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In General
Ferocious, extremely tough reptilians with expansionist tendencies, known for especially brutal treatment of the defeated.
- Agony Beam: All Scarrans have one naturally built in.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted — while very aggressive and almost psychotic at times, they can be reasoned with. It also bears noting that most of the Scarrans we see are soldiers and/or government agents; we do meet a Scarran civilian at one point, and he's actually an otherwise nice guy.
- Balls of Steel: As Chiana found out the hard way, their mivonks are internal.
- Draconic Humanoid: They are reptilians with an in-built heat weapon, which in their first appearance is depicted as a Breath Weapon.
- The Empire: The name of their government; true to the name, they typically conquer other species and incorporate them into service and support roles.
- Henchmen Race: They employ two of these. The Kallish are a conquered race that handles administrative and technical work, while the Charrid voluntarily signed up and act as ground troops.
- Hidden Depths: It's implied through Staleek that the Scarrans' core motivation is to be seen as an advanced and respectable civilization by the rest of the galaxy, but because others only see them as thugs and brutes, they don't see any other path to this other than war.
- Hive Caste System: The Scarrans come in several varieties, although they lack any kind of hive mind; the males seem to belong to a 2-4 tiered system that includes the High-Caste Scarrans, who are the most humanoid, and several more reptilian-looking lower castes with variations in the structure of their elongated faces. The males also have a mid-ranking caste of "pug-faced" Scarrans whose appearance is somewhat in between these extremes (who only showed up in "The Peacekeeper Wars." Most females seen so far appear to be members of the Ruling Caste like the higher-ranking, short-faced males, but Tauza, Scorpius' "keeper," might have been a female warrior-caste/lower-caste Scarran or possibly a female of the mid-ranking "Pug Face" caste. The huge variety of types of Scarran might be due to their reliance on the Crystherium flowers to accelerate and maintain their evolution; this would make the Higher Castes "more evolved" as they presumably have first dibs on the flower supply.
- Made of Iron: They are notoriously difficult to kill because of their thick, scaly hides. The higher-caste Scarrans seem to lack the heavy armor though, and go down easier.
- Mars Needs Women: They toyed with the idea of using Sebaceans as breeding stock. Following Scorpius' rebellion, they decided it wasn't worth the trouble, particularly since the success rate for said breeding was pretty low and the outcome was fairly disappointing by their standards. In an alternate timeline they had better luck with Earth humans, to the point that the planet's population is entirely composed of hybrids.
- No-Sell: They almost literally shrug off blasts from any weapon smaller than a bazooka.
- Telepathy: Most high-class Scarrans have a certain degree of telepathic power; it's not based on any psionic ability though, it's probably more connected to their heat gland being very good at coercing truthfulness.
- Terminally Dependent Society: Scarrans have to regularly eat the petals of a flower called "Crystherium Utilia" to remain sentient. They've been able to pass this off as a cultural delicacy, but in reality there are only a few planets that can support them which places a limit on Scarran expansion. Earth is such a planet (it's a Bird of Paradise flower, a common houseplant) which John lets slip before he learns of their importance. Scorpius considers destroying even one patch such a major victory that he lets John out of his promise to give him wormhole tech in exchange for it. It's implied but not confirmed that access to the flowers determines the Scarrans' caste system, with big-brained, ruling-caste Scarrans like the Emperor controlling access to the supply to benefit themselves and maintain their hierarchy.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: It's heavily implied that Scarrans weren't always so violently imperialistic, and that they are capable of doing things peacefully. However, due to being constantly dismissed as brutish dimwits by other groups when they do try diplomacy, the Scarran opted to simply force others to respect them through war and violence.
Emperor Staleek
"War is our path. At the peace table, we know how we're viewed: brutish, ignorant."
Played By: Duncan Young
The leader of the Scarran culture, determined to increase his race's power by (almost) any means necessary.
- Affably Evil: Is shockingly polite compared to the average Scarran. It's only when Crichton and company begin sneaking around that he starts to lose his cool, or when he decides to take Ahkna's advice.
- Always Chaotic Evil: Zigzagged. He acknowledges that the Scarrans are incredibly violent and ruthless, but he takes issue that other species flanderize his species as "brutish, ignorant".
- Big Bad: Takes over in season four and The Movie.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Inverted. He gets influenced by an Eidolon in an attempt to end the war with the Peacekeepers, and it's largely successful... until Ahkna kills the Eidolon and dispels the control he had on Staleek.
- Costume Porn: Staleek's crimson-and-gold-trim regalia would stand out in any crowd, much less when found on a member of a species that tends to prefer black.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: It's implied the entire species feels this way, but Staleek outright points out that other species dismiss Scarrans as brutish savages rather than an intelligent race with its own unique culture and society. He's initially receptive to the Eidelons negotiating a ceasefire when told that proving his intellectual abilities would be a greater victory than anything done on a battlefield.
- Evil Overlord: He's the Emperor of the Scarrans.
- Large and in Charge: Stands at least a full head taller than any other Scarran on the show.
- Noble Demon: Is much more diplomatic than any other members of his race, and was even eager to pursue a ceasefire with the Peacekeepers until Ahkna screwed it all up by shooting the Eidelon.
