Revision 169583896 of "Kiith Somtaaw" on enwiki

In the ''[[Homeworld]]'' series of [[computer games]], '''Kiith Somtaaw''' is one of many kiithid - or extended family-clans - that belong to the [[Kushan (Homeworld)|Kushan]] race. Originally a major religious kiith, the '''Somtaaw''' later became almost entirely geared towards mining.

Following the events of ''[[Homeworld]]'' the Somtaaw were left with a substantially smaller portion of their original number, most having been slaughtered in an event known as the [[Kharak]] [[Genocide]]. After battling through various legal trials to achieve rights for use of the [[Ships of Homeworld|Mothership]] construction facilities for a limited period of time, they succeeded with their main goal of building a self-sufficient command ship, the Faal-Corum. Using lessons learnt during its design and manufacture, they devised and built a second superior version, the Kuun-Lan. Still left with a modicum of time after the construction of the two prior giants, they quickly made the Clee-San, a small state-of-the-art research vessel.

They continued their heritage of [[mining]], except now they did it in [[asteroid mining|space]], preferring the honest work to the blood and violence of war.

Their stint in the Homeworld storyline comes during the events of the game [[Homeworld: Cataclysm]]. After an Imperial [[Taiidan]]i incursion attempt, they were dispatched to rescue a Kiith Manaan destroyer stranded in the outskirts of the Hiigaran [[star system]]. In the process, they discovered an artifact built by no known Galactic races. Considering the potential such a discovery held, the ruling Somtaaw council decreed it could give them great leverage in the new Hiigaran government, and ordered the [[Ships of Homeworld|Kuun-Lan]] to keep it a secret within Somtaaw. The Kuun-Lan then met up with the Clee-San, and the device was opened up for analysis. However, the artifact contained part of the intelligent [[nanotechnology]] organism, [[the Beast (Homeworld)|the Beast]]. The infection rapidly spread, forcing the ship to jettison its entire lower section.

The missions in Cataclysm largely follow the Kuun-Lan as it gathers information, while turning from a mining fleet into one built for war. The game ends in a climatic final showdown against the Beast [[flagship]], the Naggarok. 

They are mentioned in passing in the [[Homeworld 2]] strategy guide, during the debate over reactivating the Hiigaran [[quantum waveform generator|hyperspace core]]. They were opposed to the idea, creating a deadlock in the Hiigaran Government, until Karen S'Jet intervened. 

==Ship overview==
{{main|Ships of Homeworld#Kiith Somtaaw}}
The Somtaaw are a resourceful people, and to this end their technology is based on designs created using any sources they can find, be it purchased from the [[Bentusi]], adapted from old designs collecting dust in their engineering libraries, reverse-engineered from salvaged derelicts or even all three in conjunction.

To this end they possess technology that even the far-more advanced Kiith do not have, such as [[Force field (science fiction)|force fields]], the electromagnetic Repulsor defense system, microships and splitter technology for [[Ion Cannon]]s. It should be noted that this is 15 years after the events of the original ''Homeworld'' and 100 years prior to [[Homeworld 2]].

With the exception of the Repair Drones, all light vessels use Bentusi-designed [[fusion rocket]] fighter drives that are so efficient they render traditional Kiith-derived designs badly outdated.

{{Homeworld}}

[[Category:Homeworld series]]