The Tlaqotl mutated from the Tlaka. Collectively the Tlaka and their variants are called the Tlak.
Appearance
The Tlaqotl typically dress in flowing robes, hoods, and veils, so at a distance they could be mistaken for tall humans (about 1.9 to 2.0 meters). Once one gets closer, their multifaceted eyes and four legs give them away. On the rare occasions when they take off their robes, they look like grayish mantises with large heads, front-set eyes, and long-fingered hands.
Special Abilities
While each Tlaqotl retains its individuality, they are all joined in a epigenetic species-awareness; each individual can access any knowledge any ancestral Tlaqotl had. This wealth of knowledge also gives them a pseudo-precognition, based on extrapolation from the present.
Tactics
Typically Tlaqotl are pacifists who prefer communication and negotiation to conflict. If attacked, however, they will defend themselves using their own claws, a staff, or a handy weapon.
Ecology
Tlaqotl prefer dry, desert conditions, although they can survive anywhere with oxygen. They tend to be solitary – if such a species is ever really alone – and prefer the wilderness to settled lands.
Politics
Unlike Tlaka, Tlaqotl tolerate and even enjoy being separated from their kin, surrounded by non-Tlak or the vastness of space. It was only natural that, when human and human-like interstellar nations asked to speak to representatives of the world government, the Tlak volunteered the Tlaqotl to speak for them.
How this “Tlak Interstellar Cooperative” functions is a mystery. Do Tlaqotl just know how the majority of Tlaka will respond? Do they poll the tens of thousands of Tlaka city-states to determine their views on various interplanetary policies? Or do the Tlaqotl, despite being loner mutants, have some sort of influence over the Tlaka?
In any case, the Tlaqotl do not speak for the Tlatoku at all.
The power of the “Cooperative” seems severely limited. More than once the Tlaqotl ambassadors have had to “clarify” a treaty in such a way as to effectively nullify it. Interstellar governments have learned not to trust Tlak promises.
In most minds The Tlak Worlds remain a backwater, a black spot in sector maps that ships prefer to go around.
TLAQOTL (Nomad)
| Size | Stamina | Armor | Damage | C | K | P | So | St | T | V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large | 21 | 4 | claws 1D+1D | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Talents/Abilities/Inabilities
- Fast: A Tlaqotl make take three Combat Actions a turn, not just two.
- Hands: Tlaqotl have fully articulated hands that can use any tool a human can.
- Sapient: Tlaqotl have (roughly) human-like reasoning and communication abilities.
- Species Awareness: A Tlaqotl knows anything any Tlaqotl ancestor knew. To tap into this vast pool of knowledge, the Tlaqotl must make a Knowledge check; unlike a Psionic power, failing does not disable this power. Subjects of this knowledge are left to the Referee.