Haradath: Skills and Careers

Chanter work

Character generation for the Haradath follows the same essentials lines as for normal characters with some adjustments and unique career paths. There are also some significant adjustments to physical characteristics.

Naming: Haradath names are unpronounceable by humans. Those involved in dealing with humans adopt human names. The Haradath do not seem to understand the concept of first and surnames, and invariably adopt for short, first name 'tags' like George or Penny. The Haradath pay no heed to the human gendering of names. George may be any one of the three genders.

Physical Characteristics: Adjustments to reflect Haradath physiognomy are noted (in parenthesis).

Strength: (2d6 -2, but with a minimum score of 4) The Haradath homeworld is a low gravity planet and Haradath are less physically strong than many other species. However, their amphibious life requires a minimum of strength, so no Haradath has a strength less than 4 as a natural consequence of character generation. All strengths thus fall between the range of 4 and 10.

Dexterity: (+1) The six tentacled Haradath 'hands' give an advantage in this area.

Endurance: No modifications.

Intelligence: No modifications.

Education: For the Haradath this is made up of two components. 1d6+2 is the specific education a Haradath has had within their Clutch. 1d6-2 is their 'general knowledge' beyond the clutch. This compound score is recorded as, for example, 8 (the total score) 6/2 (6 being the individual's educational attainment within the Clutch, 2 being general knowledge about 'non-clutch' matters).

Social Standing: Like education, Soc is made up of two components. 1d6 is the social status of the individual within their clutch, and the other 1d6 score is the social status bequeathed by the Clutch the individual belongs to - all of which have different positions in general society. This compound score is recorded as, for example, 9 (the total score) 4/5 (4 being the individual status, 5 being the clutch status).

Sensitivity (Psionics): 1d6+1. All Haradath have an innate psionic ability around animals, but it is unfocused (see Chanters Clutch).  

Skills: 

Haradath society has a large number of clutches 'professional associations' around which the economy is organised. They also determine which skills an individual Haradeth are likely to have. These are not specific skills packages, but the skills selected should be appropriate for the broad 'clutch profession'. The social standing of each clutch listed is included in brackets ().

A character acquires the same number of skill levels as their 'clutch eduction' score, plus the same number of ancillary skills at 0. The character also acquires the same spread of skills related to their 'non-clutch education (again, skill levels and skills at 0). These skills should represent the character's life story/background and can include skills from any clutch if justified by the life they have lived.

Chanters need all the SEN they can get, but non-chanters can exchange two sen points to enhance a skill they already have at least zero by one skill level. Chanters may exchange non-clutch skills at the rate of two skill levels to gain one extra SEN point. Either way the exchange is made a skill level of 1 will drop to zero. Zero skill levels cannot be exchanged, and skills may not be reduced beyond zero. 

For minor NPCs do not allocate the 'zero skill levels' - an NPC with 8 EDU thus only needs 8 skill levels to be assigned, simplifying the process of creating such characters. 

 

Clutch List: 

Battle (3): Military skills from personal to ship to ship planetary warfare. 

Builders (4): Construction, from houses to space bases and starship hulls.

Bureaucracy (3): A pod specialising in administration and organisation.

Chanters (6): A clutch specialising in the control and use of small animals, insects and microbial life. Covers the areas traditionally covered by electronics and computing in human society. See 'special skills' for Chanting, but Clutch skills also cover other appropriate activities. Chanters use organic materials for all their personal needs (i.e. wood or bone instead of metal) where possible.

Flyers (5): Flyers, drivers, sailors and space pilots. If it needs to be driven or piloted, it will be a member of the Flyer Clutch that will do the job. Valued for their elegant handling of vessels and craft (but see 'Wanderers')

Healers (3): Medical, but their status is relatively low as healing is often accomplished by specialist chanters.

Holders (4): theses are the holders of power, leaders. They will be clutch leader, or have come up to high-holdership, via a clutch (in which case choose another clutch, but spend some of the 'clutch skills' on leadership and negotiation skills. If a high holder - a senior 'political' or 'industrial' leader, reduce all non-clutch skills to zero and add half as many skill levels as have been deducted into additional leadership, and negotiation skills. it is worth noting that Haradath value artists and chanters above their leaders in terms of social status. 

Justicar (2): a broader concept than human justice, this profession covers elements like policing, and so may have some 'battle skills' but also covers persuade, recon, carousing, streetwise - the Justice Clutch effectively regulates the working of society. They are not well respected and often considered to be interfering.

Knowers (4): Non 'arts and humanities research/academia.

