What Are Hruds?

[FireCaste92]

Originally posted by Xaero@Oct 9 2004, 09:34
IIRC, they are like the abominable snow-man, but with claws and brown hair. I think that they have a picture of them in the 3rd ed. rulebook, where they had a pic of a necron and the kroot.

[snapback]226517[/snapback]

yea you are right. I just looked and saw it for my self. (Y)

[BobaHat]

No dammit! The Nocturnal Warrior of Hrud is the little ratty Jawa in the robe... not the yeti...

Here's a pic of an old Hrud conversion:


End of story!!

[Calixtus]

I wrote several Codexes for the Hruds. They are in the Rules Development forum. Feel free to check them out and be sure to post your comments!

[Dawnrunner]

For the Hrud, imagine a space Skaven (ratman) with a little Jawa thrown in. They're a nomadic race, and apparently once they get dug in on a planet it's very difficult to eradicate them. Black Library works are replete with references to Hrud infestations and Imperial campaigns and purges against them. Nothing overt, mind you, but they're there. Their "fusil" technology is somewhat like a synthesis of plasma and melta technology, according to Graham McNeill's Warriors of Ultramar. They're also mentioned in the Last Chancers books, when Kage and company are visiting a Tau-controlled planet. Very much like the Jawas, indeed.

For the Slaan, imagine a space Lizardman. An assassin-brood of three Slaan is mentioned in Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts series, and there's quite a good picture of one in the 4th ed. rulebook (gotta get used to referring to it like that, it's gonna be old news all too soon...and I liked the cover so much, too!). They use a type of powerful flechette shotgun built into a rudimentary servo-harness, with poison on the flechettes. Their clammy skin changes color to reflect their emotions, and they use their keen sense of smell to hunt their prey. They're described as smelling like a nauseating combination of crushed mint and old milk.

[The_Giant_Mantis]

The Hrud also get a totally different writeup in Xenology..

In that book, they're not rodent-like at all. They look like humanoids in an advanced state of decomposition, and covered in all kinds of trash and refuse. Their biology was unique in that only the central nervous system and a few key organs were actually alive. Everything else was just picked up from the surrounding environment as a kind of protective shield for the creature inside. The Hrud also had the innate psychic ability to bend light, making themselves very hard to see. Because of this, they'd often live unnoticed in the debris of other civilizations, stealing and adapting their technology and even using stowing away on their starships to migrate.

They were one of the oldest races in the galaxy, evolving around the same time as the Eldar, and worshipping the same gods (though Xenology took the somewhat unorthodox line that the Eldar gods and the Old Ones were the same thing.)

So yeah.. multiple interpretations. I preferred the Xenology one, it had more depth, and never tried to establish them as a playable race. Not every race needs to be playable in the long term.

[Zarak]

Originally Posted by The_Giant_Mantis

(though Xenology took the somewhat unorthodox line that the Eldar gods and the Old Ones were the same thing.)

Along with Gork and Mork (matching with the brutality of Khaine and the cunning of the Laughing God). I must say, Xenology hasn't turned me into a believer yet, that all the gods of the races created by the Old Ones are the same, but it definitely has given me doubt to the belief that all the gods are completely seperate. As Xenology points out, some points seem too similar to simply be coincidence (though extreme coincidences are always possible).

I too prefer the Xenology description of the Hrud. The idea of Space Skaven has never sat well with me. I am glad that Hrud are being allowed to be their own race, rather then just a future copy of a WFB race. They have the similar feel to skaven (small, sneaky, dirty), but are unique in their own way.

[Calixtus]

Would the posters of this thread be so kind as to check out the fluff and rules I have written for Codex: Hruds? They are in the Rules Development forum, so please feel free to comment on them. I have written several of them in fact, and the relevant ones are on the front page.

[The_Giant_Mantis]

Xenology's take on the Hrud, as borrowed from what I believe is the illustrator's website.. I presume I can post this, as the copywrite is obvious.



I forgot how cool some of the art in that book was..

[Dawnrunner]

Doesn't look like the sort of alien that would develop advanced technology, let alone space travel, or even use it at all. They look very brutal and mindless, like some kind of death-world monster or like some type of Tyranid. The ones in the second picture look like Chaotically warped creatures, like spawn.

[Jaffar_Hasad]

Originally Posted by Dawnrunner

The ones in the second picture look like Chaotically warped creatures, like spawn.

The creatures in the second photo aren't Hrud. That is just a piece of artwork Giant_Mantis really liked from the same book.

I am a person who prefers the old picture of Hrud. Little jawas, with thin tails, crazy weapons, and you could never see it's face. The new picture looks quite... dumb. Sorry, but that 'thing' is never going to sneak on an Imperial ship and become a nomad.