Keth

AX.GAT.06.07 - Keth

Supplemental

"We don't use the word 'backup.' We use the word 'pack.' The distinction matters more than you would expect."

The Keth are pack-bonded in a way that goes beneath culture into biology. Their pheromone communication layer is not metaphor, it is a secondary signaling system that operates continuously beneath their verbal speech, carrying threat assessments, emotional states, and spatial awareness data to any Keth within range. A group of Keth who have been together long enough develops what they call a read, a shared environmental model built from aggregated pheromone data that gives the group threat-awareness no individual member achieved alone.

They are a medium-framed species, physically unremarkable compared to Gorrathi, with coarser external skin adapted to absorb sensory data through tactile channels in addition to their standard sensory set. Their faces are wider than most species consider standard, with a secondary nasal structure specifically for pheromone parsing, and they tend toward physical proximity that other species sometimes find uncomfortable before they understand the reason.

The Keth homeworld was a dense-canopy environment with high predator pressure. The pack-bond system developed as a survival mechanism: distributed awareness meant distributed survival probability. Species that hunted in isolation were easier to kill than species that hunted in permanent sensory contact with each other. This evolutionary logic is so thoroughly embedded in Keth social organization that Keth who are genuinely isolated, away from any other Keth, in a non-Keth environment, develop a specific form of sensory deprivation that they call running blind. It is not pleasant. It is not supposed to be.

In the World

Keth arrived on the Terminal in concentrated family-group migrations rather than individual arrivals, which means their community is more cohesive than several other lineages. They tend to live in adjacent quarters, work in overlapping shifts, and maintain the physical proximity that sustains the pheromone communication layer. Other species find Keth communities dense, well-coordinated, and occasionally impenetrable, not because Keth are exclusionary by principle, but because their primary communication channel is not accessible to non-Keth.

This creates a genuine integration challenge. A Keth at work alongside a non-Keth team is operating with less information than they would have with another Keth present, not less intelligence or less capability, but less ambient data. They compensate through verbal communication practices that are more deliberate and more precise than Keth-to-Keth communication needs to be, which gives Keth a reputation for over-explaining things that other Keth would have picked up passively. This is not condescension; it is the labor of translating an involuntary data stream into a form that requires language.

Within the station's criminal and enforcement economies, Keth pack-awareness has been noted and sought. Operations that require coordinated teams benefit significantly from having Keth members, the threat-broadcast mechanic that makes Keth instinctively better at communicating danger than other species creates tactical advantages that faction security coordinators have been paying premium contracts to access. Some Keth communities are comfortable with this and have negotiated terms they find acceptable. Others have drawn lines about which operations warrant pack involvement. These are ongoing community discussions, not resolved positions.

Lineage Mechanics

Health Modifier: +2 (Applied at character creation and each time Fortitude is increased through XP advancement.)

Design Note: A solid Health modifier reflecting genuine physical resilience without reaching Gorrathi extremes. Keth are tough because pack survival requires each member to keep functioning, not because they are individually exceptional. The +2 is correct, meaningful, not dominant.

Cultural Talent: Tactics 1D This die is free; it does not come from the Talent generation budget. Keth coordinate naturally and have been coordinating since before they had words for it. Tactics for a Keth is instinctive pattern-reading embedded by evolutionary pressure. Common Foci: Pack Coordination, Ambush, Threat Assessment.

Inherited Perks

Pack Sense | Coordinated Awareness

The Keth pheromone communication layer creates a passive shared awareness state among Keth in proximity. When one Keth notices danger, the data propagates automatically to any other Keth within range, not as communication, but as biological fact.

Effect: When a Keth succeeds on a Notice roll to detect a threat or hazard,
        all allied Keth within Near range (6–30 ft) are also considered to
        have noticed the same thing, without needing to make their own Notice
        rolls. This propagation is automatic and cannot be suppressed; it
        is not a choice.

        Additionally, Keth within Near range of at least one other allied Keth
        gain +1D to Notice rolls. The pheromone data provides redundant
        sensory confirmation that improves perception accuracy.

        Non-Keth allies within the same group may benefit from Pack Sense
        indirectly: if a Keth in the group is the party's Notice roll, all
        Keth in range share the result, and the non-Keth may be informed by
        the Keth (verbal communication or signal), but do not receive the
        biological propagation. This is the primary mechanical distinction
        between Keth-to-Keth and Keth-to-other communication.

Activation: Passive
Scope: Near range (propagation and bonus)
Genre Note: The automatic propagation is designed to function without requiring
            player coordination or table discussion. If the Keth's Notice roll
            succeeds, all Keth in range know. No trigger action, no signal
            declared. The GM should narrate this as the Keth registering
            the same data simultaneously rather than visibly reacting; it
            is instinct, not communication.

