Kafers: Rebooted, Part 1: Sources

[epicenter00]

So anyone who has read my posts on here has probably noticed I'm pretty dissatisfied with Kafers. They're sort of lacking to me in their GDW incarnation, like they were pretty much like Orcs - fearsome but not world ending simply because they have easily exploitable "seeds" to self-destruct them.

Being bored during the Thanksgiving holidays (and basically being too lethargic to move after dinner and not being interested in sports) has given me some time to think about this problem. I'm probably going to look at this in greater depth but I thought I'd put an outline of what I'm thinking of to bounce ideas off people on this board.

Here's basic things I'd like to change:

• Kafers are too much like humans. They we have assault rifles, they have assault rifles. We have detonation laser missiles. They have detonation laser missiles. We have APCs that look like Bradleys. They have APCs that look like Bradleys.
  
• Kafer psychology hasn't really been explored. I don't really think the effects of Kafer biology and philosophy on their equipment and combat doctrine has really been considered.
  
• Kafers seem to be designed to lose. The nature of their intelligence leaves a pretty easily exploitable gap for humans to massively exploit.
  
• Kafers often aren't interesting opponents. When Kafers go from being fall guys to Captain America in the span of a few minutes, you're either beating them laughably easily and the one survivor suddenly become Hannibal Lecter. I usually find pitting my PCs against human opponents to be more interesting because of this.

Here's my thoughts on how to address these issues:

Kafer Psychology and Biology

• There is no such thing as cowardice to a Kafer. Cowards in human society are mocked and derided. I don't think they would be Kafer society. Young Kafers are born as a combination of the stereotype of the "dumb jock" and a prison gang. The idea of compromise and submission doesn't occur to adolescent Kafers. They would fight until one or the other was dead or until they were smart enough to stop. Since fighting makes them more aware, all younger Kafers would run into a fight. A Kafer soldier that hesitates or questions an attack order wouldn't be subject to summary execution, it would mark it as promotion material - it's gotten smart enough to figure out that combat is deadly. Similarly, a Kafer that surrenders to a vastly superior Kafer wouldn't be considered a coward, but instead smart enough to recognize it's beaten. Perhaps there is no stigma amongst Kafers for surrender and switching sides.
  
• Kafers are predisposed to closer combat. As Kafer intelligence/bliss is directly related to the sense of danger, unlike humans, Kafers were probably late to develop ranged weapon technologies. The idea of attacking something that can't be seen was probably a philosophical hurdle they had a hard time with. On the other hand, while pain raises an Kafer's intelligence faster, Kafers probably figured out tnat wounds are often fatal or at least debilitating. Kafers probably put an emphasis on personal armor development.
  
• Kafers intelligence discrimination. Kafers probably divide themselves according to how permanently smart they are. Gaining entry to the higher levels of these broad intelligence castes is easy - you just have to be smart enough figure out what you're missing out on and showing up at their social meetings and such - Kafer social meetings at higher levels might seem like conspiracies to humans - they don't advertise or anything because only those smart enough to figure out the meetings are going on and when are allowed to attend. Similarly, smarter Kafers consider dumber ones to be lesser beings and have no problems with sacrificing them. In fact, to prevent wild overbreeding, higher level Kafers might feel the need to cull dumber Kafers out.
  
• Intelligence security measures. Kafer facilities might feature not key or padlocks for security, but instead combination locks that test the awareness, patience, and intelligence of the operating Kafer, with the reasoning that a Kafer that can figure out how to get into a room belongs there or will be smart enough to realize it shouldn't be there and leave.
  
• Smart Weed / The Tree of Good and Evil. I was thinking that the Kafers, at some point in their past, discovered a plant on a world that makes them smarter. This replaced the earlier Kafer cult of "Emo Cutter Freaks" who basically hurt themselves to keep themselves intelligent. However, the root would be similar to Earth Taro Root - in it's raw form it is toxic to Kafers. However, properly prepared the toxins in the root drop to levels managable to Kafers and induce the Kafer to secrete more of the intelligence chemicals. The Kafers aren't stupid and have figured out how the chemical works and how to synthesize it. However, because Kafers believe in "survival of the smartest" the chemical isn't openly available. Instead, the alien plant is planted in Kafer cities and so on - it's there for the taking, but only if you're smart enough to figure it out. Because the method of preparation isn't widely discussed, each Kafer culture has a different way to prepare the root - some boil it and drink the tea, others pickle the root, while others dry the root then toast it, etc. Eventually a Kafer becomes smart enough to wonder if there's a chemical extract of it, which of course, there is - it's free for the asking, but only if you figure out to ask.
  
