Thursday, September 5, 2013

Gorn Nest-Traps

U.S.S. Defiant in Tholian Spacedock

The Gorn will lay eggs almost anywhere. In fact, they are rather negligent parents when on the move, and will maintain or abandon nests as expedient at the moment. When traveling outside of Gorn space, they have also been known to lay nest-traps as unwelcome surprises to harass and inconvenience the lesser species on whose territories they have encroached.

Remote areas of alien space stations and alien ships, such as the Jeffries Tubes of Constitution-class vessels are perfect for such spontaneous egg laying. Locations with a bit waste heat and stray radiation are very desirable to the cold-blooded Gorn, whose tissue is much more radiation resistant than human tissue.  A Gorn parent is much less likely to get the itchie-willies experienced by so many human Engineers working in such poorly shielded locations! In fact, they find such claustrophobic, hot environments very homey.

The Gorn are sanguine about the production of spontaneous mutations. In their society, variety in physical form and intellectual capacities is highly valued, and it is well known that higher than normal background radiation potentiates the development of rare psionic abilities in developing Gorn embryos. Badly deformed hatchlings are never a worry; they're a quick snack.

In any event, the hatchlings produced in nest-traps are often viewed as little more than time-delayed weapons. They emerge from their shells nasty and ravenous, and more than one crewman or thief on a remote station or below decks in the deep bowels of a starship has lost a poorly paced hand or foot to these hungry Gornlings.

Nest-traps have also been proposed as an explanation for the surprisingly brief reign and unexplained disappearance of Empress Sato and several of her crew onboard the I.S.S. Defiant...


OGL MECHANICS

Nest-Trap
Reptilian egg clutch (inimical)

ASPECTS:
  • High Concept: A squirming mass of teeth 
  • Trouble: Did I just hear hissing and warbling over there?
APPROACHES:
  • Skilled +2 for biting from below, slowing someone down
  • Bad -2 for hatchlings being able to get away from the nest's shell fragments and goo
STUNTS: Feel free to add a stunt or two for mutant hatchlings. 
  • Pyrokinesis - Once per Scene, a single hatchling from the nest-trap can start a +2 Fire on organic matter (including a person) somewhere in the Zone.  Fire won't go out as long as the hatchling takes no other action than to Defend itself.
STRESS: 3-4 boxes (representing 6-8 hatchlings)

SPECIAL: The nest-trap starts as a fixed location within a zone, but the hatchlings can move out from the nest... slowly.

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