The Tarvathim and the Flesh
When asked about the Tarvathim (literally “the corpse-people”), most denizens of the Psi-Wars galaxy will pause and ponder the word; a few will know it’s meaning well enough to make the connection to the Gaunt, a race of pallid, ghoulish creatures native to the Umbral Rim. And, indeed, for most of the rest of the Galaxy, the “Tarvathim” amount to ugly creatures that lurk in back alleys and the shadowy parts of space port bars, with disgusting eating habits and disease-encrusted claws. Few realize that the Tarvathim race extends to a far broader set of creatures, from monstrous dragons to ancient horrors, all created by the Ranthim during the first Monolith War.
When the Ranathim fought the Eldoth, they needed a way to counteract the manufactured army of the Eldoth. They stole the secret of Necrokinesis from the Eldoth and used it to create Tarva Dapolor, or “the Flesh,” synthetic biology out of the biochemistry of decaying cells capable of accepting and holding the psionic power of necrokinesis to become permanently re-animated. They used their knowledge to weave this Flesh into various forms. They created the Gaunt as foot soldiers and slaves, but they created more, from the hideous Styxian Death Wurm to the towering monstrosity of the Necrotitan to the tiniest forms, such as the Styxian blood-fly. The Flesh Vats of the Ranathim Tyranny overflowed with the Tarvathim, who marched like great, lumbering hordes and fell upon the Eldoth and helped the Ranathim eradicate their menace once and for all.
The war ended, and then the Tyranny ended. The alchemical masters of synthetic flesh-weaving, the Dead Art, fell away as the knowledge became one of the many lost secrets of the galaxy. Today, only a few, such as the Mithanna House of Adivasta to the last few Lodges of Saruthim, still practice the Dead Art. Yet the Tarvathim live on. Granted near immortality by the Flesh, many still carry one with memories of a war of a bygone millennium. Some maintain the last few flesh vat facilities to create clans of Gaunt. The manufactured slave-race has become just a race, an unremarkable feature of the back alleys on the Rim of the Psi-Wars galaxy.
Even so, the Tarvathim continue to pose a threat to the Galaxy. While most Gaunt are no more threatening than any other race, their ghoulish dietary habits aside, the relics of than ancient war still live and still have the capacity to unleash destruction. Worse, millennia of neglect have let the necrokinetic genecode to rot, which have allowed infertile Tarvathim to begin spawning, and sometimes this corruption grows so great as to create Dark Mothers, forests of flesh that spawn horrors uncontrollably. The Ranathim had safeguards against this very thing, especially in the form of the Saruthim, but as the last memories of that ancient time fade and the heirs to the Tyranny fall to squabbling over scraps of power, the Tarvathim continue to fall into corruption unchecked.
Tarvathim Creation
The Gaunt are an artificial race created through necrokinetic manipulation of synthetic flesh. They are classically created by an industrial process in an Flesh Vat facility. Feedstock pipes funnel organic material (anything will do, but it must be seeded with the dead flesh of sapients, typically 1% of the feedstock) into wet nanofabricators which construct the artificial cellular structure of the synthetic flesh, which is then pushed into one of a various set of biofabricators, which build the desired being cell-by-cell; a full Gaunt takes about 12 weeks to construct. Then the necrokinetic psychotronics permanently animate the being and it is “vat born,” erupting through the slimy membranes of the flesh vat to join his vatborn kin.
But the Gaunt can be created in other ways. Some practitioners of the Dead Art have learned to construct batches of synthetic flesh on their own, creating a man-sized batch, and then directly applying their Necrokinesis to reshape the flesh into a desired form, creating the perfect bodyguard, or a psychic servant or a pleasure slave (though the charms and beauty of a being constructed of the Flesh are dubious at best; there is, after all, the smell to contend with). Then they bring this creation to life; generally such being is called one of the True Tarvathim, and tend to be nigh immortal, intelligent and powerful.
Tarvathim flesh should be infertile, unable to replicate outside of the flesh vats, beyond what is necessary for the rapid healing that most Tarvathim enjoy. However, sometimes the safeguards embedded into the cellular structure of the Flesh sometimes fails, and when it does, it is said to “fruit.” A synthetic flesh “fruit” looks like a soft, veiny, pulsing pod, in which a new tarvathim, sometimes called a homunculus, grows. This “fruit” feeds, like a parasite, on the Tarvathim that grows it, who must eat extra to fuel its grown, and most such “fruit” will eventually only spawn something smaller than the Tarvathim itself: the Gaunt might spawn blood-flies, while a Necrotitan might spawn Gaunt, etc. Sometimes, however, the fruit-process becomes uncontrolled and a Dark Mother is born.
A Dark Mother (or Midana Tarva in Lithian) is a euphemism for a vast flesh overgrowth. The corrupted Tarvathim begins to “fruit” uncontrollably, and his flesh begins to lose cohesion. Tendrils grow out of it to root around in the soil, seeking organic compounds and psychic residues with which to grow itself further. When the process is complete, depending on ambient psychic power and how much dead flesh was available for conversion, anything from a room-sized to building-sized organic mass might be created, which routinely and uncontrollably spawns new Tarvathim, often in an uncontrolled manner. This tends to be especially egregious over areas corrupted with Broken Communion, and the Eldothic habit of building their ghostly Deep Engines over mass graves made this a feature for the Ranathim Tyranny: when their Gaunt hordes died in the midst of the cataclysmic destruction of a Deep Engine Site, the unleashed corruption and the presence of dead bodies meant that the Tarvathim flesh fused into a new Dark Mother and bred a new army for the Tyranny. Today, though, these infestations can spawn uncontrolled monstrosities that can (and do) corrupt entire worlds.