• Smart enough to fear dying. That's a bit of a misnomer. Kafers don't really fear dying. However, smart Kafers become enamored with the universe and sensation, the realization they were blind or partially blind for so many years of their lives makes them loathe to give up the intelligence they've fought so hard for. Smarter Kafers tend to take more precautions to preserve their own lives so they can continue experiencing more. Kafer medical technology isn't actually crude at all - older Kafers loathe to die because of mangled limbs and so on. The idea of mechanical limbs is abhorrent to them (something that cuts off sensation). However, the science of organ and limb transplanting is very advanced amongst Kafers. Typically, the older Kafers simply choose a semi-sentient younger Kafer for these purposes (hey, there's plenty more where they came from!) and take what they need from it.
  
• Dumber and smarter. I think Kafers memory shouldn't be quite as good as GDW presents it, at least at first. However, basic Kafers should become more intelligent, more able to think abstractly, and get better memory faster and shouldn't be quite so bad to start. Essentially, Kafers might be more interesting as being ADD when younger.
  

 

[epicenter00]

Kafers: Rebooted, Part 2: Effects

How this would change the Kafers player encounter:

• One Kafer, one gun. A Kafer vehicle would probably feature multiple turrets, each with one weapon, instead of a single turret with multiple weapons systems. The smartest Kafer drives. The next smartest Kafer operates the largest guns. For instance, a Kafer tank might feature six crew. Four crew to man ball-bearing style turrets each with a machinegun. One Kafer to man the large railgun turret. One drives. Kafer vehicles might feature concealed crawlspaces or combination locks to get to the main turret or driver's position.
  
• Kafer troops. The bulk of encountered Kafer troops would be adolescent Kafers who are spoiling for a fight but too dumb to know when to run away. In a sort of Napleonic or Zulu style of warfare, these young hotheads would be used in frontal assaults and expected to die by the droves. More experienced Kafers meanwhile would use the enemy's preoccupation with the frontal attack provide supporting fire, exploiting breakthroughs, and launching flanking assaults and so on. More experienced Kafers would wear body armor.
  
• Kafer "Tank Riding." Human observers would note that almost all Kafer vehicles feature extensive rough-woven netting out the outside. At first this would be thought to be camouflage, perhaps against optical and silhouette-recognition missiles (which they would be somewhat effective against, but not really). In addition, all Kafer vehicles feature what appear to be loudspeakers bolted onto them. What happens is that before an assault, once the crew is on a vehicle, Kafer drivers would simply announce, "Come with us for a fight!" or something, and eager adolescent Kafers would flock to the vehicles and clamber onto the netting outside to hitch a ride to the battle. Adolescent Kafers would disregard the dangers of how vulnerable this leaves them, or how bumping around is likely to knock a few off with fatal results. As an alien sidenote, since the Kafer grip is noted to be weaker than human's perhaps they hang out using their mouths.
  
• Kafer APCs. Since Kafers seem to be big about adopting fluid command structures, perhaps there's no difference for Kafers between APCs and tanks. All Kafer combat vehicles would carry infantry in enclosed compartments (veterans), with the netting for riders. Some tanks might be lighter, others heavier, some might carry more infantry, others less.
  
• LOS weapons vs. Non-LOS. I'm not sure about this point, but I think it might be interesting if Kafers don't really use missiles or RPVs - they're philosophically "blind" to the idea of using a weapon to strike something they can't see, only the oldest caste of smart Kafers can think abstractly like this. While such Kafers aren't rare, they tend to not to be on the frontlines. Since Kafers seem to have amazing optics technology (x3 lasers on Betas, which humans don't have), perhaps that's the way to go - perhaps Kafers are big into speed of light or ultra-high velocity straight-line projectiles - like stuff that's so fast the Kafer doesn't really need to lead the target. Kafers tend to infiltrate such "anti-tank gunners and leave them behind. This emphasis gives Kafers and humans fits. Kafers have a hard time understanding the idea of the over-the-horizon fire-and-forget missile. Humans can't stand that their fancy chaff and light CIWS weapons can't shoot down Kafer anti-vehicle weaponry because Kafers are basically shoot big bullets at them.
  
