Category Archives: Chezbah Sourcebook

The Lesser Seed (Chezbah Hounds) have baffled earth forces for some time. Early on special operations groups were sent out to try and find production facilities that made them but found nothing. Then earth forces would occasionally corner a small group of Chezbah, only to have a the Chezbah backed up by Lesser Seed ready for them. The Kelrath also comment on this in their writings, saying that the Lesser Seed spring up from nowhere. This fueled the suspicion that they were teleported in to an area from some remote site, possibly in the Collector Wells.

Recently a an I-CA scientist published a report on an autopsy of a Chezbah Warrior that described a series of five nodules embedded in the arms of the Warrior. He also reported that these nodules slowly dissolved over the course of several hours. These nodes are embedded just under the skin but after further autopsies he discovered a set of muscles that push the nodes to the surface of the skin.

Seeking to prevent the nodes from decaying so they could be studied, he placed them in a nutrient bath but they still decayed into masses of fibrous filaments. Thinking that they were now useless he dumped them in a trash can only to find that the fibers had spread through some discarded food that was in the can. However the fibers slowly degraded and would not grow anymore.

It wasn’t until later when he had fresh specimens to study that he discovered their real purpose. After three abortive attempts with larger and larger quantities of food, he finally saw the fibers grow into a more substantial form. The fibers consumed the food matter and began to take the form of a Lesser Seed (Chezbah Hound).

After this experimentation was published others have followed up in studying the nodes and have found that any biomass of sufficient size will grow the Lesser Seed. It would seem that these nodes are in fact the “seed” that grows into the Hound.

This would seem to explain why the Lesser Seed seem to appear or go with Warriors in groups of five. Each arm with five nodes can grow into five of the creatures. However, it has been found that the nodes can form more than a single creature if they have enough biomass. The seed will spread to the entire mass and produce many of the Lesser Seed from a single node but the mass must be all in one pile.

This seems to substantiate the Kelrath name “Dead Stealers” as Warriors may seed the dead with these nodes to create reinforcements.

When a person in Chezbah society is suspected to be guilty of a crime, select men that have been given the title “Strong Man” are responsible for catching and detaining the criminal. These are usually physically fit upstanding men in the community. They are not paid for this job but are revered for their authority. Once detained, it is primarily the role of the Priests to act as judges. This can be a problem as not all communities have resident priests, small communities have to wait months for a traveling priest. The Strong Man now presents his evidence and the Priest examines the case. Because of their access to vast knowledge, Priests are reasonably well suited to this task.

The Strong Man has to be careful, if the Priest disagrees with his findings he can be stripped of his title or even charged with the crime he accused the detained person of.

The Sentence

As one might expect, punishment for crimes, especially those against Loc are particularly harsh. They can at times result in death for an entire family. Most crimes that do not involve religious or governmental matters will involve incarceration of one form or another and prison sentences can be lengthy.

Prison also includes re-education programs that brainwash the prisoner.

There are two possible options available to a prisoner to get them out of jail time. They can opt to be Scourged or they may be offered to take combat hazard duty.

Criminal Scourges

Since the Chezbah are a strongly patriarchal society, if a family head is to be incarcerated, it usually sentences his family to poverty. In this situation a man can opt to be Scourged instead. These are not the combat Scourge in the The Artifact game book but specific criminal Scourges that turn the prisoner into an agricultural or industrial commodity.

First the prisoner is subjected to a period of re-education to obey. The scourge is usually reduced to a drone that just takes commands. He is rented to businesses and most of the money goes to the family, the rest goes to the priesthood for providing the rehabilitation. The rent is usually enough for the family to live on. The family can care for the scourge in their home if they choose, sometimes the families don’t want to be seen with the scourge and let the companies keep them in their facilities. When this happens the scourge usually suffers physically due to mistreatment.

Social acceptance of criminal scourges ranges from place to place. Sometimes they are viewed as noble for sacrificing themselves for their families. Sometimes they are viewed with disdain because they were criminals.

