Copyright Ó 1982, 1990 by N. C. Shapero

(1D6 in INT and CON replaced by a 6 in DICE rolled)

Armor= 1 point fur (impact protection only)

Expected mass = 852 kilograms (1874 lbs)

The Silithii are a tailless bipedal humanoid species resembling certain of the terrestrial mustilids (weasels) in appearance.

Their homeworld has the same surface acceleration as Earth, and virtually identical atmosphere. It orbits a main sequence G2 start at a distance of 1.02 astronomical units (roughly 95 million miles) and has an essentially terrestrial climate.

They are carnivores. Unlike the other carnivorous species of the Hegemony, they have not weeded out the berserker element; they are vicious and cruel, both as individuals and as a race.

Silithii society is strongly patriarchal; only the males have any say in the government, and only a few males have any real influence on the government. The Silithii are ruled by a hereditary aristocracy. It is still possible, however, for commoners to be elevated to the peerage through exceptional merit or achievement.

Like the Humans, the Silithii are relative newcomers to the interstellar scene. First contact between the Hegemony and the Silithii came during the closing years of the Fourth Expansion, just before the Hegemony-Empire Wars brought on the collapse of both Imperial and Hegemonic civilizations.

In the early years of the Fifth Expansion, the Silithii were recontacted by the reborn Hegemony, and "offered" membership therein. They rejected the offer, violently. And the Silithii worlds were joined to the Hegemony -- by fire and the sword.

Since their rather unhappy readmission to the galaxy of "civilized" intelligences in the sixteenth century of the atomic era, the Silithii have attempted to secede from the L'Doran Hegemony five times. In each of the first four of these "Secessionist Wars", the Silithii burst off their worlds, occupied a half dozen or so other worlds, then lost their spacefleet in battle within a year of beginning hostilities. There followed a period of twenty-five years of occupation government, followed by a period of relative calm while the Silithii prepared for the next revolt.

Prior to the Fifth Secessionist War, the Silithii had always been careful to keep civilian casualties to an absolute minimum (something that could not always be said of some elements of the OverGovernment forces, specifically the Humans and the Altani). As a result, no one race or coalition of races had ever felt sufficiently upset with the Silithii to attempt to wipe them out completely.

The Fifth Secessionist War was somewhat different. The Silithii, with a certain amount of Imperial help, and a fair amount of unwitting Central Committee assistance, almost managed to win the war. After four years of direct control of the Hegemonic Grand Fleets by Central Committee Headquarters admirals, the Silithist the Silithii home-system and ten of the Silithii Central Worlds ended the Fifth Secessionist War in 1817, after nearly seven years of war.

The final cost? Over eighty billion Silithii dead, three times that many non-Silithii dead, and hundreds of trillions of monetary units damage. And eleven burned out suns and three hundred twenty-six bombed out worlds. And a great many very bad memories.

It is to be noted that there were some Silithii who fought on the Hegemonic side during the Fifth War; the courage and daring of such units as the 319th Special Assault Force has been neither ignored nor forgotten by the Central Committee powers. There are still Silithii in service to Hegemonic Arms, though they are few in number, and frequently must face discrimination or out-and-out abuse from officers and enlisted personnel of small mind or heart.

Few of the Human troops that were involved in the recapture of Novaya Amerika or New Jerusalem can be trusted to serve with Silithii; some memories die very hard, and Humans have never been known to forgive atrocities easily. Humans, even in the "enlightened" Fifth Expansion era, have been known to hate easily and long.

Silithii official names (as opposed to the nicknames frequently used by commoners) are strictly based on occupation. Thus, though an individual shuttle pilot might be known to his friends and close acquaintances as "Old Red Ear", he would be known officially as, say, Shuttlepilot-213544.

Those individuals who are members of the first grade of nobility are given a "last-half name". That is, in addition to the function name, they may add a personally selected given name. Thus, if the shuttle pilot of our preceding example were elevated to this level of the peerage, he might choose to be called Shuttlepilot-Chargon (with the given name taking the place of the original numerical designation).

Those individuals who become members of the second grade of nobility are given "a first-half name"; a name, based on their birth or adopted noble clan is added. The given name of the first grade is dropped for those individuals rising in caste. In the case of our earlier example, "Old Red Ear" might come to be officially known as Klanath-Shuttlepilot.

Individuals in the third grade of nobility have "both-half-names"; if "Old Red Ear" managed to make it to this exalted station, he might well be known as Klanath-Shuttlepilot-Chargon.

Individuals of the fourth grade of nobility drop the "function name", since it is in their case superfluous -- all fourth grade nobility are involved in government. If "Old Red Ear" made it this high in life, he'd be known as Klanath-Chargon.

Individuals of the fifth grade of nobility drop the given name, and are known only by their clan name together with a rank designation (first, second or third only). So in our earlier example, if "Old Red Ear" managed to reach one of the top three positions within clan Klanath, he would be known as Klanath-first, Klanath-second, or Klanath-third.

Until recently, the only higher level of nobility than the clan leaders was the Tagran, the Emperor-leader of the Silithii world. With the advent of starflight, a new level of nobility was created above the clan leaders and below the Tagran (who came to be the Emperor-Leader of ALL the Silithii worlds). This sixth grade of nobility, the Isa'a, are known by the names of the worlds that they rule, together with a given name. If "Old Red Ear" managed to claw his way to leadership of all of the clans of Sanadar III, he might then be known, say, as SanadarIII-Chargon (Chargon, ruler of Sanadar III).

