Sardakk N'orr

Hostile. Inhospitable. Inimicable. Alien. These terms are often cast against both the N’orr and the planet Quinarra, from which they hail. In the case of the planet, such terms are indisputable.

The ancient, high-intensity star of Sardakk lies beyond the Unicorn Nebula, and under its hot, red light, the N’orr—somehow—evolved. Even from orbit, the oceanless world emits an aggressive air—hyperactive dust storms swarm its poles, while massive pressure fronts chase lightning and sand across its surface. Its parent star’s red light refracts ruby-like through this thin, powdery atmosphere, giving the impression of a fireball, blasé about whether the life it spawns finds any purchase at all.

Such an attitude extends to the planet’s surface; Quinarra has all the resource-richness of a rocky giant of its age but none of the ecology. The planet was once a gas giant but had its atmosphere stripped away by Sardakk’s light, leaving only a thin nitrogen shell and its rocky core. What little water the atmosphere holds falls as massive hailstorms. That Quinarra is still home to hundreds of species instead of a barren rock is one of the galaxy’s great mysteries.

The N’orr evolved as one of dozens of nonsentient insectoid life-forms that constantly warred over the planet’s limited water and prey in a billion-year arms race between the various species. The history of these species is not a matter of record; the N’orr have no interest in paleontology or archaeology. What is known is that in the battle to achieve supremacy, the N’orr’s ancestors eventually evolved to have not only a prodigious birth rate and hardened exoskeleton, but also a limited form of individuality—and thus, sentience.

This evolutionary breakthrough allowed them to rapidly conquer and subjugate their rival species, all of whom relied on an instinctual hivemind. The N’orr drove many to extinction and subjugated the rest as farmed prey or beasts of burden, roles many of these nonsentient species continue to occupy today. This shift in the balance of power led to unchecked population growth, and thus to the N’orr’s dominance over Quinarra as they spread out over the planet in a scramble for food and water. Once they achieved the scientific method, spaceflight was inevitable, as the N’orr sought to fulfill their evolutionary instinct for additional territory and resources.

As one of the only insectoid sentients in the galaxy, the N’orr often have difficulty integrating into other cultures, especially given that the first N’orr encountered by an off-worlder is often a warrior, guarding trade cargo or escorting a diplomat. N’orr are born with varying morphologies that range greatly in size and shape, which often sees N’orr adopting roles based on whether their physiology best suits work as a warrior, worker, artisan, scientist, or trader.

Groups of one type of N’orr regularly interact with N’orr of other types, but kinship and cultural similarities run closely along morphological lines, often resulting in the formation of smaller groups reminiscent of what other species might see as families. N’orr get very uncomfortable when pulled away from other N’orr, another reason they have a hard time integrating with other species.

N'orr also have to overcome numerous xenophobic myths, many of which are cultural artifacts from the expansionism they undertook during the Twilight Wars. The stereotype of the mindless, hyperaggressive N’orr is ancient, but N’orr diplomats and trade brokers have been as vocal about their cultural achievements as their massive hive fleets. It is also not true that they have an unbreakable bond with the Queen Mother’s hivemind and that her will overrides their individuality in a form of ancestral mind control, though most N’orr are born with an innate connection to the Queen Mother. The lack of such is rare and often leads to psychological conditions, though N’orr of the leader caste are immune.

The Sardakk N'orr Today

Despite their planet’s ambivalence to their survival, the N’orr have fully established themselves on Quinarra. Cities sprawl out both above and below the massive tectonic plates, inactive due to the world’s advanced age. Most N’orr prefer the bracing lifestyle above ground, using the lightning storms and hail as excuses to indulge in some exercise, while most of their manufacturing and industry takes place in the more controlled environments below the surface.

On Quinarra, the main nexus for off-worlders is the capital city of H’cor, which on a clear day stretches as far as the eye can see in every direction, billions of N’orr crowding its skylanes and footpaths. N’orr buildings are typically ovoid, constructed from a hardened rubicund material, the skyscrapers providing relief from the surface heat. Urban sprawl connects massive red-tinged gorges that plunge into the city-nests below.

The underhives of H’cor are supposedly home to Sardakk the Queen Mother herself, who the N’orr claim has guided their species since they gained sentience. While no off-worlder has ever been allowed to confirm this, each and every N’orr insists that the Queen Mother is real—that they each feel a strong connection to her and always have.

Whether or not she exists, the Queen Mother’s will and voice is directed through the Envoy of the Queen, an elected position appointed by a secret society known as the Veiled Brood. This envoy is in command of the N’orr’s cultural, economic, and military policies, though whether the queen’s will or the Brood’s is being carried out is not a matter to bring up in proximity to any loyalist N’orr.

Goals of the Sardakk N'orr

The Sardakk N’orr continue a policy of expansion and military conquest that began in the later stages of the Twilight Wars, after the Lazax were broken and could no longer enforce peace. The N’orr sent fleets out in an ambitious attempt to conquer vast swaths of the galaxy; too ambitious, as it turned out. They ended up fighting wars on two dozen fronts against as many enemies, and their forces were routed or crushed. Their broken armies returned to Quinarra to bide their time.

Now, under the leadership of the envoys, the N’orr have vowed never again to suffer the humiliating losses and retreats they endured during the Twilight Wars. Their military has adopted the names of their greatest foes from that grim time: the Myridon Band of Hacan, the Vespara of Naalu, and the Valkyrie drop commandos of Sol. Now those names— Myridon, Vespara, and Valkyrie— identify the strongest units of the N’orr’s elite Tekklar legions. The N’orr are not afraid to remember the defeats of the past, because they know that, as during the entirety of their evolution on Quinarra, each setback and hardship only serves to make them stronger.