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-====== The World of the Weren ======
- The bloody history of the weren has been
-molded by the harsh conditions of Kurg, their home-
-world. The unrelenting climate and the dangerous
-ecosystem threatened the weren for millennia, but in
-time they made the race both
-powerful and resistant to hard-
-ship. The weren had no choice
-but to grow strong.
-Though Kurg’s hostile
-climate still shapes weren cul-
-ture today, a new force now
-affects the way the weren live.
-For the last three hundred
-years, they have been deeply
-influenced by human contact
-and tutelage. During these
-centuries, the weren have
-made remarkable strides in all
-areas of endeavor. As a result,
-weren society has split. Most
-weren live offworld, among
-starfaring nations such as the
-Orlamu Theocracy or the
-Orion League; but the clan eld-
-ers, the ancient seats of power
-and status, even the root of
-weren identity, remain locked
-in the artificially maintained
-isolation of their frozen home-
-world.
-===== Progress Level 0: The Hunters =====
-The earliest weren
-were small groups of nomadic
-hunters and gatherers, per-
-petually wandering Kurg’s temperate equator. They
-followed migrating herds of wild animals, relying on
-their powerful claws and excellent camouflage to
-hunt both large and small game. To hunt and grow
-fat was the ideal weren life. Unfortunately for the
-weren hunters, times weren’t always good. A crip-
-pling illness, a poor hunting season, or a lingering
-injury might keep the hunters from providing enough
-meat to feed the family. In lean times, the weren for-
-aged for roots, nuts, and the fatty Kurgish vegetables
-called
-hgoumas
-and
-palna
-. Their claws served them
-well in cracking open the enormous seed pods so
-common among Kurgish plants. Somehow, the
-weren scraped by, though ancient legends tell many
-tales of hunger and want. Even today, success is de-
-scribed as
-gru-vat
-or “meat-bringing,” and poverty is
-sometimes called
-hgoumas mat nate
-or “a diet of
-hgoumas.”
-In these times, the nomadic
-weren lived in tight family
-groups, banding together to
-ensure success in the hunt
-and to defend themselves
-against other weren. They
-fought primarily over status,
-mates, or access to hunting
-grounds. The weren were far
-more successful than other
-predatory species, and the
-world was their garden.
-Weren historians refer to this
-period as the Hunter’s Age.
-Few records remain from that
-time, but in general it was a
-time of stone tools and simple
-laws. Though it lies thousands
-of years in the past, it remains
-a source of nostalgia for mod-
-ern weren who must deal with
-the frustrations and dilemmas
-of interstellar life, commerce,
-and technology. Many mod-
-ern weren art forms hearken
-back to this simpler time,
-which the weren treasure as
-the fountainhead of all that is
-good and right in their culture.
-===== Progress Level 1: The Great Clans =====
-After millennia of wandering, many weren
-settled in the rich coastal valleys of Kurg’s single
-temperate continent, farming palna root and seed-
-pods and herding the marrizhe, a powerful migratory
-herbivore that has some small resemblance to a
-yak – if a yak had a triple-layered pelt and enormous shovel-like horns capable of breaking up the perma-
-frost. (See the sidebar, above.) Suddenly groups of
-weren no longer had to follow their food around. The
-simple family groups of the Hunter’s Age gradually
-grew into more extended families and became clans.
-To this day, the clan remains the fundamental unit of
-weren society, much as the clutch is the unit of t’sa
-society or the nuclear family is among humans.
-Each clan laid claim to a territory and settled
-into the task of becoming civilized. The numbers of
-weren pursuing agriculture grew rapidly. Contact
-between the clan settlements remained sporadic,
-though explorers often crossed the mountains and
-rivers separating the most fertile regions. Over time,
-the nomadic weren were pushed farther and farther
-away from the rich river lands and out onto the su-
-barctic tundra. Food was plentiful there, and the con-
-flict between nomadic and settled weren declined for
-several hundred years, until population pressures
-once again brought the two major branches of the
-weren family tree into conflict.
-The renewal of major raiding was sparked
-by a relatively minor incident. A prized marrizhe stud
-from the city of Urdevec by the name of Inaillo
-(literally, “dusty coat”) was captured by a group of
-rustling nomads called the Anbem. The steed’s
-owner was Ioshaj Urdev, the captain of Urdevec’s
-warband, and the insult was the latest in a series of
-setbacks for the city of Urdevec. The city weren re-
-sponded by raiding the culprits, visiting the Anbem
-camp when the hunters were all tracking down
-game. Urdev’s soldiers killed a number of young and
-elderly weren and burned the nomad’s tents. The re-
-sulting spiral of violence eventually dragged in more
-than a dozen coastal cities and nearly a hundred no-
-madic bands. Though individually the nomadic
-weren were more than a match for the sedentary
-weren of the coastal cities, the settled weren could
-marshal much greater numbers at once, and eventu-
-ally they also had better weapons and training for
-war. Though the settled weren always returned to
-their homes for planting and harvests, in between,
-their warbands took a toll on the nomadic raiders.
-The raids increased in frequency and intensity over
-the following generations, and the code of raiding
-only for food and status fell into disuse. Bloodshed
-became commonplace during even the simplest
-raids.
-===== Progress Level 2: Rise of the Warlords and Purifiers =====
-The clan-based culture of the coastal settle-
-ments gave the weren more free time to pursue goals
-beyond the production of food and offspring. Several
-classes of specialists arose: warlords like Acomsi
-Talmi, priests like the conniving Black Prophet, and
-professional soldiers like the Captains of Urdev or
-the young exiles called the Wandering Daughters
-were chief among them. Although priests and warri-
-ors had long existed in roving bands of weren, these
-figures now led large groups. The warlords estab-
-lished semi-dynastic lines, though inheritance was
-never easy or certain. At the same time, the traditions
-of the Lawreaders and the blood prices they set (See
-“Culture & Society,” below) prevented the settled
-clans from tearing themselves apart from the inside
-as they grew into groups of hundreds of thousands.
