Skaarj

The Skaarj are a powerful, imperial race with aims of subordinating or destroying all other species, under the justification that the Skaarj are naturally superior to all others. Skaarj typically stand between seven and nine feet tall, and have reptillian scales ranging in color from dark and light green to blue or yellow. They have an overhanging forehead with glowing eyes burning underneath, short, curved tusks, and, in the case of the Warrior caste, long, braided, scaly, dreadlocks arcing off the back of their heads. Most Skaarj have thick tails, though this feature seems to become increasingly reduced the farther along the Trooper caste a Skaarj progresses.

The Skaarj presence on Na Pali is separated into two main castes: Warriors and Troopers:

Warrior: Skaarj Warriors are the first caste fo Skaarj the player encounters. They typically wear light armor which facilitates their brutal, agile, martial-art style fighting techniques. Their primary weapon is a device which later in the series became known as a Razik: a wrsist-mounted weapon bearing, in this case, two long, jagged, retractable blades and a projectile energy blaster. Up close, Warrior caste Skaarj will stab and slice with these blades, executing either a swift one-two jabbing attack or a more dangerous spinning slash attack. At range, they will either fire energy bolts from their Razik, two at a time (since they wear a Razik on each wrist) or lunge through the air with their claws extended, ready to shred the player to bits. This attack not only does severe damage, but allows the Skaarj to suddenly be within melee range, where it can use its more deadly attacks. All Skaarj are intelligent, but the two castes have different methods of dealing with incoming fire. Warriors are extremely agile and will somersault and dive to avoid incoming fire, or even to move out of the line of fire of an instant-hit weapon such as the ASMD or Rifle. They will adjust their tactics depending on the weapon that is being used against them.

Skaarj Warriors come in several variations, each delivering a slightly different experience:

Skaarj Scout: the weakest of the Warrior caste, the Scout is a dark yellowish-green with a dull red chest. Its armor consists of dark gray greavs, a belt with a crotch plate and thigh pads, and a Razik on each wrist. Moderately aggressive and decently quick, these are good beginner Skaarj that should be used to learn the basic Skaarj patterns. Scouts are not above running away if they become too injured. Later in the game, Scouts effectively stop appearing.

Skaarj Warrior: bearing the same name as his caste, this is the most common Skaarj the player will encounter. Colored a light green with a gray chest and no apparent armor, this class is stronger than a Scout, and tends to be a little more aggressive. The abasence of even the typical Razik on this class suggests that the claws and energy bolts may also be part of the Skaarj's natrual physiology, a trait that is partly supported, and modified, by the Unreal Championship 2 incarnation of the Skaarj.

Skaarj Berserker: these terrifying Skaarj stand as the tallest and largest of all standard Skaarj classes. They are similar in color to a Scout, but more pronounced, bearing a deeper red-brown chest and darker scales, as well as the same armor loadout, but the similarities effectively end there. While most Skaarj will fight with a degree of tactical care, Skaarj Berserkers will attack pretty much anything on-sight, and will close with their target as swiftly as possible. Their large size allows them to take and dish out significantly more damage than regular Skaarj, and allows them greater speed, making them extremely hard to evade. The Berserker's extreme aggressiveness can be used against it, as two Berserkers will almost automatically engage each other, which can allow the player to either slip away, wait it out and pick off the victor, or ambush the two with heavy firepower while they're distracted. Berzerkers are semi-rare and are usually presented as specific encounters, as opposed to regular enemies.

Skaarj Assassin: a more disceplined Skaarj Warrior, Assassins are yellow in color, and wear a full-body armor suit that has a slight blueish hue. They are smarter and have faster reactions than a typical warrior, but tend to be a little more cautious. They are fairly rare until late in the game, and can be hard to distinguish from Lords. Their armor allows them to take more damage than a typical Warrior.

Skaarj Lord: like an Assassin, but larger, bolder, and darker. Lords' armor loses the Assassins' blue hue in favor of a more black look, but their slightly larger size and bolder attack strategies will be the primary distinguishing factor.

Ice Skaarj: a vrey large, blue-hued Skaarj warrior that effectively behaves like a Berzerker. In Unreal, this class is encountered once at the end of "The Darkening." It appears to be a Skaarj that has undergone some kind of cryogenic treatment, and is is among the strongest and most aggressive of the Warrior caste.

Luminescent Skaarj: these are experiments that the player will fight while exloring the Skaatj Mothership after destroying the main Generator and plunging the ship into inky blackness. They are transluscent, and glow either blue or green, which makes them visible in the blackness of the ship. They are strong and aggressive, but ultimately not too much different from regular Skaarj in terms of tactics. Blue ones are more rare, and tend to be more difficult. There is also a larger, red one that the player will meet while exploring the Skaarj Mothership Labs.

