The Oikonny

The Oikonny are a spacefaring, "beast-like" warrior race which was uplifted by another civilization during what scholars are simply calling the race's "dark age." They were uplifted with the intent to use them as shock troops against an enemy that threatened stability for many worlds, and they were VERY good at it- perhaps too good at it. The Oikonny went beyond the original scope of simply beating back the enemy, and went on to actually capturing the enemy's core worlds through the combination of their savagery and the technical expertise of their would-be allies. After the war, attempts were made to persuade the Oikonny that occupied these core worlds to leave and were offered worlds of their own to colonize in exchange. The Oikonny saw no reason to leave when they had perfectly fine new worlds, AND slave labor to further their expansion. Thus began a new conflict, which eventually led to a very uneasy "cease fire" of sorts with The Oikonny being driven back through sheer overwhelming force rallied against them.

Since then, the species has been forever branded as a potential threat and under constant scrutiny by the galactic community. Oikonny pirates or mercenaries are fairly common due to young males of the race going through an old tradition or "rite of passage" where they seek to gather strength, fame and clout before someday returning to their world of origin- or not. Not all of them live through this period, much to the relief of the rest of the galactic community. It should also be mentioned that while it is unheard of to see females off planet as they're busy keeping their species from completely wiping itself out, cases of this do exist; and there are very few things a male Oikonny fear, an enraged female Oikonny is one of them.

Oikonny generally stand between 6 - 8ft tall, and weighing in between 250 to 400lbs. Outside of that, one of their more prominent abilities is their infamous levels of vitality. They have redundant organs and bones, making it possible for them to shrug off many injuries that would kill or incapacitate other beings, and in addition are on average as strong as a bear, or as strong as a silverback gorilla- depending on their size. Their hides are also thick enough to where rubber bullets tickle while treating REAL bullets as if they were wearing "bulletproof" vests (for small arms), most Earth based energyweapons stinging but not having much effect (handheld energy weapons even less so). A secondary nervous system also makes it harder to paralyze them, AND they're capable of ingesting things that would be severely hazardous to other lifeforms resulting in the common boast of, "eating a bowl of nails for breakfast." In addition, while not super fast, Oikonny do passively recover from injuries more quickly. Finally, their last most notable physical feature is their noses noses capable of accurate olfactory sense to up to a kilometer out.

It should also be mentioned that generally, an Oikonny's "fight or flight" response is strongly keyed in to overload their adrenal glands when pushed, resulting in a "berserker-like" rage where rational thought is gone. While highly resistant to mental or "behavior altering" effects AND feeling pain, they are little more than raging beasts at this point and liable to fall prey to clever opponents- more so than usual. This pure and primal savagery also makes it unfeasible for MOST Oikonny to wield ranged weapons, or do little more than keep attacking until something sticks, or they're put down somehow. While raging, they can more easily push their physical strength closer to "superhuman" levels... at a price.

As mentioned, one drawback most Oikonny face is their more limited "intelligence." While they have technically made much progress since being uplifted from a primitive state, they still develop new advancements MUCH more slowly than other races and much prefer simply taking what they need to reverse engineer it. They also primarily rely on overwhelming strength and might to tactics, preferring to charge into enemy lines with reckless abandon and hoping their bodies withstand attack long enough for them to do so. A benefit of this is that usually you can expect that there will be very little in the way of traps, ambushes, or spies... usually. Exceptions do exist but much like the odds of a "genius" being born, an Oikonny tactician is also not very common outside the women. All in all, Oikonny tactics are quite predictable and a clever, more skilled opponent can exploit that. But be forewarned, that a "smart" Oikonny is a very dangerous thing...

While they are resistant to... almost many sources of damage to varying degrees, it is still more possible to "knock out" an Oikonny by conventional means before killing them- but they still have limits. Electricity is still something that in high enough voltages, is still very capable of putting them down as is fire, suffocation- etc. Poisons that get in their blood stream CAN also affect them more than if they simply... drank it. Another key downside is their noses, which seem to be big "pain buttons" due to the sensitive nerves and everything which enables them to be so accurate with their sense of smell- so boop that snoot!