-The priests–once little more than advisors
-and witch doctors–found strength in numbers as
-well, and several weren city states of the period were
-functionally theocratic states. The most successful of
-these, the Church of the Purifier, has survived to the modern era. Religious warfare never really found a
-foothold on Kurg, though; the practical weren simply
-adopted the religion of whatever warlord ruled at any
-given time. The use of the trappings of several weren
-religions to lend authority to these warlords was com-
-mon; the proof of the inherent value of any religion
-was its ability to attract followers and popular sup-
-port, or to raise them up from within. Concepts of
-martyrdom are notably absent from the period;
-weren just didn’t fight for their religious beliefs as
-fiercely as they did for their clan and lineage.
-The greatest rival to the Purifier faith during
-the Age of Warlords was the movement called the
-Spiritual Reckoning. The Reckoning and its followers
-(“Reckoners,” for short) leaned heavily on the impor-
-tance of lineage, making one’s bloodline of para-
-mount importance and creating a priestly class with
-great authority over its followers’ lives. The faith’s
-central tenet is that all living weren are judged by the
-spirits of their forbearers at their death. Only those
-found worthy are allowed into the Sacred Host of
-weren patron ancestors, giving them the authority to
-judge those who die after them. Furthermore, each
-Reckoner bloodline is strengthened by the blood of
-defeated enemies; a weren who kills many foes is
-imparting spiritual strength to his sons and daugh-
-ters. The faith blossomed for about 250 years, but af-
-ter a series of setbacks during the Black Wars (see
-below), the numbers of the Reckoners declined, and
-today fewer than 3% of all weren on Kurg follow this
-once-mighty faith. Their reputation for pride and a
-well-known willingness to die give other weren pause
-before challenging a member of any Reckoner clan.
-By this point the year-round warbands of the
-early settled era had become standing armies. They
-and the other members of the upper classes were
-supported by the farming and herding of the lower
-working class. The armies of the coastal cities turned
-against their neighbors; a few warlords managed to
-hold onto more than a single city, though the turnover
-in the political fortunes of the weren city-states was
-often quite swift. In addition, the well-trained armies
-allowed the clans to increase their own food supply
-by stealing food from their neighbors, or taking it
-from neighbors as tribute. By the end of the Age of
-Warlords, the warriors formed the core of weren soci-
-ety, and all else revolved around them.
-===== Progress Level 3: The Black Wars =====
-Life on Kurg continued in this pattern of
-feuds, small raids, and short, bloody wars for millen-
-nia. In 2117, the weren of the Kell clan made a tech-
-nological leap that almost destroyed the species.
-Krazhe the Wise – an elder, priest, and inventor
-among the Kell – discovered the explosive properties
-of sulfur, carbon, and saltpeter: gunpowder.
-The Kell clan warriors quickly put this new
-discovery to use and created basic firearms and
-enormous grenades. With these new weapons, they
-slaughtered two neighboring clans and occupied
-their cities, suffering only minimal losses themselves.
-They then consolidated their hold on this new terri-
-tory and launched attacks at their new neighbors. By
-that time, however, the word had spread, and
-enough guns had been captured in battles that these
-clans had copied them. Unfortunately, they just did
-not have time to make many of them before they, too,
-were conquered by the Kell clan. They were more
-successful at slowing the attack down, so clans far-
-ther from the center of the expansion had even more
-time to research these new weapons. When the Kell
-next attacked, they met two allied clans who were
-also armed with gunpowder. The battles of that sum-
-mer’s campaign were a fierce series of slaughters
-for both sides, now remembered simply as the Black
-(or Bloody) Summer. Despite the horrendous losses,
-gunpowder technology spread like wildfire over all
-the coasts and even into the interior – as soon as the
-nomads of the North and South learned the value of
-the new weapons, they raided, seized, or traded for
-them.
-As gunpowder spread, weren warfare itself
-changed. The bloodier campaigns decimated the
-warrior classes. Each battle claimed more weren
-lives, and battles became more common. Every clan believed that gunpowder gave them an advantage
-over their enemies. The weren population actually
-declined; indeed, the weren were in danger of reduc-
-ing their numbers so severely that their clan holdings
-would fall apart, and the town weren might have
-lapsed into a barbaric state. Traditionally, coastal
-soldiers could not enlist until they were twenty years
-of age. At its worst, in the Kell Campaigns of 2234 to
-, flintlocks were pressed into the hands of tusk-
-less ”warriors” as young as twelve years old (see
-”Physiology” below).
-As the species stood on the brink of racial
-suicide, however, the weren were rescued. In De-
-cember 2246, the OSS
-Brightfall
-– an Orlamu Theoc-
-racy survey vessel – was on a routine follow-up mis-
-sion when they discovered the weren civilization. The
-soldiers and scouts on board, all from the Orlamu
-Theocracy, studied the weren for several months,
-watching, waiting, and examining every detail of the
-weren culture. They did not reveal their presence,
-instead sending the information back to the Theoc-
-racy. The Theocracy conducted a strenuous debate
-at the highest levels, considering how best to ap-
-proach this new species. The weren systems of reli-
-gious philosophy and their often complex political
-structures implied that weren held great promise, but
-their vendettas and blood feuds were in serious dan-
-ger of destroying them. At last, the Orlamu Theoc-
-racy agreed that not doing anything was surely
-worse than interfering in the werens’ affairs, so on
-the 12th of May, 2247, the External Affairs Ambassa-
-dor signed an internal document called the Contact
-Decree. Within hours, a first contact specialist
-named Jamal Kidwai (later called Jamal Abuweren)
-was dispatched to the planet’s surface, and a new
-age of cooperation, learning, and occasionally vio-
-lent misunderstanding began.
