Fan Races!!

Dimension Books & nothing but..

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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Darkmax wrote:Hmm.... Taalismn should be able to give you a few. :D


None wit serious stats yet, but a few general ideas...what I do have stats on are mostly Rifts Earth races who haven't yet gotten any exposure in the Three Galaxies or greater galactic culture,...But I'll see what I can do...I might still have the Galoots somewhere on my home computer...


Added here to give a species index of what new readers will find on this thread:

Index of Thread Species

Adisme----(taalismn)
Adonians----(taalismn)
Ajemnin----(taalismn)
Androidians---(Gnome888)
Annox---(taalismn)
Anowak----(taalismn)
Arzac----(taalismn)
AsGulah----(taalismn)
Avaree---(Nightmartree)
Azailia---(Ninja Bunny)
Badgerfolk---(GaredBattlespike)
Bal-Kre/Devils of Peace---(Ninja-Bunny)
Bathorites----(Incriptus)
Beach Faeries----(taalismn)
BeeGirls----(taalismn)
Bevo----(taalismn)
Bhozyari---(89er)
Botwhin Char’chuga----(taalismn)
Brolith----(taalismn)
Bunkle---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Caffeine Fiends----(taalismn)
ChaiChuks----(taalismn)
Chandra---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Chor’ii---(Glitterboy2098)
Chukta----(taalismn)
CoraBrok/Aboroc----(taalismn)
Coloye Dopamen----(taalismn)
Corte-Rel---(Aequitas)
Craydonians----(taalismn)
Crysalians----(taalismn)
Degolians----(taalismn)
Del-Mazans---(Gaby)
Derminus Terronicks(Deets)---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Diycros---(Ninja Bunny)
D’M’Arkhiem----(taalismn)
Drapid---(Ninja Bunny)
Dromaes---(Pepsi Jedi)
Drunn----(taalismn)
Dweelie----(taalismn)
Elan----(taalismn)
Electro-Shogg----(taalismn)
Elnik----(taalismn)
Engarliyons---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Etanimians----(taalismn)
Fadzoids----(taalismn)
Feral Dust Bunnies----(taalismn)
Ferrikor----(taalismn)
Fhallux----(taalismn)
Fish Commandos----(taalismn)
Forleshka---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
446er----(taalismn)
Franaj----(taalismn)
Galcoynous---(Ninja Bunny)
Galoots----(taalismn)
Gapatrac----(taalismn)
GaTek----(taalismn)
GerDon----(taalismn)
Ghekken----(taalismn)
GhemDekki----(taalismn)
Gorang----(taalismn)
Grahl---(GaredBattlespike)
Grakkians---(Pepsi Jedi)
Greeth---(taalismn)
Grelfi----(taalismn)
G’rigons----(taalismn)
Grouqan----(taalismn)
Grun’Tarian Protectorate Soldiers---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Grusk---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Gwar---(Gnome888)
Hackakcah----(taalismn)
Haggarites----(taalismn)
Haranasya Vadyra----(taalismn)
Hazakre---(Ninja Bunny)
Hedonians(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Hemites----(taalismn)
Hollomorphs----(taalismn)
Huln----(taalismn)
Intellivore----(taalismn)
IRS Auditor Demon----(taalismn)
Itoy----(taalismn)
J!Ng---(DarkMaxx)
Jesh’Krue---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Junty Froo-Lumps(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Kankprian Foxes of Outland Magnolian System---(Shiiv-a)
Karmatorg----(taalismn)
Karna’ians---(Aramanthus)
Kishandral----(taalismn)
Klia/Arzhur----(taalismn)
Kor’valk---(GaredBattlespike)
Krelk----(taalismn)
Krel-Nal(Bathhouse Demon)----(taalismn)
Krydos----(taalismn)
Krymodens---(Ninja Bunny)
Kybyree----(taalismn)
Limni-Ossan----(taalismn)
Lonrishikies---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Loxidontians---(Aramanthus)
Magu----(taalismn)
Ma’log---(Blue Eyes)
Manga-Mystics---(Ninja-Bunny)
Mekanikal---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Micra----(taalismn)
Mmmrem---(taalismn)
MoVo---(taalismn)
Mumyar----(taalismn)
Mussephans----(taalismn)
Mushree---(Nightmartree)
NaiBed----(taalismn)
Naidians----(taalismn)
Na'santa---(Ninja Bunny)
Nazene----(taalismn)
NeaSyak----(taalismn)
Necrothals----(taalismn)
Neeg----(taalismn)
NeoM/Motavians/Dessorians/WarpHunters---(DhAkael)
Ninja Bunnies---(Ninja Bunny)
Nhobskhet----(taalismn)
Observers---(Gadrin)
Ondra---(Gadrin)
Ouli----(taalismn)
Pacred----(taalismn)
Phleg----(taalismn)
Pinarii----(taalismn)
Pineshinauti----(taalismn)
Pleasurans---(Zenvis)
Pleasuran Metamorph---(Gadrin)
Progenitors---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Procylonians----(Pepsi Jedi)
Prozacanoids----(taalismn)
Psi-Controllers---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Psi-Slimes---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Psychiatric, Enlightened, Sentient Trees(P.E.S.T.s)---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Quanesh Lupozor Lordlings----(taalismn)
QuimBek----(taalismn)
Quy-----(taalismn)
Ra-Ming----(taalismn)
Rebliss----(taalismn)
Rhona----(taalismn)
Rackyapes---(taalismn)
Rypt----(taalismn)
Sandmen(Skribkon-quop)---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Saphia----(taalismn)
Sardye----(taalismn)
Scuti!-! ----(taalismn)
Schlega----(taalismn)
Senge---(Blue Eyes)
Seshquec----(taalismn)
Shaemarian/Shem-Rahn Templar Robot----(DhAkael)
Shrakken----(taalismn)
Skek-----(taalismn)
Spaced Marines----(taalismn)
Stozen----(taalismn)
Sumi----(taalismn)
Syndians----(taalismn)
Tane----(taalismn)
Teryn--(DarkMax)
Thaelinites(Swords, Shields, Hammers)---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Tiorans----(taalismn)
Tofluk----(taalismn)
Trelvi Plant Mimics----(taalismn)
Tsubelians---(Neftosis)
T’v’zeel----(taalismn)
Uberfisch---(KLM)
Ultra-Mentals---(Roscoe Del’Tane)
Valar-Ryzell----(taalismn)
Val-Coltmar----(taalismn)
Vhist----(taalismn)
Vinobe----(taalismn)
Vloxian---(taalismn)
Votoron----(taalismn)
Vrusk----(taalismn)
Wynaro----(taalismn)
Xan Xanti----(taalismn)
Xappi----(taalismn)
Xygar----(taalismn)
Yalek----(taalismn)
Yuki-Onna Ice Maiden----(taalismn)
Zial-Quo----(Ninja Bunny)
Zeldorkrei/Space Demons----(Ninja Bunny)
Zisai----(Unknown Nobody)
Zyganians ----(taalismn)
Last edited by taalismn on Sat May 16, 2020 8:48 pm, edited 12 times in total.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Haranasya Vadyra
“Take it from me...NOBODY gives a massage like a Haranasya Vadyra...They’re human, or I should say humanoid, enough to know how the muscles and nerves are strung, they got all those arms to deliver a really intense touch massage and those tricky shiatsu point releases, and with six arms, well...they gotta know something about upper body muscular pain!”
-----Sammie Gossman, Headhunter

“Damn it! I KNOW you’re cheating me somehow! All those arms, I can’t keep my eyes on all of them at once! And QUIT SQUIRMING!”
“Who me? Cheat?”
----Overheard at a Burlington saloon

“Of course we can afford to be nice to you folks....I mean, what’s not to love? You’re small, you’re cute, you’re cuddly, you’re either imaginative in the sack or delightfully straitlaced, and picking on you would be like kicking a quadruple amputee!”
-----Remee Vahasu, Haranasya Vadyra

The Haranasya Vadyra are a unique humanoid species who managed to build a small insterstellar nation without benefit of a technological society, ....and almost lost it all.
The Vadyra are handsome humanoids, similar in appearance to baseline human beings, but for coppery skin, slightly larger proportions in the chest and legs, and the SIX arms they sport, two in the traditional shoulder location, two just below them on either side of the chest, and two growing from an extra set of shoulder blades on the back.
Some xenobiologists have speculated that the Vadyra may be a mutant offshoot of the Rahumen, but aside from superficial similarities, there are too many differences in genetics and internal organ arrangement for them to ever have been related.Other biologists speculate that the Vadyra were artifically created, possibly a fusion of human stock and the multi-limbed anthropoids common to the worlds of the Hexame-Pahrag Cluster, though the parties that might be responsible for this creation feat are unknown.
The Vadyra were able to move about the worlds of the Pahrag Cluster through the use of a series of apparently natural constant dimensional rift-gateways that linked the inhabitable worlds of the Cluster. Many later visitors have speculated that the rift-network is not so natural, but may be the work of a older, apparently extinct, race lost to Haranasya Vadyra legend, and whose ruined cities are occasionally found throughout the Pahrag Cluster. Whether or not this earlier people, known only as the ‘Far Ones’ by the Vadyra, set up the gates or merely benefitted from them like the later Haranasya Vadyra, is unknown, as few records of the race have been uncovered.
Using the Gates, the Haranasya Vadyra were able, beginning in their early Iron Age,
to colonize four other worlds besides their own, and though these colonies were sparsely settled, they were well on their way to establishing a thriving, growing, peaceful trade economy with their homeworld and homelands, the unique products of each new world contributing to the massive open-air markets the Haranasya Vadyra so adored.
It was then that the Splugorth discovered the Pahrag Cluster...
The Splugorth descended on the colony worlds with sudden and brutal efficiency, quickly subjugating the outlying colonies within days. Biowizardry and high technology easily outmatched Vadyra ballista, spears, and spells, and the Vadyrans’ advantage in hand to hand combat was of little use against weapons that could kill and maim from miles away. At first puzzled at how a primitive, low-tech people had colonized several farflung worlds without spacecraft, the Kittani who oversaw the invasion allowed some of their slaves to escape...and the Haranasya Vadyra refugees immediately tried to alert the other worlds of their civilization...Leading the invaders right to the Gate network in the process. Massive armies of Haranasya Vadyra were raised and rushed to the Gates to relieve and rescue the subjugated worlds...and walked straight into the Splugorth trap...Despite the assistance of their mages and seers, the steel swords, lances, bows, and brass-decorated armor of the Vadyra national armies were no better a match for Splugorth Biowizardry and Kittani technology, than the colonials’ weapons had been. Resistance lasted only a few days, with whole armies taken at once and subdued, if not annihilated outright. The Splugorth then turned their attention to the Gates themselves, quickly overwhelming the defending armies and using the Gates to invade the Haranasya Vadyra homeworld. Attempts to close the Gates proved futile, and the Gates were soon in the hands of the Splugorth invaders, who now settled down to strip the new conquests of all that was valuable...including the Haranasya Vadyra themselves.
Haranasya Vadyra females, in particular, were sought after as personal servents and domestics, while Vadyra men were put to hard labor, or as star performers in the gladiator pits. While the famed Rahumen were hard to find and equally hard to catch, the Splugorth seemed to have found a ready substitute in the helpless worlds of the Haranasya Vadyra. The Splugorth were already seeing massive sales of the new slave stock, as demand for the new exotics rose on the interdimensional slave markets.
The Vadyra were well on their way to becoming extinct as a free people when the Hindu Pantheon took an interest in the crisis. With the assistance of the Hindu god Agni, the remaining Vadyras were able to rally and keep off Splugorth attacks until the arrival of a United Worlds of Warlock (UWW) taskforce that officially annexed the system and brought it under the protection of their own frontier guards. The Haranasya Vadyra, relieved at the reprieve, gladly joined the UWW, being able to see the good and sincerity of intention in the second wave of aliens that appeared in their skies, this time to deliver them from darkness. However, this was of little help to the millions who had already been abducted into captivity.
Several hundred Haranasya Vadyra were among the slaves freed from Splugorth slave pits during the Day of Wrath, and the greater proportion of them settled in the nation-states of the Five Star Alliance. These d-bees have attempted to continue their traditional ways, bringing to the 5ST nations their highly developed arts of healing(including massage, acupuncture, and holistic healing), weaving, metalworking, wax-painting, enameling, and dance(both male and female dancers are much admired for their skill and grace). However, a substantial number of Haranasya Vadyra have also joined the military, and have taken up the study of advanced technology and engineering. The Haranasya Vadyra have taken well to the teeming, bustling, multi-species societies of Rifts Earth, and they mingle well with other peoples, finding in the bustle and variety of peoples, places, trade goods, and languages, something akin to the open cosmopolitan communities of their homeworlds.
Alignments: Any
Lifespan: 150 years
Size: Tall; average 2d4 inches over human norm. Typically weigh 10-20% more than normal humans.
Gender: Heterosexual
Physical Description/Appearance:
Human(oid), with a slight pronounced Asian cast to their features, and six arms; one short pair from the sides of the lower rib cage, the other pair attached to the back, from ‘wing bones’. All arms end in five-digited hands. Have slightly longer/larger legs, proportionally, than humans, and wider chests to accommodate the extra arms. Skin tends toward metallic casts, with red-copper and light gold being the most common. Eyes also tend towards metallic colors. Hair tends towards dark auburns and black, though blond and redheaded Haranasya Vadyra are not unknown.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Similar to humans. Haranasya Vadyra tend, however, to be more tolerant and open-minded in their dealings with other races, with a particular fondness for human and animal-like races. The Haranasya Vadyra enjoy openly consorting with these peoples and sharing their talents and arts. Traditionalist Haranasya Vadyra culture places a great emphasis on the arts, crafts, and performance, and it is a rare Vadyra that doesn’t have some sort of art-oriented skill, even if only as a hobby, to pass the time. Haranasya Vadyra also tend to be open and honest, and uninhibited when it comes to sex and sexual matters, and more than one outsider has been caught offguard by the traditional Haranasya Vadyra practice of amiably inquiring about one’s sexual prowess and success right off the bat in conversation, or their habit of making physical contact(patting, touching, rubbing up against limbs, embracing, getting up close and personal) with friends and close acquaintances.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 3d6+4
PP: 4d6
PB: 4d6
PE: 3d6+5
SPD: 3d6
(ISP) By Psionic OCC
(PPE): 6d6+2
Hit Points:(in non-MDC worlds) 1d6x10 Hit Points
SDC:(in non-MDC worlds) 1d6x100 SDC
MDC:(minor) P.E. + 2d4 per level of experience
Horror Factor: Nil
Natural Abilities:
*Multiple Arms--+3 Actions/Attacks per Melee
*Ambidextrous----Haranasya Vadyra can use ALL of their hands with equal profficiency. +1 to Parry and Strike, +10% to performing delicate work
Psionics: Standard
Magic: ALL Haranasya Vadyra have an innate low-level spell-casting ability(called ‘charming’), and can select 1d6 spells from levels 1-3. These spells increase with experience, and the Haranasya Vadyra can select an additional spell at their own levels 2, 6,10, and 14, from spell levels equal(or lower than) their current level of experience.
Those Haranasya Vadyra not selecting a Magic OCC have a permanent PPE base of their P.E. + 2d6

Available OCCs: Any scholar/adventurer OCCs except CyberDoc
Military OCCs are limited to Head-Hunter, Grunt, Cyberknight, Gunslinger, Gunfighter, and .
Among their native magic users, Haranasya Vadyra are commonly Mystics, Herbalists, Priests(Priestesses), and Leyline Walkers. Since coming to Rifts Earth, many Haranasya Vadyra have taken up Techno-Wizardry, Atlantean Stone Magic, and Conjuring. There are also a number of Haranasya Vadyra Shifters who are attempting to find a way back to their homeworld(s).
Can also select, from Ninjas and Superspies, the Worldly and Dedicated Martial Artist classes.
RCC Skills:
Haranasya Vadyra get a +15% to any Domestic skills they take, especially those with an artistic (including ornamental metal-working) or performance-oriented bent.
Skills of Note:
Cybernetics/Bionics: None initially. Since coming to Rifts Earth, many Haranasya Vadyra have had to receive medical prosthetics for injuries incurred as slaves. Most Haranasya Vadyra, however, avoid cybernetic and bionic augmentation, and will have nothing to do with Biowizardry or similar augmentation!
Note that extensive cybernetic or bionic augmentation WILL interfere with their charm-casting abilities.
Culture: On their homeworlds, most of the Haranasya Vadyra have a feudalistic, tribal culture centered around extended families, presided over by a matriarch or patriarch who sees that tradition, family honor, and familial harmony are maintained. Peaceful, inquisitive, and artistic people, with a great emphasis on craftsmanship and performing arts.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
Priest
Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Fhallux
CLAK!CLAK!
“Dang! Willya get aload of the SIZE of this thing!? We’ll be eatin’ chowda for MONTHS offa this clam! Justasoon as we get it ba...(SUUUUUSSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!)WWaaaiuuuuggghhhh!!!!!!!!!........(Glup!)”
“Bert? Bert? Whereya at Bert? This ain’t funny, Bert!!!”
---Tragic encounter on the Cape Cod mudflats....

