Created: 2000.06.13 Updated: 2002.6.12

P'taah

History:

From the Societe Etudies Extra-Terrestrique Et Xenelogique (SETEX) summary to UNSC commanders, 2188.

The sentient race know as the P'Taah have in the last 12 years volunteered information about themselves, and are better understood than even our quasi-allies the Sa'Vasku. However, this information is incomplete for the P'taah are ignorant about certain facets of their history, and they eagerly followed and encouraged human archeaological investigations on the lost colonies in the Indonesian Commonealth worlds.

Certanly their biology is comprehensible; Notable differences between terrestrial and Ta'Achian life are the unclear demarcations between fungi and animals on the cellular level, the predominance of halogen-containing Amino Acids in proteins and a lack of true bony tissues in multicelled life. As on most planets, life arose on shorelines and continental shelves then filled the oceans, later spreading onto the land masses on the surface. Green "plants" whose cells possess features fungal in type -- storage of sugar as clycogen, chitnous fibers, simple woven structure -- were first, followed by hard-shelled creatures resembling Centauran arthrozomes and Terran tardigrades. Next came amphibious creatures which combined spinal cords with mollusc physicology, in a quadrupedal body plan. With few modifications this is the form of all life on Ta'Ach.

P'taah are bipedal, bimanual beings with simple muscular-sac respiration system, closed blood circulation using vanadium-based carrier molecules and two twin-chambered hearts. Digestion is via a buccal cavity lined with flat crushing/grindingscales behind lips which contain sharp cutting edges retracting when not in use, a heavily acidic stomach and complex intestinal coil. While the sense of smell is found in the mouth and the upper digestive track, the respiration system is seperate, consisting of two sacs which exhale and inhale throught two spiracles on the ventral surface below the neck; These also have a connection to the urinary system by which the kidnes eject volatile waste fluids into exhaled air. Muscles are supported by a series of tublar mases of strands of fibres that combine in much like Terran rhino 'horn'; This skeleton gives strength with extreme light weight, although it does not have the impact resistance of true bone nor its repair capability, as breakes require specialized cells at each end to grow new fibres to be "woven" into the damage. Reproduction is sexual, with two genders and two sub-genders making a total of 4 types. The exact operation is unclear but appears to increase phenotypic or expressed-gene diversity in populations, as each sub-female suppresses certain genes in the male offspring to make them quasi-recessive, e.g, genes that determine lip color, physical size and blood type are changed by the maternal gender. Certain gender parings have been forbidden culturaly, and offspring with unacceptable traits have been outcast or deified by historical cultures. What is know is that this is one of the reasons why genetic drift occurs rapidly in this species.

P'taah weaponry, since the collapse of their star-spanning culture into small planetary systems from a freak plague caused by a mutated alien virus, suffers from major difficulties of repair and reproducibility; Although their pre-collapse technology level was extremely advanced it has led to only the self-repairing and/or easily understandable equipment still being available to present-day users as so much of it was dependent on complex support systems and/or knowledge devices to retrieve; In effect, once the population dropped below a certain volume, the technology collapsed and with a handfull of exceptions the priniples of operation and reconstruction were lost. Hence the presence of the enclosed Sub-Nuclear reactors in starships and on planets that no living P'taah has ever entered and the use of complete GCC weapons, or "Grav-Guns".

Currently the P'taah are embarking on the process of reuniting the remaining populated worlds of their once-huge stellar civilization. By far the majority of P'taah desire peaceful trade and contact with humanity and other species, and have offered to assist IC colonies against Kra'Vak incursions. Neverthless, a minority believe tha the P'taah should not retain their own but take back the IC worlds and begin an active expansion into the galaxy again; An ingrained fear of infection seems to be limiting the popularity of this 'Imperial' faction

Full Thrust

1. Gravity-Cancellation Cannons (GCC):
   A "Grav-Gun" is in some aspects a very refined form of Hyperkinetic projectile gun; What distinguishes it from similar Kra'Vak weapons is the motive power for the projectile is not electromagnetic, explosive, or gravity-pulled/pushed, but rather nulled gravitiionly powered. Human and Kra'Vak gravity manipulation, being related to true gravity as static electricity is to electric current, is unable to duplicate the effect which creates a globe of utterly zero gravity in a firing chamber -- Note that according to Newtonian, relativistic and quantum gravity theries, any matter without mass naturally moves at the speed of light -- That accelarates solid objects to lightspeed in an instant. The energy for this appears to come from nowhere, because of the nature of non-Relativistic space created by the negation of gravitational effects. Effectively, the gram-sized projectiles hit target vesseles with a force equal to a collision with a small asteroid and therefore the weapon is the most powerful device currently in known use. It has only two disadvantages; Firstly, it is a large construct requiring a fixed spinal mounting; Secondly, a althought the ship-mounted models are much more reliable than the smaller units due to their size, there is a small probability that the projectile may exit the null-gravity field in a direction other than that of the guide channel, and thus hurtle throught the firing vessel causing damage to it.
   

