General Dire Vargr

[Blue Ghost]

Science tells us that the Dire Wolf died out in North America some 100,000 years ago. But recent Imperial research has discovered a subsector deep in the coreward recesses of the Extents predominantly populated by a larger Vargr variant. DNA samples match recorded DNA of bones preserved in North American tar pits on Terra. Current hypothesis is that Grandfather and "his children" kept sampling the Dire Wolf species until there were none left.

Dire Vargr
Average Height 2 meters
Str; 3d6
Dex; 2d6
End; 3d6
Int; 2d6
Edu; 2d6
Cha; 2d6

Otherwise standard Vargr career generation.

Unique tech; Dire Vargr are a little more organized than their gray wolf cousins, and have managed to hang onto some samples of Ancient technology; notably that dealing with defense/military, food generation and medical. Dire Vargr society, for whatever reason, hasn't expanded beyond the Listanaya sector, in spite of having superior starship technology; antimatter is a known fuel source.

Society; Dire Vargr society is somewhat less mercurial than the rest of the extents, and comparatively stable and normal by human standards. Noteworthy are the less "drastic" color schemes around Dire Vargr worlds, possible as a result of having eyes more akin to humans than the comparatively color restrictive Vargr descended from gray wolves.

Just something I came up with while watching a doc on the subject (Dire Wolves, not Vargr )

 

[BlackBat242]

Sounds great to me. :toast:

Mind if I steal... err, use this for my games?

 

[Blue Ghost]

By all means, citizen.

 

[GypsyComet]

Dire Vargr society, for whatever reason, hasn't expanded beyond the Listanaya sector, in spite of having superior starship technology; antimatter is a known fuel source.

Roll a die to determine the truth behind this rumor:

1 - The Dirvau are as presented, and bound to their local space by biological factors they've never managed to discern; those who leave their native stars sicken and die within weeks. They maintain and build to a range of TL (based on the Vilani scale) from TL10 to TL18, with jump range (and biology) lagging while other fields excel.

2 - The Dirvau are generally as presented, but are servants of an "active" Ancients site and psionically bound. They know little of the technology behind the devices they maintain.

3 - As #2, but they are active partners, practice extreme secrecy with regards to foreigners, and use psionic manipulation to mask their travels into Vargr and Human space. They avoid the Zhodani. Most of their travels are to further coreward for reasons they do not or cannot explain.

4 - The Dirvau exist, but are no more technologically advanced than the Vargr in general and lag in specific areas. There are ruins of higher tech as described in the rumors, but none of it functions and the Dirvau cannot repair it.

5 - The Dirvau exist, but are no more unusual than the Urzaeng, having been the butt of a massive joke by other Vargr. They refuse to allow genetic testing to determine whether or not they ARE Urzaeng.

6 - The Dirvau are just a rumor. Like El Dorado, they are an aspiration and/or distraction myth.

7 - As #6, but only recently. They used to be (reroll).

8 - As #3, but so well hidden that they appear to be #6.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Very cool.

Adding to my initial post; Dire Vargr (DirVar, Dirvau?) are notably more sympathetic towards "pack members", notably those who have suffered injuries or wounds in combat. The medical aid and general attitude towards the injured, wounded and fallen, is far more human like than in regular Vargr society. Some have made the observation that social attitudes towards healing the sick and injured in some ways surpass regular Vargr society.

 

[Winged Cat]

Str; 3d6
Dex; 2d6
End; 3d6
Int; 2d6
Edu; 2d6
Cha; 2d6

Otherwise standard Vargr career generation.

Unique tech; Dire Vargr are a little more organized than their gray wolf cousins, and have managed to hang onto some samples of Ancient technology; notably that dealing with defense/military, food generation and medical. Dire Vargr society, for whatever reason, hasn't expanded beyond the Listanaya sector, in spite of having superior starship technology; antimatter is a known fuel source.

Mary Sue alert: they have mechanical benefits and no mechanical drawbacks as compared to standard chargen...

Society; Dire Vargr society is somewhat less mercurial than the rest of the extents, and comparatively stable and normal by human standards. Noteworthy are the less "drastic" color schemes around Dire Vargr worlds, possible as a result of having eyes more akin to humans than the comparatively color restrictive Vargr descended from gray wolves.

...and just plain closer to human, with no other consequences of note. (Which is only a factor in combination with the above.)

What is their relation with the Agents of Eloeghoe and the League Alliance (the already known polities in Listanaya)? Do they oppose? Ally with? Constitute large parts or the entirety of?

 

[Blue Ghost]

Dire Wolf template

I haven't given it much thought. Current theory is that the dire wolf was, again in theory, more caring for their pack members. Wolves with broken bones that healed suggests that the injured somehow managed to survive brutal injuries, which given their need to be mobile, would seem unlikely or impossible without assistance of some kind. Ergo some researchers are postulating other pack members brought them food as if they were feeding young. It may show that they dominated the North American hunting grounds over the gray wolf ancestors because of a combination of size and less "Spartan like" attitudes towards pack members who needed assistance. Ergo I wrote them up as more organized, and not really a "Mary Sue" idealization of what I think Vargr should be.

Thanks.

 

[The Pakkrat]

Nakagun Neighbors

I wonder what the Nakagun Vargr who are culturally psionic and ostracized from mainstream Vargr space would say to the presence of Dire Vargr in Listanaya Sector.

 

[Blue Ghost]

As I sit at my desk doing a slow burn because both PG&E and the water district came out to do a little maintenance at 3AM, I think I should apologize for tone to Winged Cat. I moved up here to George Lucas land to get some peace and quiet, and hearing a drill and whatever else going on put me in a pretty foul mood.

Pakkrat, feel free to add something as per GypsyComet.

