Zuraqqor (the Big Z) | Star Frontiers

Looking over the races of Star Frontiers I found one of the most important (to me anyway) was also one of the least covered. I am speaking of the only know allies of the Sathar, the Zuraqqor. Since they are in the shortest module with one of the shortest race write ups I felt some expansion was due to them. To do this, I took the basic write up and then applied what it said and comparisons to the other races to come up with the following. Of course I ran into a problem immediately as even this short commentary on them was filled with contradictions. So I will go through my process and how I arrived at my conclusions. PLEASE comment on them and let's see if we can improve this forgotten race of the Frontier. We are given stats and skills for the eight Zuraqqor involved in the attack on Starship Omicron. Great, somewhere to start. Looking at these we quickly notice that for a group of warriors they are very weak and very technically skilled. Also worrying is the statements that Zuraqqor are born into orders which determine their stats and warriors have the second highest STR/STA only after workers. If this is true then we are dealing with the weakest race ever if there warriors only have 30s in STR/STA. But wait it also states warriors fight while technicians provide support. Another statement of the write up is that only the warriors can carry weapons except in defense. But all the attacking Zuraqqor have the same stats and are all armed, so these must all be warriors. Then revelation hit me. The write up went on to say how the technicians have slowly taken control of Zuraqqor society and rival groups of technicians will try to put up figurehead kings and queens. Any faction so divided and Machiavellian would of course ignore any rules or restrictions they felt stood in the way of their goals. Politicians to the rescue! The attackers here are a group of technicians who have convinced their ally, the Sathar, to assist them in secretly attacking the Starship Omicron. In all likelihood to secure the deadly spores which kill Zuraqqor the fastest. Probably intending to use it against some of their rival technician groups and also giving it to the Sathar to use for their own diabolical purposes. Using the base stats for technicians I worked up the Zuraqqor race write up. Hope you like it.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p>Zuraqqor<o:p></o:p> Physical Appearance and Structure The Zuraqqor are a race of bipedal (two arms and two legs) insects. They have large bug-like eyes, two antennae and small wings. They appear smaller then they are because their knees bend the opposite way of most races and their necks extend horizontally from broad hunched over shoulders. <o:p></o:p>To most other races individual Zuraqqor look extremely similar except for the physical size of a Zuraqqor (Vrusk can easily tell Zuraqqor apart). These depend upon which order the Zuraqqor belongs to (orders are covered under Society and Customs). Workers are the largest and heaviest; Warriors come in a close second while the other three orders are almost identical. Zuraqqor have skin but it is more of a flexible and porous chitin. Coloring is also determined by the order they belong to. Also because of the shift in the light spectrum they can see (covered under Senses) the Zuraqqor appear a different color to themselves (and Vrusk) then to those races whose sight is similar to humans. <o:p></o:p>Order Human sight Zuraqqor sight Worker Red Grey (solid) Warrior Black Black with striations of dark blue Technician Blue Blue with splotches of violet King Black Glowing purple with bands of violet Queen Black Glowing violet with bands of purple<o:p></o:p> Zuraqqor are an egg laying race so all reproductive organs are internal. Add to this they have three sexes; male, female and drone. This further adds to the lack of distinction between individuals as viewed by non-insectiod races. <o:p></o:p>Senses Zuraqqor senses of are very similar to Vrusk with one exception. The Zuraqqor have very large eyes which allow them to see in a 270 degree arc. This means they can see all around them except for what is directly behind them. <o:p></o:p>Sense of smell centered in their antennae and slightly better than humans and they see more of the short wavelengths (blue and ultraviolet lights) and less of the long wavelengths (orange and red). The Zuraqqor have very large eyes which allow them to see in a 270 degree arc. This means they can see all around them except for what is directly behind them.<o:p></o:p> Speech Zuraqqor have mandibles for eating but speak with a larynx similar to Humans and Yazirians. This allows them to learn those languages easily and have an ability to speak Vrusk languages with a little training. <o:p></o:p>Society and Customs Zuraqqor live in vast communal buildings called Hives. Each Hive houses 100,000 or more. Their planets are divided into Hive Districts each containing several Hives.<o:p></o:p> Zuraqqor society is divided into five classes, called orders; worker, warrior, technician, king, queen. The class of each Zuraqqor is determined at birth. The five orders have slightly different physical structures that distinguish them from one another. Individual Zuraqqor do not have much personality; they act as members of their class.