Gruemor
This dwindling ursine species of naturally adept explorers has spread throughout the galaxy, selling their services to survey new reaches of space.
Basic Information
Anatomy
Gruemor have burly, fur-covered frames, with large heads displaying rounded ears, gentle eyes, and a snout ripped with a black nose. Their general physique runs toward the rotund, with broad shoulders and hips, a noticeable belly, and stocky arms. They speak in a gravely but kind voice, though they can roar ferociously when angered. Their bulky figure and sturdy legs give Gruemor a lumbering gait that hints at their overall lack of grace and coordination.
Millennia of evolution have softened their claws into fingernails and refined their behavior to avoid using their powerful, toothy jaws in combat. They still retain their hardy endurance and ability to consume and gain nourishment from nearly any organic substance. Their teeth, fingers, and an elongated tongue help them obtain food from hard-co-reach places, a luxury in civilized society, but often a necessity when exploring uncharted planets with limited packaged supplies.
Their fur color runs from brown and black to reddish brown and even gray and silver in older specimens. Color variations around the snout, including blotches of white, help distinguish between individuals.
Genetics and Reproduction
Gruemor reproduce sexually, usually having one offspring at a time.
Additional Information
Social Structure
Families form the core of Gruemor society. Most consist of two parents and one or two cubs. Typically, one parent leaves the home to undertake expedition work and provide the family with income while the other remains to raise the cubs. When children leave the household - after years of schooling and apprenticeships in exploration-related professions - the remaining parent often joins the other spouse on surveys. Gruemor families integrate themselves into the communities where they find work, usually in diverse settings like starports or planets inhabited by many different species. Some establish enclaves with other Gruemor or those which whom, by species or profession, they work on expeditions. Those who remain at home while the provider sets off on expeditions find work in the area, generally in some capacity supporting survey missions.
Perception and Sensory Capabilities
Gruemor have eyesight, hearing and taste similar to that of Humans. Gruemor develop mystical aptitude at a similar rate as Humans.
Civilization and Culture
Major Organizations
In the past, most Gruemor deferred to a central, representative government on Tyrvash consisting of delegates from various guilds. Now their Conference of Guilds is in exile, a government in name only with offices on Petrion and Marantha. The Gruemor hold no planets or large tracts of land they can call their own, but instead have formed enclaves on planets controlled by others. They depend on the generosity of patrons or host governments to provide stable homes, schooling, and civic services.
The only other major organization of Gruemor is the Gruemor Liberation Front. Nominally headquartered on the planet of Marantha, the GLF is a political advocacy organization that works to raise awareness of the unlawful Kirska Corporation's occupation of their home world and agitates for its return. It is a open secret that the GLF clandestinely funds teams of Gruemor mercenaries (the Kirska would call them "terrorists") to infiltrate Tyrvash and cause havoc, sabotaging Kirska operations there. The GLF has become a cause celebre among the younger and more progressive nobility in the Empire.
History
Gruemor evolved on Tyrvash, a varied terrain planet covered in lush forests of massive trees. They created a rich civilization that conservatively consumed natural resources and built itself organically into the terrain. Gruemor ranged far across their immense planet, exploring far-away mountain ranges, crossing vast oceans, and surveying the natural beauty of their world. Although heavy industry and technological innovations developed slowly under such conditions, the Gruemor had forged a significantly advanced society when the first human colonists arrived on their home world as part of the First Breath migrations.
During the First Dark Age, the human colonists fared poorly living alongside the Gruemor, dwindling until they finally created a permanent settlement on a chain of islands near Tyrvash’s equator. The Gruemor, on the other hand, flourished with the new technology advances humanity had brought with them. When the planet was rediscovered in the early Second Breath, the Gruemor took their wanderlust to the stars.
Their racial knack for seeking out and surveying new worlds-a result of their roving nature - made Gruemor ideal explorers. Their government transformed from a loose confederation of nations to a Conference of Guilds that regulated all industries and operations relating to space expeditions. Tyrvash served as the base for survey activities. Starports sat upon flattened mountains and cities wove themselves through tree limbs and roots. Using technology gleaned from other species, Gruemor engineers designed scout ships known for their ability to withstand long journeys and return with valuable data and samples from surveyed planets. Representatives from around the galaxy traveled to Tyrvash to hire Gruemor explorers.
As the bounds of known space expanded, the species spread throughout the galaxy, settling where governments, corporations, and other benefactors could readily hire them for expeditions into uncharted territory. They began relying on more advanced technology patrons provided for their surveys, ships that could take them farther, instruments that could record new kinds of data, and equipment to help them survive in more hostile environments. As Gruemor became more mercenary surveyors, Tyrvash slowly ceased functioning as the hub of their exploratory activities. Declining birth rates lowered the native population, and wanderlust dispersed many Gruemor across the galaxy. For a species with wanderlust in its blood and exploring as its profession, "home" was wherever they happened to return after their expeditions. As a result, Tyrvash’s funds were drained.
During the Republic Era of the Second Breath, the Kirska Corporation stepped in with an offer to help. They offered the Tyrvash Conference of Guilds a complex funding scheme that involved each Gruemor possessing so many “shares” in the planet. Individual Gruemor could then sell their shares for hard cash. The Conference, excited to purchase the latest and best technology for their expeditions, readily agreed. Within a year, Kirska Corporation had paid out 18 trillion credits and purchased over 20 million shares of the planet.
The second half of Kirska Corporation’s scheme materialized shortly thereafter. Claiming now to be the majority shareholder in the planet, Kirska called for a shareholder vote for new leaders. Gruemor watched amazed as their Conference of Guilds was disbanded and replaced by a corporate Board of Directors who worked directly for Kirska Corporation. Those Gruemor who maintained shares learned that despite their partial ownership in their home world, they were powerless to stop Kirska’s machinations.
The Gruemor filed suit the Republic Supreme Court, claiming fraud. A number amicus briefs, filed by species that had also been swindled by Kirska over the years, flowed into the courts. Due to legal maneuverings by Kirska Corporation, the case still has not come to trial, holding the record for longest pending court case in history. The fall of the Republic, the rise of the Empire, and the Second Dark Age has not terminated the legal proceedings. The Gruemor, too, have dug in for what has become a fight for their lost home and traditions.
Meanwhile, Tyrvash was left to fall into disrepair. Centuries of neglect have enabled its lush forests to overgrow the ruins of a once great civilization. Few Gruemor remain here. Kirska Corporation has imposed strict travel and immigration laws, but small bands of Gruemor illegally make landfall on their former home world and join others in guerrilla warfare against the hated Kirska and their machines.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Most Gruemor harbor an accepting attitude regarding greater events in the galaxy, other species, and all but the most tyrannical governments, with the exception being the events on their home world of Tyrvash. If they don't like something or someone, they simply move on, find a new home, or wander away. Humans view Gruemor as affable loners who keep to themselves and tend to wander off on their own, even in regular society. They value them for their skills in charting new territory bur see them as a gifted minority deserving little say in administrative or cultural matters.
Attributes:
7 HPs
Gruemor start with two Traits:
- Strong - You gain Advantage when Testing to do something with brute force (outside of combat).
- Natural Explorer - You gain Advantage when Testing to successfully navigate or find the right direction. This Trait works both on planets and in space.
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