Fan Races!!

[taalismn]

Just hitting the random roll tables again and see what comes up....


Apisori(Anvil Galaxy)(United Systems Alliance member)
(aka ‘Greenshines’)

“Apis may not be strong in and of themselves, but they can take a lot of punishment. One Kreeghor tough I talked on PhaseWorld described a fight with one as being like beating up a tangle of wire fencing. The greenshine bent and warped, but wouldn’t break and won’t let go until he got exhausted and let go. That’s when the Kreegie robbed him.
Of course, that’s not including their predilection for brewing magic power-ups. If you see an Apisori take a swig of something before a fight, odds are, things are about to go pear-shaped for the other side. If that Api that Kreeg had mugged had had the chance to chug down one of the muscle-drinks the greenshines love so much, that fight coulda gone VERY differently.”
---Bilkay Munson, Free Wanderer

“The Apisori culture and their growing trade in medicines, chemical boosts, and, unfortunately, narcotics, is going to put them at odds with the Arzac, who DETEST anything that hints of drug trafficking. That will also likely become a sore point with the United Systems Alliance, as the Arzac are unlikely to look too well on any trade network that facilitates what the Arzad(the Arzac military and anti-narcotics organization) perceive as a drug trade.”
---Facilitator Goryan, Market Analyst and Legal Consultant for the United Systems Alliance Interworld Trade Commission

The Apisori are native to the planet Api-NorDwyri. They are a species new to interstellar flight, and are eager to explore the universe. They evolved from lemur-like stock on their homeworld and retain their ancestors’ predilection for arboreal agility.
Apisori are hampered by their weak physiologies, though they are also conversely VERY tough and durable, possibly as a result of the rich saturation of magic on their world. They also are all Physical Psychics, possessing a range of physical performance-boosting psionic abilities.
Alchemic magic being well-developed on the Apisori homeworld, the Apisori are gaining a reputation for producing magic potions, powders, poisons, and nostrums. Some of their potions are very effective transformative catalysts when applied to materials, while others can temporarily turn the weak and gangly Apisori into physical powerhouses, either granting them special powers or unlocking meta-potentials within them. Though most Apisori concoctions are poisonous to non-Apisori, enough have been tested and found effective(to varying degrees) on others, that Apisori alchemy promises to be a potential trade boon for them, especially as the Apisori actively research adapting their expertise to work on others. This has developed into a most profitable export business in herbal medicines, holistic cures, and, unfortunately, a growing narcotics trade(as some of the Apisori street-legal preparations have been found to have some rather more ‘interesting’ side effects on various non-Apisori).
Alchemy and Mystic Herbology are so well established as part of Apisori culture that most of the magic-capable members of the species can’ hardly conceive of direct-cast magic spells, as opposed to that which must work through a medium, such as a plant, or synthesized into a potion or elixir. This theory of ‘concentrating’ or ‘filtering’ of magic energy has also made the Apisori more favorably inclined towards TechnoWizardry as well, and the Apisori often find themselves at a disadvantage facing more conventional ‘direct-cast’ spell-casters. Enhancement drugs like Psi-Cola(only with a lot less, or no, side effects) are readily come by on the Apisori market.
The Apisori are new members of the United Systems Alliance, having joined to facilitate their entry into the galactic community. They’ve sent observers and delegations to the other worlds of the Alliance to feel out trade opportunities and cooperative ventures, including trade missions with other polities. They recently became involved in the joint colonial development of Tennison, where they participated in the defense of the planet when unknown aliens attacked the settlements there. The experience has led to the Apisori stepping up their military programs to better defend their nascent colony on Tennison, and to protect their homeworld.

