Spineless Ones (NOW WITH STATS)

On the far side of the Romulan Empire's sphere of influence is an area of space known as "the Mojoverse." This region of space is dominated by an empire that gains its power and wealth via the transmission of ultra-violent gladiatorial games. These games are put up on the Grid through various means for beings throughout the Alpha Quadrant to purchase and watch. This makes the Mojoverse the only known empire based solely upon entertainment.

The Mojoverse is controlled by a species of beings known as the Yllonjakk, or Spineless Ones as they are more commonly referred to. They are a somewhat slug-like species slightly reminiscent to Hutts, with large, portly bodies, two arms and a head. They can only move through the use of cybernetic implant legs, or cybernetic barges typically equipped with arachnid-like legs. Their flesh is yellow and typically pock-marked and dotted with bed sores. Their arms are long, as are their fingers, and their faces are rather humanoid-like except their mouths are unnaturally wide.

The Spineless Ones were first discovered by one of their now slave races, the Brannor. The Yllonjakk were primitive, yet obviously intelligent beings eking out an existence in the swamps and quagmires of their homeworld, which is now called Mojo Prime, but was once known as Yllonj. Brannor scientists designed their cybernetic legs and sleds that the Spineless Ones now use in the hopes of helping to "uplift" these beings into a technological species. The Brannor succeeded, much to their dismay. The Spineless Ones are also telepathic, something that they concealed from the Brannor, and they learn very quickly. Once they were as mobile as the Brannor, they moved quickly to subvert and dominate their culture, making slaves of the very people that helped them.

During the telepathic scans of Brannor minds, many Spineless Ones became enthralled with video and holographic entertainment. Many became addicted to entertainment technology, watching all the shows, sports, and broadcasts that they could. Others made note of how much commerce vids, especially more violent vids, brought in and the effect the events had on those watching. Not long after forcing the Brannor into slavery, the Spineless Ones began to force them into gladiatorial matches for the amusement of those Spineless Ones that needed that entertainment. It didn't take long for the Spineless Ones to expand their influence into other systems. Those that could put up a good fight were left alone, though they offered their arenas as a source of entertainment as a way of trade. Other species, like the Valco, were dominated and forced into slavery to fight in their arenas.

The Spineless Ones elected a leader, called Mojo, which they also call anything of importance. Their entire system of government is almost like it was taken from the chain of command of a 21st century TV station. Mojo is President of Operations, then there are program directors that oversee the running of popular series. Directors oversee individual series. Cancellators are enforcers, usually made up of mercenaries of slaves that have proven their loyalty, that quell riots among the actors: slaves.

Once one gets past the appearance of a Spineless One, the first thing most beings notice is that none of them are quite altogether sane. Many Spineless Ones are jittery, prone to fits of rage with little to no provocation, others are paranoid or outright schizophrenic, but all exhibit some form of mental instability. Spineless Ones recognize that this makes dealing with other species problematic, so oftentimes when other species are dealing with a Mojoverse representative, they are dealing with a Major Domo, a trusted Brannor or Valco slave.

Today, the Mojoverse is the most influential force in gladiatorial games in the galaxy. Even though their "products" are outlawed in most civilized societies, there is a robust black market for their goods. They have become more and more inventive with how they stage their matches thanks to holodeck technology. Popular fighters are followed along and "star" in series of death matches that are set up to look like various shows from all over the galaxy. This has made the Mojoverse a very powerful force in their sector of space, which makes neighbors like the Romulan Empire and the Hutt Syndicate very nervous. The Romulans despise another stellar super power at their virtual back door, and the Hutts don't like the Spineless Ones muscling in on their gambling revenue.

The Mojo keeps a tight reign on operations in the Mojoverse. There has always been a contingent of rebels among the slaves since the Brannor were first enslaved. As the Mojoverse has connected with many other cultures, mostly through Gridspace, so have the rebels. They have found allies in the galaxy willing to help them fight the Spineless Ones, even secretly. This has helped make the rebellion more effective at striking against the Spineless Ones, strikes that have disrupted operations on several occasions and publicly so. Mojo XVII can expanded the ranks of the Cancellators to help put down the rebellion, but the disruptions keep occurring.

There have also been some startling revelations as to how far the Spineless Ones will go to feed their and their audiences' need for even greater thrills. There has been evidence uncovered that Spineless Ones have kidnapped Concord soldiers and replaced their eyes with nearly undetectable cybernetic cameras with transmitters that film the battles and events they take part in. While many in the Concord fear spying, it appears that the primary goal is to get footage of combat against hostile forces. The Spineless Ones typically hire mercenaries and pirates to carry out the abductions, but the Concord Navy has also put their troops going on shore leave on alert to watch out their drinks and not to trust "captivating" strangers. It seems that some of the abductions and implants have been done in just a matter of hours before anyone would think something is amiss.

Spineless Ones for Savage Worlds
Spineless Ones (WC) Attributes: Agility d4/d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d10, Vigor d10
Skills: Fighting d6, Computers d10, Knowledge (Cybernetics) d10, Knowledge (Holographics) d10, Knowledge (Psychology) d8, Pilot d8, Psionics d10
Pace 2/10; Parry 5; Toughness 7 (12)
Gear: Spineless Ones rarely carry any gear beyond a datapad with which they keep constant tabs on show ratings and other areas of vid production. Their cyber sleds are outfitted with everything else they need to be lethal.
Cyber Sleds: Spineless One cyber sleds grant them an increase in Agility (to d8) and Pace (to 10). It also adds enough coverage to grant them Armor +3 to Toughness. Their sleds come in various forms, but the most common is a walker with arachnid-like legs and a "tail" that looks like a scorpion's stinger that is equipped with a Plasma Rifle (3d10 damage). They use their Pilot skill die for their attempts to shoot foes. Attacks on the sled must bypass Toughness 18 (3) in order to cause any damage.
Special Abilities
Claws: Str + d6 damage with their long, needle-like claws.
Psionics: Spineless Ones have the following powers: Blast (Force), Mind Reading, and Telekinesis.
Size +2
Large Sized: Spineless Ones are quite large and attackers gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls against them.


Spineless Ones for Rogue Space
DRM +2; TP K; SZ RB; MV Crawl (10') or Arachnid (40'); AR M; DM X; HP 5; SP *
Cyber Sled: Cyber Sleds have 5 HP and V AR.
Psionics: Spineless Ones are all Telepathic and gain an Empathy bonus of +3.