I did this race as a reverse on the Ilwrath - kind of. Nothing to be taken seriously.
THE VIRE (we-reh)
APPEARANCESize is 1.6 metres, they are always covered in a metal spiked armor with a huge battery on the back with the only visible parts of their body being their red eyes and gray furry arms. The battery is connected with the armor with hundreds of visible cables that constantly send waves of electricity through the armor and it's wearer. Although they're normally bipedal, is is quite common to see a Vire moving on all fours or lying on the ground, only able to move by creeping.
CHARACTERISTICSThey are characteristic by one thing: masochism. They have become so used to pain, that it has become an essential part of their life, like breathing. Pain is a vital condition for them and they will die after not being exposed to physical pain for several hours. To prevent this, they have developed a special suit for themselves that sends strong (and painful) electric current through their body. However, while they enjoy pain, their bodies still treat it like a stress situation and behaves so. This results in the already mentioned crippled movement and other symptoms.
One thing that it follows is their love for battle. They like to win, but the main goal of battling is to lose, as they like to say. (most likely because of the punishment that follows the loss)
RACE HISTORYWhen Vire have been developing, they have discovered very early about fate, being their compass through most of their existence. Fate has been the most crucial subject at schools.
Later on they accused every action of being only fate. That lead to absolute ignorance about their own physical status, saying that if they are fated to survive, they will survive even without any physical treatment - this lead them to lead a "martyr" - kind of lifestyle.
But the bodies of these "martyrs" have in time adapted to pains, and when a new breed of Vires was born, they had implemented in their genes a natural form of masochism. They used pain as a form of calming down instead of accusing it of being predestined, threw down the "fate religion" as a mere excuse for getting "more pain than they deserve" (they didn't understand that their parents weren't born with their distinctiveness) and took over the society. The old generation of fate believers (usually called "priests" or "believers" by the new breed) emigrated into space and were never seen since then.
On their first meeting with the Ur-Quan they had agreed to become Battle Thralls in exchange for the last several pieces of the Excruciator device the Ur-Quan didn't recycle yet. However, they had a main reason to do this: the Ur-Quan would imprison them on a SAFE planet - that means they would be treated not to be damaged or hurt in any way - a really bad thing for them, since they need pain and danger to live, like I already mentioned.
One easy way to gain their alliance is to tell them about the Kzer-Za/Kohr-Ah war and offer them to go kill themselves in the war. Their sphere of influence will go fight vs the Kohr-Ah and when the small number of survivors return, they will give you 4 of their ships and thank you for being "a pain in the neck".
SHIP NAME : Vire Painkiller
SHIP CREW : 22
ENERGY : 20, fast regen
PRIMARY (first idea) :
Sends out a drone which follows any enemy ship to a distance of about the Shofixti dart max range. Acts similarily to an Ur-Quan fighter, except the laser shots have more range, the drone is faster and shoots faster, and after 5 seconds or 4 dealt damage it returns to the Painkiller. If it is destroyed, it will drop the Painkiller's energy to zero.
PRIMARY (second idea) :
Short range sawblade. Works exactly like the Daktaklakpak drill from SC3.
SECONDARY:
Explodes a bomb near the back of the ship, propelling you quickly forward. You don't lose crew while doing this, but it does damage enemies in the explosion's range, which is as big as the Shofixti divine wind.
ACCEL: medium
TOPSPEED: fast
TURNING: medium