Kischen Planetary Report

by Tom Verreault

Kischen

Saurians-300w.png

Initial Survey Report

To Space Fleet Command, Morgaine’s World, Prengular System

Initial Survey Report of the Planet Kischen, Sauria System by the UPFS Aundrea Norma, Captain Nico Mcleod, commanding.

Overview

Kischen is an oceanic world with small continents and numerous archipelagos. The dominant animal form is reptilian and this lead to a sapient species known as the Saurians.  The planet was the capitol of a five system interstellar entity of unknown political organization.  The Saurians have been under siege by the Sathar for 24.8 GST years. Kischen is the last planet under Saurian control and their defense planners project its fall with the next Sathar wave projected to arrive in the next 2 GST months.

Their defense planners assure us that this next wave of the Sathar will overwhelm their planetary and space based defenses. There are already pockets of Sathar on land masses that the Saurians have not been able to eliminate beyond crippling the enemy’s air and space assets. Our initial analysis suggests the Saurians have been conservative in their projections. They are facing extinction at the hands of the Sathar.

The Saurian government has embarked on an ark ship program to evacuate a miniscule percentage of their overall population.  Numerous ark ships have been sent in various directions in an effort to seed their species as widely as possible. The Saurians have gambled on the ark program at the expense of military defense in a cold blooded calculation to save their species. Six arc ships are now in route to Theseus system, but the final two are still under construction. Immediate military aid is required for those last two refugee ships to escape the Sathar.

Of special note is the Saurians’ main space based weapon system, code named MAHEM. See attached technical report. The Saurians have declined to share full details of this weapon with us but probably will once their refugees are safe in the Frontier.

Attached are botanical, zoological, environmental, and sociological reports from the first survey team. After action reports from actions involving the Andrea Norma against lead Sathar elements entering the system are included as well.

Saurian Laser Spear S model Weight: 4 kg LaserSpear-600h.png This item was manufactured on Kischen prior to our first contact with the Saurians. Due to their love of archaic weapons they developed the laser spear as a combination pole arm and laser weapon. The weapon conforms to standard pole arm performance statistics when used in melee combat. The laser has a power system that is incompatible with Frontier technology. The Saurians developed a battery that is rated at 3 SEU in power which is slightly larger than a 12 gauge shot gun shell. The spear holds 6 of these batteries. When firing the spear, the spear is fired one time and then a pump action mechanism to eject the spent battery and jacket a new one into the firing chamber must be operated. The laser may be fired and rearmed for the next shot all in one turn. This item was manufactured and issued to Saurian troops for use against the Sathar and thus was never marketed. Today they are cherished by Saurians as a tangible connection to their lost planet. As a collector’s item they are worth at least twice the normal cost of a laser rifle. The batteries can be special ordered for 25 Cr each. Saurian Laser Spear PGC model Weight: 4 kg Cost:  500 Cr When the Saurians arrived in the Frontier it did not take the Pan Galactic Corporation long to pander to the saurian love of archaic weapons. The company released a model of the famed saurian laser spear that was fully compatible with Frontier power supplies. It uses the standard 20 SEU power clip and has a port for operating off of a power backpack or belt pack. Although if plugged into a power back pack or belt pack and used in melee the melee modifier is doubled. This weapon may be fired at a rate of 2 per turn which makes it an improvement over the S model.

Society

Saurian society is organized into units call sviks. A svik is analogous to a clan in structure. The species’ core value is individual freedom of choice which makes its surprising that they managed to organize a central world government. It would seem that the pressure from the Sathar has forced them to organize a council of sviks that is advised by their highest spiritual leader. This priest figure is not the leader of the Saurian civilization in a de jure sense but as the single most revered Saurian she is a de factoleader and more than just a figurehead for the government.

It was under her leadership that the saurians embarked on the space ark program to save their species when defense planners determined that it was only a matter of time before the sathar completely overwhelmed them.

Technology

The Saurians seem to love archaic weapons and have swords, pole arms, and cross bows. After capturing laser technology from the Sathar they developed a laser spear. The laser spear is a melee weapon that can be used as a rifle. For a complete description of the laser spear, see the sidebar.

