Ilwrath
| Ilwrath | ||||||||
| Ilwrath_comm.png The Ilwrath are spider-like beings | ||||||||
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Description
The Ilwrath are large, red, spider-like aliens with numerous appendages, many eyes, and pincer mandibles.
The Ilwrath are born from egg sacs that are presumably filled with many eggs. Upon emerging from the eggs, the Ilwrath hatchlings attack and consume each other in a cannibalistic frenzy known as the Birth Rite.
As a species, they are psychopathically violent and religiously fanatical. The Ilwrath indeed descibe themselves of being the very definition of "Evil", and to humans and many other sentient species they do appear to be almost demonic in their appearance, ways and customs. Of course even the evil ways of the Ilwrath pale in comparison to those of the Dnyarri.
The Ilwrath worship their twin dark gods, Dogar and Kazon, supposedly speak through the HyperWave Channel 44, which coincidentally is the channel the Umgah love to send their prank messages on.
Humans have many horror stories of the Ilwrath and the gruesome things they do to their prisoners of war, including dismemberment, evisceration, and other forms of torture meant to please Dogar and Kazon-for a good reason. After the Ur-Quan Hierarchy's victory in the First War, the Ilwrath planned to sacrifice all Human beings to their dark gods in a bloody ceremony, but the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za did not allow this, as it conflicted with the Path of Now and Forever.
The Ilwrath pilot the Avenger-class ships.
Origins
The Pkunk tell that the Ilwrath were once a species of supreme and absolute good, but they tried to become even more good, which caused them to "wrap around" the good-evil spectrum, resulting in the pure evil species now associated with the name Ilwrath. The accuracy of this tale is uncertain, due to the playful nature of the informants.
Details about the Ilwrath prior to their supposed transformation are unknown.
History
Early in their history, the Ilwrath had a subsistence hunter-gatherer society and worshiped many gods, from Zith of the Pelt to Awk of the Seds. We know little of early Ilwrath history as the Ilwrath refer to these as the "Dark Ages" of religous confusion.
At a point in their history, a consolidation of the existing Ilwrath religions took place. A priestly ruling body deliberated on the multitude of belief systems and concluded that the Ilwrath must worship the twin gods of Death Dogar and Kazon, and discard all other gods "be they of Hearth or Flowing Web." The new ruling class declared that only priests are capable of interpreting the will of the gods, and refined the techniques of worship to perfection. Specific examples of doctrine included the eating of Heretics and the surrender of all possessions to holy sites or priestly dwellings.
After this point, Ilwrath society focused itself entirely on satisfying the will of the twin gods. Ilwrath technology advanced towards the creation of more efficient means of murder. Religious rituals revolved around pain and death, as is exemplified by a common act of affirmation that involves full or partial amputation of one's own limbs. Even the many deaths at the Birth Rite was interpreted as an Ilwrath's first tribute to the twin gods.
Prior to their contact with the Ur-Quan, the Ilwrath had probably developed rudimentary space-faring technology. The Chenjesu reported contact with the Ilwrath, but considered them a negligible threat at the time due to their primitive technology.
The Ilwrath were among the first races enslaved by the Ur-Quan, a particularly simple task given their extremely low technological level. Seeing the potential of the violent and fanatical Ilwrath as Battle Thralls, the Ur-Quan gave the Ilwrath the technology to improve their ships to match that of the Chenjesu and the Mmrnmhrm. The large number of Ilwrath ships as well as the Ilwrath's religious zeal in seeking the death of other races proved to be an asset to the Ur-Quan offensive.
Upon the defeat of the Humans, the Ilwrath prepared a grand ceremony to murder all of the Humans, which was to be called "Mountains of Flesh". As the Humans have elected to be slave-shielded, the Ur-Quan stopped the Ilwrath ceremony, forcing the Ilwrath to use species indigenous to their homeworld for their sacrifices.
Some years after the end of the war, a bureaucratic error resulted in the depletion of the supply of creatures for sacrifice on the Ilwrath homeworld. A great crisis occured in Ilwrath religion and appeals to the twin gods for guidance became much more frequent.
The calls for guidance were answered. Around 2147, a hyperspace broadcast, claiming to be from the gods Dogar and Kazon, was heard on Hyperwave Channel 44. The broadcast ordered the Ilwrath to attack the "Bird Beings". The priest ruling class, feeling a threat to their authority, counseled the general population to be skeptical of the broadcast. However, the lack of sacrificial rituals, compounded with over-taxation, lack of "quality death in ceremony" and the over-complicated pronouncements of the Dark gods had apparently produced a religious void in many of the Ilwrath, prompting the majority to murder the entire priest caste. After this casual slaughter, the Ilwrath then embarked on a campaign of genocide against the Pkunk, devoting almost their entire fleet on the destruction of the Yehat sub-species.
It is now known that the Umgah were in fact impersonating Dogar and Kazon in this transmission that transformed Ilwrath society. It is unclear, however, how the Umgah would have known about the Pkunk in order to send the Ilwrath against them. Most historians agree that the Umgah in fact wanted the Ilwrath to attack the Yehat, likely for the sake of watching the Ilwrath suffer punishment from the Ur-Quan for violating slave laws.
Hierarchy Status
The Ilwrath are Battle Thralls of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Due to their zeal in battling other species, they are the backbone of the Hierarchy offensive. Along with the Spathi, the Ilwrath were commanded to enforce the restrictions placed on Earth, but around the year 2137 abandoned their post to satisfy their (and their gods') bloodthirst.
Extinction
At the end of SC2, the Ilwrath were manipulated by means of Hyperwave caster into abandoning their Jihad against the Pkunk, and went instead to battle the Thraddash in a war which led to both races' annihilation.