The Outlanders are a race of imperialist humanoids from a planet far from Earth.
Biology[]
Outlanders are externally indiscernible from Humans, and have not shown any differences in physiology, possibly being directly related to Humans. Internally, they possess red blood, and they are omnivorous, able to consume Earth plants and animals.
Culture and society[]
The Outlanders have a tremendous thirst for territory, so they have invaded, conquered, and colonized many worlds, killing off the native species. Among the worlds they conquered and colonized was the Moorwen's homeworld, with the Outlanders justifying their conquest of the Moorwen homeworld by claiming the Moorwen were nothing more than animals. Outlander soldiers tend not to openly speak out against the orders of their government, even if they do not agree with it. Soldiers who participate in planetary conquests are rewarded with land on the newly colonized worlds for them and their families.
Outlander soldiers, beneath their armor, wear simple pants and white tank tops with some black markings, and their name written on their breast. They are known to wear this uniform even while off-duty. Outlander soldiers killed in the field are not buried under the ground, but rather, have their bodies covered in rock. Additionally, corpses of Outlander civilians are also taken back to their homeworld by military vessels rather than buried where they died or otherwise disposed of.
It would appear that the Outlanders seeded Earth in some fashion, either colonizing it or initially seeding it with life, thus quite possibly explaining the unusual similarity between Humans and Outlanders, with Earth referred to as a "seed colony." It is also interesting to note that the Outlanders had considerable information concerning the Earth and its inhabitants, likely because Earth was once a seed colony, although they appear to not frequently fly by the Sol System.
Technology[]
Outlanders have access to highly advanced technology, including advanced spacecraft capable of crossing solar systems. These ships are armed with turrets near their tail and bombs capable of destroying large patches of land, and can carry cargo. The metal used for the hull of Outlander spacecraft is capable of harming Moorwen, and can be reshaped by the flames of forges. Outlander soldiers wear armored, airtight exosuits, with a thin dark visor and four red optics on either side of their helmets. Their helmets can unfold into their chestplates to expose their heads, initiated by touching two round buttons on their collar, while other components of their armor are taken off in the conventional way. Outlander weapons, aside from their spaceship armaments, include firearms capable of firing powerful energy blasts, and able to fold up into triangular cases.
An Outlander computer
Other Outlander technologies include small distress beacons capable of sending signals into deep space, somewhat shaped like small three-sided pyramids that automatically activate upon a crash, and can float on water, and large bulldozer-like vehicles with a crane on their roof and continuous tracks for locomotion, meant for pushing material, including large and bulky items such as corpses of megafauna. A notable Outlander technology is a small computer controlled by voice commands that can download entire languages and incredible amounts of information directly into the brains of Outlanders through one of their eyes, in a fairly painful process that leaves them with nosebleeds.
History[]
Outlanders preparing to leave the Moorwen planet
Outlanders created an advanced society well before the Vendel Period (c. 540-790 AD), conquering and colonizing what worlds they wanted, with little regard for native life. At another point in the past, they established a "seed colony" on Earth, possibly spawning Humanity, but abandoned the colony for unknown reasons. Despite leaving, they kept watch on Earth's developments. Sometime before 709 AD, the Outlanders invaded the Moorwen homeworld in order to make it a colony, slaughtering almost the entire Moorwen population with bombardment and methodical hunting, regarding the Moorwen as unintelligent animals. One soldier, named Kainan, didn't like the conquest, but tried to suppress his feelings, settling down on the Moorwen planet with his wife and son. After settling, the Outlanders believed all the Moorwen to be dead, and so their soldiers, including Kainan, eventually left on another conquest. However, one Moorwen survived in a nearby cave, emerging a few weeks after the ships left, and without any soldiers to defend them, the Outlander colonists were slaughtered.
