The Beyond Subsector L: Delta Cephei

(Note:
I know Delta Cephei is closer to Sol than Deneb, by a lot, but this is the position it was put in when The Beyond Sector was originally conceived almost forty years ago. Plus, Traveller maps the galaxy as a two dimensional object, so considerable distortion in representation is to be expected.
Also, the star system is a pair of binaries, but is here listed only by the characteristics of the two major components, ignoring their companion stars that are too dim to resolve. I left the description of the system vague enough to allow for it.)

The Beyond Subsector L: Delta Cephei

System Data

Hex  Name                 UWP       Remarks                  {Ix}   (Ex)    [Cx]   N B  Z PBG W  A    Stellar                

---- -------------------- --------- ------------------------ ------ ------- ------ - -- - --- -- ---- -----------------

2526 Gafhadad             E101000-0 Ba Ic Va                 { -3 } (500-1) [0000] - -  - 010 4  NaXX F4 V                   

2624 Mefebit              C5556AB-7 DroyW Ag Ni Fo           { -1 } (B52+1) [957C] - -  R 911 8  NaDr G9 V M7 V              

2628 Kaiear               CA835A5-9 Ni Pr                    { -1 } (543+4) [1439] - -  - 312 7  AsVc K6 V                   

2629 Tlehiui              E432354-9 Lo Po Fz                 { -2 } (B21+3) [8169] - -  - 421 11 AsVc M2 V M9 V              

2724 Chymos               E543000-0 Ba Po Fz                 { -3 } (B00+1) [0000] - -  - 012 12 NaXX M3 V M9 V              

2822 Lzamengen            E322000-0 Ba Po He                 { -3 } (700+4) [0000] - -  - 020 7  NaXX M1 V M2 V              

2824 Hruhyaiu             A433537-D Ni Po Fz Ht              { 1 }  (947+4) [5659] - T  - 613 15 AsT2 M2 V M2 V              

2826 Easakhou             A566786-C Ag Ri Ht                 { 4 }  (B6A-4) [3B3C] - R  - 402 9  AsTv G7 V                   

2830 Oakhlafah            C211315-A Lo Ic Sa                 { 0 }  (821-2) [435C] - -  - 310 5  AsXX M4 III M6 V            

2922 Delta Base           B000327-D As Lo Va Rs              { 1 }  (A21+1) [345A] - S  - 432 16 CsIm G1 Ib B8 IV            

2924 Ihkyatou             C552434-A Ni Po Sa                 { 0 }  (835+1) [345A] - -  - 721 10 AsVc M2 V                   

2929 Yieakye              B454555-9 Ag Ni                    { 1 }  (B47-3) [9679] - -  - 513 12 AsVc F9 V                   

2930 Aokaoreah            D433365-A Lo Po Co O:3132          { -1 } (B21-2) [526B] - -  - 632 12 AsXX K0 V M5 V              

3025 Shotkaha             B104254-B Lo Ic Va Fz              { 1 }  (D11-4) [232D] - -  - 312 14 AsXX M2 V M6 V              

3029 Ya' Uiyakh           E615000-0 Ba Ic Co                 { -3 } (700-5) [0000] - -  - 001 7  AsXX A3 V                   

3122 Ihateieakh           C768655-9 Ag Ni Ri                 { 1 }  (654+5) [9758] - -  - 202 13 AsWc K0 V                   

3124 Leitihakei           C315232-A Lo Ic Fz                 { 0 }  (B11-3) [128F] - -  - 320 10 AsXX M0 V                   

3125 Teiykiea             A575875-B Pz Ph Pa Pi              { 2 }  (E7A+1) [6A3B] - -  A 722 9  AsSc G6 V                   

3126 Sueiyrie             C945336-A Lo Co                    { 0 }  (C21-1) [4347] - -  - 321 10 AsMw G6 V M5 V              

3128 Ka'aheakh            C876672-B (Ktiauao)5 Ag Ni         { 1 }  (B55+2) [775C] - -  - 611 8  AsSc K0 V                   

3129 Airhelu              D110212-A Lo                       { -1 } (911+1) [2146] - -  - 310 12 AsXX M3 V M4 V              

3221 Tlasostsea           D967753-B Ag Ri Ho Tr              { 2 }  (66D+1) [795F] - R  - 831 10 AsVc G2 V M2 V              

3225 Ukhtaihasoi          C769214-B Lo                       { 0 }  (B11+1) [128B] - -  - 413 13 AsXX G6 V M9 V              

3228 Khrykyrie            B5645A8-9 Ag Ni Pr                 { 1 }  (B45+4) [8686] - -  - 831 12 AsMw K6 V                   

The Delta Cephei subsector is named after the famed prototype Cepheid variable star. The subsector consists of 24 systems with a total population of 839 million of whom 830 million are Aslan citizens of 19 systems and nine million are Droyne of the world Mefebit. The few thousand Humaniti still in the subsector are all residents of Delta Base, the home of the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service base in orbit around the variable giant star. Once a sparsely settled frontier of Humaniti, Aslan incursions overran the territory centuries before the founding of the Imperium and the sector was a battlefield in many of the Twelve Expeditions launched by the Storm Knights and Corellan League to contain Aslan expansion.