The Fhallux are a rarely seen, reclusive race of giant sentient molluscs who have been living in hiding from the Metzla since their escape from Atlantis.
The Fhallux resemble the giant ‘maneater’ clams of Earth, but tend to be far larger and heavier. Fhallux possess multiple small eyes, but their eyesight is extremely limited, unable to make out any great definition, though their sense of taste and ‘smell’ is extremely accute. Filter feeders who comb the water and silt for organic material to eat, Fhallux prefer shallow, cool, coastal waters with plenty of organic muck and phytoplankton. Fhallux can survive for only a limited time out of water, for their brief levitations to travel and escape .
All Fhallux are master psychics, relying on psionics to do what other races rely on limbs to perform. In addition, Phallux use psychic abilities to compensate for their limited physical senses. Despite not having much in the way of physical mobility, or inclination towards technology, Fhallux are extremely perceptive and have superb memories. Even as slaves/livestock, the Fhallux tried to absorb what details they could about their captors(and later, any possibly enemies they encountered), and they passed on their knowledge to the next generation, so that adventurers encountering these giant shellfish-sentients might be amazed to discover that many have working knowledge of computer operation, or extensive information on magical, demonic, or technological lore that they have ‘acquired’ by various means.
Several small colonies of Fhallux, with no more than 200-300 individuals in the largest(most only consist of 10-25 members), have been established on Rifts Earth...one colony is now known to be hidding in the mud flats of Cape Cod.
The Fhallux came to Rifts Earth as slave stock of the Splugorth; Fhallux folklore tells that they originated on a peaceful, water-covered homeworld, where their ancestors had only just acquired stone-working and other simple technologies before the arrival of ‘monsters from above’ who began to devour entire communities. These monsters have since been identified as the Metzla, who apparently look upon the Fhallux as fine eating, especially quivering live Fhallux on the half-shell. The Metzla apparently persuaded the Splugorth to transplant breeding colonies of Fhallux to various waterworlds for food and their pearl-creating abilities. Several Fhallux consignments, however, managed to overcome their control restraints and escaped into the oceans of Earth. These Fhallux have given up much of their old culture(such as building stone sea walls to channel tide waters and trap food animals) in favor of ‘roughing it’, making it easier for them to remain hidden. They have, however, tried to carry on some of their old culture through oral tradition passed down through the generations.
Most Fhallux try to avoid contact with other races, hoping not to bring attention down on themselves, and reveal their locations to the feared Metzla. A few Fhallux have taken to destroying all other beings who approach them, using their psionic abilities to control, drown, and kill fishermen who stray too close to them. Several other groups of Fhallux, mostly young renegades, have taken the opposite tack, seeking out allies among other races, and plotting active resistance against their alien tormentors and former masters. One of these groups, rumored to be called ‘The Quintex’, is a cabal of high-level magic-capable Fhallux, working on developing new and powerful magic spells and weapons techniques, is believed responsible for developing the Water Drill spell.
The Fhallux came to the attention of Greater New England authorities when local militia commander Roberta Nalie and several psychic soldiers under her command, discovered the aliens dwelling in seclusion under the mud flats of Cape Code Bay. Though the creatures were extremely distrustful of the mainlander beings, Nalie was able to persuade the Fhallux with her sincere good intentions, and the urgency of uniting against a common foe, in the form of a surprise Splugorth slaver raid against the CoM coastal communities. Surprised by technological and psionic attacks from around , behind, and underneath them, the Splugorth raiders were decimated, and the survivors sent in retreat. Though the Fhallux recieved immediate recognition and great praise for their decisive role in the ‘Battle of the Flats’ from a grateful CoM community, and have been promised the protection of 5ST from their enemies, many of the skittish molluscs have questioned whether revealing their presence was a good idea, and many have slipped away to form splinter colonies farther from Splugorth attentions. A few more adventurous and radical-minded Fhallux, however, have joined the GNE wholeheartedly, serving with the Merchant Marine, Navy, Coast Guard, and in the port services, learning what they can and making friends.

Alignments: Any; just as there are benign Fhallux, there are also evil Fhallux who distrust all aliens for what has been done to their race.
Lifespan: 400 years
Size: 6-9 ft long, and weighing upwards of 300 lbs
Gender: Hermaphrodites---Produces both sperm and eggs
Physical Description/Appearance:
A large bivalve clam with a thick dark rubbery coating, corrugated lips, through which can be extended large spongiform sensory organs and fine, hair-like cilia used for filter-feeding and limited movement. As Fhallux age, their outer shell grows even thicker and more corrugated, and may grow thick spines and protrusions.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Most Fhallux are paranoid and reclusive, wary of other races, and interested only in preserving their freedom and survival. They will only cooperate with other races if they are assured of their own survival/self-interest, or if there is an overwhelming common threat. A few Fhallux(15%) are openly hostile to other races that intrude upon them, and lash out with lethal force. A smaller percentage(5%) of Fhallux have openly sought contact with other races, refusing to give in to bitterness or despair, and being genuinely curious about other peoples.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 4d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 2d4 (Tentacles)
Shell effectively clamps shut with a P.S. of 40
PP: 1d6
PB: 1d6
PE: 5d6
SPD: 1d4 crawling through the sand and silt, but can use their Levitation and Telekinesis psionics to move at up to 2d6
(ISP): M.E. x10+8 per level of experience
(PPE): 4d6 or by Magic OCC
Hit Points:-(in non-MDC worlds)
SDC:-(in non-MDC worlds)
MDC: Major Megadamage Being: 3d6x10 MD+4d6 MD per 5 years of life over 100 years.
Horror Factor: 14 when seen levitating or attacking
Natural Abilities:
*Natural Megadamage Creatures---Possess superhard armored shells
( A.R. 18 in non-MDC worlds)

*Tentacles---The Fhallux is fringed with innumerable fine tendrils, each about 8-12 inches long, that can be used for fine manipulation. Individually, each tendril is extremely weak and fragile(less than 1 PS, and has about 3d6 SDC) but they can perform quite delicate work. They also are acutely fine tactile sensors

*Multiple Eyes----The Fhallux has a band of hundreds of tiny blue eye-dots that fringe the shell. The eyes are individually quite weak(limited to about 100 ft of clear vision), but the Fhallux has a lot of them, and effectively has 200 degree vision with them.

*Phallux can briefly seal their shells to be both air- and water-tight, allowing them to survive in hostile environments, such as superheated environments or vaccum, for 15 minutes+their P.E. in minutes. This duration can be further extended if the Phallux uses an ability like Death Trance to reduce their metabolic requirements.

*Create Empathic Pearl(s)----Fhallux can create pearls from a psionically-resonant form of mother-of-pearl. These pearls, when held against bare flesh, can be felt to emit an empathic sensation; essentially the emotional state of the Fhallux at the time it created the pearl. Because the pearls’ emotional essence reflects that of the creature creating it, the Splugorth routinely drugged or lobotomized Fhallux slated as pearl-producers, into an artifical state of oblivious happiness, in order to create ‘happy pearls’.
Larger pearls(2-5 inches in diameter) can be used as ‘archives’, equal to a sort of psionic ‘hard drive’ that allows Fhallux and other telepathic beings holding them to read them like a Perfect Recall episode....Each pearl is equivalent to a 60 Gb computer drive in terms of capacity.
Exceptionally large pearls(6 or more inches in diameter...the biggest yet recorded was 18 inches) can serve as psionic amplifiers. Any psionic ability performed while holding one of these pearls(must be touching flesh/skin) will take only HALF its regular ISP, or else, its range, effects, and duration will be DOUBLE.
A Fhallux can create 2d6 smaller ‘empathic’ pearls of up to 2 inches in diameter a month. 1d4 larger pearls can be created every 6 months, and a single super-large pearl can be created in 4d6 months.
Psionics: Phallux are considered to be natural Master Psychics
All Fhallux possess the following psionic abilities:
Air Walk(special)----Similar to the Psi-X Aliens’ ability(see Rifts: Lone Star), this enables the Fhallux to hover 1-3 ft above the ground and move at a speed of 2d6. This ability costs the creature 5 ISP per 10 minutes of use
Telekinesis
Levitation
Hydrokinesis
Telepathy(at half cost)(NO cost to communicate with other Fhallux)
Presence Sense(NO cost, always on)
Can select an additional 8 psionic abilities from the Sensitive, Healing, or Physical categories, and 1 from Super, plus an additional psionic ability from ANY category at levels 3,6, 9, 12, and 15.
Magic: By OCC(if any)

One spell that is unique to Fhallux mages is a powerful combat spell known as Water Drill. So far, this spell is known ONLY to the sentient molluscs, and is uncommon even among them.
What this spell does is take the siphon outspit of the Fhallux and enhance it into a larger, more powerful, spinning cone of turbulent water, rotating at near supersonic speeds, that can cut through megadamage materials(such as Metzla shell). Better yet, if several Fhallux cast the spell simultaneously, they can COMBINE their spells into an even more powerful weapon!
Range: 200 ft, +10 ft per level of experience
Duration: 1 melee(15 seconds) per level of experience. The duration can be extended, by the expediture of an additional 15 PPE per melee
Damage: 5d6 MD per melee
Combined attack: if more than one Fhallux casts Water Drill simultaneously, the cost of maintaining the drill goes down to 10 PPE per melee, and the damage increases by 6d6 MD per each additional Fhallux in the concert(the added power can go directly into accelerating the attack).
Note that maintaining a Water Drill attack costs 2 APM, or 1 APM if additional Fhallux are involved in maintaining the attack.
PPE Cost: 20

Available OCCs:
Fhallux are fairly limited in terms of OCCs by their lack of hands and their physical shape---Limited to Scholars and Vagabond Scouts, or Magic
(Magic) Ocean Mages are fairly common among the Fhallux, as are Ocean Druids. Mystics are less common, followed in numbers by Water Warlocks, Ley Line Wizards, Priests, and Shifters. It has been runored that there is even a Fhallux Necromancer, using parts of creatures shipwrecked on the treacherous shoal it calls its home....
RCC Skills/Skills of Note:
ALL Fhallux have the following skills:
Undersea Navigation: +20%
Underwater Survival:+15%
Basic Math
Any Two Technical Skills at +10%
Any Two Science Skills at +10%
Language(s)
Dragonese/Elf 98%
Three others at +15%

Can select an additional 5 skills from the following categories, without any bonuses: Mechanical(Basic Mechanics only), Electronics(Basic Electronics only), Medical, Science, Technical, and Wilderness
Combat Skills/Actions/Attacks/Bonuses:
Extremely limited by their reliance on psionics and any magic.
6 actions/attacks per melee
+1 to Initiative
+3 save versus Psionics(plus any attribute bonuses)
+5 save versus Magic(plus any attribute bonuses)
+6 save versus Horror Factor(plus any attribute bonuses)

*Special Move: Water Blast---The Fhallux can use its feeding/digging siphon to expel a powerful blast of water and grit with the force of a firehose. This takes 2 APM(one APM to build up a fluid reserve, and the other to actually fire it) and has a range of 50 ft, and does only 1-2 SDC of damage, but is powerful enough to knock down humanoids(match the Fhallux’s attack roll to strike on a 20-sided dice, or be knocked back 2d4 ft and lose initiative and 1 APM while getting back up), and if fired in their (unprotected) eyes, can even blind, similar to a shot of tear gas(especially if fine grit has been mixed into the water).

*Special Move: Tangle-Suck---Conversely, the Fhallux can also use its siphon to PULL IN water and muck. Anyone in the water at the time will find themselves being drawn in towards the creature. Creatures with a Physical Strength of 25 or less will find themselves unable to resist being pulled in/under. The range of this ability is about 15 ft, and the Fhallux can keep pulling for their P.E./4 melees, before having to stop to rest briefly. While doing this, the Fhallux can take NO other physical actions, but can still attack with any psionic abilities, though it will have only HALF its regular APMs to accomplish this. This ability can ONLY be done in the water(knee-deep or more).
Fhallux ambushers especially like to use this ability in swampy ground, by hiding under the water until someone comes wading through the muck nearby, then they pull the target under the water and drown them.

*Special Move: Shell Clamp.---If the Fhallux can get close enough, or pull a target close enough, it can snap-shut its shell on a limb, like a leg or arm. The powerful muscles of the shell, combined with the superhard shell and razor-sharp edges, can do 1d4 MD in damage per ‘clamp’.
Note, however, that if the limb has a weapon already attached to it(like a gun, vibroknife, or cyberweapon), isn’t incapacitated by pain, or otherwise disarmed, the victim can attempt to use it and hits AUTOMATICALLY for DOUBLE damage, for being already within the Fhallux’s shell(the downside of taking someone’s gun arm into your mouth).

Cybernetics/Bionics: Not possible; nobody has yet charted the neural paths of the Fhallux, nor pursued any sort of cybernetics research that would be applicable to them.
Culture: Reclusive
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
Priest
Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Wynaro
(Aka ‘Wind Cats’, ‘Bladder Lizards’)

“Breath deep and partake of the wind...draw its strength into you...feel it within you...seek down to contain it, but listen to it...understand it, befriend it....let the wind out, and let it be drawn back into you....Ask a task of it, but do not ask timidly; ask with force and emotion, or else the wind will not understand...Convey the urgency of your request to the wind, and it will be yours to command!”
---T’swnee Deseerow, Wynaro Primary School Teacher

“Think of a cross between an otter and a velociraptor, with the Bagpipe Bellows from Hell on its back....That’s the Wynaro....I had the misfortune once of being cornered on a hill by one of their patrols...Couldn’t see them in the underbrush, but I could hear them alright...moaning and screaming and purring aloud, only it was coming from all directions so I couldn’t get a fix on them...then all of a sudden all that noise fell into synch and began hitting common chords...
That’s when I saw the shock wave come racing up the hillside, wind making cats’ paws in the foliage. I had enough common sense to haul ass before it reached my position...the rest of my squad wasn’t so lucky...They got bowled over and tossed around so much that the ‘cats had ‘em at their mercy when they came charging up, screaming their battle-dirge....”
----Captain Mann Delilo, Army of Free Quebec

“I can’t think of a race who can make more rude, obnoxious, and suggestive noises, and get away with calling them a language, than the Wynaro.”
-----Professor Vladimir Forgeseson, Linguist, Lazlo University

The Wynaro are another race of aliens who came to Rifts Earth by accident when a small space cruiser of theirs became lost in a dimensional vortex, and ended up crashing on Rifts Earth, near pre-Rifts Worcester, in the old state of Massachusetts.
The Wynaro resemble bipedal hybrids of felines and reptiles, with sleek, feline musculatures, a hunched-over posture, long limbs with retractable claws and padded paws, and a long ribbon-like prehensile tail, The head is small and triangular, thick folds of skin and fur around the neck giving the alien an almost neck-less appearance, with a small lower jaw and mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. Two long fangs jut from the upper jaw. The eyes are slit-pupiled, slightly protrudant, and glare with predatory menace.
Wynaro are covered with very fine scales, with a thick layer of fine, oily fur over that which gives the creature an almost otter-like look. The fur is typically blue-black in color, with a dark-gray underbelly, and white streaks around the eyes.
What is truly unique about the Wynaro’s physical appearance, however, is the long inflatable bladder-crest that runs from the top of the head to the small of the back. At the front, just above the forehead, is a nostril-like opening; it is in fact the Wynaro’s primary olfactory sensor, complementing the two smaller organs in the traditional position. The bladder-organ serves a wide range of purposes for the alien; fully inflated, the goiter-like organ serves as a display of the Wynaro’s prowess and emotional state. The Wynaro can also use the bladder as an air reservoir for speech, using air forced out of the organ to produce a multi-tonal howl in complement to the output from its lungs and vocal cords. Another function is to use the bladder to puff clouds of pheromones, signalling the alien’s willingness to mate, or to fight. A Wynaro with an injured or diseased bladder-crest is most miserable, crippled without the use of the organ.
Wynaro evolved as amphibious predators on their homeworld, and the air bladder originally served as a flotation device....Wynaro retain that ability, being excellent swimmers with their own built-in life preserver. However, the Wynaro also evolved the ability to channel Elemental Magic through their air bladders.
Early Wynaro frequently used their ability to unleash blasts of magical wind to knock down elusive prey. The ability later developed into more benign purposes, such as long range communications, but they still retain the formidable magical arsenal of their past. In combat, Wynaro tend to use their magic abilities to pin an opponent down, or knock them off balance, while the ‘cats close the distance and kill at close range. Likewise, blowing sand, smoke, or abrasive grit into an opponent’s eyes/sensory organs to blind them while engaging in combat is also a common tactic.
Wynaro feel decidedly uncomfortable at high altitudes, not so much from heights, but from lower air pressure, and they suffer from altitude sickness much more than humans, despite their higher lung capacity. As a consequence, few Wynaro pursue careers in aviation or space exploration(part of the reason behind the long delay in their ascension as a spacefaring culture was the need to build aerospace vehicles with the ability to sustain the higher cabin air pressures the Wynaro are most comfortable at). Wynaro are generally most comfortable at sea-level air pressures.
While Wynaro are fairly civilized in their pursuit of arts, culture, law, use of technology, and organization, similar to humans, their predator origins are still very much evident. Wynaro feel the need to regularly run wild and free, hunt live prey, and particpate in physical play in a manner similar to Earth weasels or otters, temporarily setting aside the trappings of civilization(such as any clothing) to work off stress. Thus Wynaro daily life will include several short (or one long) ‘frenzy breaks’(what humans call the ‘daily freakout’) in the course of the day, during which the Wynaro will engage in several minutes of intense physical activity(such as bouncing off walls, swinging on jungle-gyms, and climbing trees or buildings), that are treated as importantly as regular meals. Wynaro communities and communal buildings will have large parklands, forested commons, or spacious ‘rompus rooms’ set aside for the inhabitants to let off steam and pent-up energy. Meetings between individual Wynaro tend to turn into otter-like wrestling matches and similar playful behavior, though Wynaro tend to segregate themselves by gender in these ‘tangles’. The larger female Wynaro do tend to be more confrontational with strange females, with aggressive displays and mock combats that sometimes devolve into true combat, if the females in question are at odds. Other races are also sometimes subjected to this social interaction, and many newcomers to the region, unfamiliar with the Wynaros’ ways, mistake the seeming assault of the two hundred-pound-plus alien carnivores for a hostile action, rather than a friendly greeting, leading to serious misunderstandings....Most Wynaro, and local CoMers have learned to tone down the physical force of greeting, or else get used to a little rough-and-tussle between friends....
Technologically, the Wynaro are on a par with late 21st century Earth, with respect to their space technology. They had the rudiments of megadamage weaponry, but tend to rely on their own natural abilities to get by. Cybernetics and bionics are virtually unknown to the Wynaro culture; they simply haven’t seen the need to develop those technologies beyond basic prosthetics and medical appliances(though artificial lungs/air bladders have taken precedence in development). The Wynaro had little to contribute in the way of high technology to the PS space effort; their ship was a fusion powered ‘torch ship’ that was attempting to use a naturally-ocurring wormhole in their solar system to reach the outer planets when it became caught in a wormhole side-corridor or warp storm(being unfamiliar with such phenomenon, the Wynaro are unable to identify or explain what happened to them in any detail). The exploration ship and its crew of scientists and adventurers emerged in the middle of the Interface and was forced to crashland on Rifts Earth, the landing damaging the torchship beyond reasonable hope of repair.
The dimensionally-stranded Wynaro established a small community in the vicinity of pre-Rifts Worcester, Massachusetts, using their superior strength, speed, and magical abilities to secure themselves a small kingdom and carve out a haven in the ruins. Despite their rather menacing appearance and predator origins, the Wynaro didn’t bother anyone who didn’t give them any trouble first, attacking only in self-defense, and going out of their way to avoid trouble with their new neighbors. Anyone who got too close and gave them trouble was either badly beaten, sent packing, or wiped out entirely. Fortunately, after the first couple of ‘monster hunters’ got smacked down, and no retaliation was forthcoming against the local communities, the rest of the region lost interest in fighting the Wynaro. However, it wasn’t long before some of their braver neighbors came seeking the Wynaros’ help in defending their villages from the predations of Splugorth Slavers. Desperation forced the local villagers to overcome their normal reticence at the alien appearance of the Wynaro, and several envoys made overtures to the aliens, asking for help in forming an alliance. Though suspicious at first, the Wynaro accepted the proposal, seeing the Splugorth as the greater threat. Together, the combined militias(the notoriously territorial Galedan Republic of the nearby Connectocut Valley was curiously absent from the area) beat off a Slaver foray at the hardfought Battle of the Willimantic Valley, and sent several follow-up retalitory attempts by the Minions packing, a chain of successful military actions that won the respect of the villagers for their alien neighbors, and which also impressed the Wynaro with the courage and bravery of their human allies. This successful alliance helped pave the way for the combined militias and network of villages that would later be incorporated into the GNE as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Wynaro community hasn’t expanded greatly in the years since becoming part of the GNE, owing to their slow birth rate...the current population of Wynaro is only slighty more than 5,000 adult individuals. But those four thousand give the CoM and the GNE a solid core of powerful elemental magic users

