Like the duckbilled platypus, the KessRith have been put forth as a proof that God has a sense of humour, Centauroid in configuration, they combine the body of a rhinoceros with a powerful tail and a torso that makes human gladiators look weak. Their heads rests on a strong bull neck and their gaping mouth is lined with teeth that look and functions much like that of a terrestrial shark. Their hands have four fingers and an opposable thumb, but their four feet have only two toes apiece. Thick, fleshy plates cap their tail and protect their torso, arms, neck and skull.
The KessRith are built for heavy combat. They are, without a doubt, the strongest of the sentient races known to the Federation and they value physical strength. In fact, struggle is so noble that few KessRith actually reach the 100 years of age their physiology would allow: Most die 20 to 30 years prematurely, though no KessRith would use that term if an individual died in battle.
Pregnancy lasts for 23 months (Which is approximately one year on the KessRith homeworld) and calves are capable of locomotion within two hours of birth. Female KessRith have no breasts and do not lactate, instead they regurgitate a thick, nourishing mucus with the colour and consistency of warm caramel. The young reach maturity in 15 years, and the average female will bear children from that time to the age of 40.
More than one calf at a time is unusual, because KessRith females are able to control their rate of pregnancy. From a single impregnation a female can retain enough genetic material to fertilise as many as a dozen eggs. This means a KessRith warrior can continue to provide genetic material for over a decade after his death. Female KessRith can induce pregnancy if they have a store of sperm, provided the local conditions are appropriate for gestation.
The male/female ratio of 1 to 5 is similar to that of migratory herd animals. The development of a partial upright posture has been seen as a survival trait for surveying the local area for predators. (The mind boggles at what could have eaten the KessRith, and the fossils in the KessRith Museum of Natural History make terrestrial dinosaurs look like salamanders.)
The KessRith are organised into extended family/clan units that generally include thousands of individuals. Each male has one to five wives – the number determined by the Dominator as a sign of the male’s rank within the family. The Dominator is the senior male of a family. With sentience, the KessRith have realised that brute strength is not the way to decide Domination. A Domination battle takes place in three parts, a survival challenge (to pit the candidates against the world), a mental/verbal challenge (to test their reasoning ability against each other) and physical combat. Female KessRith leave their own family and join that of their husband. Family units combine into herds based on related Dominators. The Patriarch is the strongest of the herd’s Dominators. Herds form clans, the largest social group.
Because inheritance and descent are figured paternally, and because it is a polygamous system, it would appear that women have little value and have no importance beyond raising children. This is not true. The KessRith are egalitarian about the position of women in society and they accept them in politics, but “puppet Dominators” are not unknown. More importantly, women keep track of bloodlines (since they know for certain the identity of father of their children) and make sure that marriages do not combine poor genetics. As marriage partners generally come from herds within the same clan, genetic compatibility is constantly overseen.
Battles between clans are common, though civilisation has changed things from the days when two clans would array themselves on a dusty plain for a fight for the death. Now Banker Clans wage financial war with other Banker Clans, and so forth. One human observer characterised these battles as mixing the worst parts of corporate raiding with organised crime wars. Duelling is still legal, however, and rare is the KessRith who allows himself to get very far from his sword.
Despite the emphasis on conflict, the KessRith are capable of artistic endeavours. Granted, they do tend to martial expression in their art: swordmaking, armoring and the like are highly valued skills and artforms. Fighting a duel with a treasured clan sword, then, becomes a performance and is likely to spawn yet one more tale to be passed from Dominator to child. The KessRith often enjoy malavoqa – “sweatless combat” is a rough translation. This form of verbal sparring that involves intricate wordplay, and the human affinity for punning have made them favoured malavoqa contestants.
There is very little distinctive government beyond that of the clan, and it is cited as the overwhelming reason the Ssora and KessRith do not get along – the Ssora cannot abide disorganisation. Each clan is an entity unto itself, although most are related to a half-dozen other clans because of a blood link somewhere in the past. These larger clan groupings are called meta-clans or Unities. Only if a clan has been defeated in combat with another clan does it defer to that other clan. The dominant clans on a world select two representatives to a loosely defined provincial meeting (Diet). The Diet then sends representatives to the Council of Champions on Sovi’KessRoth to select the thirteen clan leaders who rule. The thirteen choose one of their own as the Grand Dominator.
The dominant philosophy among the KessRith can be summed up simply: a bull is defined by the challenges he has accepted and exalted in the struggles he has won. It is simple yet eloquent. KessRith do not bear grudges because they respect those who are able to defeat them. As with the initial battles between the KessRith and their enemies, a defeated KessRith will always strive to fight once more. This is seen as homage paid to the victor.
Without doubt, the KessRith see the Borg as their greatest challenge. They know that to lose the struggle against the Borg is to be exterminated as a Race. This they refuse to accept and fight on to prevent it. They recognise, value and respects the abilities of their allies in this struggle.
The KessRith have a very strict code of honour that binds them to family, homeworld and Dominant Clan. It governs everything from forms of address for all manner of family, herd and clan relations, to the proper way to kill oneself to expunge a spot on your honour (generally by doing whatever you can to take as many of the enemy with you). This code specifies 1296 different shades of dishonour and 432 different acts that will atone for those dishonours. Over 90 atonement’s involve dying.
As a resident Delta Quadrant race and considering their cultural emphasis on family and clan, there are no KessRith serving in Starfleet although they have alligned with the Federation against the Ssorans – their mortal foe. They are a space faring race, but tend to avoid getting involved in the Federation’s concerns, particularly in relation to the war with the Falcarians. The KessRith, historically, only meddle in the affairs of the Federation when it involves battle against the Ssoran
INFORMATION
Species: KessRith
Classification: Centauroid
Affiliation: KessRith Clan System
Homeworld: Sovi’KessRoth
Location: Delta Quadrant
Special Abilities:
The KessRith physical prowess in more than impressive. They are easily the strongest known race.
Traits:
Intelligent, aggressive
Description:
The KessRith combine the body of a rhinoceros with a powerful tail and a torso. They are large and threatening in appearance. Although they value aggression and honor is very important in their culture, they will not attack without reason or provocation.
The Wert’Pataku are carefully engineered Cardassian soldiers that were created by the Dominion during the Dominion Wars in the Alpha Quadrant. They were created using a combination of cybernetic implants and genetic manipulation and few that were inducted into the programme survived.
