Another Kilrathi Question

IPhoenixI

Spaceman
Out of curiosity, does anyone know if there were ever any actual Kilrathi pirates or some form of "Privateering" that some of them might have been engaged in? Or did they all focus on the war?
In the Prophecy manual, there’s a reference to “BloodEye” a Kilrathi pirate that was working in confed space. But to me, he sounded more like another raider then an actual pirate. (I don’t remember the actual name of his pirate group or any more details. I’m at school away from my WC materials at the moment.)
 
Yes, I'm no trivia buff, but I'll throw in my two bits.

The incident the Prophecy manual is referring to happened well after the end of the Terran-Kilrathi war, during the maiden voyage of the Midway. So, the pirates in question wouldn't be just another strike fleet out on a raiding party, since their deeds were not sanctioned by the Kilrathi government. If you will recall, the Kilrathi also requested the pirates to be turned over for execution by other Kilrathi.

So, these would be considered terrorists or pirates, and not even tecnhincally privateers (for them to be privateers, they would have to have a liscence from the Kilrathi government to carry arms and disrupt enemy trade. Since the Terrans and Kilrathi are no longer enemies at war, it is unlikely that the Kilrathi government would issue such a liscence).

Though I haven't read much of it, I believe that there are plenty of references in the literature to Kilrathi privateers and "private enterprise" raids.
 
The Kilrathi group in the ICIS Manual were "classic" pirates -- the CAG mentions piracy and smuggling in her article, and the news piece about their execution claims they were convicted of "piracy, murder, extortion and malicious disorder".

It's probably sort of confusing, because the Kilrathi insurgents (the T'Agg A'Bren clan) which later appear in Prophecy are *not* pirates -- they're a Sivarist group that's been attacking human colonies under religious pretenses.

But I digress -- there are, indeed, many references to 'pirate' Kilrathi:

* The "private enterprise" raiders which the TCS Johnny Greene fights at the beginning of "Milk Run". These may be the closest thing to Kilrathi privateers that we ever see.

* The novel Action Stations spends a good amount of time on a Kilrathi 'black market' space station, frequented by pirates and smugglers of both (and other) races. The book is full of similar references, including the idea that Kilrathi and human pirates first made contact with eachother well before the Iason Incident.

* The various manual timelines generally attribute the Confederation's declaration of war to the actions of Kilrathi pirates. Victory Streak cites "unwarranted assault, space piracy, kidnapping and interplanetary plundering".

* Privateer's random mission generator will occasionally create a mission where you're to shoot down a Kilrathi mercenary or pirate.

* The Confederation Handbook[/u} mentions a string of pirate attacks in the late thirties, including the capture of an intact Kilrathi 'privateer' corvette in the Masa System which provided detailed information about the Kilrathi sphere of influence.

I'm sure there's a mess of others, but I'll have to give it some thought.
 
Sphynx said:
The incident the Prophecy manual is referring to happened well after the end of the Terran-Kilrathi war.... "private enterprise" raids.

Yeah I know it takes place after the Terran-Kilrathi war and I figured that bloodeye was a "private enterprise" raider or just some guy with a grudge raiding human settlements if he wasn't technically a pirate.

bandit LOAF said:
..the idea that Kilrathi and human pirates first made contact with eachother well before the Iason Incident.

Interesting idea, I never heard of it before. I guess I should read the novel :D

I acually remember seeing the pirate and mercenary Kilrathi refrences in the Privateer mission generator now.

Thanks for the info guys.
 
That would make an interesting Comic Book. Maybe our comic book endeavor should throw in something of this nature, as a secondary story.
 
overmortal said:
That would make an interesting Comic Book. Maybe our comic book endeavor should throw in something of this nature, as a secondary story.

I have absolutely no idea what that means in the context of anything posted to this thread.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I have absolutely no idea what that means in the context of anything posted to this thread.


Sorry, didn't mean to derail. Just came up with the idea that a band of pirate/renegade kilrathi interacting (for good or ill) with a war-era crew would have an interesting dynamic in the comic book from the other thread. I'll go back to my P's and Q's.
 
Welcome to the CIC! You make a good point. It would make sence that dishonoured Kilrathi would be Ostracized from the Empire. Thus they had to resort to piracy to get food and other supplies. However I am for from being a WC expert so here is something random to lighten up our day.



I INVENTED A NEW ROCKET ENGINE LET ME SHOW IT OFF IN ASCII ART!!
 
Well, usually pirates are by definition outcasts... considering they are criminals and stuff. Even the ones with royal charters for stealing from the other countries are still outcasts.
 
Kilrathi place honor as the highest of their values, so if was to be dishonored it is naturally expected that they would either commit ritual suicide to prevent their family's name from going down with them, or the entire family would have to become rogue. As outcasts they would have to resort to pirating to survive, as they couldn't live anywhere near where the other clans would have power.
 
"I remember a time when I had to pull the trigger for a piece of bread. Nowadays the only trigger pirates are pulling is the tractor beam."

Some bartender told me about pirate life in the Gemini sector.
 
Pirates as outcasts!!! Why didn't anyone EVER think of that before! All pirates I know are well respected members of the community. NOT!

And LeHah, Shiver me timbers.
 
NuclearPenguins said:
Kilrathi place honor as the highest of their values, so if was to be dishonored it is naturally expected that they would either commit ritual suicide to prevent their family's name from going down with them, or the entire family would have to become rogue. As outcasts they would have to resort to pirating to survive, as they couldn't live anywhere near where the other clans would have power.

I agree that Kilrathi pirates could form the core of some of the pirates. However there could also be another explanation.
If we look at our own history we find one empire that is very similar to the Kilrathi empire; The Japanese Empire prior and during the second World war. For a japanese soldier, surrender was the most dishonorable thing to do. You fought and died for your empire, nothing else.
Since the japanese had been indoctrinated with this thinking from the day they were born they became fanatical fighters (just ask the veterans in the allied navies about the Japanese Kamikaze's).

When WWII ended the commander of the U.S. Pacific fleet sent a message to his japanese counterpart. That message ended with:

"Although we today sign the cessation of hostilites there might be some kamikazes who will make some last desperate attemps to attack us. If so, they will be shot down in a friendly manner"

I haven't read anything about desperate last attacks by kamikaze's after the end of hostilities in the historybook, but the fact that the U.S. Commander didn't ruled that out shows how fanatical the japanese soldiers must have been.

Looking at the Kilrathis, they have the same kind of indoctrination as the japanese. Honor is the most valued asset, to a Kilrathi there is only honor if a warrior is either victorius or dying bravely in combat.

As there probably were japanese who saw Japan's surrender as a betrayal there is probably many Kilrathis with the same feeling.

To make long story short, Kilrathi pirates could be dishonored Kilrathis with no other way of living and/or Kilrathis who sees the Kilrathi empires surrender as a betrayal and therefore refuses to aknowledge it and continues on the fight.
One such example is the novel "False Colors" by William R Fortschen in which a renegade Kilrathi warlord wants to start his own crusade against the federation

Mvh!
T-rex
 
MaHeSw said:
Looking at the Kilrathis, they have the same kind of indoctrination as the japanese. Honor is the most valued asset, to a Kilrathi there is only honor if a warrior is either victorius or dying bravely in combat.


Bhurak nar Caxki must have been absent the day they taught that.
 
McGruff said:
Bhurak nar Caxki must have been absent the day they taught that.

Thrakath and the Emperor both decided to ditch that concept towards the end of the war - remember the nukes and Pandemic?
 
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