• The People's Tongue

This is the principal language of the Silithii -- spoken as a native language by 90% of the Silithii population.

• The Master's Tongue

This is the principal language of the nobility of the Silithii -- roughly 10% of the Silithii populace.

• Highspeech

The court language of the fourth, fifth and sixth grades of Silithii nobility. Teaching Highspeech to commoners is a crime punishable by death by slow torture. Teaching Highspeech to nobility below the requisite level is punishable by death.

• There is a passion for virtue.
• The four cardinal virtues are: obedience to duty, courage, honor, and cunning, in order of descending importance.
• Fortitude and indifference to pain and sorrow are also considered important.
• Power over another intelligent being does not require justification. Or rather, it is its own justification.
• There is a basic natural law governing not only all intelligent beings, but all life, to wit: survival of the fittest.
• Under this law, all intelligent life forms are basically equal. That is, they start from positions of equal opportunity. But, based on genetic background, training in youth, and personality, they will not enter adult life at levels of either equal responsibility or privilege. And they cannot be treated completely equally at any time later in adult life -- unless their responsibilities, privileges, and level of authority are exactly identical. (All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others).

Attitudes of the Silithii Middle Class: Equality among sophonts is assumed to be a fallacy. The world view is pessimistic (stoic), and dignity is considered to be a basic virtue. Poverty is regarded as a vice. The "species" memory of the Silithii is extremely short, and despite repeated failures to achieve same, the Silithii are ever eager as a race to assume a position of galactic dominance.

Attitudes of the Silithii Elite: Power evokes respect, and the greatest political force among the Silithii is brute force. Government is not reason, nor is it eloquence; it is blind unreasoning power. The hero image is the leader/conqueror (yet, at the same time, individualism among the Silithii is exalted -- at least among the elite). Sophisticated aliens evoke wariness, and the primitive masses (i.e. everyone else) is regarded as a victim, ripe for the taking. Ambition is tolerated in others. The greatest weakness among the Silithii elite is an excess of aggressiveness. They are indifferent to others' cultures. Dilettantism is strongly frowned upon. Leisure, incidentally, is regarded as a vice for anyone except those in the fourth or higher grade of nobility.

(1) Gravitational Norm and Tolerance Range: 1.00 g, 0-1.5 g, max 3g

(2) Atmospheric Norm and Variation Tolerance: 60-400 mm Hg Oxyegen, 10-25 mm Hg Water Vapor, 1.00 atmospheres.

(3) Temperature Range Norm and Tolerance: 0 to + 30 degrees C mean; -10 to +40 degrees C daily.

(4) Electromagnetic Range(s) Tolerated: 0-30 lumens per square centimeter; wavelengths greater than 300 Angstroms.

(5) Size Range: 4' to 8'

(6) Chemical Base: Carbon

(7) Particle Radiation Tolerance: Less than 0.03 rem steady state (per week), less than 100 rem short term.

(8) Sensory Types, location, and sensitivities:

(8A) Electromagnetic:

• Coarse: 7,000-10,000 Angstroms; skin
• Fine: 4,000-7,000 Angstroms -- color vision; eyes

(8B) Pressure Differential:

• Remote: 20-20,000 cycles; ears
• Contact: skin, muzzle hairs

(8C) Chemosensing:

• Coarse: Depends on substance; skin, tongue
• Fine:Nasal cavity (slightly more sensitive than human),
• tongue

(8D) Damage Detection:

• Corrosion: skin.
• Other: internal nervous system

(8E) Texture Sensing: skin

(8F) Psi senses: varies with the individual.

(8G) Other: No other senses

(9) Substances absorbed: Oxygen, other creatures, fruits, water, miscellaneous trace elements. Carnivorous.

(10) Substances Emitted: Water, Carbon Dioxide, miscellaneous solid, liquid, and gaseous organic compounds.

(11) Reproductive Methods: Typical mammalian; gestation period 295 days (single birth).

(12) Body shape and Natural Weapons: Tailless, furred bipedal mustilid; teeth, hands, feet, non-retractile claws on fin gers.

(13) Periodic Functions: 24-30 hour wake/sleep cycle (diurnal species); 20-40 day female menstrual cycle.

(14) Non-sensory Psi Functions: Varies with individual

Sleep is a necessity for all the major races of the Hegemony though the sleep patterns of all the races differ somewhat from the Human norm. For game purposes, there are 7 stages of sleep deprivation, as follows:

In addition, there are time "zones" during which the individual (based on his CON and species) will be in a particular sleep deprivation stage. These "zones" are defined as follows:

Species Sleep Deprivation Stage vs. Sleep Zone

The cumulative "clock" of hours without sleep is set back at a specified rate for the individual based upon species, CON, and the amount of time spent sleeping.

The typical individual, using the above system will need roughly 8 hours sleep in 24, but the way he will get it will vary depending upon his species. While the Bjora, Humans and Uquoi follow similar wake-sleep patterns (a long, uninterrupted period of wakefulness followed by a long sleep period), the Altani, H'Reli, L'Drey, Sanchenzii and Skiltaire follow a more cat-like sleep cycle. A typical Altani, given the opportunity, will "catnap" for 15-30 minutes for every 30-60 minutes of full wakefulness.

And that's all, folks

Niall Shapero

2536 Short Ave

Los Angeles CA 90066

USA

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