The Mogg’theran

The Mogg’theran are a nomadic race of saurian humanoids that originally controlled a small empire between the Xintrin Merchant Guild and Vorhasi Space. For reasons unknown, the Vorhasi destroyed the Mogg’theran home world about two hundred years ago, which sent the Empire of Many Suns into a tailspin that eventually resulted in its dissolution. Now, the Mogg’theran are nomadic spacers, roaming the stars in several independent fleets. They are afraid to settle another home world until they’ve figured out a way to protect themselves from the Vorhasi and discover why their world was destroyed by this powerful, ancient race.

Home World

None. Formerly Gargannau (“Great Mother Egg” in Mogtu, the Mogg’theran language)

Sphere of Influence

The Empire of Many Suns, which, in reality, no longer exists, is a space between the Xintrin Merchant Guild and Vorhasi Space; it also shares an edge with the Free Colonies and brushes against the Protectorate and the Freehold. It is a lawless collection of planet-states, each with their own rules and governments, and housing many of the minor species of the galaxy (some of these species are likely from the Aliens Unlimited book, particularly former members of the TMC, which used to control this sector of space long ago). They all used to be under the rule of the Mogg’theran, but rebelled when the central government fell into disarray. Interestingly, only a couple of these worlds have Mogg’theran as actual rulers. The Mogg’theran nomadic fleets act as mercenaries, hiring themselves out to one planet or another in exchange for supplies, safe ports, credits, and the use of their shipyards to build more ships. There is heavy trade with the Xintrin Merchant Guild and the Free Colonies, and, to a lesser degree, the Arkhon Empire and the Terran Protectorate. The EoMS is seen as a fertile market for pretty much anyone who can reach it. There are about 200 star systems of note in all, 30 of which have significantly inhabited worlds. Most of these star systems were never settled by the Mogg’theran or their subject races, though there are countless small outposts, mining operations, mercenary and pirate bases and “black” shipyards (the GM should use this region of space as a sand box for any world they want to create that doesn’t “fit in” with the other sectors of known space).

Society

The Mogg’theran society is divided into about two dozen nomadic fleets of varying size. Four of these fleets are massive, and contain, collectively, about 1/3 of the remaining two billion Mogg’theran in the galaxy. Each fleet is its own government with its own rules, though all of the fleets are patterned after the Imperial Fleet that used to rule over the space lanes of the EoMS.

As such, Mogg’theran society is essentially indistinguishable from a military organization. Each fleet is ruled by a council of admirals under a Great Admiral, who gains his position through power, influence, and a majority vote from the council. The Great Admiral position can only be taken away by a two-thirds vote of the council. In some fleets, Great Admiral is a lifetime position. In others, it changes every couple years, depending on the political fortunes of the admirals. Everyone in Mogg’theran society has a rank, even children. In fact, gaining their second promotion is how the Mogg’theran determine adulthood. Officer ranks are reserved for noble families, whose heritage stretches back to Gargannau’s ruling class, though some heroic commoners have risen to low officer ranks by distinguishing themselves in combat or politics.

Many Mogg’theran leave the fleets and strike out on their own, a practice known as “resigning your commission.” They still consider their original fleet their home, but have no place in it after that. Still, a large number of Mogg’theran have left the fleets and travel throughout the galaxy. Most are still nomadic, however, and few settle into one spot for very long.

As one would imagine, the Mogg’theran are a very disciplined people. Each one is trained in the arts of military etiquette from hatching day. They easily follow chains of command in just about any structure, and can fit in comfortably with just about any species, once they know the rules. This makes them perhaps the most well-traveled species in known space. Mogg’theran can be found just about anywhere.

But they are also a traumatized society. The Mogg’theran had a physiological attachment to their home world that runs deeper than most other species. Most Mogg’theran only mated and settled down to raise families on Gargannau or on one of its orbiting city-sized space stations. Now, that is all gone, and they have had to learn to adapt. But it has been a painful transition, and they despise the Vorhasi and how the rest of the galaxy does not see the Vorhasi as inherently evil. To make matters more confusing, the Vorhasi gave the Mogg’theran time to evacuate and went out of their way to minimize casualties (the only people who died were those that refused to leave).

Why the Vorhasi destroyed Gargannau is one of the great mysteries of the galaxy. The Vorhasi, while jealously guarding their borders, sometimes with deadly force, are not known as a violent or aggressive species. Destroying someone’s home world is incredibly uncharacteristic of them. And the Vorhasi have not felt the need to explain their actions. As a result, several theories are currently popular:

1.It is widely known (and true) that Mogg’theran technology was heavily advanced by the discovery of a crashed, ancient Vorhasi star ship on their home world. Some believe that the Mogg’theran were on the verge of back engineering a major piece of Vorhasi technology that would have catapulted them to power equal with the Vorhasi, so the ancient race destroyed their world before they got the chance. This is the theory most favored by the Mogg’theran.