     GCC Rules:
     Mass: 12
     Cost: 32
     Max. Range: 60"
     Damage: 7d6, reroll 6s, Screens have no effect.
     Missfire: Each time the GCC is fired, roll 2d6; if both dice come up 1s, 
       the cannon missfires and the firing vessel takes the damage.
     

2. Monofilament Whips (MW)
   Biotechnology is one field in which the P'taah retain working knowledge and a high deree of skills -- Carbon chemistry and polymer synthesis being a mojor facet of this. From the same technology that permits the weaving of carbon-boron fibres strong enough to build space elevator cables some thousands of kilometres long comes the ultimate application of the whiplash; Since the velocity of the tip of a hip is related to its length and the tapering ratio, long cables that end in almost molecule-sized tips can be 'cracked' at incredibly high velocities using fairly small energy inputs at the base. The impact force of such weapons is often enough to cause a nuclear detonation in a target material -- More often it simply cuts through the most adamant of hull armor. While the Monofilament Whip becomes more powerful at longer ranges, due to the distance that the swing can be made, a practical limit is reached due to cohereance of the filament structure.
   Mounted on a turret, the frictionless bearings of the unti automatically allow a three-arch attack ability, though not throuth the rear arc because of disruption of the filament strength from the thrust agency. Likewise, defensive screen energy fields can break up the molecles at the tip and reduce damage effects.
   

     MW Rules:
     Mass: 6
     Cost: 9
     Max. Range: 14"
     Min. Range: 4"
     Damage: 4"- 8", 2d6
             8"-12", 4d6
            12"-16", 6d6
     Screens: -2 damage points per level of screen.
     

3. Gravity Oscillation Generators (GOG)
   Called "Rattlers" by human fleets these are gravity generators that switch rapidly on and off creating a pulsating force upon the target vessel, in efect vibrating the structure in a series of oscillations. Harmonics can be set up in the structure that can collapse the ship from within. Armor is of some protection as the denser materials used resist the effects.
   

     GOC Rules:
     Size            Mass    Cost    Range" 
       Class-1        2        3      4"    
       Class-2        5        7      8"
       Class-3        8       12     12"
       Class-4       11       17     16"
       Class-5       14       21     20"
     Arcs: 3 (only)
     Required Ship Mass: Ship mass must be a minimum of 10 x the largest
       GOG Class level.
     Maximum GOC Mass: GOGs may make up no more than 20% of ship mass.
     Damage: Roll 1 d6 per class, 4+ generates 1 point of damage times the 
       damage multiplier and armor modifier. 
       Damage Multiplier:
         Target Damage Level:
         Undamage or 1st row damaged:    x 1
         2nd row damaged:                x 2
         3rd row damaged:                x 3
         4th row damaged:                x 4
       Armor modifier: -1 per 5 armor (round up)
     

4. Conventional Weapons:
   

   1. Energy Weapons: P'taah beam batteries are similar in performance to other races, but are slightly more sophisticated. Using semi-organic materials, they ahve a small self-repair capacity which comes a a price; Namely tha they cost 4 times thier mass.
      Repairs are carried out as if the battery itslef counted as one DCP. Note that if any repair roll is failed, the battery CANNOT attempt another repair on itself and must have DCPs attached as normal.
   2. PDAF: Reflecting the P'taah technology, they use an effective anti-fighter system that launch bolas-like lengths of organic monofilament cables with weighted ends that scythe through the fighter bodies. They cost 8 points to install, 1 mass, and kill 1 fighter on a result of a 4, 2 on results of 5 or 6 (no rerolls). Against MT missiles, it intercepts a missile on a 5+. Salvo missiles are intercepted 1 on a 4, 2 on a 5, and 3 on a 6. P'taah do not have ADAF capibility nor do they field fighters or missiles themselves.
   3. Needle Beams: These are identical to human devices. However the P'taah ALWAYS mount them in the side arcs without exception.

5. Hull Construction:
   Because the P'taah starships utilise semi-organic construction materials such as Caesium Phosphate 'bones' and plating, they are more easily constructed being literally grown. Thus, the cost of armouring P'taah vessels is 1.5 times the armor level (round up). Hull costs are 0.6 times the total mass for hull (round up). Other costs are the same as human vessels.
   Example -- A typical P'taaah vessel would be a Battleship-sized Commerce raider, which might escort a fleet of trading vessels. (Based on the Irregular Miniatures SA4 Cruiser)

       Mass: 110
       Cost: 302
       MD:     3
       FTL:  Std
       Armor: 14
       Hull:  33
       Crew:   5
       FCS:    2
       1 x GOG (AP,FP,F)
       1 x GOG (F,FS,AS)
       1 x GOG (FP,F,FS)
       1 x MW (FP,F,FS)
       3 x PDAF