We Who Harvest Souls

A Science Fiction Super-Race

by Stefan Jones
Like many SF fans, one of my guilty pleasures is watching Star Trek: The Next
Generation. It's not great SF, and not even the best SF on television. Most of the time
it's pretty lame. But last season the producers threw in something wonderful: The Borg.
Technology had turned these humanoids into horrors whose values and ultimate goals
are incomprehensible to lesser races. They weren't the decadent pushovers that
Captain Kirk used to destroy with a few photon torpedoes or careful use of illogic.
Implacable, mysterious, and terrible, the Borg put the smug, civilized Federation types
in their place. There were races in the galaxy, it seemed, that didn't play fair. They
defied easy understanding, and could, if they needed to, crush the Feds and the
Romulans like ants.
Original? Perhaps for TV. There are plenty of juggernaut civilizations in written SF. The
Ousters in Dan Simmons' Hyperion, the "calculator races" in Gregory Benford's Across
the Seas of Suns and the Jarts from Greg Bear's Eon are good examples. These races
not only endanger humanity physically, but threaten its collective ego, its place in the
universe. S.O.P. goes out the window when they appear; politics and economics take a
back seat when dealing with them. The fact that one of these made it to TV was
inspiring. If it was OK for TV, it was OK for a roleplaying game . . .
Enter the Harvesters. These folks are not your average alien race. They an immensely
powerful elder civilization, with magical technology and a way of life that humans and
their ilk would find bizarre, terrifying, and even hideous.
Tales from Distant Shores
Far coreward of human space in the constellation Sagittarius, as seen in Earth's skies
is a huge volume occupied by a mysterious, secretive race. Until recently, humanity
only knew the "Sagittarians" through travelers' tales and distorted third-hand accounts.
The reports were contradictory and full of tall tales about machines with mystic powers,
slave races and stars surrounded by swarms of artificial worlds. The only point of
agreement: The civilization that occupied the regions bordering this side of the galactic
core was vast, immensely powerful and frightfully advanced.
There was no pressing reason to investigate these reports; the long journey involved
would have been fabulously expensive, and dealing with enemies and opportunities
closer to home had a higher priority. But through the decades, humanity's sphere of
exploration, trade and influence has edged closer and closer to the core.
Tales of the Dgro-dgri
Though Dgro-dgri merchant-pioneers have been visiting human space for decades, only
recently has humanity reached and contacted their home worlds. The Dgro-dgri
Confederacy (see sidebar) has confided that the Sagittarians are real . . . and
frightening. Through their own efforts, and information bought from other races living
near the core, the Dgro-dgri have assembled a few facts:
The Sagittarians calls themselves many things. The most authoritative name seems to
be Jowuril Kee. This translates loosely as We Who Harvest Souls. Harvest in this case
has a slightly sinister connotation, as in "the hunters harvested the park's excess
wildlife." Kee, a word also used to designate an sapient individual, translates crudely
into "soul," but has no apparent religious mean-ing. Incrementing memory string is a
better but less elegant translation.
The Jowuril Kee seem disinterested in the affairs of lesser beings, but treat interlopers
with callousness and dispatch. According to the Dgro-dgri, the Sagittarians maintain a
buffer zone 1,500 light years wide around their territory. Intruders are warned away by
automated mobile beacons. Ships that persist in trespassers are blasted by warning
shots designed to cripple intruders to the point where limping home is the only option.
Massed fleets approaching Jowuril Kee worlds simply disappear.
A few Jowuril Kee have visited Dgro-dgri colony worlds, apparently out of sheer
curiosity. The visitors were of many species, and acted strangely. Some spent their
vacations talking with children; others wandered around in zoos. Though they
volunteered no information about themselves, careful analysis of taped conversations
indicates the visitors came from a diverse, complex multi-species culture.
Jowuril Kee technology is frightfully advanced. Refugees from a wandering race calling
itself Waltzers-On-Creation claim that the Harvesters create artificial planets, terraform
worlds by the dozen and build megaengineering projects of frightening scale. Once
good customers of the Dgro-dgri, the Waltzers made the mistake of moving their
migration fleet through Harvester space. Only a fraction of their mobile colonies
escaped.