Trooper: partway through the game, the Trooper caste is introduced. Skaarj Troopers share some tectical similarities to Warriors, but have they are more militaristic than the, perhaps more traditional, Warriors, and employ some different tactics and equipment. They wear a different style of armor, have short, stubby tails, and have disregarded the Razik for the same weapons employed by the player. Up close, Troopers use the same animations as the Warriors, but they lack the brutal claws, so they appear to beat and pummel the player with their fists instead. All Troopers carry a personal energy shield that absorbs nearly all incoming damage, and will tend to huddle behind it when under fire from isntant-hit weaponry. They may stay hidden behind this shiled for some time, peeking out only momentarily to fire a few shots at the player. They will tend to rely on their adept dodging skill to avoid projectile weapons:

Skaarj Trooper: the second weakest of the caste, this class also shares its name. Troopers are roughly on par size-wise with a Scout (7.5-8 feet) but is yellow in color, and wears light gray/white armor, consisting of shoulder pads, boots, a pointed helmet, bracers, a light chest-plate and a belt. Their default weapon is a Dispersion Pistol, though they may ultimately be found wielding any of the game's weapons.

Skaarj Infantry: Infantry look exactly like Troopers, but generally carry Stingers, making them significantly more deadly opponents. They follow the same tactics and shold be dealt with in roughly the same way, keeping in mind that they tend to carry more deadly weaponry than Troopers.

Skaarj Gunner: a startling cyan in coloration, and wearing slightly less coverage in terms of armor, the Gunner is a heavier set Trooper class that typically wields a deadly Eightball rocket/grenade launcher, making him a significant threat, especially in close-quarters. He is stronger than a typical Trooper, but tends to appear less often.

Skaarj Sniper: Occuring very rarely, this deadly class carries a Skaarj Hunting Rifle by default, but has also been seen weilding a GES Bio-Rifle. They appear as thinner Gunners, and are the weakest of all Skaarj classes.

Skaarj Officer: rivaling a Lord in size, the Officer wears a full-body armor suit sporting a bright light-blue and reddish coloration. The few areas where its scales are exposed reveal its yellow hue. Officers are the strongest and most aggressive of the Trooper class, and, by default carry a Razorjack, though they can also be found with Rifles and other weapons. Officers have the potential to be the most deadly of the Skaarj classes, so hit them hard and drop them fast.

At the top of the militaristic side of the Skaarj presence on Na Pali is the War Lord. The War Lord towers over even a Berserker, wears a full-body armor suit with a dark green and black color scheme, weidls a large, heat-seeking missile launcher, and possesses the ability to fly with a pair of large, bat-like wings on his back. The War Lord is as agile in the air as other Skaarj are on the ground, avoiding incoming fire and dodgind out of the line of fire of instant-hit weapons before you even fire at him. His missiles do significant damage, and their ability to track you makes them a formidable attack. Up close, the War Lord will bash you with his Launcher, a surprisingly clumsy seeming attack from such an agile race. In Unreal, you will have a teaser fight with the War Lord in a lava-filled cave beneath the Nali Castle called "The Demon Lord's Lair" and finally finish the battle inside the main Generator inside the Skaarj Mothership.

All these Skaarj have to come from somewhere, though. Halfway through the game, the player meets the Pupae form of the Skaarj species. A relatively small (about 6 feet long, but only a foot or so tall) insect-like creature that behaves alomst more like a spider than a Skaarj, though it still possesses the leap attack, the tusks, and the genral face-shape. Pupae are fairly weak, but in groups they can tear an unwary player apart in seconds. They have tell-tale hissing, and will tend to scratch arond on the ground, which can alert the player to their presence before any pupae are specifically seen. Pupae tend to congregaet in groups, and live, like spiders, in store-rooms and darkened, abandoned areas of Na Pali. They may be hiding in crates every now and then. The Skaarj Mothership has a few Pupae breeding areas that the player can become locked in for a time, and the final arena, The Source, is crawling with them throught the final fight.

The Source is the hive of the all-important Skaarj Queen. The Skaarj have an insect-like social structure, all centered around serving and protecting the Queen. The Queen herself is a towering beast, roughly 20 feet tall, with six limbs, the ability to fire several energy projectiles in sequence seemingly from her breasts, conjure an impenetrable energy shield, and teleport at will. The extent of her power is unknown, and she appears to meditate when not engaged in combat. A degree of the Motherships structual integrity may be held together simply by her will, since the ship begins to collapse and explode once she is killed. She is highly angered by the death of any of her children, and will scream loud enough to shake the room when any are killed in her presence. She is faster than the player, though her large size makes her a little cumbersome. The player's main advantage is a pair of unlimited Jump Boots which allow the player enough mobility to evdae the massive Queen. The Queen stands on her rear legs, which appear avian in structure, and balances on a pair of less developed secondary legs which appear mostly as insect-like spikes. Her main arms are humanoid. The Queen as a whole is not entirely humanoid, but rather has a slightly centaur-ish look resulting from her avian or theropodian hindquarters and massive tail. Her design is elegant, slender and dark. She is almost beautiful, and captures very well the techno-gothic look that charactarizes Unreal. A wonderful and memorable boss fight, ranking right up there with the Cyberdemon of Doom fame.