Tarvathim Traits
The Gaunt are unliving bioroids, the manifestation of synthetic flesh animated by necrokinetic powers. As such, all Gaunt tend to share particular features.
The Gaunt have Injury Tolerance (Unliving) and while not immune to metabolic hazards, they are highly resistant and have a +8 to resist any poisons, toxins, disease etc, provided these aren’t designed to attack their synthetic biology. They also heal relatively quickly, typically 1/10th of their HP per hour, and tend to have very high HP levels. As a result of their inhuman biology, however, they do not respond to drugs normally and require drugs tailored to their specific phyisology.
The Gaunt subsist entirely on either synthetic flesh, or the dead flesh of sapient beings or psi-capable species. The flesh must be fully rid of its life energies for them to metabolize it and convert it into synthetic flesh. This usually requires sufficient time for the meat to grow fragrant and rotten; the Gaunt are fans of raiding funeral homes, though some desperate Gaunt might kill sapients and wait for their bodies to molder before consuming them. Most Gaunt that have access to Flesh Vats can eat a steady diet of relatively tasteless synthetic flesh instead and, of course, can eat one another.
The Gaunt may be largely immune to disease, but disease likes to colonize the relatively safe confines of their dead bodies regardless, making them dangerous carriers. Gaunt have blackened claws and sharp teeth which always carry some pestilent germs. Those wounded by the Gaunt should use the Infection rules (B444) even in campaigns that normally don’t bother with that level of detail. Gaunt often have other interactions with disease, such as some greater Gaunt monsters manipulating disease to find targets or cause greater harm.
For those who don’t want to bother with infection rules, use the following: after taking any damage from a Gaunt, roll HT. On a failure, suffer -1 to all attribute rolls and skill rolls for a day; at the end of every day, they may roll again. or until you have the wound properly treated. NPCs who fail their HT roll will be weakened, bed ridden or even die if they don’t receive basic medical treatment, but this typically takes weeks. First Aid allows a second HT roll at +0, Physician allows an additional roll daily, anti-bacterial drugs always clear it up (Pharmacy (Synthetic) and access to a proper store of drugs), and Surgery can also cure an infection (but inflicts 2d damage).
Some Gaunt cannot die. The psionic energy bound to them will heal them of anything sort of total bodily destruction (-10xHT). Such Gaunt usually have additional weaknesses built into them, to prevent them from rampaging across the Tyranny!
Tarvathim Weaknesses
Fortunately, the Mystical Tyrant foresaw the inevitable corruption of his Gaunt creations and so introduced engineered weaknesses into the Gaunt so they could be terminated by his chosen hunters, the Saruthim, as well as kept in check should they rebel.
Psionic Susceptibility: The celluar structure of synthetic flesh was designed to be exceptionally receptive to psychic power. This both served to make it easier for the Necrokinetic flesh-shaper to shape their flesh, but also to make the army docile and easily controlled by the Ranathim, a naturally psionic race. All Tarvathim have a -4 to resist psionic powers, or add +4 to all psionic rolls against them. This does not prevent them from gaining psychic powers themselves (Tarvathim seem exceptionally likely to develop psionic powers).
Gaunt Sigils: All Gaunt have neural and psychic imprints of particular sigils and symbols that must be avoided. When a Gaunt gets within 1 yard of such a sigil, he intuitively senses it and retreats from it, and will not cross it and, if brought into one yard of it, will seek to escape it as quickly as possible. Correctly recognizing existing sigils requires Hidden Lore (Tarvathim), History (Tyranny) or Occultism-3. Correctly drawing such symbols requires Symbol Drawing.
Death Serums: The First Tyranny created concoctions designed to create cascading cellular destruction in the Gaunt. These tend to be dangerous to anyone, but they’re more dangerous to the Gaunt than for normal, biological creatures: they do not enjoy the benefit of the Metabolic Resistance against a Death Serum and have a -4 to HT rolls to resist them besides. Furthermore, they double all damage taken from such a serum (or, at the GM’s discretion, suffer double the “effect,” whatever that happens to be). A death serum can be recognized with a roll of the lower of Pharmacy (Synthetic) or Chemistry and Hidden Lore (Tarvathim), Physiology (Gaunt) or Occultism-3. Some gaunt have even greater susceptibility to specific Death Serums than others. Several such possible Death Serums exist
Necrokinetic Nexus: Gaunt physiology is unlike sapient physiology: they have organs, but they tend to serve a psychotronic, rather than biological purpose. Some Gaunts have Obscured Vitals perk, a perk version of No Vitals, which means their primary organs are located somewhere unexpected, in which case the character will need to boll Physiology (Gaunt) to find the vital organ and be able to target it. Some more extreme Gaunt (especially) the Tarvathim have a necrokinetic nexus. This combines Injury Tolerance (No Vitals) with Vulnerability (Weakpoint, -8, 4x damage): the Gaunt has replaced their vital organs with a small, psychotronic nexus that holds all of their vital life forces. Finding it requires a Hidden Lore (Tarvathim) or Physiology (Gaunt) roll. If successful, it can be targeted (though typically only with Impaling, Piercing or Tight Beam Burning attacks) at -8 to hit. If struck, they deal quadruple damage.
