Diud:
  The diud people are a good-natured bunch, but their on-going war with the vuchelk’shi has colored them a bit. They have a natural affinity for working together and they like being part of a team. This makes them especially suited for the military form of government that they have. 


  Diud are shorter than humans on average and are covered in a velvety gray fur. They prefer cooler climates and dark colors. They are usually seen wearing military fatigues. The maximum life span of a diud is 800 years. During this time, diud change very little, physically. In their last year of life, diud age rapidly and painfully as cell division in their bodies virtually ceases. They then die.

   Diud have a great deal of respect for soldiers as nearly half of their population is in the armed forces. They are virtually always armed, usually with automatic weapons. Even their children are taught the basics of marksmanship. Many of them have firearms at the age of fourteen, which is equivalent to a human age of eleven or twelve. For this reason, human police forces dislike them a great deal.

   What motivates a diud? Not money. Human credits are worthless in the Diud Empire, and diud won’t have anything to do with vuchelk’shi Ryll, the only other kind of money used by anyone. Diud chits are reasonably valuable in the Empire, as their value is regulated by the diud government. The diud economy is a poor one, with few luxuries to be found. There are still places in the Empire where electricity and running water are hard to come by. Vehicles are bought used from the military, or salvaged from battlefields throughout the Empire. Many drive abandoned vuchelk’shi vehicles.

Like the vagarin, the diud loot dead enemy soldiers, but for slightly different reasons. The vagarin are looking for valuables they can sell. The diud are snatching up souvenirs. They want knives, firearms, ammunition, grenades, helmets, and the like to send home or to add to their collections.

There are three things diud can be counted on to be. First, all diud are utterly and unfailingly loyal to the Empire. I’m not kidding, all of them. There are no situations or circumstances in which a diud, soldier or civilian, would betray the interests or activities of the Diud Empire. None. Second, diud will work together. They easily acknowledge a chain of command and they follow it. They are excellent soldiers and rarely pull stupid moves. Their guards are alert and can’t be bribed. Weapons skills range between 3 and 6. And third, diud cannot kill each other for any reason at all. If a diud kills a member of his own race, he suffers brain death as well. This is non-corruptible. Even the nithe can’t remove this trait. No diud can intentionally inflict a life-threatening injury to another diud. There are NO exceptions.

The diud don’t throw the word “kill” around lightly. If they say they’ll kill something for a particular reason, they mean it. If a diud soldier raises her weapon, she is prepared to use it. Right now.

The Diud Empire is one great big military police state. Everything is run by the armed forces. There are no police as a human would know them. The diud army patrols the Empire and responds to crimes in progress. These are not police so much as they are infantry on police detail. They respond to situations as combat soldiers, bringing maximum levels of lethal force to bear as possible in an effort to neutralize the criminal with minimal loss of military and innocent civilian personnel as possible. The diud don’t hesitate to either shoot a criminal or to beat him to a pulp. Criminals in the Empire have no civil rights and are considered guilty until and unless they can prove they didn’t do it. The penalty for most violent crimes is death by firing squad. Not tomorrow, but in fifteen minutes, out behind the building. There is no appeals process.

Aliens are the perpetrators of 99% of the crime in the Diud Empire. The diud use gazelle troops to deal with the other 1%.

Obviously, the diud can be brutal, but so is their war, so they’re used to brutality. If you play by their rules they can be some of the best friends a guy ever had.

Most diud in human areas are looking for equipment to use against the vuchelk’shi. If there are any vuchelk’shi in a party that meets up with diud, the diud will consider the whole party to be enemies. They may attack now, but it’s more likely that they will seek a time of their own choosing to attack, when they have more men to attack with, and are equipped for it. And when the party is least ready for an attack, and the farthest away from any help.

The minimum courage die for a diud is 1d8. The maximum is 1d12. Only one diud in six is male, the rest are female. The Technological Classification for the Diud Empire is C.

There are 4 subgenus of Diud:

Diud: the generalized type as described above.
Northland Diud: They have longer, thicker fur that is nearly white. They prefer much colder climates. They also dislike virtually everybody else.
Throwback: Occasionally a combination of the parents genes come together to create a Diud very similar to a Diud'chi. They are almost as tall as a Diud'chi. They are almost incapable of aggressive behavior and are more emotional, sensual and empathic than a typical Diud.
Svachekt: a remote world of Diud Empire where there were no males. Because of this some females developed into sires which could impregnate 'mates'. The difference is internal and depending on circumstances can switch between the two.