DW Monsters: Kastrians

The primary antagonist in The Masque of Mandragora is not only a unique entity, but one that’s more of an abstract threat than something we could stat up; it produces visible effects and controls people, but it doesn’t really qualify as a “monster”. Following that story, though, is The Hand of Fear and Eldrad. Now, Eldrad himself is also unique, in that he’s the last surviving member of his species, the Kastrians, but because we can throw time travel into the mix, that doesn’t mean we could never meet another. Having said that, the Kastrians do not return, or even get much of a mention, elsewhere in the TV series. Indeed, their only other appearance to date is in the audio story Eldrad Must Die! which is, of course, a direct sequel.

Description and Biology

The Kastrians are described as silicon-based lifeforms. In the real world, there has been much speculation among exobiologists about alternatives to carbon as a basis for life and, silicon has long been one of the prime contenders. It’s perhaps less bandied about these days than it was back in the '70s when the TV serial was written, most likely because of the large number of carbon-based ‘organic’ compounds that have been discovered in interstellar space and on the surface of worlds such as Titan – complex carbon molecules are something we now know are relatively common out in the galaxy. Silicon compounds, while they have been found in interstellar clouds, are much rarer there, and typically simpler. Furthermore, for physicochemical reasons, silicon is also less effective at forming the sort of complex molecules that would be required for life.

But that’s not quite the same thing as saying it’s impossible. If it did exist, the chances are silicon-based life would look no more like rock than carbon-based life looks like, say, chalk. Nonetheless, the Kastrians appear to be composed entirely of rocky minerals, rather than the rocks merely forming an armoured shell. Despite this, they are flexible, if not exactly fast-moving, so quite what’s going on at a biochemical level inside is far from clear - not that it matters from a game perspective, beyond the fact that it implies typical poisons won’t work on them.

Essentially, Kastrians are the SF equivalent of the earth elementals of fantasy games such as D&D, humanoid beings composed of rock. While they may possibly be softer on the inside when alive, they have a relatively rigid carapace of rocky nodules, with a conical shell on the top of the head, something perhaps analogous to an armadillo or tortoise. And they turn into seemingly inert rock when they are killed or sufficiently injured.  

Other than this, we know little of Kastrian biology. There is no reason to suppose that they don’t breathe or eat, since they are still biological beings. However, the food would need to be silicon-based itself, so perhaps simple rocks will suffice, with special minerals taking the place of vitamins and so on. The female form that Eldrad takes for much of the story is specifically a fake, so we don’t know whether the Kastrians themselves even have male and female sexes, let alone how they might reproduce. Given the difficulty of killing them and their presumed long life, ‘very slowly’ may be part of the answer, or they would soon suffer from overpopulation.

Game Attributes

At least in their natural form (rather than the imitative ‘female’ one) Kastrians are slow-moving and relatively inflexible, although we can also reasonably assume that they are much stronger than humans. Most notable, of course, is their remarkable resilience. The stony carapace that covers almost their entire bodies has to provide a significant level of protection, equivalent to heavy armour, but their mineralised bodies are also inherently resistant to injury. They’re likely resistant to fire, unless it’s hot enough to turn them into molten lava, and intense radiation actually heals them. As noted above, regular poisons should also have no effect.

An issue arises as to what we assume the “typical” Kastrian antagonist to be. We only see individuals specifically stated to be exceptional – the greatest genius of their race, and so on. But, if we travelled back 150 million years into the past, to what would be the Jurassic period on Earth, they still had a functioning civilisation with advanced technology and likely a moderately high population. Most must have been regular tradesmen, or rock-farmers, or whatever else it is that Kastrians do when they aren’t trying to execute traitors or conquer humanity. But we’ll assume that our typical example is a competent but low-ranking fighter and set the skills accordingly. We’ll also assume average human intelligence, in the absence of clear evidence to the contrary.

Eldrad’s ability to regenerate from a chunk of his body even after being blown to pieces appears to be something unique to him, a property of the ring that he devised as a means of obtaining immortality.

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5E - Kastrian

Large earth elemental, neutral

Armour Class: 20 (natural)

Hit Points: 75 (10d10+20)

Speed: 20 ft.

STR 18 (+4)	DEX 8 (-1)	CON 20 (+5)
INT 10 (+0)	WIS 10 (+0)	CHA 10 (+0)

Saving Throws: Constitution +2

Combat Skills: Ranged +2, Melee +2

Damage Resistances: Piercing, slashing, poison

Damage Immunities: Fire, necrotic

Condition Immunities: Charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralysed, poisoned

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Radiation Healing: Whenever the Kastrian is subjected to radiation (necrotic) damage, it takes no damage and regains a number of hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt.

Bash. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (1d6+4) bludgeoning damage.

Challenge: 3 (700 XP)

BRP - Kastrian

STR 4D6+3 (17)	CON 2D6+15 (22)	SIZ 3D6+6 (16-17)
INT 2D6+6 (10-11)	POW 3D6 (10-11)
DEX 2D6 (7)	CHA 2D6 (7)
Hit Points: 19	Move: 8
Base SR: 5	Damage Bonus: +1D6

Armour: 8-point rocky hide

Combat Skills: Brawl 60% (1D6+1D6 damage), Grapple 40%

Radiation Healing: Kastrians are immune to fire and radiation damage. Subjecting the Kastrian to radiation heals it by a number of hit points equal to the damage (if any) that would have otherwise been inflicted.

GURPS - Kastrian

ST 18	DX 8	IQ 10	HT 14
Thrust: 1d+2		Swing: 3d
Speed: 5.5	Move: 4	HP: 30	Size: +1

Advantages: Damage Resistance +6, Damage Resistance (fire) +20, Damage Resistance (radiation, healing absorption) +30, Hard to Kill +2, No Blood, Radiation Tolerance/20, Regrowth, Resistant (poison)

Disadvantages: Cannot Float

Skills: Brawling-12, Geology-8, Soldier-10, Survival (subterranean)-11

Savage Worlds - Kastrian

Agility: d4	Smarts: d6	Spirit: d6
Strength: d12	Vigour: d12

Skills: Fighting d8

Edges: Brute, Hard to Kill

Hindrances: Can’t Swim

Abilities: Armour +6, Environmental Resistance (poison), Hardy, Immunity (fire and radiation)

Radiation Healing: If a Kastrian is subject to radiation that would normally cause damage, the damage roll instead has the effect of a healing roll; a success removes one Wound, a raise removes two.

Pace: 5                  Parry: 6                 Toughness: 12 (8)           Size: 1

STA - Kastrian

Control: 9	Fitness: 12	Presence: 8
Daring: 8	Insight: 8	Reason: 8
Command: 0	Security: 2	Science: 0
Conn: 0	Engineering: 0	Medicine: 0
Stress: 14	Resistance: 3

Silicon-based lifeform: The Kastrian is immune to regular fire damage (but not energy beams) and cannot be affected by metabolic poisons. If they are subject to radiation that would normally cause damage, the Kastrian takes no damage, regains Stress equal to the damage that would normally have been inflicted, and immediately recovers from any Injury they may have.