erect; it is not hard to see in them the wild creatures which hunted the hot plains of Sibol. They speak in sibilant lisping voices, which suggest the absence of a larynx. Their skins are cold and somewhat flexible, like tortoiseshell. Dirdir do not sweat, converting the heat in their bodies into light from their effulgences. They are Difficult to detect with infra red vision or sensors.

Dirdir like to hunt for sport, and eat their prey. They enter into a more feral state when in combat, or on the hunt. When in such a state all mental skills are Difficult, and all physical skills get a 20% bonus. Dirdir enjoy being in the old state and have to make a Difficult Luck roll to avoid entering it while under stress.

Their hunting language is composed of odd squeaks and grunts.

The Dirdir mating processes are complicated: there are 12 types of male sexual organs; fourteen of the female. Only certain pairings are possible. For instance, type one male is compatible with only types five and nine female. Type five female adjusts only to type one male, but type nine female has a more general organ and is compatible with types one, eleven and twelve male. Each male and female style has its specific name and theoretical attributes, which are very seldom realised - as long as an individuals type is secret. These are the Dirdir ‘mysteries’. Should an individuals type become known, he is expected to conform to the attributes of the type, regardless of inclination, he rarely does so, and is constantly embarrassed on this account. There are several methods of mating, trial marriage, ‘dark gatherings’ and anonymous notices.

Dirdir females are shorter and less resilient and less flexible. The head is wider at the scalp and pointed at the ‘chin’, and somewhat darker in colour; a pallid grey subtly shaded with mauve.

Long ago when the Expansionists held sway and Dirdir ships went out to many worlds. Now the Dirdir are quiescent. Contact with technologically advanced humans from Earth, as opposed to the humans the Dirdir brought to Tschai millenia ago may change this situation.

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Trifletraxor

Posted

Where have they gotten the plasma rifle? Stolen/bought technology from hte humans or parallell development? (not that we have plasma rifles at the moment, but I guess the humans in your setting have developed them). I have some difficulty imagining them, but I'm thinking of ants. Are they antsy at all? :P

Conrad

Posted (edited)

They've gotten their plasma weapons from page 256 of the BRP book  :P!

And no, they're more leopard like than anal...er sorry, antsy!:P

Who put that beetle there?:b2:

There is a picture of a Dirdir and a Pnume on this page: http://aliens.wikia.com/wiki/File:Dirdir.png

But Barlowe gets it wrong; Dirdir effulgences stream backwards from the face, not forwards.;D

Edited by Conrad
ClawCarver

Posted

Great stuff. Vance is as near to being a deity as makes no odds. Thanks for posting these.

Conrad

Posted

Great stuff. Vance is as near to being a deity as makes no odds. Thanks for posting these.

I'm glad you enjoyed reading them. :D

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