In my first draft of Vorgamnon, he had two forms: The Drakken form which I settled on and a strange tentacled form. As I worked to refine Vorgamnon, the two forms took on different and distinct powers and abilities and I soon realized they were incompatible. Further, It seemed there was more to be told of Vorgamnon's backstory. Thus Raethos came to be the vehicle for both those considerations.

*Update 8/17/20, 9/12/20* Added Avatar, Nemesis Overlords, Cyber-Enhanced pirates and Technological notes; expanded history section slightly.

Name: Raethos.

Race: Maker (exiled) / Cyborg.

Place of Birth: Somewhere in a parallel universe.

Gender: Male.

Age: Unknown (far older than 18, however).

Description:
Transport Pod - Raethos' transport pod resembles a hovering metallic silver elongated turtle shell with lumpy protrusions scattered over it. It is approx. 8ft. long, 4ft. wide and 4ft. deep at its greatest dimensions. 12 small spiny projections line the perimeter of the base of the 'shell. Each one is approx. 12in. long, though they often lay flat against the side of the pod in an overlapping pattern. These projections are mounted on 16ft. long retractable tentacles and are quasi-amorphous (see Capabilities).

Raethos - Inside his pod, the monster himself resembles a translucent sack of withered organs and bits of bone. Only his brain seems healthy and intact. Various tubes run in and out of the sack, attaching him to the mechanisms inside the pod that maintain his life. A 'bed' of strange, flashing multicolored crystals beneath his brain gives him a direct neural interface to the pod.

*Avatar* - Raethos' avatar is a combination of his own genetic material fused with a large quantity of nanites contained within a self-sustaining energy matrix. It most often appears to be a tall gaunt humanoid with an overly large head. It's 'skin' is a shiny black metallic substance. It may or may not have facial features and wears no clothing, though it can simulate them. It is generally about 8ft tall with a thin to medium build. Its arms and legs are generally thin and elongated. Its hands have a variable number of fingers. In addition to its arms and legs (which are essentially specialized tentacles), it can form up to 8 more quasi-amorphous tentacles. All its limbs can extend to a reach or 16ft. The entire mass is also amorphous, being able to take on nearly any shape.

Textures:
Transport Pod - In general, smooth metallic; the tips of its tentacles can take on virtually any texture (see capabilities).

Raethos - Smooth and slimy (though it probably won't come up in RP).

*Avatar* - Generally smooth metallic, but can take on virtually any texture.

Tentacles: 12; 16ft. long, retractable. With an extra foot of quasi-amorphous matter at the tip.

Phallus: None per se but tentacle tips can take on this form; maximum size 12in. long and 4in. diameter.

Fighting Style: Raethos relies on his superior technology to overpower his opponents. Uses directed energy pulse weapons for long range; tentacle mounted melee weapons and grappling for close range.

Motivation: Engages in slaving for fun and profit; Finds the idea of tentacle rape strangely exciting (he never encountered anything of the sort before entering this universe - that he remembers anyway). Enjoys dominating his victims.

Psychological Profile: Arrogant, (over)confident, tendencies toward megalomania and sadism.

Personality: Generally commanding and intimidating, yet he can be pleasant and charming if it suits his needs.

Capabilities:
Transport Pod
Quasi-amorphous tentacle tips: The matter composing these appendages is comprised of nanites that can be reconfigured to mimic virtually any type of material in almost any configuration. This means they can transform into a variety of things from body parts (i.e. hand/claw, mouth, tongue, phallus) to simple machines (i.e. pincers, clamps, vacuum powered suction cups, vibrators) to weapons (i.e. knives, clubs, stun guns). Combinations are also possible (i.e. vibrating vacuum suction cups with tongues that can produce electric shock).

Nanite 'semen': Not really a bodily fluid, This gray-green liquid is often delivered by a phallic tentacle tip, thus causing the misconception. It is made up of millions of microscopic machines in suspension. Once introduced to the body of a victim (whether internally or on the skin), it moves to attack her nervous system. The immediate effect is increased sensitivity, but given time and repeat applications, it begins to alter the pleasure and pain centers of her brain. Disobedience becomes physically painful while submission is rewarded with euphoria. In most cases this change is permanent, but certain exceptional individuals (i.e. Player Characters) can recover given enough time since the last fluid application (usually several weeks or months).

Full sensor suite: Full spectrum, 360 degree vision (only blind spot is within about 3ft. bottom center of the pod) with microscopic and telescopic capabilities (at least 10k magnification); Advanced audio receptors with range far exceeding any natural creature; Sensors similar to radar/sonar/motion detector but work on a principle called Quantum Differential Detection (QDD) and has variable range based on resolution - can detect human-sized targets within 1000ft., but large starships and stellar bodies may be detected up to 1 light year away; Exceptional tactile and olfactory sensors; selective filtering and 'flare' compensation for all sensory input; Note: QDD signatures are unique, Raethos will be able to identify any object or person he has previously scanned, despite attempts at disguise.

