Tellarites

Species Name: Tellarite
Homeworld: Tellar Prime
Physiology: Stocky, broad-built humanoids with dense muscle mass, pronounced facial features (including tusk-like mandibular structures), and robust internal systems. Tellarites possess heightened auditory and olfactory sensitivity, as well as exceptional spatial processing—critical in confined or complex engineering environments. Their biology resists most common intoxicants, sedatives, and neurotoxins, rendering them physiologically difficult to incapacitate through nonlethal means.

Cultural Overview:

• Argument as Art: Tellarite culture treats debate not as confrontation, but as a form of expression, bonding, and truth-seeking. Insults are a sign of respect, and persistent challenges are a gesture of engagement, not hostility.
• Pride and Provocation: Directness is a virtue; pretense is contemptible. Tellarites will test others' convictions by provoking them—those who withstand or respond in kind earn their esteem.
• Engineering and Infrastructure: Tellarites have a long tradition in structural design, mechanics, and shipbuilding. Their society values practical output and durable solutions over aesthetics or philosophical abstraction.
• Federation Founders: As one of the founding members of the Federation, Tellarites retain strong institutional presence in Starfleet, particularly in command, engineering, and diplomatic infrastructures—though not always with grace.

Starfleet Roles:

• Commonly serve in Engineering, Operations, and Command departments.
• Their durability, directness, and technical rigor make them invaluable in high-risk structural, mechanical, or combat environments.
• Not universally appreciated in diplomatic or medical roles—unless confrontation is part of the assignment.

Species Mechanics (STA 2e RAW + Canon Expansion):

ATTRIBUTES: +1 Control, +1 Fitness, +1 Insight
TRAIT: Tellarite

• Heightened smell, hearing, and spatial depth perception: may gain Advantage on Perception, Navigation, or Engineering tasks in tight spaces or irregular environments.
• High resistance to intoxicants, sedatives, and chemical agents: reduce Difficulty or gain Advantage when resisting such effects.
• Cultural argumentation may impose or trigger social Complications with species unaccustomed to confrontational communication (e.g., Vulcans, Betazoids).
• Treat insults as functional language—GM may allow social Advantage when sparring verbally in the spirit of cultural norm.

SPECIES ABILITY — STURDY:

• Gain +1 Protection against Stun Attacks only.
• When suffering a Complication representing a physical hindrance (e.g., Stunned, Dazed, Knocked Down, etc.), you may take 1 Stress to ignore that Complication and remove any associated Trait.
• Reflects Tellarite tenacity and refusal to go down without a fight.