The Kazon Order

The Kazon, up to several decades ago, were the indentured slaves of the Trabe, an influential and far-reaching species that had conquered their homeworld. Records show that the Trabe treated the Kazon as little more than animals, including forcing them to fight each other frequently in order to foster distrust and prevent them from ever revolting. The Kazon eventually did rise against their oppressors, and in 2346 a Kazon called Jal Sankur convinced the Kazon sects to put aside their differences to overthrow the Trabe. Now claiming the abandoned Trabe sectors, the Kazon Collective is composed of over a dozen different sects, who each control a region and that region’s resources, and vary in power and influence.

Much has recently been learned about the Kazon, which has allowed for a clearer picture into their abilities, their hierarchy, and ultimately, their goals.

The Kazon in 2371 have been united under the banner of crusade by a cultural figure who calls himself Mahj Olaam. Those dozen sects, while still nominally respecting the territory of their neighbors, have begun cooperating in the interest of furthering all Kazon. This is a noble goal in theory, but many dissenters amongst the sects believe Olaam to be amassing power for himself, and simply providing the illusion of mutual prosperity to motivate the sects into following him.

Whatever the ultimate end, the Kazon have subsequently greatly expanded both their reach and their grasp, usurping entire sectors and crushing the unprepared native powers easily. The Kazon are uninterested in ruling directly, content to simply raid for what they want and otherwise leave their ‘subjects’ alone. Thus, their ‘territory’ features dozens of sovereign planets who don’t recognize the Kazon’s claim to their resources – but also often have little with which to stop them.

Kazon culture, such as it is, is highly ritualized and organized around brutality and stoicism in equal measure. Kazon are trained in warfare from extremely early ages, and only recently have included females in their raiding cadres. A cultural holdover from their time under the Trabe, most rites of passage are less pass/fail and more survive/die. These are voluntary, but to be anyone of note in the Kazon sphere, you must be initiated by their rites. Because of this, Kazon expect to meet short, violent ends, and so learn to wait for their opportunities to strike without fear of reprisal. Cunning is considered one of the highest virtues of the warriors within the sects, and no one group wields more power than the warriors.

The humanoid Kazon’s most distinguishing feature is its matted, almost fungus-like hair that grows in lumps on its head. The hair grows down below the ears, but a plate-like ridge on the Kazon’s head leads the hairline there to look what we would call “receding.” In adults, this hair is shot through with flecks, strands, or even whole shards of an unusual bio-organic metal. This isn’t present in children – instead, that metal is contained within their bloodstream, and protects the children from heavy doses of radiation. The skin of the Kazon the Odyssey has encountered ranges from coppery-red to dark brown, which may be determined by the different sects of Kazon.