Quote:
“Despite their claims about honor we found the Katraxi to be highly corrupt and susceptible to bribes. Our operations will proceed unhindered.” -Xaran, Xantus Spymaster
Description:
The Katraxi evolved on the high gravity world of Atra granting them considerable physical prowess. The Katraxi are a bipedal species with thick manes of fur. They have superficial similarities to Earth felines as a result of similar hunting adaptations. This species maintains a strong warrior culture and they disdain dishonorable acts and seeking glory outside of combat. Additionally the Katraxi people until recently remained a heavily factioned people breaking organizing themselves in large clans and warring across the various continents of Atra. Only recently has a new leader appeared that has brought the clans to heel and has focus the attention of the Katraxi people towards rapid industrialization to expand the glory of the Katraxi people to other worlds.
Due to their Feudal warrior culture the Katraxi are poor researchers, susceptible to corruption and make poor spies. However the species excels in construction and in combat whether in space or on the ground. Their military tactics primarily focus on shock tactics by targeting the weakest prey to produce maximum casualties to the enemy. Additionally the Katraxi have been known to ram their ships into enemy vessels and self destruct if defeat seems inevitable.
The Katraxi, however divided until recently have proven to be an industrist and formidable force in the galaxy. Other species would be wise to respect the Katraxi people as they can become long term allies and assets.
Designer Notes:
The Katraxi are our answer to the honorable warrior species that we often see in science fiction. They are a mixture of Star Trek's Klingons, the Kzin from Niven's Known Space, and the Kilrathi from Wing Commander. Gameplay wise the Katraxi are fierce warriors who excel at ground and space combat. The Katraxi respect strength, and will try to test players but if put in their place can become steadfast allies. Like many of the "honorable" archetypes in scifi the Katraxi also have a rotten, corrupt, core which is reflected in their being more succeptible to spying. One of the driving themes in some of our early releases was the idea of a Human-Katraxi first contact war. In Lord of Rigel you shape the galaxy each game with your own choices and are not locked into a pre-set plot, but we had something similar to the War in the Pacific in mind when working on this species.
