Hasst'kor and Prt' History

[LcKedovan]

Ok, came onto this in the timeline thread and as requested wanted to discuss/brainstorm some stuff about it:

Originally posted by Sigg Oddra:
The Prt' timeline from Challenge 26, as requested

Some time before -10000 the Hass'kor bio-engineered the Prt' into being.

approx. -10000 Hass'kor are destroyed in an interplanetary war with their neighbours (of who there are no details other than they were destroyed also, evidence suggests by crude antimatter weapons)
-2400 a Hiver expedition discovers the planet and fosters the Prt' to civilization.

The current stats for their homeworld are C9667C9, that's all that is listed. They are members of the Hive Federation, often serving in the Scouts equivalent.

Although this is technically sector history I didn't want to clutter too much there up with specific discussions. To me this information makes for some interesting possibilities in regards to ruins/extinct cultures etc.

I am thinking we could flesh out the unidentified race, and there will definately be a homeworld and other worlds with remenants of that civilisation that eliminated the Hass'kor... even more so, I find it hard that one race could bio-engineer another, then get 100% whiped out along with it's nemesis. More likely is the Prt' were bio-engineered on one planet, then the Hass'kor and unnamed foe crippled each other beyond reckoning and any survivors lapsed into barbarism in the ruins of civilisation.

Why the heck should Humanatii be able to survive the Long Night, but all other races should mysteriously wipe each other out to the last man/woman?

Just my 0.02 € cents

-W.

 

[Malenfant]

Yeah, I agree...

It's also odd that the Prt' would survive if the Hass'Kor were using AM weaponry.

I think the Prt' are "felinoid", right? Do we know what the Hass'kor were?

 

[RainOfSteel]

It's also odd that we know the name of the race if nothing survives except evidence of AM weaponry combat.

 

[far-trader]

Well it doesn't say the Hass'kor were wiped out by AM weapons does it? Perhaps they were destroyed by some targeted bio-weapon that didn't affect the Prt' (a natural or biogeneered resistance), while the Hass'kor destroyed their foe with AM weapons even while dying.

The suvivor writes the history, we have the Prt' to tell us "all" about the Hass'kor (if there ever were any, maybe the whole thing is mythology). Or in this case we have the Prt' telling us what happened after the Hivers "adopted" and "raised" them, yeah and we're supposed to believe anything they say even if they believe it? Pull the other one

I see no evidence for all the other races wiping themselves out. A few sure, and many had setbacks, but if we are to take the Hiver Fed border as gospel it's an example of a race that apparently suffered nothing during it. The Long Night was mainly an Imperial/Solomani affair wasn't it? It didn't (shouldn't) really affect the Hivers, Zhodani, Vargr, K'kree, (others) right?

 

[Malenfant]

The Long Night shouldn't affect the others, no (unless they'd already had contact with the Imperium/RoM, in which case inter-empire trade would be affected. But they can easily survive a lapse in that).

What exactly does the Prt' article say about the Hass'kor and how they died? (typical, it's all in some obscure source that not a lot of people have access to :/ ).

 

[LcKedovan]

Originally posted by far-trader:
I see no evidence for all the other races wiping themselves out. A few sure, and many had setbacks, but if we are to take the Hiver Fed border as gospel it's an example of a race that apparently suffered nothing during it. The Long Night was mainly an Imperial/Solomani affair wasn't it? It didn't (shouldn't) really affect the Hivers, Zhodani, Vargr, K'kree, (others) right?

Sorry, it was late and I didn't write the last sentance very well. What I meant was that if Humans could survive the long night, I can't see why this mysterious other race would let itself get completely whiped out by the Hass`kor to the last being.

I like your idea about the bio-engineered plague killing the Hass`kor and it is a possibility. Even then I think their ability to eliminate an entire opponent race with crude AM weapons would be inhibited in this case... crippling their opponents possibly.... but wouldn't it make more sense if this other race had some sort of fallback/contingency/escape plan to insure the survival of their race and now lie on one of the worlds in a "fallen" TL state?

-W.

 

[Malenfant]

I thought I'd seen this here before somewhere... hopefully Flynn doesn't mind me reposting this from the Contact! board here:

The Prt': A Minor Race for T20

Background: Intelligent minor race native to Prt'aow (Kurfane/Spica 2340), the Prt' were genetically uplifted from once-domesticated carnivore/pouncers by a non-extinct race they call the Hasst'kor ("those who came before"). Prt' bear a superficial resemblance to the Felidae species (cats) of Terra (Sol/Solomani Rim 1827), causing more than one observer to characterize them as "overgrown tomcats".

About -2400 Imperial, a Hiver expedition discovered the planet. Contacting a few reckless clans, they decided to uplift the Prt' to a civilized level. Soon, the Prt' were accompanying the Hivers on scouting expeditions through the stars. To this day, despite somewhat violent ways, the Prt' remain very active on both Hiver exploration services. Prt' that travel coreward into Imperial space are most often Imperial Scouts.

Personality: Although Prt' society is dominated by a clan system similar to, but not as restrictive as, Aslan clan hierarchy, as individuals, they tend to be curious, proud and fiercely independent. Their intense curiosity has endured them to the Hivers, who share a similar drive.

Status: Minor Race

Homeworld: Prt'aow C966506-A

Languages: Prt' speak their own native language, but use the Hiver written language due to the Hivers' intervention and integration efforts. Most Imperial Prt' also speak Galanglic.

