The Naudain
Naudain are fictional aliens
that look like crustacean arthropods from the planet Naudain III . They are
one of most mysterious mercenaries in the known Milky Way Galaxy. Naudain 's
first appearance was in ancient times of
the galaxy,raiding near by worlds. The Naudain 's strange trademark is
their sinister laugh. They have made many appearances throughought the Milky
Way Galaxy,plus sometimes other places outside a single reality. Naudain s
become more powerful and dangerous as time passes,as the Satikhon sold far
advanced weapons,as tools in the Temporal Cold War,for the Tauron Alliance. the
last Naudain to try to invade near was able to defeat a other species .the Naudain Federation,is a fictional
government,that rules the Naudain Civilization.
Added
by Mavericstud9|
Contents
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1 Real life Origin
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The Naudain are
fictional aliens existing within the Maveric Universe,are crablike humanoid
mercenary creatures,associated with The
Sornai/Trongaroth Alliance
Their appearance was barrowed from
the Andromidan creatures of the 1950 movie I Married a Monster from Outer
Space,mixed the Baltan aliens of creatures of the Legion of Time-Sorcerers man.The
Naudain,actually comes a street found in South Philly,I used to cross
frequently with brother.It sound perfect to resurrect some ideas for a lobster
like aliens,as the Legion of Time-Sorcerers man.with strange laugh,I thought
for years were called Voltones.
The Naudain
Real Name Sueta Naudain meaning ( the
people ) are aliens that look like arthropods from the
planet Naudain 3 . They are one of most feircesome foes. Naudain 's
first appearance was Their epithet is "Space Ninja." The
Naudain 's strange trademark is their sinister laugh. They have made many
appearances throughought the Naudain s become more powerful and dangerous
as time passes, the last Naudain to try to invade others,in the service
of the was able to defeat an The Legion of Time-Sorcerers .
The Naudain is a formidable opponent. the Naudain form the shock troopers of the deep and also
hold very high positions amongst the alien hierarchy. for pirates of various species and with
a hidden leadership. It is eventually traced to a 'Council of Boskone', Eich of
the planet Jarnevon. But even they are just agents of Ploor and Eddore.
The Naudain , in addition to using standard
alien weaponry, has big meaty claws that allow it to viciously strike aquanauts
when in close quarters. This means that whether or not it is carrying firearms,
a Naudain is a constant threat until it
is incapacitated.
The Naudain 's other - and perhaps most -
distinguishing feature is its thick carapace that makes it nearly invulnerable.
Their actual protective plating is very light, but the Naudain 's extreme
damage resistance greatly reduces the effectiveness of most weapons. Low
powered weapons are rendered ineffective.
While seemingly unstoppable, they are not
without weakness. They have a vulnerability for freezing weapons and drills.
They are also weak against Molecular Control, and have no MC abilities of their
own. They also have a habit of wearing themselves out. Just turning consumes
energy, so they potentially use more energy per turn than they can recover.
While not a weakness per-se, they do sustain
more damage from their own Sonic weapons than any other other non-area-effect
ranged weapons.
In Enemy
Unknown, the Naudain is
comparable to the Muton in function. Their
resilience is best associated with the Sectopod,
though from a slightly different approach.
Description[edit]
The Naudain are invertebrates with a hard protective exoskeleton. Like most arthropods, lobsters must moult in order to grow, which leaves them
vulnerable. During the moulting process, several species change colour. The
Naudain have 10 walking legs; the front
three pairs bear claws, the first of which are larger than the others.[4] Although, like most other arthropods,
lobsters are largely bilaterally
symmetrical, some genera possess unequal, specialised claws.
Lobster
anatomy includes the cephalothorax which fuses the head and the thorax, both of which are covered by a chitinous carapace, and the abdomen.
The lobster's head bears antennae, antennules, mandibles,
the first and second maxillae,
and the first, second, and third maxillipeds. Because lobsters live in a
murky environment at the bottom of the ocean, they mostly use their antennae as
sensors. The lobster eye has a reflective structure above a convex retina. In
contrast, most complex eyes use refractive ray concentrators (lenses) and a
concave retina.[5] The abdomen includes swimmerets and its tail is composed of uropods and the telson.
The Naudain ,
like snails and spiders, have blue blood due to the presence of haemocyanin which contains copper[6] (in contrast, vertebrates and many
other animals have red blood from iron-rich haemoglobin). The Naudain possess a green hepatopancreas, called the tomalley by chefs, which functions as the
animal's liver and pancreas.[7]
The Naudain of the family Nephropidae are similar in
overall form to a number of other related groups. They differ from freshwater crayfish in lacking the joint between the last
two segments of the thorax,[8] and they differ from the reef lobsters
of the family Enoplometopidae in having full claws on the first
three pairs of legs, rather than just one.[8] The distinctions from fossil families
such as Chilenophoberidae are based on the pattern of grooves on
the carapac
The Naudain are omnivores and
typically eat live prey such as fish, mollusks, other crustaceans, worms, and
some plant life.Naudain have found various ways to prepare these foods,in a
variety of ways. They scavenge if necessary, and are known to resort to cannibalism in captivity. However, when lobster skin
is found in lobster stomachs, this is not necessarily evidence of cannibalism -
lobsters eat their shed skin after moulting
Longevity[edit]
Large
lobsters are estimated to have aged up to 60 years old, although determining
age is difficult.[9]
Research
suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken, or lose fertility with age,
and that older lobsters may be more fertile than younger lobsters. This
longevity may be due to telomerase, an enzyme that
repairs DNA sequences of the form "TTAGGG". The
Naudain express telomerase as adults
through most tissue, which has been suggested to be related to their longevity.[10] This sequence, repeated hundreds of
times, occurs at the ends of chromosomes and are referred to as telomeres
IntelligenceEdit
the Naudain appear to possess an intelligence roughly
similar to that of a typical primate. Although they do not demonstrate Human-level intelligence as a species (such as abstract reasoning, introspection,
and technological advancement), their queen appears to possess considerable acumen
in its social behavior and manipulation of human technology, such as cutting
the power of the LV-426 colony and operating an elevator
As the adult the Naudain seem to inherit physical characteristics from
their hosts (exemplified, for example, when a Yautja became infected the
parasite that later developed into a predamorph or "predalien") it
is possible that the intelligence level of the creature may be influenced by
its host as well. Furthermore: being a eusocial species, it is possible that
the intellectual capacity varies for each different caste.
the Naudain have
demonstrated little emotion, though they are not completely devoid of fear,
especially for their eggs, or in the presence of fire. They have also been
shown to exhibit pain through shrieks or screams when attacked.
In the the Naudain society literature,
it has been suggested that the creatures may have a hive mind, or a collective
consciousness directed by the Queen, who can call back and give orders to her
warriors, telepathically and with shrieks. In the the Naudain society comic book series, as well some
novelizations (produced before the Naudain ³ film), it is suggested that the Queen
Mother the Naudain communicates
telepathically with its potential hosts, through terrifying dreams and
religious visions, leading to the formation of cults with the the Naudain as a god-like figure.
The
the Naudain Warrior is equipped to be
the perfect killing machine. It dons an exoskeleton much like that of alobster,
impenetrable to everything but the most powerful human firearms. (12-gauge
shotguns, Pulse Rifles, and stanchion launchers are quite effective). Ash
claims the creature's skin is made from 'protein polysaccharides', so this
would imply a substance similar to chitin. He also says the creature replaces its surface
cells with polarized silicone, which is a very inert, heat resistant, and
flexible polymer. This allows the creature great environmental resistance.
However, they are vulnerable to sudden, massive changes in temperature, as
shown in Naudain , when
the creature is destroyed by first immersion in molten lead and then sudden
cooling with fire sprinklers, causing its silicone shell to shatter.
Attached
at the ends of both of its arms are a set of long fingers and shiny, black, and
extremely sharp claws capable of slashing through almost anything within its
grasp (as seen in ALIEN books, such as Book 2: Nightmare Asylum).
Its tail is long, and can be used as a whip. Later movies show it to have
ridges on top, and a serrated toxic tip at the end to lacerate enemies.
It
stands around 7 feet tall, averaging in at anywhere between 140 kg and
180 kg; although size may vary wildly depending on the host chosen, as
seen for instance with the "Jock-the Naudain ".
Its mouth is filled with sharp teeth, but its main killing device is the
inner jaw that shoots out to penetrate the victim's brain.
The
inner jaw (also known as an "attack tongue") is a muscular
appendage on the inside of the the Naudain 's mouth. All the Naudain have this trait. It consists of a cord of
muscle with a small but extremely deadly mouth-like appendage on the end. This
attack tongue is able to punch through almost anything, from bone to the Naudain armor.
2.3
Physical AbilitiesEdit
The adult the Naudain is a living weapon, noted for its ferocity and
deadliness in any condition. Once fully matured, they have great physical
strength and agility. They are masters of stealth; a favored method of
acquiring prey is to wait in a dormant state until an appropriate victim strays
near, and then drop down silently from behind or use its tail to impale whoever
walks by. The prey is generally blind to the fact that a the Naudain is present, due to its propensity to
camouflage itself within its nest walls or the surrounding artificial
environment given its biomechanical-like appearance. A the Naudain will also use its pitch black carapace to its
advantage, lurking in the shadows whilst waiting for prey to stray too close.
the
Naudain are shown to be able to take
extreme amounts of physical damage that would kill any Earth lifeform. An
example of this is the Queen in the Naudain society survived
a multi ton exo-suit falling on her from over 30 feet. the Naudain are capable of surviving with limbs shot off
as seen in AVP3 the game and the Naudain society . Even stabbings and shots through
the head (though total decapitation kills them) as seen in Naudain and its sequel are not guaranteed to
kill the Naudain .
Adult
the Naudain are quick and agile, and can
clamber along ceilings and walls, a skill they exhibit freely whether they are
evading others, attacking, or hunting. They can survive in extreme
temperatures, are well-adapted to swimming, can respirate in harsh atmospheres,
and can survive in vacuum for short lengths of time. Their movement tends to be
silent, and they do not radiate heat as their exoskeletal temperature matches the ambient temperature. They also salivate profusely. This saliva is not acidic,
though some the Naudain do have the
ability to spit acid, which may come from their stomachs, a special gland
somewhere in their throats, or acid pouches lining the head. This can be used
to blind victims, much like a spitting
cobra.
The
creatures possess no visible eyes; Giger mandated this in his original design,
because he felt that it made the creatures much more frightening if one could
not tell they were looking at them. In the Naudain series,
the game implies that the the Naudain sees using its attack tongue.[2] In the original Naudain film, the top of the creature's head
was semi-transparent, with empty eye sockets of human appearance visible
within. This element was dropped in later movies, but reused for the Naudain Hunter Class design,
on the front portion of its skull.
