Gruemors

This dwindling species of naturally adept explorers has spread throughout the galaxy, selling their services to survey new reaches of space.

Typical Gruemor

Agility 2D: brawling 3D, firearms 3D
Mechanical 3D: navigation 3D+2, piloting 4D, sensors 3D+1
Strength 4D: life 4D+1
Knowledge 3D: astrography 3D+1, cultures 3D+2
Perception 3D: investigation 3D+1, persuasion 3D+2
Technical 3D: flight systems repair 4D
Strength Damage: 2D
Move: 10
Fate Points: 0
Character Points: 2
Body Points: 22
Wound levels: 3

Disadvantages: Hindrance (R2), uncoordinated: +2 to difficulties for acrobatics, melee combat, and sleight of hand; Quirk (R2), must make Difficult willpower or Knowledge roll to resist the urge to wander off to explore interesting areas; Poverty (R1)

Advantages: None

Special Abilities: Endurance (R1), +3D to Strength or stamina checks when performing taxing physical tasks; Omnivorous (R1); Sense of Direction (R1) +1D to navigation and search rolls

Gruemor Package

Total creation point cost: 0

Total defined limit cost: 0

Disadvantages: Hindrance (R2), uncoordinated: +2 to difficulties for acrobatics, melee combat, and sleight of hand; Quirk (R2), must make Difficult willpower or Knowledge roll to resist the urge to wander off to explore interesting areas; Poverty (R1)

Advantages: none

Special Abilities: Endurance (R1, cost 1), +3D to Strength or stamina checks when performing taxing physical tasks; Omnivorous (R1, cost 2); Sense of Direction (R1, cost 2) +1D to navigation and search rolls

Physical Appearance

Gruemor have burly, fur-covered frames, with large heads displaying rounded ears, gentle eyes, and a snout ripped with a black nose. Their general physique runs toward the rotund, with broad shoulders and hips, a noticeable belly, and stocky arms. They speak in a gravely but kind voice, though they can roar ferociously when angered. Their bulky figure and sturdy legs give Gruemor a lumbering gait that hints at their overall lack of grace and coordination.

Millennia of evolution have softened their claws into fingernails and refined their behavior to avoid using their powerful, toothy jaws in combat. They still retain their hardy endurance and ability to consume and gain nourishment from nearly any organic substance. Their teeth, fingers, and an elongated tongue help them obtain food from hard-to-reach places, a luxury in civilized society, but often necessary when exploring uncharted planets with limited packaged supplies.

Their fur color runs from brown and black to reddish brown and even gray and silver in older specimens. Color variations around the snout, including blotches of white, help distinguish between individuals.

Homeworld

Gruemor evolved on Tyrvash, a varied terrain planet covered in lush forests. They created a rich civilization chat conservatively consumed natural resources and built itself organically into the terrain. Gruemor ranged far across their immense planet, exploring far-away mountain ranges, crossing vast oceans, and surveying the natural beauty of their world. Although heavy industry and technological innovations developed slowly under such conditions, the Gruemor had forged a significantly advanced society when space-faring species discovered their homeworld.

With the advent of space travel, the Gruemor took their wanderlust to the stars. A knack for seeking out and surveying new worlds – a result of their roving nature – made them ideal explorers. Their government transformed from a loose confederation of nations to a Conference of Guilds that regulated all industries and operations relating to expeditions. Tyrvash served as the base for survey activities. Starports sat upon flattened mountains and cities wove themselves through tree limbs and roots. Using technology gleaned from other species, Gruemor engineers designed scout ships known for their ability to withstand long journeys and return with valuable data and samples from surveyed planets. Representatives from around the galaxy traveled to Tyrvash to hire Gruemor explorers.

As the bounds of known space expanded, the species spread throughout the galaxy, settling where governments, corporations, and other benefactors could readily hire them for expeditions into uncharted territory. They began relying on more advanced technology patrons provided for their surveys, ships that could take them farther, instruments that could record new kinds of data, and equipment to help them survive in more hostile environments. As Gruemor became more mercenary surveyors, Tyrvash ceased functioning as the hub of their exploratory activities. For a species with wanderlust in its blood and exploring as its profession, “home” was wherever they happened ro return after their expeditions.

