Kohr-Ah
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| Kohr-Ah | |
|---|---|
 The Kohr-Ah appeared as black caterpillar-like beings, shown here above a ceremonial bone pit, in Star Control II.
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| Ship | Marauder |
| Homeworld | Unknown |
| Contacts | Dnyarri, Kzer-Za |
| Quotes | "We are the Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah. We cleanse our destiny. You will soon die. Make whatever rituals are necessary for your species." |
The Kohr-Ah are a fictional race of aliens featured in the Star Control computer game series.
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[edit] Summary
A subspecies of the Ur-Quan and cousins of the green Kzer-Za, the Kohr-Ah were not present in Earth's part of the galaxy during the first Alliance-Hierarchy war (Star Control I). Due to an historical experience of cruel enslavement (described in detail in the Ur-Quan article), the Kzer-Za developed the Path of Now and Forever, which required that the Ur-Quan enslave all sentient species other than the Ur-Quan, in order to eliminate any future threats to themselves. The Kohr-Ah developed a simpler, competing solution, the Eternal Doctrine, which calls for the extermination of all non-Ur-Quan sentient life.
[edit] History
Evolving as brown, caterpillar-like solitary hunters on a hostile world, the Ur-Quan are instinctively distrustful of and aggressive toward outsiders, characteristics that colored their first interactions with alien life -- the scouts of the Sentient Milieu, whom they attacked. Only by great effort did the Ur-Quan overcome their instincts to become members of the Milieu. When the Milieu was conquered and enslaved by the Dnyarri, the Ur-Quan species was divided, by a feat of genetic engineering, into two sub-species: The green Kzer-Za, scientists and thinkers, and the black Kohr-Ah, laborers and soldiers.
Millennia of slavery under the Dnyarri, followed by the literally painful experience of liberation, exacerbated Ur-Quan xenophobia to an extreme, causing them to regard all other sentient life as a mortal threat. In response, the Kzer-Za sought to enslave all other sentient life in the galaxy while the Kohr-Ah sought to exterminate it.
The philosophical differences which arose between the Kohr-Ah and Kzer-Za immediately after their liberation from Dnyarri enslavement led to a civil war, the First Doctrinal Conflict. The Kohr-Ah were defeated, but the Kzer-Za, conceding the possibility that the Path of Now and Forever was in error and the Eternal Doctrine correct, sent the Kohr-Ah into exile. The Kohr-Ah were directed to circumnavigate the galaxy in the anti-spinward direction, putting their annihilatory doctrine into practice, while the Kzer-Za would travel in the opposite direction. When the two species again encountered one another, they would fight another Doctrinal War to award possession of the Precursor battle platform, the Sa-Matra, and to determine the dominant Doctrine for the next cycle.
The game Star Control II takes place during this Second Doctrinal Conflict, in which the Kohr-Ah are winning and will, if the player does not intervene before then, emerge victorious, going on to wipe out all sentient life, including Humanity.
[edit] Psychology
Like their green cousins, the Kohr-Ah believe that they are performing a service for others as well as for themselves. Where the Kzer-Za view slave-shielding as a form of protection, the Kohr-Ah believe that those they kill might be reincarnated as a superior being, an Ur-Quan. Perhaps as a result of this dispassionate view, neither the Kohr-Ah nor the Kzer-Za will insult or lie to their adversaries. However, both find the act of communicating with other species repugnant, and use non-sentient, telepathic Talking Pets (genetically modified Dnyarri) as a psionic universal translator.
[edit] Kohr-Ah Marauder
The Kohr-Ah Marauder is considered, along with the Ur-Quan Dreadnought and the Chmmr Avatar, to be one of the most powerful ships in the game. Each ship is 'ranked' with a number with a maximum of 30. Along with the Dreadnought and Avatar it is ranked 30. Its main weapons are spinning, black blades that will travel forward while the fire button is depressed, then remain in position. When an enemy vessel is sufficiently close to a blade, the blade will move slowly toward that vessel. Combined with the difficulty of seeing black blades against a black starfield, this limited mobility makes the blades effective mines and a menace to the unwary. The Marauder's secondary weapon is the Fiery Ring of Inevitable and Eternal Destruction, or F.R.I.E.D, a circular deployment of superheated gases around the ship. This can be used either defensively, to destroy incoming weapons, or offensively in close-quarters combat.
