| Race
Overview |
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The Protectors
of the Garden of Kadesh are a group of religious zealots
that hide in the Great Nebula (which they refer to as the
"Garden") and prey upon passing ships. Their
motherships are capable of generating a hyperspace inhibitor
field, and their swift, deadly Swarmer strike craft can
overwhelm almost any vessel trapped by this field. According
to the Bentusi, even the Taiidan fear the nebula, and no
ships entering there ever return.
"[The
Protectors of the Garden], are this cult of religious crazy
sort of.. umm... They're like this cult in space and
they’re very monotone and calm and completely
psychopathic; basically they’ll never ever bother you
unless you do one thing, and if you do that they’ll be
your enemy forever, and they’ll devote their entire
existence to try and destroy you. So don’t do that thing,
basically. But I’m not going to say what it is."
- Alex Garden, Director
("That
thing" Alex is referring to is the harvesting of the
Nebula. There's no way to avoid it, however; you can't get
through the Garden of Kadesh without fighting the
Protectors.)
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| Story |
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"After analyzing the data
we collected from the Khar-Toba's sister ship we've been
able to determine what happened in the nebula. While the
Khar-Toba was able to limp to Kharak, this ship instead must
have tried to hide here. They soon resorted to preying on
ships passing through the nebula. In time the nebula became
off limits to all shipping. They developed hyperspace
inhibitor technology to trap prey from far away without
leaving the safety of the nebula. Eventually it became the
center of their existence and ultimately, their
religion." - Fleet Intelligence
The
Kadesh have a sad history; they
and the Kushan were both descended from the ancient
Hiigarans, who were defeated in the First Time by the
vicious Taiidan and sent into exile. One branch of the
refugees (the Kadesh) settled in the Great Nebula; the other
(the Kushan) made it to Kharak. The Kadesh lived in the
Nebula for thirteen generations as scavengers and pirates.
They eventually developed their own fanatical religion, that
worshipped the Nebula itself. Eventually the Kushan passed
through the nebula on their way to reclaim their homeworld,
and the Protectors of the Garden attempted to trap them as
they had other vessels. When the Kushan refused to surrender
their vessels and join the cult of the Garden, the Kadesh
ruthlessly attacked, even when the Kushan explained that
their two peoples were related. So great was the Protectors'
fear of the Taiidan and so obsessed were they with their religion that they fought to the last, even against their
own kin. The Kushan were forced to destroy all of the
Kadeshi needle-ships in order to disable the hyperspace
inhibitor fields that prevented them from leaving the
Nebula. Despite much wishful fan-created fiction to the
contrary, there is nothing to indicate that any of the
Protectors survived the passage of the Kushan through the
Cathedral of Kadesh. They were zealots that fought to the
last to defend their holy place.
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