Pickers
The scourges hands deform and the thumb and the index finger separate from the rest of the fingers. The hand becomes very long. The arms fold upward while at rest now and the hand folds downward looking like a praying mantis. Even in this position the index fingers and thumb reach the ground. Ridges form along the extended hand and eventually can be moved in an undulating motion. The fingers also develop fine hairs that increase their sensitivity to touch and an acute sense of smell. This allows them to find fruit and vegetation for picking without actually seeing the item being picked. The ridges convey the picked item up or down the hand. A bag is carried by the remaining three fingers of the hand and picked items are conveyed into the bag.

There are some other uses for pickers like reaching high places in construction etc and the scourges can adapt to these uses.

1 Month  -5 to AGI -5 DEX +10 cm reach
2 Months -10 to DEX -5 from PSY +10 cm reach
3 Months -10 to DEX +10 cm reach
4 Months +5 to AGI -5 from PSY +15 cm reach
5 Months +5 to AGI -5 from PSY +15 cm reach
6 Months +10 AGI +5 INT-5 from PSY +15 cm reach
8 Months +10 AGI +5 INT-5 from PSY +15 cm reach
1 Year  +5 INT-5 from PSY +20 cm reach

Sorters
This scourge is used to sort food items or industrial parts. The pinky finger rotates and becomes another thumb. The middle finger falls off and the rest of the fingers elongate. the hand separates into two individual hands. The brain starts to process information from each eye individually and the eyes are now independent of each other so that they can be pointed in different directions. The pupils become larger to increase the peripheral vision. The brain also handles actions in three separate zones. One for each hand and one for the legs.

1 Month  -5 to AGI -5 DEX
2 Months -5 to DEX -5 from PSY
3 Months -10 to DEX +5 REF
4 Months +5 to REF -5 from PSY +5 cm reach
5 Months +5 to REF -5 from PSY +5 cm reach
6 Months +10 REF +5 INT-5 from PSY
8 Months +15 REF +5 INT-5 from PSY
1 Year  +15 REF +5 INT-5 from PSY

Brutes
This scourge is similar to the Wall in that it increases strength but the brute lacks the armor and regeneration abilities of the Wall scourge. Brutes are actually much stronger than the Wall but have less of a negative agility and dexterity modifier.

1 Month  +10 STR +10 CON -5 DEX
2 Months +15 STR +10 CON  -5 to DEX -5 from PSY
3 Months +15 STR +10 CON
4 Months +15 STR +5 CON  -5 from PSY
5 Months +15 STR +5 CON  -5 from PSY
6 Months +15 STR +5 CON -5 from PSY
8 Months +20 STR +5 CON -5 from PSY
1 Year  +20 STR +5 CON -5 from PSY

Counters
These scourge are not altered physically. However their brains are rewired to handle numbers in huge quantities. The scourge can easily handle monetary transactions and do numerical analysis of data. They also rarely forget numerical data.

1 Month  +5 IQ
2 Months +5 IQ +10 Mathematics Skill -5 from PSY
3 Months +5 IQ +10 Mathematics Skill
4 Months +5 IQ +10 Mathematics Skill -5 from PSY
5 Months +5 IQ +10 Mathematics Skill -5 from PSY
6 Months +5 IQ +20 Mathematics Skill -5 from PSY
8 Months +5 IQ +5 INT +20 Mathematics Skill -5 from PSY
1 Year  +5 IQ +5 REF +25 Mathematics Skill -5 from PSY

Combat Hazard Duty

With the readily disposable Chezbah Hound available, a criminal taking hazard duty is more likely to get a tedious assignment that requires some human intelligence. This can mean sitting in outposts for months on end at a Kelrath contested region with only fellow criminals as companions and Hounds as jailers. The Hounds will prevent the criminals from leaving their posts, especially when attacked.