Alignments: Any
Lifespan: 120 years
Size: Males are generally 5-6 ft tall, while mature females can top 8 ft tall!
Gender: Heterosexual, mammals
Wynaro go into heat only once every two years, then give birth to 1-3 young, who initially suckle from their mother, and reach sexual maturity in 14 years.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 3d6
PP: 4d6
PB: 3d6
PE: 4d6
SPD: 4d6
(ISP) By psionic OCC(if any)
(PPE): P.E. +1d4x10+ 2d6 per level of experience
Hit Points:(in non-MDC worlds) P.E. x2, plus 1d6 per level of experience
SDC:(in non-MDC worlds) 2d6x10+10 SDC
MDC: Natural MDC creatures; 2d6x10 MDC
Horror Factor: 12
Natural Abilities:
Swim(+15%)
Retractable Claws----Add 1d4 points of damage to hand to hand attacks
Exceptional Eyesight---Can see with eagle-like clarity up to 2 miles
Exceptional Sense of Smell---Equal to a Dog Boy’s
Tail---A Wynaro's tail is long and broad, to act as a paddle and rudder, and can deliver a slap like a kick in terms of damage. +1 APM, but ONLY with the tail.
Psionics: Standard
Magic:
All Wynaro have the following Warlock spells and abilities:
*Understand/Speak Air Elemental(no cost)
*Breathe without Air(3)
*Create Mild Wind(4)
*Thunder Clap(2)
*Distant Voice(5)
*Heavy Breathing(5)
*Howling Wind(7)
*Wind Rush(10)
*Sonic Blast(15)
Available OCCs:
Any Scholar OCC, except CyberDoc.
Men at Arms OCCs are limited to Grunt(local GNE ) and Headhunter(replace bionics/cybernetics with two additional Wilderness or W.P. skills of choice)
Any Magic or Psychic OCC; Air Warlocks, Shamans, and Mystics are the most common, with Technowizards also fairly common.

Cybernetics/Bionics: Wynaro will only consider getting prosthetics for medical reasons, rather than augmentation, which interferes with their natural magical abilities
Culture: Cooperative pack hunters, with a fairly tolerant view towards other lifeforms(that don’t remind them of food)
Last edited by taalismn on Thu May 08, 2014 3:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
Priest
Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Trelvi Plant Mimics
(Aka ‘Were-Daisies)

Click, CLACK!
Slam
Click!
“Okay, security engaged! We’re locked up until morning.”
“Good night, Mister Chairman!”
‘Good night, Vera!”
(Clomp, clomp, clomp.....)
.............
A few minutes of darkness passed....then, quietly, the larged potted plant at the end of the desk perked up, fidgeted a bit, waved a few leaves, fidgeted again, then stealthily crept on its suddenly motile fronds across the room to the computer console, taking great care to avoid the tracks of the motion-detector lasers. Taking a moment to fish something out of the dirt around its roots, the plant just as quietly booted up the computer, passed the small strip of DNA-impregnated plastic and fingerprint matrice over the security scanner, then procceeded to type in a series of convoluted passcodes into the machine...
<Omega Access required>
Taptaptap
<*Control-C*>
<Do you wish to quit? y/n >
tapatapatapapapapap
<Never say die, never quit, never surrender>
........
<Password accepted...Welcome to mainframe>
<Initiate privacy shielding....implement Security Program Scarlet Pimpernel 11C>
<Shielding enabled>
<Access and review past implemented security installations and protocols for intruder defense...detail on perimeter defenses and automated rover systems....download to Drive D...>
<Done>
<Open Secure Line Ralph...Piggyback to test signal carrier. Address node 5346`2.>
<Line open>
<Send download at Compression level 14>
<Done. Packet dispatched>
<Check for trace flags>
<No trace flags detected>
<Erase phone record>
<Phone record erased>
<Implement power usage mask>
<Mask implemented>
<Wipe Drive D dowload cache>
<Cache wiped>
<Implement Goobledy-Gook mask>
<Goobledy-Gook executed>
<Draft interoffice memo>
<Memo function opened>
<“From: Chairman’s Office
To: Custodial Services
Subject: Housekeeping
My ficcus plant is looking a little droopy lately. I’d like you girls to give it some extra fertilizer and water on your rounds of my office. I’ve heard the new EdenGro plant spikes are appropriate for my office plants.
Oh, and keep up the good work.
Thank You”>
<Cache and send on resumption of activities. Close Session>
<Session closed>
As the plant shut down the computer and slid back to its original place, it almost sighed with relief at a job well done....

It took awhile for the Vermont Free State to even realize that they had another alien population, the Trelvi, among them, owing to the fact that the Trelvi are so damn good at NOT being seen.
Trelvi are a shy and secretive race of motile plants who, among other talents, have learned plant mimickry. In their normal state, Trelvi resemble a largish mutant Yucca plant, with clusters of sharp-edged leaves, with large pod-like growths branching out between them. Their root system is thick and tubular, with a ‘muscular’ look....they use these roots to absorb nourishment, excavate ‘nesting’, and to walk about. However, a Trelvi can move their various branches and roots via hydraulic action and can move surprisingly fast for plants. A few particularly aggressive Trelvi have even mastered a form of martial arts, being able to slap their hard-edged fronds out with amazing speed and force, like a karate chop! Ironically, Trelvi CAN benefit from such exercises as bodybuilding and gymnastics(ever heard of hanging plants?) to build up their control and stamina, so it isn’t uncommon to see a small thicket out for a morning jog(or running like hell from a pack of dogs with weak bladders), in GNE communities.
Telvi favor temperate, damp, climates conducive to plant growth; if caught out in the desert, they must assume a cautus-like form to survive for long durations, and in subarctic conditions, they must be constantly in motion, have some source of heat to keep them unfrozen(an electrical heating coil buried in their roots can do this), or else grow increasingly torpid until warmer temperatures set in. At temperature extremes, however, Trelvi CAN fatally dehydrate or freeze to death, so Trelvi are never found(by choice) in deep desert or in arctic climes.
It surprises many observers to learn that the Trelvi are actually quite sophisticated when it comes to technology. Though they are rarely seen using it in the great outdoors, Trelvi have developed some fairly sophisticated technology to help them survive and communicate. They are very familiar with computers and communications systems, and fairly good vehicle pilots(once the controls have been modified), and have developed a wide range of sensory equipment. They are particularly interested in environmental sciences, for monitoring their surroundings. Most Trelvi devices tend to be small and easily concealed, often possessing a sly camouflage covering of their own, the better to allow the Trelvi to hide in plain sight. A notable exception is the Trelvi HoverPot, a large flowerpot- or spitoon-like personal hover vehicle, equipped with a supply of root nutrients, and other amenities, that allows the Trelvi to move about faster and more freely.
By and large, Trelvi have a laid-back, live-and-let-live attitude that promotes pacifism and nonaggression over confrontation. The majority of them are also avid people-watchers, intensely curious about the doings of other species. Trelvi really have no concept of a military...the closest word they have for ‘soldier’ translates roughly as ‘those closest to the path of danger’ or ‘those who spray repellent’....a reference to the border guards of larger Trevli ‘plantations’ who traditionally kept grazing animals and insects away, and contained any fires that threatened the community.
It is not certain how the Trelvi got to Earth, but it is most likely that they hitched a ride with another group of travellers, as they have done elsewhere in the Megaverse, disguising themselves as ordinary plants, then sneaking away when they have the opportunity.
For years, the Trelvi dwelt unseen among the other races of the Vermont Free State, often disguised as a normal plants, and moving about only at night, until the combination of a growing meta-talent community, and increasingly aggressive sweeps for enemy infiltrators began turning up Trelvi mimics. Suddenly aware of the consternation and potentially lethal paranoid backlash that the 5ST authorities and populace might unleash on them, the Trelvi wisely quickly gave themselves up and fessed up as to their numbers(several thousand), abilities, and motives. After some initial distrust and verification, the Vermont Free State authorities permitted the Trelvi to continue living in the GNE, but the sentient plants were now expected to register residence, get formal jobs, and pay taxes...the latter of which greatly upset many Trelvi who’d been regularly fed by municipal groundskeepers at public expense! Despite these grumblings, however, the majority of Trelvi have settled in quite well in various jobs as agronomists, librarians, secretaries, and other largely sessile professions. Occasionally, however, Trelvi have been known to skip out of work or avoid cronfrontations with their non-Trelvi superiors by swapping places with a regular plant or by imitating a innocuous, non-sentient, plant when people come looking for them...the so-called ‘Trelvi Dodge’. Non-’domestic’ Trelvi are also not above ‘borrowing’ garden tools and other small items, or tapping public water facets and outside power lines, especially during winter, to make themselves more comfortable while they remain hidden in plain sight disguised as a hedge or shrub.
One of the rumors going around the Vermont Free State military community is that of a Trelvi special intelligence operative named ‘Floyd’. This individual(or individuals) have reportedly accomplished such espionage coups as infiltrating various Coalition facilities. Whether there is any truth to these tales remains unknown, but soon after stories of ‘Floyd’ began circulating in the CS, Emperor Prosek reportedly issued a directive forbidding all houseplants in Coalition military facilities.
All in all, the peoples of the North East have adapted well to the revelations of vegetable intelligence among them, and the Trelvi have fit in quite well, all things considered, but it should be noted that ONLY the Trelvi in the GNE have been identified and have stepped forward....There is no word on how many more Trelvi are at large in the world and where they might be.....Something to consider when walking through the forest...
Alignments: Any, but most are Scrupulous and Principled
Lifespan: 140 years
Size: roughly 4-6 feet tall, weighing 80 lbs
Gender: Hermaphrodites who share pollen every two years, yielding 2-4 fertile ‘seeds’, that are raised in fertile soil around a parent. The youngsters are sessile until they reach 3 years old, when they begin to move around. After 6 years, the young Trevli will begin wandering off to seek their own way in the world.
Physical Description/Appearance:
A largish mutant Yucca plant, with clusters of sharp-edged leaves, with large pod-like growths branching out between them, and thick muscular roots.

Disposition/Attitudes:
Akin to humans, but far more reticent, restrained, and controlled. Trelvi tend to be far more casual and laid back about things, and don’t take matters in a hurry, unless it’s related to immediate survival. Also tend to be far more unobstrusive than humans, trying not to draw attention to themselves, and downplaying their own accomplishments.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 4d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 2d4
PP: 3d6
PB: 3d6(especially when imitating flowers)
PE: 4d6
SPD: 1d6
(ISP) 2d4x10
(PPE): 2d4
Hit Points: 5d6 + 2d4 per level of experience
SDC: 2d4x10 SDC
MDC: None
Horror Factor: None
Natural Abilities:
*Plant Mimic---The Trelvi can instinctively mimic the appearance of any plant they see and can study for 1d4 minutes. The more time the Telvi has to study, the better and more thorough the micmickry.
To create a more elaborate disguise, the Trelvi can also mimick any fruits or medicinal/chemical propertoies a particular plant possesses, provided the Trelvi can study/ingest a sample of the plant inquestion. The Trelvi alien then falls into a trance lasting for 1d6 hours, slowly changing their biochemical makeup, and tripling their intake of water and nutrients. Fruiting bodies are more difficult, but the alien can produce mature growths in a third of the time it would normally take, though producing edible growths or narcotic effects is extremely taxing for the being, and the resulting fruits and nuts will have only half the effective nutient value, and taste slightly off or bland. This also allows the alien to convincingly mimic plants such as tobacco, aloe, and poison ivy. Tubers and root crops CANNOT be mimicked, however. Also, extremely alien plants, or those possessing magical qualities, CANNOT be duplicated.

Other abilities common to Plant Lifeforms:

*Resistance to Pain---About half as sensitive to pain
*Healing Factor----Heals twice as fast as a human would, and can regrow entire limbs and body parts within 2d4x10 days. Only by splitting apart the main trunk can the creature be killed
*Invisible to Sensors----Infrared and thermographic sensors just see a plant
*Breathe---Can breath through every inch of their skins; as long as a single frond remains above water, or uncovered, they can breath. Also, being plants, gases and toxins effective against animal life forms(like tear gas or sleeping gas) have NO effect on Trelvi.

*Enhanced Sense of Smell
*Ultrasonic Hearing---2000 ft
*Sense Direction---80%+1% per level of experience
*Sence Approaching Weather----50%+ 2% per level of experience, 2 mile range
*Sense Wind Direction----68%+2% per level of experience
*Sense Location of Underground water----40%+2% per level of experience
*Sense Vibrations-----Running/walking beings----1,000 ft
Flying objects---500 ft
Herds, hordes, explosions, earthquakes, giant vehicles---
6 miles
Disadvantages:
*Takes DOUBLE damage from fire and weedkiller(herbicides)
*Poor Eyesight---100 ft, unless the Trelvi grows an obvious eye(stalk), in which case, eyesight is human normal.

Psionics: Trelvi are natural psychics and possess the following abilities:
Danger Sense
Automatic Mind Block
Mask I.S.P. and Psionics
Empathy
Trelvi may also select 1d4 abilities from the categories of Sensitive and Physical
*Trelvi save as Master Psychics
Magic: By OCC
Available OCCs:
Trelvi can be any of the following: Operator, Rogue Scholar, Body Fixer, Rogue Scientist, Vagabond Scout, Spy, Smuggler, Wilderness Scout, Mystic, Biomancer(though few Trelvi have discovered this natural magic, and none in North America).
Psychic OCC Trelvi are also possible; the most common being Mindmelter and Psi-Ghost (add Soaker if you have Rifter #19). Zappers and Psi-Assassins are uncommon, and Bursters are virtually unknown(0.05% chance of occuring)
RCC Skills:
ALL Trelvi have the skills of:
Identify Plants and Fruits(+25%)
Wilderness Survival(+20%)
Prowl(+15%)

Cybernetics/Bionics: None. Trevli CANNOT get cybernetics or bionics.
Culture: Nonaggressive, loosely-associated pacifists with a strong reclusive attitude, and voyeuristic tendancies.

Trelvi Hoverpot
This is a small fuel-cell powered hovervehicle resembling an elaborate spitoon. It allows the normally slow Trelvi to fly about much faster than crawling.
The following stats are for a fairly typical, off-the-shelf, Hoverpot.
MDC/SDC:
Main Body 30 MDC
Some Hoverpots will have a raised rim that allows the alien to duck down and get under some limited cover; A.R. 15...while some actually have a clear plastic ‘salad bowl’ cover that makes the Hoverpot a full suit of EBA!
Size: 2-4 ft tall, 1-3 ft in diameter
Weight: 40-100 lbs
Speed: Hover stationary to 50 MPH; average altitude of 200 ft
Powerplant: Renewable fuel cell with an average life of 1 year. Some Trelvi like to add a solar recharger system as well.
Special Features:
*Collision Warning System---500 ft
*Irrigator----Small water and plant food supply; good for two weeks
Weapons Systems: None standard, but many Trelvi like to add a built-in light pulse laser or stunner
Market Cost: A standard model Hoverpot, without weaponry and basic MDC costs about 2,000 credits, but deluxe models with more extensive features and luxury detailing can run up to 100,000 credits
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Galoots
“Oops...didn’t see you down there...I hope that guy wasn’t a friend of yours?”

The Galoots are an only recently introduced race to the societies of the Three Galaxies. Already, they are experiencing some problems owing to their size and biology.
The Galoot homeworld, Gallute Prime, is a large, heavy-gravity world enshrouded in heavy, opaque clouds, and a thick, dense atmosphere...visitors to the planet describe walking about on the surface as akin to wading through the shallows of a pond...warm, murky, and under pressure. The planet is rich in life, particularly airborne flora and fauna---’aeroplankton’---that swim and fly through the thick, humid, atmosphere. Larger lifeforms also fly through the atmosphere, such as fearsome ‘lagloor’---orca-like predators that both fly and float via internal gas chambers. The surface is also rife with life, from thick forests and bog-growth that choke Gallute Prime’s shallow oceans, to anemone-trees that filter the air and crusier-sized galloop-scoop bisonoids that stampede across the cloud-shrouded terrain, filter-scooping the aeroplankton.
Galoots are giant humanoids with muscular build, and broad feet to support their massive weight and height against the heavy gravity, though their arms are sufficiently long and muscled so that if they fall down, they can catch themselves and go on all fours, in time to prevent any damage.
Because the air on Gallute Prime is so thick with life, Galoots take their nourishment directly from the air, filtering out their food from intaken breath, like terrestrial whales filtering sea water. As their numbers and technology have increased, however, Galootans have learned to ‘farm’ their atmosphere, diverting air currents over and through prepared forests and pastures to fortify the aeroplankton, then herd the dense clouds of foostuff to market. Galoots have also learned to cook, smoke, and vaporize various footstuffs for intake, and their modern food industry produces inhaler cans of various dishes(combinations of aeroplankton and nutrient chemicals) for consumption.
The thick atmosphere also means that Galoots rely less on their sight for long-range perception of their environment, and more on hearing. Galoots ‘hear’ with their massive lungs and the layers of flab around their torsos, while reserving their vision for close-up fine manipulation/perception. Galoots also have a fairly good sense of smell, being able to detect dangerous airborne toxins or the presence of food with relative ease.