True Name Sequence: Some Tarvathim have an additional safeguard built into them. When they here a sequence, typically twenty or so words in Lithian, they will “imprint” the speaker as their new master. Finding these twenty words often requires Research, typically assisted with History (Tyranny) and Hidden Lore (Tarvathim), as the original sequence was likely created centuries ago.
Not all Gaunts have exactly the same design. When the Tyranny first created the Gaunt, several different Ranathim Clans competed with one another over the creation of the Gaunt, and each had their own particular design principles. Characters with History (Ranathim) might know the specifics of the Gaunt design considerations, and characters with Physiology (Gaunt) can readily recognize the different “breeds” and have a broad sense of their capabilities.
Shared Tarvathim Traits
All creatures of the Flesh have similar traits. For convenience, treat them as a metatrait.
Tarvathim: Bad Smell; Disturbing Voice; Dread (Sigils; 1 yard); High Pain Threshold; Injury Tolerance (Unliving); Pestilent; Protected Smell; Psi-Susceptibility 4; Reduced Consumption 1 (Cast-Iron Stomach -50%); Regeneration (Regular); Resistant to Metabolic Hazards +8 (Standard Biology Only); Restricted Diet (Dead flesh of other sapients or synthetic flesh); Sharp Claws; Sharp Teeth; Susceptible (Death Serums) 4; Unusual Biochemistry; Vulnerable (Death Serums, x2);
Tarvathim Motivations and Threats
The average member of the extended race of Tarvathim just wants to survive, consume the flesh of the dead, and perhaps lead an interesting life of adventure or exploration. Many feel a deep seated need to serve and protect the Ranathim, still seeing them as masters on a deep and primal level. These sort of Tarvathim pose little danger to the rest of the Galaxy, unless organized into a menace.
Organized Tarvathim that pose a threat tend to be the ordinary sorts of threats any race pose, amplified by the durability of the race, and their servile nature when lead by one of the Ranathim. Gaunt pirates, for example, might willingly die for a Ranathim warlord and thus amplify the normal sort of danger posed by Ranathim pirates.
However, the hunger for flesh can drive some Gaunt to extreme action (just as starvation would for any race). Starving Gaunts with a lack of dead flesh to consume may turn to cannibalism. Some will turn to eating their fellow Guant (they’re all made of synthetic flesh, after all). Others, so called Gaunt Maraunders, will turn to killing sapients and then leaving them to rot in a crypt-larder until they become palatable to the Gaunt.
The Gaunt also naturally carry disease, as noted above. They often unintentionally become plague carriers. Already largely ostracized due to their foul appearance and disgusting eating habits, their lack of cleanliness creates another reason for the other races to be wary of them.
The Tarvathim only pose an extraordinary threat when their safeguards fail and they become corrupted. Corruption and mutation can many forms, from the relatively innucuous differences between the Tarvathim to the more dangerous forms of corruption. Fertility is the most common sort of dangerous corruption; when the Tarvathim begin to spawn uncontrollably, they can threaten the communities around them through sheer numbers, their tendency to carry disease and, if they overstrain the supply of dead flesh, the desperation caused by their starvation. Some Tarvathim go mad, becoming mindless killing machines that go berserk and slay the living. Finally, some Tarvathim cells naturally mutate into artificial diseases that begin to prey on the cells of the living. Worse, all these corruptions tend to be contagious among the Gaunt: when one Gaunt in a community begins to go mad or to spawn, the rest soon do as well, and a Gaunt community can begin to burst with corruption in a matter of weeks if the mutation is not contained.
Domen Tarvagant, the heretical Cult of the Corpse Lord, combine the worst of corruption and dangerous organization. The Cult of the Corpse Lord preaches a doctrine that elevates the Tarvathim as central and important and they and their god were wrongly cast down by the Death Cult of the Ranathim. They seek vengeance and use their Broken Communion miracles to corrupt and control the Tarvathim and wage their ancient shadow war on the Ranathim Death Cult.
The Gaunt
When asked about the “Gaunt,” the typical denizen of the Psi-Wars galaxy will think of the pasty, hideous creatures that often lurk in dark alleys, or in the shadowy back-end of spaceport bars, willing to look for work if one is willing to overlook their dietary habits. These Gaunt pose no more threat to anyone than any other member of any race does, which is not to say they pose no threat. Many become marauders, pirates and cultists to dark, forbidden cults. All Gaunt combatants prove to be extremely tough, thanks to their unliving physology, and their infectious nature can make them dangerous to fight unarmored or without skilled medical support, but their lower IQ or DX makes them somewhat inept as opponents.
Gaunt Minions
Most Gaunt are little more than minions:=.
ST: 14 |
HP: 20 |
Speed: 5 |
DX: 9 |
Will: 9 |
Move: 5 |
IQ: 9 |
Per: 9 |
|
HT: 12 |
FP: NA |
SM: +0 |
Dodge: 8 |
Parry: Varies |
DR: 0 |
Skills: One to three scenario-relevant skills at level 9-14 (roll 1d+8, if variety matters); note that the Gaunt have reduced IQ and DX, and thus should typically have one point lower in skill than an equivalent human would at the same BAD.
