Revision 169862310 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 base their technology on any sources they can find, be it purchased from the [[Bentusi]], adapted from old designs, reverse-engineered from salvage or some combination of the three.

To this end they possess technology that even the larger clans do not have, and is not seen even 100 years later by the time of [[Homeworld 2]]. They include [[Force field (science fiction)|force fields]], the electromagnetic Repulsor defense system, microships and [[ion cannon]] beam-splitting technology. It should be noted that as of Cataclysm, this is 15 years after the events of the original ''Homeworld''.

A notable departure from the first Homeworld game is the removal of the limited fuel concept in small ships. The given explanation is that they use advanced Bentusi [[fusion rocket]]s that have no such concerns.

{{Homeworld}}

[[Category:Homeworld series]]