New Species: Thyrsian

[shootingwomprats]

Thyrsian
Home World: Thyrsus

The Thyrsians were a branch of the Near-Human Echani, originated from the Inner Rim world Thyrsus, with its differing culture and an opposite appearance. The Sun Guard arose from that people.

Biology and Appearance
In comparison to their Echani conspecifics the Thyrsians shared only few physical features, being Near-Humans nevertheless. Their look equated the exact opposite: the skin was dark instead of chalk-pale, the hair dark alike and not silvery. It was believed that the Echani were a result of Arkanian experimentation with the Human genome, a theory applied also to the Thyrsians as a subspecies.

Society and Culture
The Thyrsians were in many regards a diametrical contrast to other Echani. Men dominated whereas the society of the remaining Echani showed matriarchal traits. The warriors of Thyrsus relied neither on light armor nor combat without weapons, but preferred being heavily armored and blades in their hands. In spiritual terms, they focused on the sun rather than the moon. Their military units wore the stylised red suns of Thyrsus as emblems for example. The Thyrsians kept a traditional element of Echani arts in at least one way: the weird skill to read the body language of counterparts and to forecast their next move.

More than hundred years before the Imperial Period, Thyrsians developed a fixation on matters of the Force, especially the prophecy of a galaxy's savior known as "the son of suns". The Order of the Sith Lords, keeping their existence a secret after the Battle of Ruusan, exploited the Thyrsian faith that the Sith were the subjects of this presage and encouraged Sun Guards to follow Sith interpretations of Jedi belief, so converting into Sith cultists who found their ultimate fate under Darth Sidious.

History
During the Bengali Uprising, the Echani on the sun-baked planet of Thyrsus, even called the Thyrsians, revolted against the female council that ruled the Six Sisters, a confederation of six worlds dominated by the Echani, seceding their world from the others. In this conflict a Thyrsian special-missions division evolved into the Sun Guard.

At first, the Sun Guards commanded armies against the Echani fellows. The elite force later turned its attention to the expansionist campaigns of the Mandalorians.

As the centuries passed, the Sun Guards largely abandoned Thyrsus and became a group of seminomadic mercenaries similar in organization to the rivaling Mandalorians and eventually a cult under the influence of the Order of the Sith Lords. During and after its service for Darth Plagueis his pupil Darth Sidious used the Sun Guards as sentries, mercenaries and assassins, later ordered Count Dooku to task his executor Asajj Ventress with the elimination of the cult, whereupon the few surviving devotees, the most fanatical ones, were considered for the Red Guard, cloning templates and the Emperor's Royal Guard. Force-sensitive members became candidates for the Imperial Shadow Guard.

Not all Sun Guards followed that way. In a sector internal struggle between Emberlene's invading people, member of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and its neighbors, rogue factions of the Sun Guard were hired by the latter ones to led a mercenary army against the aggressors, resulting in the Destruction of Emberlene.

Attribute Dice: 12D
Dexterity 2D/5D
Knowledge 2D/4D
Mechanical 2D/3D
Perception 2D/4D
Strength 2D/5D
Technical 2D/3D

Special Abilities
Battle Prescience: when dealing with tactics and how an opponent will behave the Thyrsians get a +1D modifier to rolls involving Tactics and initiative.

Special Skills
Masters of the Blade: because of their strict upbringing all Thyrsian have a +1D modifier when using bladed weapons.
Stealthy: gifted with a natural grace Thyrsian gain a +1D modifier to stealth checks.

Move: 10/12
Size: 2 meters tall
Source: Text posted at wookieepedia.com, game stats by +Oliver Queen.
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Don Diestler
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[Dromdarr_Alark]

These guys are pretty dangerous in combat - as they should be.

I think they could do with a draw-back or two, so that they have at least one weakness.

Maybe they are socially incompetent or prone to anger, and must test willpower to not fight in certain situations.
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"I still wouldn't have a roll for it - but that's just how I roll."

[garhkal]

Agreed, All i see are positives and bonuses. Nothing keeping them down/balancing out. Start with their attributes. Their str and dex can go up higher than human max, but their rest are limited to ave, with nothing real low. (such as say the wookies who get a 1d-3d per or know)..

Though i like their Battle Prescience, they should also have a counter balance, where they say suffer when they can't see the sun (indoors) or are in a light side area since they ARE focused towards the sith.

Their blade mastery of +1d, is also ok, but again needs something to counter it.. like say they suffer if they are without a blade (like it got taken at customs), -1d for brawl attacks.
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