-The conflict between the clans didn’t exactly
-end with the arrival of humans, but at least it gave
-the clans something different to think about. Weren
-priests and philosophers speculated endlessly about
-the weren place in the universe; some of these de-
-bates turned bloody. The Orlamus kept the violence
-down to an occasional murderous rush, rather than
-the constant and total warfare they had found on
-their arrival. The weren entered into an age of
-rapid – but carefully managed – technological
-growth that they are still undergoing. The Induced
-Renaissance began, and within a decade the Orla-
-mus were accepting petitions from worthy weren to
-leave Kurg and travel the stars.
-===== Progress Levels 4-7: Post-Contact =====
-After the arrival of the Orlamus, the divisions
-between the two societies on Kurg grew even
-deeper. The settled weren accepted the Orlamu offer
-of guidance, but the nomadic clans of the North and
-South rejected the offworlders.
-The townland weren have benefited greatly
-from contact with the offworlders. In the last two hun-
-dred years, their Induced Renaissance has been sus-
-tained by the knowledge that the universe extends
-far beyond Kurg – and many of the youngest, most
-violent weren left to explore and settle the outside
-world. With just the slightest push of Orlamu guid-
-ance, the weren have made great advances in art,
-communications, literature, and medicine.
-The Orlamus rarely interfere directly in
-weren affairs; at most, they advise and nudge the
-weren to the point where the weren make the ad-
-vances themselves. Most Orlamu influence has been
-tangential, through the education and training of
-weren warriors. A small fraction of these trained,
-modern weren secretly return to Kurg to teach their
-fellows what they have learned. Though officially for-
-bidden by the Orlamu, in practice it is difficult to pre-
-vent.
-The Orlamus first attempted to put some con-
-trols on weren warfare. They forced the leaders of
-the townland clans to agree to stricter codes of con-
-duct on the battlefield. For the first time, surrender
-and ransom became options for a commander, and
-no modern weren army dares to attack during a
-truce. But despite these limited successes, two hun-
-dred years of Orlamu effort have not really stopped
-or even blunted the weren taste for war. The weren
-spent far too many millennia doing battle, and com-
-bat is too much a part of their culture for it to be for-
-gotten so quickly. More importantly, the Orlamu
-quickly recognized the value of having the galaxy’s
-finest warriors available to them. Within a generation
-after contact, elite weren combat teams, with their
-superior camouflage and endurance, won the Theoc-
-racy more than a few battles in the Second Galactic
-War. The weren shock troops remain a potent re-
-source for dealing with problems today.
-The nomadic tribes of the far North and
-South, where life was much colder and mow difficult,
-followed a different road after contact. Those who
-accepted Orlamu offer of guidance benefited in the
-same ways that the townland clans did, while keep-
-ing their traditional way of life mostly intact. Others,
-however, refused to bargain with humans and sought
-lands untainted by human footsteps. The Orlamus
-even helped in this, setting aside certain regions as ”cultural preservation districts.” Humans are still for-
-bidden to enter these districts today. Oddly, the clans
-that fled into these districts most often were those
-who were most hard-pressed by starvation and other
-weren. In the vast empty regions, they sought to
-avoid old enemies and rejected all contact with hu-
-mans. They believed that the Orlamus had come to
-help their enemies destroy them, and they would not
-be convinced otherwise.
-After being driven from their usual lands,
-these weren fundamentalists lived much the way they
-always had: following vast herds of marrizhe across
-the frozen wastes and raiding their old neighbors in
-the townlands for anything they could carry away.
-The strategy worked, and from 2200 to about 2400,
-the raiding cultures expanded, eventually generating
-much alarm among the Orlamu, who saw themselves
-losing the fight against barbarism. Though the raid-
-ers were surprisingly successful for several genera-
-tions, recently the raiding culture has been fading
-away. In the long run, the raiding clans lacked the
-town clans’ numbers and technology, and neither the
-preservation districts nor their hit-and-run guerrilla
-tactics prevented reprisals by their own kind. In the
-end, the impulse to adopt new ways and abandon
-clan warfare has won out over many old rivalries. At
-least, those clans who accepted human help – how-
-ever minor – have won out over those clans that
-turned their back on the galaxy and tried to remain
-frozen in time.
-===== 2501: Current Prospects =====
-Though the policy of nonintervention remains
-in place, in practice weren culture on Kurg has con-
-tinued to react to humanity’s presence. However, the
-reaction is not always easily understood. For in-
-stance, weren art continues to mystify Orlamu ob-
-servers, as it seems to be relentlessly realistic, but
-the weren emphasis on indirect symbolism and alle-
-gory reveals many layers of meaning to an educated
-weren, even in something as relatively straightfor-
-ward as a bust or a landscape painting. At the same
-time, many young weren emulate human styles; per-
-spective painting and abstract art were both un-
-known to the weren at first contact but have since
-been adopted by some clans. Their value is still hotly
-debated among weren traditionalists.
-At the same time, a few weren and humans
-have become great celebrities on Kurg, primarily
-philosophers grappling with meaning, cosmology,
-morality, and aesthetics. Many young weren read
-Nietzsche and find his work compelling – the dead
-German would be amused to find that 26th-century
-aliens have built him a small shrine. Despite this
-small inroad, most weren find the arguments of their
-own kind more satisfying and more comfortable.
-Modern weren philosophers such as Unlarg Jndoor
-are held in high regard, and the weren see no con-
-flict in the fact that Jndoor is at once a philosopher, a
-bookkeeper, and a reservist in the Undevec artillery.
-His volume
-On Hunter’s Ethics
-even enjoyed a brief
-popularity among the Orlamus.
