Wed Feb 01, 2017 3:28 pm
Just a little fluff for a Pungari Rebel Fleet, to justify my life choices in kitbashing a Starter:
The Legend
There goes a legend of the founding of a Pungari Rebel movement, set in motion by a Tribe whose name has been lost to the mists of time. Though more likely than not, it was just expunged from official Shaltari records for its dubiousness, and the potentially negative impact on Pungari morale. Regardless, if you were to ask an old enough Pungari (if you could speak their language of coarse grunts, clicks, and interpretive dance), he might tell you something like this...
The Uplifting
While the majority of Shaltari treated the Pungari as little more than fanatically-devoted cannon fodder, one Tribe, whose name is now lost, saw potential in them as something more: highly-coordinated and potentially-skilled, fanatically-devoted cannon fodder…provided of course, that they were given the proper training and indoctrination, and cybernetic implants.
Through liberal application of eldritch* Shaltari technology and effort (much to the horror of the other Shaltari tribes, who found it rather distasteful to uplift other races using technological means, but not to manipulate them subtly), the Tribe created a cadre of Pungari that had all the fanatical devotion to them, but with the ability to consider things like noting enemy force dispositions, or remembering to bring extra ammunition to a firefight.
Soon enough, they were learning how to man the more basic systems on starships, and that allowing an enemy to blow up one’s ship, exposing one to cold, hard vacuum, was rather unpleasant for the average carbon-based life-form.
*: Read as, "all the imaginable sci-fi stuff that the writers haven’t sat themselves down to really think of an explanation for"
The Purge
The other Shaltari tribes had had enough of this affront to their reputation for subtlety at this point, and voted unanimously to shut the Tribe’s little foray down…with antimatter packages from orbit. Though highly persuasive, this had an unexpected side-effect:
Most of the Tribe’s elders, being on their home world, or in otherwise easy to find places like Diamonds and Warstriders, perished within hours, along with most of their land forces. However, a number of their Firstborn and light fleet assets had managed to escape, along with their enhanced Pungari charges. Galvanized by the fact that their erstwhile uplifters had been so unceremoniously killed, the Pungari cadre rallied large numbers of unenhanced Pungari to their cause.
The Exodus
Taking whatever they could commandeer, the few surviving Tribe members left the home worlds with their Pungari rebels in tow, swearing to return one day to avenge their Tribe.
The Fleet
Having few experienced Elders, and little access to sophisticated shipyards, not to mention that they were also on the run, the Tribe's fleet remnant have had to rely on lighter craft with more rugged loadouts. Centuries of constant repair and necessary modifications has also resulted in ship classes not found in the standard Shaltari navies. Their reliance on the hull replacement material known only as “Spruemium”, has also given some of their formerly regular Shaltari ships a unique appearance.
The Clones
To compensate for the proportionately higher casualty rate from deploying lighter assets, the Tribe had also resorted to the unthinkable: Growing live Shaltari specimens in their cloning vats instead of the mere shell bodies that are used for consciousness transfer.
In doing so, the Tribes had renounced the last of their Shaltariness, and, in the eyes of their fellow Shaltari, became little more than the Pungari they had uplifted.
The Legend
There goes a legend of the founding of a Pungari Rebel movement, set in motion by a Tribe whose name has been lost to the mists of time. Though more likely than not, it was just expunged from official Shaltari records for its dubiousness, and the potentially negative impact on Pungari morale. Regardless, if you were to ask an old enough Pungari (if you could speak their language of coarse grunts, clicks, and interpretive dance), he might tell you something like this...
The Uplifting
While the majority of Shaltari treated the Pungari as little more than fanatically-devoted cannon fodder, one Tribe, whose name is now lost, saw potential in them as something more: highly-coordinated and potentially-skilled, fanatically-devoted cannon fodder…provided of course, that they were given the proper training and indoctrination, and cybernetic implants.
Through liberal application of eldritch* Shaltari technology and effort (much to the horror of the other Shaltari tribes, who found it rather distasteful to uplift other races using technological means, but not to manipulate them subtly), the Tribe created a cadre of Pungari that had all the fanatical devotion to them, but with the ability to consider things like noting enemy force dispositions, or remembering to bring extra ammunition to a firefight.
Soon enough, they were learning how to man the more basic systems on starships, and that allowing an enemy to blow up one’s ship, exposing one to cold, hard vacuum, was rather unpleasant for the average carbon-based life-form.
*: Read as, "all the imaginable sci-fi stuff that the writers haven’t sat themselves down to really think of an explanation for"
The Purge
The other Shaltari tribes had had enough of this affront to their reputation for subtlety at this point, and voted unanimously to shut the Tribe’s little foray down…with antimatter packages from orbit. Though highly persuasive, this had an unexpected side-effect:
Most of the Tribe’s elders, being on their home world, or in otherwise easy to find places like Diamonds and Warstriders, perished within hours, along with most of their land forces. However, a number of their Firstborn and light fleet assets had managed to escape, along with their enhanced Pungari charges. Galvanized by the fact that their erstwhile uplifters had been so unceremoniously killed, the Pungari cadre rallied large numbers of unenhanced Pungari to their cause.
The Exodus
Taking whatever they could commandeer, the few surviving Tribe members left the home worlds with their Pungari rebels in tow, swearing to return one day to avenge their Tribe.
The Fleet
Having few experienced Elders, and little access to sophisticated shipyards, not to mention that they were also on the run, the Tribe's fleet remnant have had to rely on lighter craft with more rugged loadouts. Centuries of constant repair and necessary modifications has also resulted in ship classes not found in the standard Shaltari navies. Their reliance on the hull replacement material known only as “Spruemium”, has also given some of their formerly regular Shaltari ships a unique appearance.
The Clones
To compensate for the proportionately higher casualty rate from deploying lighter assets, the Tribe had also resorted to the unthinkable: Growing live Shaltari specimens in their cloning vats instead of the mere shell bodies that are used for consciousness transfer.
In doing so, the Tribes had renounced the last of their Shaltariness, and, in the eyes of their fellow Shaltari, became little more than the Pungari they had uplifted.