<o:p></o:p> About 75% of all Zuraqqor are workers. Workers do the basic labor of Zuraqqor society. The task could be simple, such as on as assembly line, or complex, such as a merchant banker. Workers might use machines as part of their jobs. However, they will never repair, direct or command machines or robots. Such work is the prerogative of the technician order. Workers are sexless creatures with a heavier build then the other orders. <o:p></o:p>Warriors are the fighters of Zuraqqor society. They are sexless and make up about 10% of the Zuraqqor population. They are heavier and stronger then all orders except workers. Warriors are more agile then other orders Zuraqqor warriors repair and maintain their personal weapons, but the heavier weapons and equipment are maintained by a few technicians attached to the squad.<o:p></o:p>Warriors are the only ones normally allowed to bear weapons. Other Zuraqqor can bear arms if the threat of death is immediate and to protect the queens, young and eggs. In this case technicians and kings will use ranged weapons and high tech melee weapons. Workers will usually attack with their powerful fists or some makeshift melee weapons.<o:p></o:p>Technicians have a monopoly on science and technology in Zuraqqor society. They have larger brains than warriors or workers, but are not as strong as either. Technicians have gender but are sterile. Technicians make up about 10% of Zuraqqor society. Over the years, technicians became more important as technology became more complex. Technicians now enjoy privileges that workers and warriors do not have. Technicians have a decisive role in society and try to limit the kings and queens to figurehead status. Rival groups of technicians often stage palace revolutions to put their candidates on the thrones.<o:p></o:p> Queens are the leaders of the worker order (although their power, like that of the kings, is now limited by the powerful technician order). Each Hive contains one Queen. The Hive Queens elect on District Queen yearly and the District Queens elect a Planetary Queen every ten years. Aside from their leadership duties, the queens mate with kings to produce each generation of Zuraqqor. The queens bear thousands of young several times per year. Zuraqqor young are born in a primitive embryo stage then mature in the Hive hatcheries. <o:p></o:p>Kings lead the Zuraqqor warriors, just as queens lead the workers. There is one King in each hive. Kings have an organization similar to that of queens (Hive King, District King and Planetary King). Kings and Queens who are not Hive leaders take on other leadership roles as preparation to becoming Hive leaders. Kings serve as military officers in both their army and navy. Queens work as supervisors and managers on many different levels both in labor and political fields. <o:p></o:p>Attitudes Zuraqqor in the same order act the same. Workers only wish to serve their Hive and Queens. Warriors only wish to protect their Hive and serve their Kings. Kings and Queens only wish to lead and provide for their people and Hives. <o:p></o:p>Technicians are the exception to this attitude. They form sub-groups and in fight for their own personal pleasures. Many Frontier sociologists have speculated that either their drive for scientific understanding and curiosity separated them. The fact that they have sexes among themselves but cannot reproduce may have sent them to seek control of others of their kind. Possibly some of them were exposed to something which altered their DNA and caused this drive to control. <o:p></o:p>One thing can definitely be said. Workers and Warriors are predictable. Kings and Queens work for their Hives and Race. Technicians are wildcards who can and will do anything. <o:p></o:p>Special Abilities Specialization-Zuraqqor may only choose skills from their order’s PSA until they reach skill level 4 in one skill. They can only take a total of 2 skills outside their order’s PSA and those can only be raised to skill level 2. Thanks to their specialization they start with one skill at level 2 and one at level 1. <o:p></o:p>Hover-Zuraqqor wings have de-evolved to the point where they can no longer use them for flight. They can use them to lift themselves off the ground to a height of 5 meters and allow them to hover for two minutes at the most. They must then land and may not use the hover ability until they have rested for 2 hours. <o:p></o:p>Zuraqqor Characters Zuraqqor are unwelcome in the Frontier. They cannot be player characters unless the Referee is running a Bizarro campaign. <o:p></o:p>Player Character Briefing on Zuraqqor Zuraqqor are cunning and dangerous. Any encounter with them should be reported immediately. If escape is impossible, citizens should attack immediately, attempting to capture a live Zuraqqor for study, if possible. When Zuraqqor are encountered with Sather, citizens should either attempt to escape or attack to kill, as the Zuraqqor are known to be allies of the Sathar. <o:p></o:p> <o:p></o:p><o:p> </o:p> <div>Worker Warrior Technician King Queen </div><div><o:p></o:p>Average Size 2.1 m 2.0 m 1.6 m 1.6 m 1.6 m Average Mass 100 kg 90 kg 50 kg 50 kg 50 kg Average Lifespan 60 yr 60 yr 100 yr 120 yr 120 yr Reproduction Sterile Sterile heterosexual heterosexual/Sterile/ovoviviparous<o:p></o:p> Body Temp 38 C 38 C 38 C 38 C 38 C Initial PSA BioSocial Military Technological Military BioSocial </div><div>MOVEMENT</div><div>Walking 10 m 10 m 10 m 10 m 10 m</div><div>Running 15 m 15 m 30 m 30 m 30 m Hourly 6 km 5 km 3 km 3 km 3 km<o:p></o:p> </div><div>AVERAGE STATS<o:p></o:p> STR/STA 70/70 60/60 30/30 30/30 30/30 DEX/RS 50/50 70/70 60/60 60/60 60/60 INT/LOG 25/25 30/30 35/35 35/35 35/35 PER/LDR 20/20 25/25 30/30 45/45 45/45 IM 6 7 6 6 6 PS 4 3 2 2 2 RW 25 35 30 30 30 MW 35 35 30 30 30<o:p></o:p></div>

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