Kronin

Created by: Chris W. McCubbin in GURPS Aliens. Modified by Garry Stahl and Jay P. Hailey
Appearance: Epiphany Trek, ST-OM
Number of Members: Estimated 15 billion between all known planets.
Nature of Members: Humanoid Mammals of about 2 meters in height. Kronin are noted as having no protruding nose and a high forehead. Their skull is nearly rectangular. Kronin skin tones are in several shade of gray. They have no hair. There are definite internal differences. They posses typical mammalian sexual anatomy. 
Organization: Military. The Kronin organize all aspects of their lives around a military frame. This Ur culture prevails whereever Kronin are found.
Every adult has a rank, male or female, in the military formally or not. Kronin practice this regardless of other cultural overlays.<BR>
Non professional ranks are:
*Prev -- 3rd class, 2nd class, 1st class
*Cour -- Jr. Cor, Cor, Sr. Cor
*Serg -- Jr. Serg, Serg, Sr. Serg, Master Serg
Professional ranks are:
*Luft -- Jr Luft, Luft, Sr Luft
*Cam -- 2nd cam, 1st Cam
*Meg -- Lower Meg. Upper Meg
*Col -- Jr, Col, Col, Sr, Col
*Gen -- Jr Gen, Gen, Sr Gen, Gen Elder
There are sub ranks within each rank and subtleties with the subranks that only the Kronin truly understand. . It is considered a vital part of your name. Referring to someone without their rank is a matter of honor usually discharged in blood. Even kids call father "Papa Serg". Only among the most intimate relations are ranks permitted to be dropped.
Culture: Kronin are an honor bound society. Honor is Life is a common Kronin saying and matters of honor are typically discharged in blood. Most duels are fought to first blood only. If not there would be a shortage of Kronin. The matter of honor that calls for death is a rare thing indeed. The looser of a duel is expected to quietly accede the point and the matter is not spoken of again.
Kronin have a multitude of martial arts schools, everything from hand to hand styles to the right way to deal with infantry or even armor tactics. Disagreements on which school is better were long moved out of the realm of honor. Even Kronin know when opinion is opinion.
Kronin are telepaths, the only known telepathic warrior society. Most telepaths avoid violence, Kronin revel in it. As a result their group tactics are scarily well coordinated. Like Ane infantry, but without the snigger factor.
Prehistory Kronin appear in two locations known within the Galaxy. The Fulcrum Region, a disunited area and the Acceptian Empire. While the basic race is little changed, its influence and history are widely different.
Ancient legends of the Kronin indicate they rose well before the Acceptians or the other races of the Fulcrum Region. Neither location is actually the world of origin. Said legends also indicate a fall from high technology. And thereafter widely varying histories.
Thasite pre-dislike of the Kronin would indicates they have encountered them before which brings up the subject of a third location, perhaps the original one. No solid data has been located. In both of the known locations where Kronin are found there has not been enough time for genetic drift to make separate races of them.
==Acceptian Empire==
Government: Kronin military organization has been overlaid by the Acceptian Empire's Imperial system. It does not replace it. Three clans control the Kronin worlds. It was considered wise that the Kronin not be owned by any single house.
Culture: The loyalty to the Empire has infused the core Kronin culture, still displayed in the Fulcrum Region. The Acceptians have had a thousand years to tweak Kronin education to the point that their loyalty is to the Empire.
Kronin consider themselves the protectors of the Empire's Honor. They hold the Acceptians themselves to a high standard and woe be to the Acceptian that fails in the eyes of the Kronin. A Kronin trooper that feels their commander has failed sufficiently, and there is no strong rival to challenge them, will kill that commander and report themselves for the murder. Even among the Acceptians such a death is considered the lowest way to die. "Killed by the Kronin", you have no reputation left. It is remarkable that an action that under the military code would warrant death, seldom receives it.
Relative Influence: Major in the Star Services and as a result the Empire at large. For a people with no political power they wield a great deal of influence.
Publicly Stated Goal: Defend and protect the Empire.
