This just in... don't know if Val ever implemented it....
was to be included in the Drakh_AI_General.txt file
Name := Drakh Theocracy (militant) (Ref.: IPX Achieve)
Description :=
The Drakh are a sycophantic minion of one of the Ancients, presumably the Shadows, with possible telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Long lived cunning schemers.
Biological Description :=
(Ref.: IPX Achieve; Warning: This information is provided as is, and is subject to confirmation.)
The Drakh are a highly evolved reptilian humanoid with three major subspecies or castes and a forth-unknown minor caste?
They have a four-digit hand, three fingers and an opposable thumb. Despite their reptilian origin they are warm-blooded enjoying the same temperature ranges as humans, and give birth to live young **. (** Placental, like the Drazi?)
Epidermal scales appear on all visible surfaces but vary in density and thickness between the three castes. Sexual dimorphism was not observed but may exist, however there is a marked physical caste dimorphism.
The primary castes are Priests, Warriors, and Labourers, in hierarchic order.
The Warriors are large, athletic Versions of the priests but hid behind facemasks during our encounter so may have a facial differential.
"Drakh admit to a life span of 20,000 years reaching sexual maturity in “as little” as 75 to 80 years and consider Adulthood to be from 110 years."
Delete above ..replace with following...
Drakh admit to a long life span *** reaching sexual maturity in “as little” as 75 to 80 years and consider Adulthood to be from 110 years? ( *** possible translation error?) Apart from an apparent high I.Q. they also display an ability to see into the infrared portion of the EM spectrum. Intelligence varies by caste and follows the reverse of the hierarchy with Labourers being regarded as geniuses amongst their people. Psychic abilities exist to varying degrees in all castes but would appear to be strongest in the Priesthood and may account for their current Hierarchy.
Society Description := (Ref.: IPX Achieve)
According to our hosts, who by admission are rebels and outcastes and not typical, the standard Drakh Government is a militant theocracy that reveres their “Ancient” guardians as gods.
Consequently the military and the government of the Drakh are one and the same and geared towards the advancement of their god’s agendas and the destruction of their god’s foes. Drakh culture is thus centred on their war fleets.
The few renegade Drakh possibly numbering 1% of the Drakh population, have no unified government and are very much loners in the galaxy.
Addendum: We were warned that Drakh would often feign slow reflexes to lull new contact races into a false sense of security and Warriors are trained never to exhibit their superior strength or reflexes. Our resident Telepath who had engaged in a “friendly” mental wrestling match with their spokesman did not consider this an idle boast. Caution should be the order of the day with any further dealings with other Drakh.
General History Description := (Ref.: IPX Achieve)
If we are to take the Drakh captain at his word, the Drakh are the product of Vorlon biogenetic warfare aimed at their Shadow masters.
The Vorlons apparently released bio-genetic weapons on Z’Ha’Dum specifically tailored for the Shadow physiology about 750,000 yrs. ago causing them to abandon their home. The Drakh as they came to be known were one of the few indigenous species that actually benefited from plagues and diseases meant to shatter the genetic structure of the Shadows, most other life forms died out. The pre-Drakh species mutated to true sentience and started to unravel the advanced world of the previous inhabitants. They were left to their own devices for nearly 5,000 yrs. Their powerful intellects and inquisitive nature would have eventually allowed them to become a great power if they had been left alone.
Then the Shadows began to return. At first annoyed with the new tenants on their homeworld, the Shadows soon decided that these reptilian creatures had potential as servants. Shattering the grand culture the Drakh had built, the Shadows ruthlessly crushed the Drakh. The Drakh had never gone beyond their home system and their space fleet was negligible in size. Easily overwhelmed by the returning Shadow Battlecrabs, they were effectively knocked back to the Stone Age before the Shadows set about the task of re-moulding them into useful and obedient tools.
Setting themselves up as God-Kings to the Drakh, the Shadows neglected their schemes and wars for the next ten thousand years. During this time they moulded the creatures into the perfect servant-warriors. Dispensing with the predator’s teeth and claws of the creature’s brute animal past, and enhancing their intellects still further. The Shadows created a caste system society for the Drakh that placed the Shadows themselves at the pinnacle of existence.
The Shadows instilled a simultaneous loathing and fascination for biogenetic weapons in the Drakh, which has stayed with them to this day. Whilst the Drakh despise such weapons for warping them into things they were never meant to become, they are also drawn to such things as means to strike at their enemies in a kind of twisted retribution upon the entire Universe for what was once done to them. (IPX: Reward offered for additional/conformational information on this Species)
What do you think?
[ April 13, 2004, 01:12: Message edited by: Nomor ]