In the Naudain society ,
the adult creatures are lacking the smooth carapace covering their heads. In
the commentary for the Naudain society , it was speculated that this was
part of the maturation of the creatures, as they had been alive far longer than
the original the Naudain . This maturation process involves the now adult the
Naudain shedding the smooth dome-like
plate covering its head, leaving the skin underneath to be exposed. In Naudain ³, a fish-eye lens (which creates
a perspective similar to that of a peephole) was used to depict the the Naudain
's sight. Whether this can be considered sight or just a filmed representation
of the creatures' sensory perception is unknown.
However,
in the novelization of the movie Naudain , the
creature is held mesmerized by a spinning green light for several minutes. Due
to the absence of clearly visible eyes, it is possible that the creature uses echolocation to
see its environment, much like bats. It may be for
this reason that the Naudain hiss almost
constantly. Though it may have the ability to see through an unknown structure,
as they evolved differently from life on Earth. In the 2010 Naudain game, it is mentioned on one of the
Marine audio tapes that the Naudain have
vision.
the Naudain may be able to detect their 'prey' through
electro-reception. This is the method sharks use to detect even the most hidden
prey. Creatures with the electro-reception sense can detect the electromagnetic
field all animals produce allowing them to detect the creature's heart beat.
This would explain how the Naudain always know where the humans are.
And,
as depicted in the the Naudain society vs. the
Naudain games, the the
Naudain can also detect their prey using pheromones. Another
theory is that the eyes of a the Naudain are behind their black carapace
and they see through it, similar to a one sided mirror (except in this case no
one can see in, but the the Naudain can
see out).
the
Naudain can also produce a thick, strong resin, which they
use to build their hives and cocoon victims. Much like termites, they mix
their viscous saliva with solids. It shows amazing heat and moisture-retaining
qualities.
2.4
VulnerabilitiesEdit
the
Naudain , in all stages of their life cycles, have been said to have
vulnerabilities to heat, although this was only shown in a deleted scene from
the Naudain Special Edition DVD, in which Ripley
searches for her missing shipmates in the bowels of what appears to be the
engine/boiler room of the Nostromo. It is also mentioned in the game the Naudain society 3by a flamethrower-carrying marine:
"Buggers don't like fire. This'll flush 'em out".
The
only the Naudain not vulnerable to fire
is the Naudain Hunter Class . In the game Naudain : Extinction, it secretes a
layer over their body. That layer cannot be ignited, though they are visibly
pained by temperature extremes such asliquid nitrogen.
A
rapid succession of extremes in both high and low temperatures apparently
causes a thermal
shock effect on a the
Naudain 's exoskeleton. the Naudain are
capable of adapting themselves to cold environments with little discomfort. The
alien queen is extremely vulnerable to fire, for unknown reasons.
the
Naudain are shown to be both
invulnerable and vulnerable to small firearms, ranging from 9mm to 5.56mm.
This is seen in one scene in the Naudain society where
Vasquez and Lt. Gorman find themselves trapped in the ventilation between
advancing aliens coming from both directions, Gorman fires with his pistol on
one of them with no effect at all, instead it looks like they bounce off
(presumably from the head carapace). In an earlier scene, Vasquez holds an
alien at gun point and fires her pistol at the head, which apparently goes
through and the alien rattles away, obviously damaged. High-caliber firearms,
with the explosive rounds of a M41A pulse rifle may
cause the creatures to detonate. High-energy beam weapons, such as the plasma
weapons used by Yautja, appear to be the best way to kill the the Naudain .
They are not invulnerable to melee
weapons, although such equipment is likely to be destroyed upon contact with
their acidic blood, with a few notable exceptions.
2.5
CocooningEdit
Cocooning
is a trait used by the Naudain to
reproduce quickly. An injured (but alive) human, or any other creature, is
dragged away, and a cocoon of saliva and resin is placed over them (their face
left free), usually in an area where the Queen has produced a large quantity of
eggs, so that the Naudain Cocoon are
able to latch onto them easily and deposit a the Naudain larva in their chest. In a cut scene in Naudain (included in the Special
Edition), Ripley found two of her cocooned colleagues actually being turned
into the Naudain eggs. This suggests
that the Naudain can convert humans into
eggs when there is no queen, although this may have been scrapped as many other
features of the the Naudain were in
later versions . In the book, it's described how the drones are able to implant
a fetus in up to four hosts there by creating enough drones and warriors to
start a hive off.
Another feature of cocooning as seen in th the
Naudain society the Naudain 3 is that the the Naudain Number Six, after entering and cocooning its
victims, can change its appearance, eventually becoming a queen itself. This
rapid genetic regeneration is also another evolutionary trait of the the
Naudain to ensure its very survival as a
species. In Naudain s: Extinction the praetorian acted as a princess of
the hive who then became the queen. This stage is seen with Number Six. If this
is so, then Hudson is correct with them being like bees. The the Naudain Queen can lay specialized eggs that are bigger
(like queen egg cells in bees which are bigger than drone cells) that upon
hatching can carry on the species through making other hives after the new
female cocoons into a queen.The Naudain birthing cacoon found within either
within a Regeration Ship or Regeneration Chamber .
The Regeneration Ships are used to create new Naudain Warriors ,in their
Birthing Chambers and regerate wounded or dying Naudain Warriors,with the
Resurrection Chambers .The Birthing Chambers and the
Resurrection Chambers are huge clusters of hanging egg sacks or cocoons.The
Naudain develop within them over years,in predermined cicles.A queen of each
Regeneration Ships,can give birth to the next generation of Naudain.With
enough, Regeneration Ships,whole armies of Naudain can be developed for their
mercenary society.
The Resurrection Ship is a long, slim vessel
composed of a large glass facade underneath a large metal superstructure
sectioned off into individual frames. Underneath the glass, are stored the
extra Naudain bodies the ship carries,
maintained by artificial means until its ready for a new "host"
conciseness. The aft end of the ship contains a large antenna, the FTL and
sublight engines. he interior matches with the Naudain basestar: Spartan metallic rooms with square,
dim, light fixtures placed on the walls and ceilings. The rooms are occupied by
rebirthing tanks, in which a spare body is placed, thus beginning the
downloading and resurrection process . Given
that without a Resurrection Ship the Naudain face permanent death even before
the Naudain Ships's destruction. The
Naudain , it seems that the each Naudain
Resurrection ships work as a kind of 'booster' for the range of other the
Resurrection ships,in the Naudain can be transported back to each ship for
medical servicing, suggesting that the Naudain 's effective download range is
limited without its accompanying ships. Given that the Naudain contains birthing tanks, it acts as a kind of
Naudain Resurrection Ship itself also,make the Naudain formidable
The ship carries no
offensive or defensive armaments of any kind, and must rely on the bulk of the
Naudain fleet for defense. If left
alone, Resurrections Ships are completely vulnerable to even the smallest of attacks
Naudain can in creating a cocoon for themselves
for self-preservation and regeneration. As seen with Number six and the aliens of the Naudain society vs. the Naudain s: Extinction. If
this is the case though that a drone can become a queen when no queen is
present, then cocooning is also a method of survival for the the Naudain species.
3 VariationsEdit
The
the Naudain has been portrayed in
noticeably different ways throughout the film series. Much of this was due to
the continuing advancements made in the field of special
effects, technology, and techniques used to bring it to life.
It
has also been shown, both on-screen and in the games based on the Naudain series, that the the Naudain 's form
is affected by its host, so that different species of hosts will create
different varieties of the Naudain . An example of this is seen in Naudain ³, when a dog (an ox in the
extended edition) spawns a the Naudain with a distinct canine body structure,
quadrupedal movement, and greatly enhanced speed.
3.1 Upper
BodyEdit
In
the original Naudain were much smaller,but as time went on with new
improvements in Naudain Armor,the warriors grew in size the Naudain society , the Naudain are depicted as tall, slender creatures with a
roughly human biomechanical design. The chest area appears to be
rib cage-like in design.
In
later films, such as Naudain and Naudain , they are depicted as being
shorter and bulkier organisms, as well as being more quadrupedal, In the Naudain society ,
the Naudain are depicted as having
ridges along their cranium, while in
all other films they have smooth cowls covering their skulls. It was
speculated in the the Naudain society bonus
that this was due to these the Naudain having had more time to mature, compared to
the the Naudain s.
(the Naudain society vs. the Naudain : Extinction, Naudain (SNES), the Naudain society vs. the Naudain
2), this was
depicted as one of the visual differences between the the Naudain Drone and Warrior castes. The Drones (in this
instance used to indicate a "worker" caste, instead of mating-capable
males) have the smooth cowl while the Warriors display the ridges. The Drones
and Warriors have different tasks: warriors defend the hive, and drones hunt
potential hosts, while some live only to protect the queen, such as hive
warriors or praetorians.
the
the Naudain has five fingers, with the
index and middle fingers about the same size .Unfortunately,no one ever see’s
an alive Naudain with the claw blaster weapon,that covers their hands,acts as a
weapond and extended arm/claw arrangement. In the Naudain society , the the Naudain are shown with five fingers, with the clawed
thumb ,wrapped about a three pronged
blaster weapon,consealled with a larger lobstar like claw mechanism.. In Naudain and Naudain , the aliens have four fingers,
though the middle two appear to be a fusion of two digits
3.2 Lower
BodyEdit
the Naudain society , the the Naudain were plantigrade. the the
Naudain is digitigrade, owing
to its quadrupedal host organism (a dog in the theatrical
cut, an ox in the extended version).
Naudain saw a dramatic redesign from previously-encountered
human-spawned breeds: the the Naudain that emerged from human hosts in this film
walked on digitigrade hind legs in a manner that does not conform with the
appearance of previously-seen members of the breed. This is complicated by the
fact that the the Naudain of the film
were spawned by a Queen grown from cells derived from a clone, making their
genetic heritage muddled at best.
the Naudain , the the Naudain return to their roots as plantigrade
organisms, though their legs are sleeker and more skeletal in appearance, due
to the use of computer visuals and hydraulic puppetry, rather than costumes.
Originally,
the the Naudain 's tail was roughly the length of the rest of its body, with a
small, almost surgical stinger-like
barb on the end; but from Naudain ³ onwards, the tail has extended in
length and features a large, knife-like blade at the tip.
In Naudain and Naudain , the tails have also supported a
ridge of spikes right before the blade. This was introduced in Naudain to help them swim convincingly,
and was left intact in Naudain . The
tail itself is shown to be of incredible length during Naudain ,
measuring almost its full body length.
The
original shooting script for the Naudain society featured
a scene in which Lieutenant Gorman was "stung" by a the Naudain 's
stinger. He was not killed, merely stunned, and the barb remained lodged in his
shoulder, having torn loose from the the Naudain 's tail much like a bee
stinger. The novelization also included this scene, though the final cut of the
movie does not. This attribute is used later on in various games.