Eventually Tyrvash was left to fall into disrepair. Declining birth rates lowered the population, foliage diseases depleted their natural habitat, and wanderlust dispersed many Gruemor across the galaxy.

Today the average traveler might mistake the Gruemor homeworld for an unexplored planet. Four centuries of neglect have enabled its lush forests to overgrow the ruins of a once great civilization. Few Gruemor remain here. Some return in their old age to live out their final years as ascetics seeking a primitive existence from the forest. Others form archaic tribes, forsaking the ways of technology and space-faring to wander the Tyrvash wilderness, scraping a simple existence from the land far from the worries of the greater galaxy.

Xenoarchaeologist Brief > Tvrvash

Filed by Xatta Nanth, University of Qui’laak

The arboreal planet of Tyrvash presents scholars with an interesting environment: a world once the center of an influential space-faring species that has declined over four centuries into a primitive setting for a “lost” civilization. The university sponsors regular expeditions to uncover evidence of earlier Gruemor society and reconstruct their history as the species’ galaxywide population slowly diminishes. We hope to extrapolate conditions leading to the civilization’s decline to avoid similar decay in modern society. Excavators have located several areas of concern and future study:

Starport Ruins: The most substantial indication of earlier Gruemor civilization stands atop a nearly leveled mountain at the end of a spur range chat penetrates the planet’s largest forest. Upon chis platform, the Gruemor constructed a sprawling starport arranged in a radial fashion. Landing pads dotted the outer edge, which inner rings for repair and service facilities, starship construction, and, at the very center, control and administration. We have discovered evidence of an enormous library near the city center, presumably where the Gruemor stored information about their many expeditions throughout the galaxy. Little remains but rubble, most of natural stone with refined metals for structural reinforcement and power/data conduits. A thick coat of sponge-moss covers the rocks, seeping into and expanding cracks.

City Remnants: Other evidence exists within the forests of communities reaching the size of cities. Most tree-dwellings have long ago decomposed and fallen to the forest floor, but some signs of ground-level structures linger beneath the heavy underbrush. Unfortunately, gigantic root systems have crushed many buildings over the centuries, leaving little more than jumbled wreckage. Given the Gruemor reverence for nature, these dwellings may have been designed to merge back into the natural terrain after their original use, making the xenoarchaeologist’s job difficult. Our team hopes to find some evidence of Gruemor religious structures to provide a better sense of how their respect for nature affected their daily lives and beliefs.

Forests: The lush forests covering most of the planet’s landmasses shelter several primitive Gruemor tribes bereft of any sense of their technologically advanced past. Most exist in primitive caves delved beneath immense tree roots. Modern Gruemor also return here to live out their final days in simple encampments worthy of ascetic hermits. Any dangerous predators were long ago hunted to extinction, though herds of harmless herbivores provide sustenance for the omnivorous Gruemor.

Blights: Plant diseases have devastated some reaches of the forests, leaving chem defoliated and rotting. Although this proves ideal for uncovering previously unknown ruins, we must take care not to inadvertently spread the blight to other forested regions on Tyrvash or additional worlds. Until we can fully analyze the disease, we spend little time in blights lest the microbes prove harmful to other organic creatures.

The university expedition currently maintains a base camp at the starport, the principle focus of its excavations. From here we venture to known sites in the forests, cautious not to trespass on primitive tribal territories. We limit our occasional forays into a nearby blight to no longer than five days at a time.

The presence of both barbaric Gruemor tribes and modern Gruemor complicate xenoanthropological studies. The former have (or at least express) no knowledge of their past heritage, while the latter prefer silence and contemplation to further involvement in galactic affairs.

Society

Families form the core of Gruemor society. Most consist of two parents and one or two cubs. Typically, one parent leaves the home to undertake expedition work and provide the family with income while the other remains to raise the cubs. When children leave the household – after years of schooling and apprenticeships in exploration-related professions – the remaining parent often joins the other spouse on surveys.

Gruemor families integrate themselves into the communities where they find work, usually in diverse settings like starports or planets inhabited by many different species. Some establish enclaves with other Gruemor or those with whom, by species or profession, they work on expeditions. Those who remain at home while the provider sets off on expeditions find work in the area, generally in some capacity supporting survey missions.

