Uva Mosk

(The Uva Mosk race was originally created for the Accolade game called Deadlock and appears here without their permission. Here is my version of the Uva Mosk for personal use in the Star Frontiers game)

Average Size: 1.5 metres tall

Average Mass: 100 kg

Average Lifespan: 170 years

Reproduction: Herbivorous

Body Temperature: 24 C

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND STRUCTURE

"Yellowed-eye bugs" are what the Uva Mosk have been called. However, the Uva Mosk are not insects, per se, they were actually crustaceans (like lobsters found on some human planets). However, these crustaceans quickly evolved to live on dry land and even have four-fully developed lungs within their chitin shell. As the water on their home planet quickly dried out, the Uva Mosk were forced out of the seas and had to contend with living on a desert world.

Four of their limbs end in vicious claws which make it harder for them to use standard SF weapons/equipment. There is no wonder that Uva Mosk revere the number 4 and even have a numbering system based on 4!

SENSES

The Uva Mosk have keen senses. Their eyes are typically yellow and can see into the ultra-violet range. However, they have trouble recognizing or differentiating between the colors of red and orange. It just looks the same to them. The Uva Mosk ears are located on two appendages atop their heads and these organs do a very decent job of picking up sound and even sensing vibrations.

SPEECH

The Uva Mosk have mouths that look similar to that of the Sathar. However, their voices are not raspy. In fact, speech generated by Uva Mosk are higher-pitched and can be quite grating to some races.

SOCIETY AND CUSTOMS

Uva Mosk culture believes that planets are living things that support life and are always to be treated with absolute devotion. Nature worshippers, the Uva Mosk are horrified by what they feel is the wanton waste by all the other galactic races. Dismayed that these polluting, wasteful beings escaped their homeworlds, the Uva Mosk believe that their way, the Uva Mosk Revolution, will slowly convert all other races to their proper enlightenment.

The Uva Mosk only allow one individual to guide their revolution -- the high shaman, called the Grand Hortus - who watches the well being of the Uva Mosk colony. All military and economic actions become the Grand Hortus' responsibility. Once the colony feels they that no longer require the services of this great shaman, the Grand Hortus retires to tend lush gardens. No official government exists after the Grand Hortus retires.

The name, Uva Mosk, literally means "Of Tree". They believe their species originally bloomed from the Tree of Life. According to their main legend, most of their homeworld was covered by desert. Only a small area supported life -- a tiny, fertile oasis surrounding the Tree of Life. This belief states that the Uva Mosk were created by the Great Tree to tend it and protect it from harsh sandstorms.

Unfortunately, one gardener, named Tuka Dimx, was very lazy. He would rather bask in the shade and dream about all the care he would give the Tree of Life when done napping. The tree grew weak on that side as the slothful Tuka did not work to keep it strong. A fierce sandstorm arose and tossed the Tree of Life about. His weakened section snapped and the Tree of Life crashed on top of the napping Tuka. His name is still reviled in many an Uva Mosk gathering.

Picture of an Uva Mosk - © by Accolade/Cyberlore

Over time the Tree of Life rotted away leaving a deep canyon where it had once lain. This huge canyon is called the Bed of a Thousand Tears. Rotting pieces of the Tree of Life were cut off and moved to other parts of the desert. Small oases sprang up and soon the Uva Mosk turned their planet into a hospitable world.

Uva Mosk civilization developed with little conflict until the time of the Disbelief. A group of sophists came to question the existence of the Tree of Life. They felt the Bed of a Thousand Tears was actually formed by the many rivers that ran through it..

Two factions thus emerged -- the Moska (Treeists) and the Burka (Riverists). Several wars broke out, devastating both Moska and Burka alike. Years of tradition gave the Moska stronger support and the Burka were eventually beaten. Many defeated Burka felt that they were wrong for their sacrilegious beliefs and fled the sophists in droves. Finally even the original radicals decided their beliefs were wrong and came out of hiding. The Moska leadership welcomed their fallen brethren back into their settlements and the sad time of the Disbelief came to an end.

ATTITUDES

Their homeworld, Moska Bost, is located far away from all the other races, so the Uva Mosk were unknown until about eighty-eight years ago. When the Uva Mosk met UPF Scout ships, they reluctantly started to trade with these bipeds. However, the Uva Mosk's deep mistrust of other races kept their interstellar involvement low, watching the Sathar Wars from a distance.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Their tie to nature lets the Uva Mosk produce more natural resources than other races. Their Command Corps shaman dance help to easily create much needed resources in territories.

Uva Mosk culture has inculcated the tendency to be suspicious of everyone - even one another in the race. Thus, the Uva Mosk are typically experts on spying other colonies, and they even have an improved chance to detect enemy spies.

Uva Mosk players use the following modifiers and have the abilities listed below:

Ability Modifier Table

Claw Attack

The damage caused by a claw is 1d10. Uva Mosk can attack using four claws simultaneously without any penalties.

They however, can only use two weapons simultaneously. Uva Mosk are am-qua-dextrous.

SPECIAL DISADVANTAGES

Equipment penalty

Standard equipment must be heavily modified so that the Uva Mosk can use them. As such, the cost of equipment is multiplied by two.