Gritch

The **Gritch** are a proud species of curious and hard-working arthropoids.

## History

Gritch were the first species (excluding Yiedden) to be discovered by the Galactic Proletariat. When the Proletariat arrived on Mol-Varsho, they found a planet teeming with life. Gritch population was in the tens of billions, and the creatures had developed a complex farming system in which they processed viable organic matter into a kind of organic mulch used to fuel the growth of the ocean-sized fungal mats on which they fed. Unfortunately, the complexity of this system and the intelligence of the Gritch was not immediately visible. To the outsider, it seemed that Gritch possessed merely tribal organization and that their great farming projects where merely natural products of the planet's ecosystem. As such, Proletariat representatives declared that the Gritch be harvested as cheap labor. No effort was made to research their culture or to facilitate their needs. It is estimated that the numbers of Gritch stolen from their homeworld in these early years numbers in the billions. Over the next several hundred years of the GP Era, Gritch labor was used to increase the infrastructural expansion of the empire tenfold, even as resistance to the Proletariate's pillaging on Mol-Varsho became more and more intense. It was only after an entire labor envoy was destroyed and scrapped that the Proletariate took decisive action, firebombing huge swathes of Mol-Varsho and killing millions. For a while, this show of power seemed effective in quelling violent Gritch rebellion, but this was a mere illusion. Huge Gritch rebel groups arose on Mol-Varsho, lead primarily by the hulking Gritch reproductives who produce the majority of the Gritch population. Collectively, these rebels became known as the Orzomi. Over the next three hundred years, they set up one of the most daring and ambitious revolutions in the history of the Galaxy, tweaking weapon shipments and sabotaging manufacturing so that all was ripe for the day of reckoning.

The day of the Orzomi's great rebellion is known widely as Peka-Rakda, or the Day of Broken Chains. On Peka-Rakda, the Orzomi set all of their various schemes to trigger at once, while simultaneously sending out a massive psychic echo that reverberated throughout Proletariat space. It said simply, begin. In moments, every able-bodied Gritch was fighting, storming Proletariat command posts and government buildings, sabotaging spacecraft engines and destroying infrastructure. GP military forces found themselves suddenly short on ammunition, with faulty equipment or without proper communications. By the end of the first year, the GP had granted the Orzomi statehood and made illegal the unpaid labor of Gritch. The rebellion was so devastating that reconstruction took over a century and, strangely, was performed almost solely by Gritch. This time, though, they were paid.

Today, in the LEX era, Gritch are as integral as they ever were to the functionality of galactic civilization. Their high population and stoic work ethics make the Gritch some of the best engineers and salvage workers known. Discrimination still exists on a person to person level, but the ever-watching eyes of the Orzomi prevent any organized race violence from falling upon their ancient people. Once every solar year of Mol-Varsho, on the day of Peka-Rakda, every Gritch abstains from work, and takes the day to participate in a group civic activity or pay respects to the nearest Orzomi chapter.

## Abilities

Stigma 2

Family Everywhere: Gritch get +3 to all diplomacy and trade rolls made against Gritch.

Keen: Gritch get +1 to loot rolls.

Junkyard Kinship: Creatures with Junkyard Kinship are not affected by the stigma of other creatures with Junkyard Kinship.

Pick one of the following lineages during character creation:

* Upholder: +4 to diplomacy checks
* Warrior: +1 dmg to M attacks
* Engineer: +4 to engineering checks

Pick one of the following Orzomi Patrons during character creation:

* Scavengers: +1 Str, +1 Int, +1 to loot rolls
* Amber Priesthood: +3 Psi, +1 Int, changes Stigma 2 to Stigma 1
* Circuit Hive: +4 Int, +1 Per
* Drones: +4 Dex, +1 Str
* Observers: +3 Per, +2 Dex

## Homeworld

Mol-Varsho is a fairly dry planet with a thick atmosphere that dampens sunlight and leads to a dusk-like sky during the day. Billions of Gritch still call the world home, amongst them the great senate leaders of the Orzomi.

## Factions

Gritch can be found in all factions, but the Orzomi is comprised entirely of Gritch.

## Biology

Gritch are arthropoid bipeds of middling height possessed of strong, muscular legs and long dextrous fingers. Their jawed mouths are filled with small course teeth made for chewing varied foodstuffs from carrion to raw fungus. They have keen orange or yellow eyes and a pair of chemically sensitive feelers that crown their heads. They are agile and usually rigorous in their temperament. Male and female Gritch exist and can procreate sexually as Vanon and Theans do, but the Gritch are also possessed of a secondary means of reproduction. Approximately one out of every hundred thousand Gritch is born as a reproductive. These are all female, and grow to be much larger than their standard brethren, often standing up to fifteen feet tall. Physiologically, these reproductives differ quite a bit from normal Gritch, moving on four limbs instead of two and often living for many hundreds of years. Their name comes from the fact that they can reshuffle their own gametes and self fertilize to produce many hundreds of genetically distinct offspring over the course of their lives. Reproductives are revered and almost all join the Orzomi, attaining high positions amongst the various sects within the organization.

## Culture

Gritch culture is incredibly rich and ancient, representing the collective experience of thousands of years of prehistory, subjugation and finally freedom. Gritch take immense pride in both family history and the greater history of their race, and are often filled with myths and fables from the ancient days of Mol-Varsho.