Questions about the Steltek

Zim

Spaceman
My Wing Commander Privateer RolePlaying Game (GURPS System) is almost finished, I want to start GMing in the summer vacation :D, but I will need some info (a lot of it actually) about the Steltek race. What &who are they? What do they look like? Are they technologically advanced? Pictures? History? Please!!

I never got far enough in Privateer to encounter them :(
And it won't run on my P133

Thanks in advance

Zim
 
I can get you sound files, and maybe pics. privateer 'SHOULD' run on your pc, I've got it running on both of my 486's (one running windows 95 the other 98) as well as my P2 333 (Win 98). Why can't anyone else seem to be able to acomplish this ?
 
I've run it on my 486 under windows 95 dos mode and on my amd k6/2 under win 98.

basically the steltek are a very advanced and mysterious race. they created that probe (the egg shaped thing with the glowing green bumps on it) in the intro to privateer.
 
The Steltek, as far as we can tell, are extremely advanced. Long before humanity had even learnt to make tools, the Steltek already controlled an empire spanning most of the known galaxy. However, at one point or another they decided they've had enough - so they abandoned the empire, and moved to the galaxy core to pursue a peaceful, pastoral life. They left very little traces in our part of the galaxy - there's been some Steltek artifacts found on Mars and in the Gemini Sector.
The Gemini Sector artifacts in particular is what Privateer dealt with - the map, which lead to an old Steltek space station, where we found a derelict fighter and a very effective gun. Grayson Burrows (that's the privateer's official name) took the gun, but left everything else there.
The Steltek also left behind drone ships (well, we've seen one drone, but presumably there had been more) designed to hunt down and destroy any Steltek technology left behind. As soon as Burrows took that gun, a drone homed in on him and attacked him. Burrows couldn't even penetrate its shields, so he ran away.
Eventually, while running from the drone, Burrows encountered a real-life Steltek, who offered him a deal - in exchange for the location of the derelict Steltek base, the Steltek would supercharge Burrows' new gun, so that he could destroy the drone. Burrows accepted, and destroyed the drone, while the Steltek removed (yes, removed - with a tractor beam) the derelict base, thus eliminating the last Steltek artifacts in the sector. Well, except the Steltek gun on Burrows' ship. Anyway, at this point the Steltek pilot left the Gemini Sector.
In case you were wondering about the Steltek gun, it was later stolen by the Retros, who managed to manufacture copies of it. To cut a looong story short, Burrows eventually killed the Retros' leader, and made a deal that they would destroy all existing Steltek guns, in exchange for him not revealing the location of the secret Retro planet to Confed. Since the Retros have no love for technology, we must assume that they kept their end of the bargain. That takes care of the last significant Steltek artifact - I don't remember if Burrows got to keep the map which led him to the Steltek base in the first place, but since the base is not there anymore, the map would be just a piece of... er, something (plastic? Metal?) with some unreadable writing on it.

Finally, it must be noted that there has been no further encounters since then, and there never will be - the Steltek race has no wish to make contact with any other races. They are not evil or power-hungry, they just want to be left alone. They have very powerful weapons and shields, but they do not intend to ever use them. For your intents and purposes, the Steltek are about as useful as a doorstop in a room with no door :).

Hope that's enough info for you ;).
 
A few other notes... regarding history, the Steltek artifacts are about 2.4 billion years old -- that's apparently when they left for the center of the galaxy...

We also see what they look like -- they're sort of like... big cells. We only see them on the VDU in the game, but they're sort of big round goo-bags.
 
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Sorry DarkMage, but I've got no ICQ because of a firewall.

Would E-mail suffice?

And could you send me wavs and pics from the steltek? The pics I could use very good for my RPG.

And... who would win in the Mantu vs the Steltek? I want to get a good view of their technology level. And I wonder how much change there is for any of my PCs (Player Characters) to encounter Steltek ships or Stelteks themselves

TIA,

Zim
 
No, you don't understand -- the Steltek *don't* fight... they're beyond that. That's one of the things that's so special about them.

The Mantu aren't really particularly impressive either... they're the equivalent of the Kilrathi, militarily.
 
Though now that both Confed and the Kilrathi have had a chance to study a wormhole up close, the Nephilim might not be unique in that regard for much longer.

Best, Raptor
 
Uh oh... I'm getting confused here.

so it isn't

Mantu=Nephilim=Star Gods

whats it then? And what are the Mantu then?
 
hehehe don't be so sure about that being the last we see of the Steltek, there might be an appearance in WC Universe! If that happens it will only be for the creators, so you may look and shoot at the steltek, but you won't be able to fly them hehe..... my e-mail is at: Darkmage50@start.com.au
Send me copies of your config.sys and autoexec.bat files, as well as a list of any errors which happen.

[Edited by Darkmage on 06-22-2001 at 08:11]
 
Originally posted by Zim
Uh oh... I'm getting confused here.

so it isn't

Mantu=Nephilim=Star Gods

whats it then? And what are the Mantu then?

The Nephilim are what the Kilrathi refer to as the Star Gods, who may have visited the Kilrathi very early in their history. The Kilrathi encountered the Mantu much later, when they had gotten into space themselves. The Mantu fought the Kilrathi to a standstill, and the Kilrathi demonized them as a result.

Best, Raptor
 
Hmm... 2.4 billion? Whoops, I was thinking along the lines of 2 million. Well, only a few zeroes' difference, I suppose ;).

Zim: There is no chance of encountering the Steltek. They simply have no reason to visit human space, and humans have no way to get to Steltek space.
 
We will not see the Steltek again -- doing so would ruin the entire point of having Steltek in the first place <G>

The Mantu and the Star Gods/Nephilim are two different races -- you can read about the specifics in the ICIS manual included in Prophecy. Basically, the Mantu are just a race that was attacked by the Kilrathi some years back...

As for creating jump points -- the Steltek seem to be able to do this... but the Nephilim *can't*... they can create their large tunnels from their space to ours, but they seem to use the same jump network as we do once they arrive.
 
I've just finished a steltek mesh you can use in renders, at just under 500 poly's (494) it can be imported into almost any game, and will probably feature in WC Universe.
The sounds are 1.2mb in size, I can't upload right now, but I will as soon as I can.


[Edited by Darkmage on 06-22-2001 at 08:42]
 
I think when the Steltek were an agressive race, the Nephilim wouldn't stand a chance.

I remember something from a Steltek gun from Righteous Fire intro movie which was included with my Privateer cd. Something like privateer or something. Not sure.


Oh, and what is the name of that giant supercarrier you get when you f*ck up enough missions @ the end of WC3? I couldn't even get his shields down while firing all my warheads @ once.

TIA,

Zim
 
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