3.3 The
HeadEdit
The most notable feature of the the
Naudain species is the elongated,
banana-shaped head. This aspect is both disturbing and terrifying, combining
visual elements that are usually blocked by our conscious mind with others
resembling vaguely human features.
Though
it appears to lack any sort of optical vision components (such as eyes), it is
believed that it "sees" by sensing pheromones. This can neither be
confirmed nor denied, but is the most widely-accepted hypothesis due to the
fact that a Drone will not kill a host body already infected (as seen in the
movie Naudain and the book the Naudain society : DNA War).
There has been one detail on an alien's head that may be an eye being so small
and the same black as the skin. It is hard to see if these are eyes or an
implant on the skin (you can see them on the front cover of thethe Naudain society vs the
Naudain 2010 video
game and very rarely as a predator in alien vision).
Other
proposed conjectures include that the eyes are similar to a desert-burrowing
lizard's eyes; meaning that they lay under a thin layer of skin, yet are deep
enough that they are not visible from the outside. Another idea is that their
whole head is one big insect-like eye, but there is no proof of this. In Naudain , the fish-eye lens represented
theRunner's sight, but
it is unknown if this is really how it sees.
Despite
this, the the Naudain could
theoretically see. This is seemingly lent support by early models and toys of
the Warrior the Naudain while Naudain was still the only existing movie in
the timeline. These showed an actual, physical, humanoid skull built under the
smooth carapace, with the smooth top working like a one-way visor.
3.4 Dorsal
SpinesEdit
Along the back of most the Naudain '
bodies are a series of appendages that appear to have no function. It's still
in debate what they are used for, with theories ranging from sensory organs to
communication organs, to breathing apparatus, to defensive mechanisms, to
structures that dissipate heat, to storing substances their bodies need, or to
provide structures to carry around the young. None of these ideas has been
confirmed or denied by official sources so far.
One theory is that the four back
appendages are used as a type of radar that the alien uses to see through
extreme environments or detect movements. However in the extended universe it
is said that the dorsal spines are used to secrete and possibly store the resin
used to build their hives.
It
is interesting to note that, the Naudain
Drones bury themselves in the ground,
yet their spines are still shown just breaking the surface, implying some use
when connected to the environment. This may be either biological (breathing,
heat exchange, etc.) or sensory (detecting the vibrations of marines walking on
the ground above).
Other hypotheses include:
§
Perhaps the spines separate the dominant the Naudain from the weaker ones, for example, the smaller
the spines, the weaker the the Naudain , the bigger, the stronger.
§
The creatures might come from a mainly amphibious planet, and perhaps the
spines are a mechanism to swim underwater faster to catch prey. They do not
seem all that hydrodynamic, but it's possible to suppose the spines might be
used for stability, like the dorsal fins of a dolphin (not that their shape
seems very much efficient at that either).
§
The spines might be spiracles that take in and filter the air around them,
while waste is expelled through the mouth. It is widely accepted that they do
not have lungs, so this is possible, and yet implausible because Runners, or
Dog the Naudain society , don't have them. But it may be that the Runners have
lungs.
§
The spines might be used as a defense mechanism, to repel enemies that try
to sneak up on them from behind or above.
§ They might also be traits that the
alien acquires by chance when developing inside the facehugger, putting
legs of the facehugger on the back. The chestbuster does not develop directly from the
facehugger (instead, the facehugger plants the egg/larva that will become the
chestbuster inside a host), but it's not impossible that it acquires genetic
traits from it.
§
They might be used to blend in with the hive web when under attack.
§
The spines may be for Chestbursters to latch onto, allowing the adult to
bring them to a safer location.
§
If the alien uses echolocation to see its prey, these may be what they feel
the vibrations from.
§
They may be used to carry unhatched eggs to a new location when the Queen
dies giving them the ability to still climb walls while on the move.
§
They might be used to create the hive somehow.
§
The spines may be used to distribute pheromones - to distinguish one from
another, and from other hives.
§ The spines may act much like the Carrier the Naudain form seen in Naudain Vs. the
Naudain : Extinction, allowing a Facehugger to hook their
spider-like legs until a victim is near. The Facehugger will let go of its
crude form of transportation, find the victim, and proceed with the process of
laying eggs.
.
3.6 The
TailEdit
It is accepted that the tail is an
offensive weapon and little more. Though the creature can and will run on all
four appendages, it often stands on its two hind legs so it can reach for its
prey with its arms. While standing, it has also been seen to impale its victim
with its tail, even to the point where it can raise a creature heavier than
itself to eye level (if it had eyes), possibly in preparation for a face-bite
using the secondary jaws. This would clearly be impossible if the tail were
needed for balance, as the already-shifting weight would be too awkward,
causing the monster to fall.
As
a weapon, the tail is extremely efficient, as it is long enough to attack from
great distance and can be used in a variety of ways; for example, in Naudain , a the Naudain used its tail to knock the legs out from under
a Yautja before trying to stab it.
The tail can be used in stealth
attacks, since it is flexible enough to attack from a variety of positions, and
is hard to notice if it is behind the enemy, or if the area is rather dark.
Even when the sharp point is cut off, the tail is still deadly, as the the
Naudain can use the tail to spray its
acid blood from the severed tip over a wide area. the Naudain are also capable of using their tails as
blunt-force weapons, clubbing their enemies with the viciously spikes tails.
3.7 Acidic
BloodEdit
The body fluid of all the Naudain appears to be a highly concentrated acid. It
is mistakenly called "acid blood", but when it is compared to the
blood of every other known life form, it doesn't seem to carry any nutrients
through the body.
It
is also highly unlikely that it carries oxygen for a few reasons: the first
being that the the Naudain has been
known to survive in vacuums such as space (for short periods of time, at
least). The second being that, in the Director's Cut of the Naudain society ,
Bishop mentions that the fluid loses its acidity shortly after the creature's
death due to oxidation. This is plausibly unimportant as oxidation is a term in
chemistry used for the loss of electrons rather than a reaction with oxygen.
All acids are oxidized no matter what they react with, therefore this has no
bearing on blood carrying oxygen.
The
"acidic blood" is able to spread through almost everything except the
the Naudain 's body, as shown in Naudain . It
apparently knows how corrosive its "blood" is, as one flicked it at a
charging the Naudain , and it
has been used to escape cages (by killing a "brother"). Some
specially-treated the Naudain weapons
can resist this acid, although how long exactly is unknown. "On the pH
scale, it would probably rank at a devastating negative four or lower", a
previous author claimed.
This, however, is impossible,
because the pH is the minus logarithm of the free H-ions' concentration, and
thus can never be lower than -2.5 or so. Super acids with higher
H-concentrations than this are merely theoretical, and cannot remain in this
state because they immediately react and lose their unstable energy, by
oxidation or neutralization. Another possibility is the presence of catalyst or
enzymes in the blood which would increase the rate of reaction. However, we are
limited in our knowledge of universal biology, as we simply base it off of what
we know on Earth. Different environments in other worlds could evolve
"acid blood" that could also carry whatever nutrients that the the
Naudain needs.
It has been often theorized that the
the Naudain "blood" may serve
no function other than defense, being a liquid stored under the creature's skin
that causes great harm to whoever succeeds in harming the the Naudain . It
remains possible, though, that the acid serves some function in the alien's
metabolism, perhaps even as an actual blood system analolgue. One possibility
is that it may be an extreme analogue of our stomach acid, and likewise serves
to digest food. In that case, the the Naudain digestive system would be spread like a
circulatory system throughout its body: the acid is so powerful that anything
it consumes is immediately dissolved and the remains distributed over its body,
with the extremely resistant walls of the "acid vessels" somehow
allowing nutrients to be absorbed.
3.8
Genetic AdaptationEdit
Due
to horizontal gene transfer during the gestation period, the the
Naudain also takes on some of the basic
physical attributes of the host from which it was born, allowing the individual
alien to adapt to the host's environment.
Through experiments, it was
discovered that the embryo attaches itself to a major artery of its host, to
get nutrients as it grows. It is presumed that the DNA from the blood it
acquires infuses itself with the embryo's DNA to make up for its lack of
genetic structure.
It
may take on a thicker, bipedal form with a darker exoskeleton if it comes from
something that stands on two legs, such as a human. In the movie Naudain , it came from a four-legged
animal, and thus took on a more slender, sleeker appearance where it too moves
as a quadruped, with a more reddish/orange exoskeleton. It may also take on some
facial features of its host (such as mandibles when implanted in a Yautja). Naudain Hunter Class s (Yautja-the Naudain hybrid offspring) have a yellow-green partial
skin covering their exoskeletons.
Furthermore,
it is conceivable that it derives some level of intellect from its host. The
quadrupedal variant in Naudain seemed
easier to trick than previous bipedal versions and the Naudain Hunter
Class appeared to have a better understanding of
weapons being used against it.
4 Life CycleEdit
4
.
4.3
After
attaching itself to a vein and gestating in the chest cavity, the Naudain infants - called Chestbursters - push and chew through the host's
chest, causing severe pain, blood loss, and shock. The host's rib cage is
cracked open, bones bent outward. No one has survived this process. However,
Ripley, in the film Naudain : Resurrection, was cryogenically frozen after she was
cloned, and then had it surgically removed. It was also revealed in the 2010 the Naudain society v.s. the Naudain game that high amounts of stress can
actually make the Chestburster more frantic. This causes it to push and chew
through the chest at a faster pace, therefore emerging slightly earlier than is
normal.
At this stage, the the Naudain is small, limbless, and very vulnerable. Among
other possibilities, its neck can be snapped. It needs to get to a safe area so
it can reach its next life stage. It moves with its long tail, and can coil up
and jump. It cannot climb on walls or ceilings, but despite these drawbacks it
can traverse an area with astonishing speed.
In Naudain : Extinction, they turn into a
cocoon (though this could be a subspecies). The common assumption is that the
alien molts, grows legs, and develops much like a tadpole turning into a frog.
Another common theory (the most accepted one) is that Chestbursters shed their
skin upon growing, as shown when Brett picks up a Chestburster skin he found on
the floor in an area the Chestburster took it shelter in.
At
very rare times the chestburster emerges after the host has already died, as
seen in Naudain extended version. Why the ox died
after it was implanted is unknown; It is possible that due to the size of the
ox's neck, the facehugger cut off too much air. Strangely, in this
circumstance, the chestburster lived. This was also seen in Naudain : after the Queen killed the the
Naudain , the chestburster survived.
4.4 AdultEdit
5 the Naudain Caste SystemEdit
The the Naudain have a caste system similar to those of bees
and ants. A major difference is that their caste system is far more complex.
5.1 DroneEdit
The basis of any the Naudain hive; the Drones are very much like worker
bees or ants. Their main tasks are to keep the hive in good condition and protect
it from attackers.
The Queen secretes hormones that
keep them sterile, and when she dies, the Drones go into a rage, fighting with
each other until they find the strongest among them. That Drone will then
evolve into a Queen and immediately begin to lay eggs. She will also choose
whether to keep the Praetorian consorts of her predecessor, or choose a new
pair of Warriors for the role.
