Quarren
quarren
Special Abilities: Quarren begin the game with one rank in Negotiation. They still may not train Negotiation above rank 2 during character creation.
Amphibious: Quarren can breathe underwater without penalty and never suffer movement penalties for traveling through water.
Ink Spray: Quarren can spit ink from a specialized sac within their gills that disperses in water, creating a brief murk used to confuse foes or escape predators. This ability can be used on land as well, though it is considerably less effective because it must be sprayed directly on the target. Once per encounter, as an out-of-turn incidental, a Quarren may suffer 2 strain to add to a combat check made by a character within short range (underwater, it adds to the combat check instead).
The Quarren are a pragmatic and traditional people native to the depths of the planet Mon Cala. Throughout their history, they have striven to adhere to their own customs and technologies, eschewing those of outsiders such as the Mon Calamari. The Quarren’s earliest encounters with the Mon Calamari were punctuated by violence. Though the Mon Calamari were eventually able to establish a somewhat peaceful relationship with the Quarren as the result of a radical social experiment, the Quarren have long memories and continue to be suspicious of their worldmates.
The Quarren are an amphibious species with leathery skin that ranges in color from orange to orange-brown. Quarren with unusual skin colors, such as gray-green, purple, or pink, have been documented, but such variations from the norm are exceedingly rare. Though they have the ability to alter their skin color at will, they only do so during mating rituals and refuse to do so in view of other species. Their eyes, which are an intense shade of turquoise, are incredibly sensitive to light and well-suited to the depths of their homeworld’s oceans.
The head of a Quarren is triangular in shape, with at least four tentacles protruding from the bottom of the face, framing a pair of distinct fangs. The tentacles are prehensile and are used when feeding. They are also used to communicate, adding subtle cues to Quarren speech that often remain unnoticed by other species. Because of these tentacles, Quarren are sometimes called “Squid Heads,” a term that they’ve been known to take great offense to.
Quarren bodies are lean, muscular, and well-suited to maneuvering through Mon Cala’s deep ocean currents. On dry land they stand, on average, between 1.7 and 1.8 meters tall, and they are capable of diving to depths of more than 300 meters without any manner of support equipment. Their long fingers are tipped with suction cups, which many exobiologists consider a holdover from their waterborne ancestors.
The Quarren are a proud species with many deeply revered traditions and customs. Practical and conservative to a fault, they are also considered egotistical and short-sighted given their history of violence against the Mon Calamari. Optimism and idealism are foreign concepts to the Quarren, who believe that individuals with such qualities are either naive, foolish, or both. They are made especially unhappy by drastic changes, particularly when they feel forced into taking a particular course of action.
This general demeanor is responsible for a large number of conflicts between the Quarren and their worldmates, the Mon Calamari. Prior to engaging peacefully with the Mon Calamari, the Quarren resided in the depths of Mon Cala's oceans. As they explored areas of the sea closer to the surface, they encountered their worldmates. Threatened by Mon Calamari technology, which far outstripped their own, the Quarren attempted to drive them off violently. Unfortunately for the Quarren, such conflicts typically favored the Mon Calamari, which only fostered continued hatred and distrust.
The Mon Calamari, wishing to pacify the Quarren, resorted to an unconventional approach. They took an entire generation of Quarren children from their parents, raising and educating them in Mon Calamari cities. After a decade of education in the fields of philosophy, mathematics, and science, the children were returned to their people. While the Quarren children exhibited a new respect for the Mon Calamari, their elders considered them to be the victims of brainwashing. As the older generation gave way to the new, and the children grew into adulthood, the younger attitudes prevailed. The results of the Mon Calamari experiment were made apparent several years later when the Quarren engaged their former enemies in diplomacy.
As the Mon Calamari looked to the stars for their future, most Quarren chose to remain with their people on Mon Cala. They felt the Mon Calamari were foolish dreamers who would be better served by focusing on their own planet and their place in it. When spacefaring Mon Calamari attracted the attention of the Empire, the Quarren were quick to point out that they’d been right all along, blaming the Mon Calamari for their predicament. It is even suspected that Quarren dissidents sabotaged Mon Cala’s defensive systems, which allowed the Empire to take the planet with few losses.
The world was soon enslaved, and violent uprisings by Quarren and Mon Calamari alike were met with brutal violence on a global scale. Those Quarren who hadn’t escaped to the ocean depths found themselves placed in work camps alongside the Mon Calamari. In such miserable conditions, the two species discovered a unifying cause that brought them closer than ever before: the removal of the Empire through a coordinated effort of passive resistance, followed by an open and violent rebellion that drove the Imperials from their world once and for all.
Mon Cala is a world dominated by vast oceans and plentiful subaquatic natural resources. Though small island chains and coral reefs breach the surface of the ocean, they are few and far between. Instead, vast cities, built by the Mon Calamari with the aid of the Quarren, emerge from the waves. The Quarren people have always preferred the dark security of Mon Cala’s deep water, and most of their settlements exist in hard-to-reach pockets on the ocean floor. Despite this, a great many make their homes in the planet’s cities, albeit within their deepest levels. The Quarren continue to cling to memories of the past, but even they cannot ignore the might of the Empire and the danger of its inevitable return to their planet.
Quarrenese is the native language of the Quarren, though a good many grudgingly learn to speak Basic and Mon Calamarian. The Quarren language consists of high-pitched moans and chirps that resonate well beneath the ocean’s surface. Because Quarrenese is difficult to speak outside of water, however, the Quarren rarely speak it beyond the confines of their ocean settlements.
Quarren members of the Rebel Alliance are uncommon but not unheard of. Because Quarren tend to shun idealism, they find little favor in supporting the Rebel cause due to lofty principles. Those who do join the struggle often cling to motivations such as revenge, for their people (as well as the Mon Calamari) suffered greatly during the Imperial occupation of Mon Cala. Such individuals are ferocious combatants, often gravitating to the Soldier career. Others rely on their pragmatism to excel as Quartermasters, or choose to take a different tactic against the Empire by becoming Agitators or Saboteurs.
Though the Quarren continue to keep peace with the Mon Calamari, they still remember the conflicts of the past with great clarity. It is often difficult for Quarren to follow the orders of the Mon Calamari, as they are shamed by their apparent subservience to their enemies of old.
The rare Quarren who achieve high rank in the Alliance must be certain to temper their instincts and treat their Mon Calamari troops with respect. The Mon Calamari also recognize this, and they often take great pains to keep their Quarren subordinates from feeling slighted or singled out.
Such friction isn’t uncommon in a fighting force as diverse as the Rebel Alliance, but it has the potential to cause untold problems in the ranks if it is allowed to fester. Thankfully, Quarren who serve for any amount of time soon learn that their Mon Calamari allies are just as invested in the conflict as they are, and that the goals of the Mon Calamari Rebels aren’t all that different from their own.