Girug'kagh
| Girug'kagh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Base Information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Classification | Omnivore | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Minor Race | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locomotion | Walker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Terrain | Plains | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Body Form | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Confluence | Humanoid | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bio-Identenoid | Alien | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Size | 1.5 meters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 65 kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Culture | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Languages | Savezitoiah, K'kree Language, Raxkiir, Gurvin (language) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Social Structure | Technocracy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technological Epoch | TL:13-15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Psionic potential | Standard | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Origin World | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Homeworld location | Kagh'kir (Ruupiin 2419) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| UWP | A688954-D
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| Primary Star | F6 V | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Atmosphere | Dense | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Off-world presence | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Zoetic individuals | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reference | Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 21 33-40. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canon | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Also see | Two Thousand Worlds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Girug'kagh of Kagh'kir (Ruupiin 2419) are a Minor Non-Human Race with a humanoid appearance and technologically advanced sophonts. They are also known as the Gifug'kagh or Savezitaisoh.
Description (Specifications)[edit]
The Girug'kagh are a scaled, scavenging omnivore species who are now a subject race of the K'kree. Their current name is a K'kree term which means something akin to "the translators", indicating their general role in K'kree society. The Girug'kagh originally called themselves the Savezitaisoh, and are native to a world they knew as Saviztah, but which the K'kree now call Kagh'kir.
Physiology[edit]
They are roughly humanoid, upright bipeds, homeothermic, standing 1.5 meters tall and 65 kg in weight. They are mostly hairless, with a faint scaling always visible. The hands have long, delicate fingers; the seven digits include three grasping fingers that are mutually opposable to all the other digits, and four shorter, stubbier, thumb-like members.
Aging[edit]
The Girug'kagh are extremely neotenic, retaining juvenile features well into adulthood. They do not show many outward physical signs of aging even as they approach the end of their natural lifespan. Death is swift when it comes, usually taking the form of multiple cancers or sudden, widespread organ failure.
History & Background (Dossier)[edit]
Girug'kagh history is largely now a story of how the Girug'kagh have been bent to the will of the Two Thousand Worlds.
Girug'kagh Evolutionary History[edit]
The Girug'kagh are descended from omnivore/gatherer stock which lived on the coastal plains of their homeworld. They developed intelligence in the face of changing climate and an increased competition for food collected from shoreline tidal pools and the nests of burrowing animals which dwelt along the coastal cliffs. Cooperation proved essential in the face of threats from several species of amphibian or shore dwelling carnivores, and the combination of intelligence and group cooperation led eventually to the rise of civilization.
Girug'kagh Under K'kree Domination[edit]
The race had attained a tech level of 2 when the K'kree first came across them. They were only the third non-K'kree race to be contacted by the militant vegetarians of Kirur. The K'kree interdicted the world for quite some time, while a debate over the fate of the newly discovered primitives was held. It was eventually decided that there was some hope that the Girug'kagh, who foraged for such food as they could find and had already developed a flourishing agricultural base, might not need to be destroyed as meat-eaters, and the K'kree offered them the option of adopting new ways or facing certain destruction at the hand of their technological superiors.
To the primitive Girug'kagh of that time, the K'kree were little short of gods. It is doubtful that they understood what was being asked of them at the time, but K'kree dictates on diet, conduct and other modifications in culture were accepted as teachings from heaven, and widely embraced (...a similar development can be seen in "cargo" cults of Melanesia, on Terra). Those who failed to adapt to the new ways gradually died away in the course of several generations of planetary development under the guidance of K'kree governors.
K'kree Subject Status[edit]
The Girug'kagh were eventually deemed ready to enter the mainstream of the Two Thousand Worlds, and were granted full subject status nearly four thousand years ago. Subject status conferred a limited autonomy -- a degree of self-rule, the right to travel to other worlds and be visited by K'kree ships and/or those of other subject races, and so forth.
By this time, the race had evolved a culture which was highly artificial, forced upon it from above rather than naturally developed from within. A certain degree of cultural shock had left the Girug'kagh unable to realize their original potential as a civilized people.
Society & Culture[edit]
There are few remnants now of the pre-K'kree ways of the Girug'kagh. Most social customs have arisen out of the K'kree dominance. Vegetarianism, of course, is the most essential part of life.
Girug'kagh Psychology[edit]
Girug'kagh are devoted to serving their K'kree masters. Equally, they feel superiority over other non-K'kree races. They were the first race to attain full subject status, and consider themselves to be a sort of 'next step down' in an interracial caste structure. The K'kree nobles, merchants, and servants come first, then the Girug'kagh, and then the rest of the universe.
Many of the race's institutions are colored by this opinion, and the most honorable career to undertake is that of underservant to a group of K'kree. Pride in one's position and station is a key aspect of Girug'kagh psychology, and perhaps their primary means of self-esteem.