-Life is different for weren who have left Kurg.
-When a weren wishes to leave Kurg, he or she must
-first petition the Orlamus for permission. 1f this is
-granted, and it usually is, the weren must then ar-
-range to pay their way off the planet. This is difficult
-for most weren, as the cost can he rather high. Many
-choose at this time to have their way paid for them by
-the Orlamu military, or by any one of a number of
-mining or heavy industry companies, all of whom
-have recruiters stationed on Kurg for just such oppor-
-tunities. In exchange for a ticket offplanet, these
-weren agree to work for a certain period of time to
-pay off their debt. All of this is carefully monitored by
-the Theocracy, to insure that the weren are not mis-
-treated or taken advantage of by these corporations.
-Weren who have recently emigrated off-
-planet often suffer serious loneliness and homesick-
-ness. Many suddenly find themselves thrust into a
-society where they are a very small minority, sur-
-rounded by unfamiliar technology. Some remain at
-the jobs they took to repay their ticket debt, even after
-that debt has been repaid. They prefer the security
-offered by guaranteed work and the respect they re-
-ceive for their natural abilities, especially in the mili-
-tary.
-The Orlamu military has benefited more than
-most from the discovery of the weren. Indeed, weren
-shock battalions are the elite ground forces of the
-Orlamu military. Their strength and stamina make a
-troop of weren much more effective than the human
-equivalent. How do you defeat a squad of 2.2-meter-
-tall, battle-frenzied killing machines who shrug off
-wounds that would certainly kill humans? Weren
-units are always led by weren officers, and their bat-
-talions are given considerably more latitude than
-others. Members of other species have been allowed
-to join weren units, but this is rare. In most cases, a
-week of weren training kills soldiers of other species.
-The ones who survive can be numbered among the
-best soldiers of the Stellar Ring.
-Some weren have searched out their fellow
-off-world clan members and formed colonies, com-
-panies, or mercenary groups. They’ve become
-offworld splinters of their clan, and earn much wealth and honor, often sending money back to relatives still
-on Kurg. Others have banded together into a
-broader, pan-weren alliance and have founded com-
-munities welcoming any weren who wishes to join.
-Weren who put clan before species are excluded
-from these communities, for fear that old hatreds
-could tear the community apart. So far, all of these
-experimental communities have succeeded, and the
-Orlamu are justly proud of the progress their client
-species has made.
-However, not all weren are so idealistic or so
-willing to give up their clan heritage. Many offworld
-weren simply set off on their own and adopt a variety
-of professions to make a name for themselves. These
-weren learn to live among the other species of hu-
-man space and to deal with PL 6 technology. Most
-adapt slowly but eventually have no more problems
-than anyone else.
-Offworld weren do have a unique problem:
-they are cut off from the social hierarchy. A weren’s
-sense of self is so tied to his place, his family’s place,
-and his clan’s place in society that removal can
-erode a weren’s identity. For this reason, weren born
-and raised on Kurg keep close tabs on news from
-home, especially news related to clan status and ri-
-valry. This hunger for the latest developments has
-been exploited by the major news services, and get-
-ting updates from Kurg into the hands of recent emi-
-grants is a small but steady industry. Every news car-
-rier in the Orlamu Theocracy (and many others) car-
-ries current news from Kurg, and some weren buy
-from several different carriers just to make sure they
-don’t miss anything.
-Weren have been leaving Kurg since the Or-
-lamus arrived, and as a result, some weren have
-been settled elsewhere for as long as five genera-
-tions. These expatriate weren lead a dual life, bal-
-ancing their simple heritage with the high tech world
-around them. Weren parents make every effort to
-teach their children the importance of honor and
-clan, but these things fade over time. Those who can
-afford it arrange for their children to live on Kurg for
-a while, to better appreciate what it means to be
-weren, but the weren culture outside Kurg is in sharp
-decline. As is the fate of most discovered cultures,
-weren society is being replaced by the more active,
-discovering culture, which in this case is human.
-Weren of the Orlamu Theocracy have
-adapted to the modern world and have internalized
-the values, history, and culture of Old Space. The
-most straightforward example of weren culture being
-absorbed by the more dynamic human culture is in
-the Lighthouse, where weren serve as bodyguards,
-security officers, and even priests of the Orlamist
-faith – but weren no longer fight each other for the
-honor of their clan. The weren have adopted the
-ways of humankind, leaving the dust and snow of
-Kurg far behind.
-===== Culture and Society =====
-Each weren’s place in society is governed by
-many factors, but by far the most important are clan,
-lineage, battle prowess, and wealth. When two weren
-meet for the first time, the interplay of these factors
-determines how they react to each other.
-An important omission from the equation is
-gender. Weren recognize few differences between
-the sexes, and males and females are held in equal
-regard. According to tradition, all titles and offices
-are open to all weren, though in practice a clan gen-
-erally is either matriarchal or patriarchal, rarely al-
-lowing both sexes access to the clan’s positions of
-leadership.
-Clan is the single most important weren at-
-tribute. Much of each weren’s sense of worth is
-wrapped up in the history, strength, and accomplish-
-ments of his or her clan. To some extent an individual
-always serves his clan first and himself second.
-Clan dictates how weren feel about each
-other. The political alliances or enmity between two
-clans can dictate how two weren react when they first
-meet. In the most extreme cases, two weren who
-have never set foot on Kurg may fight to the death on
-sight, simply because their clans are currently at war.
-The greatest punishment for a weren is the
-removal of the offender’s claws, euphemistically
-called
-pito ta
-or “claw-washing.” Because weren
-claws – unlike human fingernails – are extensions of
-their bone structure, their removal cripples the crimi-
-nal’s hands for up to a year, and many never heal
-properly. Even the most hardbitten weren veteran
-can be intimidated by the thought of being left help-
-less, unable to hunt, fight, or duel, and unable to han-
-dle most implements without clumsy prostheses.
