Prador
Encyclopedia
The Prador are a fictional alien
race, created by Neal Asher
in his Polity Universe series of science-fiction books. The Prador are crustaceans that gain size over time, with the oldest being many times larger than a human.
Along their underside Prador have four manipulatory arms, each ending in a hand described as "a complex arrangement of hooks and fingers". These hands are highly dexterous and capable of fine manipulation, just like a human hand. It appears Prador can use all four hands to perform different tasks simultaneously, such as drawing and firing four different weapons at separate targets. Above these are the two heavy "working claws"; large crab-claw limbs that can easily cut through tough materials and crush human bones.
Prador feed with a set of dangerous mandibles, capable of grasping, cutting and chewing flesh. Prador are carnivorous, and mostly feed on decaying flesh, primarily harvested from giant mudskippers farmed on their homeworld. Adult Prador are very fond of human flesh, however, and many humans are bred just for this purpose, although by the end of the book The Skinner
, this practice has begun to decline.
Prador shells are particularly tough, able to withstand impacts and small arms fire, but they seem quite vulnerable to energy weapons and heat, which can cause the shells to burst open.
Prador are born in large numbers, as few of them will survive in their extremely competitive society. Those that survive the larval stage (only roughly 10% do so) become children. They must progress through the ranks of Third-, Second-, and First- child, with each level being larger and more intelligent than its predecessor. Very few Prador reach the level of First-Child (the stage where they obtain individual names and personalities), and almost all of these will be killed by their parents to prevent them becoming a threat. A typical Prador will be attended to by 3-4 First-Children at any one time. Those that escape their father's control become adults.
Once a Prador reaches adulthood the rear legs drop off and the sexual organs also develop, allowing the Prador to reproduce. It also develops immunity to its parents' pheromones. As Prador age they grow in size and their limbs atrophy and fall off. Truly ancient Prador (some living into millennia) are completely limbless and rely on AG motors welded to their shells for movement, and scores of blanks for manipulation of the physical world.
transmissions emitted by communication devices on the adult Prador.
Prador inter-family negotiations often consist of assassinations and outright conflict using blanks, adolescent first- and second-children.
Prador dislike AIs, and have none of their own, preferring to use surgically-modified cybernetically-enhanced second-children for roles such as probes, war machines and governing personalities in ships.
Prador are also very egotistical, and refuse to believe that humans and AIs are more intelligent than they are. If out-thought by an AI, a Prador would assume that a member of his own race was behind it.
Prador warship armor is resistant to heavy kinetic impacts, absorbing and distributing the kinetic energy evenly around the entirety of the ship, is quite capable of absorbing powerful energy based weapons fire, and can even reassert its original shape under combat conditions. These properties make for vessels that are incredibly tough and spectacularly difficult to destroy, requiring suitably powerful weaponry, or even near light speed kinetic projectiles. For this reason, Prador also invest in much more powerful and destructive weaponry. In stories set later in the Polity's history, however, the Polity has been able to develop armor of similar capabilities to Prador alloy, which partially contributed to the eventual Polity victory in the Prador war.
Another interesting aspect of their technology lies within their ability to Core and Thrall organic beings to act as extensions of themselves. This is normally achieved by replacing the nervous system within the lifeform with a Thrall Unit, thus creating a totally subservient organic machine, controlled remotely by an Adult Prador with the corresponding control unit. These control units are directly tied into the Prador's consciousness, and the more control units the Prador has, the more mental strength and aptitude must be applied to control the Thralls simultaneously. Thus, it is a sign of great power and prestige if an Adult Prador possesses many control units.
It is possible for Thralls to be put into autonomous roles, thus relieving the Prador of mental strain, but most Prador are necessarily quite paranoid about those close to them, and will monitor their personal Thralls incessantly, even killing them instead of relinquishing their absolute control.
Other Thrall units, such as the Spider Thrall Unit, exist. Spider Thralls do not require surgery to be implanted, and immediately dominate the host, tapping directly into the central nervous system and overriding control. However, in some cases Spider Thralls have been known to fail, or even be rejected by the host, usually resulting in death, but in some cases the host has been known to survive. The greatest advantage provided by Spider Thralls is that because the host body's nervous system still exists, command and control of the body is much smoother and reliable, and requires less concentration on the part of the Prador.
Thrall technology is used by the Prador because of their own physical shortcomings - a matter of convenience and efficiency, as Prador manipulator claws are nowhere near as sensitive or deft as human hands.
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
race, created by Neal Asher
Neal Asher
Neal Asher is an English science fiction writer. Both his parents are educators and science fiction fans. Although he began writing Science Fiction and Fantasy in secondary school, Asher did not turn seriously to writing till he was 25...
in his Polity Universe series of science-fiction books. The Prador are crustaceans that gain size over time, with the oldest being many times larger than a human.
Physical description
Prador are amphibious crustaceans with flattened pear-shaped shells with scalloped rims and a raised visual turret at the broad end that houses several pairs of red spider-like eyes, some of which are on movable stalks. Prador move about on six long legs, each terminating in a wicked spike. The rear pair of legs fall off when adolescent Prador make the transition to adults, exposing their sexual organs in the process.Along their underside Prador have four manipulatory arms, each ending in a hand described as "a complex arrangement of hooks and fingers". These hands are highly dexterous and capable of fine manipulation, just like a human hand. It appears Prador can use all four hands to perform different tasks simultaneously, such as drawing and firing four different weapons at separate targets. Above these are the two heavy "working claws"; large crab-claw limbs that can easily cut through tough materials and crush human bones.
