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Site Navigation   Home Advanced Rules Answers & Erratas Armour Campaign Info Catalogue of Books Equipment & Supplies Humour Magic Miscellaneous Info Monsters & Critters Psionics R.C.C.'s & O.C.C.'s Reference Material Skills Vehicles Weapons About Awards & Feedback Guestbook Links & Web Rings Search What's New	Horta R.C.C. By: Talis D. Merrill (taalismn@tiac.net) (With input from the novels of Diane Duane, notably My Enemy, My Ally and The Romulan Way, both published by Pocket Books) [Creator's Note: Star Trek, in my opinion, is fairly deficient in what I'd consider to be serious, exotic, intelligent alien life forms. This is largely due to budgetary considerations (i.e. its easier to slap a little putty make-up on a cameo actor and make him or her a one-shot alien than it is to build a really bizarre critter), so the Star Trek universe seems full of (often genetically compatible) humanoid life forms. Still, from time to time, ST does produce an really interesting alien being. Take the Horta, for instance, from the original, first, series episode "Devil in the Dark" (written by Gene L.Coon, played by James Prohaska on all fours in a rubber suit).] The Horta are a silicon-based life form native to the rocky, uninhabitable, but incredibly mineral-rich, world of Janus VI. The Horta dwell within the planet, and owing to that, and their unique nature, went undetected for over fifty years by human miners, until the miners inadvertently threatened the Hortas' egg-sites, when the Horta made their presence known by attacking the intruders. It was only after several miners had been killed, and perhaps hundreds of unhatched Horta destroyed, that the nature of the tragic misunderstanding was cleared up, and the Horta (surprisingly) reached a peaceful (and mutually beneficial) accommodation with the humans. Horta resemble great big lumps of mottled russet-orange rock, with shaggy mats of fibrous asbestos plating and mineral incrustations covering them. There are no visible sensory organs, though Horta have vision and hearing, to the continuing bewilderment of scientists studying them. The underside of the Horta has multiple short tentacles, which can carry the Horta at a slow, shuffling pace, and can also serve to manipulate small objects (though the Horta cannot equal the dexterity of human hands). They are, as mentioned previously, silicon-based, with teflon skin, and "fluorocarbonated lava with asbestos hemocytes" as blood. They subsist entirely on ingested rock and minerals, and have an acute sense of taste where inorganic substances are concerned. They are incredibly tough, immune to all but the greatest extremes of temperature and pressure. Most atmospheric toxins have no effect on them (they don't breath), and they can even survive in airless vacuum (one Horta even bailed out of a starship, survived a planetary atmospheric reentry, and made planet-fall as a meteorite ... though I suspect he had a parachute to slow his impact). Horta have no speech organs, but communicate with each other thru ultra-low sonic vibrations and chemical cues. With non-Horta, they must either write out messages, or use specially-modified translators implanted in their upper shell. Horta can exude powerful acids from their bodies, and can vary the concentration and strength of them, from mildly acidic, to exudates able to eat through mega-damage materials. Horta are at their finest when underground. Horta are natural tunnelers, literally eating their way through rock at high speed, dissolving their way with powerful acids they can exude. Horta have a superb sense of direction underground, and have an almost instinctive knowledge of geology, able to detect veins of ore, magma channels, and rock strata with ease. Horta have a life span of sixty thousand years, at the end of which, after laying one final batch of eggs, the entire generation dies together, leaving the eggs in the care of one selected individual (who survives the rest), who tends and rears the next generation of Horta. The eggs appear as shiny silicon nodules (and were mistaken for natural formations by human miners, who destroyed them, triggering the guardian Horta's maternal defense). Horta are generally peaceful creatures, with a non-technological society, and remarkably open minds. They are very intelligent and observant (the guardian Horta was able discern the importance and layout of the human miners' main power reactor, break in, and remove a vital pump assembly in order to sabotage their life support systems, and force them off-planet), and adapt well to technology. Horta also adapt well to other races, having a live-and-let-live attitude, unless threatened, when they can react with surprising swiftness and viciousness. Since making contact with aliens, many of the new generation (s) of Horta have acquired a sense of wanderlust, and have left Janus VI to explore the cosmos. It is suggested in a recent DS9 novel (Devil in the Sky) that the Horta continue to reproduce, and have begun setting up communities off Janus VI, with Federation assistance. One can never tell what may come of this.... Rifts Notes: Given the trouble Star Fleet has with losing ships to 'spatial anomalies', 'wormholes', 'cosmic string fluxes', and other bizarre spatial phenomena, starships carrying Horta could conceivably show up anywhere in the Megaverse. Horta are most likely to be encountered in the Phase World setting, but some may also have found their way to Rifts Earth. There their presence is likely to go undetected for a long time, as the Horta will gravitate towards deep rock and remain underground (though inevitably a few may come to the surface out of curiosity, or someone may discover their tunnel complexes). They are likely to be mistaken for earth elementals.   