THE ORIGINAL SERIES AND NEXT GENERATION ERAS ONLY
Native to the planet Kaminar, Kelpiens have two distinct stages of development. Young Kelpiens are risk averse, and possess heightened senses. After undergoing a biological process called vahar'ai they loose their extra-sensory threat ganglia, and a natural spine launcher grows in their place. On their homeworld, they were kept ignorant of the wider galaxy by a religion imposed upon them by the Ba'ul, a technologically advanced species which harvested Kelpiens until Starfleet intervened. The Ba'ul also protected the Kelpiens from other predator species on Kaminar, like the t'rrask. Living peacefully, Kelpiens established villages near lakes and other bodies of water where they maintain kelp farms. Kelpiens are taller on average than most species, and tend towards leanness.
EXAMPLE VALUE: Discretion is the Better Part of Valour
• ATTRIBUTES: +1 Control, +1 Fitness, +1 Insight
• TRAIT: Kelpien. A prey species, Kelpiens developed extremely acute senses to warn them against the impending threats. Kelpiens are capable of picking up faint scents, seeing in the ultraviolet range, and detecting infrasonic vibrations too low to be heard. Physically, Kelpiens are very strong, and they're able to run at speeds of up to 80 kph. Even among other sentient species, Kelpiens tend to think of individuals as either predators, or prey; the view certain traits -- brashness, impulsiveness, aggressiveness -- as endemic of predators.
• TALENTS: The character receives access to the following talents. A Kelpien character must select either Sense the Coming of Death or Post-Vaharai at some point during character creation to represent what stage of their biological development they're at.
PREY'S INSTINCTS
Native to the planet Kaminar, Kelpiens have two distinct stages of development. Young Kelpiens are risk averse, and possess heightened senses. After undergoing a biological process called vahar'ai they loose their extra-sensory threat ganglia, and a natural spine launcher grows in their place. On their homeworld, they were kept ignorant of the wider galaxy by a religion imposed upon them by the Ba'ul, a technologically advanced species which harvested Kelpiens until Starfleet intervened. The Ba'ul also protected the Kelpiens from other predator species on Kaminar, like the t'rrask. Living peacefully, Kelpiens established villages near lakes and other bodies of water where they maintain kelp farms. Kelpiens are taller on average than most species, and tend towards leanness.
EXAMPLE VALUE: Discretion is the Better Part of Valour
• ATTRIBUTES: +1 Control, +1 Fitness, +1 Insight
• TRAIT: Kelpien. A prey species, Kelpiens developed extremely acute senses to warn them against the impending threats. Kelpiens are capable of picking up faint scents, seeing in the ultraviolet range, and detecting infrasonic vibrations too low to be heard. Physically, Kelpiens are very strong, and they're able to run at speeds of up to 80 kph. Even among other sentient species, Kelpiens tend to think of individuals as either predators, or prey; the view certain traits -- brashness, impulsiveness, aggressiveness -- as endemic of predators.
• TALENTS: The character receives access to the following talents. A Kelpien character must select either Sense the Coming of Death or Post-Vaharai at some point during character creation to represent what stage of their biological development they're at.
PREY'S INSTINCTS
REQUIREMENT: Kelpien, or Gamemaster's permission.
You're familiar with the methods predators use when taking down prey, and are capable of using that information to your advantage. During combat, you may make an Insight + Security or Reason + Security Task with a Difficulty of 0, specifically to generate Momentum, which can be spent right away or saved to the group pool.
You're familiar with the methods predators use when taking down prey, and are capable of using that information to your advantage. During combat, you may make an Insight + Security or Reason + Security Task with a Difficulty of 0, specifically to generate Momentum, which can be spent right away or saved to the group pool.
SENSE THE COMING OF DEATH
REQUIREMENT: Kelpien, may only be taken during Character Creation.
You are particularly aware of eminent danger, possessing sensitive threat ganglia characteristic of young Kelpiens. Whenever you attempt a Task to notice a hidden threat, or determine if someone or something intends to do you harm, you reduce the Difficulty by 1 to a minimum of 0. Sense the Coming of Death cannot be taken if the character has the Post-Vahar'ai Talent -- they are mutually exclusive.
POST-VAHAR'AI
REQUIREMENT: Kelpien, require's gamemaster's permission to take after Character Creation.
You have undergone the biological process of vahar'ai, and subsequently lost your threat ganglia. In their place you've grown a spine projector, a natural weapon which can be used once per scene, and doesn't require that their hands be free, but only that their head be uncovered (Ranged, 1🎲, Vicious 2, Deadly, Hidden 2). A Kelpien may use an Arc or Spotlight Milestone to replace the Sense the Coming of Death Talent with Post-Vahar'ai, but they cannot have both Talents -- they are mutually exclusive.
Design Notes: A lot of the information I used to put together the Kelpien species profile was drawn from the tie-in novels, Desperate Measures, and Fear Itself. Those book, along with the episodes, 'Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum', 'An Obal for Charon' and 'Sounds of Thunder', provided the necessary details to get an idea of what the species is capable of, and the Short Treks episode, 'The Bightest Star' provided more details about their world. The Prey's Instincts talent was inspired by a scene from the episode, 'Choose Your Pain'. Saru is one of my favourite characters on the show, so I'm hoping I did him justice with this write-up. If more details about the species emerge which contradict what I have here, I will attempt to update or reconcile the new information.