Star Wars: Aliens, Volus

Volus

Attribute Dice: 12d

DEXTERITY: 2d/3d

KNOWLEDGE: 2d/6d

MECHANICAL: 2d/4d

PERCEPTION: 2d/5d

STRENGTH: 2d/3d

TECHNICAL: 2d/4d

Special Abilities:

Pressure Suits: The volus homeworld has a dense and poisonous atmosphere, as such they can breath Type II atmosphere normally, but require a full pressure suit and breathing masks in any other environment. 

Story Factors: 

Bankers: The Volus are known to be prolific traders and helped develop the economy of the known galaxy. They enjoy a +1d bonus to checks involving haggling, bartering, appraising and other economic matters.
Client species: The Volus government is willingly subservient to the Turian government, from which they gain military protection and stability. 

Move: 9/11

Size: 1.4 to 1.9 meters

The volus are controlled by the Vol Protectorate, an interconnected system of clans and fiefdoms, but they willingly made themselves a client race of the Turian Hierarchy, sacrificing political independence in exchange for military protection and stability; in exchange for this protection, the volus offer the turians their knowledge and prowess in economic matters. It was the volus who developed the Uniform Banking Act and the credit system in use throughout most of the known galaxy. They are known to be prolific traders, and possess an economy far larger than their territory would suggest.

As a race that can survive only with pressure suits and breathing masks when away from the much-thicker atmosphere and ammonia-based ecology of their homeworld, Irune. Their home planet's gravity is 1.5 times that of Earth's, with a high-pressure atmosphere, making their bodies short and almost spherical, and requiring them to wear protective suits; traditional air mixtures suitable to carbon-based lifeforms (i.e. nitrogen, oxygen, methane) are poisonous to them, and if exposed to the toxic atmospheres and wildly differing pressure levels on most other worlds, they will suffocate and their bodies will eventually split open. However, this condition makes the volus ideal for colonizing worlds with great material resources that remain untapped due to lethal atmospheres.

The volus' mercantile prowess made them instrumental in developing a stable galactic economy. They authored the Unified Banking Act, which established the credit as the standard currency of interstellar trade, and the volus continue to monitor and balance the galactic economy even today. After first contact with the turians during the Krogan Rebellions, the volus petitioned for client status within the Turian Hierarchy.

Volus culture is dominated by trade, whether it be of land, resources, or even other tribe members. The volus have a reputation as traders and merchants. Due to the volus not being physically adept, they tend not to be violent, and can even seem overly-pacifistic and cowardly to other, more militant species. Volus have two names but no family names. According to volus sensibilities you cannot own a person, so using a family name would essentially be laying claim to their offspring. Possibly because of their tribal origins, volus tend to refer to members of other races by their source world rather than species name (i.e. "Earth-clan" instead of "human").

The volus government is known as the Vol Protectorate. Rather than being a fully sovereign government in its own right, the Protectorate is a client state of the Turian Hierarchy. In return for falling under the protective umbrella of the turian military, the volus pay a tax to the Hierarchy, as well as deferring to the turians in all foreign policy matters and providing auxiliary troops to the turian armed forces.

The volus are not physically cut out for combat, be it a full-scale war or even a bar room scuffle. As such, they are highly dependent on the turians for defense, although the volus themselves do provide some auxiliary troops to the Hierarchy. The volus will support the turians in any war they might pursue, and the turians will do the same for the volus. Possibly for this reason, volus weaponry tends to be utilitarian rather than high-grade. Some volus manufacturers specialise in cheaper, lower-grade copies of expensive turian equipment. Volus prefer airpower in conflicts, counting on turians for ground support. They maintain several flotillas of heavy-bomber frigates capable of warfare in any atmosphere. The volus have only produced one dreadnought, the Kwunu, named after the diplomat who negotiated their client-race status with the turians. The Kwunu is the only volus ship of its class, but it is remarkably well-armed. Its broadside cannons and main gun are all Thanix Magnetic-Hydrodynamic Weapons. A turian general touring the Kwunu after its maiden system-voyage enthusiastically declared that the ship could "char a planet three times over". While its construction was funded entirely by the Elkoss Combine corporation, the dreadnought was jointly gifted to the Vol Protectorate and Turian Hierarchy upon completion.