The Evil NPCs of Alien Base

In my last post I showcased the three good guy NPCs of the Alien Base scenario. This time, I'm turning the spotlight on the bad guys - the Npurth insectoids.

The Npurth themselves are relatively young as a space-faring species, only just beginning their galactic expansion phase. The Npurth have a pressing need to build an empire, to expand, since they are a slaver species, dependent on the labours of subject races. To date they have subjugated just two planets - Thonne (the planet featured in Alien Base) and the home planet of the Pnarmin which share their home star. This driving need is a result of the Npurth reproduction cycle.
Physically, Npurth are large insectoid beings generally running to ten to twelve feet in length. They have eight triple-jointed legs and four chelae. Unlike many of the creatures on their home planet, Npurth have only one head with a combined esophagus/ windpipe like Earth animals, although their brain (in keeping with the norm of the Npurth world) is housed in the chest.
Internally, Npurth are like mammals. They have a sophisticated internal boney skeleton, a closed circulatory system and lungs. Reproduction is accomplished through eggs. This means of reproduction tends to be incompatible with either intelligence or mammal habits, but the Npurth have developed a unique means of bypassing these difficulties. Eyes are high-resolution and capable of discerning much the same spectrum as humans. They can also be independently controlled, like the Terran chameleon. Hearing is not as acute, and there is but one auricle, so ranging via sound is not possible.

Npurth reproduce by extending their ovipositor tail into position and inserting an egg into a host creature, nowadays usually a Pnarm. The larva then grows into an auxiliary nervous system, gradually taking over the host and destroying the host's personality, which, of course, objects to the process. This procedure leaves the host's brain intact and the Npurth larvae will access the information stored there. In this manner, the larvae spends its entire juvenile period, usually about five years. It is during this period that the larva will grow to emotional maturity, reaching effective adulthood whilst still immature physically. Thus, the Npurth larva, fuelled by the knowledge gleaned from its host, leaps to independence in the matter of food and care within weeks, and with the data and attitude of its host as a springboard, can reach the equivalent of a human age of 40 in one eighth the time.
When the larva has completed its development, it turns on the host body, eating it out from the inside to provide the nourishment needed for the larva's metamorphosis into adulthood. One would think this process painful for the host, but by this time the host is a mental vegetable and cannot sense the pain, its entire mental functioning has been subsumed by the larva now abandoning the body for adulthood. Finally, the new adult rips its way free of the old host body and emerges. The old host is dead and in its place is a full adult Npurth, no schooling, training or maturing of any kind needed. All this was accomplished while the larva controlled the host, living an entire life by proxy before beginning its own. Over the next few months, the Npurth grows in size, until it is fully developed physically.
It is clear then that Npurth must have other species in order to reproduce. In fact, they must be intelligent species or the developing larva will have no culture, no intelligence, no data other than the basic animal level dog-eat-dog information of a mindless beast. Clearly this is not suitable. Universed in the arts of schooling as they are, Npurth require a steady supply of sapient hosts.

Npurth are carbon-based oxygen breathers. They are able to reproduce using Pnarmin, who are carbon-based chlorine breathers, only by use of drugs and a special strain of chlorine-tolerant Npurth. The original strain is still around, but much restricted due to over-harvesting of the original Npurth hosts. The local Thonne, being oxygen breathers of some intelligence, were being developed for reproduction. This experiment was showing some success when humans showed up. Humans, regrettably, are ideal hosts for Npurth. Carbon-based, oxygen breathing, intelligent and technologically advanced, quick of reproduction and, most importantly, numerous humans are viewed by Npurth as God's gift to the Npurth. Npurth don't even need drugs to mature in humans. Thus the discovery of humans through the skyjacking of the DSX Timothy was a boon to the Npurth. They cancelled operations and began to pull back preparatory to launching a series of raids against human colony worlds in the area. At the time The Ace of Spades arrived on the scene the base had been largely abandoned and shut down. Only a skeleton crew of robots and three Npurth held in stasis remained, along with several larva-inhabited clones of the DSX Timothy's crew. The Npurth planned to return to the base and refurbish it for raiding.

The figures of the Npurth are conversions of an Impact Miniatures Giant Scorpion from their range of Chibi Adventurers and Monsters - CA-SCRP priced at £5.94. Here I'm showing the actual Giant Scorpion figure alongside my conversion.

From this angle you can see it is quite long, about 60mm in length. There was no mention of the Npurth's colour scheme in the scenario book, so I looked at pictures of scorpions on Google Images and found this colour scheme that really appealed to me. I also found a suitable colour scheme for the Giant Scorpion there as well. Looking at pictures of real life creatures can provide you with great inspiration. I was amazed at just how many colours scorpions come in.

I cut off the two pincer arms and the stinger part of its tail. I remodelled the ovipositor/stinger with Milliput. The stinger can also be used to paralyse the Npurth's victims, which is what happened to Tara Seven when she was captured. Oh, and just to be clear, the original Tara and original Johan were not impregnated.

I know that a lot of companies make figures of Giant Scorpions but it was this Chibi version that best matched the illustration of the Npurth in the scenario book. The head in particular was a great match. All in all, it was a simple conversion. As you can see, I made five Npurth, even though I only needed three.

I worked out the stats for an Npurth with the N.E.W. rules and they came out very tough. One of them would have been a challenge for any two of my player characters. The person who would have been the greatest threat to the Npurth would have been Danica. She is a telepath with Psi Blast and the Npurth have very poor mental defences. Although the Npurth have a high SOAK score with their chitinous armour, psionic attacks ignore SOAK, so that wouldn't have helped them at all. It would have been interesting to see how a fight between The Ace of Spades party of five and three Npurth would have went. It's a tough one to call for me. I reckon it would all come down to who rolls best with the dice.