The Khorred

Khorred

Intelligent minor race native to Khorrek/Chaynu.

The Khorred average 1 meter in height and mass 25 kg.  They are upright, bipedal, homoeothermic and bisexual, with an internal skeleton and a closed circulatory system.  Khorred have a light layer of hair covering most of their bodies, though their chest, neck and face are usually hairless.  Body hair ranges from white to dirty blond, while the shock of hair sprouting from the top of their heads is usually much darker.  Khorred of both genders have beards sprouting from the bottom of their chins, which typically match the color of their head hair.  Khorred have horns that curve back from their foreheads, and which average about a centimeter in length for every four years they've lived.  Khorred are two toed unguligrades.

Much like the Vargr, who first made contact with them, the Khorred show clear signs of having been genetically manipulated, in this case from small goat-like creatures on Khorrek.  The most obvious modifications are their hands, their heads, and their upright stance.  Their hands, unlike their cloven hooved-feet, have two fingers and two opposing thumbs each.  They can handle standard equipment, but prefer to have items made specifically for them.  Changes to the head include larger braincases, shorter snouts and more forward looking eyes.  In addition, their pelvises and spinal cords have been modified to allow them to walk upright.

Much like their animal forebears, the Khorred are highly susceptible to trancelike states provoked by music.  Although they come to immediately when the music is stopped, they will dance, leap or simply sway in time to music for hours at a time.  A Khor playing a musical instrument will continue to do so for hours, and thus, many are accomplished musicians.  Non-Khorreds listening to Khorred musicians often fall into the same dance-trances that Khorred do.  The Khorred are a very curious race, and strong in mathematics, and tend to go into fields such as music, physics and astronomy.

The Vargr found the Khorred on seven widely separated worlds in Chaynu Subsector:  Narrnnh, Tenn, Krarus, Leeon, Tokala, Nouwyr and Khorrek.  Each of these worlds holds Alien Ruins of a mysterious race of giants identified by the Khorred as the Tana.  The Khorred themselves were clearly not native to six of the worlds, and were just as clearly not the builders of the ruins.  The seventh world, Khorrek, was identified as their homeworld via genetic sampling of other species.

Khorred subtract four from Endurance, but add two to Dexterity and Education.  Enlistment DMs are -3 for the armed forces, +2 for Other, Rogues, and Doctors, and +3 for Scientists.