Most Gruemor harbor an accepting attitude regarding greater events in the galaxy, other species, and all but the most tyrannical governments. If they don’t like something or someone, they simply move on, find a new home, or wander away. Other species view Gruemor as affable loners who keep to themselves and tend to wander off on their own, even in regular society. They value them for their skills in charting new territory but see them as a gifted minority deserving little say in administrative or cultural matters.

In the past, most Gruemor deferred to a central, representative government on Tyrvash consisting of delegates from various exploring guilds. With their civilization in decline, their homeworld all but abandoned, and a reduced population spread over countless star systems, the Gruemor have no centralized regime of their own. They depend on the generosity of patrons or host governments to provide stable homes, schooling, and civic services.

Gruemor Cooking

Gruemor cuisine isn’t exceptional enough to inspire restaurants around the galaxy, but it’s innovative “throw everything into the pot” approach results from their omnivorous appetites and the need to settle for whatever foodstuffs are on hand.

The Gruemor digestive system can process any nonpoisonous, organic substance as food. Their teeth can gnaw through any such material, giving them options for ingredients other species wouldn’t consider. Such appetites help Gruemor scouts survive on newly discovered planers when their supplies run low. Living constantly on the edge of poverty also encourages them rouse any available organic matter for food.

A good Gruemor cook can make a palatable meal out of most anything. Using their every-pot, they can combine water, meat, and vegetables to create stews, broths,soups, and gruel with an amazing range of flavor. Most Gruemor know which elements to mix to achieve certain tastes, all from readily available organic matter. Some chefs constantly test new combinations and new organic substances, particularly those recently discovered during survey missions to uncharted planets.

As long as a Gruemor has an every-pot, some water, and any organic material, he can create an inexpensive, hot meal to provide nourishment and comfort.

Economy

Without a centralized government, immense industrial base, or stable homeworld, the Gruemor have little resembling a viable economy. Individual families gee along as best they can. They depend on their benefactors’ generosity to survive. Most hire themselves out for solitary expeditions or as survey team mission consultants, hoping for liberal pay and bonuses for good work. Gruemor live from one expedition to the next on limited funds, with no government to aid chem in times of need.

Gruemor possess very little property; fewer own their scout ships as had in the past, having sold them to pay bills and relying on benefactors to supply their equipment. Most live at the poverty level, and some descend into debt. Many find menial jobs near starports between expedition assignments or white other family members undertake survey work.

Laws and Customs

Gruemor adopt the laws ruling whatever society in which they settle. They generally follow rules and proper behavior, even when their wanderlust kicks in; they do their best to fulfill this urge within the limits of standing regulations. They realize that law-abiding citizens integrate into society better, a primary goal for a people bereft of any interstellar empire or protective government of their own.

Gruemor follow a few arcane customs retained from their earlier days of prosperity. They generally practice a respect for nature and all living things (as dictated by their religious beliefs), expect some degree of generosity from others in hard rimes, and give freely of their wealth when possible.

Given their wandering nature, times of departing and returning become special occasions. A household celebrates with an elaborate meal using almost all available foodstuffs (edible to Gruemor, at least), to which neighbors and friends receive invitations. Those returning from afar often entertain guests at festivities with stories of their wanderings, though singing and dancing also liven the parry. Feasts for those leaving on survey missions take a more somber note, with guests offering wishes and good luck tokens ensuring safe travel and return. The occasion also lets associates know that the remaining family may need assistance in the absence of one of the parents. Although guests do not bring gifts to the departing ceremony, they often visit the family later to offer services, food, or money if needed.

Religion

Gruemor practice no formal religion but harbor a respect for all living things and an overall reverence for nature. In their exploration duties, they do their best to avoid destroying natural terrain; they realize their patrons seek to exploit newly discovered planets, and they voice regret when pristine lands fall to advancing development.

Most Gruemor keep live plants in their homes (and sometimes in small terrariums aboard ship) to remind them of their connection to nature. This foliage comes from the planet on which Gruemor families have settled and worlds from which explorers have returned with live specimens for transplanting.

Like most of their cultural heritage, religious beliefs in deities have mainly passed from collective memory into a general respect for nature. Some of the primitive tribes left on Tyrvash worship nature gods inspired by their surroundings, though such rituals remain archaic and beyond the understanding of modem people. Xenoarchaeologists hope to find more concrete evidence of these nature religions to better comprehend the Gruemor organic approach to life and technology.