Traits: Tarvathim; Appearance (Ugly); Hard to Kill +4; Night Vision 5;
Combat Reflexes is rare among the Gaunt, even among elite Gaunt. Cultists often have Fanaticism, and Marauders often have Bloodlust and Gluttony.
Fright Check: +2
Bite (9): 1d-1 cut; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Claw (9): 1d-1 cut; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Weapon (9): They often come armed with blasters or makeshift, blunt melee weapons.
Notes: You should treat Gaunt as you would any other human or humanoid opponent. Most will be mooks and will wear some sort of armor and wield some sort of weapon and tend not to fight with fancy tactics. As mooks, any damage should remove a Gaunt from the fight, but consider collectively granting a group of Gaunt minions a number of Impulse Buy points to purchase Flesh Wounds: 1-3 Gaunt minions will be wounded by an attack, but then continue on.
Gaunt Mutations
Gaunt often manifest a wide variety of mutations and differences. You can customize your gaunt with the following:
Baleful Gaze: Add Infravision; they also gain glowing red eyes that grant a +1 to notice them in the dark if their eyes are open.
Boneless: Add Double Jointed and Compact Form; they can “ooze” through small ventilation systems.
Hulk: Add +8 ST, +7 HP and +1 SM. See the Hulking Gaunt below for a more completely realized version.
Leather Skin: Add DR 10 (Tough Skin)
Razor Talons: Claws become 1d (3) cut or 1d (3) imp.
Scuttler: Add +2 basic move and clinging. The Gaunt can race quickly and climb up walls.
Stench: Everyone within 4 yards of the Gaunt that can smell the Gaunt must roll HT (at a bonus equal to the distance between themselves and the Gaunt) or become nauseated.
Swarm Hive: add Payload 1; the Gaunt can launch a one-hex of Tarvathim insects (see Flesh Swarms below)
Toothy Maw: Bite becomes 1d-1 (3) imp, and they gain +1 SM for the purposes of biting (allowing them to bite any hit location they can normally target and to cripple limbs).
Hulking Gaunt
The Gaunt have numerous possible mutations, but Hulks are the most striking of the Gaunt and make excellent de-facto henchmen. The template below is a simple henchman variation of the Gaunt with the Hulking and Razor Talons mutation, suitable to add to a group of otherwise ordinary Gaunt mooks. Gaunt might also have more typical henchmen or bosses, with a variety of mutations and a full, normal template.
ST: 25 |
HP: 40 |
Speed: 5 |
DX: 9 |
Will: 9 |
Move: 5 |
IQ: 9 |
Per: 9 |
|
HT: 12 |
FP: NA |
SM: +0 |
Dodge: 8 |
Parry: Varies |
DR: 0 |
Skills: One to three scenario-relevant skills at level 10-15 (roll 1d+10, if variety matters); note that the Gaunt have reduced IQ and DX, and thus should typically have one point lower in skill than an equivalent henchman would at the same BAD.
Traits: Tarvathim; Appearance (HIdeous); Hard to Kill +4; Night Vision 5; Combat Reflexes is rare among the Gaunt, even among elite Gaunt. Cultists often have Fanaticism, and Mauraders often have Bloodlust and Gluttony.
Fright Check: +1
Bite (10): 2d+1(3) cut; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Claw (10): 2d+2(3) cut or 2d+2(3) imp; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Improvised Maul (10): 5d+3 cr; Reach 1, 2; Parry 8U; Requires two hands, but does not unready after use!
Weapon (10): They often come armed with the heaviest blasters they can find.
Notes: A hulking gaunt has quite a pile of hitpoints already, but a GM might choose to emphasize the additional resiliency of the Gaunt with a single impulse buy point that the Hulking Gaunt can use to spend on a single Flesh Wound. More than one might make an already tough fight rather tedious.
Psychic Gaunt
As creatures of psychic power themselves, the Gaunt are capable of manifesting psychic powers of their own. They typically manifest powers such psychic vampirism or necrokinesis (the latter often a manifestation of the very necrokinesis that empowers them), but they can manifest nearly any power except Psychic Healing and Anti-Psi.
ST: 12 |
HP: 18 |
Speed: 5 |
DX: 8 |
Will: 12 |
Move: 5 |
IQ: 12 |
Per: 12 |
|
HT: 12 |
FP: NA |
SM: +0 |
Dodge: 8 |
Parry: Varies |
DR: 0 |
Skills: One to three scenario-relevant skills at DX or IQ to DX+5 or IQ+5; Psychic Gaunts tend to favor IQ skills over DX!
Traits: Tarvathim; Appearance (Hideous); Hard to Kill +4; Night Vision 5; Combat Reflexes is rare among the Gaunt, even among elite Gaunt. Cultists often have Fanaticism, and Mauraders often have Bloodlust and Gluttony.
Fright Check: +2
Bite (9): 1d-2 cut; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Claw (9): 1d-2 cut; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Notes: The Psychic Gaunt should have at least one psionic power. Choose one or more of the following:
(Necrokinesis) Corpse Sense (12): The Gaunt may detect the nearest corpse (including the sort of corpse it is, and in what direction it lies) with a successful Corpse Sense roll.
