Hükk Bounty Hunter

Hükk is a planet and system that reconnected in the Seventh Age in the sparsely populated, southerly area of the Determinate. It is home to a species who evolved from lone, carnivorous hunters, territorial creatures normally intolerant of others of their kind. The species take their name from the planet: the Hükk (pronounced ‘Heur-ck’ with a heavy ‘ck’)

The Hükk are intelligent, have a sparse and narrowly focused language but almost so social cohesion or culture. When their world was discovered by human explorers in the remote past, the Hükk recognised the value of human artefacts and material culture – especially weaponry – but never felt any inclination to learn how to understand or make it. They simply took what they found and adapted it to their own purposes.

Hükk are concerned with individual status, expressed through their ability to establish, maintain and hunt in a personal territory. Since moving into the wider galaxy, territory has changed from being a literal statement of possession to embrace influence and status within Hükk and other panhuman cultures. Whilst others might regard this as merely reputation, to a Hükk this is hürakh, an integral sense of self-worth and status, one expressed in a way that other Hükk recognise and respect. Where once they hunted in the forests and mountains of their homeworld, now they hunt throughout Antarean space – for what greater territory could there be!  The Hükk have become renowned bounty hunters, sought after by those who require their very special services: those who define themselves through their success in the hunt.

Hükk have no sense of humour in the sense humans would understand. They have little empathy with other creatures, relating practically everything they encounter into their own terms. They understand that other species and panhumans think differently and have different values, but they privately consider such things to be childish or insane, the typical attitude of ‘herd-creatures’.

To outsiders, Hükk appear amoral and without remorse or pity, but they never lie or seek to deceive, merely refuse to reveal information given in confidence. Such deception implies weakness and to even imply such deception is deeply insulting. The drive to maintain and enhance hürakh acts in a way we could understand as honour: a Hükk would never decline a job unless he or she felt it unworthy of them – and they would be insulted to be offered and unworthy hunt in the first place! Once the hunt begins they are utterly focussed upon the task, prepared to spend the rest of their lives in pursuit of their target if necessary. Failure means a devastatingly shameful loss of hürakh, a weakness other Hükk will take as a sign to encroach upon their territory.

A Hükk rarely kills in anger, indeed, they rarely become angry at all, but they feel insults deeply and would regard it as legitimate to kill someone who had offended them – especially another Hükk. They defend themselves if attacked or threatened and think nothing of killing those who get in the way of them achieving their goal. However, they are bright enough to know when to swallow their pride when dealing with humans: they are but foolish, feeble hunters who know nothing of hürakh and what it is to be Hükk.

Bounty Hunter Weapons

Hükk bounty hunters buy weapons from Freeborn traders and will usually pay to have weapons rebuilt or modified to suit themselves. They are not overly motivated by material riches, but need resources to buy equipment and fund their hunting. They tend to favour magnetic or X- weaponry because it is reliable and within their ability to maintain or repair.

The typical main armament is a modified or customised mag gun, modified with sights and accessories that enable the Hükk to take down a target from range. To this is often added a heavily modified X-sling that can take specialist grenades. However, a Bounty Hunter is not an assassin, and in most case a job is only completed once a target has been recovered and brought to a client. That usually means putting down the target at close range and immobilising them so they can be carried away.  A mag pistol is always be carried as a back-up.

Hükk use as much equipment as they think necessary such as tracking devices, tracking drones, emplaced passive sensor modules as well as more primitive cuffs and shackles that advanced technology cannot ‘trick’ into releasing the target. When active and in the field – and certainly when fighting amongst a group of others – much of their equipment will have been hidden or left behind in storage. However, such devices can make for interesting hunting scenarios!

Hunting Beasts

Hükk bounty hunters often make use of pack hunting creatures, as did their ancestors, much as humans may keep hounds. In most cases these creatures are controlled by some kind of neural implant – depending very much on the creature. Whilst lavan creatures are occasionally used on kill missions, the creatures we have here are specially-bred and tailored angkriz, a genetically modified development of ferocious pack hunters who were spread around the Antarean Nexus during one of the many diaspora.

On the Nexus and in the Rules

Mercenaries for Hire: The Hükk Bounty Hunter may be hired as a Mercenary-for-hire unit. Being very territorial, only a single Hükk can be hired by any army. Refer to the Playing the Game rulebook for information on playing with mercenaries. 

The Hükk unit definition is in the Freeborn Army List.

We’ve a few other articles on the Hükk that you might like to check out:

• Fiction, in the story ‘The Hükk Hunts‘
• A scenario based on the hunt in the story: ‘Scenario: The Hükk Hunts‘
• An article on alternate colour schemes for the Hükk: Bringing a Hükk to life