• All Kafer battleships are carriers. Kafers again have a weakness against the abstract notion of foes they can't see. However, the smartest Kafers understand this concept. Still, missile warfare isn't something they want. Instead, Kafers basically use nothing but fighter carriers. While Kafer ships are protected by lots of lighter laser turrets, Kafer captains recognize the arm of decision is their fighters. Kafer cruisers would be slow and heavily armored/shielded (the older Kafers which make up crews understand abstract thought enough to read sensors and plan strategy). Kafer fighter doctrine would resemble their ground doctrine. Light fighters would be cheaply made, plentiful, and have a poor life expectancy and be armed with single x1. Heavier bombers and strike fighters would have more crew and more and better weapons (like submunitions perhaps). Kafer commanders would have no problem abandoning their light fighters when a battle turns sour - the light fighters would be carried on hooks/frames on the outside of Kafer starship hulls. The better fighters would be carried inside. Kafer ships would have "break away" fighter modules which serve as barracks and fighter hangars for their lightest fighters - they're used up like ammo, so once a flight of fighters don't return, the ship simply discards that module to open the space for a replacement.
  
• Kafers are arsonists at heart. Again, Kafers wouldn't leave boobytraps behind, but they'd be incorrigible snipers. Kafers like to hang around and see the effects of what they do. That's their thrill. Kafer warfare lacks things like minefields, and high altitude bombing. If a bomb goes off on a road, you can be sure there's probably a Kafer somewhere nearby with a finger on the detonator. Kafers would be big on low-level bombing and strafing. While the oldest Kafers probably would understand things like ICBMs or biological/chemical warfare, they would be used as weapons of last resort - not because of the destruction they'd cause, but because they'd be cheating younger Kafers of opportunities to go into danger and become smarter and winnow out the stupid.
  

 

[kafka47]

I like your reboot. But, I think you have tapped into the major problem with SFRPG and baddies...any time you make an alien race, you do end up making humans in rubbersuits. However, as much as the kafers may resemble humans the secret has always been to never let the players know what you know. Harder in this day of the internet. As for the Kafers, I would introduce the element of mutation (if you are playing the 2320 Campaign...perhaps even introduced by Pentepod bomb). This could be sometime slow like chronic birth defeats...leading to more pain hence more agression and intelligence.

Also, the Yili are defined as the real masters or puppeteers...perhaps, a rogue alpha has found a way of social engineering the Kafers to do their bidding...this would be a small segment...and at first no more than a meme but it could set the stage for a Kafer revival...sort of like how National Socialism in Germany took hold.

 

[dan891]

I've done a bit of work on this sort of thing - although more on the larger scale.

Draft article is at:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dheb/2300/Kafer/The Vah in Battle.doc

You may also find of use the weapon, AFV and aircraft articles by James Boschma and David Gillon at

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~dheb/2300/Admin/Index4.htm

Cheers

 

[epicenter00]

Kafka47 - Thanks for the coment! And yes, aliens do tend to be rubbersuits, but they should at least be interesting and entertaining rubbersuits. I find the hit-hard-and-fast-then-run-before-they-get-smart thing with Kafers to be a little one dimensional. The players either hit hard and fast and get away, or they don't and get killed.

To use standard GDW NPC quality, I personally think Kafer adolescents should move from Green to Experienced (these would be the easily dying Kafers). More veteran Kafers would move from Experienced to Veteran. Veteran and Elite Kafers would remain so (there's a sort of diminishing returns curve on Kafer intelligence - eventually their intelligence is good enough so that stimulation doesn't help them that much).

I have been considering how to factor in the "loyal" Ylii betas doing stuff for Kafers as well. The obvious one would be "smart drugs" but one of the things I wrote in deliberately in my reboot was to make it more difficult to introduce things like that into Kafer society as well as a reason why they didn't have it already - my answer is that they do, but it's a reward that has to be earned. However, perhaps Kafers near the Ylii worlds are experimenting with permanent intelligence drugs because of their contact with the humans and Ylii.

One over-the-horizon type weapon system I realized might work for Kafers are television guided missiles and bombs - all the thrill of a suicide run, except you get to do it over and over again. That might be the role of a WSO in a Kafer craft.


dan891 - Thanks for your input! I've seen the Etranger site before and have read the Kafer vehicle and equipment descriptions. I found them pretty interesting, but again, I found them to be "too human" in their design - the only "alien" parts is to make them inferior to human equipment. As for your OB of the Kafers, I found that more interesting - but I always had the impression the Kafers weren't actually big on regimentation and organization in that way, but perhaps you're right. A thought I had was that perhaps Kafers under my vision don't really include the expendable cannon fodder adolescents into their organization - perhaps organization only exists for the older, smarter Kafers.

