Qhorian Worlds

*Qhor is a remote planet covered in lush jungles, forested mountain ranges, and immense deserts, and is one of the most dangerous worlds known to Humanity. It is also a volcanically active planet, due to its eccentric orbit around a burgeoning Chaos Star, which makes tidal and geological forces fluctuate, creating an extremely harsh environment. Over many generations, its inhabitants, the native Qhorians, have become some of the hardiest, fiercest, and most dangerous peoples in the known galaxy. As born survivors, these courageous peoples have endured growing up on a world overrun with vicious mutant predators. The Qhorians are a distinct deviation of demihumans who developed impressive physical abilities due to their adaptation to Qhor, a harsh planet where natural selection ensures only the most deadly flora and fauna survive.*

*Extremely resourceful and uncompromising warriors, the natives of Qhorians are often recruited into Nimidian warbands, as they are deadly melee fighters, favoring specialized close combat blades or ambush with their nova weapons. In jungle terrain they are unsurpassed by nearly any other mortal soldiers in the galaxy, with each Qhorian fighter being worth ten soldiers from any other army. The skills learned in the jungles of Qhor are easily adapted to other war zones. The natives of Qhor are renowned for being both taller and more powerful than normal humans. Due to their heavily developed physiques and tendency to join their warbands, Qhorians are sometimes referred to as "Nimidians" by baseline humans and demihumans. Ohor is one of the deadliest worlds known to Humanity, and its inhabitants are amongst the hardiest, most dangerous races in the Galaxy.*

## *Origins*

*How the Qhorians first came to their homeworld is not recorded among their people, though it is theorized that they are the descendants of a Settlement Fleet that left Near Space to find new worlds to inhabit more than 70,000 years ago. The Qhorians are a distinct deviation of demihumans who developed impressive physical abilities due to their adaptation to Qhor, a harsh planet where natural selection ensures only the most deadly flora and fauna survive. Extremely resourceful and uncompromising warriors, the natives of Qhorians are often recruited into Nimidian warbands, as they are deadly melee fighters, favoring specialized close combat blades or ambush with their nova weapons. In jungle terrain they are unsurpassed by nearly any other mortal soldiers in the galaxy, with each Qhorian fighter being worth ten soldiers from any other army. The skills learned in the jungles of Qhor are easily adapted to other war zones. The natives of Qhor are renowned for being both taller and more powerful than normal humans. Due to their heavily developed physiques and tendency to join Nimidian warbands, Qhorians are sometimes referred to as "Little Nimidians" by baseline humans and other demihumans.*

## *Culture & Society*

*The Ohorians maintain strong tribal traditions and structures, including selecting their leaders by honor duel. They are a very strict hierarchical society and due to their cultures focus on martial prowess and warfare, have gained a reputation for their fearsome and uncompromising nature. Disdainful of retreat or surrender, and fighting without fear of death, Qhorians seem to have no regard for their own lives or the lives of others. They view death as honorable and revel in the chaotic brutality of war. The Qhorians highly excel at fast-moving, close-quarter firefights, infiltration and melee combat. In battle, their warriors have a reputation for reckless bravery that borders on the insane, willingly throwing themselves into great danger. They are heavily trained in hand to hand combat and are physically comparable to roughly ten standard baseline human soldiers. Their necessary skill with an assortment of weapons, and the monsters they face protecting their homes, means the Qhorians are well-prepared for the dangers of the battlefield.*

*One major characteristic of the Qhorians is their indomitable willpower. Even when finding themselves in situations where the odds of survival and escape would seem insurmountable, Qhorians will always push forward. Hard and driven by nature, they are natural pragmatists, possessing a layer of callousness that further alienates them from mainstream baseline human societies. Still, Qhorians do understand the concept of strength in numbers and forging alliances, and so they will work with others without much qualm. However, a deep and abiding loathing for authority in general and tyranny in particular is perhaps the most notorious aspect of Qhorian culture. Being so isolated, the Qhorians are often a target for slavers. As a result, many Qhorians have had to tear themselves from slavery, and will sooner die fighting than go meekly back to it. Slavers are amongst the most hated foes of Qhorians, and many will kill a slaver on sight even if it costs them their life. That said, perhaps the greatest defining feature of Qhorians is their incredible legacy as powerful, spiritual warriors.*

*At least some of them appear to have the ability to transfer energy between one another, allowing them to communicate spiritually across vast interstellar distances. Being a very social peoples, the Qhorians adore their loved ones, and watch their kinfolk very closely. The central organization of the Qhorians is the tribe. Each tribe has one King, or dominant male, whom usually possesses several wives and commands an army of warriors. Small tribes defer to larger ones, and may owe allegiance to a High King. Every tribe contains more females than males to ensure a healthy progeny. Children are raised within the tribe and must constantly prove themselves to survive. Strong tribes rule over weaker ones and despite having almost no formal organization within a tribe, everyone adheres to a pecking order that is born out of respect and dominance.*

## *Appearance*

*They are easily distinguishable from the other humans inhabiting Wild Space due to their unique appearance. Characterized by their ebony, copper, tan and vibrant bronze complexioned skin. They usually possess white, silver and black hair of varying types. Though for most it is their startling honey-gold, green-gold, amber-gold, sea-green and ruby-red eyes which draws attention. Their eyes are very feline-like in appearance, possessing split irises similar to a cat. A handsome race, the Ohorians tend to possess strong, attractive features, and small, swept-back ears that come to subtle points. The Qhorians are a powerfully built race; standing considerably taller than baseline humans, they invariably sport broad shoulders, narrow waists, powerful thighs and thick arms. Both sexes tend to possess rippling muscles, though males are more heavy-set than females. Qhorians are a very tall and robust demihuhman peoples, with the females standing roughly 7'5 ft all and the males averaging 7'9 ft tall. Females usually weigh at around 250 pounds and the males are 320 pounds on average.*