Toward the end of their lives – particularly after the death of a spouse or child – solitary Gruemor often turn their backs on the greater galaxy and sequester themselves as hermits on planets with vast wilderness regions. Many return to the immense forest lands of their homeworld Tyrvash, where they live in primitive camps and shun contact with other intelligent beings. They occupy their time with basic survival tasks, while the inspiration and awe of their natural surroundings allows them to reflect on their former lives, remember departed family and friends, and appreciate the simplicity and beauty of their environment. Some vow never to speak again, while others welcome occasional visitors. Most convey an enigmatic sense of mystery in their harmless comings and goings. Sometimes outsiders intentionally seek these recluses, hoping to glean some knowledge of expeditions long past or planets casually surveyed and left behind. Some hermits aid them, others offer inscrutable tidbits of vague philosophy, and a rare few grumble and wave them off.

Entertainment

Gruemor partake in entertainment popular wherever they live, though they avoid events that destroy nature or show disrespect for living creatures. Existing near the poverty level means they don’t splurge on needless diversions but prefer free amusements.

Most enjoy walking or hiking in undeveloped lands, parks, or nature preserves where they can connect with a planet’s natural side. Despite their overall ungainliness, Gruemor enjoy wading and swimming in streams, lakes, and rivers. The more artistic indulge in painting, sculpting. or otherwise capturing a location’s natural beauty in some medium.

Cubs pretend they’re explorers surveying imaginary terrain within their homes or in open areas nearby. They also enjoy roaming, mapping, and searching games. From a very early age, cubs learn to use various navigation tools in their play, from simple compasses and maps to mock instrument panels and scout ship computer simulators.

Survey Prep > XB-2278

Per request 98-G, Igna-Corp records department discovered the following information regarding planet designated XB-2278 in preparation for survey expedition scheduled to depart 117-F-0903.

> Located at the far end of the Vansar Reach.

> Nearest settled world: Nevera Colony, 16 standard days flight.

>”No commercial value” (previous survey data logged with Charter’s Guild 029-A-0878).

> Scout Brmmm Crammlin (Gruemor) “retired” to Wilderlands of Azaag flew previous survey; logged mysterious comment in report: “Anomalous energy readings from floating ruins, glowing storm cloud, and molten river.”

Recommendations: Seek out Brmmm Crammlin on Azaag and interview regarding cryptic comments.

Technology

Although much Gruemor technology was lost over the centuries of their declining civilization, some equipment remains in their hands today, heirlooms of a time when their species pushed the boundaries of the known galaxy outward.

Gruemor Scout Ship

Few Gruemor still possess their own scour ships from the days when their survey guilds constructed exploration vessels. The single-seat craft holds one pilot/explorer, with a great quantity of provisions and a coldsleep module for extended journeys. Storage compartments hold weapons, survey gear, and containers for organic and mineral samples. Upgraded computer packages enhance the ship’s systems and aid che pilot in survey and defense operations. The cockpit configuration suits a Gmemor’s bulky frame, unlike the less personalized exploration craft many patrons provide for missions.

Crew: 1

Passengers: 0

Life-Supporting Modules: bridge (4 areas, 2 tons, 0.4 cu, 100 er) with +1D piloting, comm, sensors, and gunnery upgrades (4 eu, 3,600 er); 1 cold-sleep module (1 areas, 0.5 ton, 0.1 eu, 200 cr)

Cargo Modules: bulk (equipment, storage, and weapons lockers; 2 areas, 2 tons, 0.2 eu, 50 cr)

Life-Support Supplies: food storage (3 areas, 1.5 tons, 1.5 eu, 30 cr); standard food supply (1 person/12 months, 1.2 tons, 1,200 cr); atmosphere (3 people-areas/6 months, 1,800 cr)

In-System Drive: (14 areas, 14 tons, 36 eu, 12,500 cr)

Move: 12 (space), 600 (atmosphere, 1,750 kph)

Maneuverability: +2D (12 eu, 3,600 cr)

Interstellar Drive: 1 (12 areas, 36 tons, 100 eu, 51,000 cr)

