No Longer Human-Challanid Race Pack
"RAAAAH!!! MASTERS GIVE GOK MORE BOUNTY IF PREY DIES SCREAMING!!!"
-Words of Gok 'Kha, Challanid mercenary
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No Longer Human-Challanids is the third installment of No Longer Human: an expansive, ambitious mod series dedicated to making rimworlds much more biologically diverse, filling them with creatures that have been altered so extremely that whatever resemblance they have to the baseline human form is superficial at best.
This mod introduces Challanids to the galactic rim: a feral de-evolution of a megacorporate charter colony, now used as skirmisher units in piratical warbands. Yes, these monsters were made by corporate hands, the hands of the Mamona Conglomerate, to be exact. The creatures were made as part of their New Horizons program-as willing slaves, meant solely to increase profits for the Board by creating tributary vassal states on the planet Challan Prime. The Challanids' biology was designed to thrive on this planet, a planet hostile to pretty much any other subspecies of ♥♥♥♥ sapiens. Lots of money was thrown at lots of biotech nerds, and most of it was spent on acquiring the last known fossil of the Utahraptor. And then they had to go and give the things mandibles...
Challan Prime was raped of most of its resources in a matter of centuries, but only a small fraction of it went to the Conglomerate. The thing with Challanids is that they love wealth, and damn near every single one would stab a god in the back if it meant they got 2 bucks out of it. Wars between Challanid reaver-hosts and Mamona "asset recovery" battalions were constant. Mamona was quickly kicked off the planet as soon as the Challanids were able to muster their power in numbers and consolidate it into clans and kingdoms.
Hell, even to this day, Challanid pirates would gladly be turned to fried chicken by a city's killbox if they thought they would get money out of it. Challanid history is basically a very, very, very long list of instances where some warlord did something stupid for money and either got unreasonably lucky or died in mind-breaking pain.
Anyway, Challan Prime is now a haven for space pirates, and considered neutral ground by most syndicates. As soon as the first gangs found the verdant paradise filled with (mostly carnivorous) megaflora that is Challan Prime, the natives quickly put up their swords and betrayed their old masters for a chance at life among the stars, complete with shiny, high-tech weaponry that could put a hole straight through a kraelokh. And no, you don't want to know what a kraelokh is.
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Yay, I finally released a mod that has actual gameplay use!
Yes, I do know what Venators are, one even killed some of these when I was taking the screenshots. But, having played with Venators since the mod released, they're not good for any range other than 200 feet away. RimWorld doesn't really have a pawn type that fits a 'skirmisher' role. I like most of my gunmen at mid-range with automatics and shotguns, and I've had to bury many pawns in my time playing RimWorld because you can get swarmed so damn easily at mid-range, and it's really hard to kite or flee to a range where I can actually shoot things with most in-game pawns being so slow.
So I made the Challanids. These guys were specifically designed for speed. They run fast, they shoot fast, and they are exceptionally hard to hit. They're perfect firing squad material-give a few Challanids something with a fast enough fire rate and watch them gun down armies. And, in the rare case your squad does get swarmed, they can get out of there in seconds, regaining an advantageous position and resuming the good ol' meat grinder strategy. And, just in case someone tries to stab or shoot them in the back, they can quickly dodge and run off without a scratch.
They can also be used to close the distance on fleeing raiders, or capture downed pawns mid-combat.
And all of this comes with the downside of taking even more damage than Delicate pawns. Pray to the Archotechs that your birds don't get smacked too hard, because just like terrestrial birds, their bones are hollow. Also, the excessively fast trigger fingers of the Challanids leads to them not being all that accurate, but certainly useful if you have a whole squadron of them. Especially if you give the whole squadron LMGs. Or chain shotguns. Or anything from Rimsenal. Or anything with fire. Or explosions. Oh, the possiblities!
Design-wise, the Challanids fill a lot of alien tropes no other mod has filled yet. Besides the Utahraptor inspiration, Challanids are based off of Sangheili, T'vaoans, and Nikto. If you aren't a basement-dwelling troglodyte like me who's never seen the sun or a woman in his life, Sangheili is what the Elites call themselves. Ditto with T'vaoan and the skirmisher Jackals from Reach. And the Nikto are the weird spiky lizard things from the skiff in Return of the Jedi. Yes, those have a name. Before I made the Challanids, we didn't have a spiky alien nor an alien with digitigrade legs. There also wasn't a "feral space pirate" enemy like the Jackals or the Vorcha from Mass Effect (Mass Effect being a game where most pirates have backwards legs). I also wanted more "tame" mandibles as a gene instead of whatever the Kaekrices have going on.
I don't bother to remove any mods when I take my screenshots. This mod only adds the Challanids, anything else that isn't base game either came from a mod not made by me or the Grendel and Kaekrix mods I made a while back. Guess what those add.
Have fun with the mod, and remember, you don't have to worry about silly things like "crimes against humanity" if they're grimy little Challanids. They're not human! Sure, they're bipedal, but here's the thing.
They're not featherless.
Technicalities do be like that sometimes, huh?
EDIT: I do know Steam is censoring the Latin name for a human, but I'm keeping it there because it's just too funny.
UPDATE: Fixed bug where Challanid mandibles were both on the front and back of the head.