 

[dan891]

dan891 - Thanks for your input! I've seen the Etranger site before and have read the Kafer vehicle and equipment descriptions. I found them pretty interesting, but again, I found them to be "too human" in their design - the only "alien" parts is to make them inferior to human equipment. As for your OB of the Kafers, I found that more interesting - but I always had the impression the Kafers weren't actually big on regimentation and organization in that way, but perhaps you're right. A thought I had was that perhaps Kafers under my vision don't really include the expendable cannon fodder adolescents into their organization - perhaps organization only exists for the older, smarter Kafers.

Well the Kafers have a centuries old multi-system spanning empire so must have some sort of organisational nous!

In response to your thought I see the whole of the Kafer population as a massive pool of force elements (literally 'raise, train, sustain') and the 'Legions' are the forces are those bits put together to do the fighting. Obviously if you are going off world with an expeditionary force you're going to take the best of what you've got - although probably also with some brought along 'for the experiance'.

What humans landing on Kafer worlds would experience however would be a levee en masse of huge proportions with almost the whole population brought out to fight.

Lastly I take the 'orc horde' model of most of the books as being typical of human forces facing 'remnant' Kafers only. Not frontline Kafer mechanised expeditionary forces.

Dan

 

[epicenter00]

You have a point, but due to the nature of Kafer intelligence, conservatism would be a big part of their culture, I'd think - and until meeting humans, Kafers have only really fought each other. This would suggest Kafer warfare would be ritualized ("inefficient") to some degree or another. When I speak of "ritualized" I mean anything that keeps warfare from being a no-holds barred fight to the end for survival/victory - so in this case, things like the Geneva Conventions would be considered "ritualizing" warfare.

The I was looking at Kafer society is that Kafer social organization increases as Kafers get older and more intelligent. The youngest and least experienced block of Kafers aren't really factored into Kafer plans except as a presence. This idea seems inherently odd to humans but Kafers are hermaphrodites, and reproduce pretty quickly - the idea that there's no sex that bears children while the other is more "expendable" already would change quite a bit about Kafer society vis-a-vis human society. It's these expendables that have made humans believe that Kafer bands are shambling hordes without organization.

Of course, feeding and transporting such mouths would seem like a disaster waiting to happen. Especially with spacegoing transport being limited, how is a Kafer fleet quartermaster going to provide food and water for a "variable" number of adolescents? It's certainly an issue - the way I was looking at it was that "they don't." That's a simplistic way of saying that they set aside a certain amount of space, food, and water but don't make any kind of headcounts. Whoever crowds in there, crowds in there. This is a rite of passage (literally and figuratively) for Kafers. The adolescents would be transported in ways that would more resemble prisoners to us (they wouldn't be trusted with weapons, for instance - they'd get weapons assigned once at their destination). Food and water would be dispensed daily by older Kafers and a certain amount of overcrowding would be expected. There would be fighting over limited resources. These fights form the adolescents into packs or bands for mutual support, it'd start to show the leaders, and it'd generally make the adolescents smarter. It would be expected some of the adolescents would die - either from dehydration, starvation, or fighting. This would have the effect of creating more food - Kafers have no stigma about cannibalism.

 

[veltyen]

(excellent comments about Kafer society) .... This would have the effect of creating more food - Kafers have no stigma about cannibalism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofa_(warrior) (note reference to enforced cannibalism)

Fighting as expendable slaves. Eventual expectation (assuming survival) of being raised to higher castes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamluk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Guard

More slave soldiers of a more set variety. A common factor is greater allegiance to a central authority rather then to family/tribe/clan/region.

Nothing you have mentioned so far is different to how humans have acted and behaved at points in history. I think you are heading down the right path in looking into the biological basis for their society and leaning on that to change the mores of the over arching societal organisation.

 

[G. Fieendish]

Regarding Kafer cannablism, could this be one of the ways, that Kafer gain intellegnce...?
Assuming that there's no diseases, like Kure or CJD, that directly or destructively affect Kafer brains, & the lack of social stigma, could for example, eating the brains of other Kafers, increases the potental of increasing the intellgence of the Kafer that's consuming the brain tissue...?
(I'm assuming that the Kafer has the capacity of subconciously accessing at the cellular level, the Kafer RNA-equivalent of Memory RNA, & thus gaining some of the donor's experences, in a similar way to the Flatworm experiments of the 1970's (?)).

 

[epicenter00]

Nothing you have mentioned so far is different to how humans have acted and behaved at points in history.

Sadly, you're very correct. As Kafka pointed out, almost all aliens in fiction are rubbersuits. When you boil down the original GDW Kafer, it's a Space Orc. My attempted reimagining of them doesn't really change that - I just want them to make more interesting and flexible opponents.

