Betelgeusians

The Betelgeusians are a warlike race of aliens native to the star Betelgeuse. They are a stellar species who have no home world but rather live in the fluctuating corona of their star.

## History

The Betelgeusians are an ancient race whose history was deliberately erased. Though they once had a proud tradition and remembered their original homeworld, the eventual overthrow of their government by a totalitarian regime resulted in the loss of their past. "Traditionalists," who "clung to false histories at the expense of the present," were deemed the enemy of the people and ruthlessly hunted by their fascist kin. After this coup was complete, the Betelgeusians turned their entire attention to defeating the sinister threat of the Rigelians, another species with whom they had begun warring constantly some centuries before.

The battle with the Rigelians has consumed the Betelgeusians' entire culture, with every last member of the race required to donate the first three centuries of their life to the cause. Only those who somehow survive these years of constant battle are free to do something else with their remaining life, and these elite warriors form the core of the race's political class. As the Betelgeusians have no homeworld, they do not build cities or monuments, only occasionally carving a captured asteroid with the likeness of a great hero before setting it loose to orbit their flickering star.

Recently, the long-running conflict between the Rigelians and Betelgeusians came to an abrupt end with the arrival of the Lustrian Goddess. Seeing the fanatical Betelgeusians ready-made crusaders, she quickly dispatched the leaders of both species and began carving them into a suitable army. Those who submitted to her will quickly turned on the others, and with the aid of the Empress they triumphed over their disbelieving kin. Now much fewer in number, the remaining Betelgeusians have only just joined the Lustrian crusade but have already proven themselves a useful and highly-motivated army of killers in her Holy Name.

## Personality

Betelgeusians have established a culture that rewards ferocity and uniformity, and harshly punishes any sign of individuality. As a result, they are a warlike race that has purged itself of any trace of kindness, empathy, mercy, or even creative thought. The Betelgeusians are capable of these emotions, and now that they are under the rule of the Empress they have (relative) freedom to express them, but it may be many generations before any Betelgeusians decide to put down their weapons and seek more from life than constant battle.

## Powers

Betelgeusians are far stronger than humans, with an average strength and durability that puts them far beyond the people of Earth. Their biology is adapted to function in the depths of space, granting them the ability to live comfortably in extreme temperatures, gravity ranges, and even in intense, unfiltered solar radiation. In fact, they take their nourishment from this radiation, and can survive with no food of any kind so long as they have direct exposure to starlight (though they occasionally eat the bodies of their fallen enemies in bloody militaristic rituals, they gain no nutrition from this). Betelgeusians are all naturally telepathic, though the majority of the species can only use this ability to communicate, not read minds. Betelgeusians consider speaking with their mouths to be something done by lesser, planet-bound organisms and only communicate this way when strictly necessary. Betelgeusians can also fly through space with just a thought, and if given enough time they can achieve FTL speeds, though they rarely have cause to leave their home system.

All Betelgeusians are soldiers and their traditional weapon is a spear of tungsten, a dense metal found commonly in the rocky asteroids surrounding Betelgeuse. Forged in their star's corona, these simple weapons measure approximately 2.5 meters and weigh multiple tons. The spears are constructed without adornment and are not treated with any sentimentality; they are strictly a killing tool, and are used until they become too warped and must be discarded. The Betelgeusians are adept at hurling these spears incredible distances, and the best fighters know how to use gravity to curve their shots through space to attack from unexpected angles. These deadly weapons are one of the only reliable ways to pierce the crystalline carapaces of a Rigelian, and have been used for that purpose ever since their interstellar war began hundreds of years ago.

## Weaknesses

Betelgeusians are adapted to space and don't do well in planetary atmospheres. They find that being immersed in gas is a cloying, almost suffocating experience, and they despise the way that many planets' magnetic fields and ozone layers naturally deflect solar radiation (their primary food source). Betelgeusians must return to space frequently to rest, eat, and recharge themselves, and many suffer a form of claustrophobia caused by the pressure of the atmosphere closing all around them.

Betelgeusians have a rigid military training that they find extremely difficult to deviate from. Although this was not much of a problem in the past, now that they are governed by the Lustrian Star Empire they have new freedoms and expectations placed on them that they find difficult to understand. As a result, they occasionally find themselves confused by sudden battlefield developments, especially when working with other aliens in mixed units.