Pulse wave directed energy weapons: Located in many of the 'lumps' on the surface of the transport pod are generators that produce projectiles of coherent energy. Output varies from a simple 'stun' charge to blasts capable of crippling small starships. Must recharge between blasts but recharge time varies inversely with power of blast. Stun blasts may be fired almost continuously, while the most powerful shots take up to a minute to recharge.

*Shield generators: The Transport Pod has been retrofit with a self-sustaining energy field capable of stopping most small arms fire (energy or conventional). Only partially effective against anti-vehicle weaponry. Energy from attacks that do not penetrate is absorbed by the field and used to regenerate damage to the pod. The pod itself is only lightly armored.*

Flight: The pod is capable of hovering at any altitude. It can achieve speeds up to 500mph. in open conditions. In more confined spaces, safe speeds are limited to about 50mph.

Raethos
Mental Speech: Raethos can project his thoughts to others at almost any distance so long as he knows where the subject meant to receive those thoughts is located. Otherwise, a general transmission has a range equivalent to an average being's voice. Raethos cannot read minds, however, so unless the subject is also telepathic, she will have to respond via other means. Raethos' thought processes are so advanced and alien as to be virtually indecipherable to anyone 'eavesdropping' on his mind, making him highly resistant to psychic manipulation.

*Avatar*
Amorphous structure: The Avatar's entire mass is made up of specialized nanite material that is able to mimic virtually any type of material in almost any configuration (similar to Transport Pods quasi-amorphous tentacle tips).

Thought-Wave Transmission: Raethos and his Avatar are linked at a quantum level, allowing real-time control and sensory input without regard to range. The Avatar essencially has the same Mental Speech trait as Raethos himself.

Pulse wave directed energy weapons: Essentially the same as the Transport Pod, the Avatar can produce projectiles of coherent energy. Output is limited to the power level of military grade assault weapons. Capable of nearly continuous rapid fire.

Shield generators: The Avatar's self-sustaining energy field is capable of stopping most small arms fire (energy or conventional). Only partially effective against anti-vehicle weaponry. Energy from attacks that do not penetrate is absorbed by the field and used by the nanites to regenerate damage to the Avatar's mass.

Flight: The Avatar can hover at any altitude and can achieve speeds up to 100mph with perfect mobility.

Regeneration: Unless its mass is entirely disintegrated while its Energy field is dispersed by EMP, the Avatar will regenerate fully in a few minutes.

Nanite 'semen' and Full Sensor Suite: As per Transport Pod.

Weaknesses: Overconfidence, EMP will disable pod (except life support) and disperse Avatar for a few minutes, Will die within minutes if removed from transport pod.

Likes: Wealth, Power, Tentacle rape, Dominating slaves.

Dislikes: Makers, Drakken, Disobedience that he can't 'correct.'

History:
Eons ago, Raethos was one of the Makers (see below). However, he broke his species' cardinal rule of non-interference and was banished to a primeval, forming universe to live out his mortal life in contemplation of his sin.

Though cut off from his race's incredible energy machines, Raethos was still an incredibly advanced being with knowledge of science far beyond the understanding of today's races. Steeled by defiance and fueled by hatred of his own race, he set out to build up his own power base. It took him hundreds of years of re-innovation, hand building tools to make more sophisticated tools with which he made yet more sophisticated tools, etcetera, etcetera . . .

Sustained by his rage and driven half-mad by his isolation, Raethos eventually achieved a very high level of technology, bordering on the level at which his race had finally transcended beyond the need for physical matter. But the final step to transcendence eluded him, locked away in his psyche by his former people.

Rather than fall to despair, Raethos turned his focus toward conquest. If he could not ascend to 'godhood,' he would become the ultimate ruler of his new universe. A ruler needs subjects, so he began genetic experiments on the proto-life of the small world on which he was marooned. Many more thousands of years passed as Raethos guided and accelerated the evolution of life.

Despite his incredible technological prowess, Raethos was still mortal and had already extended his life-span many times. To cheat death, he turned more and more to cybernetic replacement, trading his 'humanity' for more time to finish his ultimate work. As he became more and more machine, his experiments incorporated more and more cybernetic elements. Eventually, he became the cyborg 'god' of a race of living machines that soon took to the heavens.

Thousands more years passed and Raethos enjoyed his revenge, reigning supreme over all he surveyed. His subjects spread unchecked through the nebula strewn young universe, until they encountered the Drakken. Incensed that another species had grown so powerful in 'his' universe and convinced they were sent by the Makers to destroy him, he ordered his creations to exterminate them. Thus Raethos' children became known as the Nemesis and they waged a war of genocide on the Drakken.