-Lesser punishments include banishment, castration,
-enforced servitude, and – among nomad clans – rit-
-ual scarring to create patchy fur.
-Family lineage is in some sense a subset of
-clan but is far more specific. Weren take pride in
-their family’s deeds in service to their clan. Each
-line’s most famous members color the way their
-clansmen relate to them, and the duties the family
-has undertaken in the past often govern what duties
-they are given in the present //(”Since you are of the line of Haargel the Slayer, you must lead the charge”)//.
-Sometimes a family’s worthy forebears were
-nobles, but weren nobility is not generally hereditary.
-Most noble positions are held for life, barring extraor-
-dinary circumstances. When a noble’s position –
-such as clan parag, or leader – becomes available,
-all clan members may choose to compete to take
-their place. Each candidate must show the clan why
-he or she deserves the position, usually by declaim-
-ing both his family lineage and his personal accom-
-plishments. In a few cases, the position falls to a no-
-ble’s son or daughter, unless someone else can show
-a clearly superior lineage. In these cases, a noble
-title shifts from one family when circumstances dic-
-tate change; for instance, a warrior may step forward
-to take the leadership when a clan has just begun a
-war. If the offspring or noble somehow alienates the
-clan or shames his lineage, his position might evapo-
-rate entirely.
-Weren respect nothing more than combat
-ability. The entire culture glorified warriors for centu-
-ries. They learn to fight early, in earnest struggles
-against their siblings for their share of food. They
-fight for position within their family as they mature.
-The best fighters are chosen early and trained to be-
-come the armies of the weren, fighting for clan honor
-and for their own place within the clan. Almost all no-
-ble positions go to a clan’s warriors; a few fall to the
-clan’s priests or philosophers.
-Wealth is a relatively new factor in calculat-
-ing status. Until about 2200 or so, the best warriors
-were also the wealthiest weren. As weren civilization
-grew and trade expanded, merchants became more
-important. The richest weren traders now wield
-enough power to dictate terms to the nobles they sup-
-posedly serve, or to ignore them entirely. As more
-weren leave the planet and enter cultures where
-wealth is the single most important social marker,
-more and more of them are adopting a consumer or
-capitalist orientation.
-===== Technology =====
-Technology on Kurg is a curious amalgam of
-late feudal and early industrial techniques operating
-side-by-side with much more advanced ideas. The
-impact of the Orlamus on weren technology is subtle
-but pervasive; they decide what does and doesn’t
-make it to the planet surface. Indeed, the Orlamu for-
-bid anyone from introducing any new technology
-onto Kurg without their approval. Their screening
-procedures are thorough, and their punishments
-very harsh. However, small shipments of various
-technological items are smuggled onto the planet
-and horded by the clan leaders, primarily for per-
-sonal use or for a surprise defense during an attack.
-While the Orlamus seek to guide the weren
-further along the path to galactic civilization, they
-rarely give them anything outright. All the weren’s
-advances must be earned. At the same time, the Or-
-lamus do push the weren into certain channels, re-
-sulting in great advances in areas that the Orlamus
-hold dear. For example, medical technology on the
-planet stands far ahead of the rest of their technol-
-ogy. They understand the germ theory of disease,
-and they know how to prevent infection.
-In most other areas, however, the weren re-
-main artificially held to a lower progress level,
-roughly equivalent to what was available during the
-s in Europe. Single shot black powder pistols
-and rifles are the weapons of the day, though the
-weren versions of black powder weaponry are much
-more powerful than human weapons of the same
-era, due to the weren’s ability to handle a greater re-
-coil.
-Weren transportation on Kurg is woefully in-
-adequate. Traveling weren must walk, travel by sled,
-or ride marrizhe. The marrizhe serve the weren not
-only as food animals but also as beasts of burden.
-They are also the preferred mount of soldiers and
-raiders, as they can carry heavy loads for great dis-
-tances. Most communications rely on hand-carried
-letters, although the Orlamus have relaxed their ban
-on technology when it comes to communications
-gear and allow the clan leaders to communicate
-face-to-face over vid screens. The Orlamu feel that
-this helps move the weren toward civilization, as
-open communication defuses political tension more
-often than it provokes it. This policy also keeps the
-Orlamus much better informed, because they moni-
-tor these conversations closely.
-Offworld weren use the same technology
-available to other species, but they suffer from some
-problems unique to their worldview and culture. For
-new immigrants, moving from a 17th-century technol-
-ogy into the Fusion Age is a hit of a shock, and weren
-don’t generally adjust well. They remain suspicious
-of new technology and stubbornly cling to familiar
-ways of doing things. They lack the innate curiosity of
-the t’sa or the logical investigative rigor of the
-mechalus.
-When a weren interacts with items that look
-familiar, they usually don’t work quite as he thinks
-they should. For example, most werens have seen
-and used black powder pistols. Hand a northern clan
-warrior a 9mm zero-g pistol, and what is he going to
-do? He does not understand the basics: breech loading, releasing a safety, cocking an automatic, or un-
-jamming, the weapon, so he’ll be more likely to shoot
-himself than an enemy. Combat specs of other spe-
-cies learn these things from watching holos from an
-early age. Not so the weren. When he fires the
-weapon, he often misses because he leads the target
-too much; the muskets he is familiar with all have a
-much slower muzzle velocity. And this example just
-covers firearms, a technology with which the weren
-are familiar. Imagine how they might react to a com-
-puter terminal.
