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The Quilah The Quilah are an uplift species of aquatic six armed cephalopods created by an ancient civilization as caretakers and guardians of their empire. Where their masters have gone not even the Quilah know, though they continue after their own fashion to look after the last remaining relics of the empire. These final relics are primarily a vast network of stargates that, due to the slow diffuse spread of star systems in their orbit around the galactic center, have come to encompass a vast swath of the galaxy, though primarily in the Sagittarius and Carina Arms. The Quilah have never been a very social species – even before their uplift - and the countless centuries since their masters abandoned them have caused further fragmentation until they have become little more than scattered tribal groups migrating up and down the stargate network raiding each other and whatever other spacefaring civilizations they encounter, and attempting to control the last vestiges of the automated support network their masters created for them. They were never a civilization on their own, and they are slowly but inexorably dying as a species, but this has done nothing to lessen the threat that they represent to humanity in Sagittarius. The Quilah’s technology base is highly advanced as might be expected as the servants of an ancient and powerful civilization. It is also a technology that is little understood by the Quilah, who can perform general maintenance and repairs but must have the assistance of an automated repair and replenishment base to handle major repairs and the construction of new vessels. They understand how their technology operates, but in general have little knowledge of the underlying theory behind how it works, and no social organization to research and educate their offspring beyond the basic indoctrination that has been passed down since the beginning of their servitude. There have been attempts by various Quilah in the past to unlock the secrets of their technology through experimentation, but their ancient masters have done their work too well – stardrives, gravitic bias drives, and nodes in the resupply network will sabotage themselves against reverse-engineering attempts, and the loss of such precious artifacts is an unspeakable horror to the Quilah. At present the Quilah might be considered a kind of organic Berzerker ala Fred Saberhagan; destructive and brutal for unfathomable reasons, appearing from out of nowhere to terrorize a colony or a wandering starship that has entered a system with an ancient stargate or other relic of their masters. For now they have most often plagued the Dhaoghissi, who still do not conceive of the true nature of their nemesis. As humans spread out from Gateway, it will only be a matter of time before a confrontation occurs, as the Quilah care nothing for other species and cannot be bargained or reasoned with. The name ‘Quilah’ is taken from intercepted Dhaoghissi voice traffic describing sightings and attacks, and may have the literal meaning of ‘(Those who are) Without Mercy.’ Full Thrust in the Black Magic Project In Full Thrust terms, the Quilah use an advanced gravity drive and gravitic defenses similar to the Dhaoghissi. For weapons they use free-electron lasers in the hard UV and soft x-ray wavelengths. They use missile salvos though they eschew fighters. Their designs are typically robust and well armored. In addition to Meson Guns, the Quilah also have on their larger warships, a powerful spinal mount neutral particle cannon. The Light NPC Spinal Mount has a range of 20 MU and rolls 1D6. A 1-3 result on the die means the shot missed, while a 4, 5, or 6 result does the indicated amount of damage points, with no rerolls, though screens will reduce the actual amount of damage done by 1 point per die that does damage per level of the screen. Damage is done to armor and then to hull as per a beam weapon attack. The Medium NPC Spinal Mount has a range of 30 MU and rolls 2D6. Again, rolls of 1-3 on either die mean no damage from that die, while 4-6 does the indicated amount of damage points for that die. A Heavy NPC Spinal Mount, found only on the largest Quilah ships, has a range of 40 MU and rolls 3D6 with results as before. Quilah Weapon Mass Point Cost Damage Range Bands Light NPC Spinal Mount 5 20 1D6* Range 20 MU Forward Arc only Medium NPC Spinal Mount 10 40 2D6* Range 30 MU Forward Arc only Heavy NPC Spinal Mount 20 80 3D6* Range 40 MU Forward Arc only Meson Gun 12 48 3D6 As per Pulse Torpedo Launcher Heavy Meson Gun 20 80 6D6 As per Pulse Torpedo Launcher *Rolls of 1-3 on the damage die result in no damage for that die, while rolls of 4-6 do the listed number of damage. Dhaoghissi and Quilah screens will reduce any damage done by 1 point per die that does damage for level 1 screens, and 2 points for level 2 screens. |
