| The Nockbur Gek-Eaters | |||
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| Primary Information | |||
| Universe | No Man's Sky | ||
| Creator | Somarinoa | ||
| Status | Deceased | ||
| Appearances | Background lore created for planet Nodershan Kone | ||
| Inspiration | The Tsavo Man-Eaters | ||
| Vital Statistics | |||
| True Identity | King Tabo and Lord Zosh, Queen Syra, twelve other known individuals over seventy years | ||
| Species | Quolkers | ||
| Ethnicity | Nockbur Quolker | ||
| Gender | Individuals consisted of both symmetric and asymmetric genders | ||
| Date of Death | Last member killed in 3283 | ||
| Homeplanet | Nodershan Kone | ||
| Hometown | Outskirts of the Ewendow-Popen Foundry construction site | ||
| Relations | |||
| Mother | Queen Syra | ||
| Father | King Tabo | ||
| Brother(s) | Lord Zosh | ||
| Abilities & Inventory | |||
| Abilities | Excellent at stalking prey | ||
The Nockbur Gek-Eaters were a familial pack of Quolkers that terrorized the Ewendow-Popen Foundry during its construction and the crew that inhabited it afterwards. They were responsible for the deaths of over a thousand Geks over the course of seventy years between 3213 and 3283. They were considered significant as pack behavior in Quolkers is otherwise unheard of, combined with their preference for Gek meat over more typical prey.
History[]
Initial Attacks (3213-3216)[]
In the year 3213, an attempt was made to modernize the planet of Nodershan Kone, a backwater Gek colony planet 1,371 years after it was originally colonized in 1842. The first stage of this consisted of building manufacturing facilities to allow for increased production speeds and processing of both the most common and rarer elements in the planet. The Ewendow-Popen Foundry was one of several planned facilities to be installed across the surface of the planet with the Nockbur Reach being chosen as its installation site.
To lower costs, local colonists were hired in droves to aid in the construction of these sites so that the heads of those paying for the construction would not have to pay higher fees to more masterful crews, and instead more money was focused on supervisors to make sure the work was still done to the CEO's standards.
Makeshift ToilGek shanty town camps were set up throughout the Nockbur Reach area with each being overseen by the crew supervisors themselves. Construction began with the excavation of a large hole into the earth for the intended subterranean hive structure of the facility. The ToilGeks were worked to the bone by their supervisors and work was loud and continued very late into the night, leaving most of the crew exhausted at all times, barely able to stand on their own two feet sometimes let alone keep a vigilant eye out for creatures that they had no idea were even watching them.
It wasn't three weeks into construction when the first attack occurred. At first the supervisors assumed the deaths were attributed to labor accidents and waved them off, not wanting to alter construction speeds with hope of earning their galactic credits quickly. This of course led to more deaths over the following months. Seven months into the project and the first direct sighting of an attack was witnessed by a supervisor, who saw a pair of Quolker males distract and drag off a ToilGek into the bushes. When the Supervisor went to check with his blaster drawn, he was unable to find the crewmember but did find a large amount of smeared blood. During the next year and a half, these two Quolkers continued their reign of terror, becoming named Lord Tabo and Lord Zosh by the ever-increasingly fearful ToilGeks. During this period of time the Quolker pair would take a Gek roughly every week or two, but the attacks would stop temporarily when a supervisor shot at and injured Lord Tabo, nearly taking out his eye and deeply scarring his face. The two Quolkers would not return for five more months and are assumed to have returned to hunting a Mulchuppa herd that was passing through the region.
The Attacks Continue (3216-3217)[]
By late 3216, the ToilGeks had begun to forget about the horrifying ordeal they had dealt with for so long, believing that the brothers were never to return. This could not have been further from the truth. It is thought that once the Mulchuppa herd moved on from the Nockbur Reach region that instead of continuing to follow the herd the two Quolkers returned to the Ewendow-Popen Foundry site for easier meals, with Lord Tabo seemingly having forgotten his near fatal encounter at the business end of a blaster rifle. Upon their return the attacks greatly intensified, and a Gek was killed nearly every day for the rest of the year. Panic ran rampant through the campsites with some ToilGeks begging their supervisors to request hacking local Sentinels to guard their camps but they were scoffed at and turned down at every attempt. A few Geks tried to hack Sentinels on their own but were killed in the process with one entire camp being eradicated by Sentinels becoming hostile following a hack attempt. Other camps tried to protect themselves by harvesting the toxic thorns of local Injecktoras, late-stage Starmortars, and Zaftig Trees, or by poisoning water holes with Meblyberries in the hopes that the Quolkers would drink from them, but to no avail. Attempts to plant Steamstranglers, Torridtraps, and Xokka also failed with a few Geks dying in the process from incurred injuries. The attacks continued unabated.
Three more months and the attacks worsened even further. Now the brothers had become more brazen in their actions and they ceased their old tactic of using one of themselves to distract a Gek while the other struck from behind and now both would enter a camp and try to drag off an individual apiece, with attacks at this point occurring almost exclusively at night when the ToilGeks were attempting to get some sleep. Finally when several crews abandoned post to return to their own homes where they felt less likely to be murdered by hungry beasts, the supervisors went on the offensive. A task force was set up to hunt the two Quolkers and end the trouble: 23 mercenary hunters were hired to get the job done, mostly consisting of Geks but also including a few Korvax and Vy'keen, as well as a single Yzzn who simply lusted for their blood for a tincture he had hoped to sell at a premium price. The hunt lasted four weeks and during this period of time, attacks on the camps ceased while the Quolkers focused on the hunters themselves. Of the 23 hunters, ten would be killed by the pair. However eventually the local Gek hero Subain found himself at night cornered by the pair against a Kalpatree, drawing his rifle on the darkness surrounding him as he listened to the screams of his hunting band as the Quolkers attacked. After a couple minutes of silence, a low growl caught Subain's attention and he fired blindly in its direction, hearing a loud yelp and a scuffle and then finally, silence. He climbed the Kalpatree and remained there until well into the morning when he was sure that the Lords had gone. Climbing down and investigating, he found the other hunters — including the Yzzn — torn to shreds but found relief when he came upon the severely wounded form of Lord Zosh, whom he had struck with a blaster shot straight through some vital organs and two of its legs, leaving it unable to continue on. Subain took the opportunity and after savoring the victory for a moment, put Lord Zosh out of his misery. According to Subain's own retelling of the events, he then heard an anguished roar that echoed and seemed to come from everywhere at once. Subain believed it to be Lord Tabo mourning the death of his brother. Though this telling is anecdotal at best, the events of the next 66 years would hint that he may in fact have had been right to some extent.
Two Years of Peace (3217-3219)[]
The next two years saw zero attacks by the remaining Quolker, Lord Tabo and the crew were able to get a lot of work on the facility done during this period of time. A number of Gek still died but reports indicate that these were mostly due to being worked into exhaustion by their supervisors, hoping to make up for lost time caused by the Quoker attacks. Occasionally a Gek would announce that he thought he had seen Lord Tabo in the distance, skulking alone, but these could never be corroborated and since the Quolker did not attack the supervisors barely cared if he was actually out there or not and would typically just blow such reports off.
One final report came in about Lord Tabo that is recorded in the journals of a supervisor stating that some of the members of one camp had thought they had seen Lord Tabo and a then-unnamed female in violent mating courtship. The journal's writer indicated that maybe Lord Tabo would finally settle down and "become a family man". As it would turn out he would be right, but not for the betterment of the Gek people. Instead, the Nockbur Gek-Eater pack had officially begun.