TBH, real aliens wouldn't be interesting to fight, especially in ground combat - they'd use their biggest and most completely destructive weapons on us. We'd do the same to them. Winner is the one who isn't extinct at the end of the day - I don't think there would be rifles and tanks. It'd be about nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons. I don't think even the "they want a habitable world" argument pants out - having to wait 500 years for a world to be habitable again after using such weapons is a small price to pay to get rid of a murderous niche competitor whom you can only comprehend on the most basic instinctual level.

That's not too interesting from an RPG point of view, so I'm rubbersuiting them enough so that they'll engage humans with tanks and infantry and so on - conflict on a level the a party of player characters relate to and handle.

Regarding Kafer cannablism, could this be one of the ways, that Kafer gain intellegnce...?

That's an interesting idea. I wonder how much a Kafer could learn from eating another Kafer's brain? I would imagine being descended from scavengers, Kafers would have the typical scavenger's resistance to disease and so on.

Unfortunately, this brings up a point of wrestled with for Kafers.

In the Kafer Sourcebook it points out that Kafers don't eat humans. They have been observed multiple times to eat their own dead, going so far as to point out that Kafers don't appear to have religion and dispose of their dead comrades, without ceremony, at dinnertime. Beyond the unlikelihood of Kafers not having any kind of ritual or religion, Kafers are supposed to be descended from scavengers and regularly eat their defeat foes.

So why don't they eat humans? Perhaps humans are poisonous to Kafers, don't taste good, or the Kafers have some philosophical thing against it, I can accept that. But Kafers seem like utterly pragmatic beings so philosophy doesn't work. So it'd be one of the first two: you'd think Kafers would have tried, and being what Kafers are, they'd keep trying. Cannibalism usually means that an animal has no restrictions as to where the food comes from - and being scavengers that still prefer ripened meat, one rotten carcass looks like another rotten carcass. I know GDW was attempting to make Kafers very alien on the cannibalism point, but the idea they don't eat humans (and haven't tried) seems illogical to me.

Any ideas, anyone?

 

[Valarian]

So why don't they eat humans? Perhaps humans are poisonous to Kafers, don't taste good, or the Kafers have some philosophical thing against it, I can accept that. But Kafers seem like utterly pragmatic beings so philosophy doesn't work. So it'd be one of the first two: you'd think Kafers would have tried, and being what Kafers are, they'd keep trying. Cannibalism usually means that an animal has no restrictions as to where the food comes from - and being scavengers that still prefer ripened meat, one rotten carcass looks like another rotten carcass. I know GDW was attempting to make Kafers very alien on the cannibalism point, but the idea they don't eat humans (and haven't tried) seems illogical to me.

Any ideas, anyone?

Humans are not worthy, they do not deserve to be eaten / preserved / made part of the tribe through ingestion.

Societies that practice ingestion of the dead usually are performing some sort of inclusion ritual. In some early tribal cultures, only family members could partake of the body of a deceased family member. It was a way to keep the soul of the family member within the tribe. Another form of cannibalism was the eating of the body (or parts of the body - e.g. heart) of an enemy. This was to partake of attributes favoured in the enemy or to make the enemy part of oneself.

 

[Jamus]

If I had written it I would have said it was part of the Kafers religious views and that they view eating their honored dead as a ritual where they gain substanance and spiritual strength from the fallen also completeing the fallen Kafers total sacrifice for the good of the species.

Does that make sense?

 

[Peter Schutze]

>but the idea they don't eat humans (and haven't tried) seems illogical to me

Seemed very odd to me as well.

Unless there is a true hardwired revulsion mechanism preventing it, I'd expect an occassional nibble from starving less intelligent kafers testing their chances for some food. Kind of like my cat who as a kitten though just about everything worth a sniff and lick.

Unless terran organisms in general are toxic or become so as they decay I'd assume eating humans would provide at least some minimal nourishment to a scavenger species. Or like lBeta Canum's wrong handed amino's, it would at least fill the gnawing hole temporarily.

Perhaps GDW exaggerated and its really just a matter of taste ..... 3 day old kafer herbivore, the kafer soldier killed yesterday, <many other choices> and finally freshly killed humans. Keep in mind also that pigs are close to humans .... close enough that transplants work. Thus an unwillingness to eat humans should manifest reluctance to eat (parts of ?) other terran animals although the reluctance less likely in true survival situations.