Physical Description: Physically, Prt' average about 1 m in height and 25 to 30 kg in weight. They are bipedal, but can move on all fours at greater speed. They are covered with short fur, ranging in coloration from a light tawny to deep black, marked by stripes or patches of different shades of hair color. The main difference between the Prt' and their wild forebears are a greater overall body size, an enlarged cranium, and the development of the forepaw into a stubby-fingered hand, allowing the manufacture and use of tools. The greatest overall difference is, of course, their sapience. Despite their overall physical agility, the Prt's possess a very limited manual dexterity, due to their stubby-fingered hands.

Adventurers: Prt' curiosity and independence drive many of their kind to pursue paths of exploration, thus marking the Prt' as ideal Traveller characters.

RACIAL TRAITS

* -2 Strength, -2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution.
* Prt' base speed is 12 meters. On all fours, Prt' have a base speed of 18 meters.
* Small size.
* An unarmed Prt' may make two claw attacks (1d3 + STR Modifier in damage each) as a full round action, or a single claw attack (1d3 + STR modifier in damage) as a standard action.
* Prt' physical agility grants them a +4 racial bonus to the following skills, as they do not involve the use of manual dexterity: Balance, Driving, Escape Artist, Ride and Tumbling.

Automatic Languages: Prt' and Galanglic (Imperial), Prt' and Gurvin (Hiver Federation).

Note: The Prt' were originally introduced in Contact: The Prt', an article that appeared in Challenge Magazine #26.

The contact date of -2400 seems way too early though. I'm under the impression that the Hivers didn't get to Spica til much later than that. After all, they'd only just met the K'Kree in -2045. I certainly wouldn't have expected the Hivers to be spinward of the Centrax sector around -2400. Heck, I wouldn't expect them to be that far beyond that by the time they first meet the Solomani.

Can we move the contact date forward by about, oh, 2000 - 3000 years?

 

[LcKedovan]

If the contact date appeared in the Challenge article, we should probably keep it as is.

Also is it Hasst'kor as in the article posted, or Hass'kor as mentioned in some previous posts?

-W.

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by LcKedovan:
[QB] If the contact date appeared in the Challenge article, we should probably keep it as is.

Why? It's not like we're sticking to everything else

Besides, if the Hivers are in Spica in -2400 - and there long enough to actually spend time manipulating the Prt' (presumably several decades at the very least) into something compatible with Hiver culture then that means that the Hivers territory hasn't changed for about 3000 years! This seems to contradict other sources (and logic) that say that the Hivers were expanding over time.

I certainly don't think that it makes sense to say that the Hivers were established in Spica around -2400.

 

[mike wightman]

According to the article it was chemical assaults and bio-plagues that wiped out the Hasst'kor.

Two planets in their system, the third and fouth, were occupied by sentient races, with the Hasst'kor and Prt' on three. It is the fourth that has been rendered almost lifeless by the use of crude AM weapons. No details of this enemy race are known.

 

[Malenfant]

So... why didn't the chemical assaults wipe out the Prt' too? They're nowhere near as discriminate about who they kill as bioweapons are, after all. I guess a lot of Prt' could have been killed too, just that some managed to survive where none of the Hass'kor did.

Hmm. So basically, the Hass'kor uplift the Prt', then they both encounter this other race on Planet 4, war breaks out, the other race are wiped out by AM weapons but the Hass'kor are wiped out on planet 3 while leaving some Prt' survivors?

 

[mike wightman]

Sorry, I should have added that the Prt' were nearly wiped out as well

 

[Malenfant]

that makes sense then

 

[LcKedovan]

Ok, that makes things clearer... Sounds like some good potential for archeological research of planet 4 with hidden secrets and unknown alien histories .

-W.

 

[SJWaldock]

From Challenge #26 "Those of the third [planet] were the Hasst'kor, a race of roughly Solomani size and shape....Their technology was roughly TL-9 but they had not discovered jump drives. Their bio-technology, however, evidently rated about TL-16; they were superb biotechnicians." From later in the same article talking about the destruction of the race on the fourth planet; "It is HYPOTHESIZED [my emphasis]that crude anti-matter ordnance was used."

I'm glad that caveat was put in, as I find it difficult to get round the idea that a tech level nine world has primitive anti-matter ordnance, when the main thrust of their technology was bio-technology.

Thought I'd put in my $0.02 worth.

 

[Flynn]

Out of curiosity, what if it was the sentients of Planet 4 who mishandled their primitive anti-matter ordnance, and killed themselves, at least for the most part...

An even twistier approach:

The Hasst'kor design a disease to wipe out Planet 4. Knowing they were dying, Planet 4 pursues multiple approaches to annihilating Planet 3 in retaliation. One, the primitive AM, accidentally finishes the job the Hasst'kor started. Another, researching the Hasst'kor plague and re-engineering it to create a strain that attacked the Hasst'kor, was successful in its goals, and was implemented before the AM incidents that took out a majority of Planet 4's survivors at the time. The Hasst'kor die off, and the Prt' nearly so.

In fact, given that the population of Prt'aow numbers in the 100,000s in 993 and the 1,000s in 1105, I'd suggest that the plague is hibernating, awaiting a virulent mutation to kick it back up in the mid-1000s. (Just a thought...)

-Flynn

 

[Liam Devlin]

I Like Flynn's take on this approach! After all, even with crude AM weapons, there in't going to be a lot of evidence left of the unknown foe of planet 4. hence it is only hypothesized!
And Personally, I like convoluted plots. <grins> the population figures also support Flynn's idea extremly well. Gets my vote!

 

[Malenfant]

In fact, given that the population of Prt'aow numbers in the 100,000s in 993 and the 1,000s in 1105, I'd suggest that the plague is hibernating, awaiting a virulent mutation to kick it back up in the mid-1000s. (Just a thought...)

Or it could be that they decided they'd get the heck off their old homeworld and move somewhere less risky