The Gwagaruh were born from an act of complete arrogance ordered by the ruling Emperors of the First Faerin Star Empire. An act that to this day is often simply called the “Spider’s Folly”. Once locked away in cursed sarcophagi the Progenitors of the Gwagaruh were released into the Avalon Cluster. These monstrosities soon took on Faerin form, and proceeded to hide in the shadows while increasing their numbers for the next three thousand years.
In the Avalon Systems the name Guagaeru (the original Elder Tongue name for the creatures) means “Hollow One”. A reference to the parasitic nature of the entire race who are unable to reproduce without converting either a Faeru or Soulgiven into a spawn through viral infection. Their very existence for nearly a thousand years was a carefully hidden secret, a mystery of lost colonies, and ghost ships. For years after their awakening the Progenitors built their nests deep in the unknown reaches of space. Here they raided ships, drift colonies, and created the foundation of the modern day Kindreds.
Gwarish (the possessive of Gwagaruh) history is filled with events of betrayal, and acts of not only brutality, but genocide. They are masters of biological technology, and it was they who first pioneered the creation of mecha in the Avalon Cluster.
The Kindreds
In the beginning there were seven cursed ones known as the Progenitors through the years and a climatic even known as the Year of Winter’s Teeth only four remain. First among Equals is Gendawitha the Spider Empress, and lady of the Spiderkin. Lords of the mass conspiracy known as the Hidden Empire, the Spiderkin are the most prominent of the four kindreds. Below the Spider live the Devils, the children of Cynburga the Broken One. Devilkin are only female in appearance, and are the enslaved to the will of the Spiderkin. The Devilkin have in turn rebelled by striking secretive deals with select members of the Faerin Nobility. These “Infernal Houses” then share in the darkest of the demonic technology of the Hollow Ones.
Outside of the Triad then sit two opposing forces who seek to in the end to devour it whole. To the astrographical north lays the dead star of the Void System home of the Voidkin Horde. Voidkin are the most infamous of the Kindreds having caused centuries of genocide, disease, and war in their attempts to conquer the Triad. Finally there are the Wyrmkin, a vast tribal confederacy that dwells in the scattered asteroid belt, rogue planets, and other drifting debris of the Southern Reaches.
Monsters, Demons, and Worse
The Gwagaruh combine traits of all major monstrous races. Like Vampires and Lycans they are driven by hunger and darker instincts. They also transform others into their kind through venomous infection. In the Land in the Stars they hold the trope of Monster, Demon, and Dark Lord all at once. In the shades of grey that cover the morality of the Triad the Gwagaruh are often solid black, and are easily counted as simply being evil. Yet, there are lighter intentions among them. Even though the Gwagaruh lack the ability to empathize (they can mimic it, but they cannot feel for others outside their own) they do still have their own twisted take on morality.
Some Gwagaruh are simply content to work in a symbiotic relationship with the other Races. Some wish to rise above, and rule the Triad. While others wish to simply kill everyone, and dance on their entrails. Even a dehumanized race of monsters deserves some connective traits to prevent them from simply being mustache twirling villains.
Featured image by aditya777.