The Aggendi

To get things started, here is my version of the Aggendi for Algol 1530. They are based off the original archetype presented in the Mekton Empire book and slightly modified to fit Zeta rules and to provide a better threat.

The aggendi are normally about 7 feet tall, humanoid, and possessing characteristics of both reptiles and insects. NOT something you want to meet in a dark alley. They have no gender, being a genetically engineered race, and can reproduce only through cloning. Even so, they are not all identical. Their genetic structure is designed to produce a certain degree of variance in each successive generation.

• All Aggendi have their Body Type in hits of natural armor SP.
• Aggendi teeth and claws give them 2D6 (armor peircing) hits of damage in hand to hand combat.
• All Aggendi are educated by the massmind, effectively giving them an automatic education stat of 10.
• All Aggendi are immune to normal extremes of heat and cold.
• Aggendi are capable of surviving for several minutes unprotected in the vacuum of space.
• Aggendi do not age. If nothing kills them, they will live forever.
• Aggendi heal really fast. Double the healing rate on the natural recovery table (Mekton Z P. 115)
• Aggendi are capable of entering a form of natural suspended animation, allowing them to survive pretty much indefinitely without any other form of sustenance. This is how the Aggendi in Operation Rimfire survived 2000 years in space.

THE MASSMIND

All Aggendi are capable of linking up with the Massmind (the Aggendi collective intelligence). Doing so takes only a few seconds (1 action), and the link is evident by the fact that the Aggendi's normally pale yellow eyes glow blue. When linked to the Massmind, the Aggendi is subject to the following effects:

• +2 INT
• +2 REF
• +10 Stability
• Immunity to Stun/shock except for drugs (gasses, needlers, etc.)
• +5 temporary Hit points to all areas (suckers just don't realize they're dead!)
• They can produce a 1D10 Psi blast (as per the Psi power of the same name), or a 3D6 Telekinetic punch. This requires no psi points, and uses 2x the Aggendi's INT + 1D10 vs the target's appropriate defense roll (see defending against psi-skills in Mekton Zeta Plus)

Note: even when not linked to the Massmind, the individual Aggendi is still in contact on a subconscious level. The Massmind provides direction and purpose to the Aggendi, and has access to all of the Aggendi's knowledge. What one Aggendi knows, all the Aggendi know.

ROLE PLAYING

Despite the influence of the Massmind, all Aggendi are not mindless drones. Each has a distinct and individual personality. Their only real universal personality trait is that they are followers. They generally lack ambition of their own, and are dependent on the Massmind to direct them. If the Massmind is somehow removed, the Aggendi become listless, disorganized, and despondent.

AGGENDI TECHNOLOGY

Aggendi technology is entirely techno-organic. Every Aggendi ship is alive. Every Aggendi mekton is a living, sentient being. Some stand alone, like the scout mekton or mothership from Operation Rimfire, and some, like the Aggendi assault mecha which I will post later, can carry an Aggendi pilot within their body cavity, linked by a direct neural interface for increased combat effectiveness. All such sentient technology can function on it's own with its (rather dull) intelligence, and can telepathically contact the Aggendi Massmind (although they get none of the bonuses that the Aggendi do from it). It is unknown whether Aggendi mecha were genetically engineered at the same time in the forgotten past that the Aggendi were, or were species that were enslaved by the Aggendi at some point, but the seem to share many of the same abilities: rapid healing, immunity to age, and natural stasis.

HISTORY

After the destruction of the original colony on Algol, the Aggendi ship which destroyed it asked the Massmind for new instructions. It was told to go into stasis there and await further orders. Those orders would never come. Some centuries later, the Aggendi Massmind was destroyed by the Kirini-Elomani Overmind, ending their battle with the Bendar Galactic Empire (as recounted in the Mekton Empire sourcebook). Still in stasis near faraway Algol, one Aggendi ship slept through it all.

A millenium passes... then a lone aggendi scoutship is wrenched from stasis on Dion. Confused and alone, surrounded by humans, it defends itself as best it can and sends a last desperate cry to the long-dead massmind before being silenced forever.

Later, a human madman named Emil Dremmond tries to reawaken the Aggendi, and fails due to the efforts of a handful of heroes (Operation: Rimfire). However, as he lay dying within the Aggendi ship, he touched the deck of the ship and felt life; another mind groggily looking back at him. Seizing his chance, he used the last of his strength and his formidable psionic power to switch his mind with that of the living Aggendi ship, and he laughed as the ancient intelligence of the Aggendi ship died in the battered body of a human. It took Dremmond years to get used to his new situation. The Aggendi ship's physiology increased his psionic power a hundred fold, but it was so different from what he knew. Every reflex, down to the simplest movement, had to be relearned. Meanwhile the Aggendi, sensing Dremmond's efforts, began to stir. The reached out to the massmind, and felt only Dremmond. They looked for a purpose, and only one voice answered: Dremmond's. "Destroy them!" he said, "Destroy those fools who would thwart my destiny!" And the Aggendi, lacking any other purpose, agreed.

Dremmond finally had his army; fanatical, singleminded, and loyal unto death. He would become the core of their new Massmind, and all of Algol would pay...

-Jetman