Weapons: 1 laser cannon (5 areas, 6 tons, 7 eu, 13,000 cr, forward arc, range 3/12/25, 6D damage)

Total Energy Requirements: 168

Power Plant: 250 energy units generated (18 areas, 33 tons, 34,500 cr)

Hull Toughness: 20 (59 tons, 29,500 cr)

Atmosphere Capability: streamlining (15 tons, 5,900 cr), landing gear (12 tons, 4,425 cr)

Armor: 0

Shields: +2D (2 areas, 4 tons, 6 eu, 36,000 credits)

Total Tonnage: 187

Scale: 17

Total Area Units: 61

Length: 20 meters (ellipsoid)

Total Cost (new): 197,405 credits/Price Difficulty: 40

Astrocomp

Although most modern scout ships have sophisticated navigation computers, Gruemor also rely on an old-tech gadget they developed to double-check their location and bearings. The astrocomp comes housed in a cylinder the length of a hand span, yet it folds out into a prickly ball with two handles and an ocular. The outward-pointing spines house bearing-point locators that automatically hone in on the frequencies and positions of stars, providing the central processor sphere with data. By sighting a particular location through the ocular, the user can determine its distance and, extrapolating from star placement, his current location and the target’s relative position.

The astrocomp requires at least five minutes to set up, cake readings for, and successfully align to provide helpful navigational data. If properly used, it gives a +1D bonus to navigation in space and on terrestrial surfaces, but only to chose trained by Gruemor in its proper use. Since it relies on stellar positioning, the ambient light near the user should be low; it provides the best results when deployed in space or at night.

Cost: Difficult (4,555 credits).

Every-Pot

The every-pot serves as the central- and in some cases, the only- appliance in every Gruemor kitchen. This eight-liter vat can cook the contents to an acceptably delicious temperature and consistency. The every-pot suits the Gruemor omnivorous appetite. After finishing off any leftovers for the morning meal, the cook cleans the pot, then tosses in any organic substances: meat, vegetables, paper waste, wood, leaves, grass. Once the cook adds all the ingredients, tops it off with water, and seals the pot top, blades in the pot bottom shred all the components (with different settings for varying degrees of mincing). An inner heating element brings the broth to a quick boil, then simmers it over time to fully cook. Although it usually runs off of household power supplies, the pot’s internal power source can cook hot meals for an entire week on its own. The blades also keep food substances from sticking to the inner pot during prolonged heating. The every-pot’s bulk makes it difficult to carry around, but some Gruemor take them along on their survey expeditions to sample newly discovered plants and meats or concoct new recipes from different combinations of ingredients.

Cost: Moderate (212 credits).

Out of Stereotype

As presented here, the Gruemor are a dwindling race of wandering loners; this doesn’t always suit every game or player.

The influence and grandeur of the past Gruemor civilization can be easily resurrected, making them the definitive explorers in their region of space. Tyrvash stands as the center of a vast network of survey guilds, with fleets of individual scour ships and larger expedition cruisers.

The Gruemor guilds might serve their own government or answer to a greater authority in the galaxy as the official exploratory arm of some immense empire.

Navigational and piloting skills could provide the basis for a Gruemor military state that directly reaps the benefits of discovering, conquering, and exploiting the resources in newly surveyed systems. Such a regime would require a corps of explorer-warriors capable of deploying to different worlds and engaging enemies in space and on the ground.

The species could easily fill the role of a merchant species given their ability to navigate the stars and a knack for finding new resources on recently surveyed planets. An exploratory armada could easily double as a mercantile fleet, expanding their territorial claims and capitalizing on discoveries by exporting newfound commodities.

Although the Gruemor’s easygoing and relatively honest nature does not often lead to illegal activity, they could form criminal groups wherever they gather. Mercantile or survey activity could conveniently serve as a front for gunrunning, smuggling, and bounty hunting.

The species’ connection with nature provides a medium for its involvement in philosophical and artistic endeavors. Either sequestered amid the towering forests of Tyrvash or in smaller enclaves nestled in nature preserves throughout the galaxy, the Gruemor could bring enlightenment to others through respect for the environment.

As outlined, the declining and roving Gruemor could serve patrons in any of these capacities as isolated individuals or small groups.

D6 Space Aliens, Volume I (WEG 51022), © 2005 Purgatory Publishing Inc.
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