Worlds

Easakhou (2826 A566786-C)

Easakhou is a warm world of sweltering jungles and scorching deserts. A fairly small world, with a gravity of 0.59 standard, its tectonic activity has essentially ended, even though it is not even five billion years old. Eroding mountains and rugged terrain make for fine hunting grounds and impressive vistas, but have hampered industrial development.

Once called Araniopa, the world was settled by Humans from Halifax in -1280 and joined the Corellan League in -793 at the signing of the Treaty of Garrone. Araniopa was conquered in -576 by the Tlyolriou clan, a vassal of the Syoisuis. The system was a battle zone during most of the Expeditions, briefly recovered by the Storm Knights in 97, but never completely surrendered by Tlyolriou fighters. Much of the infrastructure is supported by imports, and the Syoisuis often claim hospitality to indulge in hunts against the varied local fauna, which includes large herbivores accustomed to fighting off impressive fleetfooted and aerial predators.

Delta Base (2922 B000327-D)

The shielded asteroid installation at Delta Cephei was established by the IISS in 304 and maintained with varying degrees of enthusiasm ever since. Almost abandoned in the seventh century, it remains in place as much to watch over the Aslan Hierate as to observe a variable star that is mostly known for its regularity. Delta Base is a sprawling complex of observatories and tunnels burrowed into a thirty kilometer-wide irregular metallic asteroid locally called "The Rock". The base can easily accommodate a hundred thousand people and ships of up to 200,000 tons displacement, but most of it remains sealed off and depressurized, with only 2000 permanent staff. Rumors that it houses a secret naval base are likely unfounded, but the mothballed areas of the base are off-limits to visitors and guarded by intimidating security robots.

Beyond Delta Station, the Imperium maintains no permanent presence, only scout and diplomatic missions, occasionally accompanied by a small task force of Imperial Navy ships to "show the flag" and discourage wanton Aslan ihatei expansion.

The system includes a population of a few thousand residents that are not IISS personnel or their families, but prospectors who mostly earn their living supplying volatiles from cometary bodies and providing services that the IISS administration does not condone. These residents form the official government of Delta Base, living in settlements drilled into The Rock or burrowed into icy comet cores captured and dragged into co-orbit with the asteroid. The settlement of Deep Rock City acts as the government center of Delta Base and is the official holder of client-state status, as the Imperium does not want to directly rule a system so far from its borders. Outside the airlocks of the IISS base and Deep Rock City, the law, Imperial or local, ceases to apply.

Hruhyaiu (2824 A433537-D)

The frozen world of Hruhyaiu orbits just outside the jump shadow of a binary red dwarf system. Hruhyaiu's very thin atmosphere contains natural wispy nitrogen mixed with oxygen cracked from surface ice in a half-hearted attempt at terraforming. The surface temperature rarely exceeds -30 C, even with both suns in the sky.

But Hruhyaiu is an important world. It is home to the forward base of the Syoisuis clan, who have made it their task to guarantee the terms of the Peace of Kaiear. As a result, the world is not only well-defended against foes both Human and Aslan, but also a base for patrol and spy craft that look for treaty violations and try to dissuade or destroy those who would risk a restart of the endless wars of the Expeditions.

Mefebit (2624 C5556AB-7)

The world of Mefebit orbits a G9 V star with a distant red dwarf companion. It is an aging drying world, whose oceans have receded,  leaving eroding cliffs at the edges of continents frozen into place by stalled tectonic activity. The air is thin and most of the land surface is badlands and desert. In one temperate zone region that receives enough rainfall to support stubby forests and yellow grasslands, six rivers drain off the continental shelf into a series of waterfalls and rapids. Here live nine million Droyne in small cities and towns connected by winding cliffside roads and a network of solar-powered airships.