This may be the first time the Chezbah temple ritual has been observed by outsiders. We were able to locate a remote pilgrimage temple that is used on rare occasions. Only a small group of five Priests, twenty  Warriors and a small number of civilians that serve the priests stay at the temple site all year round. Our guide, born a Chezbah, raised by Scimrahn, was able to move around the camp as long as no one directly saw her face. She was able to place magnetometers and microphones around the temple site.

We chose this instrumentation because of the known magnetic fields exhibited around the temple structures. Along with telescopic cameras we were able to get high resolution video from over two Kilometers away.

Unfortunately we were not able to transmit the data from the magnetometers and the microphones because the Chezbah could detect the transmission so we had to have them record their data and retrieve them later. Unfortunately we were not able to retrieve the pertinent audio that was near the temple site. We believe that the Chezbah have discovered these devices by now.

The temple ritual started with the pilgrimage arriving at the temple site. Forty or more priests encircled the dome and a doorway opened up for one of them allowing one priest to step inside. The priest may have been selected somehow but we were not able to determine if that was the case.

The pilgrims stood in concentric circles around the dome. All of them wearing masks that obscure their faces. Even the Warriors present wore these masks. From the audio we did recover, the priests began to repeat the words “Kel pei” repeatedly. This could be interpreted several ways. We take this to be a command to the pilgrims to think about Loc.

At this point the magnetometers spiked in a pattern that we are still analyzing. At first we weren’t sure but soon it became evident that the exposed skin of the Chezbah assembled started to fluoresce. Our guide who was with us two Kilometers away did not experience the same effect and we have attempted to reproduce the effect even on a limited extent with her but were unsuccessful.

The next part of the ritual was that the pilgrims that fluoresced the brightest were selected out of the group by the priests. Approximately seventy five were selected. This included one of the Warriors.

From what we could discern, those selected were given various titles and we could watch gifts being taken from the dome, the priests would literally reach into the dome and pull objects out and then given to the chosen.

Lastly all the pilgrims stepped forward in small groups and would converse with one of the priests near the dome. These appeared to be spirited conversations that lasted for ten to twenty minutes each with the Priests holding children and putting their hands on the heads of the men.

There was a huge amount of magnetic activity during this whole process and the florescent effect gradually lessened for several hours as the pilgrims spread out over a wide area conversing and visiting.

We are still analyzing data on the magnetic events and will notify you if any patterns are discovered.

The Chezbah are immune to most diseases and drugs. The nanotech that their bodies are infused with breaks down chemicals and greatly augments their immune system. For most Chezbah medicine as we know it is unnecessary. There is however a need for trauma medicine on occasion as most citizens and the Warriors do not have the nanotech for regeneration normally in their bodies. The reasons they do not possess the ability to regenerate is vague. The Chezbah philosophy is that the protections they do possess are gifts and not to question those gifts. Some Earth scientists have suggested that they may not have these abilities because it would make revolt easier.

Warrior Medicine Pouch

Chezbah Warriors will carry a small pouch on their belt if they are expecting to be without any kind of home base for an extended period of time. In the vast majority of cases, Warriors do not carry these medicine pouches but prefer to only use them when they return to base where there may be a small stock of them (1 for every 5 Warriors stationed at the base).

This leather pouch contains three auto injectors. Each injector has a single Chezbah word written on it. One says when translated, “Trauma”, another “Burns” and the last “Cuts”. Each one works in different ways to repairing damage of different types but all block pain at the wound site and promote fast healing.

The Trauma injector heals blunt force damage to tissue by rebuilding burst blood vessels and cleaning out blood cells that have leaked into surrounding tissue. It also builds a scaffold for cells to grow into to promote fast healing. The trauma injection can also rapidly knit broken bones back together.

The Burns injector seeks out charred tissue and uses it as raw material to build a protective barrier and and a scaffold for tissue growth. The nanotech also rebuilds or re-routes damaged blood vessels.

The Cuts injector seeks out air contact and when it finds it creates a foam that not only glues the wound shut forming a wound barrier, it re-connects the blood flow and attempts to rebuild damaged tissue. The cuts injector is what is used for projectile wounds.

