Most of the factions in TR have at least some significant backstory for the team to draw on. for example the warlords had some fleshing out in The Essential Guide To Warfare. I have thus wondered if the Vagaari might benefit from a fleshing out of their backstory.
Basically, I wondered if the team might like people to provide ideas about them, snippets that would never make it into the game, but provide food for thought as the team developed them.
I know they'll probably only be a raid force, but I had some ideas if they became a normal playable faction.
Thus:
"The Vagaari’s origins can be traced to a small nondescript planet in the tiny nebula somewhere in the unknown regions. Partly city dwellers, partly nomads, the Vagaari possessed a moderate level of heavy industry and technology. Comprised of clans arranged in a hierarchy, they did not display much interest in the stars above them. For them, the security of the clan elders, and victory in the interminable wars between clans was much more important.
All this changed when the “sky stranger” arrived. Captured and interrogated, he revealed that their sun would go super-nova within a century. This misguided act of charity forced them to build spacecraft to escape. Using the hyperdrive in the stranger’s craft, they concocted a fleet of ships to transport select clans away to another system. As the clans that escaped were allies, and their enemies were left to die, the Vagaari became a unified species practically overnight.
Ensconced in a system safe from the super-nova, they began to harvest resources to survive. Asteroids, comets, and solar energy were plentiful for the small fleet as it expanded. The Vagaari practical nature only hardened into an entitled view of the universe. They could take what they wanted from the resources around them. Survival was paramount. Somewhat scarred by the rushed evacuation, they resolved to stay on the move. If they were to survive, staying mobile would give them a chance to escape any threat.
What other species they encountered were of so little threat that they did not learn to treat other races with respect. They took what they wanted from the occasional ship that blundered into them. The lack of a stable interstellar community in the unknown regions, and large number of threats, only hardened their attitude to others. The few Chiss and Sycans they encountered were a nuisance to be used and disposed of.
Thus, as hyperdrives and navigation techniques slowly improved the stability of trade and communication routes, around 300bby, the Vagaari were perfectly positioned to prey on the increased traffic that came into their territory. Being nomadic, others were not generally aware that the Vagaari were there. What inhabited planets there were only had token occupation forces by the Vagaari, and they were loath to speak of their hated masters.
Nevertheless, they achieved enough numbers that the Chiss began to notice them. Having carved their own empire into the region, with the Ssiruuvi Imperium on their doorstep, these red-eyed humanoids were not going to go down to these nomadic slavers. Unconcerned with the small outposts they first encountered, the Vagaari empire thus blundered into disaster."
***
The Vagaari do not fight fair. Possessing reasonable technology for the unknown regions, it is not uncommon for them to encounter higher-tech species. Living shields of sentients imprisoned on the hull, Jamming fields, Primitive interdictors, and “shield ships” are all part of their arsenal.
Tractor fields: Actually a vast array of tractor beams targeting any and all enemy ships within range. Slows all ships within range.
Living shields: Sentients imprisoned on the hull. Moderately lowers accuracy of some factions (NR, era 5 IR, PA, CSA).
Turbo-ion gun: Extremely effective ion weapon. Higher damage to shields than other factions.
Shield ship: Asteroids with engines. Extremely tough, but also very slow, with few weapons. Damage sponges.
Dismantlers: essentially the Vagaari version of a buzz-droid. These are generally deployed against capital ships. Often deployed via missile against slower ships.
Vagaari ships are generally tough with high speed. However…
Against this the Vagaari have extremely weak turbo-lasers, as well as a comparatively short weapons range. Few fighters, though one type is as manoeuvrable as X-Wings, with more firepower. Their ships are either carriers or battleships- few “star destroyer” type craft.
Another notable aspect about them is that they are almost entirely space-based, with “barracks” and “vehicle factories” contained within space stations just like their shipyards. While they can build ground forces to take planetary territory, it is through their crèche-cruisers and nomad factories that they do so. [Thus the nomadic caravan noted by Thrawn in Outbound Flight would be represented by their mobile space-based structures]
Furthermore, almost all of their structures are mobile in realspace and hyperspace. Structures can be moved near and far from the front as needed, allowing assets to be deployed quickly and flexibly. The Vagaari practise a nomad lifestyle far beyond what other space-caravan based species are capable. Not for nothing are they seen by their subject peoples as a “nomad empire”.
While the Vagaari can immediately begin mining when they move into a system, this has disadvantages. A purely space-based industrial complex is smaller than that of a planet based economy, what with its favourable conditions of gravity and magnetic fields. Living space is extremely limited. Thus, their crèche-cruisers and civilian fleet house less warriors than they might do had they been cities on the ground. Thus the Vagaari must concentrate force where it is needed and avoid excessive attrition.
Vagaari do not build trade stations. Trade is a minor concern to them. They take what they want, why barter?
Thoughts?
Topic: Vagaari Lore Thoughts. (Read 1934 times)