2.The Vorhasi ship that crashed on Mogg’theran was on a mission to destroy the world, which harbored some dark, ancient vault a billion years old. That vault contained an evil that could never be freed, or it would wipe out life as we know it. The Mogg’theran were collateral damage. This is a theory popular among treasure hunters, FACE teams, and a wide assortment of those who have dealt with the Vorhasi on an amicable basis. It’s a very popular theory among the Xintrin, also.

3.The Mogg’theran had sent expeditions into Vorhasi space in order to steal more Vorhasi technology and make themselves more powerful than ever. They had used Vorhasi technology they had already back engineered and disguised their ships enough to enter Vorhasi space and pirate some Vorhasi settlements. The Vorhasi struck back and struck back hard, as a lesson to every other space faring species in the galaxy. This theory is favored by former subjects of the Mogg’theran.

4.The Vorhasi, knowing of the Mogg’theran’s deep attachment to their home world, destroyed their planet in order to force the species to adapt and evolve. They were doing the Mogg’theran a favor. This theory tends to be favored by those who believe the Vorhasi are here as a “shepherd” race, guiding the younger races along a specific path.

Physiology

The Mogg’theran are evolved from a dinosaur-like species, probably a predatory pack species that hunted other small dinosaur-like creatures and their eggs. They are warm-blooded, hollow-boned, and highly social. They also had a very strong attachment to their home world, which some have compared to salmon’s attachment to their spawning ground.

Mogg’theran are egg layers, usually having clutches of 2D4 eggs. They mate for life. This is unlike humans, or Xintrin, who are generally monogamous, but are not bound to stay with their partners. Once Mogg’theran choose their mates it’s for life. Interestingly, they are not strong caregivers to their children. Most Mogg’theran infants are raised by their parents just to the point that they can walk and talk (about four years), and then they are put into the fleet schools. While they likely interact heavily with their parents as adults, and some Mogg’theran families amass incredible influence, their formative years are spent away from them. Most mammals have no way of knowing whether a Mogg’theran is male or female, and their names are not divided along gender lines. The Mogg’theran are only concerned with gender when it comes to egg laying and finding a mate. Other than that, they never refer to or judge anyone of any species by gender.

Mogg’theran have a lifespan of about 80 of our years (roughly 100 of their own). They stand between 6 and 7 feet tall, on average, but weigh only between about 100 and 130 lbs. This is because their bone structure is made of a hollow, cartilage-like latticework that is more flexible than bone. This gives the Mogg’theran increased resistance to falls and impacts that would normally break the bones of a human, but they are overall a bit less resilient physically than most humans. The Mogg’theran also have an internal gyroscope in the form of a small fluid-filled organ in their head that allows them to be very comfortable in low and zero-gravity environments. Mogg’theran have excellent night vision, but their eyes are sensitive to bright lights, and they often wear protective eye gear.

Because of a herd, or pack-like mentality, tempered with natural curiosity and personal initiative, the Mogg’theran are excellent at dealing with other species, and built their original empire using this skill, playing one species against another. But this also means they get along very well with alien crews, making them a common sight among mercenaries, pirates, and at free ports across known space.

Magic is unknown to the Mogg’theran, and they do not appear capable of learning it. Psychic abilities are fairly common, with 25% of the species exhibiting minor (20%) or major (5%) psychic abilities. About one in every 5,000 is a master psionic. Physical psionic abilities tend to be the most common manifestation of these abilities.

Military

The Mogg’theran are divided into fleets that are governments unto their own. Fleets are further divided into armadas, each one under an admiral who is a member of the council of admirals. The ranks Captain and Pilot are ranks of honor, with the title Pilot reserved for those who fly capital ships. Fighter pilots are referred to simply as warriors. The Mogg’theran fleets are large, very large. The four largest fleets are comprised of tens of thousands of ships. Lesser fleets can still be made of hundreds of vessels; many of them are massive traveling population centers. But only about a third of those ships are fighting ships, the rest are support and mobile colonies and factory vessels. They also purchase ships from other races. It is not unusual to find a Venture-Class Exploration vessel or a Xintrin Free Trader as part of a Mogg’theran fleet.