When the soldiers returned, Kainan found the complex destroyed and his family dead. All colonist bodies were collected to be returned to their homeworld, and Kainan was in the ship carrying his wife's body, along with at least one Outlander military officer. Before they could take off, the Moorwen snuck aboard the ship, and during flight, it attacked, fatally wounding the officer and sending the ship off-course into the Sol System, right towards Earth, where it crashed in a lake in Scandinavia. Kainan survived relatively unscathed due to his exosuit, but the officer soon died of his injuries, and the Moorwen escaped into the woods. After making it to shore, Kainan took off his exosuit to dive into the water and retrieve cases containing a computer and a gun. By morning, he got both a distress beacon and the computer active, finding information on Earth and downloading local language and culture into his brain. Suddenly, thinking he heard the Moorwen, Kainan fired a shot at a tree, destroying it. Keeping his gun in hand, Kainan tried to track the Moorwen through the woods, finding a Human village that was just destroyed by the Moorwen, recognizing its claw marks on a door. A Human warrior from another village, named Wulfric, also approached the ruins, being heard by Kainan, but Wulfric managed to surprise attack Kainan on horseback, knocking Kainan's gun into a river and knocking Kainan out, taking him to a fortified village.
Held prisoner in the village, Kainan was stripped of his last remaining armor pieces, his boots, and was interrogated by Wulfric, who referred to Kainan as "outlander," demanding to know who Kainan was and if he destroyed the other village. Kainan gave his name, and claimed to be a hunter from an island to the north, denying any involvement in the village's destruction. When asked what he was hunting, Kainan noticed a pendant resembling a dragon, claiming he was hunting dragons, which prompted Wulfric to beat him, but Kainan was able to fight back and knock both Wulfric and another warrior with him down, although the Humans managed to overpower him and further bind him. However, after being left alone, Kainan saw a metal rod left in a nearby fireplace, with its handle sticking out, managing use his feet to pull it over to his bound hands, burning away the ropes binding them. Later, at night, a Human female named Freya, daughter of the village's king, went to deliver food to Kainan, noticing his wounds, and Kainan kept his hands behind him to pretend he was still bound. He asked Freya for water, just before she noticed that he was free. Realizing that Freya had seen his burned away binds, Kainan was forced to strike her before she could call for help, managing to escape the hut he was held in. However, as he tried to escape the village, pursued by other Human warriors, the village was attacked by the Moorwen, which killed a few Humans. Kainan successfully evaded the Moorwen, and tried to follow it when it left the village, only to be recaptured by the Humans.
Rather than be put back in the hut, Kainan was chained by a well, waking up sometime during the day and seeing a young orphaned boy named Erik, who offered him bread, although the other Humans kicked the bread away from Kainan. Seeing how Kainan appeared to recognize the creature, and remembering his remark about hunting dragons, the warriors had him brought before Hrothgar, the king of the village, where Kainan identified the Moorwen. While still skeptical, the Humans recognized that the attacker was some sort of beast, and brought Kainan with them as they set out to hunt the Moorwen. When the party split up, Kainan was paired with Wulfric, who kept Kainan's hands bound, and both were soon brought to a cave when they heard other members of the party screaming from within, as they had entered it to investigate and woke a massive bear. Despite being bound, Kainan managed to take up a sword and kill the bear, prompting the Humans to cut his binds as a sign of respect. After returning to the village, Kainan was accepted as a part of the tribe, and attends a feast of meat from the slain bear alongside the other Humans. During the feast, Kainan was formally introduced to Freya and Erik, and Wulfric challenged him to a game of "shields," where the other warriors held up their shields as platforms for the two to run across. Kainan proved to be skilled in keeping his balance atop the shields, and started to gain Wulfric's respect.
Sometime during the night, Gunnar, chieftain of the village destroyed by the Moorwen, returned from business abroad, finding the destruction and assuming it was Hrothgar's doing, his suspicion fueled by a rivalry the villages had. Gunnar and his men attacked Hrothgar's village, killing several defenders, but Kainan and the other warriors rallied to fight back, Kainan taking up a sword and killing several attackers, also defending Erik from the enemies. Eventually, the enemy forces were cut down to a size too small to keep fighting, forcing them to retreat with Gunnar. Kainan stayed on the walls after the attack, as in the woods, Gunnar and his remaining men were suddenly attacked by the Moorwen. Gunnar ran to the village with what men survived the Moorwen's attack, calling out that they surrender and not to shoot. Kainan, hearing the Moorwen, managed to get the gates open for them, allowing them to get through as the village defenders saw the Moorwen glow in the forest. Both Human factions decided to unite against the common enemy, also seeing that their weapons were ineffective against the Moorwen. Kainan devised a plan to trap and kill the Moorwen by filling a pit with flammable alcohol, intending on replicating the bombs his species used in the conquest, inspired by the game of shields to use wooden shields as platforms over the pit, allowing Humans used as lures to get across and to safety while the Moorwen would fall in.