Relative Wealth: Moderate. Technically the Acceptians own Everything.
Race Advantages: Kronin are telepaths. The only known telepathic warrior race.
Race disadvantages: Prickly Honor: Kronin Honor can sometimes get in the way of a reasonable discussion. They have been known to take offense for what you are thinking.
Relations: Within the Empire the Kronin hew the party line. They hold all races within the empire as worthy. Only Gormelites are considered beneath honor, and even then their defense of family and young is respected.
Area of Operation: Acceptian Empire
Headquarters Location: Kisharin -- This is the world the Kronin were first located on. They have several other colonies within the Empire.
Whether this is the Home world is a fairly certain now. The Kronin do not match the planetary genome. There are however many plants and animals that do match the Kronin genome. Wherever they came from the brought a lot of home with them.
Public Face: Strong defender of the Empire.
Notable Members:
History of the Race: The Kronin were encountered by the Acceptians in the early stages of warp travel. They quickly saw that a war of conquest would destroy the Kronin and cripple themselves. They turned to the market place and lured them in with lucre.
The Acceptian higher tech toys and manipulation of the Kronin honor saw them firmly as an Acceptian client within 100 years. Meanwhile the Kronin had observed the Acceptian honor and decided that if they where part of this, they would be an important part of it. There is some lively debates in Accpetian circles as to whether that was a good thing. Moot as it is now and is unlikely to change.
==The Fulcrum Region==
Government:   The Kronin arrange themselves in Military units.  Some units are small and independent.  Some are very large. The largest two Kronin Armies have over 100 million people in them. 
The Kronin High Command is viewed as a rigid military dictatorship from outside.  From inside it's a shifting mass of units making alliances and compromises.  For the Kronin, Politics and Diplomacy are just as intense as War.
Culture: The Kronin of the Fulcrum region have no over arching government. Each army is an independent player on the stage. The Kronin are very loyal to their units, and stick closely to their chains of command and established procedures.
The Kronin are noted as slave holders. Typical they will enslave those being taken as prisoners of war. The are not against reciprocal exchanges, but these can be difficult to arrange. Their slave holding is considered sufficiently anti-sentient rights that they have not been allowed to join the Fulcrum Union.
Game Role: The Honorable Enemy
World Role: A race of Humanoid Warriors
Relative Influence: Small, but in the right place at the right time, they can have extreme influence.
Public or Secret?:  Public.  There are rumors of secret Kronin units, spies, infiltrators and so on. 
Publicly Stated Goal: To win the next battle and the next war.
Relative Wealth: Moderate compared to other Fulcrum players. No one other power could take the Kronin, but the Kronin couldn't conquer any other power either. 
Race Advantages: Discipline,  Martial skills, telepathy. 
Special Abilities: The Kronin are telepathic.
Race disadvantages: The Kronin, like many other races view the galaxy as a vast arena of social and racial Darwinism. They are reluctant to look beyond that viewpoint.
Special Disadvantages: The Kronin code of honor is strict and well known. The smart alien can game that.
Relations:
*The Fulcrum:  The Kronin are de-facto members of the Fulcrum, although they have not been officially invited.  They won't be invited since the Fulcrum disallows members to be slavers and the Kronin won't give up their slavery.<P>Since the purpose of the Fulcrum is to allow diplomacy and peaceful resolution to conflicts and the Kronin are often participants in such conflicts, they are frequently engaged in negotiations with someone at the Fulcrum.  The Kronin appreciate the Fulcrum as a method to resolve conflicts cheaply in terms of lives and materiel.
*The Kaa: The Kronin and the Kaa seem to enjoy hating each other. (The Kaa do enjoy hating other races. It's what they do.) Occasionally a Kronin mercenary unit will take work for a Kaa noble or warlord, but this is a risky proposition.  It is a rare Kaa who can control his race-based disdain and hatred long enough and carefully enough not to give offense to the Kronin at some point. And it's an even rarer Kaa who won't weigh the option of betraying his Kronin Mercenaries in order to escape having to pay them.