(Necrokinesis) Deathly Aspect (12): The Gaunt has the equivalent to Charisma 8 among other Gaunt, who will naturally follow them. Treat this as the equivalent to Leadership 20, which the Psychic Gaunt can roll to prevent its fellow Gaunt from going Berserk or from retreating.
(Necrokinesis) Intensify Plague (12): The Gaunt may roll skill (at a penalty of -1 per yard between them and the target) vs the HT of any target who has already been infected with a disease; on a success, inflict 6d toxic damage (which ignores DR), and the target must roll HT at -1 per 2 damage inflicted this way or suffer Seizure for one minute per margin of failure. This damage scales with HP (thus a target with 20 HP takes double damage, and so on). The GM might halve the damage if the target has only a minor disease (ie, a cold), and double it if they’re already infected with a particular lethal disease.
(Psychic Vampirism) Drain HT (12): Roll the Gaunt’s Drain HT skill (at a penalty of -1 per yard between the Gaunt and their target) vs the target’s will. On a success, the target loses the Gaunt’s margin of victory in HT score and the target is stunned (they may roll Will at the end of their next turn to snap out of it). This HT penalty lasts for an hour.
(Psychic Vampirism) Steal Life (12): After grappling the target, roll the Gaunt’s Steal Life skill vs the target’s will. On a success, the Gaunt drains 1 HP from the target and gains 1 HP. The Gaunt also has a Vitality Reserve of 10 points which it can fill only with this Steal Life power and when injured, the damage comes first from the Vitality Reserve. The GM may decide if the Gaunt begins the battle with their Vitality Reserve at full value (the GM might roll 2d to determine how much Vitality Reserves the Gaunt currently has).
(Psychic Vampirism) Vampiric Sense (12): The Gaunt can automatically roll to detect the living (not other Gaunt!); On a success, he knows the precise location of the living and some basic information (their species and gender, etc). He may make an additional to learn more about the target (typically if they’re injured or sick, and what the nature of that injury or sickness is). Grant the Gaunt a +2 to detect targets suffering from a disease or the effects of a Psychic Vampirism power.
(Psychokinesis) Pyrokinesis (12): Against a visible target within 20 yards, roll the Gaunt’s Pyrokinesis skill vs the target’s Will. On a success, the target takes 3d Fatigue damage (as a “heat hazard”), which cannot be recovered until the target is cooled down and has additional fluids.
(Psychokinesis) Tactile TK (12): The Psychic Gaunt has +20 Striking and Lifting ST.
(Psychokinesis) TK Lock (12): Roll the Gaunt’s TK-Lock skill to hit the target (Acc 3, range 20); the target may defend but does so at -4 (unless they have some means of detecting or seeing invisible psychic powers, in which case they defend at +0). On a hit, the target is frozen in place and held with an ST 15 binding. The target may attempt to break free immediately (roll ST or Escape vs ST 15), and once every 10 seconds thereafter. On subsequent turns, the psychokinetic Gaunt may attempt to harm the victim with a constriction attack by rolling a contest of the Binding ST of 15 vs the better of the target’s ST or HT; the victim suffers one point of crushing damage per margin of victory.
(Telepathy) Instill Fear (12): Against a visible target within 20 yards, roll the Gaunt’s Instill Fear skill vs the target’s Will. On a success, the target must roll on the Fright Check table and apply a penalty equal to the Gaunt’s margin of victory.
(Telepathy) Mind Clouding (12): Any character who wishes to see the Gaunt must roll a quick contest of their will vs the Gaunt’s Mind Clouding skill. Those who fail suffer a -6 to all rolls to notice the Gaunt if he’s moving, and cannot see the Gaunt at all if the Gaunt is standing still!
(Telepathy) Sensory Overload (12): Against a visible target within 20 yards, roll the Gaunt’s Sensory Control skill vs the target’s Will. The Gaunt may affect more than one target, but applies a -2 per additional target. On a success, the target is bombarded with a cacophony of random sensory input, applying a -10 to all rolls to act in the real world. This requires the Gaunt to Concentrate every second to maintain.
The True Tarvathim
Some Gaunt are not mass-produced cannon-fodder, but carefully crafted, bespoke works intended for some greater purpose by their Ranathim creator. Most were crafted millennia ago, and have lived through the fall of the various incarnations of the Ranathim Tyrannies and have personally witnessed the fall of their masters. They have great stores of knowledge and considerable power, and are virtually unkillable.
A True Tarvathim resembles an ordinary gaunt in most ways: they have the same pallid skin, the same dark, glittering eyes and the same black teeth and claws. But where the Gaunt are hideous to behold and clumsy, the True Tarvathim have the same grace as most other races, and have finer features; typically ugly by human or Ranathim standards, a few specifically designed for beauty have a certain gothic appeal to them.
The True Tarvathim are always immortal, but they usually have an additional weakness, usually built into it by their creator. This typically requires Research to uncover, though Hidden Lore (Tarvathim) and History (Tyranny) might point to the circumstances of their creation. Assign of of the following:
Seat of Unlife: the Tarvathim has Injury Tolerance (No Vitals), but a weakspot that can be targeted with a -8 to hit (typically only with Impaling, Piercing or Tight-Beam Burning damage), and inflicts 4x damage. Damage to this nexus can kill the immortal Tarvathim.