Each injector will heal five (5) points of damage of the type indicated on the syringe. Only one of each type of injector can be used at any one time, using two Burns injectors will not heal any more than five (5) points of damage. If the character has sustained trauma and burns then both injectors can be used for a total healing of ten (10) hit points. If the character sustained all three types of damage then all three injectors can be used for up to fifteen points of damage.

It takes two turns from the time of injection to the Hit Points being healed.

The injectors cannot heal more damage that has not been done. For example if a character sustained a cut that does three (3) points of damage only three points of cut damage is healed and not the full five.

The nanotech also does not remove the requirement of surgery if the character has lost more than half their hit points. It also does not fully fix the wound, it only restores the body’s structure so that the user can continue functioning normally. Any Hit Points lost, must be healed naturally and they replace the hit points conferred by the nanotech. The user does heal faster than normal and can take a CON roll to heal every two days even without any other medical care or bed rest.

It is not known why the injectors work on non-Chezbah as the nanotech in them conceivably could check if the user has Chezbah nanotech in them. It is possible that the check could slow down the speed of the healing process and is therefore not used.

They go by many names. The Scimrahn call them Brouragh. Most of the Kelrath call them “Hevoph Yjechk” (translated “Coward’s Knife”) but some Gijorn and Rantaa’ have referred to them as “Bodakoj Thimol” (translated “Dead Stealers”). Earthers call them “Hounds” but none of these are their real name. The Chezbah call them the Lesser Seed.

The Chezbah deploy the Lesser Seed in a number of roles. They make up the majority of their ground forces and are used to mass against the Kelrath in battle. They are also used as sentinels to guard and patrol because of their data uplinks. As soon as one sees something all the Lesser Seed know about it and any nearby priest or Warriors are notified. They are used to flush out enemy strongholds. They are used as booby traps, left to hibernate for decades, they can spring to life again within a thirty seconds.

They are referred to as robots by most official documentation and in the broadest sense this is an accurate label but they are not the traditional robot like the Kerdi. They have also been described as constructs, giving a sense of their artificial nature. They are constructed out of trillions of molecular machines, in some cases like biological mechanisms in living cells, in other cases they are unlike biological molecules. The Lesser Seed do not eat drink or breathe, they power themselves off of what has been likened to an egg yolk. A chemical liquid that their molecular machines use to power themselves and as raw material to repair damage. As the Lesser Seed use this yolk, they grow thinner until they seem emaciated and gaunt. A captured Lesser Seed, if kept from hibernating will keep operating for three months. If they are undisturbed they will go into hibernation within three days and can stay in a state of suspended animation reportedly for up to thirty years.

The Lesser Seed can regenerate even severe damage. A foam is produced by glands in the skin and seals up even large wounds. Molecules in the foam link up and form a scaffold for tissue to rebuild inside of. A key to their durability is their simplicity. With no internal organs and a short expected life span, they are able to quickly use up their yolk to stay functioning and restore lost tissue in seconds.

Lesser seed are commanded by Chezbah Warriors but interestingly it seems like it is the Lesser Seed that seems to access the Warriors mind to know what he wants and to tell him of danger.

The name “Lesser Seed” comes from the Chezbah reference to the Priests and the Warriors as the “Greater Seed” although they are seldom called that directly. Those that are Scourged are also referred to by the Chezbah as Lesser Seed. There is a belief among the Chezbah that one day “the Lesser will become the Greater” when referring to difficult times. This seems to involve the Lesser Seed saving the Chezbah way of life but the details are unclear even among many Chezbah citizens.

Most of the Geetin have only seen the Dead Stealers. Our ancient foe sends tens of thousands of them. From generation to generation, they only know the beasts as the face of their enemy. Thousands fall on either side and I despair. The ones that have seen them know the face of their own death and it fills their dreams. Even the Hunters who are far more dangerous inspire less fear.

