Koo

Created by: Garry Stahl
Appearance: Starbase 600 game
Number of Members: Around 3 billion.
Nature of Members: Warm blooded reptilnoids. Koo are 18 foot-long constrictor style snakes with small arms about two feet from their heads. They have no shoulders. Koo are carnivores. The Koo have an interesting reproductive biology in that the females lay the eggs into the belly pouch of the male, who fertilizes the egg, dissolves the shell and carries the young to term. The females are the Fathers, and the Males are the Mothers.
Koo young are not particularly smart when first born. Parents go to considerable length to see they get the necessary mental stimulation to develop a strong intellect. A Koo infant that does not get this simulation will develop as a dull witless oaf. Parenting is that important. Koo law considers such persons barely sentient. Under Benefit they are cared for, and the Sisterhood shamed for raising such a child.. In the old days they would have been killed.
Organization: Sisterhood: Sisterhoods care for all males and children communally. A sisterhood is from 10 to 20+ females living in mutual benefit in a single household. There will be as close to a like number of males as possible. Chiuldren are common if the house is not in a stressly situation for a long period. 
Name note -- Koo names are given/sisterhood for females. Snakaa for example is Sna of the Kaa sisterhood. Male put in the other way around, sisterhood,/given. So Fleep would be Kaafleep. Males use the sisterhood name only in formal circumstances. The male or female change their name on joining a Sisterhood. Young Koo retain the birth Sisterhood name until they marry.
Game Role: Sticky problems. and first contact.
World Role: Another race reaching for the Stars.
Relative Influence: Average New players in a region of new players.
Public or Secret?: Public.
Publicly Stated Goal: Correct the Sins of the Mothers and seek mutual benefit with all they meet.
Relative Wealth: Average for the region, one star system.
Group advantages: A philosophy of mutual benefit.
Special Abilities: Koo are strong. One Koo could match six full grown Humans in a brawl.
Group disadvantages: Koo are weak in the arms, and vulnerable to a throat crushing attack.
Those who favor them: Starbase-600, the Federation at large.
Those opposed to them: Generic enemies of the Federation
Area of Operation: Some 40 light years coreward of STB-600.<BR>
Headquarters Location: Nakoo.
Public Face: Repentant sinners seeking redemption in Benefit. 
Notable Members: Commander Snakaa Hailey: Amd. Hailey's personal Pilot, Bodyguard and general assistant. A serpentine badass.
Ambassador Neekaa: Head of the Kaa sisterhood Federation Ambassador at large.
Coomanda Nakoo: Head of state. Diplomatic wise old snake. 
History of the Organization: The Koo have lived long on Nakoo, they have undergone many turns of civilization with many philosophies. As the planet was united the likely most destructive of them all was in control. The idea that benefit was a zero sum game, and you fought for all the benefit you could get. Combined with a narrow button on who was people, they were dangerous, to others and themselves. Death duels were common. The loser was skinned and often eaten by the winner and her sisterhood. The duel marked by wearing a band of the loser's skin around your left arm. The best surrender terms that could be hoped for were "Kill you quickly and care for your males and young."
It was in this state they discovered the artifact building the next star system over. A ring world was more than the Koo could stand. They launched a missile to destroy it and threw all benefit into an fleet of ship to conquer the upstart race.
The effort was successfully launched, but it drained the economy and caused a collapse of the single world government. In the chaos that followed came the One. She bears no other name but One. The One taught that benefit shared is benefit doubled. That in lifting up your neighbor you lift yourself as well. She was the Jesus or Buddha of her world and her philosophy freed the Koo to rebuild what hate had destroyed.
The Koo have not become pacifists by any means. They still duel to the death, skin and eat their own kind. However they see a duel as a failure now, not a thing to be proud of.
The USS Discovery found the Koo home world by the warp signature of their first test ship. This after encountering the unreformed Sisterhoods of the war fleet. They aided Nakoo in subduing the war fleet, gave them some data about who was in the region and moved on. Several years later the Koo showed up at STB-600 with their own warp 3 cruiser, and said they wanted to play. The Koo are working to correct the massive damage they have done to the Ring Wreck system.
Category:Races
Category:UFP Space
Category:Epiphany Trek