Death Serum: In addition to the normal vulnerability to death serums, the Tarvathim is especially vulnerable to a specific concoction (whose formula may have been lost to time). The penalty to resist this specific Death Serum increases to -8 and it inflicts x4 damage and can kill the Tarvathim.
Kill Sigil: The Tarvathim has been designed to begin to rapidly fail when it encounters a specific “kill sigil” designed to initiate its Self-Destruction. In addition to its normal dread, If the Tarvathim gets within one yard of this specific sigil, or sees it and recognizes it, it begins to suffer 1d damage per second until it stops seeing it or until it removes itself from its presence. This can kill the Tarvathim.
The Tarvathim vary wildly. They can have the same mutations as a generic Tarvathim. True Tarvathim are always Bosses. The easiest way to build such a boss is to take the True Tarvathim racial Template and apply it onto a normal template, possibly adding another 50-150 points for a 400-500 point opponent!
The statistics below represent one generic Tarvathim, suitable as a rival archeaologist, a leader of a dangerous cult, or the leader of an eccentric band of Gaunt pirates with access to a capital ship. Note that he can remember some ancient secrets with a roll of 16 or less (18 or less if it directly pertains to the era of the Ranathim Tyranny) and can manifest 1 free skill per session at IQ or DX, typically a remembered skill from its ancient past. This one wields a force sword, but many more historical Gaunt might favor more “traditional” vibro-blades or polearms! Consider a few psychic powers to enhance the power of the Tarvathim! It might have up to 3 abilities listed with the Psychic Gaunt, but with one at skill 18 and the rest at skill 15.
ST: 14 |
HP: 20 |
Speed: 6 |
DX: 13 |
Will: 18/20 |
Move: 6 |
IQ: 16 |
Per: 14 |
|
HT: 12 |
FP: NA |
SM: +0 |
Dodge: 10 |
Parry: 13 (Force Sword) |
DR: 0 |
Skills: Archaeology-18; Area Knowledge (Stygian Veil)-18; Beam Weapons (Pistol)-15; Brawling-15; Computer Operation-13; Expert Skill (Conspiracy Theory)-15; Force Sword-18; Hidden Lore (Tarvathim)-18; History (Tyranny)-18; Intelligence Analyses-18; Intimidation-18; Leadership-15; Navigation (Hyperspace)-13; Observation-15; Occultism-18; Poison-18; Research-18; Savoir-Faire (Servant)-15; Search-18; Shadowing-15; Shiphandling-15; Stealth-15; Tactics-18; Urban Survival-15; Wrestling-15;
Traits: Tarvathim; Appearance (Ugrly); Combat Reflexes; Fearless +2; Night Vision 5; Racial Memory (Ancient Memories); Unkillable 1; Wild Talent;
Fright Check: 0
Bite (15): 1d-1 cut; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Claw (15): 1d-1 cut; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Force Sword (18): 8d burn; Reach 1;
Notes: The True Tarvathim are perfectly capable of wearing armor and often do so.
Monsters of the Flesh
The Ranathim Tyranny created far more than just the Gaunt with their synthetic flesh and necrokinesis. The horrors of the Dead Art are innumerable, but below includes a few examples.
Flesh Swarms
The simplest thing to create with the Dead Art are small, insect like creatures. These creatures tend have resemble normal bugs, worms or insects, but with an unsettling quality that applies an additional -1 reaction penalty above and beyond what making use of creepy-crawlies, or being surrounded by a swarm of flies, would normally inflict.
Treat these swarms as bio-tech microbot swarms (UT 35). They can “live off the land,” eating whatever dead flesh they find. One cannot “buy” a Flesh Swarm, but they can have them as signature gear: up to two square yards for 1 character point.
Flesh Swarms come in many varieties. Stats for three variations are below.
ST: 2 |
HP: 10 |
Speed: 5 |
DX: 10 |
Will: 10 |
Move: * |
IQ: 1 |
Per: 10 |
|
HT: 10 |
FP: NA |
SM: +0 |
Blood Flies:
Move 1; Air Move 6.
Blood Needles (Automatic) 1 fatigue; reach C; erosive.
Blood flies can strip away all foliage and greenery at a pace of 1 square yard every 10 seconds, and they can record audio-visual data and stream it via their natural telepathic sympathy with their master at any range (see Telesend for details). In combat, Blood Flies deal 1 point of fatigue damage per swarm per second to living beings (Gaunt do not count as living) per second unless the target is Sealed. Treat this fatigue damage as dehydration, and will not recover until the target has managed to get water; blood flies leave dessicated corpses behind! Even the seals will fail under the insistence needles of the blood fly: roll against the HT of the armor (typically HT 12); on a failure, the blood flies still manage to extract 1 fatigue of damage and the HT of the armor degrades one point!
Corpse Maggots:
Move 2
Devourer (Automatic) 1d corrosion; reach C; intensified corrosion (for every 3 damage inflicted, degrade armor DR by 1).
The primary purpose of the corpse maggot is to search targets. While crawling over a target, they supply their impressions telepathically to their master. They can search on their own with Search-12 (they provide a +3 to skin searches and a +5 to cavity searches), or grant a +1 to their master’s Search skill. In combat, they inflict 1d corrosion damage per swarm per second to a target; for every 3 damage inflicted this way, armor loses 1 point of DR to the corrosive effect.