Prador feed with a set of dangerous mandibles, capable of grasping, cutting and chewing flesh. Prador are carnivorous, and mostly feed on decaying flesh, primarily harvested from giant mudskippers farmed on their homeworld. Adult Prador are very fond of human flesh, however, and many humans are bred just for this purpose, although by the end of the book The Skinner
The Skinner
The Skinner is a 2002 science fiction novel by Neal Asher. It is the first novel in the Spatterjay sequence.-Plot:The Skinner tells the story of three individuals who have journeyed to the 'line-world' of Spatterjay, a hostile mostly aquatic world with ferocious native lifeforms.The planet...
, this practice has begun to decline.
Prador shells are particularly tough, able to withstand impacts and small arms fire, but they seem quite vulnerable to energy weapons and heat, which can cause the shells to burst open.
Life cycle
The Prador life cycle is structured much as their society. Juvenile and adolescents are frequently eaten by their parents in order to prevent them usurping the parent's role in society or competing for valuable resources. The parents accomplish this by using a mixture of pheromones to inhibit their children's life cycle. These pheromones are also used to prevent adolescents from questioning the orders of their parents at any stage. Prador held under the control of these pheromones for extended periods of time typically grow faster once they are removed.Prador are born in large numbers, as few of them will survive in their extremely competitive society. Those that survive the larval stage (only roughly 10% do so) become children. They must progress through the ranks of Third-, Second-, and First- child, with each level being larger and more intelligent than its predecessor. Very few Prador reach the level of First-Child (the stage where they obtain individual names and personalities), and almost all of these will be killed by their parents to prevent them becoming a threat. A typical Prador will be attended to by 3-4 First-Children at any one time. Those that escape their father's control become adults.
Once a Prador reaches adulthood the rear legs drop off and the sexual organs also develop, allowing the Prador to reproduce. It also develops immunity to its parents' pheromones. As Prador age they grow in size and their limbs atrophy and fall off. Truly ancient Prador (some living into millennia) are completely limbless and rely on AG motors welded to their shells for movement, and scores of blanks for manipulation of the physical world.
Use of 'blanks'
Prador do not accomplish much of their own physical work. Instead they implant 'core mechanisms' in captured human bodies turning them into mindless organisms known as 'blanks'. They then directly control these blanks through sub-spaceSubspace (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek fictional universe, subspace is a feature of space-time which facilitates faster-than-light transit, in the form of interstellar travel or the transmission of information. Subspace obeys different laws of physics...
transmissions emitted by communication devices on the adult Prador.
Prador society
Prador society is tightly striated and advancement challenges, as well as lethal arguments, are commonplace. No individual within the Prador Third Kingdom has a right to life; it must be earned through achievement, cunning and brute strength and constantly reinforced with displays of power. No member of society deserves any more than they can take, and the slightest sign of weakness is punished to the extreme.Prador inter-family negotiations often consist of assassinations and outright conflict using blanks, adolescent first- and second-children.
Prador dislike AIs, and have none of their own, preferring to use surgically-modified cybernetically-enhanced second-children for roles such as probes, war machines and governing personalities in ships.
Prador are also very egotistical, and refuse to believe that humans and AIs are more intelligent than they are. If out-thought by an AI, a Prador would assume that a member of his own race was behind it.
Technology
Prador technology initially outstrips the Polity in terms of their metallurgical prowess and armour development. So complex is the construction of the alloys commonly used by the Prador, that it defies replication by Polity AI, who simply refer to the material as 'Prador Alloy'. The best example of this advantage in defense is present in their warships.Prador warship armor is resistant to heavy kinetic impacts, absorbing and distributing the kinetic energy evenly around the entirety of the ship, is quite capable of absorbing powerful energy based weapons fire, and can even reassert its original shape under combat conditions. These properties make for vessels that are incredibly tough and spectacularly difficult to destroy, requiring suitably powerful weaponry, or even near light speed kinetic projectiles. For this reason, Prador also invest in much more powerful and destructive weaponry. In stories set later in the Polity's history, however, the Polity has been able to develop armor of similar capabilities to Prador alloy, which partially contributed to the eventual Polity victory in the Prador war.
Another interesting aspect of their technology lies within their ability to Core and Thrall organic beings to act as extensions of themselves. This is normally achieved by replacing the nervous system within the lifeform with a Thrall Unit, thus creating a totally subservient organic machine, controlled remotely by an Adult Prador with the corresponding control unit. These control units are directly tied into the Prador's consciousness, and the more control units the Prador has, the more mental strength and aptitude must be applied to control the Thralls simultaneously. Thus, it is a sign of great power and prestige if an Adult Prador possesses many control units.
It is possible for Thralls to be put into autonomous roles, thus relieving the Prador of mental strain, but most Prador are necessarily quite paranoid about those close to them, and will monitor their personal Thralls incessantly, even killing them instead of relinquishing their absolute control.
Other Thrall units, such as the Spider Thrall Unit, exist. Spider Thralls do not require surgery to be implanted, and immediately dominate the host, tapping directly into the central nervous system and overriding control. However, in some cases Spider Thralls have been known to fail, or even be rejected by the host, usually resulting in death, but in some cases the host has been known to survive. The greatest advantage provided by Spider Thralls is that because the host body's nervous system still exists, command and control of the body is much smoother and reliable, and requires less concentration on the part of the Prador.
Thrall technology is used by the Prador because of their own physical shortcomings - a matter of convenience and efficiency, as Prador manipulator claws are nowhere near as sensitive or deft as human hands.