Thraddash

The Thraddash are a race of intellectually challenged barbarians from the Draconis star cluster. The Thraddash look like bipedal, plated, hornless rhinoceroses, with strong muscled arms, a thick, tough skin (encasing a set of smooth innards which are considered tasty by the spider like Ilwrath species) and a mean temper. The Thraddash talk tough and act even tougher, and are one of the last races still smoking cigars and other substances. They have little or no respect for anything aside from force, which they admire greatly. One could say that the Thraddash resemble an alien biker-gang from outer space. As a Melnorme proverb puts it,

" To make a Thraddash your friend, kill him — but then of course, he’s dead, so what’s the point?

History

Thraddash history has witnessed the rise and fall of 15 different planetary cultures. Each time their culture reached a certain point a new ideology for a more perfect culture arrived, and they fought a bitter war eventually blasting themselves back usually 500 years in development, and started a new culture from scratch. From their conversations with various races they have met; the following data has been compiled in the Palman Xeno-biological Database,

Culture Two

The earliest Culture mentioned by the Thraddash was Culture Two. Little is known of Culture Two, except that they glorified fortitude and stoic resistance to pain.

Culture Three

Threatened by the virtues extolled by Culture Two, Culture Three demonstrated the dominance of their culture by brutalizing themselves. A common tactic used by Culture Three armies was to position themselves on higher ground, cut off one of their limbs and wave them threateningly at their enemies. This tactic was apparently effective in sapping the morale of their enemies, causing them to turn and flee. As a result of this, the status of Culture Three war veterans was determined by the number of limbs they had remaining. Thraddash captains note that the war parades were much more interesting, since the heroes did not walk, but rolled — "and at a pretty good clip!"

Culture Nine

The most important single artifact common to all Thraddash cultures is the Aqua Helix. Culture Nine was the first (and only) culture to question its significance. Culture Nine considered excessive the amount of blood and passion expended over the artifact. Unfortunately, their complete defeat at the hands of Culture Ten after only two weeks of dominance only reinforced the Thraddash belief in the sanctity of the Aqua Helix.

Culture Twelve

Culture Twelve is the Thraddash example for extreme hostility. It is said that before Culture Twelve's first great battle, Jugkah the Battlemaster accidentally stepped on Gnusko the tactician's foot. This prompted Gnusko to summarily slice Jugkah in half. This rash act, however, spelled doom for Gnusko as Jugkah's troops proceeded to decimate him and his elite guard. As Gnusko's forces were defeated, the late Jugkah's Master Sergeants Muuhd and Pudt got into an argument over the method for Gnusko's execution, on whether to use crucifixion or the more painful "Lead Tattoo" technique. The argument was resolved in a characteristically Thraddash fashion when Pudt and his command slaughtered Muuhd and his 500 troops.

These events, however, led to the end of Culture Twelve. Their original enemy, Yajag, surprised the remnants of Jugkah's army and proceeded to annihilate it, paving the way for the establishment of Culture Thirteen.

Culture Fourteen

Culture Fourteen is the second Culture to question traditional Thraddash values. Shortly after achieving dominance, Culture Fourteen claimed that the Thraddash method of cultural evolution was wrong. They claimed that every inter-Culture conflict set the Thraddash back 500 years. As with Culture Nine, Thraddash tradition again proved itself immune to change as Culture Fourteen was destroyed by Culture Fifteen after a reign of only ten years. Interestingly enough, the violence ensuing from Culture Fourteen's replacement only set the Thraddash back by "two, three hundred years tops", hence disproving Culture Fourteen's main tenet.

Culture Sixteen

Currently Culture Sixteen is in power, little is known of Culture Sixteen, except that they are considered by the Thraddash's Neighbors as "sneaky and deceptive." hinting at an outside influence on their cultur