The Dgro-dgri themselves have dared buffer zone patrols on occasion. One expedition
discovered an asteroid belt aswarm with Harvester mining robots. The asteroids turned
out to be debris from a brown dwarf star that was apparently disassembled for its
mineral content. A recent mission confirmed that the Harvesters occupy normal planets
as well. Some of these seem technologically backward; others are city-worlds with
tailored ecosystems and trillions of inhabitants.
The Inside Story
The Jowuril Kee are a dynamic, sophisticated and civilized people. More than 50
sapient species belong to the civilization, which occupies some 12,000 habitable worlds
and uncounted millions of space habitats, asteroid burrows and comet colonies. The
oldest races in the coalition have been around for nearly a hundred thousand years . . .
and their culture, politics, religion and science have been evolving and changing since
then.
Fortunately for the lesser sapients of the galaxy, the Jowuril Kee are mature and
enlightened. They are not interested in conquering their neighbors, though if they
wished they could do that quite handily. Their wealth and utopian society has not made
them capricious esthetes or decadent hedonists; Harvester culture is vital and the goals
of their civilization are exciting and worthy.
The Making of a Kee
Understanding the Harvesters must begin with their unique method of education and
reproduction. The Jowuril Kee are obsessed with creating competent individuals. A
typical kee begins its existence as an animal. There are twenty-odd species of sritkee
u'korpil ("soul seed makers"). Some sritkee u'korpil are herbivores, some carnivores; a
few are aquatic, and two can fly. All are borderline sapient, about as smart as
chimpanzees or dolphins.
These animals are born, live and die in natural settings on urombi kee k'korpil ("worlds
of nurturing and winnowing"). Automated machinery implants a semi -intelligent virus
(similar to the "Riders" in GURPS Aliens) and a tiny etherspace transmitter in each
creature. When it dies, the memories of the animal (its sritkee) are absorbed by the
virus and transmitted to a collecting station. Vast AIs evaluate the animal's personality
and recorded life experiences; if they meet the examiner's specifications the memories
are transferred to a young creature of another species. After a dozen or so cycles, the
combined memories are judged worthy and implanted in the custom-tailored fetus of
one of the Jowuril Kee's sapient races. These memories surface slowly at first; the
process accelerates during adolescence. By maturity, every citizen remembers a
dizzying series of past lives in a variety of animal bodies.
To say these memories give the kee a broad view of things is an understatement. They
remember drowning in floods and dying of thirst; they have experienced childbirth and
the triumph of defeating rival males to win a harem. They know what it is like to walk on
two, four and six legs, to swim in the depths of the ocean, to burrow in the ground and
to fly. They remember the terror of being eaten alive by ravenous predators, and the
thrill of stalking fleet herbivores with loyal packmates. This extraordinary pre-life gives
kee a mystical streak and the innate wisdom of someone who's seen it all.
The pre-life is just the beginning of a young kee's preparation. The sapient species grow
up slowly. Five decades of childhood and adolescence is not uncommon. Youngsters
spend much of that time in study, making and raising jarum kee, and gamboling in
carefully orchestrated educational realities. The payoff is individuals of astonishing
competence and flexibility. The amount of time, material, energy and effort that goes
into raising new kee is astounding, but the Jowuril Kee can afford it. They can't afford
not to. Their civilization is too complex to be left to slackers.
Work and Play
Adult kee live a boisterous but civilized existence. Much of what kee do "for a living" is
incomprehensible to humans. Consider the plight of a Kalahari Bushman or Amazonian
Indian stranded in 20th-century Manhattan. He might be impressed by the skyscrapers,
frightened by the crowds and roar of traffic, and dazzled by the shops . . . but he would
miss 90% of what was going on him, unable to understand the implications of subtle
cultural cues and unaware of the workings of the vast institutions dwelling in the cliffs of
steel and concrete around him. He's no fool; he would quickly learn how to get around in
Manhattan, perhaps even mastering the subway. But without years of learning he might
remain totally oblivious to the fact he was at the center of world commerce and in the
heart of power of vast mass-media empires. An interstellar-age human, even an
educated and sophisticated one, would have as much trouble understanding the goings-
on of a Harvester world.
In their plentiful spare time, kee do research, discuss philosophy or trade gossip, frolic
in parks, create or study works of art, rough it in the wilderness, raise children, or
contribute to the Great Works. A favorite activity of late is viewing scenes from the time
camera.