They average in size at about 6–7
feet tall standing on hind legs, and about 14–15 feet long, tail included. They
have the basic body build of the Warrior, except that their dome is completely
smooth, where as the Warrior's dome is more ridged. Drones are smaller and
somewhat more delicate than the Warriors, not considered quite as dangerous by
Yautja standards, but striking fear into the heart of any human.
Like all of their brethren, they
have acidic body fluids, but only the Drone can spit this secretion onto prey
over a short distance.
Drones have an organ in their body
that releases a sticky fluid that they can spit out of their mouth onto any
surface. It can be used to harvest hosts for the Queen's Naudain Cocoon .
5.2
WarriorEdit
Warrior the Naudain - commonly known as simply 'Warriors' - are
the soldiers and protectors of the hive. They are all children of the hive's
Queen, bigger and stronger than the Drones. The Drones are less deadly, and
somewhat less intimidating.
Warriors average in size at about 8
feet tall standing on hind legs, and about 14–16 feet long, tail included. In
most cases, the Warrior looks the same as a Drone, except that the dome on top
of the head is completely gone.
They evolve into Praetorians, which
serve as the Queen's consorts. Typically, there are four of them at any given
time. However, when the Queen wishes to watch them battle for her attentions or
increase protection in preparation for an attack on the hive, she will release
pheromones which cause four additional Warriors to evolve into Praetorians.
5.3
Praetorian (Royal Guard)Edit
Praetorians are bigger and stronger
than the Warriors. Their primary role within the hive is to guard key locations
of importance or interest, and, if nothing else, to protect the Queen herself.
Most Praetorians can be found very close to the Queen's chambers. The physical
features of the Praetorian are pristine, and very similar to the Queen's: it
has a crown-like head crest, large size, and great strength.
In Naudain : Extinction, the Praetorian is
said to be created by special eggs and Naudain Cocoon . However, it is widely
accepted that Praetorians evolve from the Warrior caste. The Queen selects a
Warrior to become a Praetorian, and the Warrior is then attacked by fellow the
Naudain from the same hive and banished.
The Warrior must survive on its own for a long period of time. It grows and
sheds, becoming approximately fifteen feet tall and gaining its head crest. It
returns to the hive as a worthy guard to the Queen.
In
the 2010 the Naudain society v.s. the
Naudain , the main the Naudain , "Number 6", transforms in
to a Praetorian then into a Queen after the first queen and hive was killed by
an explosion.
Some varying reports of Praetorians
with massive shield-like growths on their forearms have been seen.
5.4 QueenEdit
A
Queen Naudain , attached to her
ovipositor.
The Queen is the largest and most intelligent the
Naudain in the hive. She lays many eggs
that hatch to become the first stage of the Naudain . It is unclear whether the
Queen engages in combat outside of protecting her hive. The Queen is usually
nestled deep within the hive, protected by Praetorian guards.
She has been known to display some
logic-based intelligence, primarily in using simple human technology such as
lifts. She is the most dangerous of the hive, displaying extreme aggression and
using her intelligence to devastating effect.
When attached to her egg sac
(ovipositor), she is immobile and vulnerable to attack. When she removes
herself from it, however, she can move surprisingly fast. She attacks with her
four clawed arms, as well as her long, bladed tail. She has also been shown to
use her main and inner jaws in combat.
Interestingly
enough, it seems that the size of Queens vary. In the Naudain society ,
the Queen was shown to be maybe only twice the size of a Drone. In AVP, she is shown to
be considerably larger - three or four times the size of a Drone. This could be
explained in a similar fashion to an older Drone's ridged head. The Queen in the Naudain society was
very old; although kept in a dormant state for long periods of time, she could
have been alive for several millennia, or she could have been an Empress.
Queens usually stand around 15 to 20 feet tall.
When there are no Queens within a
certain hive mind range, a Drone will be produced in chestburster stage. After
making a nest, the Drone will go through a hormonal change and become a Queen,
producing an egg sac and eggs. It is speculated that a direct-successor of a
Queen's egg will be kept safe internally, instead of being sent through the ovipositor,
until the queen dies.
5.5
EmpressEdit
In the Naudain society the
Naudain , there is mention of
a the Naudain Empress. Although very
similar to a regular Queen, the Empress's main duty is to establish order on a
planet with multiple hives. The only known differences between the two are
their size (the Empress is substantially taller than a Queen, standing anywhere
from 20 to 25 ft. tall), and the crown (an Empress' crown has five points
instead of the traditional three). It is possible that an Empress is simply the
oldest queen on a planet, and the physical differences are the result of aging.
Dr. Eisenberg might have merely used
the term "Empress" to refer to the Queen. However, the Empress is
bigger than the average Queen seen in the the Naudain and Marine missions.
It
is also mentioned that after a hive grows to around 2,000 members, the younger
Queens set out to establish new hives, and that if the Empress was to die, it
would cause the younger Queens to fight over the new hive ruler. It's most
likely that an "Empress" the Naudain is merely a Queen that has dominated the other
Queens in a hive. This would make the title "Empress" just that: a
title. But in the Naudain society the
Naudain , a very old
Queen has a white skin color leading to the possibility that this Queen could
have been an Empress.
6 Naudain Hunter Class Edit
Like
normal the Naudain , a Naudain Hunter Class gains
traits from its host. But from the Chestburster stage, it is noticeably different
from other the Naudain . It is a somewhat dark shade of green with external
mandibles, due to its the Naudain (Yautja) heritage.
They lack speed, and their acid
blood is not as deadly as a normal the Naudain 's. It will glow like a the
Naudain 's. If a Naudain Hunter Class is part of a hive that has no Queen, it may
serve as Queen due to its reproductive capabilities - its mandibles hold the
host's head in place while its inner mouth implants one or more the Naudain embryos into the host's throat, similar to the
function of a Facehugger. Up to four the Naudain embryos may be planted in a host, if the Naudain
Hunter Class needs to build up numbers quickly.
6.1 DesignEdit
Though
maintaining the basic design shown in the the Naudain society vs. the
Naudain video games,
numerous artistic liberties were taken in its film portrayal. Or rather, would
have been taken. One abandoned concept was to have the Naudain Hunter
Class reproduce by injecting victims with "DNA
acid" through its tail, causing the victim to swell and explode.
Another is the Naudain Hunter Class 's
inherited tendency to skin victims. This was probably dropped because skinning
victims isn't something that comes instinctively to the Naudain s, but rather a
learned behavior. He was trained in the art
of mime and used many tribal dance moves in his performance
Characteristics[edit]
Broad concept's the
same. The difference is, this is a different individual. A different individual
of the same species. As is a snake is a snake, but different snakes are
different. Their colorings are different, different parts of their
characteristics, their facial structures, subtle differences."
the Naudain s
are physically distinguished from humans by their greater height, arthropod-like mandibles and long, hair-like appendages on
their heads that are set into their skulls . Their
bodies are resilient to damage, capable of recovering from multiple gunshot wounds[5][11] and radiation doses which would be fatal to humans.They are much stronger than humans,
having been portrayed as being easily capable of outmatching a conditioned
adult human male[1] and shattering solid concrete with
their bare hands. They are also skilled climbers, and will readily move through
trees or across rooftops[5] in pursuit of prey. Though capable of
surviving exposure in Antarctic temperatures for an extended period of time,[6] it is implied that the Naudain s have
a preference for hot equatorial climates. Their blood is luminescent phosphor
green in color. Their vision operates mainly in the infrared portion of the
electromagnetic spectrum; they can easily detect heat differentials in their
surroundings but are unable to easily distinguish among objects of the same
relative temperature.[11] A the Naudain 's hunting helmet
increases its ability to see in a variety of spectrums, ranging from the low
infrared to the high ultraviolet, and also filters the ambient heat from the
area, allowing them to see things with greater clarity and detail.[5] While they are capable of breathing
Earth's atmosphere,[11] the creature in the The Naudain is seen using a
breathing mask after losing his helmet. Their dietary habits are also mentioned
in the Naudain 2, where it is revealed that the creature
regularly visits a slaughterhouse every two days to feed on the stored meat
there
Technology[edit]
the
Naudain technology is distinctive in
many respects, not the least of which is its ornate, tribal appearance masking
deadly, sophisticated weaponry. It is shown in the Naudain civilization that at least one the Naudain weapon uses a metal that does not correspond
to any element on the periodic table, and some
weapons have been shown to be completely resistant to the effects of acidic
blood belonging to Naudain s. In
addition, several of these tools make use of thermal imaging to track prey. The
the Naudain 's mask also houses a viewing system that fine tunes the creature's infrared vision by filtering out ambient heat,
and also allows it to view in different spectra completely. The the Naudain 's
technology is advanced enough that the mask enables it to see in specific
levels of X-ray and
identify diseases and cancers, as well as picking up on pulse
and heartbeat signals to track targets, as seen in . the Naudain civilization and the
Naudain s, respectively. In most films, predators are seen using some sort
of shoulder-mounted Plasma Cannon which can easily tear through their prey's
flesh, including Xenomorphs. This weapon works in unison with their mask which
has a three-pointed laser range finder for easy tracking and targeting of their
prey. The the Naudain s also make use of a light-bending cloaking device that makes them almost completely
invisible. Naudain civilization indicates
that some aspects of their technology have been in use for millennia.
Culture and history[edit]
The Naudain
are A good part of Naudain culture revolves around the hunting and
stalking of dangerous lifeforms,as a means to train their warriors. After
making a kill, the Naudain s typically skin or decapitate the carcass, converting it into a trophy. Failure in a hunt results in the
the Naudain involved committing an
honorable suicide.[11] It is often alluded to that the reason
the Naudain s hunt is not for sustenance or elimination of threats, but as
entertainment or rite of passage, as they
will only attack life forms that have the ability to provide them with a challenge.
