Pak'ma'ra

Name: Pak'ma'ra
Dice: 12D
Dexterity: 1D+1 / 3D+1
Knowledge: 1D+2 / 3D+2
Mechanical: 1D+2 / 3D+2
Perception: 1D+2 / 3D+2
Strength: 2D+2 / 4D+2
Technical: 2D / 4D

Move: 7 / 9
Size: 1.5 - 2.1 meters
Weight: 67 - 157 kg
Lifespan: 45 - 255 Earth Years

Special Abilities

• Pak’ma’ra have a base speed of 7. Additionally they suffer a –2D penalty to all Jumping checks.
• Pak’ma’ra are all but ignored by other races, which can prove useful at times. Pak’ma’ra gain a +1D bonus to all Sneak, Hide and Con checks.
• Pak’ma’ra are also renowned for their ability to gather information and rummage through the junk of others and find useful materials. They gain a +1D bonus to Streetwise and Investigation checks to gather information in an area (but not to forensics checks).
• Amazingly resilient to outside infection, Pak’ma’ra receive twice the normal resistance towards Toxins, Poisons, and Diseases. They are also completely immune to many common diseases and poisons, as well as some toxic atmospheres.
• Pak’ma’ra lack the vocal ability to communicate in any language other than their own. They may only communicate with those who do not understand their language through the use of translators.

Description: The Pak’ma’ra are a minor species, known – or perhaps infamous – for their poor personal hygiene and carrion eating. For religious reasons, they devour the bodies of other sentients. The Pak’ma’ra have been accused of body theft and grave robbing in the past, but in recent times, they only take the bodies they are given. The Pak’ma’ra are relatively unsophisticated, both technologically and culturally. Their homeworld has huge deposits of Quantium-40, the element used in hyperspace travel, so they were brought into the League with almost unseemly haste.

Personality: Most Pak’ma’ra are aware of the low esteem that they are held in and so keep to themselves and avoid notice. A handful of Pak’ma’ra delight in playing up to the stereotype by being as disgusting and ghoulish as possible, leering and belching fetid air at others. One way or another, the racial pride of the Pak’ma’ra species is carefully concealed.

Physical Description: Pak’ma’ra are large, grey-skinned humanoids. They have two large proboscises on their faces, which function as feeding tentacles, allowing the Pak’ma’ra to shovel food or draw whole corpses into their large mouths. Pak’ma’ra appear to be hunchbacked but the ‘hump’ actually conceals the Pak’ma’ra’s mate. All adult Pak’ma’ra are mated pairs; the smaller, relatively unintelligent male physically and permanently bonds with the female in a union.

Relations: The Pak’ma’ra are tolerated for their mineral wealth and ignored in most other contexts. This has resulted in an underclass of Pak’ma’ra lurkers appearing on every space station and trading post from one side of the League to the other – there are always trade ships coming to their homeworld of Melat and so it is easy to find transport offworld.

Pak’ma’ra Systems: The only Pak’ma’ra world is Melat, a world of thick, toxic atmosphere and sludge seas. The environment is highly dangerous; only the Pak’ma’ra can go out in Melat without wearing encounter suits. Melat’s sole export is Quantium-40 but this element is so rare and highly prized that the Pak’ma’ra economy is thriving.

Pak’ma’ra Beliefs: The Pak’ma’ra believe that the soul is caught within the body at the moment of death and the body must be ritually consumed to set the soul free for its journey beyond the Rim. Trapping the soul through burial merely confuses and injures it, forcing it to wait until the body decays before reincarnating. The Pak’ma’ra are surprisingly dedicated to their faith, although they have learned not to speak of it to outsiders.

Language: The Pak’ma’ra language is impossible for other races to learn, so they must make do with electronic translators. Pak’ma’ra translators produce a pidgin trade language composed mainly of loan-words from English, Drazi and Centauri.

Names: Borl, D’Ram, G’Vort, L’Him, Sk’Ven, Trik, Vurk

Starfarers: Most Pak’ma’ra starfarers are stowaways or passengers on board freighters who visited Melat, but the race does have a growing merchant navy, and is beginning to establish colonies on neighbouring worlds. The Pak’ma’ra ability to survive in almost any environment means they can inhabit worlds that are useless to more established races.

Source: thedemonapostle; Babylon 5 RPG; The Babylon Project Wiki