Outlings (0): The outcasts and innovators. Calculate the overall number of skill levels that can be allocated in the same way as a normal Haradath, then add two extra skill levels, and two extra skills at level zero. Then allocate all skills in accordance with the character's backstory. Dropped by the Flyers and became an Outling? Give good flying skills, perhaps some admin, and then use the rest to represent an active life of adventure. Born an outling in a remote swamp? Perhaps give heavy emphasis to survival skills. Born an outling on a human world? Gambling, Electronics and knife skills? A character becomes an outling when their education roles (despite the modifiers stacked against this outcome) give a higher value for the non-clutch skills than the clutch ones. When allocating the skills for an outling, add an extra two skill levels, and an extra two skills at zero  to the non-clutch skill sets. 

Small Things (3): Crafts, arts, music, the making of small objects with any decorative edge. Any form of arts and humanities research.

Thumpers (5): Engineers, mechanics, and (occasionally) electronics - though this last skill is most often acquired to help understand off-world technology.

Wanderers (1): Best described as socially sanctioned explorers and survivalists. Considered only one step up from Outlings. Often have skills from other Clutches, like Flyers and Battle. Some (from the Flyer and Battle clutches particularly) find themselves 'cast off' into the Wanderers if their behavior in their original clutch is seen to slide, and turn too much to 'wander lust'.

Special Skills:

Chanting: the ability to control creatures via psionics (sensitivity). Directly takes the place of electronics, computing, and some medical procedures relating to the control of infection. Animals to be influenced are organised in the following groupings (loosely grouped into the nearest comparison with terrestrial life), and a chanter will specialise in just one:

• Birds
  
• Mammals
  
• Reptiles
  
• Aquatic
• Insects
  
• Microbes
• Plantlife

Each 'life group' will have a variety of uses falling into the following categories:

• medical - microbes, plants and insects.
• construction
• mechanics
• big power (fuel and energy)
• little power (any equivalent of electronics and/or computing)
• shaping, transforming, maintaining (the equivalent of chemistry)
• attack and defense
• knowing (recon, use as drones, etc) - not microbes.
• General - if you can imagine it, try it.

A character will specialise in some of the above, all of the other uses for their animal class being at zero.  The character can attempt to use their chanting use specialisms with animal groups with which they have not specialised. For example, a Haradath Chanter specialises in Insects, particularly big power and medical. For all other uses (construction, mechanics, etc) in the insect specialism, their effective skill is 0. the character also has effective skill 0 in big power and medical for all life groups.

Skill roles are rolled as for normal skills, but the Haradath must first 'summon the swarm' - a successful roll based on the highest skill level of any use within the life group being summoned. To summon, a Haradath who has 3 (insect medical) and 1 (insect mechanics) must succeed with a +3 modifier (based on the skill level for insect medical).

There is an additional life group that a very small number of Haradath pursue, and that is 'sentient'. This skill is very rare, broadly known of, but details are considered a dark secret by the chanters and are not discussed. the sentient skill cannot be deployed across different uses, as is the case with other life groups, but equates to persuasion - but with a sense of coercion. The skill is resisted by the target by making an intelligence roll. Anyone influenced this way makes a resistance roll every hour, until they are free.

Haradath mental influence is not ranged (creatures can be sent to do a Haradath's bidding at some distance), but it is time-limited. Creatures will remain under control until they have completed their task but then will need 're influencing.

Every time a Haradath completes an action (summoning, directing to a task), one Sensitivity point is used - a point is regained with an hour's rest. No points? No task. Additional points may be spent to generate a positive modifier to a task (but the skills needed must be there at least level zero). Our example Haradath can only attempt this method on insects, or on any creature when influencing big power or medical tasks. Each point spent it a +1 modifier to the task role, and a Haradath may use all their sensitivity points in giving themselves the best possible chance on a single task, should they wish.

Fixing: Tasks can be 'fixed'. This can only be done in the specious group you specialise in (in terms of our example, insects) and within the uses, you specialise (in our example medical and big power). The fix will degenerate over time like any mechanical or electronic engineering. This means the creatures will continue to perform the task they have been set until they are ordered to stop, or they die - remember, the creatures will need to be nourished to continue functioning. They will not naturally reproduce, however - the life expectancy of the creatures concerned is what will indicate the speed with which the fix will degenerate.

Tasks cost more to fix the more complex they are. Easy tasks (as defined by the ref), can be fixed for the spend of 1 additional sensitivity point. Medium tasks may also be fixed, but need two additional sensitivity points, and complex tasks can be fixed for three points. Fixing a task is a task in itself, requires a success roll at the same difficulty as the task being fixed. 

This process is expensive in terms of sensitivity points, but Haradath with the same specialisms often co-operate on a single piece of work, one summoning and setting a task running, and the other fixing it in place. On long-term projects, junior chanters are delegated the work of sustaining 'fixed life'. 

Summoning: The ability to summon the creatures required for chanting. The creatures must be deemed to exist in the environment where the summoning is being conducted.