During the construction of the trap, Kainan and Freya grew closer. Meeting in a cabin given to Kainan as his new residence, Kainan finally decided to explain his connection to the Moorwen, telling Freya of the conquest and the loss of his family, although not directly mentioning any advanced technology and only referring to planets as "islands." While Freya tried to comfort him, assuring him that he was only following the orders of his rulers and was not at fault, Kainan still felt responsible for the destruction the Moorwen had caused on Earth. Freya then gave Kainan a family sword, saying that she would know the right man to give it to, a man worthy of being king. The night the trap was completed, Kainan and Wulfric went outside the village to serve as bait for the Moorwen, which had been stalking the woods outside the village. Throwing a torch at the forest, Kainan revealed the Moorwen, which quickly killed a Human priest that went out with the pair. Kainan and Wulfric used the shields to get back into the village, with Kainan narrowly saving Wulfric from being pulled in with the Moorwen, which had fallen into the liquor. The alcohol was then set on fire by flaming arrows from the Humans, burning it and rendering its skin somewhat vulnerable to Human weapons, but did not kill the Moorwen. Additionally, the Moorwen secretly had an offspring in a cave it took residence in, which attacked the village from a well. The juvenile Moorwen killed several Humans before both Moorwen ran off, also killing Hrothgar and Gunnar. Kainan stayed in the village with Wulfric, now crowned king, as the populace decided to evacuate.
Knowing that failing to stop the Moorwen could result in even more Human causalities, Kainan formed a plan to smelt the metal from his spaceship into weapons for the Humans, as the metal could be strong enough to harm Moorwen. Accompanied by Freya and Wulfric, Kainan returned to the lake where he crashed, diving into the water to retrieve pieces of the ship's hull while Freya and Wulfric waited for him in a boat. After sending a piece up to the surface, Kainan suddenly noticed the young Moorwen swim by, narrowly avoiding it by hiding within the ship. Getting back to the boat after the Moorwen had passed, Kainan discovered that it had capsized the boat and taken Freya, leaving Wulfric behind. Together, they returned to the village and forged the hull pieces into swords. Finding that the well was full of blood, an indication that the Moorwen emerged from it, Kainan, Wulfric, and the few warriors left with them descended into the underground caves the well led to, where the Moorwen were hiding. They tried to carefully navigate the twisting caverns, soon being attacked by the young Moorwen. After other members of the party were killed, the young Moorwen was blinded, and Kainan and Wulfric found Freya, still alive and held in a chamber where human bodies were brought to feed the young Moorwen. They managed to pass Freya an alien metal sword through a crack in the wall, allowing Freya to kill the Moorwen, and then Kainan tried to lead them in an escape.
Finding that the cave exit led to a high waterfall, Kainan and Wulfric tried to fend off the adult Moorwen. Wulfric was fatally wounded, but with Freya's help, Kainan is able to cut off one of the Moorwen's legs, and then send it over the side of the waterfall, managing to force it off before it could pull him down, presumably killing it. With the Moorwen gone, Wulfric passed on kingship to Kainan. After helping Freya scale the cliff face above the waterfall, Kainan told Freya to signal the evacuation ships to return, while he went back to the crash site. Finding the distress beacon still active, Kainan saw other Outlander ships arriving in the sky. Resolving not to return to his homeworld, Kainan used his sword to destroy the beacon, and the Outlander ships left after losing the signal. Kainan remained on Earth as king of the surviving village population, taking Freya as his wife and adopting Erik. Although she told no one, Freya had seen the ships in the sky, and believed that Kainan had been sent by the gods. It is unknown what became of the other Outlanders, but they presumably continued their conquests elsewhere in space.
Appearances[]
- Outlander (2008)
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- The species' actual name is unknown; the Outlander name is given to Kainan by Vikings, as they would call anyone from another country.
- The language of the Outlanders is actually Old Norse, the ancestor to modern Icelandic and several other Scandinavian languages.[1]