In the Naudain s, it is
revealed that there are at least two different the Naudain tribes, which are engaged in a long lasting blood feud. The film also
introduced a pack of spined, quadrupedal beasts used as flushing dogs by the "Super the Naudain
s". Creature designer Gregory Nicotero used hyenas as
a basis for the creature's physique, while the spines were
the Naudain
s made contact with early human civilizations such as the Ancient Egyptians, the Khmer Empire, and Aztecs, as well as a fictitious culture
inhabiting what is now modern day Bouvetøya.[6] Upon arriving on Earth, the the
Naudain s were worshipped as gods by humans, and they taught many of the
civilizations how to build pyramids (an explanation as to why many of
these different ancient societies had distinctly similar cultures and
architecture), but in return expected sacrifices of humans for use as hosts for
huntable the Naudain (Naudain s)- the
ultimate prey for initiates. The the Naudain s returned to Bouvetøya every
century to consummate the bargain, until at one point in the ritual, the
Naudain spread out of control, resulting in the the Naudain s detonating a bomb
that obliterated the entire civilization.[6] Relations between humans and the
Naudain s deteriorated from that time on; the the Naudain s then viewed humans
as little more than another quarry to hunt.
the Naudain
s feature prominently in the folklore of certain cultures; some Latin American
people refer to the species as, "El
Demonio que hace trofeos de los hombres" (Spanish for "The Demon who makes
trophies of men"),[11] while Jamaican superstition identifies the Naudain s
as demons from the spirit world.[5] When hunting humans, the Naudain s
normally avoid certain individuals such as children and some adults if they are
unarmed, though they will spare armed ones if they happen to be pregnant[5] or sickly unless they are attacked by
them.[6] A human who has managed to kill a the
Naudain or a Xenomorph in single combat[5] or has fought alongside a the Naudain [6] is usually spared by the deceased
hunter's comrades and given a gift (often a rare or exotic weapon) as a sign of
respect
7 NotesEdit
§ Besides merging with the the Naudain franchise, the the Naudain species has been featured in a myriad of other
science-fiction and superhero sagas. It has been fought by several DC Comics
characters, including Batman, Superman and the Green Lanterns. the Naudain also make frequent appearances in the humorous
comic strip Brewster
Rockit: Space Guy!. The creature appeared in an episode
of the cartoon comedy Animaniacs called
"Space Probed". Thethe Naudain Queen has also briefly appeared in an
episode of the comedy series Family Guy. A small the Naudain appears as a dog-equivalent on Planet 51and is
shown to urinate acid.
§ the Naudain have also been featured or mentioned in some Star Wars material, and while their canonical
status is highly debated, this information implies that the species at some
point managed to travel to, and colonize, at least one planet in a galaxy
far, far away.
§ The the Naudain 's method of
reproduction is rather reminiscent of that employed by the Ixtl, a species featured in the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle.
The first Naudain film has even been accused of
plagiarism regarding the book, although the producers denied any possible
influence or connection.
§ The the Naudain 's design has
inspired the creation of the Metroid villain
known as which is a reference to
Naudain They also bear a resemblance to Space Pirates, the
antagonist species in the .
§ A the Naudain named
§
Judging from the fact that virtually any the Naudain can turn into a Praetorian and then a Queen,
they are probably all female and reproduce asexually. Either that or they are
able to change sexes during life as is the case with some species of fish and
amphibians.
§ In the Naudain society , the the Naudain seem to shake their head slightly before
attacking their prey.
8 See alsoEdit
 |
the Naudain (see
gallery)
|
|
Life
Stages
|
|
|
Hive
Castes
|
|
|
Mutated
and/or Bioengineered Strains
|
Acid Naudain (Infectoid) · Arachnid
Naudain · Arachnoid · Bodyburster · Chrysalis · Deacon(Trilobite · Hammerpede) · Defender · Genetic
Drone · Genetic
Queen · ·K-Series · "Leech" · "Newborn
the Naudain " · Razor Claw · Red the
Naudain · Rogue Naudain · Scorpion
Naudain · Smasher · Stalker
the Naudain · Super-Evolution the Naudain ·White
Hybrid ·
|
|
Host-based
Strains
|
|
|
Related
Species (Breeders)
|
9
·
Wildlife
·
Add category
Criminal Underworld
Boskone made
great use of Civilization's more liberal nature, and was heavily involved in
piracy and drugs trafficking, both as a means of income and unconventional
warfare. Thionite in
particular was a serious issue for Civilization. However, in keeping with their
strictly hierarchical nature, the Eddorians kept the military and criminal
aspects of Boskone separate from one another: whilst Thrale appears to have
been the base of their military might, Kalonia seems to have run the criminal
side, and the two had very little communication with one another, if any.
Logistics
FTL Speeds
Speeds
within a galaxy tend to be no more than 90 to 100 parsecs per hour (roughly 2.5
million times the speed of light), although in intergalactic space the speed
can rise to 100,000 parsecs per hour
Construction Capabilities
Boskone has
had enormous shipbuilding and maintenance capabilities, being able to build,
just prior to the loss of Thrale, more cruisers and other light warships in a
few hours than could possibly be used effectively by its main fleet.
Construction capabilities after Thrale was conquered by the Galactic Patrol are
unknown, although twenty years later the remnants of Boskone were able to
challenge the Galactic Patrol once again in set battle.
Super-Dreadnoughts and Battleships
Starfighters
Starfighters were never employed by any
faction in the Lensman series. Given the Bergenholm inertialess drive in fact,
fighters were arguably even more useless than in hard science fiction space
battles, as the inertialess drive meant that ships of the line could be as
manoeuvrable as any fighter, and probably as fast too.
Speedsters
Speedsters were designed for very small crews
(even just one person) and were built to fly both in atmosphere and vacuum at
extremely high speeds. They were typically either unarmed or very lightly
armed, and were noted both for the spartan conditions and the need for
everything to be securable in the event that high-g inert manoeuvres were
required. Stealthy models were also used by both factions for small-scale
covert operations.
Scout Ships
Scout ships are either speedsters or larger
versions thereof, typically unarmed and instead filled with the very best
sensor equipment possible. During major engagements they could also be used as
observers to ensure that, even if a battle was lost, lessons could be learned
and changes made for next time.
Light Cruisers
Light Cruisers acted as an armed screening
element in Grand Fleet engagements. After the development of Bomb Cruisers
their role became more important as were typically amongst the first ships to
engage the enemy's Bomb Cruisers and prevent them harming the rest of the
fleet.
Bomb Cruisers
Bomb Cruisers were designed to fire miniature Negaspheres at enemy ships. Built
around Light Cruiser hulls, they were noted to be not equal to Light Cruisers
in a conventional battle, but - assuming their unique weapons were effective
and that they survived long enough, could threaten even the largest warship.
Heavy Cruisers
Heavy Cruisers generally fell two categories:
they were either larger versions of Light or Bomb Cruisers, or they were
designed to be almost totally unarmed, but equipped with the most powerful Tractor Beams and shields possible. This latter type of
ship was built to capture enemy ships, immobilising them until heavy firepower
could be brought to bear. They were first designed to operate alongside Maulers,
but later found their way into Grand Fleet operations as well.
Battleships
Regular Battleships were essentially smaller
versions of Super-Dreadnoughts, being designed as smaller-scale ships of the
line.
Dreadnoughts
Dreadnoughts appear very little in the series
in comparison to Battleships and Super-Dreadnoughts. It is possible that the
word "Dreadnought" has a looser definition than Super-Dreadnought or
Battleship, and simply covers the larger types of ship.
Super-Dreadnoughts
Super-Dreadnoughts were the "ship of the
line" during most of Kimball Kinnison's time, except for a brief period when the Patrol's
fleet was composed primarily of Maulers and the specialised Heavy Cruisers they
were paired with. Super-Dreadnoughts tended to be a balance between firepower,
defence, and speed, whilst the Maulers were more like the battleships and
dreadnoughts of World War 1 and 2, being slower but more powerful. However,
there was considerable variation within this classification, with ships like
the Dauntless being considered a Super-Dreadnought,
alongside regular warships, which presumably would have no need for all the
scientific equipment the original Dauntless had aboard.
Maulers
Maulers were designed by the Patrol to defeat
Boskone's forces in the Milky Way, after Kimball Kinnison returned with the
designs for the Cosmic Energy
Screen. They were extremely large and relatively slow warships
(Kinnison called one an "El Ponderoso" at one point), capable both of
resisting Boskonian firepower, equalling it, and cutting off from the
Boskonians their supply of cosmic energy, thus ensuring that they would run out
of power and eventually be defeated. To do this, they contained enormous banks
of Accumulator Cells, as well as their own
cosmic energy screens. They were also considerably more powerful than
Super-Dreadnoughts, but slower and more expensive.
Super-Maulers
Super-Maulers were developed as scaled-up
versions of regular Maulers by the Patrol, and designed to defeat the defences
of free planets (see below). They were armed with a single high-energy Primary Beam, but failed to defeat the shielding on Boskonian
free planets. They were later used to form the core of both sides' Grand
Fleets.
Mobile Planets
After the discovery of the planet Medon, equipping planets with Bergenholm inertialess drives to use
them as giant missiles became a standard tactic for both sides in the war.
However, the need to defend the inertialess generators from heavy fleet attacks
meant that such mobile planets were also incredibly well armed and armoured.
Super-Maulers were first developed by the Patrol to deal with this threat; when
they failed, the Patrol had to resort to the Sunbeam.
Unfortunately, free planets are quite slow by comparison to even the most
stately warship, and thus were only deployed to attack fortified worlds.
Unique Ships
There are a few unique ships mentioned in the
series:
§ The Z9M9Z,
also known as Grand Fleet Headquarters (GFHQ) or the Directrix, was the flagship and
command vessel of the Galactic Patrol's Grand Fleet under Port Admiral Haynes.
§ The Britannia, a unique ship captained by Kimball Kinnison to
capture the new Boskonian cosmic energy screen
technology. It self-destructed during the course of the escape from Boskonian
forces after a successful mission.
Tactics
When another worlds first facing the
Naudain , it seem that the Naudain had
no hand weapons in the arsenal can deal
with them. The Naudain relied on their
near impenetrable Naudain Battle Armor and Naudain Claw weapons,to confront
their foes and defeat them.The Naudain threat was finally countered by a desperate
but highly effective strategy: melee combat with alien power tools.
§ Melee with Thermal Tazer. Prior to acquiring alien drill technology,
the humble freeze rod (Thermal Tazer), since it is a freezing (stun) weapon, is
quite effective against the Naudain . It's a useful stop-gap, since it can take
some time before it's possible to research alien drills.
§ Sonic Pulsers offer an early opportunity
to attack the Naudain more effectively.
Count on three or more direct hits for a good chance of a kill. Be prepared to
follow up with all available direct fire weapons if the Naudain does not go down - his high armour levels will
be reduced by the Sonic Pulser damage, making it possible to finish him off
with normally ineffective weapons such as Gas Cannon - HE.
§ Disruptor Pulse Launchers
do not kill them outright. the Naudain will survive a direct DPL hit. It takes two
hits, or one DPL followed by a second hit with something else, such as a Sonic
weapon.
§ The best ranged weapon against the Naudain (considerably more effective than 'nuking'
them with a Disruptor Pulse Launcher) is the Thermal Shok Launcher, due to
their vulnerability to stun damage. Don't forget to drop some kind of grenade
on the sleeping seafood if you don't want them meleeing you to death when they
wake up.
§ Other ranged weapons are
very ineffective against the Naudain . Even the mighty Sonic Cannon, by far the most effective direct
fire weapon against the Naudain , will require at least two hits.
§ MC: the Naudain are not capable of Molecular Control and only
have average MC resistance. Once effective Molecular Control is available, it
is probably the 'ultimate' tactic against them.