Alignments: Any
Lifespan: 120 years
Size: 5-5.5 ft tall, 120-140 lbs
Gender: Heterosexual; two sexes. They give birth to live young. Twin births are fairly common(30%).
Physical Description/Appearance:
Humanoid, with a squat, bowlegged posture and gangling limbs ending in four-digited hands and feet. Their disproportionately large heads have conical elongated skulls trailing back from broad-nosed, large-jawed faces. Skin is a shimmering blue-green with fine scaling or a fine wood grain-like texture, and their hair is thick and dark, forming polyp-like extrusions. Their eyes are large and black..
Disposition/Attitudes:
The average Apisori is curious and peaceful, and eager to learn more about other cultures and worlds. They tend to favor chemistry and biology in the sciences, rather than hard mechanical technologies.
Apisori have something of a reputation of being ‘pill-poppers’; their magic is heavily focused on the brewing and distillation of magic into consumable form, and they often toss back a pill of concentrated magic or quaff a potion to give them temporary abilities. Many become addicted and dependent on their native-produced nostrums, and many offworld adventurers will at least try the drugs of other worlds and cultures, thinking the same holds true with other societies.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 3d6
PS: 2d4(supernatural)
PP: 3d6
PB: 2d4
PE: 2d4 (supernatural)
SPD: 3d6
(ISP): ME+4d6 +1d6 per level of experience
(PPE): 4d6
Hit Points:----
SDC:---
MDC: 3d6x10+2d6 MD per level of experience
Horror Factor: 6
Natural Abilities:
*Prehensile Feet---These give the Apisori excellent climbing abilities.
*Discriminatory Sense of Taste---Apisori possess particular acute senses of taste; roughly five time more discriminating than human taste buds. They can with a proficiency of 60%+5% per level of experience, guess the ingredients in a food recipe, the major components of potions and medicines, and trace amounts of poison from just a light taste, provided they have encountered those constituents before.
Psionics: Major--- Apisori are all Major Psychics and may select 8 powers from the Physical category
Magic: Magic-Using Culture
Apisori are especially notable for their expertise in potions; alchemy and mystic herbology are well-developed on their world. Alchemists and Mystic Herbologists are the most common magic OCCs on their world.
Cybernetics/Bionics: None; the Apisori don’t mind others using implanted technology, but it’s not for them.
Available OCCs: Gravitate towards high-tech OCCs, except Cyborgs . If using Heroes Unlimited, they can also take the Mystically Endowed and the Imbued.
Magic OCCs are primarily Mystic, Mystic Herbologist, and Druidic-style mages. TechnoWizardry has also been developed by the Apisori, though the arcano-science is still in its early stages locally. Interestingly, the mystic arts are largely considered to be the province of women; 75% of active Apisori magic users are female.
RCC Skills:
Climbing (+15%)
Skills of Note:
Medical: Holistic Medicine (+10%)
Science: Botany, Chemistry, Chemistry Analytical(+5%)
Culture:
No one system of government rules all the Apisori , though the various nation states of their homeworld have formed a League of Nations for mutual defense, trade, and offworld development with regards to the galactic scene. There are effectively thirty-five recognized nations on Api-NorDwyri, fairly evenly divided amongst democracies, constitutional monarchies, and commercial oligarchies. They tend towards patriarchal societies, with males running government, and females running home, agriculture and magic.
Apisori believe in ‘green’ technologies and their religions have strong animistic and gaiaistic themes.
The Apisori can be considered to be Peaceful Expansionists, though they are cautious enough to maintain military forces.
Mature Space Age----The Apisori are roughly equivalent to Golden Age pre-Rifts Earth, but with a strong element of alchemy in their technology. Their own space programs managed to make it to traction drives before they made contact with FTL-using species. They own and operate several FTL starships bought from outside sources, and they are working to build their own starships(and maintain the ones they have), though they are still dependent on parts supplied in trade.

Gwyer System(Thundercloud Galaxy)
This is the home system of the Apisori
Solar System(Gwyer)
Number of Stars: 1
Types of Stars: Blue Sub-Giant
Number of Planets: 9
-Terrestrial(Gendra) ---Seven times the diameter of Earth, Gendra is a lifeless poison-shrouded world laced with glowing lava veins. Early Apisori astronomers who managed to capture detailed images of the planet through telescopes were sure that they had glimpsed a vision of hell(at the time the Apisori hadn’t even been able to reach their own planet’s polar regions).

-Gas Giant(Chervi) -----This mid-sized gas giant was once much larger, but Gwyer’s intense solar radiation is ablating off the planet’s atmosphere in spectacular fashion, creating a streaming halo of gas visible from Api-NorDwyri. ‘Chervi’ is an Apisori word for ‘Angel’, and the planet featured prominently in many Apisori myths as a heavenly messenger, when it could be glimpsed through Api-NorDwyri’s dense atmosphere.

-Gas Giant(Spocos)-----Miniscule Spocos also shows a faint halo’ing effect, but is better able to hold onto its atmosphere. Spocos, though an inner planet, was discovered later than Chervi(again, the Apisori astronomers having trouble seeing well through their planet’s dense atmosphere), and the planet earned a name meaning ‘ghost’ for its faint appearance.

-Gas Giant(Gelar)---- Likewise, minuscule Gelar went almost unnoticed by Apisori astronomers because of its small size and relatively low albedo, even though it was much closer to Api-NorDwyri.

-Terrestrial(Api-NorDwyri)---System Lifeworld

-Gas Giant(Voltri)---- Enormous Voltri with its large moon system made it a destination for Apisori astronauts, and the moon system has become the focus of offworld industry and colonization,

-Terrestrial-- (Gamos)-----This enormous rocky world possesses a thin methane atmosphere and is smeared with large impact craters

-Terrestrial--(Meglo)---- Equally enormous Meglo is shrouded in a thin methane atmosphere and is uninhabitable.

-Asteroid/Planetisimal---(Piqo)---Tiny Piqo is a small iceball. Recently the Apisori Joint Space Development Society announced plans to establish a research outpost, using acquired galactic technology, on the planetoid.