Also I wonder how they decided that kafers (as a blanket statement) don't eat humans .... I can't picture a scientist saying "hey boss, lets feed this prisoner some leftovers from the local field hospital for a laugh" and in most other situations there's probably other 'tastier' choices.

 

[epicenter00]

Thanks for the input, everyone.

Valarian - It could be that humans aren't worthy. I guess against this is the view that scavengers usually aren't exactly what you call "picky eaters." And if humans are supposed to be the Ach*ah - the "Smart Barbarian" I would think that eating a human to "conquer" to make that dread strength part of you would be a big thing to Kafers.

Jamus - Yeah, that's sort of how I would have cut it, except the Kafers aren't supposed to be religious. They're presented as very pragmatic creatures, which does indeed make them more alien - but ultimate pragmatists I think would take the view that "meat is meat."

Peter Schutze - It is pretty odd. Just a little more fodder for this discussion, in the Kafer Sourcebook it states that Kafer field rations, the so-called "Rotten Sausages", besides the smell/flavor/texture which is disgusting to most humans, are nutritious enough for people to live on for a while, though it's lacking in certain amino acids required for long-term survival. This suggests that the biology of the Kafer homeworld is compatible with Earth's. And if Kafer meat products can be eaten by humans, you'd think that humans would at least be worth a try. Also: It is my mistake. The Kafer Sourcebook states that Kafers have never been observed to eat humans.

As I can't really think of a good reason why Kafers wouldn't eat people, I guess I'd have to say Kafers do eat humans. Perhaps they don't take any particular joy out of it or any special ritual to it. "While Kafers don't hunt humans specifically to eat them, they have been observed to eat human dead at times, though they seem reluctant to do so, eating human carcasses only if there is no other suitable food sources handy." As a side note: cannibalism isn't practiced by a lot of a lot animals as if you're eating a carcass of a member of your species that you didn't kill yourself, you're opening yourself up to a potentially to a disease that killed your speciesmate. So if you're biologically "tough enough" to eat your own kind and still thrive, I would think you could (or at least would try to) eat anything.

---

Also, I feel that I should maybe explain better why I'm so dedicated to the idea of Kafer "hordes of adolescent/young adult Kafers" being carried without much in the way of organization. For me, it's a biology thing.

Biologically, Kafers are very strange. Hermaphroditism isn't very common in Earth biologies in "higher animals" because it removes the "winners get to mate" mechanic that is supposed to winnow out less desirable traits and foster more desirable ones - in fact, a lot of social animals practice some sort of "elitist mating strategy" to further control who gets to mate (take "harem" animals like lions, wolves, horses, or gorillas, for instance or the "enforced celibacy" of ants). Yet, Kafers are hermaphrodites, which suggests to me that they had an epic mortality rate once - that's the only cause that would create such a reproduction rate coupled with their quick maturity. It also appears that Kafers are a "low-k" race - that is, the parents of adolescent Kafers don't spend much time or energy caring for their children. In that respect, it seems that Kafers are more akin to sea turtles, fish, or Hivers in using the "just make a lot of babies and throw them out; those that live are fit" strategy. Combined with their cannibalism (which is pragmatic, not ritual), it suggests to me that Kafers don't care very much about individuals, caring more about their social group or race.

Specifically, my opinion is that Kafers would see Kafers below a certain intelligence level as "not-true-Kafers" or "protokafers." Such beings wouldn't be considered members of the race; instead being considered things that could become members of the race. Being a civilized race, the Kafers would probably teach even such proto-Kafers the basics of technology, but otherwise wasting effort on such "proto-Kafers" isn't worth the time of "real" Kafer society. So such adolescents shamble into battle when they're not furiously mating to make more "protokafers." The majority are killed, abandoned to die, and so on. Out of this crucible, a some superior specimens emerge as the wardens of their race.

I would suspect there might be a long-term shift in Kafer attitudes towards eliminating the "shambling adolescent hordes" and simply let the older smart survivors breed. Such eugenic philosophies are probably nothing new and get dusted off every so often at Kafer conclaves. However, Kafers would probably be understandably leery of messing with an evolutionary strategy that's served them well so far.

 

[veltyen]

Biologically, Kafers are very strange. Hermaphroditism isn't very common in Earth biologies in "higher animals" because it removes the "winners get to mate" mechanic that is supposed to winnow out less desirable traits and foster more desirable ones .......

In the species that are Hermaphroditic (admittedly snails are about as complex as it gets - though some fish could count) it is a reasonably common tactic to bite off the male genetalia of your opponent/lover.

