Difference between revisions of "Vargr"

Starport	X	No Starport
Size	0	Asteroid/Planetoid Belt
Atmosphere	0	Vacuum
Hydrographics	0	Desert World 0%
Population	0	Barren (0)
Government	0	No Government structure
Law	0	No Law
Tech Level	0	Pre-Industrial (primitive)

Primary Star

Atmosphere

Off-world presence

Yes

Zoetic individuals

Source

Reference

Alien Module 3: Vargr

Canon

Yes

Also see

TBD

The Vargr are a technologically sophisticated sophont species.

They are a Major Non-Human Race, and a Terragen with a humanoid appearance.
The Vargr are a caninoid (canid-like), intelligent Major Race, with a humanoid body plan, derived from Ancient genetic manipulation of Terran carnivore/chaser stock, apparently dating from approximately the same time that Humaniti was scattered to the stars.
Their poorly organized supra-polity is known as the Vargr Extents and can be found coreward of the Third Imperium.

Biology (Physical Sophontology)

Vargr are a species known for extreme behavioral range, social nature, and an irascible spirit.

Evolution & Environment (Epigenetics)

Genetic Manipulation?: Research conducted during the early years of the Third Imperium concluded that the Vargr are the result of genetic manipulation of transplanted Terran animals of the family Canidae, almost certainly of genus Canis.

The Vargr biochemistry and genetic makeup are almost identical with a number of Terran terrestrial animals, but differ radically from most of the flora and fauna indigenous to Lair, the purported Vargr home world.

The obvious conclusion, supported by archeological evidence, is that the race known as the Ancients was responsible.

Climate & Ecotope (Environment)

This species holds the following environmental preferences:

Terrestrial planet
Temperate climate
Grassland and forest ecotopes
Standard gravity
Standard atmosphere

Genetic Code (Genotype)

Vargr use the following IISS code:

SDEIEC-SP
- Strength
- Dexterity
- Endurance
- Intelligence
- Education
- Charisma
- Sanity
- Psionics
More complex genetic coding data available to qualified personnel upon request.

Anatomy & Physiology (Phenotype)

The typical Vargr is about 1.6 meters in height and weigh, on average, 60 kilograms. They are upright bipedal carnivores with their legs, or rear limbs, digitigrade. Physically, the Vargr are not very impressive, by Human standards. The Vargr senses of smell and sight are superior to those of humans.

On the average their reactions are slightly faster than those of the typical human, but individuals vary widely. Vargr hands are very similar in size and appearance to those of a human, although there are significant internal differences. They have approximately the same physical parameters as humans and are able to use the same equipment without modification or additional instruction.

The Vargyr are evolved from carnivore/chasers, but have also evolved strong tendencies toward omnivore/scavenger foodstuffs, and, a such, will eat nearly anything they can get their hands on including garbage, livestock, fungus, and carrion (dead animal and plant material).

The Vargr have a number of extant sub-species and/or variant strains:

Body Plan (Morphology)

Humanoid
Bilateral symmetry (2-ial)
Tetrapod (4-ped)
- Two limbs used for manipulation "arms"
- Two limbs used for locomotion (biped) "legs"
- Tail
Body consists of three segments
- 1. Head with sensors and multiple-use orifice (consumption, communication, and respiration)
- 2. Torso with manipulatory limbs
- 3. Abdomen with locomotor limbs

Biochemistry (Function)

Vargr have a conventional carbon-water based biochemistry.

Respiration (Reaction)

Vargr use a conventional respiration cycle consisting of:

Oxygen-nitrogen inhalant
Carbon dioxide exhalant

Diet & Trophics (Consumption)

Carnivore/chaser
- Homeotherm

Vargr prefer protein-rich meats (Ungulates, fowl, and seafood), complex carbohydrate starches (...such as cereals, bread, pasta, etc.), and simple carbohydrates (...such as sugars) as their primary dietetic foodstuffs. Vargr supplement their diet with fruit and vegetable matter.

Favorite Foods

Food digestion only takes a few hours, thus Vargr can feed several times in one day, making quick use of large quantities of meat or other foods.

Some favorite Vargr foods and dishes include:
- Adwuj, (alcoholic beverage).
- Agadua, (vegetable).
- Akanarzh, (Vargr native dish resembling fermented meat-loaf).
- Altmac, (alcoholic beverage).
- Astroburgers, (bread, vegetable & meat dish).
- Atrake, (alcoholic beverage).
- Terran Beef, (meat).
- Terran Chicken, (meat).
- Chicklizard, (meat).
- Kopi Luwak, (beverage).
- Pysadian Skymelon, (fruit).
- Pysadian Trake, (fruit).
- Vilnaf, (alcoholic beverage).
- Vilnafku, (meat, vegetable & grain porridge-like dish)
- Yakka Juice, (fruit juice).