Styxian Scarabs:
Move 4; Super Jump 1;
Ivory Sentines (Automatic) 2d damage to swarms; reach C;
The bone-white carapaces of the styxian scarab usually reveal the nearby presence of their masters, the Saruthim, and are a welcome sight for those afflicted by other Flesh Swarms. They have a Move of 4 by making short, buzzing hops. Their tough shells increase their HP from 10 to 20 per swarm. They can scour a room or an area for clues, applying a +3 to Forensics rolls for gathering clues, or a +1 to more general Search rolls. They’re also built to break down other swarms, and inflict 2d damage per swarm per second to other swarms they encounter.
Defeating Flesh Swarms
Flesh Swarms usually work in tandem with other Tarvathim, such as a Gaunt with a Swarm Hive, or a Necrotitan, thus they tend to act more as a nuisance than a direct threat themselves. Even so, fighting enough of them can be a real nightmare! See B461 for more on fighting swarms. They are Diffuse. Tight-Beam burning counts as the same as piercing or impaling and only does 1 damage per shot. Jet Attacks, such as from Flamers, can be played out over an area up to 3 yards across (like an improvised cone) by making an All-Out(Jet) attack (see HT 178). Divide the damage of the attackby the number of areas hit, but if the attack hits only one hex, it inflicts full damage on the swarm, bypassing the protection offered by diffusion.
The Saruthim often fight swarms by bringing swarms of their own: the Styxian Scarab is an ideal means for eliminating Flesh Swarms!
Beasts of the Flesh
Ranathim Bale Hound
Alternate Name: Gerluk Vaika
The pointy-eared, broad-shouldered Gerluk is a common companion to many Ranathim; with their innate psionic powers, they bond well with their masters, and prove to be exceptional hunters. Unsurprisingly, the Ranathim who practice to Dead Art feel the same way about the capabilities of the Gerluk as a hunter and often steal the corpses of these large, tiger-sized hounds to forge the Gerluk Vaika, the Bale Hound.
A Bale Hound appears as a native Gerluk, but with a pale, hairless hide and with spikes and plates of tarry, black “bone” jutting from its white flesh. The plates fail to cover it completely, and they only protect the hound on a 4+ (-2 to any attack to avoid the plates outright). It has long, black fangs and a mouth that drips with black bile, and similarly tainted claws. Its teeth and claws can both infect a target with whatever disease the unliving hound carries, and all Ranathim Bale Hounds have the uncanny psionic ability to detect disease and to track by disease. If someone is infected, they can detect it, and where they are, and then narrow in on finding them. Thus, a bale hound’s master usually commands a pack to attack enough to scratch or bite their prey, and then calls them off. If he ever wishes to find his target again, he can usually do so, if whatever disease the hounds carry hasn’t killed them off by then.
Bale Hounds, unlike most Gaunt, have a taste for living flesh. They don’t eat it so much as derive power from the remains of a freshly fallen foe. A fully satiated Bale Hound gets a red tinge to its otherwise pallid hide, especially in veins and in its eyes. It can use the power of this blood to fuel even more lethal attacks.
ST: 20 |
HP: 20 |
Speed: 8 |
DX: 12 |
Will: 10 |
Move: 12 |
IQ: 5 |
Per: 13 |
|
HT: 12 |
FP: NA |
SM: +1 |
Dodge: 11 |
Parry: 9 |
DR: 40 (on roll of 4+) |
Skills: Detect Disease-12
Traits: Tarvathim; Appearance (Monstrous); Born Biter (+1 SM); Bright (Glowing Eyes; -2 to Stealth if eyes visible); Carrier; Combat Reflexes; Energy Reserves 5; Detect Disease; DR 40 (Bone plates; partial, 4+, or -2 to avoid); Discriminatory Smell; Frightens Animals; Hard to Kill +3; Infravision; Penetrating Voice; Quadruped; Reprogrammable Duty (True Name Sequence); Sharp Teeth (Fangs); Silent 1; Spines (Long); Unfazeable; Vampiric Bite 2d (Feast on flesh; blood reservoir only); Wild Animal.
Fright Check: -1
Bite (12): 2d(3) imp; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Claw (12): 2d(3) cut; Reach 1; -3 to resist disease/infection.
Spines (8): 1d imp; Reach C; -3 to resist disease/infection. Free attack in close combat!
Styxian Plague (Follow-Up): If the target fails an HT-7 roll (this counts their pestilent bonus from claws, fangs and spines), they immediately suffer 1 point of toxic damage and must roll HT-4 hourly or suffer another point. When they lose 1/3 HP, they suffer a -2 to DX and IQ until they recover. This lasts for up to a day.
Cannibal Feast and Blood Reservoir: If the bale hound pauses to feast, it may fill it’s “Blood Reservoir,” an Energy Reserve that can be used for Godlike Extra Effort on physical attacks. If it spends one turn chewing on the flesh and blood of a pinned or incapacitated target, it inflicts 2d damage and regains 2d blood reserves. Each point spent from blood reserves adds +2 damage to an attack. For simplicity, allow a Bale Hound to gain +10 damage to a single, successful attack before it needs to refill its reserves, and one turn of feasting is always enough to do so.