Tedious, routine, and degrading work is done by the jarum kee (see below).
Servant Things
Jowuril Kee worlds are also home to highly specialized, barely sapient jarum kee
("utilitarian souls"). On many worlds, especially the urbanized ones, jarum kee
outnumber the full sapients. Jarum kee are really little more than machines; they are
tailored to specific jobs and live carefully supervised lives toiling in fields, mines or
factories. Conditioning, tailored entertainments and drugs keep jarum kee content and
productive. Their personalities are simple and stereotyped, like a cartoon character's.
Though treated well, jarum kee have no civil rights; they are little more than property.
They experience something like religious ecstasy while on the job, and are too limited in
their thought patterns to contemplate another way of life. Freedom is an unknown
concept.
Some jarum kee are grown in factory crches, but most are made by young kee. Labs
tailor and distribute jarum kee zygotes to the Harvester equivalent of high school health
classes, where the kids study them, make interesting variations, and have them
implanted in their bodies to gestate. In addition to being good parenthood practice, this
makes kee affectionate and protective towards their servant-creatures.
Jarum kee live a few dozen years. They are programmed to report to recycling centers
when they begin to wear out or become senile. Occasionally, an emergency forces a
jarum kee to become a hero, breaking its conditioning to distinguish itself in some way.
These disruptive sports are quickly terminated, but their memories are recorded to be
put in a sritkee u'korpil, eventually to emerge as a full citizen kee!
Common Jarum Kee Types
Jarum kee come in hundreds of varieties Most have been customized in small ways,
either for efficiency or esthetics. They have pleasant, eager-to-please personalities.
They are frighteningly enthusiastic about their jobs, and tend to be gullible and
unnaturally cheerful.
Sparker
3' long, 12" tall, 60 lbs.
ST: 7 IQ: 7 DX: 11 HT: 5
Basic Speed: 4 Move: 4
Armor: PD 1, DR 2
Advantages: Electric shock, 2d-2. All except metallic armor must be penetrated for the
shock to work. Extra arms (two, limited reach), Extra legs (two extra), Striker (Pincers,
1d-1 swung/crushing dmg.)
Disadvantages: Slave mentality, Pacifism (total non-violence), Duty (Repair and build,
always).
Skills: Various repair skills.
Sparkers are lobster-like creatures about the size of a small dog. They have an
electricity-producing organ and a sort of secondary nervous system made of organic
superconductors. Their natural electricity is channeled into specialized steel -alloy claws
to do spot-welding and soldering. They do construction work and electrical repairs.
Carpenter
4' 6" long, 24" tall, 80 lbs.
ST: 9 IQ: 7 DX: 12 HT: 6
Basic Speed: 4 Move: 4
Armor: DR 1
Advantages: Extra arm, Striker (saw, swing/cutting, 1d+ 1), Extra legs (two extra), Built
in sandpaper and glue organs.
Disadvantages: Slave mentality, Pacifism (total non-violence), Duty (Repair and build,
always).
Skills: Climbing 14, various carpentry and repair skills.
Carpenters are expert furniture and building makers. They look like huge fiddler crabs
with soft brown shells. One of their four arms ends in an 18' long saw made of a metallic
substance. Their palms are covered with rough, horny tissue that improves their grip
and can be used as sandpaper. Carpenters secrete a yellowish goop that acts as a
strong, fast-drying glue. When diluted with saliva, the goop becomes a durable, if not
especially aesthetic, varnish. Carpenters compulsively test and repair wooden
structures they come across.
Groomer
3' tall, 50 lbs.
ST: 6 IQ: 7 DX: 12 HT: 6
Basic Speed: 4.5 Move: 4
Advantages: Extra arms (2)
Disadvantages: Slave mentality, Pacifism (total non-violence), Duty (Clean, comb,
neaten; always).
One of the first jarum kee a young kee grows for itself is a groomer. The most common
model resembles a blue-furred, four-armed teddy bear. Groomers are chatty, gregarious
little busybodies who compulsively "neaten up" other creatures in their presence. Their
saliva, and secretions from modified sweat and sebaceous glands, act as natural
cleansers and conditioners for skin, hair, fur, feathers and scales. With training, they
also act as tailors and expert dressers. Most adult kee have a personal Groomer which
lives with them and accompanies them on travels.