Gender & Sexuality (Reproduction)

Vargr have the following reproductive characteristics::

Two genders (male & female)
- Mild sexual dimorphism
(sexual reproduction)
- Reproduces through conjugal intercourse
- Varied mating systems (primarily monogamy)
Viviparous birth
- (Iteroparous): Uses K-selection and have few offspring that require considerable amounts of time to raise to maturity.

Psychology (Cultural Sophontology)

The Solomani and Terrans seem to fall, all too often, into the trap of thinking of the Vargr as "Dog-people" or "Wolf-people." They are anything but. And they aren't anarchists either. What are they? Any sophontologist will tell you that while they are a Terragens species, suspected of being geneered by the Ancients, they have their own unique culture and mindset. Or as anyone who really knows the Vargr, they actually have many, MANY cultures and mindsets. At the root of Vagr thinking is a deeply held love of freedom and non-conformity. This is one of the key steps towards understanding how the Vargr think and act.

Goals (Motivation)

Expansionism / Adventurism (Compulsive Curiosity)
Honor / Racial Pride (Expansive Heteroculturism)
Territoriality / Internal Conflict (Internal Competition)

Belief System & Philosophy (Mindset)

The Vargr have an intensive racial pride and are easily insulted. They are prone to enter into fights without regard to possible consequences.

Social Organization: 1116

Vargr social organization is difficult to characterize in Terran terms, but can be most closely compared to the Dakota Sioux of North America in the 1800's AD, if the analogy is not pressed too far. Vargr are social sophonts, and prefer to travel in nuclear families consisting of at least one mated pair (...the basic social unit), accompanied by the pair's adult offspring.

Even among the most stable Vargr governments, a highly charismatic leader can attract followers for almost anything. The neighbors of the Vargr are constantly the subject of impromptu raids and scattered piracy by bands of Vargr (totally without government sanction, of course) who have been talked into a raid, a battle, or a war by a charismatic leader.

Terran Solomani scientists call Vargr family units "packs", which tend to be formed around several pairs of attached male-female dyads, single loners of both genders, and numerous "pups" (children). The male-female dyads are organized in an unspoken hierarchy of dominance that is constantly changing as lower-ranked members challenge higher-ranked ones..

Independent Vargr Societies

The key elements shaping independent Vargr societies are a very strong centrifugal force resulting from an emphasis on consensus and informal lines of authority, and an equally strong centripetal force resulting from a deeply ingrained family-clan-tribe-nation loyalty.

Imperial Vargr Citizens

While only a few planets populated completely by Vargr exist within the Imperium, there are millions of Vargr citizens of loyal subject planets. Additionally, Vargr adventurers, criminals, mercenaries and traders can be found throughout the coreward reaches of the Imperium.

Assimilated Vargr Enclaves: Some Imperial Vargr live in Vargr enclaves. Others have adapted to living among Humans and other races. These are often referred to as assimilated Vargr. Assimilated Vargr have all the physical advantages and disadvantages of ethnic Vargr, but many of the typical Vargr mental traits are less pronounced and sometimes completely absent.

Scientists disagree on how much these traits are inborn but suppressed by association with Humans, or not inborn and just not learned in the first place. The comparison between dogs and wolves is highly impolitic, if difficult to avoid.

Assimilated Vargr react very poorly to the suggestion that they have been "tamed" by Humans or, even worse, are just "Humans in Vargr suits" -- claims that ethnic Vargr are quick to make. Assimilated and ethnic Vargr often react very poorly towards each other.

Cultural Hierarchies: 1116

This species ranks its members in the following manners:

Extremely variable.
All Vargr, however, respect strong, charismatic leaders.
Individual cultural hierarches vary by society. What is safe to say is that if a system of social ranking or hierarchies exists, a Vargr society has probably experimented with it.

Tetusu-Dene Scale

The Tetusu-Dene Scale was developed in the Imperial Spinward Marches as an aid to recognizing Vargr integration into Human societies on the Imperial Core-Spinward frontier. It has been adopted (in slightly modified form) by the Julian Protectorate to recognize the level of integration of societies within the Protectorate.

See Tetusu-Dene and The Panet Relationship for more information.

Language (Linguistic Sophontology)

This species is known to communicate with other species using the following methods.

Language & Letters (Communication)

This species uses the following types of language to communicate:

Spoken language
Body language, paralanguage and postures

Linguistic Notes

Arrghoun is now a lost Vargr language. It was known widely in the Gvurrdon Sector during the -1300s, replaced by Gvegh and its related family of languages by the -900s. Vargr language scholars believe the language was largely a trade language, developed as an aid to trade throughout the sector.

Arrghoun is a relatively simple Vargr language which in its development lost such complications as noun declensions, gender differences, or elaborate endings or prefixes.

