Thraddash
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The Thraddash are a fictional race of beings featured in the sci-fi Star Control computer game series.
| Thraddash | |
|---|---|
| Ship | Torch |
| Homeworld | Delta Draconis |
| Contacts | Humans, Ur-Quan |
| Quote(s) | "So, what's this? SNORT! An unknown alien species?" "It is the twisty-thing that launched a thousand ships!" |
The Thraddash joined the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za Hierarchy of Battle Thralls prior to the Ur-Quan Slave War.
In general the Thraddash are an aggressive lot, respecting brute force over most things, smoking their cigars and making much more noise about themselves than they would be wise to. With little real might, they are seemingly ready to do battle at the slightest provocation. Combat and aggression practically defines the race.
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[edit] History
Thraddash history has witnessed the rise and fall of 18 different planetary cultures. Each time their culture reached a certain point a new ideology for a more perfect culture arrived, and they fought a bitter war eventually blasting themselves back usually 500 years in development, and started a new culture from scratch.
From their conversations with The Captain, we can glean some of the more interesting aspects of previous Thraddash Cultures.
[edit] Culture Two
The earliest Culture mentioned by the Thraddash was Culture Two. Little is known of Culture Two, except that they glorified fortitude and stoic resistance to pain.
[edit] Culture Three
Threatened by the virtues extolled by Culture Two, Culture Three demonstrated the dominance of their culture by brutalizing themselves. A common tactic used by Culture Three armies was to position themselves on higher ground, cut off one of their limbs and wave them threateningly at their enemies. This tactic was apparently effective in sapping the morale of their enemies, causing them to turn and flee. As a result of this, the status of Culture Three war veterans was determined by the number of limbs they had remaining.
[edit] Culture Nine
The most important single artifact common to all Thraddash cultures is the Aqua Helix. Culture Nine was the first (and only) culture to question its significance. Culture Nine considered excessive the amount of blood and passion expended over the artifact which had thus far failed to ensure them glory and honour or, indeed, done anything at all, bar being a peculiar shade of blue. Unfortunately, their complete defeat at the hands of Culture Ten after only two weeks of dominance only reinforced the Thraddash belief in the sanctity of the Aqua Helix.
[edit] Culture Twelve
Culture Twelve is the Thraddash example for extreme hostility. It is said that before Culture Twelve's first great battle, Jugkah the Battlemaster accidentally stepped on Gnusko the tactician's foot. This prompted Gnusko to summarily slice Jugkah in half. This rash act, however, spelled doom for Gnusko as Jugkah's troops proceeded to decimate him and his elite guard. As Gnusko's forces were defeated, the late Jugkah's Master Sergeants Muuhd and Pudt got into an argument over the method for Gnusko's execution, on whether to use crucifixion or the "Lead Tattoo" technique. The argument was resolved in a characteristically Thraddash fashion when Pudt and his command slaughtered Muuhd and his 500 troops.
These events, however, led to the end of Culture Twelve. Their original enemy, Yajag, surprised the remnants of Jugkah's army and proceeded to annihilate it, paving the way for the establishment of Culture Thirteen.
[edit] Culture Fourteen
Culture Fourteen is the second Culture to question traditional Thraddash values. Shortly after achieving dominance, Culture Fourteen claimed that the Thraddash method of cultural evolution was wrong. They claimed that every inter-Culture conflict set the Thraddash back 500 years. As with Culture Nine, Thraddash tradition again proved itself immune to change as Culture Fourteen was destroyed by Culture Fifteen after a reign of only ten years. Interestingly enough, the violence ensuing from Culture Fourteen's replacement only set the Thraddash back by "two, three hundred years tops", hence disproving Culture Fourteen's main tenet.
[edit] Culture Sixteen
Again, little is known of Culture Sixteen, except that they were considered by the Thraddash as "sneaky and deceptive."