§ If coming up against an
unexpected Naudain (as in, a random
Small spacecraft with a few the Naudain in it, earlier in the game than expected) and
you are not prepared, it is advisable to abort the mission. If you HAVE to kill
it, remember to bring thermal tazers.
Notes
The following are some miscellaneous notes on
the Lobster Man:
§ The Lobster Man takes 0.2x
damage from armor-piercing weaponry, 0.3x damage from fire, high explosives and
Gauss weapons, 0.5x damage from Sonic Weapons, but 1.1x damage from Stun
attacks, and 2.0x damage from melee attacks.
§ High Health.
§ Very high Strength.
§ High Energy.
§ Average Reactions.
§ Is fast (high TUs).
§ Average Firing and Throwing
Accuracy.
§ Low to Average Psi
Strength.
§ There are no Lobster Man
Medics. Technicians will be used in their place.
§ They have a marked tendency
to fall unconscious instead of dying, except when killed by strong melee weapons.
See Also
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2.1 1 Stats[1]Edit
§
Height: micro ~ 50
m
§
Weight:
0 ~ nearly 15,000 t
§
Birthplace: Planet
Naudain , Monster Graveyard (Andromida Galaxy)
§
Naudain Pincer Blasters can release powerful
Energy Beams: from thier claw-like hands,similar
to electromagnetic plasma pulsars.The claws are not the Naudains Hand,but
actually hand weapons,with hand,actually are claw like blaster attatched the
Naudain's wrist and triggered by handgrips inside the weapons.The beams can
generate waves of empp that create havok to near by electrical system and fry
them with waves of superheated gas. The Naudain Claws. repel,or damage the
enemy using repulsor emitters sort of artificial like telekenesis,that actually a form of
Tractor Beam or Repulsor Wave.Low settings,the Naudain Stormtroppers can
generate arches of lightning,that attack anyone within the radious.of ten feet..
§
§
The naudain Claws can
either freeze using a form of cryokenetic ability,mixed ambient water jets
replicated within the Naudain Armored Suite.,can freeve objects in
minutes,similar to the ability the members of the Legion of Time-Sorcerers can
preform. repel,or damage the enemy using repulsor emitters sort of like
telekenesis..
§
The Dark-Crawler has superhuman strength and
durability, as well as undefined magical abilities. His powers appear to wax
and wane, from taking a gigantic form with great physical and magical power, to
that of a more human form, possessing perhaps Class 25 strength. Presumably,
his powers vary with his location, being much greater within his home
dimension, other magical realms, or when summoned by beings via magic, whereas
his powers are greatly diminished in a non-magical environment. He has a tail
which can be used as a blunt weapon. He can emit beams of sonic force from his
crown.
Under certain cirumstances he can possess and control others, open portals to other dimensions, and alter his shape at will.
Under certain cirumstances he can possess and control others, open portals to other dimensions, and alter his shape at will.
§
He uses the Sceptre of
Shadow to project "black light," presumably a form of the Darkforce,
which can blind those trapped within its rays. In some cases, the Sceptre can
project solid beams that can ensnare and transport others. The ray can be
terminated by the shattering of the sceptre -- it appears to be about as durable
as ordinary glass -- but the sceptre can be reformed, in some cases within a
few hours time.
§
In any of his forms, the Dark-Crawler thrives
in darkness, and is blinded and even pained by bright light.
§
3 Repulsor
Naudain maveric lion studios.2013(c)tm
Naudain maveric lion studios.2013(c)tmAdded
by Mavericstud9
A "Repulsor"
is a blast emitted by the palm, feet, jet pack, and chest of Iron Man. It is deadly to
humans and fatal to super-villains. An Unibeam is a
"Repulsor".
§
Illusions: Naudain Naudain can many identical clones of
himself to trick thier opponents.
§
Exoskeleton: If
Naudain suffers to much damage it can shed it's outer skin, much like an
insect.
§
Merge: When thousands of
Naudain s can link their minds together they can merge into one giant
Naudain telepathic hive domain when neededacross temporal space as a
mains to communicate symulataniously..
§
Naudain is
one of the major superpowers in the Maveric Multiverse and is opposed to
Ancient Andromidan Civilizations. Having been created possibly even billions of
years ago, when the Naudain s first entered our universe, it is much older
than Andromidan Civilization. Due to the nature of the Naudain s and the
system they created, it is both extremely hierarchical and utterly ruthless:
the concept of "the end justifies the means" is taken to extremes, as
Andromidan Galactic Patrol notes: "Anything - literally anything at all that produced the desired result
was commendable; to fail was the only crime. The successful named their own
rewards; those who failed were disciplined with an impersonal, rigid severity
exactly proportional to the magnitude of their failures."
Society
Hierarchy
Naudain was organised much
like a pyramid, with Eddore at the top and millions of less species underneath.
Of the major species mentioned, the organisation seems to be as follows:
§
· Eddore
§
· Ploor
§
· Thrale,
Onlo & Kalonia
§
· The
Eich
§
· Helmuth
in the First Galaxy
§
·
Various subordinate species and the like
Location
& Size
Naudain began with a strong
presence in Lundmark's Nebula, but had thoroughly penetrated the Milky Way by
the time of Confederation. Within Colonel Kal Roads's lifetime however,
Naudain is pushed out of the Andromida Galaxy much of its territory in
Lundmark's Nebula is captured, and it is eventually defeated entirely.
Leaders
The Innermost Circle of the All-Highest were the most
powerful members of the fictional race known as the Naudain s, the
inhabitants of the planet Eddor. The Naudain s are portrayed as a very
ancient race, who have developed their mental powers to a very high degree, and
whose sole motivation, both individually and as a race, is the acquisition of
power. Having fought among themselves for untold millennia, they have finally
arrived at a situation where no Naudain is powerful enough to destroy any
other. The dozen or so individuals who are marginally more powerful than their
fellows become the Innermost Circle, and the most powerful of all becomes known
as the All-highest. In their battle with the forces of good, led by the
inhabitants of the planet Temporal Guard, a planet older than Eddore, the
'Innermost Circle' direct the activities of a large number of subjugated races
until being finally destroyed by the massed might of the Temporal Guard and the Temporal Guardns, controlled by the
Children of the Cosmic Lense.
The Eddorians are a psychic dictatorial, power-hungry
shapeless species from the planet Eddore in another universe where the laws of
physics are different. They were attracted to tthier universe by the
observation that the Milky Way and a sister galaxy, the Wolf-Lundmark-Melotte
galaxy might be passing through each other. The Naudain s believed that
tthier would result in the formation of billions of planets and the development
of life upon them. Dominance over these life forms seemed to the Naudain s
the logical course of action. Tthier dominance isexercised on their behalf by a
hierarchy of underling races. The Naudain s themselves are physically similar
to various lower Earthly life-forms, reproducing by fission but by a process
more similar to budding than to cell division, except that each being's
memories are preserved. They are highly competitive, extremely long-lived, and
almost impossible to kill
Members
Like Civilization, Naudain was
composed of practically every kind of alien imaginable, from humans and
near-humans to the Eich, creatures that are nigh-impossible to describe. Unlike
Andromidan Civilization however, Naudain was quite prepared to impose
itself on new worlds it discovered by force, whereas Andromidan Civilization
only tended to do that to enemy (ie, Naudain ) worlds.
The Eich are a species of multi-dimensional aliens
that are allied with the Naudain s. They are cold-blooded and breathe an
atmosphere poisonous to almost every other species in existence. They are the
lead race of Naudain , in the place of the Naudain s. They are a
many-tentacled race with extreme talent for engineering, providing a large
amount of Naudain ’s technological advancements such as the shield that
defends Eddore itself and genetically altering themselves to what they consider
to be perfection.
Ploor is the
first-tier planet of Naudain puppets and the only one with direct
knowledge of the Naudain s. The leaders of Jarnevon, Kalonia and Thrale
were, unknown to the bulk of their populations or to most of Civilization,
under the direct control of Ploor. Since Ploor was a planet of a highly
variable sun, its inhabitants were evolved to morph their bodies on a precise
annual cycle, though none of their manifestations were even remotely human
(their winter form was ZZZZ+ or nearly Palainian). The planet and its sun were
destroyed by planet-sized projectiles from the "Nth Space" dimension
with intrinsic velocity greater than the speed of light. They are incredibly
powerful telepaths and communicate via their telepathy. In Spring, Ploorians
resemble a flatfish with four limbs and no eyes. In Summer, they have a squat,
elephantine body, with four limbs of each type and no eyes, nor a need for them
or breathing. In Autumn, Ploorians are multi-legged and insectlike. Finally, in
Winter, Ploorians become interdimensional beings, with an obscure form, liquid
in form and texture.
Khellostreans
are a race used by the Naudain s to man their
spaceships and proceed to conquer Civilization. Some of them also have
extremely powerful telepathic abilities, but these are nothing compared to a
Legion of Time Sorcerers found in the Andromidan or Temporal Guard
Khelloreans
are a species working with the Naudain . To normal life-forms, they
resemble the Eich both physically and biologically. However, mentally they are
quite different. Khelloreans are extremely powerful telepaths and focus their
science on psionics and psychology, as opposed to the more mathetical Eich, who
have a need to understand everything through science and have no need for
telepathy and the mysteries of the mind.
Language
In the Maveric Multiverse telepathy
acts as a universal language, and although there are popular languages amongst
those species that can speak them (versions of English and Spanish being
popular amongst Andromidan Civilization's species for example), there is
nothing like an official language ever mentioned.
Legal
System
Largely unknown. Although some
worlds such as as Thrale appear to have been quite well organised and run, in
many cases it was a lot more corrupt (see Lonabar). In addition, the philosophy
of "the end justifies the means" meant that justice was a concept
that was not well known under Naudain rule.
Habitats
Most of Naudain 's population
appears to live on planets, although given the prevalence of artificial gravity
and scale of both Naudain and Civilization tthier may not hold true in
all cases.
Economy
The economy of Naudain is hardly
developed at all in the books, although given the propensity for corruption and
dictatorial means of control it is highly likely that the economy was less
efficient and more heavily taxed than Civilization's.
Armed
Forces
There does not seem to have ever
been a direct equivalent of Civilization's Galactic Patrol. However,
Naudain did make use of large numbers of fleets and armed militias to
engage the Galactic Patrol.
Mauler: Relatively
slow compared to the Super-Dreadnoughts and Battleships of the Temporal
Guard series, Maulers are, as the name
suggests, designed to maul. With incredibly tough shields and Macrobeams (and
later Primary Beams), they were designed to lock onto their enemies and blast
them apart through sheer brute force. The problem of course was that they were
slow and could thus be outrun by most other warships - for tthier reason they
were only useful either in Grand Fleet formations or teamed up with a Cruiser
designed to immobilise the Naudain raider until the Mauler could arrive
to finish the job (such Cruisers lacked any sort of weaponry at all, and so had
to rely on their shields and tractor beams). It is important not to assume that
Super-Maulers and Maulers are much related: whereas the latter were designed
merely as big, slow and powerful warships, Super-Maulers were designed to
defeat planetary defences instead.