Galoots came into space travel rather late in their technological development, having developed theories of celestial mechanics and circum-planetary navigation by means other than celestial observation. It wasn’t until the Galoots began exploration fo their planet’s mountains that they began to perceive that the atmosphere became thinner and less opaque above them, that they began to realize that there might be more to their universe than just Gallute Prime. Early Galootan efforts to chart the vast new region proved equally primitive, including the use of literal ‘sounding’ rockets that would explode and produce powerful accoustic events that would allow the Galoots to hear the upper limits of the world. Through considerable trial and error, the Galoots finally built a space program and lofted up out of their planet’s atmosphere and saw the rest of the universe in its wide open glory.
Soon after the Galoots began to explore their solar system, they discovered evidence of life outside the Gallute/Blosno system when they found remains of a mining outpost on a moon of an outer gas giant. After reconstructing as much as they could of the several hundred year-old mining camp, its hardwired communications system, and the abandoned wreckage of several service craft nearby, the Galoot managed to send off an FTL message. Responding to a definite artificial FTL-band signal from a desert system, a Wulfen trader cautiously investigated and soon made contact with the Gallutan civilization.

Currently, the Galoots are trying to find a place in galactic society; they have eagerly taken part in a number of conferences with the independent worlds in their galactic region, to make trade treaties and alliances, but their inexperience in dealing with other alien species has resulted in a number of embarassing gaffs and faux-paus, and they’ve earned the hatred/suspicion of a major power (the Golgan Republik) for a tragic misunderstanding.

Alignments: Any, but most(75%) Galoot are Good or Unprincipled in alignment.
Lifespan: 200 years
Size: 2d4x10 ft tall, and weigh 8-12 tons
Gender: Heterosexual; female Galoots can be distinguished by thicker thighs and wider pelvises.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Tall, massive, humanoids, with thin upper arms and legs, flaring to large forearms(that stretch past their knees) and feet, broad shoulders, and barrel-chest with a thick layer of blubber around the middle. The head is miniscule; a cone rising from the shoulders, with six bulbous golden eyes set in a ring halfway up the cone. The pointed top often sports a crown of wirey hairs or antennae-like growths(though many Galoots shave this off). Several orifices are set in a ‘V’ pattern in the chest’, these are the respiratory, ingestion, and oflactory intakes. Galoot skin is leathery, with an avocado-like coloration and texture.
Galoot speech is a combination of whale-like wails, hooting, grunts, and whistles.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Galoots tend to be rather near-sighted and oblivious to the smaller stuff around them...either their hides are too tough for such things to be of consequence to them, or they just can’t perceive them as well as other objects in their world. This rather colors the Galootan outlook when interacting with other beings....it’s not that the Galoots are stupid or deliberately insenstive to others; they’re just more used to dealing with bigger threats and issues in their mindset, so they often inadvertantly trample over smaller people, ignore warning signs, or blunder into trouble because they missed something going on at ankle-level. As such, Galoots may come across as smug and superior in throwing their weight around, or condescendingly cautious around smaller folk, in their worry about accidentally stepping on somebody.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 3d6
PS:1d4x10+15 (Considered Superhuman)
PP: 2d6
PB: 2d6
PE: 6d6
SPD: 1d4x10
(ISP):----(by psionic class)
(PPE): 2d6
Hit Points:-----
SDC:---
MDC: 2d4x100
Horror Factor: Effectively have a Horror Factor of 12 to anyone shorter than 10 ft tall.
Natural Abilities:
*Natural Megadamage Beings with Superhuman Strength
*Poor Vision----Galoot vision is poor...they can see clearly with any sort of definition only about 100 ft or so...beyond that, it’s just blurs. Galoot also tend to have a 10 ft wide blind spot directly underneath them where their eyes are blocked by their chests.
*Excellent Hearing----Galoots can hear the equivalent of a whisper from 3,000 ft away. They can also hear subsonic and ultrasonic frequencies. similar to a dog.
*Enhanced Sense of Smell---Galoot have excellent senses of smell, roughly equivalent to a dog’s, though they cannot track persons by smell. They have a form of smell-based weather sense that allows them to predict rain or bad weather with 70% accuracy, and can identify airborne contaminants with 70% accuracy.
Psionics: Standard
Magic: Galoots have only a superstitious cultural legacy of magic, but do not currently practice it in any way, shape, or form. They generally regard information of magic-using alien societies with either amazed wonder or skepticism.
Cybernetics/Bionics: None, aside from the most basic prosthetics
Available OCCs:
Galoots can be generally any OCC within their own culture, but may have difficulties applyling those skills off Gallute Prime(obviously, a 60-ft humanoid is going to have problems driving a human/Wulfen-sized truck or hoverplatform). Galoots are generally -15% to skill rolls when dealing with more advanced Galactic technologies unless they take two skill choices to specialize in that particular technology.
RCC Skills:
Technology:
Galoot technology is Early Galactic; they have fusion power, but have only just begun to get the hang of contra-gravity technology. They have a working FTL drive of sorts, but they tend to buy their better FTL propulsion systems from others. They do have fairly impressive megadamage materials technology and produce megadamage weaponry(mostly explosives and projectile weaponry).
Culture:
GalLute Prime is still divided among several planetary political factions(which are getting to be more like each other as time passes), but the larger powers are representational democracies.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
Greyaxe
Champion
Posts: 2471
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Comment: Role playing is not my hobby, it is my lifestyle.
Location: Oshawa, Ontario. Canada

Unread post by Greyaxe »

Plasma Storm Racer - "The Big Heat"

Flying at FTL speeds through the plasma conuits of you local plasma storms. The prize.

Repairs to your ship and a free engine upgrade.

Consolation prize. State funeral.


EDIT Guess I should have read the thread. Wrong races.
Sureshot wrote:Listen you young whippersnappers in my day we had to walk for 15 no 30 miles to the nearest game barefoot both ways. We had real books not PDFS and we carried them on carts we pulled ourselves that we built by hand. We had Thaco and we were happy. If we needed dice we carved ours out of wood. Petrified wood just because we could.
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

I'm rather fond of the Trelvi myself...there's just something about a commando who provides its own camouflage or a houseplant that can take out a burglar that's so amusing...I actually found myself chuckling while writing it up...a good sign...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

exactly...even if it's flufff, fluff/background text suggests a lot and helps portray a people even better than stats do...

After all...'Superhuman Attributes' and "Godawful MDC Values' don't say as much as "Giant Molluscoid Hard-shelled Reality-Warping Psionic Philosophs who Meditate on the Nature of Good and Evil, While Living in the Primal Radioactive Ooze of a Planetoid Caught in the Event Horizon of a Black Hole.."
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Well, I'm not quite up to beating Victor Hugo's massive run-on sentence in La Miserables describing the sewers of Paris, but I'm warming to the task...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Darkmax wrote:I never read the actual novel, was it really that long?!


Don't have the word count on it, but it was long...

So, see, if Victor Hugo can find literary gold in the sewers of Paris, those of you with half-formed RCC ideas need not worry...we're not nearly as demanding here on this forum...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Darkmax wrote:the longest sentence that I know of, and actually made perfect sense and grammar was from a contract. 342 words long, many commas and one full stop.



There's an art to it...

Pity the species that hasn't invented punctuation....
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
Aramanthus
Monk
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Location: Racine, WI

Unread post by Aramanthus »

Those are some cool races! Thanks for sharing them!
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"

"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."

"As you will it, your Grace."

HH....FIE
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Fadzoids---Fadzoids are energy-form alien lifeforms who exist and manifest themselves among other alien species as 'viral ideas'---fads, memetic trends, and repititious ideas.....By stimulating and promoting certain ideas and using their hosts to share the idea with others, further spreading the idea/trend, the Fadzoids both propogate and create a larger pool of PPE attuned to their absorption wavelength for them to feed off of.....Fadzoids tend to be short-lived, but their offspring mutate to become new variant trend-setters, while some racial strains of Fadzoid may lay dormant, until such a time as the idea or trend they represent/inspire catches fire again and becomes 'retro'....other 'remanent' population Fadzoids may eke out a trickle of energy haunting old clothing stores, specialty boutiques, and antique shops.
Fadzoids are generally harmless, but during a population boom they may go into a feeding frenzy and exert an unhealthy amount of control over their hosts....Hence, mall-mob-maulings over Cabbage Patch Kids and X-Box muggings....Also, Fadzoids trying to cling to life may produce high annoyance factors...such as a tune that wouldn't leave your head(like, as right now ; "Jingle Bell Rock"), that can be both distracting and annoying.

It is debatable whether Fadzoids are truly sentient or just unusually cunning in a survival instinct sort of way, since few experts are willing to believe that Fadzoids actually exist, let alone try to make any effort to communicate with them and gauge their relative intelligence.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Darkmax wrote:False intelligence.....

I almost thought you would convert Zoids to PW settings....


Actually had a project along those lines, but would never be able to post them due to copyrights....

Alas, alack, we must dredge our minds for original ideas...No Fadzoid activity there...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
Aramanthus
Monk
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Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:18 am
Location: Racine, WI

Unread post by Aramanthus »

That's another nice race NinjaBunny. Thanks for sharing it.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"

"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."

"As you will it, your Grace."

HH....FIE
User avatar
Aramanthus
Monk
Posts: 18712
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:18 am
Location: Racine, WI

Unread post by Aramanthus »

That would be a very cool concept for a race.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"

"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."

"As you will it, your Grace."

HH....FIE
User avatar
Braden Campbell
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Unread post by Braden Campbell »

First introduced at last year's Open House...

The Trensik Mercenaries...

Will now be appearing in Thundercloud Galaxy, and have been removed by the author in lieu of his NDA with Palladium (just to be safe).
Last edited by Braden Campbell on Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Braden, GMPhD
_______________________________________
Braden wrote:Thundercloud Galaxy has a flock of ducks in it that can slag a Glitterboy in one melee.

If that doesn't prompt you to buy it, I don't know what else I can say.
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Very nice! Universal cannon-fodder for BOTH sides...great ablative meat obstacles for PCs who don't want to blast through Kreeghor all the time....
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Darkmax wrote:remionds me of the Peacekeepers in Farscape.


Except the Peacekeepers were their OWN side after a while...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Because wimps can be dangerous too....

Hemites-----Xenophobic Hypochondriacs
“Rebekka Thulson 132, you are found, upon inspection by the Hemitic Public Health Authority, to be in treasonous violation of the Antisepsis Proscription on Alien Species. Namely, possession of an alien botanical, one Gogolian Rosette Rhodedendron, harborer of alien proteins, aromatics, and agricultural parasites!
“It was a little potted plant! It wasn’t even smuggled! It was a cutting from a plant my grandmother gave me! It’s been in the family for generations!”
“Enter that into the record as a confession and admission of long-term conspiracy to conceal alien substances. Indict the parents and grandparents as well...we’ve come across a cell of impures here!”
“But it was a HOUSEPLANT! We never got sick from it! Nobody else ever got sick from it! I’m...my family...we’re INNOCENT!”
“Quit contaminating our air, impure! You are hereby condemned, by your own words and action, of treason to the Hemit people, and sentenced to Quarantine! Guards, take this Sicko out of my sight, delouse her, and seal her away...and burn this damn pesthole to Cleanliness!”

The Hemites are a Human-variant race with a technologically-advanced civilization, that has in recent centuries begun a tragic spiral into isolation, madness, and xenophobia.
Early in their history as a spacefaring civilization, the Hemites had the misfortune of poor timing; two of their closest interstellar neighbor civilizations suffered debilitating plagues soon after the Hemites made contact. Already known as stuffy health-conscious hypochondriacs, the Hemites reacted to the news of the biological crisis afflicting their neighbors with horror; the Hemites immediately enacted extreme quarantine measures against contact with the afflicted worlds. This quarantine soon extended to all other worlds and Hemite citizens travelling abroad. However, even after the plagues passed on the affected worlds, either cured or burned out naturally, the Hemites refused to lower their quarantine protocols, and, in fact, even saw diplomatic overtures to resume normal trade as an short-sighted attempt to get the Hemites to lower their defenses. Subsequent discovery that one of the plagues was in fact caused by poorly-sanitized HEMITE trade goods brought onplanet turned elections on Hemite Prime into a slaughter of the tolerant liberal parties, and saw the installation of a much more conservative ultra-orthodox party that bolted the doors even more firmly.
Tragically, the Hemite tendency towards extreme caution has given birth to a self-reinforcing politico-religious tyranny. What once were commonsense, even understandable, precautions in light of the plagues afflicting their neighbors, have grown into a full-blown species-wide paranoia towards anything even suggesting contamination and perceived impurity. As the current hypochondriac scientific-theocracy has taken hold, the concept of contamination has taken on social and even spiritual connotations, until increasing xenophobia against anything outside the Hemite system has become the rule. Any trade contact with the outside universe is limited to teleconferencing conducted by specially trained merchants who are permanently exiled off-world. Their isolation is enforced by special corps of zealots, the Purity Guards, sealed in environmental power armor and ships, all backed by a system-wide automated defense net of planetary weapons batteries, space mines, orbital weapons platforms, and sensor webs. What few goods are brought in from outsystem are quarantined and scrutinized carefully before ever being released anywhere near the populace. Increasingly, the Hemites have taken to trading in information, rather than material goods, as data is easier to handle and carries few of the connotations of ‘contamination’ as material goods. The Hemite Antisepsis, a policy of enforcing strict quarantine and health guidelines, and of treating outsiders with the full force of its doctrines, has become the doctrine of the Hemite people.
At home, the Hemites have become a people obsessed with health and cleanliness. Their ecology has been re-ordered and almost wiped out as the Hemites have attempted to purge their environment of anything that could conceivably mutate and wipe out the species in a global pandemic. Even then, the Hemite citizenry have taken to avoiding gathering in large groups, increasingly accomplishing their jobs via telecommuting, socializing via virtual reality nets, arranging marriages via complicated rituals including checks of their partners’ medical records, turning their homes into self-contained hermetic fortresses, and going about with complete medical kits and the training to use them. One upward trend in Hemite society is the adoption of isosuits as standard civilian garb....civilian grade light power armors similar to those used by the military and government agencies, that are effectively mini-mobile homes in which the Hemite can safely move about, safe from the elements and, more importantly, biological contamination.
Anyone even suspected of having come in contact with uncleansed foreign substances, contraband, and aliens, is arrested by the security forces of the Hemite Health Authority, and quarantined. Their belongings are confiscated and destroyed by chemical or incendiary means, and the people, more often than not, disappeared from official record. The fate of these unfortunates has varied with time as Hemite paranoia has grown. Initially suspects were relegated to special quarantine prisons(or leper colonies), watched for all their lives and subjected to humiliating medical study, until they died. Currently, the ‘contaminated’ or ‘impure’ are placed in biological cryostasis and exiled to toxic-waste containment facilities or orbital warehouses. The Hemites have since experimented with launching the stasis pods on one-way trips to the outside universe.....effectively a death sentence since most such Hemite exilees, upon finding themselves ejected naked and exposed on an alien world, have died of pure psychological shock, before ever succumbing to alien diseases. However, even this policy has become unpopular, once rumors began of exilees joining up with alien forces to come back and contaminate Hemite society in revenge for their rejection. Subsequently, the Hemite Health Authority is accumulating those incarcerated in bio-stasis in massive orbital stations, but increasingly, suspects are simply killed, their bodies burned and eliminated, by the security services.
The Hemite Republic was once a nominal member of the CCW, but their withdrawal into isolation has rendered their presence in the political representation machinery of the CCW virtual in-name only. The Hemites only occasionally voice any opinions, and then by telepresence only. The one issue they do regularly show any interest in is conventions on the restriction of biological weapons, and the one matter they themselves have been pushing in the CCW is a motion to annihilate the entire race of Lurgess ‘plague-carriers’(a motion that actually has some support among the more fearful races).
Sadly, Hemite concerns about foreign contamination and their own susceptibility to disease have become self-realized prophecies....Where once the Hemites were robust, physically, no more or less susceptible to infection than any other average human Galactic, centuries of isolation and stress have weakened the Hemite physiology, to the point where they ARE now more prone to take ill.....further reinforcing the official government line and common consesus that the Hemite race is in deadly peril. Hemites may live long lives, thanks to their advanced medicine and zealous health care culture, but they tend to spend those extra years fearful and desperate, if not because of their concern for their personal well-being, then because of the anti-septic tyranny ruling them. The deteriorating state of affairs on Hemite Prime has also taken on political dimensions, and more than a few people who have been ‘removed for the public health and safety’ have been so treated not because of real health concerns, but because of political expediancy. ‘Pure in Body and Mind’ has become the motto of the ruling party, and they have been enforcing it with Orwellian efficiency. The fact that the ruling party has access to the finest of medical care, and rewards the faithful with access to its miracles, only helps extend their power and influence, and insures that the ruling elite will be doing it for many years to come.
Ironically, the earlier generations of Hemites who have been quarantined to cryostasis, are actually MORE resistant to infection than the current ‘purified’ generation...But rather than rescind their imprisonment and re-introduce that disease resistance into the gene pool, the ultra-orthodox fanatics see the frozen isolatees as a reservoir of infection waiting in orbit over their heads, waiting to be unleashed by accident or by deliberate malice on the helpless populace. The fanatics are now pushing that any thought of ‘rehabilitation’ be discarded, and the orbital prisons be vaporized with nuclear fire.
Despite the near-total isolation and self-alienation of the Hemites from the rest of the megaverse, and their abandoning of commonsense, their scientific know-how has kept apace, especially in the fields of medicine and weaponry. Hemite medical technology, though often misapplied at home due to ideological concerns, is very advanced in the detection and diagnosis of medical disorders, especially alien pathogens. Smuggled Hemite medical equipment demands a high price on the galactic market, and several corporations have made fortunes reverse-engineering, adapting, and copying Hemite designs, of which their original creators see not one centi-credit of royalties. Hemite weaponry on the other hand, is increasingly more destructive, with an emphasis on sterilizing heat and radiation...some outside observers suspect that the Hemite extremists are developing, behind the screen of their system-defense shields, weaponry capable of sterilizing entire worlds in one strike....Indeed, the Hemite Antisepsis has researched moving on the Lurgess issue themselves, perhaps robot-bombing those systems known to harbor Lurgess population enclaves with anti-matter weaponry.
Despite the rabid paranoia and xenophobia prevailing at home, there are Hemites who do NOT subscribe to the overwhelming fear of the outside. Many of those early Hemite exiles who survived the initial shock of being stranded in the ‘unclean’ outside have adapted very well to living among other species. Several of the ‘incorruptible’ Purity Guard charged with enforcing the Hemite Antisepsis abroad have been exposed to other cultures and knowledge, and have found fault with the xenophobia of their superiors. Some of these super-soldiers have even defected. However, most(80%) of such exilees and defectors retain a pathological fear of disease and fanatical interest in physical well-being, being obsessed with cleanliness and health, and many refuse to go anywhere without first donning sanitary EBA outfits. Still, with their backgrounds in medical technology and preventative pathology, freelance Hemites can make a good living as planetary scouts, medical technicians, and life support engineers, if they can overcome their engrained fears.
The conditions at home continue to deteriorate as madness and paranoia take hold and reap a fearsome toll among the self-absorbed Hemites. Despite advanced medical technology, physical and mental deterioration among the populace is growing, especially with the increasing emphasis by the government on mental and spiritual ‘purity’(actually ideological conformity). Perhaps the final irony is that despite the government-sanctioned unification against outside contamination, there are still divisions among the leadership elite of the Antisepsis, for no other reason than lust for power. Some of these factions have hidden secret arsenals of biological weapons, some more horrible than any casual outside plague, as a trump card against their rival factions. Even without knowledge of these secret stockpiles of pathogens, many CCW experts fear that the Hemites willl self-destruct in a matter of a few more centuries....The danger is, that in their collapse, the Hemite Antisepsis may lash out against its neighbors, seeking to ‘cleanse’ them with hellweapons.
Alignments: Any, but most AntiSepsis agents and Purity Guard are Aberrant or Diabolical Evil.
Lifespan: 120 years, courtesy of their advanced medicine
Size: 5-6 ft tall
Gender: Heterosexual
Physical Description/Appearance:
Identical to (terrestrial) human beings, but recent generations have become paler, if physically more fit(due to mandatory health regimens). Because physical deformities are seen as ‘unlcean’, such are being bred out of the species, leading to a tragically more attractive people and racially-homogenized appearance.
Disposition/Attitudes:
The average Hemite is obsessed with health and well-being, and pathologically afraid of disease and contamination. Many are paranoid, xenophobic, and watchful of strangers and neighbors for signs of illness or ‘impurity’.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 2d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 3d6+1
PP: 3d6+1
PB: 3d6+2
PE: 3d6
SPD: 3d6
(ISP)----
(PPE): 1d6
Hit Points: PE +1d6 per level of experience
SDC: 4d6
MDC:-----By Armor
Horror Factor: (Not appilicable)
Natural Abilities:(Not appilicable)
Penalties:
*Susceptibility to Infection---Most(80%) exilee Hemites suffer a -10% to save versus disease due to stress about becoming sick(with later generation home system Hemites suffering -20%, but from genetic damage)
*Agoraphobia----80% of Hemites suffer agoraphobia(fear of open spaces) from their lifetime of living inside sealed quarters and protective suits
*Affective Disorder----Cleanliness and Sanitation.
*Phobia---Germs---For most Hemites(98%) witnessing an ill person or even being near a sneeze causes them to react with a Horror Factor of 14.

