Kzer-Za
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| Ur-Quan Kzer-Za | |
|---|---|
 The Kzer-Za appeared as green caterpillar-like beings in Star Control II.
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| Ship | Dreadnought |
| Homeworld | Unknown |
| Contacts | Everyone |
| Quotes | "Submit or Die!" |
The Ur-Quan Kzer-Za are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series. They are the main antagonists, incredibly belligerent and the unquestioned masters of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Their conquest is what sets the events of the games in motion. Physically, think predatory caterpillars 10 meters long.
The Kzer-Za are actually one of the two subtypes of Ur-Quan, split from the now extinct common (and brown) predecessor. The other are the black Kohr-Ah, which had not made their presence known by the time of Star Control I, and "Ur-Quan" is often used to refer to the Kzer-Za alone.
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[edit] History
The Ur-Quan history is a long and unpleasant tale. The race was (and still is) extremely hostile and territorial, to the point that even in their starfaring age only one Ur-Quan may be present on board a craft at a time (leaving slaves and robots to do most of the shipwork while the Ur-Quan commands). The Ur-Quan keep several metres between each other when meeting personally and even so, unarmed battle may start spontaneously. As such, a climb to civilization was arduous, but eventually they managed it (over 20000 years before, say, humans), encountered the silicoid Taalo race - the only one that didn't trigger their instincts - and became part of the benevolent Sentient Milieu entering a golden age of progress and discovery.
The golden age came crashing down when the Milieu encountered the vile mind-controlling Dnyarri race that found the Ur-Quan easy prey and promptly proceeded to enslave first them, and then the Milieu, using the Ur-Quan as tools to eradicate any that resisted or was unsuitable for their purposes, especially the Taalo.
After several millennia of cruel slavery and experiments that had split the Ur-Quan race into green thinkers and administrators and black workers, the Dnyarri had grown complacent enough to occasionally allow their subjects periods of self-control. A green by the name of Kzer-Za found out that the Dnyarri could not subjugate creatures that were dying or in enough pain, and used one such period to inject acid into his veins, seize a transmitter and broadcast this message. A slave revolt began immediately in waves of wild self-mutilation and ended with the Dnyarri crushed under vengeful Ur-Quan forces equipped with Excruciators (devices that do exactly what it says on the tin, to their wielders, ceaselessly).
From the point of view of everyone else, the Ur-Quan were left entirely insane. Culturally and societally totally fixated on their past agonies, they consider every single other sentient race a threat and act accordingly. The race has split into two factions over how this should be done. Recognizing that they are not necessarily in the right, the two sides occasionally engage one another as a part of the doctrinal conflict to determine dominance until the next time.
The Kzer-Za follow the "Path of Now and Forever." The doctrine was adopted by the Kzer-Za faction of the Ur-Quan as a response to enslavement by the Dnyarri. It states that the only way to guarantee Ur-Quan freedom from slavery is to enslave all other sentient races.
Therefore, the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za move through the galaxy conquering all sentient races. After they have conquered a sentient race, they give it the option of becoming battle thralls or being confined to their homeworld in fallow slavery. The status of battle thrall gives the race a degree of freedom and mobility, but they must fight for the Ur-Quan to help conquer other races, which can bring up ethical issues in some races. The option of fallow slavery means that the entire race retreats to its homeworld. Once there, the planet is enshrouded in an impenetrable force field called a Slave Shield, preventing all travel and communication to and from the planet. Most information about fallow slavery was learned from Earth's experience after the defeat of the Alliance of Free Stars; this may or may not be typical. In that case, the Ur-Quan demanded that the choice should be decided by popular vote. After the vote resulted in choosing to be confined to Earth as fallow slaves, the Ur-Quan ordered that all people and equipment should be returned to Earth. They then warned that all human-made buildings older than 500 years were to be abandoned. All such structures were then orbitally bombarded by the Ur-Quan armada, destroying landmarks such as Stonehenge, the Pyramids, and even areas that humans had no knowledge of, such as a target deep under the polar ice caps. They also utterly destroyed Buenos Aires, apparently in retaliation for Earth having ever fought against them in the first place.
This is actually merciful in contrast to the Kohr-Ah and their Eternal Doctrine, who simply exterminate all alien species.
[edit] Conduct
The Kzer-Za use Dnyarri modified into subsentience as universal translators to avoid the indignity of even speaking with lower races. They are impassive and formal in their dealings, such as they are, and take their quest as a necessity and even as benevolence, in that the races they subjugate are protected from extinction via nuclear holocaust or ecocatastrophe, both of which they have seen by the hundreds.
Unusually for a villain they will not use deceit in any form nor ever insult their foes.
When an alien asks them "why are you doing this," both the Kohr-Ah and Kzer-Za subspecies recall the plaintive cries of the Mael-Num, the final Sentient Milieu race to survive both the Dynarri and the vengeful Ur-Quan, and are emotionally impacted to the point that they briefly stop their assault and explain, at full length, their reasons for following their doctrines. Very few races ever hear this explanation, because they do not ask properly - most try to appeal to some higher moral concept, which the doctrines allow the Ur-Quan to ignore entirely.
[edit] Kzer-Za in the games
In Star Control I, the Kzer-Za and their Hierarchy of Battle Thralls meet and engage the Alliance of Free Stars, including mankind, that was forewarned of the threat and hastily banded together. This led to a fierce war that lasted several decades, with the Hierarchy eventually triumphant. By the time of Star Control II, the Doctrinal Conflict had started again, and the Kzer-Za were losing, mainly due to the loss of an entire invasion fleet when the Shofixti blew up their sun, which is said to have wiped out 30% of the total Kzer-Za fleet. A chance discovery of a Precursor installation on an isolated human colony led to a slave revolt that resulted to the defeat of both the Kzer-Za and the Kohr-Ah a renewed alliance.
[edit] Ur-Quan Dreadnought
In battle, the Kzer-Za use massive and frighteningly powerful green ships known as Dreadnoughts or less often as Planetary Siege Units (PSUs). Their primary weapon is a high-powered fusion cannon, and they can launch small, red fighters. These fighters have basic lasers and can easily tear slow ships to pieces in swarms, but on the downside they require crew as pilots, can only function for a limited time, are extremely fragile and just barely capable of dodging a planet. High attrition rates are common even on successful deployments.
