Progenitor RCC

(Version 1.00 - Last Modified: 02/18/2006)
Judaa Marr, leader of the Manifold Usurpers on Chiron

The Progenitors are a mysterious race that arrived on Chrion in early 103 AL in two ships. Each ship was controlled by one of the two main Progenitor factions that have dominated Progenitor politics for the last several decades: the Manifold Caretakers and the Manifold Usurpers. Unfortunately for the arriving Progenitors, the two ships arrived in orbit of Chiron at nearly the same time and the subsequent battle left both ships heavily damaged, forcing them to crash on Chiron. In the 60 years since then, the Progenitors have expanded from their original crash sites and have claimed large sections of the planet as their territory. The Progenitors have also secured their borders and created an impressive industrial base in a short span of time, easily surpassing most of the Human factions individually.

The Progenitors are an advanced civilization from the Ursa Prime star system, which they refer to as the Core System. The Progenitors are advanced enough to have developed faster-than-light spaceflight and communication, which is far beyond what Earth was capable of when the colonists were originally launched. The Progenitors' civilization has been in existence of tens of thousands of years, but a long series of civil wars have prevented the Progenitors from expanding from the small number of star systems they have claimed for millenia. The most recent civil war to wrack the Progenitors began as the Succession Wars to determine who could claim the throne after the death of the last Progenitor leader, but even as that war was being settled, a new conflict arose around the six powerful Manifold planets. One group of Progenitors wanted to reclaim the Manifold planets and use them as bases to conquer the star systems surrounding the Progenitor planets, these Progenitors became known as the Manifold Usurpers and a large number of veterans from the Succession Wars joined their ranks. The other group became known as the Manifold Caretakers and wanted to rebuild following the Succession Wars and allow the Manifold planets to remain unclaimed. The Manifold Caretakers had the support of the new Progenitor leader and had claim to the Core Systems, but they were unable to stop the Manifold Usurpers from claiming Manifold One and Manifold Three, two of the three Manifold planets whose locations were known. Afterwards, the two factions began to actively fight each, opening a new round of civil war. Knowing that possession of the remaining Manifold planets would swing the balance of power, both factions sent out ships to locate them, as the records of the location of Manifold Two, Manifold Five, and Manifold Six had been destroyed during one of the many civil wars since the planets were seeded with the planetary intelligence.

Progenitors are humanoids, with two legs and two arms, but their heads are more similar to an insect, with weak mandibles instead of a moth. However, the comparison to an insect falls short, as the Progenitors have recessed eyes and numerous claws protruding from their faces. Although they are bipedal like Humans, Progenitors are taller and bulkier then most Humans and they have a larger, more advanced brain then Humans. The most interesting aspect of the Progenitors is their lack of vocal chords. Instead of speaking, Progenitors can generate what they call a Resonance Wave, which can be heard by other Progenitors and by creatures that can "hear" resonance waves, like most native life forms on the Progenitors hole world. The lack of vocal chords, made communication between Humans and the Progenitors almost impossible, and the Progenitors arrogant and aggressive attitudes escalated already tense first contacts into fights. It was not until prolonged contact between the Manifold Usurpers and the Lord's Believers, that sign language was used to establish intelligent contact between the two races and led to the development of the first language translator between the two species. The translator was subsequently copied by the Manifold Caretakers and has even been reproduced by some Nomad groups that frequent Progenitor territory.

Progenitors reproduce by laying eggs, but unlike Humans, Progenitors are only sexually active once a year, for a short two week period. During this time, Progenitors mate at random and as frequently as possible, although they can suppress their urges if necessary. After the mating season, the female Progenitors actively decides how many fertile eggs will be laid, if any. In modern Progenitor society, most females lay only one or no eggs every mating season, but on Chiron, the Progenitor females have been generally laying the maximum number of eggs, which is five, each mating season, since they arrived on Chiron. Progenitors do not form any family ties and while it is possible for some Progenitors to form a permanent bond with a member of the opposite gender, it is exceedingly rare, but generally for life.

Racial Statistics

Lular H'minee, leader of the Manifold Caretakers on Chiron