Threat Broadcast | Pack Response

Keth pheromone signaling is not one-directional. When a Keth takes damage, the pheromone spike that carries distress also carries data, vector, intensity, source characteristics. Other Keth in range receive this involuntarily and respond with sharpened focus toward the threat that caused it.

Effect: When a Keth suffers damage from any source, all allied Keth within
        Near range (6–30 ft) gain +1D to their next attack or defense roll
        made against the source of that damage. This bonus persists until
        the end of their next Turn or until used, whichever comes first.

        This effect stacks across multiple Keth taking damage in the same
        Turn, if two Keth are hit by the same source in the same Turn, the
        broadcast intensity increases and the bonus becomes +2D for all allied
        Keth in range for that next roll.

        The broadcast is involuntary, a Keth cannot choose not to broadcast
        when damaged. In contexts where concealing injury matters (stealth
        operations, social manipulation), the pheromone spike may reveal the
        damage to other Keth in range even if the Keth's verbal and physical
        behavior does not.

Activation: Passive (triggered on damage received)
Scope: Near range
Genre Note: The involuntary nature of the broadcast is a narrative detail,
            not a mechanical penalty; it does not impose a condition on the
            Keth. However, it creates interesting complications in stealth
            scenarios where other Keth are present: the injured Keth may
            not visibly react, but any Keth nearby knows immediately. This
            is worth playing with in investigation and infiltration scenes.

Power Access

Keth have no built-in Power Access. Their pheromone communication layer is biological, not psionic, the Velhari's Psionic Sensitivity does not read Keth pack signals (they are chemical, not electromagnetic or psionic). Keth may access traditions through Profession or Progression Track. No lineage affinity bonus applies. Keth tradition users are not uncommon but are rarely pack-supported in traditional use, the community relationship with tradition practice is one of active development.

Attribute and Talent Caps

Standard caps apply. No cap increases.

Context	Maximum Value
Attributes	5D
Talents	5D
Foci	3D

Design Note: Keth mechanical power is in their pack-synergy perks, which scale with group composition. A Keth playing alongside other Keth players gets significantly more value from their perks than a Keth playing alone. This is intentional; it models the lineage's core mechanic and rewards players who engage with that aspect of the lineage.

Roleplaying the Keth

The Pack and the Party

Define the Keth character's pack clearly, whether it is the adventuring party (unusual but meaningful if it includes other Keth), a family group elsewhere on the station, or former packmates. The pack is the primary emotional attachment for a Keth; losing pack members is a specific form of grief distinct from other losses, because it is also a sensory loss.

Running Blind

A Keth who is genuinely isolated from other Keth for extended periods, separated from their pack by circumstance, far from the Keth community, operating solo, experiences a mild sensory deprivation. Players should discuss with their GM how to represent this: mechanical Disadvantage on extended solo operations, a persistent mood condition, or purely narrative texture. It should not be trivial, but it should not be incapacitating.

Explaining What the Body Does

Keth who operate with non-Keth allies frequently find themselves narrating their own sensory experience: I'm getting a spike, something is wrong, I don't know where from yet. This is the labor of biological translation. Players can lean into this as a character voice, the Keth who has gotten very good at putting their involuntary data into words, or the Keth who finds it frustrating, or the one who treats it as useful discipline.

GM Notes

Pack Sense propagation: Track which Keth PCs are within Near range of each other at meaningful moments. The automatic propagation makes ambush scenarios against all-Keth or Keth-heavy groups work differently, a hidden threat that would surprise a mixed group cannot surprise the Keth, and all Keth in range share the discovery simultaneously. Plan your ambushes accordingly, or use the mechanic to create moments where the Keth are the party's early warning system.

Threat Broadcast in combat: Track the +1D bonus clearly; it activates on damage received, applies to the next qualifying roll, and expires at end of next Turn. In combat with multiple Keth PCs, this can produce significant temporary bonuses. It is balanced by requiring the Keth to take damage first. Monitor whether it is creating situations that feel unearned; if so, the natural counter is targeting single Keth to exhaust the broadcast bonus on one target rather than spreading damage.

Non-Keth parties: A Keth in an otherwise non-Keth party gets Pack Sense's +1D only when near other Keth, which in many campaigns means not often. Their Threat Broadcast still functions (other Keth in range still respond), but if no other Keth are in the party, the broadcast has no recipients. This is a meaningful mechanical cost of isolation, not a design error.

Quick Reference

Lineage Element	Value / Details
Health Modifier	+2
Cultural Talent	Tactics 1D (free; common Foci: Pack Coordination, Ambush, Threat Assessment)
Inherited Perk 1	Pack Sense, successful Notice propagates to allied Keth Near; +1D Notice when near allied Keth
Inherited Perk 2	Threat Broadcast, on taking damage, allied Keth Near gain +1D next qualifying roll vs source; stacks to +2D if multiple Keth hit same Turn
Power Access	None (Profession or Track only)
Cap Increases	None, standard caps apply