Greetings Icarus fans. Today we’re introducing you to the Ji’tar, one of the main factions in The Icarus Project.

The Ji’tar

The Ji’tar are one of the deep races, who live on the fringes of explored space.

The Ji’tar Empire is a collection of eleven main worlds, and a number of smaller settlements.

The most notable feature of the Ji’tar are their facial tentacles. Thought to be an evolutionary response to the fact they spend much of their life underground; their tentacles are more like additional limbs. They are used in the mastication process, can be individually manipulated to hold items, and can be used to help gauge a Ji’tar’s mood.

Their tentacles also form a large part of their native language, similar to the body language of other races. They speak in several registered, and there is no other race that can hear the entire range of their speech. In fact, the name Ji’tar comes from the two sounds that all races seem to hear the same when the creatures speak of themselves.

The language barrier is one of the reasons the Ji’tar are considered so separate to the rest of the galaxy. Largely distrustful of other races, it’s unlikely the Ji’tar would have any contact with others if it weren’t for commerce.

Iron Heart

The Ji’tar’s largest source of income is the precious metal that is abundant beneath the surface of their eleven main worlds. This Ji’tar metal is one of the strongest materials in the known galaxy; far stronger than the standard composite material used in armour, Ji’tar metal can be mixed with other metals in ratios as large as 100:1 and still retain its incredible defensive properties. Though the Ji’tar exports less than 1% of all the material they mine, it accounts for more than 80% of their economy.

The price for Ji’tar metal on the galactic exchange regularly reaches thousands of credits per gram; and owning any amount of the metal is a serious status symbol.

The brokerage of the metal is handled by the Ji’tar merchants. Despite their value to Ji’tar society, they are looked down upon by their kin because they freely trade their names with other species. The Ji’tar culture believes that all an individual’s power lies in their name, and to tell another your name is to give them a power over you. Most Ji’tar refuse to give their names to members of other species. Even Ji’tar ambassadors and military personnel do not give their names to outsiders. Instead they are referred to by their title, rank, or a nickname given by the outsiders.

These pieces were completed by one of our talented artists, Patricio Clarey. Patricio has captured the hard nature of the Ji’tar beautifully; and I love the atmosphere in his pieces.

To read more about the Ji’tar, and learn about them destroying one of their own worlds, be sure to check out this week’s blog post.

And if you didn’t know, the Alpha rules for The Icarus Project are available for free download.

Download The Icarus Project Alpha Here.

We would also love you hear your thoughts on the rules in our new play test group here.

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Happy Wargaming!