Horta R.C.C. Alignments: Good and Selfish Physical Attributes: I.Q.: 3D6+4, M.E.: 3D6, M.A.: 3D6, P.S.: 4D6, P.P.: 1D6, P.E.: 5D6, P.B.: 1D6, SPD: 2D6 Leap (with difficulty) 5ft up/6 ft across Tunneling: Ironically, can move faster thru solid rock than air: typically tunnels at SPD: 1D6 x 10 M.D.C.: 1D8 x 10 Horror Factor: 10 P.P.E.: 2D4 Natural Abilities: Doesn't breath, and is effectively impervious to vacuum, radiation, poisons, and and toxins. Can survive in airless space or underwater (no depth limit, but likely to be miserable in all that wet stuff). Resistant to extreme heat/temperature (Plasma and Mega-damage Fire does 1/10 normal damage; magic fire does full damage) Inorganic: Doesn't show up on conventional life form scanners, but owing to its "magmablood" and high body temperature, is likely to show up nicely on thermographic scans. Tunnel Through solid rock: Spd 1D6 x 10, and leaves a 3ft diameter. tunnel of fused earth/rock behind it (or can collapse it behind itself) Eat Rock: Subsists on rocks, ores, and digested metals (likes silicatous substances like sand, granite, and data solids). Underground Senses: Can sense/determine the location of geological features (faults, ore veins, strata, caverns, and other tunnels, including hidden passages). Range 50 ft +10 ft per level of experience. Exude Acid: Can generate powerful digestive juices varying in strength and duration from 1D6 SDC to 5D6 MDC (+1D6 MDC per level of experience) per melee. +1 melee duration per level of experience. Can also cut the duration/effect of the acid (i.e. rather than do full duration damage, a third-level Horta could choose only to do 8D6 MD to bore thru a wall, and have it safe to walk through by its human companions immediately afterward). Squirt Acid: Range: 5 ft + 2 ft per level of experience (Lucky Momma Horta didn't use this ability, or Spock and Kirk would have been goo....) Taste: Acute palate. Simply by sampling a substance, a Horta can tell its chemical composition with the skill of a gourmet and the accuracy of a chemist. Can recognize the chemical constituents (and their proportions) of a given substance with 60% accuracy (+2% per level of experience, roll twice; once to identify component chemical, the second time to determine its concentration). The skill Chemistry: Analytical, will add a one-time bonus of +10%. May have difficulty with truly exotic substances (don't try digesting neutronium!) or substances it has never encountered before (Horta try to taste all the chemicals/metals in the periodical table as part of their childhood education, so they can identify things later in life.). A plus for miners and scientists. Senses: Equivalent to Human Normal R.C.C. Skills: Navigation: Underground (treat as Navigation: ALW, except this applies only to finding way about tunnels, geological formations, caves, etc.) Math: Basic (+10%) Chemistry (+15%) Geology (+20%) Mining (+20%) Other Skills: Choose 8 at first level, 2 at level 4, and 2 at level 8. Communications: any Domestic: none Electrical: any (+5) Espionage: none Mechanical: Any (+5) Medical: none Military: none Physical: none Pilot: any, except Robots and Power Armor, but at -10% for vehicles not specially adapted for them. Pilot Related: Any Rogue: None Science: Any (+10 to math and chemistry skills) Technical: Any WP: None Wilderness: None Secondary Skills: Choose 6 from the above without bonuses Attacks per Melee: Equivalent to Hand-to-Hand: Basic with regard to number of actions per melee and Dodge/Strike/Roll bonuses, but cannot parry, kick, or punch (limited to body blocks and tackles) XP: Use Warlock Experience table Magic: None Psionics: Standard (Spock hints during the mindmeld that the Horta may be mildly empathic, so I'll give the chance of possible psionic Hortas.) Genders: Heterosexual (males and females) Size: roughly 7ft long and 3ft wide/tall when mature. Weight: 200 - 1000 lbs (91 - 453kg) Life span: Sixty Thousand years, barring death by misadventure/accident Enemies: Creatures of evil alignment, anyone who threatens the Horta or their friends. Allies: Anyone who is open-minded, of good alignment, and doesn't threaten them (note: Horta seem to like pointed ears --- they are particularly friendly towards elves and Vulcans --- though no one has figured out why. Maybe it was a joke on the part of the first Horta to encounter a Vulcan, and the gag stuck, or......) Cybernetics: None, except for voice synthesizer and language translator implant (costs 10 times as much---must be specially modified for the Horta physiology).

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