Psionics: Psionics have been all but erased from the genepool, so currently only less than 5% of the population ever develop them....However, despite official policy against ‘mutants’, the government and the extremely wealthy have cultivated captive populations/bloodlines of psychics, especially those with Healing powers, as government spies, interrogators, or personal physicians.

Magic: None; the idea of magically-induced illnesses that cannot be treated with medical technology terrifies the Hemites, and the practice of magic is treated like a dangerous pathogen(i.e. practitioners are imprisoned and/or killed, and magic paraphenalia destroyed)

Cybernetics/Bionics: Bio-systems and cybernetic implants are popular among the Hemite populace, especially headjacks and bio-monitors. More radical enhancements and bionics are unknown among the general populace, but some of the elites are little more than bionic life support systems hooked into the planet-wide data net. Merchants and Purity Guards may also acquire bionics or even full bionic conversion.

Available OCCs: Any, except wilderness-oriented OCCs.

RCC Skills:
Pathology(+5%)
First Aid(+5%)

Allies: None per say, though their rather draconian attitude towards the Lurgess has earned them some support among the more fearful/pathogen-fearing peoples of the Three Galaxies

Enemies: Just about anyone who threatens the Antisepsis. Lurgess are seen as a particular threat, and any vessel even suspected of carrying a Lurgess within five light years of the Hemite home system is targetted for destruction by Purity Guard warships and Sterilizer Drones. The Splugorth might find the massive floating prisons of cryo-frozen exilees a tempting slave buffett to simply come in and snap up, but so far the hassle of acquiring a half-million hypochondriacs isn’t worth the effort of blasting through the Hemite system defense net.

Culture:
Isolationist xenophobes, ruled by a neo-theocratic bureaucratic elite


Hemite Purity Guard
The Purity Guard are the personal ‘face’ of the Antisepsis; fanatical elite super soldiers raised from childhood in antiseptic, sterile surroundings, ruthlessly indoctrinated in the ways and implementation of Purity. The Purity Guards are the elite off-world troops who man the few crewed warships and extrasolar outposts the Hemites allow; they are also the homeworld stormtroopers who respond to reports of infection and act to enforce Quarantine and burn out the hot spot. These front-line soldiers are trained in the use of space weapons, in the skills of spotting contraband, and are well-versed in the recognition of pathogens, toxins, and microbial threats.
40% of all Purity Guards are fanatical, homicidal xenophobic maniacs who would rather kill outsiders than simply run them off. The other 59.9999% are content with sending any intruders running, and would rather the rest of the disease-ridden universe just went away and left the Hemites safely alone....but they would also not hesitate to kill, if their warnings are not heeded.
Purity Guards are issued Life Armor, a suit of power armor that acts as both their uniform and their protection. Once they don these suits of armor, most Purity Guards will never remove them. In combat they prefer plasma and radiation weapons, the better to incinerate the bodies of their enemies, and whatever microbes the corpses may harbor.
Ironically, despite the massive physical conditioning they recieve, over 50% of the Purity Guards share the same increased susceptibility to disease as the populace back home.....meaning they they have more reason than many to fear disease.
Still, a very rare few Purity Guard have come to disagree with their fellows on the matter of zealotry...and a few have learned enough medical theory to become aware of what the Hemite policy is eventually going to cost their people. In the history of the Purity Guard, only a handful have ever defected, leaving the service of the Hemite Antisepsis to join other peoples; these rogues are forever branded as the vilest traitors to the Hemite people. It is rumored that the thermite suicide implants administered to the Purity Guard did not become standard until it was shown that the Guard indoctrination program was less than 100% successful.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
Aramanthus
Monk
Posts: 18712
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:18 am
Location: Racine, WI

Unread post by Aramanthus »

Those are both nice RCCs. I like them both!
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"

"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."

"As you will it, your Grace."

HH....FIE
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Little too early to be a race, but if their eugenics program continues...

Adonia System
“Hello! Greetings! Welcome aboard the Adonia System DreamFlights Line StarSailer Daydream Weaver! I am Dannaa, and I’ll be your Deck Servitor and your first welcome for your cruise to the lovely worlds of the Adonia Star System and the wonders of Adonia Seven. If you need anything...and I do mean ANYTHING....please let me know immediately...we are here to please you!”

Six hundred years ago, Adonia VII was a lush, magic-rich, Earth-like, and human-colonized world under the tentacle-grip of a Splugorth. The Human population there lived short, brutish, thoroughly miserable lives of abject poverty and unremitting terror in thrall to their inhuman masters. That ended when a wandering Atlantean champion rallied a rebel-cell of the planet’s most powerful mages in an epic uprising that ousted the Splurgorth and set the planet free.
Centuries later, Adonia seems to have made a complete recovery from the days of Splugorth tyranny. The modern Adonians are a carefree, happy, prosperous people living in a Greco-Roman-themed paradise world. The Adonians live long, purposeful, and prosperous lives, the men are fit and handsome, the women beautiful, the children well-behaved. The cities are clean and gleaming with beautiful buildings and statuary reminiscent of Earth’s Greco-Roman period, the markets filled with bountiful produce and the works of local artisans. Magic has replaced technology for the most part, and what technology has been developed/imported, has been fit seamlessly into the handcrafted artwork of the architecture and furnishings. The government and its elite corps of magically-empowered Defenders keeps the system and its communities safe and crime-free,
Travellers and tourists to the Adonia system have found the natives friendly, obliging, and eager to please; local fashions range from casual to nothing at all in the warm weather, and Adonian inhibitions nearly non-existant. The Adonia system has become a favorite tourist getaway for those seeking an alternative to the Paradise Federation worlds, a distinction the Adonians are quick to capitalize on with their distinctive sailship-like magic-propelled spaceliners. Adonian resort communities are known for their sybaritic luxury, lovely scenery, and festive activities, fuelled by the abundance of local delicacies, and the selflessness of their professional staffs. To book a vacation, a honeymoon, or a sabbatical to the Adonia System is to engage in a sknnydip in the pools of Paradise for many, and an experience whose memories they’ll cherish forever.

What the casual observer doesn’t know, or refuses to acknowledge, is that the Adonia system’s society bears a closer resemblance to Plato’s Republic, with strong overtones of classic Athens---the slave-based Athenian economy. Over seventy percent of the population is effectively enslaved by the remaining thirty percent, the elite magic-users who really control the government.
What really happened was this; whatever thoughts of democratic utopias or libertine republics that the original cabal of liberating mages might have had prior to their overthrowing the Splugorth, vanished like a snowflake in a blast-furnace once they were in charge. With their Atlantean allies gone elsewhere pursuing other good deeds, the new heads of state found that they LIKED being in charge, surrounded by the spoils of revolution and the perks of power, and they weren’t about to give it all up to a down-trodden rabble who couldn’t truly appreciate power. They decided to set things up so that they and their descendants would remain in power....after all, hadn’t THEY taken all the risks and done all the work? After the few dissident members of the rebel council met their tragic fates as ‘martyrs of the revolution’, the new Adonian High Council set about organizing the still disoriented planet of newly-freed slaves into a new society that would bring prosperity to all, but especially to the new ruling elite.
Under the new Adonian hierarchy, magic-users are the Citizens, given personal say in the government(right to vote) and the ability to petition the High Council, right to own land and property, access to advanced education(especially magic training), and preferential treatment in the courts. Citizens have feudal dominion over Provinces or Sectors, where they hold power, with the assistance of the Citizen-directed security forces of magically-enhanced and equipped Defenders, and the civil-administrative socio-religious Proctors, over the large lower class of local peasants. The Citizen government keeps the peasantry plied with propoganda reminding them of the terrible past and how bad other people have it outside the Adonia system, arranges constant sport and spectacle to distract, entertain, and impress the lower class, and makes sure the peasants are in good health and well-fed.
But the Citizens dictate where the peasantry may go and do, and what they learn, the Citizens own most of the wealth, and the Citizens have the say in the seats of power, the military, and the courts.
Of COURSE, the modern Adonian slave-state isn’t nearly as bad as that under the Splugorth....nobody gets whipped or eaten, there are no mass-executions, festering slave pits, or dark torture dungeons filled with screaming innocents. The Adonian Mage-Overlords have found more...tasteful...ways of enforcing their will and gaining the same benefits. Mind-altering magics and advanced psychology have replaced whips and hot irons, antiseptic ‘rehabilitation centers’ and ‘social adjustment spas’ have replaced prisons and torture cells, and clean, pastoral ‘vocational orientation and relocation residences’ have taken the place of slave corrals. The people get plenty to eat, health care is free and mandatory, people can own some personal property, and they can appeal to their Citizen representative or Proctor, but at the same time, they are property....most of their belongings are the property of their Citizen owner or land-holder, and they can be traded and relocated to other provinces/sectors if the need is determined. Licenses and official permissions must be obtained for a wide variety of activities(including marriage and sexual contact), and are subject to review(and possible refusal) by the Citizen government.
This plays into another interesting distinction of the Adonian population. Either due to local mutation, or, more likely, continuation of a deliberate Splugorth-initiated eugenics program, a large percentage (45%) of the Adonian populace have a higher than average personal Potential Pyshic Energy (PPE) rating....from 6d6 to 4d6x10 in some cases!....but some quirk of their makeup prevents them from ever being able to access it. They can be coerced to give it up, but they can personally make no use of it(at least, not without some pretty intense training...and the elites are sure not to let any of the peasants anywhere near magic texts and training). These ‘givers’ actually rank lower on the scale of personal liberties than normal human peasants (or ‘nauras’---from ‘nil aura’) without the extra PPE....even though the ‘givers’ recieve more attention from the elites and social institutions in the way of food, housing, medical attention, and special job training. While ‘nauras’ enjoy some privacy and greater opportunity to acquire personal property, own their own businesses, and settle down relatively unmolested by the law, because of their PPE-reserves, ‘givers’ can be drafted by the government or Citizens, and in extreme cases, entire families may be broken up and sent to different Citizen Sectors. Of course, some extra compensation may be given in such extreme cases, but not always(especially in times of national crisis). Should, by some happenstance, a ‘giver’ be found able to manipulate his or her own PPE as in using magic, the Citizens are quick to promote them, channeling them into indoctrination into the Defender corps or processed into being a loyal apprentice or Proctor. The same applies for children of nauras who show higher than average PPE levels, and magic-potential. Thus, there is some upward mobility, but it is closely monitored and controlled, with special attention to maintaining the status quo. But for the ‘givers’, for all the extra perks they may get, are essentially PPE-cattle, subtly bred to enforce the high PPE and inability to access traits, and even small communities and special groups are specially trained in certain meditative practices and life-styles to promote the potentials. A naura might go through their entire lives cheerfully working and minding their own(in some cases literally their own) business and not attract the attention of the Citizens, but to be a giver is effectively to be permanently ilegible for the special services draft.
The Adonians have discovered ways of obtaining high PPE outputs from human subjects for magic ritual purposes, other than killing them....Instead, the Adonians use electrical, chemical, and magical hyper-stimulation of slaves’ nervous systems, particularly the pleasure centers, to hype the donors into spasms of high PPE release. The process allows the mages to tap nearly 150%(as opposed to 200% for a death-donation) of normal PPE leaves the donors alive to give again and again over time. True, the process leaves the poor tap-subject physically weak and mentally dazed, but because it is the PLEASURE-centers of the subject that are being stimulated, the Adonians rationalize that it is far more pleasureable, clean, and morally acceptable than the old alternative. In fact, their special magic drive system that they use to power the great spaceliners that ferry tourists to their worlds are powered by this system; specially raised and trained ‘drive-slaves’ whose psychic abilities have been enhanced are stimulated into triggering a hyper-convulsive dimensional jump that is effective, and as a welcome side-effect, leaves the crew and passengers with a pleasant post-Jump ‘buzz’(as opposed to the more typical post FTL-jump ‘hangover’). Of course, in the long term, the Adonian practice of PPE harvest by pleasure has the unpleasant effect of taxing and breaking down the minds and bodies of the tap-subjects; in the case of the starliner trade, a young drive-slave can expect to make 10-12 Jumps before ending up a drooling vegetable. The Adonian manner of dealing with these unfortunates varies; most mage-operatives send their burn-outs to retirement farms where they can continue to do some small measure of menial labor, go to stud, and continue to contribute smaller amounts of PPE to the collectors, but another practice considered to be more humanitarian by the warped logic of the Adonian Citizenry is to place the victims in suspended animation by either technological or magical means, and store them away until such a time as science/magery catches up and finds a way to cost-effectively restore and rehabilitate them.....It’s much much better than killing them or allowing them to suffer(or wander about in the public eye where they can disturb the rest of the happy peasants), and soothes the consciences of the Citizenry with the belief that they’re not exploiting and abusing the poor peasant-slaves...after all, they haven’t been abandoned...they’re being held in stasis against future revival into brighter, sunnier, futures. Of course, most of the time the Citizens aren’t in any real hurry to revive and cure the stiffs, seeing it easier to pay off any dependents and get another slave to tap. The starliner trade, for instance, simply magically petrifies its comatose drive-slaves and dumps them in a crater ‘statuary garden’ on the farside of one of Adonia’s moons.
Of course, there are other less strenuous ways that the Adonian magic-elite ‘milk’ the peasantry for PPE---mass public ‘prayer’ rallies at auspicous astrological conjunctions, ‘giver circles’ of servents who give a portion of PPE for an employer, or more sophisticated ‘tap jars’ and ‘tap booths’ that allow the siphoning off of small amounts of PPE without harm are common. The Adonians even showcase some of these methods....one of the favorite parts of an Adonian starliner trip is a ride aboard their ‘trireme shuttle galleys’....powered by racks of athletic ‘galley-slaves’ beneath the glassite-floored passenger deck!...While the physical exertions of the rowers may provide some electrical power for the softy-glowing ion ‘oars’, it is the special PPE-tap headbands and bracers they wear that provide the juice to the real drive system propelling the shuttlecraft!

After centuries of indoctrination and brainwashing, however, the average Adonian slave-peasant sees nothing wrong with their lives, and accept their state as normal. They get food, housing, they get purposeful jobs, and if they do well in their duties, they can earn extra privilleges and the right to own more and more personal property and advantages for their children. Most peasants regard the magic-using Citizens as somewhat more than human and some see them as akin to demigods, with the powers of divine authority. Even most ‘givers’ consider it both their duty and a privilege to be asked to donate PPE to the cause of society. Thanks to the government’s information programs, the peasants are quick to point out that nowhere on Adonia will one find slums, out of work citizens, poverty, or starvation...and furthermore, without the guidance and care of the Citizens protecting Adonia, the planet could backslide into chaos or worse.....it might fall victim to the Splugorth again, and NOBODY wants that to happen ever again....
Needless to say, anyone familiar with Orwell will find the Adonian peasant mindset very familiar....

While many outside governments suspect or know the truth of what really happened on Adonia, and the current state of affairs there, nobody really wants to do, or feels obliged to do, anything about it. The current Adonian regime is stable, the people are well-cared for, and while it may be a slave-society, it’s a clean one, there are rigorous safety standards, and the Adonians are only enslaving their own. Even the death/burn-out rate from PPE harvest is no worse than any other industrial accident rate. As many politicians , and especially the pro-Adonian lobby in the CCW congress, are quick to point out, there are far worse-run full member worlds of the CCW. So trade continues, tourists still flock to Adonian pleasure-resorts, conniessaurs buy Adonian handicrafts, and luxury goods, and the Adonian Citizens wax wealthy over their herds of nauras and givers. The few outsider dissidents who call for sanctions and other measures against the Adonian government are simply dismissed as intolerant troublemakers, and are largely ignored by the Adonian lobbyists on their way to the Council chambers. Those who persist in causing trouble are handled by the police sicced on them, but it’s rumored that a few of the more vocal, or troublesome, antagonists of Adonian soveriegnty have been ‘influenced’ in other ways, or disappeared....