-Some weren never overcome their resistance
-to new tools and ways of getting things done. These
-poor, stubborn souls stick with what they know for
-their whole life, unable to adjust fully to the modern
-technology; if they are lucky, their offspring fare bet-
-ter. However, most weren overcome their reluctance
-and fear of change. In a few months or a year, they
-are fully integrated in interstellar society. In fact, de-
-spite their bad reputation, most offworld weren have
-no problem with teleology, since they grew up with
-fewer misconceptions. In many ways, the technopho-
-bic weren is just a stereotype.
-Other problems are harder to overcome. For
-instance, weren don’t exactly match the standard hu-
-man body size. Anything they wear or use must be
-specially made to fit, and they pay twice as much for
-clothing, armor, and even vehicles and housing.
-Weren size does have certain inborn advantages,
-however, such as allowing them to use larger and
-heavier devices easily. For instance, weren construc-
-tion workers can lift massive riveters that would re-
-quire expensive robots in a human-only shipyard,
-and weren miners use more powerful plasma
-torches to move ore faster. Most important to action-
-oriented heroes, weren can handle heavier weapons.
-Several weapon manufacturers have created
-large-caliber, special-purpose weren guns with
-greater masses and heavier recoils. More powerful
-than any human equivalent, the recoil of a weren gun
-can shatter a human arm. To a weren, though, they
-are more comfortable to use than normal guns, sized
-to fit weren proportions and accommodate their
-claws. The only drawback of these weapons is that
-they rely on the simplest mechanical principles, to
-more easily accommodate weren technophobia. A
-typical example of these weapons is the 25 mm
-weren shotgun, a double-barrel breech loading
-weapon about 1.4 meters long and weighing about
-kg. The weapon is easy to use, easy to maintain,
-and absolutely devastating in combat.
-In addition, weren are extremely skilled at
-infighting, using weapons based on clawlike attacks.
-The most famous example is the sword claw, a long
-and heavy blade strapped to the weren’s forearm.
-While it is too large and heavy to be effectively used
-by a human, when combined with the tremendously
-long reach of weren, the sword claw can he quite
-deadly.
-===== Weren Weapons =====
-**15.2 mm SMG:** With a 10-round clip, this weapon
-doesn’t fire long, but it doesn’t need to: reports from
-the field indicate the 15.2 can take down a klick or
-even two with a single burst, much less when on
-autofire. Given its remarkable recoil, however, even
-weren sometimes have trouble tracking a target.
-**25 mm Shotgun:** With a roar that makes a weren
-seem quiet, the 25 mm shotgun packs a lot of ammo
-and is deadly at close range. Like all shotguns, it is
-drastically less effective at anything beyond short
-range. Weren enjoy firing it once before closing into
-hand-to-hand combat, and many Orlamu marines
-carry them for boarding actions.
-**Dueling Claw:** Smaller than a sword claw and meant
-for use in formal duels aboard a spaceship (where
-sword claws are simply too unwieldy), the 10-cm-
-long dueling claw has become a favorite concealed
-weapon for many weren, both on Kurg and offworld.
-On Kurg they are usually simple steel blades fitted to
-an individual weren. Offworld, they are usually made
-of much sharper and harder ceramics, undetectable
-by metal detectors.
-**Greatsword:** Made of high-grade alloy steel and
-honed to a fine edge offworld, the greatsword is fully
-meters long and weighs more than 10 kilos – it is
-unusable by anyone of less than 14 Strength. Due to
-its remarkable construction, the greatsword is said to
-be able to carve through body tanks and small vehi-
-cles.
-**Herder’s Club:** Used primarily to keep truculent mar-
-rizhe moving, this spiked club – often called a
-ven-
-net
-– is sometimes used as a dueling weapon among
-Kurg’s nomadic tribes. On Kurg, it is also sometimes
-a symbol of authority, and many are beautifully
-carved, inlaid, and gilded. These ceremonial vennets
-are carried by local princes or the leaders of no-
-madic tribes. Among off-world weren, they are con-
-sidered curios or conversation pieces.
-**Klickstopper 13 mm Pistol:** Firing what are essen-
-tially .50 caliber bullets, this five-shot revolver is dura-
-ble and powerful, capable of penetrating light vehicle  armor.
-**Sword Claw:** Resembling a fistful of short swords, the
-sword claw is a metal gauntlet made to conform ex-
-actly to a particular weren’s fist and fit snugly over
-his or her natural claws. The blades arc as much as
-to 35 cm long, and some offworld varieties are
-made of tungsten carbide steel.
-===== Government & Politics =====
-Kurg’s government is divided along the an-
-cient clan lines, with states representing the twenty
-major clans. Of these, twelve are townland clans of
-the equator, and eight are nomad clans of the North
-and South. The number of clans changes frequently,
-as weaker clans are decimated or destroyed in war
-and minor clans gain enough strength to take their
-place. Each clan is a large, extended group of fami-
-lies with common ancestors who are sometimes
-mythic figures. Each town clan governs a fertile
-stretch of the main continent. In the nomad lands,
-each clan follows a particular herd of marrizhe, living
-almost entirely from the hunt.
-Each clan is led lead by a single individual.
-Though their titles vary, these leaders are always the
-rulers, military leaders, and source of authority for
-the clan. Their word is law, hut their power is bal-
-anced by the will of the clan. The clan nobles forcibly
-remove a townland leader who makes too many bad
-decisions, replacing him with one of their own. In the
-nomad clans, a bad leader is usually overthrown by
-his strongest general.
-A layer of noble families supports the clan
-leaders. In the townlands, each family head governs
-some portion of the clan’s Lands. The family must
-provide wealth and warriors for the clan in exchange
-for this privilege, and the exact details of each clan’s
-contribution are often the subject of lengthy negotia-
-tions when a new clan leader is appointed. However,
-once settled, the terms never change until the death
-of one party or the other.