Notes: Wild Animals; incapable of negotiation.
Defeating Bale Hounds
A single bale hound is not much of a threat to a single hero: a modestly combat-competent hero should be able to take a Bale Hound on in one-on-one combat. They’re very quick, they’re tough, and they can inflict a lot of damage, but even a little armor will largely blunt their attacks, and a single force sword swing is enough to remove most Bale Hounds from a fight.
As a better strategy, have them fight in packs and often in tandem with another character, such as a Gaunt master or the Tarvathim. Their ability to track the diseased makes them ideal for a long hunt, and their ability to gain a sudden +10 in damage for a single strike works better if you have multiple Bale Hounds. So, rather than treat them as henchment, consider treating them as mooks. In this case, any damage will take them out (use 1-3 impulse buy points for flesh wounds, if you want to reflect their natural durability) and assume 1-3 of them have access to a full blood reservoir for a +10 to damage.
Necrotitan
Alternate Name: Tarva Matra
ST: 100 |
HP: 100 |
Speed: 4 |
DX: 11 |
Will: 7 |
Move: 8 |
IQ: 7 |
Per: 7 |
|
HT: 12 |
FP: NA |
SM: +4 |
Dodge: 7 |
Parry: NA |
DR: 50 (or 10) |
Skills: Gunner (Cannon)-12
Traits: Tarvathim; Appearance (Hideous); Damage Resistance (Tough Skin, 1/5 DR against corrosion or fire damage) 50, Dread (Sigils); Frightens Animals; Gluttony (12); Hard to Subdue +8; Penetrating Voice; Regeneration (Very Fast; Not vs Death Serum, Fire or Corrosion); Unfazeable; Unkillable 1 (Achilles Heels: Death Serum, fire, corrosion, etc); Vulnerability (Corrosion; ×2 DR loss and Damage) Vulnerability (Fire ×2);
Fright Check: -4
Tyranny-Era Segmented Episteel Armor: +75 DR; This armor has large gaps (-6 to hit, or -2 for human-sized targets).
Tyranny-Era Heavy Autocannon (12): 6dx5(10) cr inc + linked 8d cr ex [3d] or 6dx5 burn ex; Acc 6; 2mi/6 mi; Weight 500/350; RoF 5; Bulk -12; Rcl 2;
Improvised Club (12): 6dx3 cr, Reach 1-5; Parry 0U; Cost $2000; Weight 300 lbs; -4 to hit human sized targets! With a “Big Swing”, +1 to hit, but pply a -2 to DX and -1 to active defense on a miss or if the target successfully defends.
Slam (Automatic): If the Necrotitan steps into the same hex as a target, he is bulky enough to automatically slam the target. A single step inflicts 1d crushing, while a full run inflicts 8d crushing. Characters must either evade (at +4) or dive for cover to avoid the attack.
Trample (Automatic): 5d+2 cr; Reach C. Human-sized target must be prone (-3 to defense); they gain +3 to Dodge if they roll out of the way.
Stench (Area Emanation): Everyone within 10 yards of the Necrotitan that can smell the Necrotitan must roll HT-4 (at a bonus equal to the distance between themselves and the Gaunt) or become nauseated.
Styxian Miasma (Area Emanation): Anyone within 10 yards must roll HT-4 roll, they immediately suffer 1 point of toxic damage and must roll HT-4 hourly or suffer another point of toxic damage. When they lose 1/3 HP, they suffer a -2 to DX and IQ until they recover. This lasts for up to a day. Characters in sealed armor or with filter lungs (or other means of filtering the air) are immune, but they must roll the HT of their gear (typically a 12) every second of exposure, or the seals fail for that second and the character is exposed once and the equipment has its HT reduced by 1 until repairs can be affected.
Swarm Hive: Necrotitans carry 100 Flesh Swarms (see above) on a grotesque hive on its back. It can replenish one swarm per day.
Defeating Necrotitans
Necrotitans are always bosses. Treat them less as characters and more as unliving pieces of military-grade equipment, the zombie equivalent to a tank. Necrotitans equipped with their traditional, Tyranny-era equipment will slow march through its opponents blasts, and lay down cover fire, typically with explosive shells, while firing at areas (+4 to hit) rather than targets. Only against other extremely large targets (such as other vehicle) will it bother with focused fire: it will aim for a turn (to get the +6 to hit) and then fire its HEMP rounds into the target. It will wade into infantry, swinging either a makeshift weapon or its cannon in Big Swings to clear out the area and trampling targets that fall or knocking people over by slamming into them with its great bulk.
The real danger posed by a Necrotitan isn’t necessarily its direct damage, however, as that tends to be so large scale its relatively easy to avoid. Rather, the Necrotitan is nearly impossible to kill. It requires 1100 points of damage to completely destroy the Necrotitan, and it regenerates 10 HP per second unless it has suffered corrosion or fire damage (fire, not burn damage), against which it only has 10 DR. Necrotitans can also be killed by the things that generally threaten most Gaunt, though it may have the additional weaknesses of the True Tarvathim. Additionally, its very presence subjects everyone around it to a disease; this disease isn’t particularly lethal, but certain Gaunt can exploit disease to their advantage. Finally, the swarm it has can pose a serious threat to entire military formations! Even if the Necrotitan is defeated, if thousands of blood flies or
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.