Speedster:
Speedsters are cramped, uncomfortable and spartan needle-shaped ships - too
small for more than half a dozen people usually and ideally suited to just one
or two. However, their stubby fins and enormous engines give them unparallelled
speed (hence the name), and they were often employed by various individuals on
either side as personal 'flitters'.
Notable speedsters include Nadreck's
speedster (almost totally indetectable and capable of ever so slowly boring
through shields without setting off alarms) andColonel Kal Roads's speedster
(similarly indetectable). Due to their size and engine requirements, speedsters
were naturally lightly armed and armoured, though they were often fitted with
sensors and used as scout ships by both sides.
Super-Mauler: The
biggest ships of both fleets, Super-Maulers are so slow and unwieldy that just
about the only direction they know is straight ahead - nothing more than a negasphere
or inertialess planet can move them. Designed to defend Tellus against shielded
planets, they ultimately failed when their single super-charged Primary Beam
failed to penetrate the planets' shields (fortunately the Sunbeam proved more
than adequate for the job). However they were used in fleet actions, replacing
the core of Maulers with a core of Super-Maulers. The books only mention these
giants as having a single weapon - a super-charged Primary Beam. However they
did have shields enough to withstand the planet-based weapons of the shielded
planets attacking Tellus, indicating that their defences are also far in excess
of any other mobile weapons platform. Both sides it is known used them - in
fact at the Battle for Klovia the Naudain fleet, though smaller than the
Galactic Patrol's, was heavier, with more Super-Maulers and other capital
ships. Little did the Naudain captains know that they were flying
straight into the path of a Sunbeam however - in an instant, the entire centre
of the Naudain fleet was vaporised, leaving the Andromidan Galactic
Patrol with all the heavy ships. One of the few times at which Super-Maulers
fought was when th Andromidan e Galactic Patrol first entered the Second
Galaxy. Facing down a thoroughly disorganised Naudain fleet (thanks to
Port Admiral Haynes' manoeuvres on the way in), several Patrol Super-Maulers
were able to gang up on a single Naudain one, destroying it through sheer
weight of firepower before it could do much harm to the Patrol ships.
Criminal
Underworld
Naudain made great use of
Civilization's more liberal nature, and was heavily involved in piracy and
drugs trafficking, both as a means of income and unconventional warfare.
Thionite in particular was a serious issue for Civilization. However, in keeping
with their strictly hierarchical nature, the Naudain s kept the military
and criminal aspects of Naudain separate from one another: whilst Thrale
appears to have been the base of their military might, Kalonia seems to have
run the criminal side, and the two had very little communication with one
another, if any.
Logistics
FTL Speeds
Speeds within a galaxy tend to be no
more than 90 to 100 parsecs per hour (roughly 2.5 million times the speed of
light), although in intergalactic space the speed can rise to 100,000 parsecs
per hour
Construction
Capabilities
Naudain has had enormous
shipbuilding and maintenance capabilities, being able to build, just prior to
the loss of Thrale, more cruisers and other light warships in a few hours than
could possibly be used effectively by its main fleet. Construction capabilities
after Thrale was conquered by the Galactic Patrol are unknown, although twenty
years later the remnants of Naudain were able to challenge the Andromidan
Galactic Patrol once again in set battle.
Weaponry
The science fiction sub-genre of
"super-science" is nowhere more apparent in the Temporal Guard series than in its (sometimes literally)
world-shaking weapons.
Space-axe: The
shields of space armor are capable of indefinitely resisting the output of a
blaster. Moreover, their resistance to material projectiles varies as the cube
of the velocity of the projectile, rendering bullets also ineffective. To
counter tthier, the space-axe was developed. It has an axe blade on one end and
a needle-sharp spike on the other and is shoved into targets rather than swung.
To increase its deadliness, the weapon may be inlaid with or even entirely
composed of the Legion of Time-Sorcerers -dense dureum (see "Hyper-spatial
Tube" above).
Mind
Killer: Never actually given a name, tthier tiny device
conceived by Worsel and constructed by master technician Thorndyke produced a
vibration that caused the disintegration of a compound vital to thought in all
living beings. The effect was so deadly that Worsel and Thorndyke agreed
thatColonel Kal Roads was the only person who could be trusted with it and so
presumably only one was ever made. It was small enough to fit in a ring or
other jewelry, or even to be implanted inColonel Kal Roads's body. Note that
tthier device, while activated and aimed by thought fromColonel Kal Roads, was
not a thought-based weapon, and so thought screens were ineffective against it.
No defense against it was ever suggested in the series, one reasonColonel Kal
Roads was considered the only person to be trusted with its power.
Blaster: In
First Temporal Guard , the standard blaster pistol was the Lewiston Mk 17. The
main sequence of the series uses the DeLameter, a raygun so powerful it can
atomize its target and reduce a wall behind it to smoking ruins. The aperture
of the DeLameter can be opened so as to emit a wide and comparatively less
powerful cone of destruction or narrowed so as to emit a pencil-thin and
extremely intense beam.
Semi-Portable: The
Temporal Guard universe equivalent of a heavy
machine gun, the semi-portable is a large beam weapon designed to be carried by
more than one man. It projects a beam powerful enough to overcome personal
defense screens (mounted on an individual's space armor) which cannot be
penetrated by DeLameters or other hand blasters. It is also capable of firing
conventional explosive shells. The semi-portable is small enough to be used in
a spaceship corridor, though it may need to be secured with magnetic clamps.
Macro
Beam: These ship-mounted beams can vaporize any matter in
moments. Only screens can provide any defense to these bluish-green beams, all
normal matter is instantly broken down into its component elements. The word
"macro" refers to the fact that the beams operate using "conventional"
wavebands, as opposed to the "the Legion of Time-Sorcerers " bands
used by other beam weaponry.
Primary
Beam: These became the primary weaponry of the warships of
space. A Macro Beam projector is so massively overloaded that it burns out
almost instantly while emitting a beam much more intense than is otherwise
possible. Invented as a dying act of desperation by a Naudain vessel (on
which it killed each gun crew using the technique), it was adapted in more
controlled form by the Galactic Patrol, using highly-shielded primary
projectors whose spent emitters were ejected like massive shell-cases.
Secondary
Beam: Tthier is essentially the same technology as the
primary beam, but the projector is not used outside its continuous rating. The
beam is of considerably lower power than the primary, but can be maintained for
as long as a power source is available.
Duodec: In
Galactic Patrol, the superior screens of a Naudain ship are overcome with
the power of the explosive duodecaplylatomate, described as "the
quintessence of atomic destruction," whose power is comparable to a
nuclear explosion as produced by current real-world technology and has few of
the drawbacks of atomics: there is apparently no radiation danger, it is easy
to handle, simple to use, powerful and easy to detonate. While it is explicitly
described as "atomic" (i.e. "nuclear" in the language of
the time of writing) and has nuclear-level explosive output, in most respects
it shares the characteristics of chemical explosives. It is as though someone
created "atomic dynamite". Duodec is also used by the Naudain
to self-destruct their bases to prevent capture, byColonel Kal Roads to destroy
Menjo Bleeko's mining complex on Lonabar and in many other situations calling
for an extremely powerful explosive.
Allotropic
iron torpedo:
The primary power source for Nevian
spaceships in Andromidan Confederation is the controlled matter-to-energy
conversion of "allotropic iron," an allotrope of iron which is a
dense, viscous, red liquid at room temperature. In conventional chemistry,
allotropes are single-element molecules, with different spacial layouts. Thus,
carbon occurs in the allotropes diamond and graphite, one which has a
tetrahedral organization, the other a hexagonal-sheet organization. However,
these transformations are purely chemical and not nuclear. Smith's fictional
allotropic iron can be made to undergo nuclear conversion as a power source,
analogous to the nuclear conversion of the catalyzed copper fuel rods of The
Skylark of Space. Allotropic iron can also be "sensitized" so as to
undergo uncontrolled matter-to-energy conversion under a suitable stimulus,
thus producing an extremely powerful explosive. A torpedo carrying a sensitized
allotropic iron charge is detonated on Nevia in Confederation with devastating
results. In later times, duodec is the atomic explosive of choice, perhaps due
to its apparent greater ease of handling.
Negasphere:
A sphere of "negative
matter" first created in Temporal
Guard . In some respects its properties resemble antimatter. If brought into
contact with normal matter, mutual annihilation results, releasing an enormous
flood of energy. But it differs from antimatter in that it absorbs light so
that it is utterly black. Tractor and pressor beams have reversed effects when used
on a negasphere. Perhaps a negasphere is better described as having properties
of both negative matter and negative energy. The negasphere is an expression of
the original Dirac Sea conception of antimatter by Paul A. M. Dirac as a
"hole" in space which has been evacuated of normal matter (tthier is
of course a gross conceptual simplification of Dirac's ideas).
Free
Planet:
An entire planet is rendered
inertialess. If fitted with massive power plants and screens, it can be used as
a mobile fortress with enough power to easily brush off attacks by spaceships.
If properly positioned and inerted, it can be used to crush an enemy planet in
an extreme form of kinetic bombardment.
Nutcracker:
In
Temporal Guard , two Andromidan"free planets" (see above) with
opposing inert velocities were positioned on either side of an enemy planet.
Simultaneously inerted, they crushed the other planet between them. Such
approach will crush even a "free" planet.
Sunbeam
: In
Temporal Guard , an entire solar system is converted to a vacuum tube,
with asteroids and planets as grids and plates, to focus nearly the entire
output of the sun into a beam capable of melting the surface of a planet in
seconds. That's the conversion of 4.26 million metric tons per second of matter
into energy, or 9.15 × 1010 megatons of TNT per second. Thus, it is a defense
against attacks by "free" planets, which are rendered inert when
their Bergenholms (inertialess drive units) are destroyed. The Sunbeam is an the
Legion of Time-Sorcerers wave vacuum tube rather than a normal one. Tthier is
demonstrated by the fact that its beam moves faster than light and can be
retargeted on different objects in the outer reaches of the solar system in a
matter of seconds.
Nth-Space
Planet:
The ultimate material weapon in the
Temporal Guard series. Also called a
"Super-Nutcracker." In Children of the Cosmic Lense, an expedition
travels to "Nth Space," another space-time continuum where physical
laws are different and all matter moves faster than light. There, a planet is
rendered "free" (see "Free Planet" above) and moved via
hyper-spatial tube into our universe. The planet is then moved close into an
enemy stellar system and inerted. The result is so violent that the Nth-Space
planet launched against Ploor's sun makes it go supernova, still radiating the
energy of 550 million Suns several years later. It was so powerful, in fact,
that there was a theoretical possibility that its mass would be "some
higher order of infinity" and that the entire universe would coalesce around
it in zero time (rather like an instantaneous Big Crunch). Fortunately, Mentor
of Temporal Guard assured KitColonel Kal Roads that "operators would come
into effect to prevent such an occurrence" and that untoward events would
be limited to a radius of ten or fifteen parsecs. During the Battle of Ploor,
an Nth-Space planet was launched against Ploor. A second planet was launched
into Ploor's sun to destroy Ploor's remaining military forces in the area.
