Universe History

Jaretul are vicious and efficient genetically engineered weapons, but only the veterans of a few engagements develop tactics. The race was created through genetic manipulation and splicing by Core Republic scientists, and is vat grown with full combat capabilities present upon emergence from the vat.

Jaretul stand eight feet tall, and their entire body is pitch black. Their hands consist of three fingers and a long opposable thumb, with organic diamond claws on each fingertip. A foot and a half long organic diamond spike with a monomolecular point is located in each forearm, and can emerge from a Jaretul's palm with surprising speed and strength. The spike is the way in which a Jaretul feeds and excretes waste, and is also used as a combat weapon.

A Jaretul can speak the comman language of the Core Republic, though they usually communicate in frequencies outside the range of human ears. They have no mouths, instead vibrating a membrane for vocal communication located where the mouth would be on a human.

The race uses plasma rifles at range, both for their effect and for the terror often caused by the noise of their discharge, though they prefer to close for hand to hand with nearby targets whenever possible. Fragmentary radio reports hinted at the possibility of ranged weapons for closer in work, but nothing conclusive was known at the time the Operative program was conceived.

Standard system assault tactics observed begins with destruction of orbital stations and satellites, and is followed by targeted bombardment of strategic targets. Targets are typically military installations and communication centers, to soften landing sites, and in the early days involved orbit-dropped nuclear weapons of variable yield.

One of the primary directives built into the Jaretul is to spread and grow stronger as a force, and to that end they prioritize gathering organic material to feed into growth vats. They are not particular about the composition of the organic material, and will harvest everything from plants to people. Due to hatred of humanity from the days when they broke free of control, harvesting of people typically involves horrific levels of cruelty and torture.