The real darkside is that not all Citizens see themselves as enlightened despots protecting the poor peasants from the outside worlds, or use their magic responsibly. Despite official sanctions against the practice, some Citizens engage in old-fashioned torture to exact PPE, and are guilty of truly heinous abuses of the peasantry, but their excesses have been kept concealed behind the veil of wealth and privilege. More disturbing, many mages from offworld, attracted by the magecracy of Adonia, have come on vacations to participate in rituals and experimental programs unfettered by the laws back home....The Adonia system is rumored to have been infiltrated by a cell of the Black Covens, who have bribed the High Council with pledges of assistance and loyalty.
And not all the Citizens and peasants are happy with the status quo....though the Defenders have rooted out peasant rebels before over the centuries, there are still activist cells among the lower class, often working with disaffected members of the upper class. Lately, a rumor has been circulating that the original Atlantean champion who helped oust the original Splugorth occupation has returned and, dissatisfied with what his former acquaintances have wrought on Adonia, has decided the time is ripe for a new revolution!

Systems/Worlds:
Adonia System
*Adonia I-VI---These are rocky worlds that are primarily used as mineral resource worlds
*Adonia VII---Homeworld. A lush, temperate, Earth-like world with a high ambient PPE level(roughly HALF that found on Rifts Earth), Planetary population is roughly 900 million.
Moons: 4
Vemay---Pleasure Moon, with exclusive admittance
Osray---Pleasure Moon, with exclusive admittance
Theray----Retained as a military outpost for the Adonian Self-Defense Forces
Ulray---The technical headquarters of the Adonian government-owned spacelines, this is essentially a garage and shipyard, with adjacent administration offices.
*Adonia VIII(Celesus)---A gas giant with multiple rings, Adonia VIII/Celesus is also used as another pleasure-system; many of Celesus’s eighteen moonlets are home to exclusive private clubs and habitats.
Society: Neo-Feudal
Technology: Roughly equal to that of pre-Seige Tolkeen, with an emphasis on magic and techno-wizardry.

Military:
The Adonian military has several war-platforms in orbit and on the Adonian moons. Their space fleet is a collection of second-hand fighters and small craft purchased from mostly the CCW and UWW; about 25% have recieved additional magical modification.

Relations With Others:
*Consortium of Civilized Worlds
The CCW isn’t entirely pleased with the borderline-tyranny in Adonia, but with a powerful pro-Adonian commercial lobby in the Consortium, they can’t do much about it except deny the Adonians membership and issue advisories to citizens not to do business with Adonia. Of course, without an official blockade in place, there’s a fair amount of trade and especially tourism going on.

*TransGalactic Empire
As a nominal parter of the CCW, the Adonians are dead-set against the TGE, and have vocally pledged their support of the CCW’s policies, vowing that any TGE incursion into Adonian space will ne IMMEDIATELY reported to the CCW. Of course, it helps that the Adonia system is on the other side of CCW space from the nearest TGE border, but for the Adonians, raising the spector of the TGE is a great way to dissuade CCW senators from probng into matters more sensitive to Adonia interests.

*United Worlds of Warlock
As a magic-user world, the Adonians like to curry the favor of the UWW. Like the CCW, the UWW isn’t ENTIRELY happy with the Adonian government, but doesn’t find anything glaring wrong with them, so there’s a fair amount of trade going on between the two. If the Splugorth were to ever invade Adonia again, the UWW Navy(and likely the CCW) would probably come to the system’s rescue...but that might be all the excuse they need to do some serious investigation and intervention....

*Naruni Enterprises
The Adonian military has purchased several consignments of weaponry from Naruni....not massive acquisitions, but enough that Naruni cheerfully answers Adonian inquiries, keeps an open account in their name, and occasionally sends an agent around to stir up interest from the Adonian government. Though Adonia represents competition with the worlds of the Naruni-owned Pleasure Foundation, the Naruni have decided to let the matter slide, as long as the Adonians remain in their pocket with every weapons purchase.

*Splugorth
The Splugorth are hated and feared by the Adonians. The only dealings they will have with their former masters is from the trigger end of a fully-charged death-wand!
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Darkmax wrote:Wait! Don't tell me. You got the inspiration from some criminal profiler, right?! :D


Actually a short story called "The Hemetic Warriors" about a future humanity that has separated into the colonists living in microbe-infested alien worlds, and the immune-system-challenged Spacers who have purged their bodies of all 'alien' influences...though they weren't as nearlt extreme as the Hemites depicted here...Also saw influence in "The Immortals"(grim sci-fi novel about a future where an HIV-like virus is used as an excuse to create concentration camps) and Asimov's "Pocket Full of Stars"...a radioactive future Earth chaffs under military occupation by our former colonies who see Earthers as 'dirt' from within their environmnetal body armor....
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Happy 2007, then!
Ending the year with posting at one end and having them read in the future to start the new year off with a posting fest!
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Darkmax wrote:It's a race for the races! :D


I'll have more to come, as soon as I get over some stumbling blocks...

Like how much damage an eight-barrel gatling 200mm grav-rail gun firing tactical nuclear shells does on a 24 round burst, let alone a full melee gee-where's-he-keeping-all-those-shells burst ....
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Re: Another one bites the Dust.

Unread post by taalismn »

Ninjabunny wrote:Zeldorkrei/ Space Demons

Space fairing legends of old, tell of beings that live deep in the space between galaxies. When man, wolven, even the Kreeghor were still young, they were becoming ancent


Ancient races are always good, because much of who and what they are gets misinterpreted over time and with absence, which can lead to tragic(or hilarious) misunderstandings in the fullness of time...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
shiiv-a
Adventurer
Posts: 789
Joined: Sun Jun 06, 2004 2:55 pm
Comment: I see people as people first, anything else is secondary
Location: BC, Canada

Unread post by shiiv-a »

hmm ... you know .. i posted a style once .. forgot the name of the link .. but it got ripped to shreds ... as did the favored weapon of a second race.
i wonder if i should bother taking the time to go dig them out at all? ... i was working on the 'gods' section for one of hte races ... the other> ,, i wont bother ressurecting .. as it IS a blatent rip of from a book i read and thought 'now THAT would be acool char to have IF only as a stock race' ..

*shrugs*
User avatar
taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

shiiv-a wrote:hmm ... you know .. i posted a style once .. forgot the name of the link .. but it got ripped to shreds ... as did the favored weapon of a second race.
i wonder if i should bother taking the time to go dig them out at all? ... i was working on the 'gods' section for one of hte races ... the other> ,, i wont bother ressurecting .. as it IS a blatent rip of from a book i read and thought 'now THAT would be acool char to have IF only as a stock race' ..

*shrugs*


Find, dust off, revive, revise, add liberally your own ideas until the ripoff material vanishes..post...maybe revise and repost until what emerges is 100% yours, tried by fire...you have nothing to lose but opportunity...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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shiiv-a
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Unread post by shiiv-a »

safe for you to say ... you got a pile of people worshipping you already.

they're more interested in ripping the throats out of anyone else .. or they point the finger and preen about how 'noble' *person* is compared to the infidel that dared say 'boo'

so... BOO! ... =p ...
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

shiiv-a wrote:safe for you to say ... you got a pile of people worshipping you already.

they're more interested in ripping the throats out of anyone else .. or they point the finger and preen about how 'noble' *person* is compared to the infidel that dared say 'boo'

so... BOO! ... =p ...


Am I being worshipped? :D Sorry, if I'm being worshipped, it's because I spend as much time off my pedestal helping other folks up up their hard-earned Olympuses as I can. Fame is a fickle thing, and best not achieved on the bodies of others.....

I've only ripped the throats out of Self-Insert Fanfiction Authors and Godmodders...and the last time I preened, I almost choked on a feather....

Ironically, I've discovered that being TOO well read is as bad as being underread...since you try to create something and you begin thinking it's too much like something you saw or read years ago, and you're CERTAIN somebody will spring up and point fingers at it and declare "PLAGARISM!", no matter how you've changed it...and thus a great post is lost...

Generally, the people who care about the material will offer constructive criticism and won't go nuclear unless you're in the habit of attacking them and acquire a reputation as a hothead(and thus attract the attention of other hotheads whose idea of fun isn't roleplaying, but poking people with sticks to see if they can't get an explosion)...Such idiots are to be ignored and left to hang themselves by their own narrow and short wits....

I got faith in folks around here, and a kazoo to rapberry those who lack the required maturity...But what I DO want to see, and I think most people here do, is new things...new tech, new races, new artwork, new adventures, new rules...maybe not all of the above, but at least one of the above...so don't be cowed...create!
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

No stats....you'll see why....

Karmatorg
The Karmatorg are a loose ‘tribe’ of full-conversion cyborgs who haunt the fringes of the Central Alliance. Claiming no one world as their home, these ‘cyber-gypsies’ roam space in their homebuily spacecraft(or AS their homebuilt spacecraft) looking for salvage, work, and occasionally victims to rob and pirate.
Because most Karmatorg will never set foot on a planet with proper gravity, they often build themselves fantastic oversized and often bizarrely shaped and configured cyborg bodies better suited to life in the airless gravity-less wastes of space, than any planetary service. Some are little more than brans wired into the controls of spacecraft, with remote control waldoes allowing them to manipulate the world around them. Their extreme dependence on technology, the eccentric and unstandardized quality of same, and their isolation from other biological life often leads many to go insane in particular ways, assuming cold, dispassionate, machine-like personalities, or utterly eccentric and dotty personas . This further alienates them in the eyes of others, and often the Karmatorg are viewed as not living beings, but ‘rogue hardware’, or mistaken for renegade robots. Some travellers have even mistaken them for Mechanoids!
For much of their history, the various tribes of the Karmatorg have been viewed by the Central Alliance worlds as alternatively annoyances and scourges. Many in the Alliance blame the Karmatorg for the vandalization of their few space assets, as the cyborgs will snap up any space hardware they come across, unless it is clearly marked as somebody else’s property. operational, and well-protected(and sometimes even that’s not enough), and for piracy, especially on ships carrying high tech parts and bionic parts. Other Karmatorg tribes have become ruthless pirates and cybersnatchers, stripping any cyborg they catch of useful cyberware and leaving what remained to the mercy of space.
In recent years, however, in his effort to re-unite the worlds of the Central Alliance, General Noldek has made overtures towards the Karmatorg, recognizing their potential value as allies. His efforts have met with mixed success; many Karmatorg believe that any effort by a central ‘dirtsider’ government is really a scheme to permanently ‘ground’ the Karmatorg, and they are very suspicious of Noldek’s offers. On the other hand, Karmatorg mercenaries are known to have played a significant role in the Central Alliance’s defeat of Rynncryyl’s Splugorth slaver fleet at New Triumph.
It is not known how many Karmatorg wander the dark wastes between the scattered worlds of the Central Alliance; government estimates place the number at 50,000 individuals, while other counts place the estimate at anywhere from a third that number to ten times the government figure. Karmatorg typically travel in clans of 4-50 individuals, but occasionally they meet in ‘Convans’ of several hundred to discuss important matters, negotiate deals, trade, and work on mutually beneficial projects such as stripping a large derelict or mining a cometary nucleus.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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taalismn
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Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Ninjabunny wrote:
Darkmax wrote:Jealousy is such an ugly beast, especially when it is self-inflicted envy.

China has Confusias (Hope thats spelled right :oops: ) Singapore and the Forum has Darkmax.


Now that's close to worshipful tones... :mrgreen:
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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shiiv-a
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Comment: I see people as people first, anything else is secondary
Location: BC, Canada

Unread post by shiiv-a »

heh .. k point taken ...
*points to new post in the magic/psi guild forum about the bracers*
.. enjoy the read
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Well, we encouraged him...time to do our duty as critics of culture, advocates of creativity, defenders of the true faith, and cultivators of talent...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

shiiv-a's agreed to give posting another chance and post some of his work over in the Magic and Psionics forums....
I put my money where my mouth was and gave him my review/feedback... 8)
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Ninjabunny wrote:
taalismn wrote:
Ninjabunny wrote:
Darkmax wrote:Jealousy is such an ugly beast, especially when it is self-inflicted envy.

China has Confusias (Hope thats spelled right :oops: ) Singapore and the Forum has Darkmax.


Now that's close to worshipful tones... :mrgreen:

I just had to point out te fact tat Darkmax always has something smart or insightful to say :lol: But you have a point it does soound like that :lol:


I won't start worrying until you start speaking in tongues and chanting bizarre Ry'lian sea-chanties in Darkmax's name....
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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shiiv-a
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Comment: I see people as people first, anything else is secondary
Location: BC, Canada

Unread post by shiiv-a »

LOL ... i'm a female ... *topples over holding onto ribs .. and kicking with intense mirth
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shiiv-a
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Unread post by shiiv-a »

and sadly ... someone spilt coffee or something gross on my disk that had one of my races ... not to mention the original of my 'daggers of death' .. which is also a 'shot to bits and discarded along the wayside in one of the other post places on here.

thats one of hte reasons i'm rther embittered about wanting to share any creativity on here .. but maybe one of the other idsks is about womewhere ... *heads off to look for them amid the other stuff lying about ....
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Unread post by shiiv-a »

back on topid ... the following was rolled up acording to the phase world racial ccreations ... made it up and this is what rolled ... i altered the height factor of the race so as to be concidered more 'interesting ... ' .. side effect of the races ships was the dust cloud that surrounded the planet to basically hide it from view .. which got 'glassed' upon re-entry ... and the hi grav would ensure that it remained on the ship and not get washed off ...

oh right .. the race .. is

-= Kankorian Foxes of Outland Magnolian System =-

RACIAL BACKGROUND FOR THE WORLD -=- Galactic Average stats / almost superhuman / humanoid-canine / hi-grav / double jointed / resistant to energy weapons / advanced space age / no magic on the 'homeworld' but learnable IF a teacher is found / peaceful expansionists.

PPE:: 22 ISP:: 61/1d6+1
SDC:: 570 HP:: 29+18+6
Height:: 5'11" Weight: 127 pounds:
Hair:: auburn tresses in a single braid Eyes:: Green and bright
Alignment:: Unprincipled

thats about it ... sorry .. i was tired when i came up with the name of the planetary system
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Any idea on where these guys are situated with relation to other powers? Who they're likely to align themselves with or against?
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
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Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Rainy day where I live, so I slammed through some writing...

Kyrdos----Preservers

“Ah yes.....such beautiful specimens, I agree....pity about their planet...If we infuse them all now with nanogel, we can have them ready and in liquid-cryo suspension within the hour...that will keep them young and fresh for at least five centuries...that should be more than sufficient to drive their price up for their rarity, no? We have the crystallium canisters as well...that should make inspection and ...admiration...all the easier... Is the process uncomfortable? I honestly cannot say...they rarely remain conscious long enough to tell us, but I assure you, they will be as fresh and healthy in a millenium as they are now...We are, after all, professionals!”
----Sleepmaster Kaliexx 90.

The Krydos are largely believed to be an off-strain of the Dwarven race, that suffered some sort of traumatic biological or social change that made them into what they are today. The Kyrdos are a reclusive people, and never seen outside their exoskseletal hemetically-sealed body armor, and their underground crypt cities.
Speculation as to exactly what happened to the original Dwarves who colonized the Kyrdo system is rife. Some believe that, given the similarities between many examples of Kyrdoian technology, and that of the diabolical Mechanoids, that Kyrdo was the victim of a Mechanoid incursion that was beaten back, but not before the local Dwarven populace was subjected to hideous bionic experimentation that left the people physically and mentally scarred similar to the Cybomen. Another theory is that the local Kyrdoians unearthed, in the course of their exploration and exploitation of their planet, a vicious plague that killed ALL of their popuace; only those who were heavily cyberized managed to survive, but even their afflicted flesh was only maintained by extensive life support and controlled environmental armor. Another theory echoes the plague theory, but maintains that the epidemic was limited, but resulted in a fundamental social change and the evolution of an anti-death cult that favored certain forms of bio-stasis preservation, as an alternate form of mummification and afterlife. Another rumor holds that the majority of the Kyrdoian population is already in elective bio-stasis, living instead in a mind-enhancing networked virtual reality, while a few select protectors and attendants oversee affairs in the ‘waking world’. Nobody knows for certain.
The Kyrdos do little business with the outside universe, but they do have a particular specialization----the preservation of living matter. Kyrdos manufactures and exports bio-stasis systems, from simple preservative chemical-gels to massive cryovault systems. Kyrdoian technical expertise is often sought to oversee such projects as hospital stasis systems, orbital eternity vaults, zoological archive caches, and gene-bank archives. Kyrdoian artisans are also known for their skills in taxidermy, and they see much business from sportsmen and museums looking to have various biological specimens preserved. Kyrdos also sees much business from individuals looking to bank biological material in Kyrdos’ massive bio-vaults, and the Kyrdoians have attained a reputation of sorts for their neutrality and tigh-lipped confidentiality when processing such requests...as long as the client pays up front and doesn’t ask too many questions, the Kyrdoians don’t talk to anybody else.
Unfortunately, the Kyrdos are also suspected of being slavers, and part of the circle of species known as Abductors. The Kyrdos are believed to have association with such criminal races as the Coloye Dopamen, Splugorth, and Naruni. It is believed that among the genetic archives and cryomuseleums of the Kyrdos, are also warehouses of stockpiled slaves, waiting to be leaked back into the slave markets, especially those specializing in rare species. Other rumors, that the Kyrdoians are involved in black market biological spare parts and illegal medical research, have also shadowed legitimate Kyrdoian contributions to medical science. Given the reclusive and private nature of Kyrdoian society, investigating these allegations has proven difficult, if not impossible.
Alignments: Any, but most (70%) are Aberrant
Lifespan: Unknown, but some long-lived clients claim to have had associations with specific Kyrdoian contacts for as long as 300 years.
Size: 3-5 ft tall, 140-200 lbs
Gender: Presumed to be hetereosexual; the Kyrdoians do refer to themselves in male and female terms.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Squat humanoids clad in all-encompassing environmental body armor. Few outsiders have seen them without their life support armor, and even then not enough to get a good look at them, but they do describe pale, apparently bloodless, and hairless flesh.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Gruff, taciturn, and business-like. Tend not to be very friendly, and regard outsiders as one of three things; clients, material, or enemies. Clients are treated with some courtesy and respect, material(even if sentient) is treated with gruff and clinical efficiency, and enemies are attacked on sight.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 4d6
MA: 2d6
PS: 4d6+9 from armor
PP: 3d6
PB: 1d6
PE: 4d6
SPD: 3d6+8 from armor
(ISP)----
(PPE): 2d4
Hit Points: 30
SDC: 40 + those gained from OCCs and physical skills.
MDC: By armor
Kyrdoian EBA body armor has 120 MDC
Horror Factor: 14; they are intimidating and eerie in the extreme
Natural Abilities:
*Thermal Camouflage----The Kyrdoians’ insulated and refrigerated bodyarmor acts to mask their thermal signature; -20% to Ready Sensor Instruments rolls to spot them using thermal sensors.
*Resistance to Magic/Psionics----Something about Kyrdoian physiology has increased their resistance to magic and psionics---+8 to save vesus magic and psionic attack, and have a Natural Mindblock against psychic probes. Mages and psychics attempting probes of Kyrdoians complain about seeing them as ‘voids’ or ‘black holes’ in the fabric of normal psychic energy.

