Vian


 * “Humans and Near-Humans… They are like a plague upon the galaxy. Under-evolved and limited in their learning potential. We will be the lucky ones that evolve into that of our saviors, the Founders, one day because of our faithful service.”
 * -A common Vian saying

The Vians are a humanoid species that was conquered and subjugated by the Founders and the Thys’sians to act as field commanders, administrators, scientists and diplomats for the Dominion Imperium. The Vians see themselves as those who "serve the Founders”, seeing the Founders as a pure, almost god-like species.

Appearance and Biology
Vians have pale skin, violet eyes, and elongated ears that are completely joined to the rest of the head. The Vians’ sense of hearing is greater than that of most other humanoid races, but they have comparatively weak eyesight. Vians are immune to most forms of poison.

Society and Culture
The Vians have given their entire society over to the Founders and how they would like the Vian society and culture to develop. The entire species, with a few exceptions, have an almost religious devotion to the Founders and the Dominion Imperium. Almost all Vians are willing to lay down their lives for the beliefs the Founders have set upon the Vian culture. While rare, it does happen that a individual Vian will break away from the beliefs of the Dominion Imperium in an attempt to discover the truths of the galaxy. When this does occur, these individuals are usually silence quickly with death. Very few can make it off world and away from the Dominion in order to discover a vastly different galaxy than the one they are taught to perceive.

The Vians have been placed in an elevated status among the members of the Dominion Imperium, often acting as commanders, engineers, and scientists for the Founders and their plans. In effect, the Vians are the think-tanks for the Imperium.

As with most societies that have fallen under subjugation, as long as they can remain near the top of a caste-like system, then the Vians do not resist the will imposed on them. They have turned a blind eye to atrocities that the Dominion has visited on others and have an almost reverse moral standing towards species outside of the Dominion Imperium. They are not opposed to forcing others into submission and will only bow in surrender when they feel that a superior force threatens them, which often results in a hasty retreat. Slavery is an almost religious acceptance with the Vians, seeing other species besides the Founders and themselves as un-evolved parasites. Without the Thys’sians to provide strong, physical support, the Vians often resort to coward-like ways and two-faced deals.

History
The Vians believe, perhaps apocryphally, that they previously existed as small, timid, ape-like forest dwellers living in hollowed-out trees to avoid the many predators on their homeworld. Legend has it that one day, a family of Vians hid a being that they called a Changeling from an angry mob of "solids" that were pursuing it. In return, the Changeling promised that one day his people would return and that the Vians would be transformed into powerful beings and placed at the head of a vast interstellar empire that would stretch across the galaxy.

Around 7500 BBY, when the Vians first encountered the Founders, or Changelings as they were originally called, the whole Vian society nearly collapsed with revelations of legends coming to life. Within a decade, with the might of the Thys’sians backing the Founders’ will, the whole society of the Vians had subjugated themselves to the species which would be named the Founders, by the Vians.

Over the years, the Vians made their way into a position of prominence with the Founders, eventually becoming somewhat of a second tier caste to the Founders, while the Thys’sians fell beneath both species.

During the Great Galactic War and the later the Clone Wars, the Vians, following the Founder's will, allied themselves with first the Sith Empire and later the Separatists of the Clone Wars. After both conflicts, the Vians, along with the rest of the Dominion Imperium, found themselves almost under martial law by first the Republic, and then later by the Imperial New Order.

The Vians found themselves having to do most of the Founders biddings in secrecy, especially under the Imperials of Emperor Palpatine's regime. Throughout the reign of the Imperials, the Vians always believed that the Founders would guide them to a glorious victory that would free them from the Imperial fist closed around them. Only after the Battle of Endor did the Vians eventually gain freedom from the Imperials.

The next conflict would come from the retaliation of Galen Taym's pirates and renegade Antrixian forces, who sought to exact revenge upon the Dominion for their hand in the Antrixian Purge of 19 BBY. In a short, one-sided conflict that lasted three weeks, the Antrixian pirate and renegade forces managed to cripple the Vians and the Dominion to almost nothing of their former power.

Shortly after the events of the Reborn Emperor occurred, the Dominion was approached and quickly over-run by invaders that came from the Kavas Sector. The Founders were slain down to near extinction, leaving no more than 100 members alive while the Vians and Thys’sians were quickly subjugated. Forces under the command of former Inquisitor Syanne Harkness forcfully moved the Vians and the others to Serkothis, where they were added to the Shadow Imperium. In effect, the Vians and the Dominion were erased from their former place in the galaxy.

Under the Shadow Imperium, the Vians found a place equal to their former worshiped Founders, tools used by Lady Blackthorne and her venture into the Unknown regions in search of the Jhenn.

RPG D6 Stats
Technology Level: Space

Government: Military

Home Planet or System: Veillus II

Attribute Dice: 12D

DEXTERITY 1D/3D

KNOWLEDGE 3D/5D

MECHANICAL 2D/4D

PERCEPTION 2D/4D

STRENGTH 1D/3D

TECHNICAL 3D/5D

Special Abilities:

Poison Immunity: Vians roll double their Strength or Stamina, whichever is higher, to resist the effects of poisons or toxins.

Acute Hearing: Vians gain a +2D to any Perception or Search checks that pertain to auditory situations.

Story Factors:

Poor Eyesight: Vians suffer a -1D to any visual-oriented skill checks such as Search or Perception checks. Vians also suffer a double difficulty to any skill checks involving visual skills in low light situations.

Move: 10/12

Size: 1.5-1.8 meters tall

Lifespan: 125 standard years