Planetary Environment

As an oceanic world, the oceans provide Kischen with a mild idyllic environment.  The planet has tropical, temperate, and arctic regions with most of the population centered at the temperate land masses.  If it were not for the presence of the Sathar, Kischen would be an ideal resort destination.

Zoology

The aquatic biosphere teams with life closely related to the dominant reptilian forms.  Eel like sea serpents are common. On land the “land dragon” is closely related on the evolutionary tree to the Saurians. This creature has been domesticated by the Saurians and is integrated into its society much like the canine is in human society.

 

Land Dragons

The three domesticated land dragons are kava, with a long curved horn, the tala, with a boney ridge down their spine, and the vana, with no horn or bony ridge.  All are amphibious and move at one speed slower while swimming.

The gore and toss special attack is done during a first turn of combat with a move to contact (charge). It does 4d10 damage and tosses the target 3 meters in a random direction (use the grenade bounce table) and the victim is knocked prone. The target must make a RS check to avoid being tossed.

The Tail Bash special attack does 2d10+2 Damage and stuns the target for one turn. A STA check negates stun effect.

The Tail Whip special attack does 1d10 damage and knocks the target prone. A RS check negates the prone effect.

The Tough Hide special defense operates like a 50 point skein suit.

The Boney Ridges special defense allows for a RS check vs. all kinetic melee weapons for no damage.

Domesticated land dragons have been extensively trained to aid the Saurian war effort against the Sathar. Most have been trained with “basic commands” and “attack” training regimes (see the Animal Handling article this issue p 6).

Saurian Land Dragon
Species:	Kava	Tala	Vana
Type:	large omnivore	medium omnivore	small omnivore
Number:	1 to 5	2 to 10	2 to 20
Move:	Medium	Fast	Very Fast
IM/RS:	5/45	5/50	6/60
STAMINA:	100	75	20
ATTACK:	60	55	50
DAMAGE:	3d10	2d10	1d10
SPECIAL ATTACK:	Gore and toss	Tail Bash	Tail whip
SPECIAL DEFENSE:	Tough hide	Boney Ridges	none

Saurian Sea Serpents

The saurian sea serpent is a reptilian aquatic creature native to Kischen. Most are elusive swimmers, which mean they automatically count soft cover in combat. Given the presence of terrain that would normally provide soft cover, like dense sea weed, they gain the hard cover bonus for combat. Giant sea serpents have a tough hide that acts as a 200 point skein suit.

Saurian Sea Serpent
Size:	Small	Medium	Large	Giant
Type:	small herbivore	medium omnivore	large carnivore	giant carnivore
Number:	4 to 40	1 to 5	1 to 2	1
Move:	Fast	Medium	Medium	Slow
IM/RS:
STAMINA:	5 to 20	20 to 100	75 to 200	200 to 400
ATTACK:	35	55	65	55
DAMAGE:	1d5	2d10	4d10
SPECIAL ATTACK:	None	None	None	None
SPECIAL DEFENSE:	Elusive	Elusive	Elusive	Tough Hide

Sathar creatures on Kischen

The sathar have used their plethora of attack creatures on Kischen and any of them can be encountered. Of special note is the initial lack of any aquatic attack monster. Originally, the Saurians sought to reduce any Sathar beachhead on their planet but with diversion of all possible resources to the ark program, the Saurians settled for crippling any air and space capabilities of the Sathar on the two continents they overran in the last invasion wave. The Sathar here have endeavored to develop an aquatic based attack asset. To this end they modified their famed cybo-dragon cybernetic controls for use with Saurian sea serpents. To date only the medium and large sea serpents have been seen with this cybernetic control unit.

A sea serpent cybernetic control unit has 8 SEU and uses one SEU per attack to increase the damage by 1d10 electrical damage and stun the target for 1d10 turns (STA check to avoid stun). An anti-shock implant is the only technological defense against this as a gauss screen does not work under water.