The Droyne of Mefebit have maintained a self-imposed interdiction since abruptly expelling an Imperial Interstellar Scout Service survey team in 794. Though the local technology base does not appear to be high, a large orbiting battle station armed with nuclear missiles and lasers enforces the quarantine. Visitors receive no warning. Ships approaching within 50,000 kilometers are fired upon by large volleys of missile. The Droyne themselves seem to have access to higher technology than that evident on the surface or on the orbital station. Droyne starships, some identifiable as from Andor, occasionally visit the world, unmolested by the interdiction station.

Ka'aheakh (3128 C876672-B)

Ka'aheakh is a temperate world with skies yellowed by biological haze. Homeworld of the race now known as Ktiauao, the world is home to a number of clans who are working to help rebuild the race after its very essence was destroyed by Tlasayoae clan atrocities.

The natives of this world are called Ktiauao by the Aslan; their name for themselves is no longer known. The Ktiauao are symbiotic organisms, descended from arboreal omnivores whose nervous system is intertwined with a fungus-like growth called the "Kti", a Trokh slang term for slime. The earliest Aslan rulers of Ka'aheakh were the Tlasayoae clan, who leveled the mid-tech cities of the Ktiauao and attempted to enslave the survivors. When these slaves prove too difficult to control, the Tlasayoae developed a biological weapon that killed the Kti, reducing the Ktiauao to animal-level intelligence. This action disgusted other Aslan clans, and the Syoisuis retaliated by creating a bioweapon that infected the Tlasayoae with a variant of the Kti fungus, causing delirium and insanity among its victims. The Tlasayoae no longer exist. The Syoisuis restored the Ktiauao to sentience, but their culture was lost and the race is now little more than a vassal of the Aslan clan.

Teiykiea (3125 A575875-B)

Three centuries ago, inter-clan warfare resulted in a nuclear conflagration on Teiykiea, a conflict whose radioactive scars are still evident. Since that time, the dozen minor clans vying for control of the world have opted to continue their conflict for dominance of the world via a series of tehlaicho, or strictly limited wars. Conflicts occur with prearranged limits to force strength and field of operations with victory conditions set in advanced and adjudicated by neutral parties. The unfortunate result of this limited warfare is its never-ending nature, with battle after battle neither resulting in total victory nor defeat for either party.

Physical Characteristics

Teiykiea is a young world in orbit around a G6 V star. Its atmosphere contains just enough oxygen to be breathable by Aslan or Humaniti and every year heavy volcanic activity pours out dozens of cubic kilometers of lava, spewing sulfur dioxide into the air and spreading ash that darkens the skies. More than half of the world's surface is desert or ashfall, but a good portion of the rest, protected by steep mountain ranges and watered by monsoonal rains, is lush forest and jungle. The seas team with life.

History

Teiykiea was never settled by Humaniti. The first ihatei reached Teiykiea in -930, with multiple clans staking overlapping claims to the most fertile lands. Thus began the conflicts that mar Teiykiea's entire history.

As marshaling ground for clan warships fighting against the Storm Knight's Expeditions, Teiykiea received a great deal of early investment, including the construction of orbital defense platforms and shipyards. As each clan decided to ensure their stake in the infrastructure, they claimed territories on the ground. By -350, more than three dozen clans had made competing claims to land, and newcomers were forced to stake out desert and ashfall territories while coveting the richer jungle valleys that lay out of reach. Population already exceeded 50 million when Teiykiea's first global war broke out in -277, interrupted only by the Sixth Expedition.

For the next seven centuries wars were endemic, but the threat of the Storm Knights compelled the clans to avoid a catastrophic conflict that would threaten the use of the world as a logistics strongpoint. After the Peace of Kaiear in 422, that constraint was no longer a restriction to contain the pressures of competition and aggression on a world with a population of half a billion spread across fifty competing clans and shifting alliances. The second global war lasted from 450-518, destroying the orbital infrastructure and many centers of industry on the ground. Though all sides refrained from the use of weapons of mass destruction, bombardments of cities by conventional means was not restricted. It was more exhaustion of resources and worsening volcanic eruptions that ended the second war.