Snacker
3' long, 18" tall, 70 lbs.
ST: 5 IQ: 8 DX: 11 HT: 11
Basic Speed: 5.5 Move: 3
Advantages: Acute Taste & Smell +4, Cast Iron Stomach, Extra Arms (two; have "no
physical blow" limitation), Extra legs (four extra).
Disadvantages: Reduced Move -2, Slave mentality, Pacifism (total non- violence), Duty
(Eat, forage, eat, serve food, eat; always).
Skills: Stealth-10, Survival (Foraging)-10, Cooking-11.
Snackers look like chubby tarantulas with too many limbs and a coat of bushy
camouflage-colored fur. They are found in wilderness parks and on newly settled
worlds. Snackers have incredibly efficient digestive systems and exquisite senses of
taste and smell. They can eat almost anything, including cellulose and dirt. Snackers
accompany kee during jaunts in the wilderness; they forage for themselves and their
masters, carefully checking out strange findings for poison before passing them on to
the kee. Excess calories, vitamins and minerals consumed by the snacker are
concentrated in a waxy paste that fills bulbous, blister-like growths on the creature's
furry hide. These deposits can be collected and eaten by kee if other food is
unavailable. In extreme emergencies, snackers cheerfully asphyxiate themselves so
kee may eat their nutritious (and quite tasty) muscles and brains.
Snackers are sometimes trained as expert campfire chefs, and can field-dress game
animals.
The Elder Kee
Finally, there are the ebjo jarum kee and the keeli urom d'kthist. These are sapient
machines imbued with the memories of deceased kee. Ebjo jarum kee ("enlightened
servant souls") are AI machines with the preserved personality of a particularly talented
and distinguished individual. They are immensely powerful, able to command the
resources of entire worlds. Ebjo jarum kee also have a direct tap into the knowledge
contained in the civilization's vast electronic libraries; they "know" this information as
though it were their own memories! Ebjo jarum kee maintain the urombi kee k'korpil
(nursery worlds), run automated outposts, oversee the education of the young and
advise kee still in corporeal state.
Though ebjo jarum kee are effectively the leaders of Jowuril Kee civilization, living kee
are not anxious to be preserved in this way. They look on it as a kind of civic purgatory,
like serving a thousand years of jury duty. The usual fate of a dying kee is to have its
memories poured into the keeli urom d'kthist, the "soul world-ocean." Physically, this is
a series of immense AI machines scattered through Jowuril Kee space. The oldest parts
consist of continent-sized mats of organic computer circuits, floating in the placid seas
of sun-drenched ocean worlds. The greatest mass of the brain-stuff can be found in
densely packed space habitats. Newer additions may be found growing in comets, or on
the crusts of brown dwarf stars. The various parts of the network communicate by some
sort of FTL radio.
What the keeli urom d'kthist thinks about is a mystery. The ordinary kee don't even
bother trying to comprehend the entity's thoughts; it (they?) is as far above the kee as
they are above the sritkee. The ebjo jarum kee can, with great effort, communicate with
a portions of Its composite intelligence, but have only a vague idea of what It thinks
about or does with Its time. Occasionally, the keeli urom d'kthist may temporarily eject a
kee individual from the fold for mysterious special missions. The memories and
personality of the agent are implanted into a living body or sapient machine for the
duration of the task, then transferred back into the pool. These reincarnated individuals
claim to know nothing about existence in the keeli urom d'kthist . . . but they seem
extremely anxious to finish their missions and get back.
Probing the Keeli Urom D'kthist
Establishing a telepathic link with the keeli urom d'kthist is incredibly easy. Any telepath
on or near a mind-world (within 1 A.U.) can do it. But, as Jowuril Kee psychics
discovered long ago, breaking a link with the great mind is almost impossible. They
gave up probing the soul store, and are satisfied with descriptions provided by the ebjo
jarum kee.
Psychics attempting to contact the Keeli Urom D'kthist immediately get a head-splitting
migraine and an intuitive feeling that they'll be real sorry if they continue. If a character
persists, roll vs. Telepathy skill +4. On a critical failure, the psychic passes out, waking
up hours later with a worse migraine that prevents them from doing anything meaningful
for 1d days.