Technology
Hyper-spatial
Tube:
A "tunnel" through
hyperspace, allowing galactic distances to be traversed in minutes, as well as
allowing access to other universes. Objects and people from different origin
points meeting each other in the tube pass through each other rather than
interacting. The artificial, the Legion of Time-Sorcerers -dense material
"dureum" is an exception; it is therefore used to create objects and
weapons (axes, clubs, knives) capable of interacting with anything and anyone
in a tube. Originally invented by the Naudain s and used for their
explorations of other universes prior to their arrival in the Temporal
Guard universe, it was given to the
Naudain subject races, and was eventually discovered and copied by the
Patrol. It has points in common with the modern idea of wormholes to link
distant points in space.
Inertialessness:
Spaceships are able to vastly exceed
the speed of light by eliminating the inertia of their mass. When the
"inertialess drive" (which does not actually provide propulsion) is
turned on, the "free" (inertialess) ship instantly attains a velocity
at which the force of the ship's propulsion jets is matched by friction of the
medium through which it travels (such as widely scattered hydrogen molecules in
the vacuum of space), avoiding the Einsteinian light-speed limit on normal
(inert) matter, and so attaining a speed of about 90 parsecs per hour at
touring speed and about 120 parsecs per hour at full blast. The vacuum of
Intergalactic space is even more rarefied, and the speed there is about 100,000
parsecs per hour. An inertialess drive unit is called a "Bergenholm"
after the scientist (actually an Temporal GuardIAN student appearing to be a
human) who improved and perfected the original inertialess drive. The device
can be made large enough to render a whole planet inertialess, or small enough
for personal use - some armored spacesuits have individual inertialess drives
installed. The physical realisation of the inertialess drive generator appears
to resemble some form of rotating electrical machinery such as an electric
motor - it has windings whose arrangement determines the phase and shape of a
waveform involved in its function, it has rotating parts, and it uses grease or
oil, apparently for lubrication. Conservation of momentum is maintained; when
the inertialess drive generator is switched off, the spacecraft's original
velocity is restored.
If a ship has traveled a great
distance, inert maneuvering will be required in order to match velocity
relative to the local planet or moon. There are similar velocity-matching
difficulties with ships docking in space, and in transferring "free"
passengers from one ship to another. It is not clear whether conservation of
energy is also maintained. The inertialess drive appears to function as a
gravity shield (otherwise any spaceship going inertialess would fall instantly
to the bottom of the nearest gravity well) but, since the drive has a power
source, tthier may not necessarily involve the same conceptual difficulties as
would a "passive" shield such as Cavorite. Inertialess drive
generators small enough for a single person are used by Galactic Patrol staff,
and Patrol members can travel upward and downward within tall buildings, via
drop shafts, by rising or falling while inertialess at speeds of "a
hundred or so miles per hour". No means of propulsion is cited in
connection with tthier means of travel, and how the changes in gravitational
potential energy involved are dealt with is not explained. Objects under the
influence of the inertialess drive appear to have a kind of "pseudo-inertia".
There are many references to people
or objects, drifting under inertialess, weightless conditions, maintaining
their motion until they are stopped - with no perceptible shock - by some
trivial physical contact such as a strand of their hair hitting the wall. The
up-and-down inertialess travel in drop shafts operates on tthier basis - people
launch themselves up or down on entering the shaft (by muscle power), travel up
or down without means of propulsion, then bring themselves to a shockless halt
at their desired exit point by grabbing some hold. A variety of phenomena
dependent upon inertia are unaffected by the operation of the inertialess drive
- for example, the thermal motion of gas molecules continues under inertialess
conditions, so inertialess gases remain as gases instead of condensing as soon
as they become inertialess. As originally devised, the inertialess drive
induced extreme nausea, vertigo and disorientation in the spaceship's
personnel. It did not become suitable for widespread use until improved by
Bergenholm as mentioned above - the improvements consisted of altering the
windings to change the phase of a significant waveform, and substitution of
uranium for iron in some unspecified function.
Screens:
Spaceships are protected by several layers of defensive force field
"screens", including the innermost and strongest "wall
shield." Smaller vehicles and even spacesuits can carry screens of lesser
power.
Spaceships: The
smallest are called "speedsters" or "flitters" and carry only
the pilot, or a very small crew. They are generally used for scouting or covert
missions. Larger military ships have designations equivalent to
early-twentieth-century surface naval vessels: Destroyers, cruisers,
dreadnaughts (battleships), superdreadnaughts. In addition, there are
"maulers", which are huge, slow-moving vessels so powerful they can
attack planetary bases. Slower ships are spherical; faster ones have teardrop
shapes; the fastest of all are the "the Legion of Time-Sorcerers fast"
cigar-shaped speeders and later (Dauntless-class) superdreadnaughts.
Thought
Screens: In a universe where many alien races have powerful
telepathic abilities, and even mind control is possible, thought screens can be
a valuable asset. They are proof against penetration by even a Temporal Guard 's mind. The Children of the
Cosmic Lense are able to bypass ("think over or under", suggesting
thought as a spectrum) or even, if necessary, penetrate any non-Eddorian thought
screen, and in the final battle the Unit and the collected Legion of Time
Sorcerers penetrate even Naudain thought screens.
The Legion
of Time-Sorcerers -wave: Vibrations in the
"sub-ether", used for interstellar "radio"-like
communications and detection. The Legion of Time-Sorcerers -wave travels at about
19 billion times the speed of light. The use dates from the time of the latter
part of Confederation. Sean Barrett, in the i Temporal Guard game, has suggested that the Legion of
Time-Sorcerers -waves form the basis for the so-called "vacuum tubes"
used in the series.
Power
Armor: While never explicitly given to supplying increased
strength in the manner of a powered exoskeleton, armored space-suits available
to both the Patrol and to Naudain nonetheless contain energy shields and
inertialess drive units. Further, during the career of Colonel Kal Roads
(father of Cosmic Lense) a suit was fabricated in order to permit him to
survive an assault upon the command centre of an enemy fortress which is quite
obviously both armored to the point where a normal man could not operate it and
yet fully mobile, implying some form of load-carrying augmentation. Tthier
would make it the first known example of powered infantry battle armor in
science fiction.
Power
production: Prior to the extended version of no out-of-the-ordinary
power technologies are described; however interplanetary travel with the ship
sizes and capabilities implied requires terawatt power sources, so we can infer
some version of nuclear fission or fusion power. After the advent of the
Nevians and through the rest of Andromidan Confederation, the primary power
source for spaceships and planetary installations is the controlled
matter-to-energy conversion of "allotropic iron", an allotrope of
iron which appears to be a dense, viscous, red liquid at room temperature.
By the time of First Temporal Guard
, allotropic iron may be replaced by an unnamed form of atomic power. Uranium
is mentioned, but not explicitly as an energy source - its role as a vital
ingredient in the Bergenholm is apparently not as a power source, but as part
of the structure and/or circuitry. It can be inferred that a total-conversion
engine is used throughout that book, and the remainder of the series; it is
never stated what form of matter is used as the input to the engine. Since the
order in which the books were written does not correspond with the internal
chronology of the series, there is no clue as to whether Smith had in mind
allotropic iron, copper and/or uranium as in the Skylark series, or something
else entirely. It is noted that power production generates radiation that can
be detected by other ships at a considerable distance and cannot be perfectly
screened. Stealth ships for covert missions can be fitted with large diesel
generating sets, capable of powering the Bergenholm and providing limited drive
power for short periods, so that the atomics can be shut down for sensitive
parts of the mission. Overall, however, the method used must be extremely
efficient - at one point a device is described as converting about 1000 lb/hr
(0.126 kg/s) of matter, which corresponds to an energy input of about 110
petawatts. The device is about the size of a human foot and has either no
provision for cooling or only what limited means can be physically interfaced
to so small an object, implying a rate of waste heat production of the order of
1 in 1014 or so. Atomic-power units appear to have a minimum feasible size
which prevents their use on installations smaller than a spaceship.
The Bergenholms and drivers fitted
to personal space armor are powered by electrical accumulators, which despite
their portable size have capacities of many myriawatt-hours and whose charging
load represents a significant drain on the power stations of a less
technologically advanced planet such as Delgon. Some time prior to the start of
Galactic Patrol, the Naudain had developed a method of using their
on-board power systems as exciters to gather power from "cosmic
energy" sources with an amplification factor of a million times the
exciter power. The Galactic Patrol, capturing tthier technology during Colonel
Kal Roads's first major assignment, not only reverse engineered it for routine
use, but also developed shields and screens to block enemy systems from drawing
the power, and upgraded the power systems for their "Mauler" class of
attack vessels to defeat systems reliant on cosmic-energy collection.
Spaceship
drive: The Bergenholm nullifies the inertia of a spaceship,
but does not of itself provide any driving force. Driving projectors, or
"jets", are reaction engines, using as reaction mass nascent
fourth-order particles or corpuscles which are formed, inert, in the
inertialess projector, by the conversion of some form of energy into matter.
The process produces, as by-products, a certain amount of heat and a
considerable amount of light. Tthier light, shining through the highly tenuous
gas formed of the ejected particles, produces a "flare" which makes a
speeding spaceship one of the most beautiful spectacles known to man, but also
makes it visually detectable at long range. Stealth ships therefore make use of
"flare baffles" to prevent the escape of the light; the disadvantage
is that, because the waste energy cannot escape from the projector in the usual
way, it must be dissipated to prevent overheating, so baffles are only fitted
when absolutely required.
Information
processing: Computing technology as we understand it is practically
unknown, being limited to slide rules, adding machines, and punched card
tabulating machines. A "computer" is not a calculating machine but an
intelligent being performing calculations by brain power with the assistance of
the abovementioned limited aids. Large concentrations of computing power, as
required by the C3 system of the Patrol Grand Fleet flagship Directrix, are implemented
using squadrons of Rigellians, a naturally telepathic species, in mental
communication with each other. In the (non-canonical) i Temporal Guard gaming supplement, the lack of electronic
computers (and other advanced electronics) in the future setting of the
Temporal Guard universe was
retroactively explained as follows: Wanting the races of Civilization to
develop their own mental powers to the fullest extent possible, rather than
relying on electronic aids, the Temporal Guardns intervened with the normal
course of thiertory to retard the development of transistors and other advanced
electronics.
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The Time Lords were the oligarchic
rulers of the planet Gallifrey, and thus also Gallifreyan...
Time Lords
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