Pfhor

The Pfhor are an ancient race of spacefaring slavers. Bipedal creatures, they are somewhat taller than Humans, and have a set of three red eyes and a body covered in gray skin.

Culture
Little is known about Pfhor culture, although they appear to be run by a rather complex bureaucracy. According to the rampant A.I. Durandal, their religion is "pathetically boring", although the only information so far obtained about it is the presence of Sfiera, a goddess of both lightning and passion.

The Pfhor are divided into at the very least six ranks, or castes. These are listed below, in order of lowest to highest.
 * Conditioned, mainly a rank reserved for slave races
 * Aggregate, which most Pfhor soldier castes are
 * Willful
 * Attentive
 * Imperial
 * Command, the highest known rank in existence

Background History
In 2794, a Human security officer aboard the starship UESC Marathon first encountered the Pfhor while orbiting a colony on the planet Tau Ceti IV. The Pfhor, being the slavers they were, attacked the Marathon and got on board, forcing the officer to defend the ship with all he had in him. Eventually it comes to light to the Human that one of the ships three A.I.s - Durandal - has gone rampant and is playing the Humans against the Pfhor for his own mysterious purposes.

Eventually, this war led to the S'pht, one of the races enslaved by the Pfhor, into rebellion. Seventeen years pass, and Durandal sends the very same officer to the ruins of Lh'owon the homeworld of the S'pht. While once described as a paradise, it is now a desert world upon the first S'pht Clan Wars and subsequent invasion by the Pfhor. He mentions that the Pfhor are intent on attacking Earth, and that this planet may stall their advance. This culminates in the activation of an ancient Jjaro A.I. known as Thoth. Activated, Thoth contacts the S'pht'Kr, a group of S'pht who avoided enslavement, who in turn destroy the Pfhor armada in the area.

Pfhor Military Ranks

 * Fighter: The Fighters are the general soldiers in the Pfhor military, and carry a trusty shock staff into combat. They are denoted into several ranking "colors": Green and Purple-clad Fighters are the lowest ranks, and can only wield their weapon in mêlée combat. Orange and then Blue Vests are the next ranks up, and have more advanced shock staffs that can also fire energy bolts for distance attacks. Blue fighters are faster and more aggressive than Orange, and Purple is stronger than Green. A final ranking wear black and are the most dangerous of all, being not only faster and more aggressive than Blue Fighters, but stronger than Purple Fighters.
 * Trooper: Troopers are the next caste up from Fighters. They wear vacuum-enabled suits and carry assault rifles that have technology that allows them to never have to worry about ammunition.  There are two ranks, ones in green, and higher ranking ones wearing purple, who are more aggressive.
 * Hunter: Heavy soldiers donning heavy armor that is capable of withstanding most projectiles, yet is weak to high-energy weaponry. They fire energy bolts from a device attached to the shoulder section of their armor, similar to a Yautja.  Hunter Minors are clad in brown while Hunter Majors wear green, instead.  Hunter Elites instead wear blue armor, and are stronger as well as larger.
 * Enforcer: Enforcers are a specialized caste, and have been developed into a tall and thin frame, although they are certainly still Pfhor. They have been known to carry two styles of weaponry.  The first is similar to an every day assault rifle with higher-than-average accuracy, while the second is instead a long-range flamethrower that fires symmetrically.  Oddly, they do not seem to see Humans as a threat unless fired upon by one, and instead spend their time attacking other extraterrestrial species.  They come in two ranks - blue and green, with green being the stronger variant.
 * Pfhor Assault Vehicle: Lovingly nicknamed the "Juggernauts", they are hovering, nuclear-powered tanks which are equipped with heat-seeking rockets and alien projectiles. While the rockets certainly are not as powerful as rockets utilized by Human soldiers such as the SPNKRs, the tanks' high durability still makes it the strongest Pfhor unit on the field.  Powered by a form of nuclear reactor, they become highly unstable once enough damage is incurred, and the technology that allows them to hover begins to fail, slowly dropping them to the ground, essentially turning them into a massive warhead.  While most Juggernauts are gray and seemingly unpainted, stronger, orange-painted ones do exist.
 * High Pfhor: The commanding caste of the Pfhor forces, these are not a major group, and instead consist of the supreme commanders of the entire Pfhor army.

Notable Pfhor

 * Commander T'fear: Supreme Commander of Pfhor Battle Group Seven.

Trivia

 * The Pfhor were named thusly because the original game, Marathon, came out in 1994.
 * Originally, the trioptic eyes of the Pfhor created a triangle that pointed down. In all Marathon sequels, however, it was changed to point up to avoid the "clown" look.
 * Pfhor Hunters, when clad in blue, bear a strong resemblance to the Hunters of the later Halo trilogy, which was produced by the same company as the creators of Marathon.