3788 Scale Baduvai Improved Frigate (FFI) CVN

The Lesser (or Small) Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the second-nearest galactic neighbor to the Milky Way Galaxy, at roughly 250,000 light years. Much of the astrographic charting was performed by the Royal Hydran Observatory, which sees it at only a 10° angle of offset instead of almost edge-on from Earth or Klinshai. The LMC, having a mass of six to seven billion suns, is distorted by the gravitational effects of both the Milky Way and the Greater Magellanic Cloud. This tidal distortion has accelerated star development and made parts of the LMC very rich in resources, while the fringes of it are almost barren. The entire LMC is roughly one and two-thirds the size of the United Federation of Planets. Star Fleet Battles Module C5 explores the empires of the LMC.

The Baduvai are large herbivorous quadrupeds, weighing over 2,500 pounds. Unlike most Galactic species, the Baduvai have no separate “head.” The Baduvai’s brain is encased in a hump of bone in the middle of the back, and a Baduvai has two clusters of eyestalks sprouting over the forward legs. Each Baduvai has four bifurcated tentacles underneath the eyes, two on each side, each with chemical receptors at the tips to provide taste and smell. Under the horny plate that supports the tentacles/eyestalks, there is a large beak-like mouth, which leads to a series of gizzards and stomachs. The hip and knee joints allow a Baduvai to move sideways nearly as readily as it can move forward. There are multiple tympana, allowing a crude echolocation sense to supplement their nearly 360° field of vision. Because of these tympana, the Baduvai tend to favor large, open spaces where the echoes are not as confusing. Thus, Baduvai starships have very little compartmentalization, shown in their low number of hull boxes. A Baduvai’s hide ranges from a thick pebbled epidermis on the tentacles to a wooly hide over most of the body to leathery scales over the brain hump.

The Baduvai homeworld has an atmosphere nearly three times as dense as Earth’s. While Humans and Klingons can breathe on a Baduvai ship without immediate ill effects, both sides find the other’s atmosphere uncomfortable. The Baduvai are profoundly hard of hearing in “standard” atmospheres.

As a society, the Baduvai are known for herd-like, consensus-based decisions and a very forward-looking view. Culturally, the Baduvai are very open to considering new ideas, and gender equality has been the norm since the pre-industrial epochs. As a society, Baduvai culture is at its best when planning for the long term rather than reacting in the short term.

The expansion of the Baduvai into space came with the realization that their star was in the latter stages of its development and due to expand into a red giant in the next 20 thousand years. The initial first contact with a star-faring alien species was with the Jumokian traders, who warned of their Eneen subject’s growing military power. The Jumokians purchased Early Years warp technology from the Baduvai in return for Warp Tuned Lasers. Unfortunately for the Jumokians, the Eneen had already captured a Baduvai survey ship and gained the advanced warp technologies themselves.

War with the Eneen followed soon after the fall of Jumok, with the Baduvai forced into a technological arms race. The first war ended decisively with the Battle of H’Gar. The second resulted in a Baduvai survey fleet inadvertently releasing the Maghadim from the bounds of their radiation shell. The final neighbors of the Baduvai were the isolationist Yrol, residents of a nebula using cyborg ships, and the Uthiki, a species of invertebrate gas giant dwellers. After a three-year “emergency,” the three governments concluded that they had such different colonization requirements that letting their spheres of influence interpenetrate would not be a burden.

Built as a replacement for the over-gunned Battle Frigate, the Improved Frigate reduced the power of the charged particle accelerator while increasing the warp power by 20%, making the Improved Frigate one of the fastest Baduvai units in space.

The ship is available in a variety of materials. Ships are unpainted, use standard flight stands available from many sources, and, while designed for gaming, make fine display pieces.