- Opposing Combat Philosophies: With Ahkna. While Staleek himself is at least in principle willing to deal with Crichton, Ahkna tries to sabotage any deal at every turn. He's less than pleased about this, because as Emperor, his word of honor is his trust capital.Staleek: STOP! SEEING BITUBIAN VIPERS IN EVERY CORNER!! And never countermand my orders again.
- The Starscream: According to Ahkna, Staleek became emperor by being a successful example of this towards her father. It's unclear what he did exactly, but he sits on the throne and Ahkna considers it a horrible betrayal. Staleek is glib about it, pointing out he simply did what Ahkna's father had done to his own predecessor.
- Villainous Breakdown: Looks rather.... apprehensive at agreeing to a peace treaty with the Peacekeepers. Guess that's what happens when you're almost literally two minutes away from getting swallowed up by a wormhole weapon.
War Minister Ahkna
"Grayza doesn't frighten me. Her command carrier doesn't frighten me. Your bomb doesn't frighten me — and neither do you."
Played By: Francesca Buller
Ahkna is the brutal and grudgeful leader of the Scarrans' war effort.
- Cute Monster Girl: Due to belonging to a more higher caste, Ahkna has a more human-like appearance than other Scarrans.
- Freudian Excuse: Her motivation for being The Starscream is actually very personal, as Staleek only became emperor by getting her father out of the way first.
- Hot Skitty-on-Wailord Action: Borderline case — Ahkna was apparently courting Pennoch, a member of a lower Scarran caste.
- Opposing Combat Philosophies: With Staleek. He's willing, at least in principle, to bargain with Crichton, but Ahkna does everything she can to sabotage the deal.
- The Starscream: To Staleek. Strangely, Staleek himself let her sit on his throne, giving her an ultimatum - carry out one final order from him, and get a promotion that would subsequently lead to her becoming "Empress".
Naj Gil
Played By: Thomas Holesgrove
Voiced By: Nicholas McKay
A Scarran and a former captive of the Peacekeepers. Shortly after being captured, the Peacekeepers removed his heat gland, making him unable to perform the Scarrans' natural heat-based attack.- Dropped a Bridge on Him: He departs Moya for a medical transport that Talyn destroys shortly afterwards.
- Token Heroic Orc: The only non-hostile Scarran encountered in the series. Part of this may be due to the Peacekeepers removing his heat gland to weaken him. He even gets a brief Ship Tease with Jool.
Captain Jenek
"Ministry of Dissimulation. Well don't worry Captain, you have little to fear from me. I have no interest in spies and their intricate games."
Played By: Jason Clarke
A Scarran freighter captain and a member of the Scarran ruling caste.- Kill It with Fire: He's killed by virtue of having the misfortune of being at ground zero of the detonation of Crichton's miniature nuclear bomb.
- Oh, Crap!: Subverted. The last thing he does is to stare at the nuclear bomb Crichton left behind in befuddled confusion right before it explodes.
- Punch-Clock Villain: He treats everything he does as little more than a job that he seems somewhat bored with. If anything, it's more horrifying than if he enjoyed what he does.
- The Stoic: He rarely expresses any sort of emotion other than gruffness.
- Torture Technician: He puts Arryn through grueling psychological and physical torture to interrogate her.
Tauza
"You pathetic infant, never use that word ("Please") to me again!"
Played By: Amy Salas
Played By: Micheline Dax (European French)
A Scarran female stationed on a Scarran Dreadnought in charge of Scorpius' training as a child.
- Abusive Parents: The closest thing to a parental figure Scorpius gets and she certainly wasn't a pleasant woman to be around.
- Evil Mentor: Attempted this.
- Eye Scream: She gets two of Scorpius' cooling rods smashed into her eyes.
- Fantastic Racism: Constantly hurls insults at Scorpius' Sebacean side as weak and useless.
- Karmic Death: Dies in the same room and at the hands of the same weapons she inflicted on Scorpius.
- Mind Rape: To a literal extent when she forces Scorpius to see his mother's rape at his father's hands.
Sastaretski Cargn
"You will rule not because YOU desire it, but because I DO!"
Played By: Gavin Robins
Voiced By: Nicholas McKay
The Scarran envoy to the Sebacean Breakaway Colonies and accomplice of Prince Clavor.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Every conclusion he reaches about Crichton's actions and motivations is perfectly logical based on the information he has available, but is in fact completely and catastrophically wrong. Scorpius even rubs it in at one point that his own wrong conclusions were his undoing.
- Revenge Before Reason: Instead of cutting his losses and skipping town, he tries to kill Crichton for ruining his plans.
- Sarcastic Devotee: He just can't quite stop himself from openly mocking Clavor.
- Starter Villain: The first pure Scarran the crew encounters.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He sees Clavor as a pawn in the ongoing political clash with the Peacekeepers and barely has any patience for his attitude. When their scheme finally falls apart and Clavor prepares to sell him out to save himself, Cargn kills him.
Grath
Played By: Thomas Holesgrove
A Scarran interrogator.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His attempt to interrogate Crichton is how viewers learn the full circumstances of Harvey and the neuro-chip.
- Torture Technician: His attempt relied on Mind Rape, putting Crichton through increasingly elaborate and chaotic scenarios that would ultimately render him insane.
- Weak, but Skilled: The mental torture he inflict on Crichton likely would've succeeded without the interference of Harvey.
