Skaarj

The Skaarj are a violent race from the planet Skrath in the Unreal series of games. The Skaarj's goal is to conquer the universe.

The Skaarj are first encountered by humans at the Vortex Rikers, a prison transfer ship that crashes on the planet of Na Pali. The player in Unreal is a prisoner on the vessel and the only surviving person onboard. Unreal lore also speaks of the Skaarj assault on human strongholds, finally assaulting Earth; they are only repelled when New Earth Government (NEG) commandos storm the Skaarj mothership and destroy it from the inside. The Skaarj assault kills millions in this "Seven-day Seige," however.

Highly tribal, the adults look like lizards but their lifecycle is much more akin to that of insects. Large queens lay eggs which then hatch into pupae, which finally metamorphize into the Skaarj adults. Some Skaarj adults have cybernetic implants, and many have blades, called Raziks, strapped or surgically affixed to their wrists; these weapons may also fire energy charges from between the blades.