See Aekhu, Arrghoun, Gvegh, Irilitok, Logaksu, Ovaghoun, Suedzuk , and Urzaeng for more information.

Morality (Ethics)

This species holds the following values regarding a sense of right and wrong:

Might makes right
The strong lead the pack
In diversity lies strength
Freedom is the highest value (strong Libertarians train in Terran terms)

History (Archaeological Sophontology)

Inhabiting a region coreward of the Imperium, the Vargr were for years a puzzle to Imperial xenologists. Vargr-controlled space is known as the Vargr Extents.

Please see Vargr Extents for more information.

History: General Overview

Accurate information on Vargr history is difficult to come by, as different Vargr governments have promoted different descriptions and interpretations of historical events to enhance their own prestige, and have been reluctant to allow outsiders access to primary sources.

It is known that Vargr nations on Lair founded colonies on two other planets in the Lair system; those colonies eventually declared independence, leading to the Colonial Rebellion of -3815 to -3790. During this rebellion, in -3810, Vargr researchers from one of the factions discovered the principle of the jump drive. This technology quickly spread to other major governments on Lair, and the Vargr interstellar diaspora began.

Lair is separated from Vland by the Windhorn Rift, which prevented contact between the Vargr and the Vilani for many centuries and allowed the Vargr to avoid conquest by the Ziru Sirka. Vargr migrations around the Windhorn began around -2400, at the beginning of the Interstellar Wars with Terra, and the Vilani had to maintain forces on their coreward border to repel attacks by the aliens they called the urbarrani ("pack-predator barbarians"). Vargr actions undoubtedly hastened the collapse of authority in the Ziru Sirka, although the extent of this is probably overstated by Vargr historians. Migration to rimward became even more common with the collapse of the Rule of Man in -1776, and many coreward sectors of the former Ziru Sirka became primarily Vargr-occupied. The migrations came to an end roughly around -1700, and the division between Vargr and Solomani/Vilani majority areas stabilized and would persist through the Third Imperium era.

History-Era: Mileu 1100

No information yet available.

Major Historical Events Timeline: 1116

These are some of the more important historical events that have affected this polity:

-300,000: Uplift by the Ancients begins
-50,000: Civilization arises among Vargr on Lair
-30,000: Legendary Vargr prince Erzikh Dhadh
-8100: Lair reaches TL1

-4200: Lair reaches TL5
-4089: First Vargr space flights
-3815 to -3790: Colonial Rebellion
-3810: Vargr discover jump drive, beginning of first Vargr diaspora
-2700: End of first Vargr diaspora
-2400 to -1700: second Vargr diaspora; expansion across coreward regions of former Ziru Sirka and Rule of Man
-1658: Sack of Gashikan

97-114: Third Imperium conducts Antarean Pacification Campaign

175-191: Julian War
191: Julian Protectorate established at the end of the Julian War
220-348: Third Imperium conducts Vargr Campaigns

895: Founding of the Church of the Chosen Ones
979-986: Third Frontier War

1082-1084: Fourth Frontier War; ends after Battle of Two Suns
1107-1110: Fifth Frontier War
1111-1116: Equality war

1116-1130: Rebellion in the Third Imperium. Vargr make major incursions into Corridor and Lishun sectors and attack the Domain of Deneb. Domain of Antares under Brzk joins Julian Protectorate. Virus ravages Vargr territories after its release in 1130.
1133-1135: Battle of Ashes against the Regency of Deneb

Civilization (Societal Sophontology)

No information yet available.

Government & Politics (Leadership)

There is no one central Vargr government; indeed, there is no governmental type that can be said to be "typically Vargr". Every conceivable form of governmental organization can be found somewhere in the Vargr Extents.

The Vargr Extents is the general term used for the coreward area of Charted Space dominated by Vargr polities, which are inherently stable and short-lived by the standards of Humaniti.

The only cohesive force in the Extents is a fierce racial pride which causes a slight tendency towards racial cooperation. The higher the level of the Vargr government, the more unstable it becomes because of the difficulty of obtaining consent of all Vargr involved.

Government Structure: 1116

Vargr Governmental Philosophy: Centralized authority is extremely limited at the upper levels of Vargr society, and action is based on broad coalitional concerns, with a constant splitting and rejoining of dissident factions. Traditionally, this has made it very difficult for more centralized and organized societies such as the Imperium to deal on a meaningful basis with what passes for Vargr states. The Vargr have little respect for formal authority, decreasing as that authority becomes more remote. Vargr generally have more respect for more informal authority figures, and are more likely to obey superiors who are better known to them.

Please see Vargr Extents or individual Vargr polities for more information.

