quote:
Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
The Tandu are nasty in the sense that you don't want to meet one in a dark alley. Or a light alley. Or anywhere for that matter. They're totally insensitve to losses- they use "engines" that give them a massive manuevering advantage, but occasionally blow up, taking the ship with them. Also using reality-warping weaponry, which is pretty unpredicable. One shot might turn the target into antimatter, another send clowns running down the hallways and through bulkheads. It's also mentioned in the book that the Terrans never beat the Tandu, even when the odds were in their favor.
Their clients are even weirder though.
Like the Epsiarchs. A sentient biological weapon? Ow. For those not familar with the books, an Epsiarch is a "psi adept" of extreme power. If one looks at you and decides you shouldn't be there, you AREN'T there any more. In one book, they were used to make a bridge by denying that the water underfoot existed at all. They use this same talent to power the "engines" the Tandu use. They're also insane..
Phoenix-D
Phoenix, I knew there was something about you I really liked and it must be that you are a fellow afficiondo of David Brin.
That is pretty much a good summary of the Tandu but I should point out for Guff that in addition to all the above, the Tandu themselves were as bad as bad gets. Imagine a nine foot tall multi headed black praying mantis, with chitinous razor blades on all legs and two damn great big sword like blades on its 'praying arms'. This thing is immune to pain, regularily loses limbs and heads without worry (even does so as part of a ritualistic yakuza style remorse ceremony on a regular basis). Oh, did we mention these things are pyschopathic blood thirsty lunatics?