On an ordinary failure, the psychic screams in terror, clutches his head, and begins
laughing hysterically. After a moment the psychic falls into a coma (lasts 24-HT hours).
When he awakes, the psychic vaguely recalls being bombarded with the thoughts of
countless alien minds. Each mind seemed to be simultaneously participating in a tense
PTA meeting, a scientific conference and an endless, ecstatic Mardi Gras revel
attended by hordes of strange creatures. The intruder's appearance seemed to startle,
outrage and delight the things there. Feeling like a chimp loosed in a society ball, he
bolted. Another consciousness, unbelievably vast and powerful and utterly unreadable,
could also be detected, hovering in the background and somehow directing the chase.
After what seemed like days of pursuit, the intruder was ejected, receiving the mental
equivalent of a slap on the behind just before contact was broken.
A telepath who makes the skill roll has his mind sucked into the activities of the keeli
urom d'kthist. His body falls into a permanent coma. Unless his mind has been stored
on braintape, he is gone. On a critical success, even this doesn't work; his tapes turn up
blank! Optionally, the tape may contain a short, jovial goodbye message from the lost
character, addressed to his friends . . . "Having a wonderful time, wish you were here!"
Foreign Relations
The Harvesters' strange psyches make communication with outsiders so very frustrating
that they rarely bother to do so. Language is not the problem; they simply can't relate
meaningfully with ourki ("earlies"). Their past-life memories give them a insight into the
web of life that outsiders cannot hope to fathom; rather than empathizing with lesser
forms, kee see animals and ourki as links in a chain. The stimulating mental life of the
net isolates them even further. Some actively dislike being around ourki, just as some
humans are uncomfortable around animals. This may be fortunate. Full contact with the
Jowuril Kee would induce culture shock that would surely destroy a primitive society.
Nearly all kee respect the right of less advanced sapients to exist . . . but deity protect
the unfortunate or foolish ourki that gets in the way of some Harvester project, or
intrudes on a urombi kee k'korpil or keeli urom d'kthist world.
Harvesters who seek out contact with outsiders are either nonconformists who enjoy
communing with their simple, stunted brethren, or the Jowuril Kee equivalent of
dogcatchers. Rambunctious youth sometimes seek out ourki to study or molest.
Adventure Seeds
The Harvesters should be used carefully, if at all. On one level the Harvesters are an
awful warning, a chilling example of what extensive use of mind-machine interfacing
and braintaping techniques could do to a civilization. Their main purpose is to loom in
the far distance and remind the PCs and humanity that the universe is a big place full of
terror . . . and wonder.
These seeds aren't full adventures. They are incidents, designed to introduce the
Sagittarians to the PCs, give them a hint of their powers and perhaps tease them into
investigating.
Voices
The PCs, enjoying a period of R&R, meet an elderly Dgro-dgri trader. The trader, far
from home and lonely, talks their ears off. Fortunately, she is a good storyteller. She
tells them of the places she's been and the things she's seen. Not the least of these is a
place, far toward the core, she calls "The Rip." She and her crew of merchant-pioneers
were lured there by what seemed to be signals from an young interplanetary civilization.
Instead of a new market, they found a time-space anomaly surrounded by a swarm of
space habitats and sensor arrays the size of worlds. They had stumbled upon one of
the Sagittarians' stupendous engineering projects! The traders watched and listened for
several days before they were spotted. Their ship was pursued and crippled by swift,
agile warships and forced to limp home. The trip back took nearly a year, and only half
the crew survived it.
Analysis of the recordings showed that the anomaly was a wormhole; the signals that
lured the traders came from it. The signals proved to be the radio and TV transmissions
of a world with primitive space flight; the images showed scenes of space battles and
planetary bombardment, "obviously" the result of an attack by the Sagittarians. The
creatures were using the wormhole to project their power to distant corners of the
galaxy. The trader, who begins to rant a bit as she nears the end of her story, finishes
by describing her futile attempt to convince her race of the danger it faced. She fled
rimward, convinced that the invasion could come at any time.
The trader refuses, "for your own good!," to divulge the location of the Rip. If the PCs
offer her enough ($10,000, modified with a commercial transaction roll), the trader will
pass on a disk with a copy of the signals. The images show a vicious interplanetary war,
but it's impossible to tell whether the grainy transmissions are genuine.