Throughout the long war, Raethos' biological parts continued to wither away until only his brain remained amid a soup of defunct organs and splinters of bone. He had a biomechanical cybernetic transport pod fashioned to house and maintain his final parts for millennia to come. It was the very pinnacle of his technological prowess. He had finally become one with his creations, the ultimate ruler and 'god' of the Nemesis.

Raethos' superior knowledge of science and technology meant that it was only a matter of time before the Nemesis overwhelmed the Drakken, yet the war was very costly, costing trillions of lives on both sides. Despite severe losses, the Nemesis pressed on, driven by Raethos' mad rage. At last, the remaining fleets of both sides met above Brimstarre, the Drakken homeworld. The Nemesis pushed forward relentlessly, unstoppable despite valiant resistance by the Drakken. Ultimate victory was at hand . . .

But the honor of the Drakken would not let them accept oblivion so readily and they had crafted an 'ultimate solution.' If they would not be allowed to live, then none would. As the Nemesis fleet encircle Brimstarre, preparing to bombard the surface, the Drakken Emperor activated the devices his scientists had imbedded in the planet's suns. All five went supernova simultaneously. Their blast waves obliterated everything in the system as they converged. What subatomic particles remained were driven toward each other at incredible speeds. More and more were packed together into a smaller and smaller space until their absolute volume was nearly zero. The resulting explosion was infinitely greater than the five that caused it, ripping a hole in space and time. Thus one universe was destroyed and another began.

Raethos became aware of the Drakkens' plan just before the initial detonation. Jumping to hyperspace, his flagship was able to escape the initial blasts, but still, there was nowhere to go. Despite his incredible technology, his ship could not outrun the forming expansion wave for long. The utter desperation of inevitable doom led him to an intuitive leap that partially unlocked his knowledge of Transcendence. He was able to reconfigure his ship's shields to channel energy from the blast wave into the hyperdrive. When the wave hit, the ship was pushed through the boundary into a parallel universe. The enormous stresses of such a passage still destroyed the vessel. It would have been the end for Raethos, but in a final act of perfect loyalty, the crew of his ship sacrificed their own lives to shield him from the brunt of the damage. He was the only survivor.

For countless years, Raethos floated in the void of space, surrounded by the dizzying array of stars this new universe held. He had been so close to ultimate victory and even tasted the power of the Makers again for a few brief seconds. But now he would have to start all over again and his time was dwindling. He estimated he had but three or four hundred years before his brain finally failed and he became nothing more than a machine. For the first time since his exile, Raethos truly despaired.

The story might have ended there if Raethos' transport pod hadn't been found by an ADD scout ship. The crew of the Pandora had been tasked with locating sources of high technology to bring back to the ADD Science division for study. They thought they had hit the jackpot and had they arrived a few days later, they might have been right: Raethos had been on the verge of shutting down his life-support systems when the fateful encounter occurred.

Raethos took his time studying the ship's crew as they did initial experiments on his pod. He hid the presence of his biological remnants from their scans and easily stymied their attempts to open the pod. He quickly learned their crude language from the dialogue between crew members. When he was left alone in the lab, he used his incredible technological prowess to circumvent their primitive surveillance and containment measures and interface with the ship's computer. He learned much about his new universe. There was much potential here. Perhaps he could enjoy the short remainder of his life. The imagery of tentacled beasts sexually assaulting human(oid) women particularly stuck with him, finding fertile soil in his half-mad psyche.

One by one, the ship's crew fell under Raethos' power. He created nanites that attacked and usurped his victims' nervous systems, rendering them his slaves. Once he had enslaved the crew, he modified their bodies to make them better servants and spies. Then he had them drop him off on Vanejin before sending them back to the ADD with an inert mock-up of his transport pod.

Once in the city, Raethos quickly took steps to secure a base of power. He used his technological prowess to establish himself as a master of cheap cybernetic augmentation. It wasn't long before a new and struggling slaving crew fell under his sway, themselves enslaved by the implants they sought to give them an edge. Taking over the crew and their ship, he declared the founding of the Nemesis Cartel and thus he entered the slaving business as a means to wealth and power as well as for entertainment.

*Update* Since forming the Nemesis Cartel, Raethos has been quietly and inevitably expanding his power. Many smaller slaver groups have been absorbed by the growing Cartel. Raethos has rediscovered some of the Maker's energy technologies, using it to create his Avatar. He uses the Dark Energy driving this universe' accelerating expansion to generated effectively unlimited power for his ships and weapons. He has built a small shipyard on a rogue planetoid in the Vanejin sector so that he can upgrade and repair his crews' ships.

Raethos has also upgraded his Nemesis Cyborgs. About one quarter his crew are the new model, with another quarter being the older model and the rest general humanoids with varying levels of cybernetic enhancements. He has also created several new Moles among the ADD as well as other groups, using them to keep tabs on and undermine the competition.

