Star Citizen lore: the Vanduul, the nomadic threat

Nomadic raiders, ruthless and unreadable: the Vanduul are humanity’s sworn enemy. The UEE has been at open war with them since 2945.

Who are they?

• Tall and gaunt, with pale, wrinkled skin and a snout full of fangs. They can survive for an indeterminate time in the vacuum of space, and have been seen fighting on ship hulls without protection.
• Very little is known about them: they don’t communicate with humans, and their ships scuttle themselves when at risk of capture.
• Their writing is a quasi-pictographic system, studied by human linguists but not yet deciphered.

A society of clans

• No central government: each clan (or horde) has its own chief, laws and customs, and rarely talks to the others. Lasting peace therefore seems impossible.
• They have no planet or fixed territory: they raid a world with their harvester ships, drain it, then move on.
• At adulthood, a young Vanduul is cast out of the family with a single knife as their only possession.

Three centuries of raids

• 2681: first contact, when raiders ravage the Dell colony on Armitage (Orion): 638 dead.
• 2712: the Battle of Orion. Then the siege of Tiber, the razed world of Tomb, the fall of Virgil.
• 2871: the fall of Caliban, the last time a Kingship entered UEE space.
• Late 2945: the attack on Vega II starts the open war, still going on.

Their ships, like the scythe-shaped Scythe, and their gigantic Kingships are at the heart of the single-player campaign Squadron 42.

Have you ever fought a Scythe in Arena Commander? Tell us about the fight!

The full story: Star Citizen lore: the great timeline, from 2038 to 2956

Sources: the official Star Citizen lore (Galactapedia, Comm-Links) and the community Star Citizen Wiki. Image: Star Citizen Fankit visuals, logos and 3D models, layout by Beacon Mag. Made By The Community. Star Citizen®, Roberts Space Industries® and Cloud Imperium® are registered trademarks of Cloud Imperium Rights LLC.