Icarus: Die Ji’tar

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The Ji’tar are one of the deep races, who live on the fringes of explored space. The Ji’tar Empire is a collection of eleven main worlds, and a number of smaller settlements.

The most notable feature of the Ji’tar are their facial tentacles. Thought to be an evolutionary response to the fact they spend much of their life underground; their tentacles are more like additional limbs. They are used in the mastication process, can be individually manipulated to hold items, and can be used to help gauge a Ji’tar’s mood.

Their tentacles also form a large part of their native language, similar to the body language of other races. They speak in several registered, and there is no other race that can hear the entire range of their speech. In fact, the name Ji’tar comes from the two sounds that all races seem to hear the same when the creatures speak of themselves.

The language barrier is one of the reasons the Ji’tar are considered so separate to the rest of the galaxy. Largely distrustful of other races, it’s unlikely the Ji’tar would have any contact with others if it weren’t for commerce.

Iron Heart

The Ji’tar’s largest source of income is the precious metal that is abundant beneath the surface of their eleven main worlds. This Ji’tar metal is one of the strongest materials in the known galaxy; far stronger than the standard composite material used in armour, Ji’tar metal can be mixed with other metals in ratios as large as 100:1 and still retain its incredible defensive properties. Though the Ji’tar exports less than 1% of all the material they mine, it accounts for more than 80% of their economy.

The price for Ji’tar metal on the galactic exchange regularly reaches thousands of credits per gram; and owning any amount of the metal is a serious status symbol.

The brokerage of the metal is handled by the Ji’tar merchants. Despite their value to Ji’tar society, they are looked down upon by their kin because they freely trade their names with other species. The Ji’tar culture believes that all an individual’s power lies in their name, and to tell another your name is to give them a power over you. Most Ji’tar refuse to give their names to members of other species. Even Ji’tar ambassadors and military personnel do not give their names to outsiders. Instead they are referred to by their title, rank, or a nickname given by the outsiders.

The Destruction of Thes

The Ji’tar Empire was originally formed of twelve worlds, but during the Trax rebellion, the world of Thes was destroyed.

Towards the end of the rebellion, the Trax general, Bor, invaded Thes and took control of one of the major mines. Fearing the general would be able to get the metal off-world, the Ji’tar recalled all their fleets into orbit above Thes.

The Field Marshal in control of the Ji’tar fleet decided he would rather lose Thes entirely than have the precious metal in the hands of an outsider. He ordered Thes to be bombarded from orbit, and tasked a small team of demolitions specialists to deliver a nuclear device deep beneath the surface of the planet. This device was so powerful that when it detonated, it cracked the planet itself, separating a large section of the world. The effects of the detonation ruined the atmosphere beyond repair and killed every living creature on the surface of the planet.

The Ji’tar spent nearly ten years in orbit around the husk of Thes, collecting the metal from the dead planet.

The death of Bor was instrumental in the end of the Trax rebellion. Having lost one of their most prominent leaders, much of the Trax war machine became disorganised and they were soon pushed back to their home world, where the Praesidians were able to defeat them, force them to sign a peace treaty, and blockade the planet.

When the rebellion was over, the Field Marshal who had ordered the ruin of Thes was brought before the Council. He was charged with war crimes for the millions of innocent lives he took in destroying Thes. He was executed a day later.

However, despite killing untold numbers of Ji’tar in his bombardment, the Ji’tar government openly supported the Field Marshal’s choice, saying it was the right thing to do for the Empire.

Today, Thes is a corpse. When they had finished mining the majority of the planet, the Ji’tar left the surface, and surrounding space, littered with mines; and built a space station in orbit to watch against scavengers.

Despite the small chance of success, and the immense danger, there are still scores of scavengers who travel to Thes in the hopes of mining a forgotten vein of Ji’tar metal. The black market for the metal is highly profitable.

In The Icarus Project, the Ji’tar are one of the more elite factions. They have a high points cost as standard, but they have some of the best defence values in the game, and are incredibly survivable.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this look at the Ji’tar. Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be delving deeper into their background as we reveal more concepts, like the two above by our artist Patricio Clarey. Patricio has captured the spirit of the Ji’tar perfectly; and represents their power and presence fantastically.

If you haven’t already, make sure to download the Icarus Project Alpha, and join our Playtest Group to let us know what you think of the rules.

Quelle: Icarus Miniatures