The Mogg’theran are excellent boarders, with specialized strike teams trained to take ships with minimal damage (the better to add them to the fleet). However, their ground combat capabilities are non-existent. The Mogg’theran have no need to hold ground, and are more likely to bomb an enemy ground target or strategic site from orbit rather than fight a ground battle.

Technology

The Mogg’theran are excellent shipbuilders by necessity, and are aided in the fact that at least some of their technology is reverse engineered from Vorhasi technology. While their weapon technology is generally on par with most advanced species, they have excellent FTL capabilities and utilize mass manufacturing techniques that are at least 100 years ahead of the Terran Protectorate or Xintrin.

The Mogg’theran can get twice the production out of a ship yard that the Protectorate can. This means they can build a frigate in about six weeks and a cruiser in about three months. The Mogg’theran’s Starblade Heavy Fighter is considered the finest mass production star fighter in circulation, and has been adopted by some of the better-funded mercenary groups and independent worlds.

Mogg’theran ships use wormhole technology, very similar to Vorhasi Gate technology, to traverse large distances. This technology is restricted to ships cruiser-size or larger, but one wormhole can carry multiple ships. Inside the Empire of Many Suns, the Mogg’theran built a system of stellar wormhole gates around major worlds. Since the fall of their empire, these worlds have become hubs of commerce, travel and power that are often hotly contested. The gates can wormhole ships to any other gate on the grid (there are 10 in all) in twelve hours. Standard wormhole drives can transport a starship three light years in one day, but each three light year jump is a separate jump, requiring three hours of “cool down” time between jumps. Smaller ships use Xintrin Negative Mass field projector drives.

Trade

The Mogg’theran import and export star ship technology, but are best known for selling the services of their fleets for exploration, defense and combat. They also import foodstuffs, building materials, new technology, and luxury goods. They export their services as ship builders (though their building techniques are jealously guarded secrets), and also export archaeological goods (they’ve explored a lot of worlds) and navigational data as well.

Mogg’theran Racial Stats

Alignment: Any

Attributes: I.Q.: 3D6, M.E. 5D6, M.A. 2D6, P.S. 2D6+2, P.P.: 10+2D6, P.E.: 2D6, P.B.: 2D4, Spd.: 4D6

Hit Points: 1D6 per level

S.D.C.: Starting S.D.C. is 15, regardless of O.C.C. Any additional bonus S.D.C. from physical skills or O.C.C. bonuses is divided by half.

Horror Factor: None

Height: 6 feet to 7 feet tall

Weight: 90+1D4x10 lbs.

P.P.E.: 2D6

Natural Abilities: Nightvision 500 feet, superior sense of smell gives them track by smell: 35% and identify smells: 36%+4% per level, bio-regenerate limbs (except head) in 1D4 weeks, though they heal overall at about the same rate as humans.

Combat: All Mogg’theran have hand-to-hand expert for free (part of their upbringing), though this can be upgraded to martial arts or assassin by O.C.C. or through “other” skills.

Bonuses: +3 to roll with punch, fall or impact, +2 to save vs. psionics.

Skills: All Mogg’theran have the following skills, regardless of O.C.C.; speak and read Mogtu (98%), zero-g maneuvering and combat, wilderness survival (space) (+5%), navigation: space (+10%), and military etiquette (+15%).

Common O.C.C.s include: Spacer, Galactic Tracer, Space Pirate, Freedom Fighter and Runner O.C.C.s from the Rifts Dimension Book 2: Phase World; the Special Forces and Super-Spy (psychic abilities option) O.C.C.s from Rifts Mercenaries (with an emphasis on space skills), and the Merc Soldier, Robot Pilot, Operator, Burster and Mind Melter O.C.C.s from Rifts Ultimate Edition. They can also choose the FACE Agent as well. Most common Mogg’theran warriors would use the Freedom Fighter O.C.C. from Phase World. The only difference is that under “Other” skills, change the two skills that must be from espionage to piloting skills and picking two skills from rogue is not required.

Magic: None.

Psionics: Fairly frequent. 20% chance of minor psionics and 5% chance of major psionics, or by O.C.C.

Allies and Enemies: The Mogg’theran generally get along with everyone except the Vorhasi and “threat” species from the Expanse, like the Berylan and Vinali Raiders. They prefer to stay out of the Vorhasi’s way…for now. They will not lease their fleets’ services to either side in the war between the Protectorate and the Arkhon. They believe such a conflict would cost too many lives and ships, no matter how much they are paid. Additionally, the minor races in the Empire of Many Suns often bear them ill will and like to make light of their present misfortune, but not too overtly, as they are the primary purchasers of Mogg’theran services.