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Description
Shard race

A recently encountered race known to humans only by the nickname given to them by the first military force to encounter them. The shard has as of yet never made contact in a way that did not include deliberate, and violent attacks on those encountering them. Totally alien, and defying all known theories the shard do not seem to have any physical form other than a region of extremely distorted space which for a brief period of time behaves like a solid crystalline mass.

Despite several attempts to communicate through mechanical, electronic, and psionic means no success in peaceful communications have been recorded. Even the Foo have been unable to communicate, despite the extremely strong modulated electromagnetic energies given off by individual shard, hinting that they use these energies to sense the surrounding space, or communicate with one another.

Shard travel within their large vessels, and emerge from their ships to attack smaller vessels, ground facilities, and occasionally individuals without warning. Their appearance is announced by a sharp distortion of gravity within several meters of their point of entry, which has been known to cause massive damage and explosive fracturing of materials within the radius of their point of entry.

Even though it is impossible to guess at the nature of the creatures. their highly structured and deliverate behavior indicates they are aware, and capable of advanced planning, situational awareness, and problem solving on par with humans and other sentient species. Despite their lack of physical form conventional projectiles and plasma weapons are highly effective. although lasers simply deflect and scatter when entering the distorted space that make up their physical bodies.

Shard do not seem to be hindered by most materials but Xeno-isotope enriched materials, extremely dense metals, and electrical, or gravitational barriers do see to block their passage. Shard do not seem to pass through barriers as much as shift potions appearing on one side of a barrier, then existing on the opposite side at nearly the same moment in time. This ability is similar to the Foo's ability but does not involve a short hop into hyperspace the same way the foo bypass object in normal space.

The shard use no instrumentation or weapons, projecting bolts of highly disruptive energy at targets from a point near the center of their mass. this energy disrupts the molecular bonds of most matter and causes matter to violently super heat, and flash into plasma. this causes severe internal disruption to tissue and matter through even the most advanced armors. Only personal shields, or psionic barriers have been effective at resisting the energy blast of a Shard.

Shard seem to be able to sense discrete electromagnetic fields, manipulate them and redirect them at will. this allows them to access most computers and electronics, or disrupt operations within fifty meters, whether a direct line of sight is available or not. as a result most vehicles, and powered armor are quickly disabled, and troops are advise to discard powered armor immediately, and avoid relying on any electronic gear.

recent studies into the nature of the Shard has detected trace energies that are identical to those resulting in experiments with subspace. Including the presence of coherent, self sustaining, gravitational distortions detected by probes which survived subspace transit. Due to extreme restrictions on subspace research by the O'sahdii this data is still highly unreliable, and requires further research.

Due to the hostile nature of the Shard,, and the ease with which they affect most form of military hardware all forces are advised to treat the Shard as hostile, and fire on sight to prevent the Shard from reaching a 50 meter range of vital equipment. This shoot on sight order is highly unusual and has received clearance from the O'sahdii who have indicated they have encountered the Shard, and treat them as a hostile force.

Description
Shard race

A recently encountered race known to humans only by the nickname given to them by the first military force to encounter them. The shard has as of yet never made contact in a way that did not include deliberate, and violent attacks on those encountering them. Totally alien, and defying all known theories the shard do not seem to have any physical form other than a region of extremely distorted space which for a brief period of time behaves like a solid crystalline mass.

Despite several attempts to communicate through mechanical, electronic, and psionic means no success in peaceful communications have been recorded. Even the Foo have been unable to communicate, despite the extremely strong modulated electromagnetic energies given off by individual shard, hinting that they use these energies to sense the surrounding space, or communicate with one another.

Shard travel within their large vessels, and emerge from their ships to attack smaller vessels, ground facilities, and occasionally individuals without warning. Their appearance is announced by a sharp distortion of gravity within several meters of their point of entry, which has been known to cause massive damage and explosive fracturing of materials within the radius of their point of entry.

Even though it is impossible to guess at the nature of the creatures. their highly structured and deliverate behavior indicates they are aware, and capable of advanced planning, situational awareness, and problem solving on par with humans and other sentient species. Despite their lack of physical form conventional projectiles and plasma weapons are highly effective. although lasers simply deflect and scatter when entering the distorted space that make up their physical bodies.

Shard do not seem to be hindered by most materials but Xeno-isotope enriched materials, extremely dense metals, and electrical, or gravitational barriers do see to block their passage. Shard do not seem to pass through barriers as much as shift potions appearing on one side of a barrier, then existing on the opposite side at nearly the same moment in time. This ability is similar to the Foo's ability but does not involve a short hop into hyperspace the same way the foo bypass object in normal space.

The shard use no instrumentation or weapons, projecting bolts of highly disruptive energy at targets from a point near the center of their mass. this energy disrupts the molecular bonds of most matter and causes matter to violently super heat, and flash into plasma. this causes severe internal disruption to tissue and matter through even the most advanced armors. Only personal shields, or psionic barriers have been effective at resisting the energy blast of a Shard.

Shard seem to be able to sense discrete electromagnetic fields, manipulate them and redirect them at will. this allows them to access most computers and electronics, or disrupt operations within fifty meters, whether a direct line of sight is available or not. as a result most vehicles, and powered armor are quickly disabled, and troops are advise to discard powered armor immediately, and avoid relying on any electronic gear.

recent studies into the nature of the Shard has detected trace energies that are identical to those resulting in experiments with subspace. Including the presence of coherent, self sustaining, gravitational distortions detected by probes which survived subspace transit. Due to extreme restrictions on subspace research by the O'sahdii this data is still highly unreliable, and requires further research.

Due to the hostile nature of the Shard,, and the ease with which they affect most form of military hardware all forces are advised to treat the Shard as hostile, and fire on sight to prevent the Shard from reaching a 50 meter range of vital equipment. This shoot on sight order is highly unusual and has received clearance from the O'sahdii who have indicated they have encountered the Shard, and treat them as a hostile force.