For more than a century the clans rebuilt their cities and expanded their forces. New competing starports orbited the world. By 730 the population topped one billion. The world's politics was a jumble of competing clans and shifting alliances. The sudden defection of a block of clans from the leading coalition instigated the third global war in 765. For the first five years, the war was fought like the previous conflicts, but when the Keaeuihweuao clan faced defeat as its mountain strongholds fell under siege, they struck out with neutron weapons to kill the besiegers. The retaliation was a massive bombardment which turned their mountains to slag, but not before the Keaeuihweuao failsafes launched their missiles and set off nuclear charges that they had long ago smuggled into enemy cities. The immediate devastation was extreme, but the reaction of the victors turned victims was to blame each other for some of the detonations, leading to a second round of nuclear exchanges that ended with three quarters of the population dead and the world's infrastructure ruined.

A dozen clans, minor and neutral, survived more or less intact in their shelters. When the decade-long nuclear winter cleared, they set about retaking the ruins, building new alliances with the shattered refugees of fallen clans, and completely rebuilding the power structure of the devastated world.

For a century, Teiykiea saw peace for the first time in its long history, but then clan rivalries began to reassert themselves. When war threatened again, the clan leaders feared a devastating fourth war, and so in 894 agreed to the Pact of Teiykiea, which limited conflict to tehlaicho, or strictly limited war.

The Pact has held, but the unintended consequence was a continual jockeying for power with limited wars bringing limited results, as no clan was willing to risk all in a constrained war. For two centuries, the deserts, ashfall lands, and valleys too radioactive from the third war to be reoccupied have becomes battle zones for tehlaicho conflicts with neutral observers.

Social Characteristics

Teiykiea is the most populous world in the Delta Cephei subsector with its 700 million accounting for five-sixths of the subsector's sophonts. Its infrastructure is solid, its starport a neutral city in geosynchronous orbit, but its reputation is sullied by violence extreme even by Aslan standards.

For Teiykiea, war has become a sport, with season after season of bloody conflict over worthless land, and while it has kept the cities safe and allowed the population to once again grow, it has also led to a culture of violence, with touchy males emulating their warrior kin. Dueling is more prevalent on Teiykiea than on any other Aslan world in The Beyond, and assassinations occur with alarming frequency. Humaniti is not well regarded on Teiykiea, but not for obvious reasons: instead Humaniti is blamed for the Peace of Kaiear, which allowed Aslan violence to be focused inward, not against a hostile alien race.

Articles

Ktiauao

The Ktiauao of Ka'aheakh are a reconstructed race. Their intelligence is dependent on a symbiosis with a fungoid called Kti that is intertwined with their central nervous system. When the Tlasayoae clan seized their world in -680, they found their newly conquered slaves difficult to control and devised a biological weapon to destroy the Kti and reduce the Ktiauao to animal intelligence. Other Aslan clans led by the Syoisuis intervened, returned the favor on the Tlasayoae and liberated the world. Though the Kti was restored and the intelligence of the Ktiauao reemerged, their culture, even their language was lost. Even with the help of the Aslan clans that now occupy half their world, they are little more than a faint echo of their former selves, reconstructed on an Aslan template.

Physical Characteristics

The Ktiauao are six-limbed bilateral sophonts descended from arboreal omnivores. At 80-100kg mass, the two-meter-long brown-gray Ktiauao possess a large head with four large eyes, two forward-facing and two side-facing , which give them a 270 degree field of view. A broad muzzle sprouts a multi-purpose "mouth" with complex dentation and internal organs for taste, smell, and speech. Long white whiskers provide both sensory guidance in low light and, through fine secondary hairs or cilia, acute hearing.

As with many hexapods, the upper pair of limbs is specialized for fine motor control and grasping, with six tentacle-like fingers. The second pair of limbs has intermediary functions, grasping while arboreal or stationary, locomotion while moving on the ground, with a stubbier set of three tentacles ending in chitin claws. The third set of limbs is for locomotion, though equipped with larger versions of the middle limb's "tri-claws" to allow arboreal grasping was well as ground-level locomotion.

The major distinguishing characteristic of the Ktiauao is not physical, but cognitive. A symbiotic fungus-like growth called the "Kti" is intertwined in the nervous system that stretches from the Ktiauao's head to spine. The Kti acts much like myelin in a human brain, accelerating brain functions enough to achieve sentience. Without Kti, the Ktiauao is no more intelligent than a Terran gibbon.