Few of them know the horror I see, they cannot be let to know. Only my most trusted Geetin of Battle come with us, the ones that are more Gijorn than Geetin. We return to the battle site to recover the dead, to bury them only to find most of them stolen. The Dead Stealers lurk in the shadows and watch us. If they knew how to laugh, I imagine it is what they would be doing. When they find our burial grounds, hundreds of them come to rob the graves. They do not care for metal, carved ornament or jewel, it is only the flesh that they take. I cannot think of a greater evil.

I have even seen the Geetin confused when they meet one of the beast’s masters in battle. The form of a man on the field of battle is foreign to them. It falls to us and our kind, the Gijorn to face the beast masters, their Warriors. We train every day, readying ourselves but still I see three of our kin fall for every one of them. I have often wondered if they hatch their ingenious plots or if it is the Priests that scheme away in their comfort. I have at times thought it one way or the other, perhaps it is one time the Warrior and another time the Priest.

These are our enemy from long ago. My grandfather’s grandfather has handed down books of how to fight against them. I have at times wondered who we would be if our long time foe had been defeated long ago or had never been. Without them, who would I be? I say truthfully I cannot know. So my grandson, now that you have become the Rantaa’s Chief and lead the army as I once have, learn from my writings and those of my grandfather’s grandfather but know this, these books are not the end. We have, all of us failed to finish our foe, study them so that you may.

The main way to defend against a Chezbah Hound is to keep it at a distance. Normally an alert army can do that effectively with ranged weapons. That is unless they are flown in on a Hound Carrier. The Hound Carrier is the name given to this vehicle by Earth forces. The Kelrath call it “Black Vomit” because of it’s main attack method. The Hound Carrier disgorges thousands of Chezbah Hounds on top of unfortunate armies of the Kelrath out of it’s whale like mouth.

These vehicles are rare. Although slightly smaller than a Chezbah Cruiser, they are designed to travel through Hex doorways so can fly underground. It has a powerful front forcefield that is not a standard ion cascade shield. The technology in use is unknown an none have been captured for examination. The Carrier’s shield only covers the front firing arcs so the vessel backs out after delivering it’s payload of hounds. Unlike the Cruiser the Hound Carrier is not powered by ZPE generators. Twelve lasers defend the vessel from smaller craft but are not designed to fight other large ships like the Kelrath Freighter.

The Hound Carrier has only been used against large Kelrath armies so far. Because of this no specs are yet available.

There are four types of special forces. Surgical Strike, Infiltration, Demolition and Counter Insurgency. The average day in a Chezbah Warrior’s life is counter insurgency so there is no specialist for that role.

Two of the special forces roles are not carried out by Warriors but rather by conscripts these are Infiltration and Demolition. The Surgical Strike role is still the realm of Warriors.

Infiltration – Mask Wearers
The unit called the Mask Wearers are a group of conscripts that are trained to sneak into enemy ranks and gain information or possibly sow dissent. They have equipment that creates a lifelike disguise of either a Scimrahn or a Kelrath although there are rumors of a Earther disguise in use. Only very tall conscripts are chosen to disguise themselves as Kelrath.

Attributes
CON 25
STR 25
AGI 50
REF 50
DEX 60
BTY 30
CHA 60
INT 60
IQ 60
PSY 60
H.P. 7

Equipment

Nanotech Lifelike Masks
These masks are amazingly life like, they read the electrical signals and blood flow in the face to mimic facial expressions and blushing.

Masks cannot be removed unless the wearer wants to remove it. Microscopic hairs grip the skin stronger than most glues. The mechanism that allows the wearer to release this hold is under investigation. The hope is that a way can be found to release the masks remotely.

The masks are powered by chemical solution that is in the mask itself. It is not known how long the masks function but it is thought to be at least several weeks.

Masks stolen from the wearers are rare and so this item is not normally available.
Mass: 50 g
Cost: 10-40 million yen

Demolition – Restorers
This group of conscripts are charged with the task of removing technology made illegally according to Chezbah law. The Restorers do not often use explosives to destroy. Their main tools are electromagnetic pulse generators, magnetic mines and sonic shakers.