Girag'kagh rarely act on their own initiative, unless it is to reinforce the petty status distinctions within their society, by either pushing down an uppity subordinate or angling for a slight increase in their own station. Key virtues are respect for successful elders, obedience to superiors, and contempt for inferiors.
Girug'kagh "Translators-cum-servants"[edit]
The Girug'kagh are often found as translators and intermediaries among the K'kree, particularly those K'kree who must deal with sophonts outside of the Two Thousand Worlds. Less easily offended by the smell of meat-eating outsiders, and more capable of racial tolerance and enclosed spaces than their masters, Girug'kagh are frequently very useful at conducting negotiations and other functions requiring close contact between K'kree and outsiders.
Social Organization[edit]
The K'kree-imposed government and social system is a loose caste system. Rules, services, and various other functions are litigated by a guild structure which, though not completely dependent upon birth, does tend to limit social mobility. One of their few links with the past and a point of great pride to the Savezitaisoh people is the practice of scale dying, in which Girug'kagh dye their scales in various colors to indicate rank and status through patterns of different sorts. Physically, the race is undistinguished; mentally they seem subservient, easily cowed, and almost totally without spirit. Some have gone so far as to describe them as a slave race.
Petty distinctions in status are taken very seriously, and there is great aversion to those who act outside their station or fail to know their place in the hierarchy.
Language[edit]
The native Girug'kagh language is all but dead (though there has been, over the past century or so, a definite effort to revive the old tongue and keep it -- and the native literature and poetry it was used for -- from passing away forever). Raxkiir is now their primary language.
Girug'kagh find it easy to learn Gurvin and, by coincidence, Jethra, but have problems with many Vargr languages.
Calendar[edit]
Very little is known about how the Girug'kagh form a calendar or mark the passing of time although it is assumed that the Girug'kagh calendar is based upon the planetary rotation of their homeworld, Kagh'kir (Ruupiin 2417).
Government & Law[edit]
Within the bounds of the Two Thousand Worlds, there are a number of races subject to the K'kree. Such races are collectively known as kr'rrir -- literally "all others, lesser", or "Subjects" -- and have been forced to adapt their cultures to conform to standards imposed by their K'kree overlords. The Girug'kagh are perhaps the highest-ranked of these, and function as something akin to the "majordomos" of the K'kree.
Second-class Citizens[edit]
The Girug'kagh have been instilled with an absolute conviction that they are second-class citizens, utterly inferior in all things to their K'kree overlords. A Human missionary from the Imperium attempted once to persuade some of these people to strike off their chains and realize that they were as good as anyone else, and was not only unsuccessful but deported for his efforts; the Girug'kagh simply could not accept the idea that they were not naturally intended as servants to the K'kree. Though they no longer regard their masters as gods, there is still an intense feeling of awe and reverence characterizing all of their attitudes towards the K'kree.
Equally, within their own society class position is of great importance. It is very embarrassing for a Girug'kagh to be seen socialising on equitable terms with a social inferior.
K'kree-imposed Government[edit]
The Girug'kagh government is a curious amalgamation of pre-contact structure and K'kree-imposed concepts. The K'kree-imposed government and social system is a loose caste system, with hereditary nobility (originally a "priesthood" selected to deal with the K'kree because they were the first who were willing to embrace vegetarianism and obey the K'kree in all things). Rules, services, and various other functions are legislated by a guild structure which, though not completely dependent upon birth, does tend to limit social mobility. The only exception to the generally stagnant guild structure is the ability of anyone to volunteer for training to serve the K'kree as translator-scum-servants.
Technology & Trade[edit]
The Girug'kagh no longer conduct scientific research officially and are limited to the technology that their K'kree overlords allow them. Secretly, small groups of Girug'kagh are learning science and even communicating with non-K'kree approved sophonts. The Girug'kagh conduct no trade, unless approved by their K'kree minders.
Their consumer products are solid, unexceptional items suitable for general export.
The Girug'kagh currency is the zavr (about 2 credits) which is subdivided into seven ezi, itself comprising seven sohi.
Military[edit]
There is no true military. The K'kree provide defense from space, and the closest thing to a military is the Proctor's Guild, which is more a police force than anything else.
As adopted K'kree, those Girug'kagh serving a herd as translators are required to serve a stint in the herd's military. This service is inevitably in intelligence or communications, not combat. It also applies to Girug'kagh of both sexes; as they don't bear K'kree young, female Girug'kagh are essentially considered "male".
Astrography[edit]
This race is primarily located in the following areas:
Charted Space:
Homeworld[edit]
The homeworld of this race is:
World Listing: 1105[edit]
Significant communities of this race are known to dwell within the following systems and worlds:
References & Contributors (Sources)[edit]
- Loren Wiseman. "Contact, The Girug'kagh." Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society 21 (1984): 33-40.
- Steve Jackson, Loren Wiseman. Alien Races 4 (Steve Jackson Games, 2001), 45-60.
- Matthew Sprange. Journal of the Travellers' Aid Society volume 1 (Mongoose Publishing, 2019), 112-116.