 

[Winged Cat]

As I sit at my desk doing a slow burn because both PG&E and the water district came out to do a little maintenance at 3AM, I think I should apologize for tone to Winged Cat. I moved up here to George Lucas land to get some peace and quiet, and hearing a drill and whatever else going on put me in a pretty foul mood.

Apology accepted. I have heard much tales of the inconveniences PG&E has been inflicting.

That said, I stand by my assessment. This is a mechanically superior vargr, such that none would want to play others. I hope the following parody does not offend, but comparing this to Dire Vargr should hopefully illustrate the problem.

Direr Vargr
Average Height 2.2 meters
Dex 2d6, like normal
Str & End 4d6, because they're direr
Int & Edu 3d6, because they're Grandfather's chosen
Soc 2d6 which also works 1-for-1 as Cha, because they're raised to embrace models

Grandfather makes sure they are raised on his teachings - he has video recordings and robots to raise them.

They hang out in Grandfather's pocket dimensions, mostly doing his bidding. As a result, when one gets wanderlust or lost, they can show up anywhere.

Their society is much like humans' - or were most non-Solomani humans' social preferences modeled on these vargrs'?

 

[Blue Ghost]

Well, now can't sleep.

Yeah, it is, but I think GypsyComet's offering puts a nice cap on them. They were exceptionally large, so I think 3d6 for Str is about right. They were known to take down Bison and Mammoths, and seemed to have a social order that put the gray wolf to shame.

I think if anything they probably wouldn't have "corsair" organizations. They probably have regular navies and military. They probably do "dominate" the world's they inhabit as per their dominance in North America, but I would think the akin to Geonee or Vegans; not really a large social force by only inhabiting a few systems in a sector … or a few subsectors in a sector.

I guess the reason you wouldn't play one is because maybe as per GypsyComet, they're socially or psionically bound to their world. They've developed to the point where they don't need to reach out and attempt to plunder other worlds because of a social "superiority" in that they're more like humans in desiring consistency, as opposed to warring over who gets the next big slice of pie.

 

[infojunky]

Yeah, it is, but I think GypsyComet's offering puts a nice cap on them. They were exceptionally large, so I think 3d6 for Str is about right.

See, I went and looked, the average projected mass of a Dire Wolf was in the 60 to 70 kilogram range. A little bit larger than a lot of modern wolves. Thus in comparison to Vargr I would go with 2d6+1 or +2 as compared to the Vargr's normal 2d6-1.

Not Dentition is the big issue with Dire Wolves. A little bit bigger and much more aggressive in the teeth Department.

 

[Blue Ghost]

A website called naturemappingfoundation lists the gray wolf as follows;

Weight: Male: 80-110 lbs. Female: 60-80 lbs.
Height: 26 to 32 inches
Length: Male: 5-6.5 feet (nose to tip of tail) Female: 4.5 to 6 feet


The Florida Museum of Natural History (by way of University of Florida) lists the dire wolf as follows;

Weight: Male: 130 t0 150 lbs.
WIKI says; Height; 85 cm or 2.7 feet.
WIKI says; Length; 5.4 feet or more

The National Geographic documentary I saw stated the Dire Wolf stood about.

It may not fully justify 3d6 str, but you might argue something like continued Ancient DNA manipulation to create a "super" Vargr. Having said that, anywhere from a +1 to a +3 on 2d6 for an STR bonus seems reasonable.

Apparently even though they were stronger and taller, their limbs weren't as long as the gray wolfs. That's kind of weird.

 

[GypsyComet]

Apparently even though they were stronger and taller, their limbs weren't as long as the gray wolfs. That's kind of weird.

Not really. Strength is more about the moment arms through the joints. A chimpanzee can take most humans apart due to the way his joints are arranged.

As for height, I think the dire wolf was arch-backed, or at least heavily shouldered.

 

[mike wightman]

Science tells us that the Dire Wolf died out in North America some 100,000 years ago.

Not in the real world it doesn't.

Science in the real world tells us the dire wolf evolved about 125,000 years ago and died out about 10,000 years ago.

If the Ancients took North American wolves to make Dire Vargr it was Armbruster's wolf (Canis armbrusteri) which were even bigger than dire wolves...

I wouldn't go 3d for Str, 2d plus a bonus of either +1 or +2 is sufficient. Aslan get 2d+1...

In a Digest adventure the characters get a look at the Ancient era Vargr and they are indeed much larger than their modern descendants - but then it does say in the Vargr Alien module:

Considerable adaptation took place (although exact knowledge of the nature of this manipulation is scant, and thus the evidence for this information is somewhat unreliable). Certainly the Vargr were never fully fitted for the environment of Lair. This has produced rigorous conditions which have made the natural selection and adaptation essential to the survival of the race, and may have resulted in developments not introduced by the Ancients in their original genetic experimentation on Vargr ancestral stock.

Modern Vargr are as different to Ancient era Vargr as we are from Neanderthals and denisovians, probably more so.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Well, the NG doc said between 500000 and 100000, though maybe I misheard.

Proto Vargr would be an interesting thing to toy with.

 

[GypsyComet]

New research recently published suggests they weren't even wolves, genetically.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/01/legendary-dire-wolf-may-not-have-been-wolf-all

 

[Grav_Moped]

They're baaaack....

The Return of the Dire Wolf (Time magazine)

Colassal Biosciences has used DNA recovered from dire wolf remains as a template to modify modern wolf DNA, and used domestic dogs as host mothers, to recreate dire wolves. They have three viable puppies so far.

Very big puppies.

 

[mike wightman]

What can possibly go wrong...

 

[infojunky]

What can possibly go wrong...

I live with a very polite 65lb Husky, SO lots just judging from her...