-In times of war, many weren, even those who
-are spacefaring citizens of the Orlamu Theocracy –
-use a system of weregeld among themselves to
-quickly settle disputes. In this system, every crime
-has a price that must be paid in coin. If a criminal
-cannot pay the price for a crime, he becomes an
-iel-
-mar
-and must redeem himself in combat by a heroic
-decd. Indeed, under the tradition of the ielmarg, the
-perpetrator must serve and defend the injured party,
-and only that party can release the criminal from his
-or her obligation. In a way, the ielmar offers a form of
-institutionalized forgiveness, though the most repre-
-hensible ielmar are never forgiven for their crimes.
-On Kurg proper, the ielmarg tradition is sup-
-plemented by a system of harsh physical punish-
-ments. Law enforcement is the obligation of the local
-lord. A lord’s personal guard might serve as a town
-watch, or a hired set of warriors might do the job. In
-either case, they are aided by a caste of wandering
-warriors pledged to justice. These are the
-mannevar
-,
-vigilantes who enforce the laws as hest they can.
-Though most Orlamu understand the tradition of the
-mannevar, such vigilante action is not allowed in the
-Theocracy. In theory, this restricts the mannevar to
-Kurg, though in practice many weren still feel the
-need to mete out punishment when one of their own
-goes bad.
-Weren laws are fluid things, since the law at
-any given time is whatever is agreed upon by the en-
-tire clan. The clan leader may declare a law at any
-time, as may the barons under him to an extent; but if
-the law is unjust or flies in the face of tradition, the
-clan ignores it. Likewise, if the majority of the clan
-feels that a law is necessary, it is quickly passed.
-This can result in some interesting rules and regula-
-tions. For example, the Ketern clan still has laws re-
-garding the proper means of splitting a catch of fish,
-and anti-pirating laws, even though they are entirely
-landlocked. The laws remain from a time when they
-held territory on the eastern coast.
-The secret of weren jurisprudence lies in
-knowing what the clan wants. This can be so difficult
-that even the weren have trouble figuring it out,
-which is why most clans appoint Lawreaders, special
-servants of the clan leaders whose job it is to publicly
-recite the relevant laws of the clan on formal occa-
-sions (such as at a trial, coronation, or marriage),
-and to represent defendants against their accusers.
-Very few clans have an established way to poll their
-members for their opinions. Clan leaders and nobles
-must develop an intuitive feel for what the clan might
-approve; judging the shifts in weren law is essential
-to the political career of any noble. Many weren dip-
-lomats in the service of the Orlamu are nothing less
-than failed aspirants to the clan leadership.
-===== Weren Dueling =====
-The weren emphasis on honorable battle has led to a
-large, unwritten code of behavior regarding the
-proper ways, times, and forms of violence. When and
-how a weren fights often seems complicated to out-
-siders, but at its heart are some very simple rules. A
-weren does not fight an obviously inferior opponent.
-Most weren consider nonweren to be inferior by defi-
-nition, and unworthy of a formal challenge. Adult
-weren rarely start a fight without cause, though what
-counts as starting a fight is fairly loosely defined and
-often depends on the weren’s mood. Honorable
-weren kill only opponents who clearly intend to kill
-them. Even then, a weren does not usually kill some-
-one who did not have a realistic chance of killing
-them. Weren often fight to determine rank, to settle
-an argument, or to advance in social standing. When
-two weren meet, they fight to decide who dominates
-the relationship unless one of them immediately ac-
-cepts a subordinate position. When challenging a
-superior to take his place, the challenge must be
-made on the superior’s home ground at a propitious
-hour; seconds or intermediaries such as priests are
-often used to choose a proper time for the challenge.
-In a few cases, these challenges are purely formal;
-no actual combat ensues, but the prearranged
-“loser” still must appear, face off against his oppo-
-nent, and then concede. Noble titles cannot be won
-through a challenge, except when the position is va-
-cant. Challenges made during times of crisis are al-
-ways frowned upon Weren Orthodoxies
-The Kurgish weren are great believers in two
-faiths, one held by the townland weren, the other
-maintained by the nomads of North and South. The
-townland weren follow the Purifier faith, whose cen-
-tral tenet declares that the soul grows more and
-more adept at the many tasks put before it, until fi-
-nally, in its last incarnation, it surpasses physical
-boundaries and becomes a
-gontal
-, an avatar of
-sorts. These avatars are often worshipped by the still-
-living followers of the faith.
-A small but growing number of weren have
-adopted a belief system based on a misinterpreta-
-tion of Orlamu doctrine. These “heretics” believe that
-drivespace is a form of paradise, a place that carries
-the soul to a better world. When a weren is done with
-earthly life, it is time to accept the Orlamu offer of
-emigration. Those who make their “Last Pilgrimage”
-are often violently disappointed when they discover
-that not all worlds of the Orlamu Theocracy are para-
-dises.
-Offworld weren often retain their native faith,
-but many also adopt the Orlamist worship of drive-
-space. Given the incredible technological leap from
-riding marrizhe-back to making starfall between star
-systems, perhaps this shouldn’t be too surprising.
-Most weren reject Humanity Reformation, Christian-
-ity, Buddhism, the Church of the Oracle, and Juda-
-ism, but a small number of converts to Islam have
-been recorded.
-===== Physiology =====
-Kurg’s low temperatures favor large, stocky
-body types. Weren, with their large mass-to-surface-
-area ratio, fit the type perfectly and retain heat well.
-They suffer much more from hot temperatures than
-from cold ones, though the smell of an overheated
-weren means that most of their companions suffer
-along with him.
-Male and female weren show relatively few
-external physical differences. Their size and strength
-are roughly comparable. The easiest way to tell the
-difference on sight is that males have much larger
-tusks and manes.