Life Cycle

The Ktiauao have two sexes, which are indistinguishable by an untrained observer, who mate for life. The female gives live birth to a single offspring after a gestation of three months. The offspring masses less than one kilogram and is totally dependent upon its parent, clinging to its mother's fur for the first two years of life during which is becomes infected with Kti and gradually develops intelligence.

Considered fully grown by age 12, the modern Ktiauao leaves its parents, who raise only child at a time, and begins a period of wandering, or in modern times, education, with a group of 4-10 same-sex peers. Full sexual maturity occurs after another 4-6 years and the Ktiauao leaves its peer group and establishes a pair bonding that normally lasts until the death of one partner, an event that often leads the surviving partner to end its own life.

A small percentage of Ktiauao do not establish a pair bonding, by circumstance or choice. These individuals gradually lose their sexual differentiating characteristics, which are mostly hormonal and olfactory, and become neuter "monks", perusing careers in isolation or in groups of other monks. Monks comprise 15% of the Ktiauao population and include many of the race's scientists and explorers. While the natural lifespan of a male or female Ktiauao is approximately ninety standard years, during which both sexes remain fertile, a monk's natural lifespan can be twice as long.

Evolutionary Development

The Ktiauao descend from a family of arboreal omnivores that are prevalent in Ka'aheakh's forests and jungles. At some point in the past few hundred thousand years, the Kti infected a proto-Ktiauao. The fungoid organism normally coexists with the broad trunked flora of Ka'aheakh's jungles, making this leap profound and unlikely to reoccur.

Whether the infestation spread quickly or slowly, the massive increase in intelligence provided by the symbiosis forever changed the Ktiauao. No records exist of this early period, but the ability to develop culture and language arrived with a suddenness unknown in other species. Massive deforestation around -180,000 may be the result of an early rise of civilization, but it faded quickly and left no other trace.

History and Society

Much of the Ktiauao history is lost. All of their records and memories are gone, and only archeological examinations are able to piece together the story of their culture and civilization.

A brief period of low tech civilization may have occurred in the corner of one continent in -180,000, but it quickly faded. Civilization arouse again along jungle rivers across two continents by -8000, with fishing villages and pastures for domesticated animals leading to trade networks, larger settlements, agriculture, and metallurgy by -4000.

After a period of decline between -3000 and -2000, civilization returned stronger than before across all five continents, cumulating in an industrial revolution around -1500. Whether the Ktiauao ever encountered Humaniti of the Sindalian Empire or their exiles is unknown, but no Corellan records indicate contact or any suggestion they knew of a technological race on Ka'aheakh. By -800, the Ktiauao had reached early TL 6, with internal combustion technology, rail and air transportation and large seagoing ships that may have housed permanent settlements. They were likely on the verge of discovering nuclear energy and beginning to conquer space. But then the Tlasayoae came.

The Tlasayoae were an aggressive clan at the forefront of Aslan expansion into The Beyond. They claimed the world in -680, bombed the Ktiauao cities and installed themselves as rulers over the ruined civilization. After centuries of oppression, the Ktiauao rebelled, attacking the Tlasayoae from jungle hideouts, sabotaging their hunts by poisoning prey and even hijacking starships, crashing them onto Aslan strongholds in suicide missions. Faced with a deteriorating situation and stressed by the ongoing Expeditions, the Tlasayoae developed an expedient solution: spread a biological organism that fed on the Kti. In 98 they released their weapon.

The bioweapon worked beyond the Tlasayoae's expectations. It spread across the entire world to infect every Ktiauao and many species of flora, wiping out not only the sentient natives but much of the jungle and forest ecosystem. Still, the Tlasayoae now had the world to themselves. But this period in history was not just the time of the Expeditions of The Beyond sector, it was the time of the Cultural Purge among the Aslan. Deviant clans were hunted down and killed to preserve Aslan culture, and the actions of the Tlasayoae were not the actions of heroes, or even conquerors. In the eyes of many Aslan they had committed something worse than genocide, they had not defeated their enemies by warfare or even by sterilizing their world, but by turning them into animals and devastating a world's ecosystem. Already friendless for actions during the Expeditions that other clans thought dishonorable, no one stood up for them when the Syoisuis clan declared them tsekho, or deviant, and gave them a taste of their own medicine. In 104, a Syoisuis bioweapon based on the Kti was set lose on Ka'aheakh. It was tailored to a specific Aslan genome, that of the Tlasayoae clan, and caused delirium and insanity among its victims. In an orgy of self-destruction, the Tlasayoae destroyed themselves, not only on Ka'aheakh, but across The Beyond, effectively wiping the clan from existence.

