Star Wars: Aliens, Vorcha

Vorcha

Attribute Dice: 12d

DEXTERITY: 2d/5d

KNOWLEDGE: 2d/3d

MECHANICAL: 2d/4d

PERCEPTION: 2d/4d

STRENGTH: 2d/5d

TECHNICAL: 2d/3d

Special Abilities:

Regeneration: Vorcha heal remarkably fast. Vorcha heal in half the time as humans and can regrow limbs.
Adaptive: Vorcha can adapt to almost any survivable environment. The process is slow and most vorcha only develop one adaptation in their lives. In game terms, a vorcha can choose one environmental effect to be resistant too. The GM is the final arbiter of the effect. Common adaptations include a natural armor of +1d physical and energy, ability to breath any atmosphere, increased movement, or increasing an attribute maximum by +1d. 

Story Factors: 

Short life: Vorcha only live about 20 years. 

Move: 10/12

Size: 1.5 to 2.0 meters

Known for both their unique biology and adaptability to different environments, and their aggressive behavior and savage nature, the vorcha are a primitive race that live among the galaxy's darker and more dangerous locations.

The vorcha are the most short-lived sapient species currently known, with an average lifespan of only 20 years. The vorcha are known for a rather unique biology that differentiates them from other known species and which carries with it a striking set of advantages and disadvantages. The vorcha have clusters of non-differentiated cells which allow the vorcha limited regenerative abilities, as well as the ability to adapt quickly to its environment, such as developing thicker skin after being burned or increased musculature to survive in high gravity. When a vorcha is injured or in distress, these cells move to the affected area and rapidly mature to specialized forms that will alleviate the issue.

A vorcha that is cut or burned will adapt to have thicker skin. The lungs of a vorcha placed in a barely breathable atmosphere will adapt to better use the gases there. A vorcha subjected to high gravity will quickly develop stronger heart and leg muscles. Non-differentiated vorcha cell clusters do replenish themselves, but the process is slow. Generally vorcha can only adapt to a single environment within their brief lives. However, what cells are replaced allow them to heal rapidly, and even regrow lost limbs over a period of months. However, as a consequence of this, the vorcha as a species no longer evolve as other races do. The vorcha equivalent of DNA has remained unchanged for millions of years. There is no need for them to evolve as a species when they can adapt as individuals. 

The vorcha originate from a small and overcrowded planet which has been largely stripped of natural resources by successive generations of this fast-breeding, savage species. The lack of resources has resulted in a tight-knit clan-based society in which rival clans wage constant war against one another for control of scarce resources. Even as their population grows, the vorcha constantly fight each other in fierce competition over basic necessities. This constant warfare has the effect of encouraging natural selection, making each generation of vorcha stronger and more aggressive than its predecessor. However, their continual lack of resources have kept vorcha society extremely primitive. The rest of galactic civilization regards them as pests and scavengers, and their presence is generally seen as a blight.

Vorcha society is built around combat. In fact, the vorcha use combat, both singly and in groups, as their default form of communication. The vorcha are a clan based people who prefer living in communal environments with others of their species to living alone or in the company of alien races. When a clan population grows too large, younger members will depart to start a new clan elsewhere. The vorcha are extremely aggressive, both against rivals of their own species and against any alien who stands in their way. Vorcha who have managed to escape their homeworld did so by hiding within the ships of spacefaring races that visited their planet in the past, and have a tendency to occupy uninhabited areas of space stations or larger spaceships.

Seeing the potential of the vorcha's individual adaptability, krogan Blood Pack mercenaries often sweep pockets of vorcha, gathering them up and literally beating them into soldiers. Vorcha "trained" by this ordeal are stronger, faster, smarter, and more resilient than other members of the race. Gaining even a few vorcha gives a mercenary band a formidable advantage; each additional vorcha magnifies the gang’s combat ferocity exponentially.