Hardits

Summary
Hardits are short fur-covered humanoids (approx. 1.5m-1.7m tall) who are common throughout the White Knight Empire, where they often specialize as miners and engineers. They have a wolf-like appearance with a pronounced teeth-filled snout and acute sense of smell. Over short distances they employ a bandy-legged bipedal waddle. For longer journeys they will shift any equipment they wish to hold from their hands to their gripping tails, and then proceed on all fours. They are capable of trotting for very long distances so long as the atmosphere is not too oxygen-rich for their needs, or they are equipped with breathing apparatus.

Threats & Weaknesses
Hardits, especially female ones, are notorious xenophobes, despising all other species with such a vehemence that a Hardit should always be considered a potential enemy, whatever the circumstances. Understanding their vassals’ phobia, the White Knights have kept Hardits in self-contained settlements, isolated from each other and particularly from other species. This is usually successful in preventing Hardits from giving trouble to other species. After all, according to the Hardit mindset, staying at home is preferable to going out and conquering the galaxy, because doing so would force it to interact with so many disgusting non-Hardits. On the other hand, Hardits who are goaded into action by a perceived threat, and Hardits who merge (often bloodily) into larger communities can rapidly escalate into military threats. Hardits distrust advanced electronics and AIs, perhaps as a natural extension of their xenophobia. This often leaves them weak militarily because this rules out the use of many key military assets. However, this advantage cannot be relied upon indefinitely because Hardits have such natural talents as engineers and innovators that they can rapidly evolved home-grown counters to your military advantages.

As soldiers, Hardits have several physiological weaknesses.
 * Hardits are not good at moving and firing a handheld weapon. For example, a Hardit soldier rushing to a new position in a firefight, would first transfer its gun to its tail, move on all fours to the new position, and then transfer their gun from tail to hands before it could fire. The tail is also a vulnerable body part as it is difficult to provide armor while leaving the tail flexible. A Hardit soldier with its tail shot off cannot fight effectively.
 * Hardits are prone to hyperventilation in most atmospheres unless provided with breathing equipment. The Hardit homeworld has a low-density, oxygen-poor atmosphere.
 * Hardits are particularly prone to the disabling effects of bright lights, especially in the ultraviolet range.

Further Notes
In this Infopedia entry, we state assumptions about Hardit culture and physiology, but you should always consider that the Hardits who interact with humans and other species are usually the very lowest in Hardit society. There may be important aspects of Hardit culture that we have never encountered. There are two principle Hardit genders, although there have been reports of more complex gender configurations. Males are slightly shorter, lighter in build, and with a more triangular snout. Other than during mating season, the two genders barely tolerate each other, and live in separate communities.

The mating period lasts for approximately one week out of every two Earth-standard years, each far-flung Hardit community synchronizing to their own local cycle with uncanny accuracy. The males who approach females first have about an evens chance of either securing a reproductive advantage, or dying from the claw wounds inflicted by an unimpressed female.

A tentative understanding of Hardit culture suggests that there is an overarching elite ruling class comprised of a very small number of alpha males. Beta males – which comprises the vast majority of that gender – appear to be lower in the social hierarchy than any female; they occupy the most inhospitable locations and carry out the most dangerous professions. And yet, most interactions with humans are from low-ranked female Hardits. Perhaps carrying out a role so odious that it is not assigned to males is the ultimate punishment for Hardit females. The truth is, we just don’t know. Perhaps the only thing we can say with certainty about Hardits is that, despite living near them for centuries, they have an unending capacity to surprise us… and that their surprises are usually unpleasant.

Further, it is believed that the fact that the Hardits prematurely began their rebellion in the Tranquility System allowed for the inevitable rebound of their human enemies.

Human Legion Observations
This alien species, much like the Trog’s, communicate through pheromones. They are described as quadrupedal and monkey-like or wolf-like in appearance, with long tails which they can use as a weapon or to grip a weapon. They can walk on their lower two legs while using the upper two appendages as ‘hands’ or they can walk on all four of their appendages while using their tail to carry things. They’ve been known to run on all fours with their tail carrying their weapon, though they are unable to effectively engage the enemy while in this position. They are short fur-covered humanoids with a long tail and three eyes set in a triangle high above their teeth filled snout, however, the eye that makes the top of the visual triangle is notably smaller than the other two. The snout is further tipped with a bulbous projection which is presumed to be their nose. The snout of the males tends to be more triangular as well, whereas the females tend to have a more cylindrical ones. The males of the species also tend to be of a slimmer and less substantial build than the females of the species. They appear to be approximate the same size and shape of small humans, but their attitude was extremely alien to human understanding. The average Hardit is approximately 1.5 to 1.7 meters tall and they speak in a growling manner, requiring the aide of voice boxes to adequately communicate with humans. Their primary sense is that of smell and they have an average lifespan of 172 years. The environment that the Hardits evolved on forces them to live and thrive in underground environments, and meant that they evolved with eyes best suited for darkness and they are, as a species, agoraphobic. This fear of open spaces can be used as a tactical advantage to combatants smart enough to utilize this flaw. This is, however, more than a psychological phobia as they are prone to various cancers when exposed to the harsh rays of Tranquilities sun. Ultraviolet radiation is lethal to them and they are easily dazzled by bright lights. The air on Tranquility is heavy and overly oxygen rich for the Hardit systems and causes them to tire easily if they aren’t using breathing apparatuses. Their strengths, however, are formidable so don’t let yourself get fooled into complacency with this alien race.

When it comes to their personality the Hardits tend to be impatient, which led to them actively, and prematurely, initiating the rebellion on the moon over Tranquility. They are severely xenophobic, at least their females are, which inhibits their ability to efficiently resist their White Knight overlords. In addition to their renowned xenophobia, they are known to be cruel and have an extremely sexual culture that operates on a class system with the sexes barely tolerating each other except during mating season. We also learn, through their actions during the Free Corps Mutiny, that they distrust electronics and those species which use them. This is ironic, given their technological prowess, but they specifically distrust advanced electronics, such as surveillance gear, allowing the Human Legion to exploit their idiosyncrasies. Instead, the Hardits rely on scents, which means Marines in combat suits are essentially invisible until within visual range.

Further, the Hardits benefit from an impressive array of cultural skills which complement their personalities. Because of these skills, particularly their mining and maintenance capabilities, they are prized by the White Knights. They are, through the planet on which they evolved, highly attuned to changes in gravity and it is said that they can see through rock. They can, in practice, always know exactly how deep they are below ground and can use this skill to allow two tunneling groups to meet in the middle at precisely the same point. They are aggressive fighters, excellent engineers and great at any number of technical skills. The Hardits are also natural traders who engaged in a black market economy throughout Tranquility. However, their trading capabilities will be hampered if they can’t get a handle on their innate xenophobia.

Like all species, the Hardits originated from a single planet and their racial birthplace continually effects them after they left it for the stars. They originated on a planet called Iradis 3 and first contacted with the Trans-Species Union 0.73 million years before the events of the Human Legion. They are rare in that they first initiated the contact with the Trans-Species Union. The Hardit home world is extremely similar to Earth, except for a slightly weaker gravity on Iradis 3 along with an extremely weak planetary magnetic field. This has caused Iradis 3 to be blasted from space with various effects from their local star and destroyed the planet’s atmosphere, thus leaving the surface as a sterile husk.