A long, careful analysis shows that the war is between technological equals, far below
the level that the Sagittarians must have achieved.
The Observer
The PCs, laid over on a backwater agricultural planet, decide to explore the small town
outside the starport. It's a pleasant, pastoral place, but decidedly dull. While looking for
something to do, they spot an unfamiliar non-human wandering in a park. The creature
is the size and build of a large black bear. A coat of stiff, woolly black hair covers most
of its body; over this it wears a vest of coarse fabric and a harness hung with leather
pouches. Its blunt, symmetrical face has four eyes arranged around a complex multiple
jaw; the four digits on each hand have sharp, retractile claws. Though bipedal, it walks
on all fours at times and is twice seen climbing trees, seemingly for enjoyment.
If the PCs take the time to observe the thing, they'll quickly come to the conclusion that
it is a fellow tourist. When not looking over the stock of local stores, it occupies itself
taking pictures of people, animals and buildings using a tiny camera mounted on a
finger ring.
Eventually, the thing takes notice of the PCs and follows them around. It occasionally
asks a simple question such as the name of a tree or bird or what a certain building is
for but for the most part it is content to amble along, window shop and take pictures. It
answers most questions about itself with a grunt and a shrug, but freely gives its name if
asked: "ChooHOOO! Swam vigorously through methane for a mate. Called Uhnuh."
The questioners will feel subsonic pulses in their viscera and hear an almost inaudibly
high keening when it pronounces this. (These sounds are parts of its name too. It will be
very impressed if the PCs realize this and manage to duplicate the sounds.)
After a half an hour or so of wandering together, the PCs will realize that they and the
beastie are both being carefully watched. Wary-looking offworlders disguised (badly) as
locals tail them; armed, uniformed men from the local militia will be seen peeking
around street corners. Children playing in the street are scooped by their parents and
hustled indoors when the party approaches. The stranger doesn't seem to notice
anything untoward until the party reaches the next shopping district. The thing will stare
at the CLOSED signs and shuttered shop windows, mutter "This always happens,"
quietly floats into the air, then streaks toward the horizon and out of sight.
After the thing disappears, the party will be briefly but thoroughly questioned by agents
from the Contact service. The awe-struck investigators will take down the PCs' every
word and observation, request duplicates of pictures and recordings they may have
made and ask that they report further contacts with the creature. The investigators won't
say what they know about the creature. If the PCs do some undercover work, they learn
that the tourist is thought to be from some terrifically advanced civilization, and that it
has been paying regular visits to the town for nearly 50 years.
Dgro-Dgri
by Stefan Jones
Dgro-dgri are small, agile, brachiating carnivores. They look somewhat like tailless
rhesus monkeys, but have a long muzzle with long whiskers, a heavily muscled jaw and
peaked ears. Their limbs are long and wiry; all four end in hands with four fingers.
Tough, sharp nails help them grip tree limbs and restrain prey. Their skin is black with
gray stripes; they grow a pelt of thin black fur in the winter. Dgro-dgri prefer living in the
cool rain forests in which they evolved, but have adapted to many environments. They
eat meat, insects and fruit.
Dgro-dgri have two sexes. Individuals tend to congregate into hunting parties of 4-6
adults. Females give birth to single young, which are raised by the entire family group.
Dgro-dgri don't work well in large groups, but make friends easily and rarely suffer from
xenophobia. Their societies tend to be decentralized, libertarian and pragmatic.
There are about two dozen planets in the loosely-knit Dgro-dgri confederation. These
include Perbishu, the Dgro-dgri homeworld, and the homeworlds of two backward
races. The Confederation maintains a small defense fleet, but exists primarily to
encourage and regulate trade. While Dgro-dgri adventurers roam far and wide, the
Confederacy has no strong foreign policy or territorial ambitions. It keeps tabs on the
goings-on in a quarter of the galaxy through trade contacts, and trades the data to
interested parties.
Dgro-dgri Characters
Dgro-dgri have ST -1 (-10 points), DX +1 (10 points) and HT -2 (-15 points). They start
out 2' shorter than indicated by their strength, and 70 lbs. lighter than indicated by their
height. Dgro-dgri are Brachiators (5 points; moves at half normal speed through tree
canopies). Their legs count as short arms (10 points; can't be used for swung weapons)
because they end in hands. Dgro-dgri have Night Vision (10 points), Acute Hearing (+2,
4 points) and Acute Taste and Smell (+3, 6 points). They start with the Acrobatics (DX-
2) and Climbing (DX) skills (free for being Brachiators).