In part land-grab, part-penance, the Syoisuis and its vassal clans occupied the ruined world of Ka'aheakh, developed a cure for the original bioweapon and began to restore the ecosystem. The Ktiauao became self-aware again, but like the moment of the original infection hundreds of thousands of years ago, sentience caused as much confusion as understanding. The Aslan were there to help guide the race, but with even Tlasayoae records destroyed as they wiped out their own civilization and leveled their own cities, no records existed of Ktiauao language, much less culture. The Aslan were guided by secondhand reports, often centuries old and vague or distorted.

The restored Ktiauao speak a language based on Trokh, though adapted for their vocal organs. Their biological needs shape a society based on pair-bonded adults and a professional class of neuter monks, but Aslan sensibilities have shaped gender roles. The Aslan consider the monks "female" and guide them towards female professions. The Syoisuis consider the Ktiauao a vassal clan and expect their leaders to be male and behave male, though they concede that even great leaders will only have one spouse. Neuter Ktiauao xenologists are leaders in the study of their own lost culture, but they publish their findings in female Trokh script.

Interstellar Relations

The Ktiauao are vassals of the Syoisuis clan, a leading member of the Tlaukhu, and behave as such. They have no independent foreign relations and are only one of seven clans with territories on their own homeworld.

Ktiauao Travellers

The Ktiauao are tolerated as members of the Hierate because the Syoisuis say they should be. As such, Ktiauao may follow Aslan careers and are expected to adhere to gender roles, with the neuter sex treated as female. They are treated as a minor clan, undergo their own version of the Rite of Passage (neuters undergo a female version), and can gain territory,  which is passed down through the male line. Clans who are not vassals of the Syoisuis may privately express scorn or ridicule at the Ktiauao "play-acting" as Aslan, but they will not publicly say so, or risk incurring the wrath of the Syoisuis. However, the Ktiauao realize their position and rarely push for the respect they deserve and only rarely engage in duels to protect their honor.

Gender

Select gender of a Traveller, or Roll 2D: 2-6 = Male; 7 = Neuter; 8-12 = Female

Characteristics

Ktiauao Travellers have the following modifiers applied to their characteristics: STR+1, DEX+2, DM -1 on all Past Deeds TER rolls.

Traits

Ktiauao Travellers all possess the following traits:

Multi-limbed: All Ktiauao can utilize up to two major items (weapons, tools, etc.) simultaneously and receive two sets of actions each round to operate them. However, Ktiauao suffer DM-2 with all equipment not manufactured or modified for their use. Ktiauao may make up to two melee attacks with their middle limbs as major actions, doing 1D+2 damage.

Peripherial vision: Ktiauao can see in a 270 degree arc around their heads. This confers DM+1 to initiative and recon rolls.

Aging: Gendered Ktiauao begin aging after 7 terms and receive DM+2 on aging rolls. Neuter Ktiauao begin aging after 10 terms and use Terms/2 as the aging roll DM instead of Terms. Ktiauao only experience physical aging effects; mental capabilities do not decrease with age.

Careers

Ktiauao careers are based on Aslan careers from Pirates of Drinax: The Trojan Reach (Book 2). Ktiauao begin careers at age 18 and for gender role purposes, neuter Ktiauao are considered female.

Khtesiai-class Spy Ship

The Khtesiai is not an impressive-looking ship, often compared to a dull black skipping stone in shape. It serves the Syoisuis as a spy ship charged with border system surveillance. Designed to observe and occasionally intervene to keep the terms of the Peace of Kaiear, its crews are dedicated, but their task is thankless. Their orders pit them against other Aslan as often as against Humaniti.

Designed for stealth, the Khtesiai is able to spend months on station, especially with its impressive drives powered down. The torpedoes stored on board are mostly launch platforms for surveillance probes, but can include plasma torpedoes for strike missions and, allegedly, thermonuclear warheads capable of destroying cities or capital ships. The pulse lasers and fast drive are used to discourage pursuit and to flee when discovered, not to fight.

At full crew, the Khtesiai is a crowded ship, with females outnumbering males who are often ill-suited to this quiet patient work. Instead, many Khtesiai crews utilize computer programs to replace their pilots and gunners, operating the ship with just six or eight females, with perhaps a patient male as titular commander.