Vargr Groups & Institutions

See the following Vargr cultural groups for more information:

Representative Government Examples

See the following articles to learn more about various Vargr Governments and political organizations:

Military & Intelligence (Force Projection)

The Vargr are an aggressive and war-like race, prone to form paramilitary corsair bands. They have along and proud martial history. Due to the Vargr penchant to not form large, stable governments, Vargr, as a race, have great difficulty maintaining large, organized militaries on a lasting interstellar level. Vargr armed forces have a much greater tendency to organize as mercenaries or corsairs (pirates).

However, like empires everywhere, the Vargr also require militaries to apply force to belligerents, and every Vargr polity to date has formed a competent military (...until it eventually fell).

Please see Vargr Extents or individual Vargr polities for more information.

Business & Trade (Economy)

Vargr merchants and traders are well-known throughout Imperial space and beyond.

Please see Vargr Extents or individual Vargr polities for more information.

Astrography (Range)

Vargr can be found throughout Charted Space. The Vargr Extents is the general term used for the area of Charted Space dominated by Vargr polities, which are inherently stable and short-lived by the standards of Humaniti.

This race (sophont species) is primarily located in the following areas:

Homeworld: 1105

The homeworld of this race is:

Lair (world)

World Listing: 1105

Significant communities of this race (sophont species) are known to exist within the following systems and worlds:

200 of 2578 World articles in Vargr

495-524 • Aaghzkhagzarrsoukh • Aaka • Aakhi • Aamid • Aar • Ababat • Abbayi • Ackaeck • Addar • Adhfaezdoel • Adhoen • Adhungna • Adigelu • Adirgaa • Adonranggoeks • Ae Uer • Aea (Zi 2614) • Aeaeg • Aedhue • Aedouves • Aedzi • Aedzko • Aedzuedza • Aedzung • Aedzuz • Aefoung • Aeg Gzou • Aegadh • Aegartuer • Aegenokh • Aegerr • Aegerri • Aeggiks • Aegh Rong • Aeghae • Aeghaegh • Aeghez • Aeghokhu • Aeghukhs • Aeghvoekogz • Aeghzath • Aeghzisung • Aeghzivik • Aegle • Aegougkan • Aegzae • Aegzorgh • Aek Elakfough • Dhuek • Aek Gvon • Aekaedho • Aekakh • Aekfazvak • Aekfethoug • Aekharrgh Faen • Aekhel • Aekhfe • Aekhsogu • Aekhsueng • Aekhtan • Aekhue • Aekksakhazo • Aeksnue • Aeksunkung • Aelgaloedzuen • Aellgo • Aellon • Aellorr • Aelraek • Aeltsigaez • Aen Faevoesu • Aen Ghor • Aen Gvaekh • Aen Gvoun • Aen Khue • Aen Knaerruezoedz • Aenaek • Aenagzdars • Aenalla • Aeng Du • Aengdan • Aenggho • Aenggvug • Aengin • Aengkfae • Aengkhekkuerr • Aengksegz • Aengllog • Aenguer • Aenguezae • Aengvoung • Aengzothokh • Aenkong • Aenkuk • Aenloegin • Aenog Akh • Aeo • Aer Angae • Aer Kvoun Oekh • Aeradh • Aeraerir • Aeren • Aerfor • Aergghdza • Aero Ouzvothon • Aerok • Aerraekoukh • Aerragvull • Aerrgu • Aerritho • Aerrlleghz • Aerro • Aerrodz • Aerrogh • Aerroll • Aerru • Aerrvok • Aersaedha • Aersathun • Aerstou • Aerth • Aerzlloure • Aerzorak • Aes Dzoghzdu • Aes Garghgha • Aes Kazlluek • Aes Luengal • Aes Ovoen • Aes Singozoedon • Aes Torrgur • Aes Vogvakh • Aesekong • Aeson Sog • Aessar • Aesthagz • Aethirz • Aethkaek • Aetna (MS 1819) • Aetskaekhoun • Aetsoek • Aetsoghue • Aezill • Aezorr • Afoe • Afougae • Agaetsae • Agen • Aggedhlloez • Agghelu • Aghets • Aghodoun • Aghurtuekh • Aghzizor • Aghzorerroen • Aghzouzknae • Agkher • Agkuz • Agnakhong • Agoeng • Agolrok • Agrdhaen • Agugurkir • Agvaezo • Agvalae • Agzou • Aimliin • Airus • Aka • Akezaenae • Akfe Ae • Akfukh • Akgakhong • Akha • Akhan • Akhgarregh (Kn 1205) • Akhigh • Akhokh • Akhsngaeg • Akhstuti Ae • Akkfon • Akkip • Aknae • Aknaegzue • Aknuengon • Akoengouthluen • Aksa • Akse • Akseknoek • Aksofouta • Aksoth • Akuva • Akzudhtsaeo • Al Ezen • Alang • Alde • Alkhae • Allal • Allazkhor • Alldhouzae •

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Sector Listing: 1105