From: lesimons@cris.com (Lowell Simons)
Subject: Baaadest Aliens (Balorn)

Obligatory Copyright notice:
The following information about the Balorn is copyright 1997 by Edward
Simons.  Feel free to use it, don't claim you wrote it.


Balorn                           0pts

Stats
        STR+2                   20pts
        Fatigue +3               9pts
        IN+1                    10pts

Advantages
        DR1                      3pts
        Hyper Reflexes          15pts
        Hyper Strength  (30)    21pts   (Emergencies Only -30%)
        Imperturbable           10pts
        Penetrating Call         5pts
        Slow Regeneration       10pts
        Short Spines             5pts

Skills
        Survival Desert at IQ    2pts.
        Tactics at IQ-1          2pts

Disadvantages
        Bloodlust               -10pts
        Chummy                   -5pts
        Clueless                -10pts
        Code of Honor           -15pts  The Code of Tarral
                Sacrifice anything but honor for the Balorn.
                The price of incompetence is death.
                Respect those Balorn of higher status.
                Demand respect from your inferiors.
                Insults among equals must be settled by a duel.
                Never duel during war.
                Never show fear.
                Take care of your own.
                Death is the ultimate mercy.
                The whole Clan is guilty for the actions of one.
                Theft, murder, or cowardice is punished by death.
        Honesty                 -10pts
        Inconvenient Size       -10pts
        Increased Life Support  -10pts
        Low Empathy             -15pts
        Overconfident           -10pts
        Selfish                  -5pts
        Ugly                    -10pts

Quirks
        Keep their word                 -1pt
        Eat the flesh of honored dead   -1pt.

        The Balorn are slender nine foot tall mammalian humanoids.   They
are covered with brick red leathery skin and have deeply recessed black
eyes.  They are covered with short spines.  Their heads are shaped vaguely
like a hairless cow's head.
        They come from a harsh dry world.  Most of the terrain is canyons,
buttes and arroyos where their skin color blended in with the terrain.
        The Balorn were small local prey creatures, and most of their
physical advantages developed to protect them from the larger predators
,which resembled mammalian dinosaurs.  The spines made them indigestible to
many species, the brief bursts of strength helped them escape, and they
even learned to imitate the horrid screams of the largest predators to
scare away the less large ones.
        It wasn't enough, even sentience wasn't enough for survival.  Until
a legendary leader arose.  Tarral formed the first clan and showed the
others that by cooperation and teamwork they could kill even the largest
creatures.
        The Code of Tarral bound these individualistic sentients together.
Anyone who doubts the existence of Tarral or fails to follow his code is
considered insane and exterminated.
        By the time the Balorn reached out into space they were a unified
monarchy with their emperor a direct descendant of Tarral.  In spite of
this, it's leadership is based on merit.  Day to day life is very
militaristic, but fulfills the ideals of communism.  Each produces what he
can and takes only what he needs.
        But at the core, each desires to advance in status and
responsibility.  An elaborate system of ritual challenges has developed,
both mental and physical, as a method of promotion or demotion.

        So how are they a threat?  Let me illustrate.  Twenty years ago, a
human merchant from the Arcadia colony sold defective laser rifles to a
nearby Balorn colony.  By their laws, this was both theft and murder.
(Attempted murder is murder to the Balorn way of thinking, and a selling a
defective weapon is an attempt to kill it's wielder.)
        The planetary government of Arcadia refused to turn over the
merchant for execution or to pay for the things he had sold.  To the Balorn
this meant that entire clan of humans was guilty.  They killed every single
human on Arcadia, publicly announced their actions and reasons, and left
after requesting the humans send a more honorable clan to occupy Arcadia.
        Interstellar war was narrowly averted after it was realized that
war with the Balorn over this incident would be to the extinction for at
least one of the races.
        Lawyers for relatives of the dead colonists tried to collect
damages.  They were received politely till they explained they represented
the people of Arcadia.  Then they were executed.
        One body was never found.  Clarice Castellanos had been a seventeen
year old cadet in the Arcadian militia, but she survived for nearly a month
in the forests of Arcadia and her hit and run tactics resulted in the
deaths of nearly two dozen Balorn.  The commander of the unit that killed
her was executed for incompetence.

        Yes, merchants and conmen can cheat this warrior race, if they
don't mind acquiring the entire race as an enemy.  As Mao put it, "All
political power comes out of the barrel of a gun.

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) Ed Simons               )   "Spaceman Spiff sets his       )
) @lesimons@cris.com      )     mertilizer on deep fat fry!  )
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) Ed Simons               )   "I don't suffer from insanity   )
) @lesimons@cris.com      )     I enjoy every minute of it.!  )
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