The ngghrya are humanoids native to a world on the border of the Coreward Reach and the Vokun Empire. Their population has slowly dwindled under Vokun occupation. Today, ngghrya are confined to the montane forests of their world, but exiles and refugees are not infrequently encountered in the Expanse.
Physical Characteristics: Ngghrya are thin, almost skeletal in appearance with rough, nodule-covered skin that almost resembles carapace. Their thinness belies their strength and durability. Their skin is scaled in places with dermal denticles, but also has ridges and horns of calcium carbonate deposition that begin to form at puberty and elaborate as they age.
Ngghrya exhibit slightly less sexual dimorphism in terms of size than baseline humans, but some male ngghrya grow "tusks" of keratin from both ends of their upper lip.Psychological Characteristics: Ngghrya are a somewhat superstitious people, but do not revere gods or supernatural beings as such. Rather, they seek to avoid notice of spirit entities by the proper ritual behaviors and taboos (some of them idiosyncratic) except at certain times.
They tend to be a taciturn people by the baseline standards but fairly accepting of other cultures so long as they are respected. The stresses of their current existence on their homeworld have led to increased substance use, violence, and a mistrust of non-ngghrya.Some ngghrya (a disproportionate number found off-world) are trackers, bounty hunters, or skiptracers, thanks to a psi-like ability. They are able to track any quarry across any distance, even light-years of space. This ability (called yaa'hii by the ngghrya) is thought to be instilled by a ritual involving an hallucinogenic substance native to the caves of the mountains of their homeworld.
Psi-researchers believe this ability creates in their brains circuits the equivalent of time loop logic computer, using telepathic data sent back through time by their future self and the Novikov self-consistency principle for error correction. This theory is lent support by the assertion by ngghrya trackers that they cannot catch any quarry they haven't already caught.
Names: Ngghrya generally use a personal name followed by a clan name.
Examples: Personal Names: Deya, Gol, Ha’dashei, Idzuu, Jongizhi, Myiche, Ndolgan, Nzo, Tyamzashii, Urza, Xhoma; Clan Names: Dhayi, Dzana, Gwaage, Hantan, Itshashenga, Ngakane, Tsetzuche.
Backgrounds: Armsman, Peasant, Tribesman.
Classes: Warrior is the most common.
Attributes: Constitution +1.
Special
Yaa’hii (precognitive tracking)
A target makes a Mental Effects saving throw. On a failed roll, the ngghrya will find a target — or rather, they know where they will find them and when. Note that “finding” does not necessarily mean capture or defeat. Ifthe target escapes the encounter and the ngghyra is still on the job, another saving throw must be made.