Raethos has also discovered and become a patron of Greo's shop, much to that being's chagrin. He orders regular shipments of Greo's product for use in extending his own life and for experimentation. Some of these experiments have turned to the creation of artificial life forms as a potential alternative to regular slave stock. This could allow him to increase revenues by selling custom-built slaves either already conditioned or 'wild'.

Minions: Raethos currently has *four* types of minions:
Nemesis Cyborgs - Those slavers that come to Raethos seeking augmentation eventually become one of his new Nemesis Cyborgs. Appearing much like smaller versions of Raethos' transport pod, they have much the same capabilities, though considerably less power. They are about 6ft. long, 3ft. wide and 2ft. high. They have only 6 tentacles with only 12ft. reach, but have the same amorphous tips. Their maximum flight speed is approx. 200mph., but safe speed indoors is unchanged (50mph.). Shield generators will only reliably stop handgun fire. Pulse wave generators have maximum yield equivalent to small arms (e.g. assault rifle). In other ways, Nemesis Cyborgs are generally about half as powerful as Raethos' pod. Nemesis Cyborgs are not psychic and speak via electronically synthesized voices.

*Cyber-Enhanced Pirates* - Really a subset of Nemesis cyborgs, these are pirates at varying stages on the road to becoming true Nemesis. As such, they still retain many base desires and instincts that are eliminated during the final conversions. They are a from a variety of species, but all sport some form of advanced cybernetic enhancements, usually including a least one cranial implant that helps ensure loyalty.

*Nemesis Overlords* - The new model of Nemesis cyborgs are significantly different in form to their predecessors. They have an upright ovoid shape with their 6 tentacles arranged in a ring around the base. The narrow 'top' or 'head' of the egg shape has 3 sensor clusters arranged equally around its circumference. They have the same capabilities of the earlier models, except maximum flight speed is only 100 mph, but with perfect mobility. Shield and Pulse wave generators have approximately 25% increased power. Self-sustaining energy fields provide unlimited power and self-regenerative capabilities.

ADD Moles - The five members of the crew of the Pandora were enslaved and enhanced by Raethos before being sent back to their fellows. Their primary directives are to gather information and identify potential new recruits. They each contain numerous internal cybernetic enhancements which are shielded from detection by standard ADD medical equipment. The enhancements include: heightened senses (about twice normal); increased strength, speed, agility and reflexes (50% increase); and three retractable metallic tentacles with phallic tips. The tentacles are hidden in the body cavity, but extend through the throat/mouth, vagina and rectum/anus. They can reach up to 6ft. in length. Their Phallic tips, which can have their textures altered considerably, are about 8in. long and 2in. in diameter. They deliver a nanite solution similar to Raethos and the Nemesis Cyborgs, but which also erases a victim's memory of any encounter with the enhanced mole. *Some new moles have been created out of rogue human (outlaw) and other slave stock (SFA), expanding espionage potential dramatically.*

*Technological Notes:*
Pulse-Wave generators - Pulse-waves are powerful compression waves that propagate throught the fabric of space-time. Standard blasts create a physical impact and shred matter at the sub-particle level with a force similar to gravitational shear. The effect is directly proportional to the energy involved, ranging in power from handgun level to anti-ship cannon capacity depending on the size and power of the generator. Since they travel through the fabric of space, they bypass most shields. Such shields can be specifically hardened against pulse-waves if the operator knows of and understands the generator technology (very few, given Raethos' hyper-advanced technological prowess). Stun blasts, on the other hand, are tuned to disrupt energy formations, though they still create a physical impact equivalent to humanoid puch or slap. Consequently, they are stopped by shields, but rapidly break them down; hardened shields are immune to stun blasts.

Dark Energy Converters - A kind of energy transformer that utilizes the relentless expasion of space-time to generate practically unlimited energy. Though the earlier units were physical machines, Raethos has since developed a way to make the energy matrix self-sustaining, making a physical mechanism unnecessary.

I promised some information on the Makers, so here it is:

The Makers:
The alien entities calling themselves the Makers are an extremely advanced race who have evolved beyond the need for physical bodies. Their technology has followed suit, becoming entirely energy-based in nature. The Makers now reside in a plane of existence that they call Superspace, from which they have access to a nearly infinite number of physical realities.

Though the Makers themselves have considerable powers of the mind, the bulk of their abilities come from their energy machines. These are self-sustaining energy matrices capable of generating vast amounts of power and channeling that power into virtually any endeavor the Makers can imagine.

Despite (or perhaps because of) their god-like powers, the Makers have a strict non-intervention code. Only under extreme circumstances will they take any action and even then it must be by mutual decree and any sentient directly affected must consent to the action. Raethos once altered the evolution of a life-form without consulting the others, thus resulting in his exile.