This means that you impregnate, but aren't left with the burden of pregnancy. This means that you can continue to fertilise without the problems of caring for the little tackers.

Considering that Kafers are cared for for about 6 years, and require regurgitated food for some/all of that time it is a considerable investment. Assuming mating twice a year[1] that means that an adult Kafer would have 24 younglings under their care at all times until death - and a multiplication factor of about 100 in a descendant generation. Being able to avoid the pregnancy/care issue would increase that manyfold.

In comparrison a Human extreme multiplication descendant generation factor would be 20 over a longer period of time.

Even being able to use condoms (or even better chemical infertility agents) would be almost as good.

[1] Arbitrary guess. Happy to be corrected.

 

[veltyen]

Peter Schutze - It is pretty odd. Just a little more fodder for this discussion, in the Kafer Sourcebook it states that Kafer field rations, the so-called "Rotten Sausages", besides the smell/flavor/texture which is disgusting to most humans, are nutritious enough for people to live on for a while, though it's lacking in certain amino acids required for long-term survival.

"lacking in certain amino acids"

Seems to indicate to me that those lacking amino acids may be a clue. Toxic build up of the wrong aminos displacing amino acids that are needed. Kind of like rabbit starvation. This would place eating humans well down the list of desired foods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

 

[epicenter00]

"lacking in certain amino acids"

Seems to indicate to me that those lacking amino acids may be a clue. Toxic build up of the wrong aminos displacing amino acids that are needed. Kind of like rabbit starvation. This would place eating humans well down the list of desired foods.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

That is an interesting point. But even though eating a lot of rabbit is bad for you, people still eat rabbit meat. Similarly, corn lacks certain amino acids, yet people still eat corn. I'd think that Kafers would still eat people - perhaps not as much, but they would.

---

On a total side note, let's go to a subject people love: What about Kafer weapons? I have some ideas regarding these, but I don't have much time, I'll edit this post later to include them.

 

[epicenter00]

Kafer "Basic" Weapons

Kafer Ammunition: Kafers appear to predominately use fixed cartridges for the weapons and feature ejection ports to eject spent propellant cases, much like archaic human weapons. Kafer cartridge cases are not made from metal, but are made from a very advanced synthetic plastic material with superior heat absorption abilities. The cases appear to be designed as a heat sink to keep the weapons firing cool.

Kafer Basic Weapons: The majority of weapons captured by human forces are "basic" weapons - that is, weapons issued to the expendable Kafer adolescents. Kafer weapons of this level are noted for their robustness of construction, extreme reliability, and great weight. They almost all feature all-metal (usually steel) construction, utilizing lots of steel stampings, which make them simple and cheap to manufacture and can be assembled even in frontline "safe-places" under primitive conditions. Despite their archaic (at times) construction, Kafer basic weapons also feature things advanced technology synthetic lubricants permanently lining the barrel and recievers and so on. Essentially, these weapons are given to adolescent Kafers and have an emphasis on ease of construction and replacement. A striking part about Kafer weapons is that they have a lighter trigger pull than many equivalent human weapons. This is because of the weaker grip of the Kafer hand.

"Dummy Switches": Early human examiners of Kafer weapons were baffled by existence of intracate or complex mechanisms to fire some Kafer weapons. The immediate theory was that such features acted similarly to a safety switch on human weapons. It was true that mechanisms made it more difficult to fire a Kafer "Chaingun" on fully automatic or prevented the use of the grenade launcher on a "Thud Gun." However, in both cases, the weapons still could fire single shots by pulling the primary trigger. It seemed that the safety only existed for the destructive mode of fire, but not for less destructive modes. In addition, it baffled human observers as in human designs the ability to make weapons simple to operate was a major concern - as a simple weapon could be effectively used by poorly trained or green soldiers. The real answer remained a mystery for years, though it was suspected by many human fighters with good knowledge of the Kafers. It was not until French documentarist Claire Laval's program "Band 47" which tracked the activities of 47 Kafers in a remote part of Novoya Kiyev on Aurore through long-distance cameras and satellite imagery for a year that the truth was accepted. The complex mechanisms were a kind of safety - a way to reduce the threat of an unstimulated (and therefore unintelligent) Kafer to itself and its fellows in a warband. Human fighters fighting from ambush had described time and time again the sluggish and stupid behavior of Kafers in the early moments of a fight, often being more a threat to each other and themselves. It appears that such complex safeties are designed to ensure that the Kafer attempting to use more destructive fire modes of a weapon are intelligent enough to know what they are doing.