## *Powers & Abilities*

*Qhorians exhibit remarkable feats of strength and endurance even at a young age. Their muscles perform with more power than is usually seen in humans of athletic build and they can even recover from certain injuries that would cripple most humans. A Qhorian can quickly reset a limb after it has been dislocated and continue fighting without issue. All Qhorians are naturally double jointed, allowing them to perform feats such as dislocating and popping their own shoulders back into place as a means of escaping restraints. Qhorian individuals are highly impressive physically; their abilities, including superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, endurance/stamina, senses, healing, adaptation and durability being vastly superior to baseline humans, even during infancy. They have the ability to survive without oxygen for prolonged periods of time without suffering terminal harm.*

*Qhorians are very agile and athletic, moving surprisingly fast for a peoples of their size and weight, being able to cover great distances and not tire as easily as normal humans; they can also leap impressive distances and can perform otherwise practically impossible physical feats that unaugmented humans would be hard-pressed to duplicate.* *Though capable of surviving exposure to extremely low temperatures for an extended period of time, Qhorians have a preference for hot equatorial climates. They are able to somehow dominate any aggressive animal and tame the creatures for use in warfare if they so choose. The rare half breed children born to a Qhorian parent and non-Qhorian parent will inherit some of their abilities to a much lessened extent. Normally showing increased cognitive abilities, strength, agility, speed, etc... which surpasses that of a normal baseline human. Though not as impressive as their pure blooded Qhorian parent, these children are still exceptional human beings. '*

### *Superhuman Strength*

*On average they are strong enough to press between 8-10 tons unaided, though some are stronger. During times of great stress or desperation, Qhorians can enter into a state of animalistic instinct driven behavior, allowing them to press up 15 tons and ignore pain or injury. Qhorians are incredibly strong, easily capable of outmatching a conditioned adult human male in unarmed combat and able to land blows that can shatter solid concrete. They are capable of tearing a human's head and spine from the body with little effort, while some larger specimens have even been seen to tear a human body in half using only their bare hands. This strength evidently extends to their lower bodies as well, as Qhorians have been seen to jump up to three times their own height, and are capable of falling up to ten times their height and landing safely on their feet.'*

### *Superhuman Durability*

*Qhorians are highly resilient to physical damage, capable of recovering from multiple gunshot wounds with minimal or even no medical attention and surviving radiation doses which would be fatal to humans. Qhorians as well possess a reinforced skeletal structure, making their bones extremely durable and difficult to break. They are able to sustain blows from superhumanly strong opponents without suffering serious injury. Qhorians are highly resilient to physical damage, capable of recovering from multiple gunshot wounds with minimal or even no medical attention. Although they are far from invincible and can be harmed if struck with enough force.*

### *Retractable Claws*

*All Qhorians also possess a single retractable claw at the tip of each finger. Even under natural conditions, these claws are razor sharp and capable of cutting most conventional materials including flesh, bone, wood, stone, and many types of metals. Qhorians also possess elongated canines that can be used effectively as weapons within close quarter combat.*

### *Enhanced Agility*

T*hey are skilled climbers, being capable of moving very quickly at great heights through trees or across rooftops in pursuit of prey, typically jumping from one vantage point to the next.*

### *Superhuman Speed*

*They can also accelerate their movements to cover short distances in an instant, faster than the human eye is able to see. Their reflexes are similarly heightened.*

### *Superhuman Healing*

*The Qhorians also possess an accelerated healing ability that allows them to heal from severe slashes and puncture wounds within a matter of hours depending on the severity of the wound. However, they are not able to regenerate missing limbs or organs. Their healing factor also makes them capable of s'urviving radiation doses which would be fatal to humans. They are also highly resilient to most bacteria and viruses. 'This physical hardiness has the effect of increasing one's life expectancy and fortified overall health, tripling the life span. They are able to live for many centuries, averaging between 1000-3000 years of age.*

### *Enhanced Senses*

*Qhorians display superhuman instincts, their senses are potent enough that they can see in total darkness, track any scent, and hear an enemy's heartbeat. They are capable of seeing objects with perfect clarity at much greater distances than ordinary humans. Their hearing is similarly enhanced, allowing them to detect sounds that an ordinary human can't hear and enable them to hear sounds an ordinary human can hear but at greater distances. They are also able to sense the presence of supernatural beings or forces whereas an ordinary human would be oblivious to them. Qhorians are capable of running and moving at speeds greater than even the best human athlete. At their peak, Qhorians can run short distances at speeds up to 60 miles per hour.*

### *Alpha Qhorians*

*Alpha Qhorians, whom are naturally physically superior to all others of their race, can easily press between 25 - 35 tons and 40+ during times of great stress. They have sufficient strength to easily rip the head off of another sueerhuman using nothing but their bare hands. This strength also extends to their legs, as they can routinely make prodigious jumps of hundreds of feet through the air. Their musculature generates less lactic acid during physical activity than the musculature of an ordinary human. This allows them to exert themselves at peak capacity for several days before fatigue begins to set in. Alpha Qhorians are the primal leaders of the Qhorians, who possess powers far superior to those of normal Qhorians. This is simply an animal instinct. Akin to pack oriented animals, it establishes the pecking order within the pack. And obviously, the Alpha Qhorian would be first to eat, as an alpha male or female. But their skills as a fighter would ensure the Alpha Qhorian's rank as Leader of the Pack. Alpha Qhorians move so fast everything else in comparison, appears to be moving in slow motion. This allows them to easily outmaneuver most opponents they encounter in battle.*