*The Fasanni: the Kronin really don't get the Fasanni, nor the Fasanni the Kronin, although both find that if they work at it, they can negotiate in good faith. 
*The Purulu: the Purulu often hire Kronin and then whine and complain endlessly about the price.  A wise Purulu knows not to try and cheat the Kronin.  There is a long Kronin black-list of Purulu they will no longer work for. Even avowed foes share notes on that one.
*The United Planets:  The Kronin won't work much for the United Worlds, and the Kronin will freely say why - the United Planets dreams of galactic domination, and will use any means fair or foul to accomplish this.  They are an avowed enemy of Kronin Domination.  UP representatives complain that the Kronin view the UP cynically, but the Kronin regard this as realistic.</P><P>Recently since the introduction of the Federation, the Romulans, the Acceptians and the Thasites,  the UP and the Kronin are more willing to bury the hatchet and work together. 
*The Shin Hegemony:  The Kronin get along fairly well with the Shin.  The Shin are checkmated by the United Planets, so this makes their avowed dreams of domination not so threatening.  The Shin See their techno-Feudalism as a method to ensure order and peace, a goal which the Kronin sympathize with.  There are Kronin units in the hegemony which have sworn loyalty to the Hegemony. Working for the Shin is working against the United Planets.
*The Corporate Sector: Here is where the Kronin are most often seen as mercenaries.  Since an Edgarian Corporation will do business with anyone willing to play fair and pay their bills on time, they don't regard the Kronin as a threat in any coherent way.  The Kronin often hire out as units to Corporations in the Corporate sector.
*The Federation:  The Kronin view the Federation as a fluffy mystery composed of pure Kumbya. Some Kronin units have found work inside the Federation as security for planets under protection by Starfleet. The Federation might be Kumbya but is is well armed and highly competent Kumbya. What one Federation ship did to the Kaa is noted, and respected. And Federation ships have gotten bigger and faster.
*The Romulan Star Empire:  The Romulans and Kronin understand each other.  The Kronin will work for the Romulans but guard against treachery. The Romulans use Kronin as leverage in this distant area of space. There is talk of a Romulan/Kronin alliance and technology transfer, no doubt to help the Kronin check Federation expansion into the region.</P><P>The Romulans are a marginal player not having the resources to directly deal with this far off region. They have been commonly farming out their interests.
*The Acceptian Empire: They also understand the Acceptians, but unlike the Romulans they are close enough to be a viable threat. The Acceptian Empire has the avowed goal of conquest, and the means to accomplish that. They see what the Acceptians have done to their own kind as a serious threat to their own culture. Relations between the two bodies of Kronin are...edgy.
Area of Operation: The Fulcrum Region 
Headquarters Location: Kronar The Kronin thought this was their home world until news of the Acceptian Kronin reached them. A closer look at the genome proved that they like the Accpetian Kronin are a colony.
Public Face: Noble warriors.
Notable Members:
History of the Race: The Kronin were encountered by a Edgarian scouting mission.  The Edgarian scouts didn't realize that the Kronin were telepathic until much too late.  Their technical knowledge and galactic knowledge were stolen.  The Kronin roared out into space, just sure they'd wind up in an endless genocidal war with humanity.
Fortunately they were amenable to reason, and to news of another rival for domination, the Kaa.  Now the Kronmin prepare to fight the Acceptian Empire and the Thasites, whoever might come calling first. 
==The Ozian Population==
Due to the Acceptian Seeker Horizon there is a growing population of Kronin on Oz. the Ane have enabled dissatisfied Kronin to move, with their families, away from the Acceptian Empire. So far settlement on Oz is universal. The Kronin are still feeling their way around the zany "organization" of the Aneilogs. A cover for the adhocracy that is the Ane way.
They retain their military culture. Many join Starfleet, or become police and security specialists.
Category:Races
Category:Acceptian Space
Category:Fulcrum Space 
Category:ST-OM
Category:Epiphany Trek