Weapons Modification: Kafer basic weapons are often extensively modified by their users. It seems that it is part of the design to modify such weapons. Kafer front-line weapons are inevitably provided with loops and similar features that Kafers apparently use to create field-expedient grips to handle hot weapons and to camoflague the weapon's outline in some cases. In addition, Kafers seem to practice a lot of customization of their weapons - such as foregrips carved from whatever wood-like substance was handy to decorate or make foregrips of Kafer weapons easier to hold when hot. In addition, some Kafers modify their weapons to circumvent "Dummy Switches." First widely seen in "Band 47", it was noticed that Kafer veterans would inspect the weapons of troopers periodically. Unlikely in human armies where modified or jury-rigged weapons were frowned upon, it seemed that the Kafers with more practical modifications were being singled out to lead their own units and it appears to be a test of the long-term intelligence of a Kafer to see how it circumvents "Dummy Switches" and similar features on weapons.

"Chaingun": This weapon appears to be comparable to human autoguns. Like most Kafer weapons, it fires a cartridge that would be considered oversize by human standards. Because of the cartridge, the weapon suffers from high recoil despite its mass, and subsequently accuracy is poor. This is somewhat compensated for by a large ammo drum providing and a high cylic rate of fire. The weapon, despite firing from an open bolt seems inherently set to a single-shot mode and requires the use of two hands to unlock autofire mode, involving the Kafer pushing a digit through a hole in the foregrip of the weapon which pulls down a keyring like switch. With this ring pulled down, a pull of the trigger provides a burst which lasts as long as the trigger is pulled or the ammunition lasts.

"Hunting Rifle": Another very common weapon, the "hunting rifle", so called because of its long length, powerful cartridge, and semi-automatic nature, is similar to the chaingun in construction, consisting of metal stampings and a minimum of machined parts. The weapon is rugged in the extreme and is fed from a 48-round box magazine but the weapon is semi-automatic in nature. These rifles would be made issued by a Kafer nation concerned about ammunition waste. To reduce ammunition waste, the weapons are semi-auto (often modified to fire full-auto).

"Thud Gun": Similar to the description given in 2300 supplements, the differences would be the utilizing of cased ammunition and all steel construction. Also, the grenade launcher on the Thud Gun would be absurdly complicated to operate to human eyes. For instance, the grenade launcher's trigger would protected by two-stage system. First, on the side of the weapon, there would be spring-bolt that the Kafer would need to pull outwards, which would then allow another spring-loaded panel to be pushed forward. This would reveal the second part, a mechanical ratchet system that would be pushed forward, popping open the cover for the grenade launcher. However, the ratchet would ratchet down after pressure was released, acting as a timer to make the trigger accessible only for about three seconds. A similar system to the Chaingun locks out the use of autofire.

Anti-Tank Rocket: Similar to a 20th century RPG-2, with a complex safety - by engaging two widely spaced ratchet-timers - one near the front of the tube, one near the back which engages the trigger mechanism. The weapon can be fired in the next seven seconds or so. While this can be done by a solo Kafer, it is often done by the anti-tank gunner's assistant who also carries the spare rockets. Rockets have been noted to vary from somewhat complex designs involving stand-off detonators or dual-stage warheads to very basic Munroe effect HEAT rockets.

Hand Grenades: Kafer hand grenades come in a bewildering variety of types. Almost all Kafer hand grenades have extraordinarily complex arming proceedures - far more complex than human hand grenades. A common Kafer hand grenade requires a seperate, key-like fuze to be pushed into a hole in the top of grenade, then locked into place by rotating the fuze. A simple tube-like pin is pulled then the grenade's fuze is struck against something hard (usually the throwing Kafer's carapce). The fuze uses an acid reaction as a detonation delay. In addition, the acid reaction produces a noxious fume, thought to encourage the Kafer to throw the stinking bomb as far as away from it as possible. Other Kafer hand grenade models exist but all feature elaborate multi-stage arming mechanisms.

 

[Peter Schutze]

Kafer weapons .... brilliant !

Its this kind of thing that truly makes their alienness shine

 

[veltyen]

Kafer weapons .... brilliant !

Its this kind of thing that truly makes their alienness shine

The concept works well with the feel of the Kafer.

One thing that comes out is that a truely successful Kafer will be more intelligent then humans can be. In other words it reverses (at the extreme top end) so that Kafers will be smarter (equal in a non exited state) then the humans who look down on them.

I can see that applying with say nuclear weapons having failsafes and puzzle locks that individual humans would not have a chance of deciphering. Think time dependent rubics cubes for nuclear arming mechanisms.