Attributes
CON 45
STR 25
AGI 50
REF 50
DEX 60
BTY 30
CHA 30
INT 40
IQ 60
PSY 60
H.P. 15

Equipment

EMP Coil

These compact plasma coils are designed to discharge all their energy in a single burst through an antenna. The coil is robust enough that there is a 25% of the plasma engine can be re-used.

Effect: Active shield generators take a critical hit. Most combat vehicles are hardened so Sensors and other electronic systems have a (30%) chance of being damaged by the pulse. Although QLC computers are undamaged by the pulse, secondary systems that interface with the computer may be damaged (20%).

Blast Range Class: B

Mass: 25.6 Kg

Used once cost:  (25% chance that it will work a second time) 800,000 Yen

Magnetic Mine

These Magnetic mines are more compact than those produced by the Scimrahn.

Magnetic mines are used to reduce or eliminate the effectiveness of force fields in a local area. They work by inducing a powerful magnetic field that disrupts the ion flow in the force fields. Magnetic mines need to be well hidden (usually buried) to prevent them from being detected and destroyed.

Effective Radius Class: C
Duration: 5 minutes
Mass: 136.8 Kg
Cost: ¥9,000,000

Sonic Shaker

This device is planted on a building or vehicle. It looks for a resonant frequency and then sends sound waves through the structure slowly shaking it apart.

Effect: Only effects machines and structures. Ignores force fields and armor. Takes 3d10 minutes to find the resonant frequency.
Damage: 50 per turn
Duration: 3 hours
Mass: 8.2 Kg
Cost: ¥3,000,000

Surgical Strike – The Arm
These Warriors are equipped with long range lasers and Herf guns. The Arm is also given high speed vehicles to get in and out of their combat zones. They are also given advanced combat training.

Attributes
CON 80
STR 80
AGI 90
REF 80
DEX 65
BTY 20
CHA 40
INT 60
IQ 40
PSY 60
H.P. 35
B.P. 250

Equipment

Long Range Laser

Range Class: E
Payload: 30
Rate of Fire: 1
Mass: 16 Kg
Cost: ¥500,000

HERF Gun
HERF stands for High Energy Radio Frequency. The HERF gun concentrates it’s high energy radio wave in a tight beam. It can disrupt the function of many sensor and servailance equipment rendering them inoperable as long as the beam is focused on a device (Note: water, wet objects, foliage or forcefields in the path of the beam will block the beam).
Effective Range Class: D
Duration: 2 Hours
Mass: 4.6 Kg
Cost: ¥225,000

I’ve wanted to make a Chezbah sourcebook for a while now because there’s so much left unsaid about them. The Kelrath have some material written about them in the Player’s Handbook and they’re getting more in Tortuga (which may be near done). So to start things off, I want to explain a picture I’ve used on the GM Advice posts.

Chezbah Puppet Glove

This nanotech device is used by Priests or Warriors for self defense and intimidation. It’s unclear if other Chezbah can use them but it may be possible that pilots or other conscripts would also be able to use the Puppet Glove. The device starts off as a large black ampule shaped like an egg. The device is inert in this form and can be carried until needed. To activate, the ampule is crushed in the hand. The ampule is able to detect the touch of the hand and will not easily break until it is held in the hand.

Once activated, the material inside foams up and around the hand. The foam is a delivery device that greatly expands the size of the material. Carbon nanotube muscles lace themselves around the hand covering it and artificial muscles and bones grow in under 10 seconds (1 turn). The fingers of the glove end in razor sharp claws. These muscles have great strength. When the user flexes their fingers the glove reacts in a similar way as the fingers would move.

The puppet glove uses chemical energy as fuel and is disposable, breaking down after five minutes of use.

Puppet Glove Stats
Claw Damage: 15
Glove STR: 80
Crush Damage: 10 (must break the hold of the glove to escape with STR)
Climb Skill +10