Penalties:
*Heat---Kyrdoians are susceptible to heat prostration...If their armor should take more than 50% damage, any subsequent HEAT-BASED attacks will seriously tax and compromise their cooling system in any environment above 35 degrees Fahrenheit/2 dgrees C, and the Kyrdoian must roll versus their P.E. per heat attack or risk succumbing to heat dementia and heatstroke. -2 to PS and PP, speed is reduced by HALF, and -8 to SDC, cumulative for every five hours of exposure. Skill rolls are HALVED, and the Kyrdoian loses any bonuses to save versis psionics.
Psionics: None
Magic: None
Cybernetics/Bionics: Kyrdoians have 2d4 implants as standard(typically life support or sensory/communications), and may acquire additional implants/bionics later on, without penalty.
Available OCCs: Any, but gravitate towards Men At Arms, Scientists, and Operators. Warders are typically the equivalent of Headhunters with medical training, Rogue Scientists or Bodyfixers with combat skills.
Culture:
Peaceful Non-Interventionists and Reclusive Isolationists; little else is known of their society.
Technology:
Roughly equal to mature spacefaring culture, though the Kyrdoians rarely leave their world, except to oversee offworld projects. Their planet, however, has benefitted from the gifts of various powerful patrons, especially in the form of advanced defenses. Life support, biostasis, and medical nanotech are particularly well developed.

Homeworld: Krydo---a cold, uninviting world, with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere...Evidence, in the form of massive tracts of burned and buried forest, and frozen oceans, tell of a time in the not so distant past when Kyrdos was more temperate and hospitable...Currently, though, it seems to be entering a period of glaciation, with no effort on the part of the locals to stop it. Kyrdian life centers around the few cities...grim metropoli of monolithic buildings and bunker-like complexes(a large number of which are temple/medical archives). The rock beneath, however, is honeycombed with deep underground complexes that are off-limits to most outsiders.

Kyrdian Nanojeller---This device is often carried by the Kyrdian Warders overseeing their vault-complexes. It is a combination tool and security weapon used for both preparing specimens for stasis and for apprehending intruders. The Nanojeller is a thick stout night-stick or plunger-style rod attached by a hose to a canister on the Warder’s back or belt. The rod is hollow, with a spray-applier on one end, and a surrounding ring of nuero-stunner contacts, allowing the device to be used as a nueral mace. However, its main use is to apply nanojel, a thick goop of chemicals and nanomachines that are used to coat and permeate organic materials, preserving them from cryostatic shock(effectively renders the object immune to cold damage). However, in the process, the nanomachines also paralyze the nervous system, causing the victim to use control of their body, and eventually lose consciousness. Typically, Wardens will try to spray nanogel to distract a target, get close enough to subdue them with the nuerostunner, then disarm and infuse the captive into a nanotech-induced coma...whereafter the Wardens can pack the prisoner away for later questioning or sale.
MDC: 15
Range: (Nueromace) Melee
(Nanogel Spray) 100 ft
Damage:
(Nueromace) 1d8 SDC, plus P.S. damage, or just a contact taser-touch(no damage aside from nueral-stun). Victims must save versus non-lethal poison, 16 or higher, per strike, or be -8 to strike, parry, and dodge fpr 2d4 melees, plus 2d4 melees per additional successful hit. Ineffective against EBA, but works against half-suits and partial (non-EBA)armor.
(Nanogel Spray) None, except stunning and possible blinding;
Simple surface application of the nanojel may blind an opponent if sprayed in the eyes, and victims can make a save versus non-lethal poison(16 or higher) against skin-absorption; a failed save means that the victim begins to experience loss of sensation in the limbs(-2 to parry or strike with that limb, or reduce speed by HALF if an ambulatory appendage), a successful save means that all the person feels is a pins-and-needle tingling sensation. Being sprayed in unprotected softer tissues such as the eyes necessitates a save versus non-lethal posion as well, or suffer blindness(lasts 2d6 minutes).
The nanojel works best if it can be sprayed or pumped into a body orifice, such as the mouth/respiratory tract...the victim must make a save versus lethal poison each melee of being infused to stave off the effects and fight back against the Kyrdoian...otherwise, the victim will fall into a coma. In this state, the victim is actually resistant to cold(takes NO damage from cold attacks).
The effects of the nanojel wear off within 48 hours, if the victim is left alone, as the body flushes the nanites and chemicals out naturally. The magic spells Impervious to Poison, Negate Poisons/Toxins, and Purge Self will also negate the nanites. Specially-programmed anti-nanites will also alleviate the effects, as will a standard IRMSS, but in the latter case it will take three dosages of medical nanobots to counter the nanojel(the IRMSS nanobots aren’t designed for nano-on-nano combat).
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Kyrdoians typically carry enough in small back or hip tanks for 10 applications of nanogel...and can hook up a portable back-tank with enough for 30 applications.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
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taalismn
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Unread post by taalismn »

Haggarites
(aka ‘Mole-dogs’)
“I got a right to be here....You think or act otherwise, I’ll sue you...I have that right too.”

Haggarites are canine subterranean sentients who hail from the dark caverns of Hagg’s Hoard, a mineral-rich planet on the rim of the Thundercloud Galaxy. The planet looked unpromising to initial scans, having a thin, barely-breathable atmosphere, and little surface water, but explorations of the deep rifts and tectonic valleys of the planet yielded evidence of a large sub-surface ecology, powered by geothermal hot springs and watered by lage subterranean aquifers. Even more importantly to the survey teams commanded by Captain Lawrence Hagg, metallurgical probes turned up massive deposits of valuable metals. Anticipating equally massive profits from the exploitation of those deposits, Captain Hagg staked a claim and jumped in to start a prosperous mining colony on the newly dubbed Hagg’s Hoard. Within ten years, several thousand miners and megatonnes of automated mining machinery had taken up residence in the upper caverns, and were busy blasting and gouging away multi-megatonnes of mineral wealth. Captain Hagg was now President Hagg, CEO of HaggCorp., meeting the demands for raw materials of a dozen industrial systems, and an incredible corporate success story.
It was then that they discovered the natives dwelling in the deep caverns.
Sadly, by the time scientists and xenosociologists discovered the truth, entire communities of the native sophonts had been killed by destabilized cavern systems collapsing from blasting in the upper caverns, or poisoned by tailings from the mining operations seeping into the lower strata and water table.
In one of the few cases of timely legal intervention, the legal machinery of the Consortium of Civilized Worlds fell swift and hard on Hagg’s Hoard. Despite denials that they had tried to hide the truth, and that they knew nothing of the entire society dwelling beneath their feet, HaggCorp found itself ruthlessly audited, cross-examined, and dissected by the courts. When the galactic media caught wind of the case, the situation only worsened, and Hagg’s Hoard became something of a celebrity cause.
Despite hopes that the past mistakes could be undone and the native Haggarite society left uncontaminated, the natives had indeed become aware of the shennanigens taking place overheard, having observed the HaggCorp settlements and organizing alliances among their tribes to make war against the intruders. Once they became aware that one group of aliens was being apprehended by another more powerful group, the unified tribes stepped forward and made their displeasure known. The CCW was thus forced by their own humanitarian agenices to extend what help they could to rehabilitate the natives, including teaching them to help in the ecological remediation efforts of their own world. With that training also came an awareness of galactic basic education and law...and that’s when hordes of private legal firms descended on the natives, aiming to represent them in class-action suites against the rich, ripe for picking, HaggCorp assets. Hagg’s Hoard became a second goldmine...for the legal community, who came to the rescue of a downtrodden native populace that was being overwhelmed by a filthy rich mining consortium.
In the end, after spectacular legal battles and senstationalized courtroom drama, the Haggarites ended up owning the entire mining operation, and receiving trillions of credits in reparations from the various corporations involved, and financial assistance from the CCW. HaggCorp. collapsed under the demands and negative press, having been tarred and feathered by the press as a bunch of profit-hungry, sophont-murdering, coprorate yahoos. Lawrence Hagg himself died a broken and lonely man, hounded by lawyers and activists to the very end(ironically, though, because the natives he supposedly oppressed had a language that was in the inaudible supersonic name, they would forever be known to most of the Three Galaxies by the more conventional ‘Haggarite’ name) .
Haggarites generally feel that their discovery was both a good and a bad thing....yes, thousands died in the initial exploitation of their planet and great damage was done to their ecology, but the subsequent settlements and reparations made to them have made them wealthy as Crossus and given them access to a galaxy that they didn’t know existed before. Sadly, even five or six generations removed from the harsh days of colonialism, most Haggarites conduct themselves in galactic society with the snobbish attitude of a professional victim-turned noveau riche fat-cat. The transformation of their hunter-gatherer society into a high-tech one has destroyed much of their culture and traditional values, but much of their original tribal posturing and machismo remains; Haggarites treat any confrontation as a challenge that they must win, or at least make a good showing in, even if they’re in the wrong. Sadly, they’ve also been educated by the galactic law community to regard civil law as just another weapon in their arsenal to prove their righteous position. The worst of the lot are those Haggarites who are pushy and demanding, threatening if they don’t get what they want, and suing when they still don’t.
Subsequently, many Haggarites in the galatic community at large gravitate towards the seamier side of high society, frequenting high-stakes gambling establishments, and becoming involved in organized crime, gun-running, slavery, and high finance, where lots of money and a good knowledge of galactic law, and how to exploit it, comes in handy. There are also many in the galactic law community, serving as lawyers and legal advocates. A few, more altruistic, Haggarites have joined CCW service as Judge-Advocate Generals(JAGs) and TVIA Inspectors. A number have also become media reporters, with their knowledge of law and enhanced hearing able to pick up dirt and gossip, and report it while qouting hundreds of provisios on protection of free speech and free media.
Alignments: Any, but most are Selfish (Unprinciple and Anarchist)
Lifespan: 80 years
Size: 5-6 ft tall, 180-250 lbs
Gender: Heterosexual(Males and Females)
Physical Description/Appearance:
Squat, muscular humanoids with a slightly hunched-over posture, covered in thick grey-white fur. The head is large and triangular, with a short flexible tapir-like trunk ending in a mouth/nose with four stubby fingers on it. The eyes are large and lemur-like, and the face is surrounded by six fleshy petal-like stalked ears/hearing organs that can move independently. Wear protective goggles when moving about in brightly-lit environs, and like heavy robes(the better to carry legal databases, cell-comms with their lawyers on speed-contact, and concealed weapons/wallets).
Disposition/Attitudes:
Tend to be pushy and demanding, and most are ready to quote chapter and verse from law, local and galactic, as to what their rights are, what they’re entitled to, or what other people can’t or shouldn’t do.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 2d6
PS: 3d6
PP: 3d6
PB: 1d6
PE: 3d6+2
SPD: 4d6
(ISP)-----By Psionic Class
(PPE): 4d6
Hit Points: 30
SDC:30 + those gained from OCCs and physical skills.
MDC: By Armor or Magic only
Horror Factor: 13 if you fear lawyers and being sued....
Natural Abilities:
*Nightvision---Can see in low light up to 100 ft.
*Enhanced Hearing---The Haggarites’ specialized hearing organs act like a parabolic microphone, equal to any cybernetic system....+6 initiative, +1 parry, +2 dodge even in total darkness, estimate distance of sounds at 60%+5% per level of experience, estimate speed and direction of sound-source at 50%+5% per level of experience, and recognize voices, 40%+5% per level of experience. Can also single out individual sounds/conversations as far away as 360 feet away.
*Natural Sonar---Range: 80 ft +10 ft per level of experience...Similar to enhanced hearing, but can also interpret shapes 60%+4% per level of experience, can be fouled by smoke, snow, rain, and other atmospheric precipitates. +1 to initiative and dodge. Beings and instruments sensitive to high-frequency sounds will be able to hear the Haggarites’ ‘sounding’ noise.
*Excellent Sense of Smell--Equivalent to a Dogboy; recognize specific odors 70% + 4% per level of experience, Recognize poisons/drugs 50%+4% per level of experience, and track by scent 40%+3% per level of experience. Some critics claim Haggarites can smell money, but this has never been proven; the Haggarites tend to sue anyone making such claims for defamation of character.
Penalties: Same as for Twilight Worlders...if caught in bright light without proper eye protection, are -8 to strike, parry, and dodge.
Psionics: Standard
Magic: None, but they have the capacity to learn.
Cybernetics/Bionics: Tend to avoid them for all but the most dire medical needs, and then want the best bio-systems whoever was responsible for the accident/incident can afford.
Available OCCs:
Most Haggarites gravitate towards Scholarly and Rogue professions. Not surprisingly, many become lawyers, but a few have become TVIA Inspectors.
RCC Skills:
Etiquette: Galactic Law(+10%)
Computer Operation(+10%)
Culture:
Pacifistic Non-Interventionists with a Headsman-style Democratic Government. Generally content to stay out of political affairs they have no stake in, but will sue others at the drop of a hat...
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Botwhin Char’chuga
“Oh my, oh my, oh my....that isn’t what I think it is? Oh my....you Lucim really aren’t helping the natives advance their society, are you? This is a program of genocide, isn’t it? And in front of CHILDREN, too! Do you know no shame?! Dearie, you have your holocam handy? Good...you start taking pictures of this....atrocity....for the authorities....I’ll contact the Protection Act authorities...I’m a member in good standing with the Aborginal Protection Enclave, and I’ll just let my good friend Chairman R’zzt!!llmm know what’s happening here! And YOU, you Lucim solciers! You’ll give me your names and the names of your superiors at once! Now stay here, and you just wait until the proper authorities arrive and they’ll sort this whole thing out, you’ll see!”
“Sir, what should we do?”
“What should we do, Corporal? We can’t do ANYTHING! Nothing we have can go through those hides, and if we call in a tacnuke, they’ll go after us on our homeworld! What you do is find out who the HELL neglected to tell us that there were Botwhin on planet when we were scheduled to implement population drawdown!”

The Botwhin Char’chuga are one of those monolithic races gifted with being superhumanly tough and capable, and would be a real danger if they ever became ambitious. Balancing Botwhin supreme physical toughness is their total lack of magic or psionic ability(they regard such abilities as quaint and amusing notions and phenomena), their low birth rate, and their sheer mellowness when off their world.
Botwhin evolved on a heavy gravity world(Botawhina) that has a convoluted orbit between its trinary suns. Besides heavy gravity, the world is possessed of a heavy, thick, greenhouse-effect atmosphere whose heat-engine circulation during the summer seasons results in killer hurricanes and tornadoes globally. Earthquakes and volcanoes further increase the fun with earth tremors and extra atmospheric contamination. During the winter season, when Botawhina climbs out of the cross radiation of the three suns, geological settling causes the internal cookery to cool down, and a rapid cooling of the atmosphere results in a clearing of the skies----precipitating massive ash and sludge falls, in monsoon season. Winter brings plunging temperatures and ice blockages along the waterways. Spring is heralded by rolling dust storms, and the cycle begins again with the hot summers. To survive all this, local life has evolved to be tough, and in the past, as the Botwhen clawed and bit their way to sentient dominance over their environment, the battles between their ancestors and the local wildlife were epic by the standards of other species. Some xenosociologists wonder if the constant fight for survival didn’t ultimately become engrained in the Botwhin psyche, and an addiction for conflict and stimulation that resulted in the current convoluted, if admittedly more peaceful, full-participation political and media system. However, for all the apparent clangor and clamour, against the hazards of just commuting to work, on Botawhina, the native Botwhen are amazingly peaceful and civil when travelling offworld.
To the Botwhin, while the rest of the universe is a fascinating place to visit, they wouldn’t want to live anywhere else other than their hellhole of a planet. It seems that the rest of the Megaverse exists solely as a place for the Botwhin to take time off and kick back on vacation. Aside from the scenery and novelty of being offworld, there’s not much to interest the Botwhin into taking a stronger role in galactic affairs. They actually LIKE the energy and noise of back home.
This is not to say the Botwhin are totally apathetic....They do have some small interest in galactic affairs, and they react like any other people when their kin get into trouble on other worlds. They just don’t have the same expansionist drive that other races do. But there is a real reason that the Botwhins’ neighbors are nervous about them ever developing imperial ambitions. It’s that the Botwhin are just plain big and TOUGH, and that quality extends to their technology.