Racial Personality, Quirks and Habits: Dgro-dgri dislike vegetables and grains (-1), and
instinctively grab and eat flying insects (OPH, -5). They like to have the "high ground"
and unconsciously compete with other Dgro-dgri for the highest perch in a room (-1).
They are Uncongenial (-1; prefer working alone or in small groups; don't like crowds),
but are Responsive (-1) to other's feelings and Broad-Minded (-1; unbigoted, not fazed
by alien looks and behaviors; can ignore two points of reaction penalty to other races).
It costs 10 points to be a Dgro-dgri. They make good adventurers, allies and hirelings.
The Rivers of Minds
by Stefan Jones
Almost all adult kee (96%) are members of a information network that uses a form of
technological "telepathy." FTL transceivers are implanted directly in each kee's brain.
Communication is received either audibly, or in the form of meaning-laden pictographs.
Communication through the Rivers of Minds is extremely fast and efficient; skilled
netspeakers can keep up five or six conversations at once. Ordinary speech is used
only when dealing with youngsters or unconnected adults, and on intimate, artistic or
ceremonial occasions.
Except for vital signs monitors (which are permanently linked with medical facilities), Net
use is purely voluntary; netmembers can't read or "hack" each other's minds.
Youngsters are forbidden from using the Rivers of Minds; the individuality-loving kee
fear that joining the Rivers of Minds before adulthood might cause the races to
involuntarily merge into a mass-mind. Even so, much of the intellectual activity of the
Jowuril Kee takes place via Net conversations. The amount and variety of information
surging through the Rivers of Minds at a given time is staggering; a human tapping into
this raging sea of babbling voices and flickering symbols would be swamped and driven
insane in moments.
The ebjo jarum kee communicate with their living brethren through the Rivers of Minds.
The keeli urom d'kthist can listen in on Net conversations as well. Occasionally the
personalities of long-dead kee stored in that vast memory store surface to send
messages to their descendants.
The Great Works
by Stefan Jones
The Jowuril Kee are busy creatures. They are currently involved in nearly a thousand
terraforming projects, turning lifeless rock balls and ice planets into pleasant garden
spots or efficient factory worlds. Not all of these worlds will have oxygen-nitrogen
atmospheres; 16 of the Jowuril Kee races are methane breathers. Comet seeding is
another obsession with the Harvesters. Slow-moving, vacuum-dwelling kee species
have settled the Oort clouds around thousands of stars. Some stars in Jowuril Kee
territory are girded by belts of artificial space habitats, similar to L5 colonies. These are
used to grow more neural material for the keeli urom d'kthis.
Dyson spheres are another favorite project. None of these are of the solid-shelled
habitable type; they gather energy for the civilization's industrial base. The englobed
systems emit a steady infrared glow (waste heat), gravity waves (a by-product of the
generators which fix the dyson sphere to the star) and a flux of strange radiations.
Bodies approaching them on other than approved space lanes are attacked by meteor
defenses or visited by scavenger robots seeking metals and volatiles.
Even more ambitious are singularity rosettes, clusters of black holes whirling about
each other in carefully choreographed orbits. The rosettes are used to stabilize
wormholes for long-distance travel, to create pocket universes, and in one case to
create what might be called a "time camera." Titanic compound telescopes are used to
peer through this anomaly into previous epochs. The telescopes, each composed of
5,000 mirrors more than a dozen miles in diameter, can resolve objects as small as a
kilometer on worlds light-years distant. They are currently trained on the events of a
furious interplanetary war that took place in a binary system some 1.5 billion years in
the past. Scenes of battle, accompanied by intercepted radio and TV transmissions, are
eagerly watched by billions of enthralled kee. The Harvesters hope to make more time
cameras and bigger telescopes, so they can observe and record the early history of the
galaxy's lost civilizations.
In earlier epochs, the Harvesters spent much effort on nebula sculptures, detonating
groups of stars to form beautiful clouds of glowing gas. Though now considered pass,
worlds with good views of these extraordinary art forms are still highly prized among the
Jowuril Kee.