-A typical weren stands 2.2 meters tall and is
-almost as wide across the shoulders. Weren weigh
-about 150 kilograms, though many settled weren are
-even heavier, since sedentary weren quickly accu-
-mulate an insulating layer of body fat. Weren muscle
-tissue is very dense, providing resistance to injury
-and fatigue.
-Weren fingers end in long, tough, partially
-retractable claws. Weren take great pride in keeping
-these razor sharp.
-A weren’s body is covered with thick fur,
-starting in a mane. This is not ordinary hair, however.
-Most furry species generate each hair from long
-chains of dead cells. The thicker, heavier weren hair
-is multi-layered and able to change color like a cha-
-meleon’s skin. Pigment cells of various colors – pri-
-marily white, gray, green, and brown – line its length.
-When these cells either expose or hide their color the entire strand of hair changes color.
-Weren have limited control over this natural
-camouflage; they can adopt the hue of a nearby
-color, blending into the background, but they cannot
-change individual hairs or even small groups of
-hairs. The camouflaging action is almost entirely in-
-voluntary, but it is an important part of weren heri-
-tage. Ambushes are considered honorable tactics
-among weren, and the use of deception to gain a
-tactical advantage has a proud history on Kurg. Even
-now, a warrior who approaches a foe for close com-
-bat through the use of stealth is held to be more hon-
-orable than one who betrays the presence of his
-comrades through a rash charge.
-Only the most desperate weren employ their
-tusks in combat, since they don’t cause appreciably
-more damage than human teeth. The tusks are cer-
-tainly bigger than human teeth, but they are
-poorly positioned for attacks.
-The tusks of male weren continue to
-grow throughout their lifetime; the tusks of fe-
-male weren reach a certain length (about 4
-cm) and stop. Male weren usually file their
-tusks down to a reasonable length, much as
-humans trim their beards or t’sa maintain
-their crests. Among some weren warriors, ex-
-ceedingly long tusks are a sign of status.
-Other than the difference in tusks, the degree
-of weren sexual dimorphism is fairly low, but
-weren themselves can always tell a male from
-a female.
-===== Kurg =====
-The weren homeworld is about the
-size of Earth, with a similar atmosphere and
-an orbit about as far from the sun as Mars is
-from Sol. The climate at the equator is tem-
-perate, though this quickly gives way to su-
-barctic steppes and taigas toward the poles.
-The planet’s ice caps are enormous and con-
-sist primarily of water, but they include dry ice
-(frozen carbon dioxide) at the poles.
-Its distance from the sun and the low eccen-
-tricity of its orbit give Kurg little variation in seasons.
-It is a bit colder in winter, and the snow belt stretches
-very close to the equator, but the best approximation
-of Kurgish weather at any given time is simply “damn
-cold.” Kurg’s star, Tinnale, is a Class G star that
-shines about two and a half times as brightly as Sol.
-It is slightly larger than Sol and burns a thousand de-
-grees hotter. If Kurg were as close to Tinnale as
-Earth is to Sol, it would be a charred rock.
-Kurg’s land mass is unevenly distributed in
-its shallow seas. Weren culture evolved and still re-
-mains centered in one large continent about the size
-of Europe, Africa, and Asia combined. Many much
-smaller landmasses are scattered around the globe,
-and small weren tribes have settled a couple of
-these, but they are much less advanced than their
-cousins. Contact with these lost cousins is extremely
-difficult; Kurg’s seas are treacherous and filled with
-icebergs even in the summer months.
-Kurg’s ecosystem, like those of many primar-
-ily arctic worlds, shows little variation; a small num-
-ber of species completely dominate the environment.
-Few species evolve on a planet with few differentia-
-tions in global climate. Also, the low carrying capac-
-ity of the arctic ecosystem requires Kurg’s animals to
-forage a wider area to survive. At the same time, the
-low temperatures favor creatures with low surface-area-to-mass ratios; big creatures retain heat better
-than smaller ones. As a result, Kurg is dominated by
-a smaller variety of large herbivores and predators
-rather than a plethora of smaller but more diverse
-species. The most famous of these species is the marrizhe.
-===== Weren Homeworld =====
-==== Kurg ====
-Primary Tinnale
-Planetary Class Class 1
-Gravity G2 (1.04g)
-Radiation R1 (13 rem/yr)
-Atmosphere A2 (N, O, CO2 ,Ar)
-Pressure P3 (0.91)
-Heat H2 (1.7° C)
-Orbital Distance 1.48 AU
-Diameter 7,910 km
-Year (Earth days)
-.0 days
-Day (standard hours) 22.9 hours
-Axial Tilt 2.9°
-Density 1.05
-# Satellites: None
-Weren Weapons Table
-Weapon
-Acc
-Md
-Range
-Type
-Damage (O/G/A)
-Actions
-Size
-Cost
-Hide
-Cost
-.2mm SMG +1 B/A 15/30/80 HI/G d4+1w/d6+1w/d4m 4 -/10 50 +
-4500
-mm Shotgun 0 F
-/15/40 HI/O d6w/d8w/d4+1m 2 10 25 +3 800
-Dueling Claw 0 - Personal LI/O d4w/d4+2w/d4+3w 4 - -
--1 300
-Great Sword 0 - Personal LI/G d4+3w/d6+2w/d4+1m 2 - -
-+4 2500
-Herder’s Club
-- Personal LI/O d4+3w/d6+2w/d4+1m 2 - - +1
-Klickstopper Pistol 0 F
-/10/40 HI/O d4+2w/d4+3w/d4+3m 2 5 25 +4 900
-Sword Claw 0 - Personal LI/O d4+3w/d6+3w/d4+2m 2 - -
-+1 40
-[[garraut equipment|Garraut]] weren longcoat
-[[rurrkra equipment|Rurrkra]]  leggings and footware
-[[khe burund equipment|Khe! Burund]] chain-mail leather armor.

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