Botwhin ships are built like their crews; solid, heavy, and insanely tough. With few exceptions, Botwhin ships are all spheroid in shape, with recessed weaponry, sensory antennae, and engine thrusters, clad in superheavy armor. Their engines are insanely overpowered...Botwhin like to accelerate fast and decelerate faster, and a typical Botwhin ‘soft landing’ would be regarded as a crash landing or crater-punching high dive by other, more fragile, species. Passengers on Botwhin ships can expect to pull bonecrushing gees in transit, constant blackouts, and a high risk of bodily harm if not specially protected.
Because Botwhin are so physically tough, their weaponry is also incredibly powerful; the Botwhin equivalent of a snub-nosed revolver is a small autocannon firing bazooka shells designed to punch through heavy armor. Their shipboard weaponry takes this overkill theme further, with heavy nuclear cannon and long range hellzapper particle beams being considered to be ‘standard batteries’.
Neighbors of the Botwhin would be horrified to learn that the Botwhin are only now twigging onto the fact that their weapons are indecently overpowered compared to the standard hardware of other species; nobody wants to give the blithe and oblivious Botwhin any ideas.
So far, however, the Botwhin have only shown any real muscling-flexing offworld in two cases; the defense of their world against outside invaders like the TGE and Splugorth, and the enforcement of the SAAPA.
Normally politically apathetic(with regard to the rest of the Three Galaxies), the Botwhin are proud supporters of the Senexi Arm Aboriginal Protection Act, a multi-signatory agreement between a round dozen of the advanced civilizations of their stellar sector to monitor and protect less advanced species from aggression and exploitation by other, advanced, and less-scrupulous, alien races......A galactic Monroe Doctrine that the gentrified Botwhin regard as a good, solid, charity cause. Normally, given the political apathy of most of the other governments and the time they spend to consider any evidence put before them, the SAAPA is considered to be fairly toothless, except for the participation of the normally plehgmatic Botwhin, who take it very seriously. To enforce the SAAPA, the Botwhin government routinely dispatches Protection Act Marshalls(PAMs, or, considering the impact they have landing on a planet, ***PAM!***) to investigate violations of the SAAPA, and bring the troublemakers to justice...which, given that PAMs are thirty foot long centauroid armored crustacoids armed with nuclear warhead-spitting sidearms, and the attitude of an alien John Wayne with a silver star, can be a pretty bloody affair. Offenders learn to fear the arrival of a PAM, and the exploited natives learn to fear the inevitable follow-up visit of the Botwhin Aborginal Benevolent Enlightenment Society(BABES!) to survey the damage(imagine that same thirty-foot armored centauroid armed with the condescending attitude of your largest over-affectionate aunt...yeah, the one with the ugly little dogs and the cheek-pinching hands). Thanks to the Botwhins’ enthusiastic support of the PAM program, the otherwise noble but useless SAAPA is truly feared by planet pirates and exploiters who know of it. Ask the Lucim, whose nearly perfect takeover of their less advanced stellar neighbors, the Neehee, was cut short just as they started culling the Neehee, by the arrival of Botwhin PAMs...Currently the Lucim have had to start renting the massive craters made in place of their former military-industrial facilities as jing-ball courts to keep up with the schedule of reparation payments they’ve been forced to make to the Neehee under the SAAPA under the supervision of the PAMs...not to mention the mandatory ‘cultural sensitivity’ courses all Lucim are forced to attend under the stern gaze of the BABES(“Repeat after me...’I will NOT perform genocidal acts against my fellow sentient beings...LOOOUUUDDDEERR, I CAAAANNN’TTTT HEEEAARRR YOOOOUUU!!!!”).
As to involvement in larger galactic affairs, the Senexi Arm is fortunately distant enough from the major galactic hotspots that the Botwhin haven’t had much contact with the other major powers of the Three Galaxies.....The TGE has sent a few raiding parties and fleet-stength ‘scouts’ into the sector, and have been furiously resisted, but haven’t considered the sector to be of significant interest to merit retalitory action...at least until they’ve dealt with problems closer to home, like the FWC and CCW. The Splugorth have had several nasty run-ins with the PAM Corps in several undeveloped systems, and have learned to hate the meddlers(and would love to enslave them for their gladitorial pits). If really pressed on the issue, the Botwhin would demurr that they are nominally allied with the CCW, with whom they share the most trade contacts and common diplomatic practices, but the Botwhin haven’t gone so far as to form any formal military-economic alliances.

On their homeworld, Botwhin engage in a culture of constant full-participation, full-contact, democratic debate and wheeling-dealing that make contemporary 20th-century American politics look restrained in comparison. Thanks to the vagaries of the Botwhin political system, no elected official can serve or carry out its mandate without consulting the opinion of ALL the beings within the region the official will affect with its decisions. In order to gain 100% voter turnout and input, this means constant round the clock campaigning on any issue, polling, and vote monitoring. This further generates constant lobbying, advertizing, spin-doctoring, bipartisanship(complicated by the fact that the Botwhen often have more than TWO equally strong viewpoints on any one subject), critical commentary, public nitpicking, and insulting that makes the Red and Blue/Conservative and Liberal harranguing of American politics look like schoolyard cliches by comparison. However, the noise never rises to machivellian intriguing, sabotage, or assassination, because EVERYTHING is laid out in the open, and even attempts at character assassination lead to spinoff arguments about the supposed wrongs, leading to more polling and heated discussion. The overall effect, one observer compared it to, was Victorian-era upper class tea party social maneuvering with high powered media and the servents allowed to have their say, without much risk of a fatal duel challenge arising from it all.
Needless to say, in this environment of constant polling and lobbying, bickering and cross-examination, the average Botwhin needs to get OUT away from it for awhile....So the Botwhin have been scruplous to set aside large reserves on their planet where citizens can get away from it all in legally-protected sanctuaries that lobbyists and solicitors cannot enter(under penalty of death). Interstellar travel simply gives them another outlet to go cool down after participating in upteen referendums and public polls. Botwhin book excursions to neighboring worlds to take tours where they get to see how the ‘little species’ carry out their lives, and to engage in a little quiet snobbery of how QUAINT everything is. Then, after a suitably quiet holiday, they go back to gear up for another round of surfing the media-storm, and fighting the climate.

Note: The Botwhin are frequently confused with another supertough insectoid race, the Degolians. However, Degolians are more cicada-like, and have the disadvantage of suffering from space sickness as they mature(they can still travel through space, but most prefer to spend the time between destinations in hibernation). In contrast, Botwhin LOVE to travel.
Alignments: Any, but most(80%) are Good or Unprincipled.
Lifespan: 180 years
Size: 30-40 ft long, they can rear about half of that length upright. Roughly 7-10 ft across at the shoulders
Weight: 1-3 tons
Gender: Males and Females.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Giant, heavily-armored centipede-like centaurs covered in heavy articulated armored carapace. Eight stubby armored legs carry the Botwhin, while four longer arms, ending in six-fingered paws, grace the front end. The tail mounts a large pair of crude earwig-like claws, typically used for anchoring the being in bad weather. The head is broad and wedge-shaped, with a small ‘face’ of multiple armored oculars and a small mandibled mouth, protected by larger armored ‘cheek’ plates. Coloration is a light to dark rust color, accented with stripes or rosettes of orange, yellow, or black. Eyes are typically amber or yellow in color. A few darker or paler Botwhin races exist as well, reflecting regional differences. Botwhin have foghorn-like voices from multiple bellows-like speech organs on either side of the upper torso.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Tend to have condescending, aristocratic attitudes towards non-Botwhin. Some human historians have compared the Botwhin demeanor as being similar to that of enlightened Victorian Englishmen towards the less-privileged natives of the colonial possessions(or any underdeveloped country of the time) without the fear of Zulu spears or native uprisings. Botwhin can actually act quite dotty and annoyingly inquisitive when finding something that gets their interest
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 4d6
PS: 2d6+40(Considered to be Supernatural Strength)
PP: 2d6
PB: 2d6
PE: 5d6
SPD: 4d6(x3 under normal terrestrial gravity)
(ISP)---nil
(PPE):----3d6
Hit Points:---
SDC:----
MDC: 3d6x100 MD + 1d6x10 MD per level of experience
Horror Factor: 14
Natural Abilities:
*Heavy Gravity Worlders---More used to handling over five terrestrial gravities back home, Botwhin are rather awkward in lesser garvities.... -2 to Dodge under terrestrial gravity
*Armored Exoskeleton---Reflected in their high megadamage ratings.
*Radiation-Proof---Botwhin integument protects them from the worst ravages of radiation...Particel beams and plasma weaponry do HALF damage, and intense levels of radiation do NOT effect them.
*Multiple Lungs----Botwhin have numerous hyperoxygenation chambers in their elongated torso, effectively quadrupling their lung capacity...Besides being able to filter out atmospheric impurities with 80% effectiveness, the Botwhin respiratory system allows them to hold their breath for their P.E. rating x 4 in minutes...especially useful on a planet where flash floods, sand storms, and ash falls are common.
*Tail Spikes---This fearsome appendage does 4d6+PS bonus in damage on a slash or stab, and can be used to anchor the Botwhin in fierce winds or fraging flood waters.
Psionics: None
Magic: None
Available OCCs: Any except power armor and robot pilots.
Most Botwhin tourists will use the Vagabond Scout or Rogue Scholar skill lists.
RCC Skills:
Botwhin typically know 1d6 additional languages in addition to their own(+10% to Language and Literacy skills)
Cybernetics/Bionics: Only government operatives and officials have been known to sport cybernetic implants of any sort(typically computer interfaces or communications gear)
Culture:
Full-participation democratic peaceful non-expansionists

Typical Botwhin Handgun(Gobe HZ-77)
Standard issue weaponry for PAMs and planetary militia is a 60-mm recoilless pistol; essentially a giant revolver firing anti-tank rounds. The ‘Gobe-77’ isn’t the most powerful handgun the Botwhin produce, but it’s a reliable favorite(like a .45 revolver) of law enforcement authorities.
Weapons Systems:
Weight: 80 lbs
Range: 1,800 ft
Damage: 2d4x10 MD per shot
Rate of Fire: Single shot per attack
Payload: 8 rds

Botwhin Rifle (Mombob GZ-25)
Botwhin rarely use these things offworld for fear of messing up the local landscape, but the planetary defense militia are issued these things as standard, and PAMs use them when ‘chastizing’ treaty-violators. It’s basically a tank-caliber cannon mated to a heavy ion projector.
Weight: 250 lbs
Range:(105mm Cannon) 7,600 ft
(Ion Projector) 3,000 ft
Damage:(105mm Cannon) 5d6x10 MD HE round
(Ion Projector) 1d6x10+20 MD per blast
Rate of Fire:(105mm Cannon) 4 shots per melee
(Ion Projector) ECHH
Payload:(105mm Cannon) 12 round clip
(Ion Projector) 50 round battery-clip

Botwhin Armored Police Harness
Standard-issue to Protection Act Marhals and Botwhin police authorities, this torso harness adds some additional protection(200 MD. A.R. 14) but really acts to hold up to 600 lbs of gear in webbing pockets and pouches. It CANNOT be worn by other races(200 lbs and configured for a different anatomy). ‘Extreme’ tourists, diplomats, and rescue/aid workers occasionally wear these vests as well.

Botwhin EBA
As impossible as it sounds, the Botwhin DO have EBA armor available; these massive tank-like 1 ton suits have 4d6x100 MDC, life support good for up to 48 hours, atmospheric filtration, communications, and any other features appropriate to the wearer’s role. Imposes a -25% penalty to Speed, -15% to Physical skills, and -2 to Dodge and Parry. Forget about EVER prowling in these outfits.

Typical Botwhin PAM Singleship

“So you’re going riding with the Marshal, are you? Here’s a few tips...write out ypur will first and have it placed in a safe place with people you trust, then take off all your clothes when seating yourself aboard the torchship and set aside everything in heavy bubble wrap...Why go starkers? Because besides saving you some heavy cleaning and underwear changing, you don’t want to have your buttons and zippers embedded in your flesh upon takeoff....”

The PAMship is the most often encountered unit of the Botwhin military forces outside their own home solar system. This pockmarked metallic bowling bowl of a starship, covered with blast ports, weapons blisters, and equipment hatches, has no discernable front or back, except when it opens up its main plasma drives(at full throttle). The ship is propelled by a combination of fusion ramjet and gravitic impellor drives.
As its name suggests, the Singleship is just large enough to accommodate one Botwhin Protection Act Marshall and its gear. A second Botwhin-sized passenger can be squeezed in, but conditions will be cramped. Additional smaller beings can be carried as cargo, but must be carried in special containment casings, like gravity-insulated pods or liquid suspension gel packs, to prevent them from being crushed to goo under the intense and constant acceleration PAMs favor.
PAMships are heavily(some say obscenely) armored for their size, and very fearsomely armed, mostly with long range X-Ray laser cannons and nuclear projectile devices. A favorite weapon of Botwhin space forces is the Nuclear Gattler, a heavy caliber rapid-fire multi-barrel autocannon that spews hundreds of mini-tactical nuclear projectiles with each burst. A blast from these weapons in defensive mode can set up a blast barrier able to stop even volleys of smart missiles, or tear enemy fighters to free atoms. Used against larger targets, the thousands of micro-nuke blasts of a concentrated attack can overwhelm forcefields and bury surface fortifications in radioactive ash.
If the PAMship has a weakness, it’s the lack of anything that couldn’t be considered an ‘overkill’ weapon....simply crippling or swatting aside enemy fighters just isn’t possible with weapons that would more likely vaporize them. However, the Botwhin don’t regard this as a problem, as they typically just ignore, outrun, or ram through anything less than a capital ship battleline opposing them.
Most opponents, after facing a Botwhin SINGLESHIP, don’t stick around to encounter the heavier ships in the Botwhin arsenal....
Type: PAM-PEC-2
Class: Patrol Enforcement Craft
Date of Introduction:
Crew: 1-2 Botwhin
Up to 10 human-sized passengers can be carried in cargo anti-g pods
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 10,000
Reinforced Crew Compartment 2,000
Nuclear Gattler Turret (1) 500
X-Ray Laser Turrets(3) 360 each
Missile Launchers(2) 300 each
Variable Forcefields 6,000 each side(36,000 total)
Height: 180 ft
Width: 180 ft
Length: 180 ft
Weight: 2,800 tons
Cargo: 50 tons; typically the PAM’s arsenal, body armor, and evidence kits
Powerplant: Nuclear Fusion w/ 50 year energy life
Speed:(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 6(boost mode)
(Space) Mach 30
(Kitsune Values: 50% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 3% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 4 light years per hour
(Underwater) Perfectly functional underwater; can withstand depths up to 5 miles deep.
Cost: Not available for sale off Botwhina
Systems of Note:
Standard Spacecraft Systems, plus:

*Hardened Systems---Botwhin sensors and electronics are heavily shielded against EMP, radiation, and other disruptions...Ion weapons and electrodisruption damage does NOT apply to the ship’s systems.

*Retracting Sensor Mounts---All the ship’s sensors are mounted in retractable pods that are pulled into the hull when encountering combat or hazardous conditions...This means that the ship often flies blind, operating on basic sensors(effective range of 600,000 miles) in hot situations, until it can safely deploy its sensors/cmmunications pods.

Weapons Systems:
1) Nuclear Gattler(1)---(Also known as a Nuclear Pellet Gun) This is a GIANT eight-barreled heavy-caliber(200mm) gatling gun that spews hundreds of tactical-nuclear shells per minute. PAMs typically use these weapons to spew instant nuclear minefeilds in the path of enemy ships, fighters, and missiles. The use of special isotopes in the warheads reduces radiation to a minimum, making these weapons ‘environmentally safe’(if you excuse the massive holes chewed in the environment).
Range 5 miles in atmosphere, 15 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 15 miles in atmosphere, 150,000 miles in space)
Damage: Does 1d6x100 MD to a 50 ft blast radius, 6d6 MD concussion damage to a 100 ft blast radius. A 24-round burst does 2d6x1,000 MD to a 300 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Bursts of 1-24
Payload: 3,200 rds

2)Heavy X-Ray Lasers(3)---Pumped by the fusion powerplant in a series of ‘micro-blasts’, these intense laser beams are designed to defeat conventional anti-laser defenses.
Range: 8 miles in atmosphere, 16 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 16 miles in atmosphere, 160,000 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x100 MD per blast, plus the high X-ray component punches through laser-resistant armors without diminishment of damage.
Rate of Fire: Five times per melee round
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

3)Long Range Missile Launchers(2)---These can be used to fire ordnance or probes
Range: Varies by Missile Type
Damage:Varies by Missile Type
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-5
Payload: 100 missiles

4) Sandcasters(4)----Sandcasters throw out clouds of special silica shards and metal chaff that stay with the ship for up to five melees as long as the ship doesn’t make any changes in course or speed, and provide limited protection from enemy fire and missiles.
Range: Fills a cloud around the ship, expanding until it disperses to ineffectiveness within 5 melees
Damage: Lasers do HALF damage through the cloud before it disperses, and anything flying into the cloud takes 4d6 MD of damage. Enmey missiles have a 50% chance of being decoyed and diverted off course by the chaff; ‘smart’ missiles have only a 25% chance.
Payload: 100 canisters

5) Plasma Exhaust---By quickly closing with a target, then slewing about while openning the throttle in what has been called a ‘comet ram’, Botwhin daredevil pilots can use their own plasma drives as weapons, hitting the target with a spray of intense plasma and drive radiation...They aren’t called ‘torchships for nothing. This tactic is especially effective against ground targets...the ship can melt enemy fortifications into slag or turn an enemy base into a pool of molten volcanic glass simply by hovering overhead.
Range:0.5 miles in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 miles in atmosphere, 50 miles in space)
Damage: 5d6x10 MD per 5 seconds of exposure, in a 500 ft wide cone. A full melee hovering melt-blast would do 1d6x100+50 MD. Radiation-based sensors (Radar, optics) will be effectively blinded by the sudden spike in energy, with a 50% chance of being permanently damaged and taken offline.
Rate of Fire: Can only be attempted with a -20% to piloting skill, -10% against stationary targets, per each attempted strike.

6) Ramming----Botwhin ships are built TOUGH, and thus it comes as no great surprise that the Botwhin often use their ships’ toughness and high acceleration to deliver sideswipes and rams, though this ‘billiarding’ maneuver is often hard to accomplish with any great accuracy. Their practice of making meteoric re-entries and slamming into the ground on landing is infamous; sometimes the only warning that an opponent has that the PAMs have arrived is the earthquaking, building-shattering, screaming impact of the PAM singleship into their headquarters.
Spaceborne Ram/Sideswipe----5d6x10 MD(-2 to strike)
Landing Slam---2d4x100 MD, and sinks the ship up to 90 ft into hard surfaces.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
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Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Like I said, I have had some of these things sitting around half-completed for years(even several decades)...by using some quick and dirty cutting and pasting, and shortcuts stat-wise, I can complete them, though not with ALL the color I'd like to have...but, I admit, that would push them over into munchkin-level....

Palladium FRPG: Land of the Damned, Rifts Phaseworld, Heroes Unlimited/Aliens Unlimited, and the Powers Unlimited 2 Eugenic Heroes tables are invaluable for creating a multitude of races and species....
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
Priest
Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Wow...NB...informative and teasing...I want to know more about these people and their enemies, the Zial-Quo...

Wait....winged people...an enemy who can reproduce on the battlefield...
We're not talking hawks and killer bunny rabbits here....?
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
taalismn
Priest
Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

ouch....tentacles are never good news....
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
Aramanthus
Monk
Posts: 18712
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:18 am
Location: Racine, WI

Unread post by Aramanthus »

Those are some nice races. I'm going to have to try some of these out sometime in the near future.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"

"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."

"As you will it, your Grace."

HH....FIE
User avatar
taalismn
Priest
Posts: 47887
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Unread post by taalismn »

Egad....Cthulu Mythos MUltiplied!
Bigger guns...we need bigger guns!
Or something that disintegrates killer jello molds down past the molecular level(hypernapalm is always fun...microdot anti-matter exploders are even better).
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"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
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Aramanthus
Monk
Posts: 18712
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2006 5:18 am
Location: Racine, WI

Unread post by Aramanthus »

I've got to read them someday. I have the books around here somewhere.
"Your Grace," she said, "I have only one question. Do you wish this man crippled or dead?"

"My Lady," the protector of Grayson told his Champion, "I do not wish him to leave this chamber alive."

"As you will it, your Grace."

HH....FIE
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