[edit] Culture Eighteen
Culture Eighteen was the dominant Thraddash culture when the Ur-Quan invaded. Their swift defeat by the Ur-Quan put their superiority into question, and an attempt for a resolution was made by the means of a thermonuclear exchange. The Ur-Quan in orbit around the Thraddash homeworld did not allow such intra-species fighting, and intercepted all of the warheads with their fighter vessels.
The Ur-Quan's intervention, however, only postponed the inevitable. Shortly after the failed thermonuclear weapon exchange, Culture Eighteen's challengers introduced a super-lethal poison into the air and water, ending the reign of Culture Eighteen.
[edit] Culture Nineteen
After the poisoning of Culture Eighteen, the Ur-Quan executed all of the emerging Culture's leaders, and arbitrarily assigned leaders to rule over the Thraddash. The Ur-Quan then explained that any further violations of the Slave Laws will be punished by the eradication of the Thraddash species. Thus started Culture Nineteen.
Culture Nineteen elected to become Battle Thralls upon being enslaved by the Ur-Quan. As such, they expected to be part of the Ur-Quan's offensive in the quadrant. Their relative military weakness, however, as well as their predisposition to pick fights with other slave races, especially the Umgah and Ilwrath, made the Ur-Quan decide that they would be more of a liability than an asset in the coming battles, and ordered them to "guard the flank." The modern Thraddash have improved their Torch ships with an effective Reeunk Afterburner (named after its creator), and are itching to prove their worth to the Ur-Quan.
Culture Nineteen is the Thraddash Culture first encountered by The Captain.
[edit] Future
The Captain's actions determine the fate of the Thraddash. If they are tricked into attacking the Kohr-Ah, they will move towards the area of the Doctrinal Conflict and will lose half of their fleet. The casualties during this campaign will be 60% inflicted by the Kohr-Ah and 40% inflicted by the Ur-Quan, who presumably punishes the Thraddash for again disobeying orders. If The Captain gains the respect of the Thraddash, they will hail him as a model and will establish a new Culture, the direction of which is left entirely up to The Captain. If the Ilwrath are tricked to attack the Thraddash, then the Ilwrath will move towards Thraddash space, leading to a mutually destructive war that will eliminate both their fleets.
[edit] Thraddash Torch
The Thraddash Torch is a relatively weak, yet interesting ship. Its primary weapon is a four megawatt "Mark 6" blaster that fires low-damage projectiles with a moderate range. The secondary 'weapon' is actually the Torch's secondary propulsion system: the Reeunk afterburner, posthumously named after the Thraddash engineer who "invented" the effect (as well as roasting himself to ashes in the process) when he accidentally stuck his cigar into the aft fuel valve of a Torch vessel. This afterburner allows the Torch to travel faster than any other ship in the game while simultaneously leaving behind a "vapour trail" of superheated gases that will damage enemy ships upon contact.
A human Pilot with a Torch is capable of beating almost any ship in the game, if ready for a prolonged fight, because of its great speed with the afterburner. At the same time a torch costs very little resource-wise. A strategy used by advanced human Torch pilots is to draw out a conflict and use the gravity well of a planet to predict the course of a ship's flight path and lay down a "wall" of afterburner in its way. With the combination of this technique and the ability to do extremely fast "drive by" shots, a patient Torch pilot is capable of winning very long, very tactical fights against any other ship, even if they are stationary. On the downside the Torch has such a small crew complement that one or two hits from the more powerful weapons like that of the Mycon Podship, Ur-Quan Dreadnought, or Druuge Mauler are usually fatal. A riskier but faster tactic is making use of the fact that many of the larger ships tend to chase after the smaller Torch if AI-controlled. One simply has to wait for the ship to get somewhat close, then blast off with the afterburner away from the ship, and let the pursuing ship absorb the blast and incur heavy damage. In this way even a Dreadnought can be dispatched quite easily, although one well-placed shot can signal the end. One can also use the afterburner to make a fiery "ring" around the ship, which will destroy Dreadnought attack drones.