Api-NorDwyri----Apisori Homeworld
Unusually, Api-NorDwyri occupies a position in the Gwyer system that would normally be occupied by icy rocks, but instead the planet is warm and possess a very dense atmosphere, possibly as a side effect of the world’s ambient magical field.
The magic field is also considered responsible for the planet’s cooling. In lieu of large ice caps, both Api-NorDwyri’s poles are afflicted with permanent cyclones that seem to act as atmospheric temperature regulators. These vicious storms kept the planet’s polar regions from being safely explored for centuries, even after the Apisori were stablished in their own Industrial Age. The polar storms factor prominently in many Apisori religions, as the ‘off-limits’ polar regions were regarded as the home of gods or infernal wastelands. It wasn’t until heavily-equipped and very brave expeditions pierced the storm-walls that these beliefs were proven false.

Planet Api-NorDwyri
Type: Terrestrial
Diameter: Large- 24,500 km
Gravity: 1.4 g
Temperature:
Warm----Api-NorDwyri possesses a fairly uniform and tropical average temperature. Permanent polar cyclonic storms seem to act as a cooling mechanism in lieu of large ice caps.
Unusual/Special Features:
*Magic Activity/Ambient PPE Field----Api-NorDwyri possesses a fairly high ambient PPE field(estimated at three times that of the Palladium FRPG world), but little leyline activity and no known Rift incidence.
Atmosphere:
Super-Dense; visitors to Api-NorDwyri will require prolonged periods of decompression similar to saturation divers to safely leave the planet, though the Apisori themselves have no problems(and they’ve developed drugs that protect them anyway).
Terrain:
Unusual Mineralogy----Api-NorDwyri possesses especially fertile soil chemistry(Gardening skills get a +7% to grow anything in the local soil, and plants will be twice as large and lush as normal)
Notable Mineral Concentrations:
- Amethyst
- Colombite
- Antimony
- Wolframite
- Gypsum
- Graphite
- Salt
- Platinum
Hydrosphere: Moist, roughly 65% of the planet’s surface is covered in open water
Biosphere: Dense---Api-NorDwyri possesses a rich and verdant ecology. Its coastal forests are notable for their depth and robustness.
Civilization:
Well-Established, Native
Population:
9.8 billion
Technology:
Early Space Age
Economy:
Agricultural, with a growing Industrial component
Wealth:
Rich---The Apisori are rich off their agricultural exports
Government:
Coalition of several national states. Apisori governments in general tend to be patriarchal, with the higher positions held only by males. Agriculture, however, and the mystic arts of alchemy and herbology, are almost entirely in the hands of the Apisori women.
Law Level:
Overbearing----The Apisori ‘green’ management with regards to resource use is very strict; resource use, construction, behaviors that might negatively affect the environment, planetside technologies that are wasteful or eco-destructive, are all regulated. International ‘greencops’ assist local agencies in coordinating resource management, though some countries are more lenient than others(and often suffer censure or economic sanctions imposed by the others).
Popularity:
Popular----The populace of Api-NorDwyri like the way things have been going, as there hasn’t been a major global conflict for several centuries, and the global standard of living has been steadily improving. The quite favorable trend in Galactic trade has only improved that standing.
Stability:
Dynastic---Most of the national governments on Api-NorDwyri ‘have deep roots’, and have been around for several centuries

[89er]

Since the push for United Systems Alliance content I have been working on a few race ideas to put here. Rough ideas include:
-Not half elves that have techo organic cybernetics grown from them and woo any intelligent, consenting organism that catches their fancy.

-Aquatic not half dwarfs that make use of "organic legos" for their tech.

-Not half orcs that fought off a vampire invasion by nuking their home and sunlight injecting their leylines.

Side question, can we use this topic to post Dbees as well?

[taalismn]

Side question, can we use this topic to post Dbees as well?

Go for it....D-bees, variants on existing species, whole new species.... Ideally playable stuff(as PCs or really detailed NPCs)...

[89er]

First new Race in a while, may need more work, comments and improvements are welcome.

Bhozyari

True hybrids are rare in the Megaverse but Bhozyari come close to honest half elf humans, only they also grow techno organic cybernetics over their lifetime. Living on a modest near Earth, they came to the attention of the USA when their first space probe slammed into a passing shuttle. Appearing as humans with elf features, what stands out is the strange cybernetics that grow from the Bhozyari due to living nanobots that are just part of the microbiome inside their bodies.
As they mature, Bhozyari gain a hunger for select materials that can be digested and processed by the nanobots, into internally replacing and regenerating the affected tissue into its new techno organic form. The cybernetics formed seem to be at random, but select patterns emerge more if the population is facing a problem, such as several minor wars that resulted in growing built in weapons even energy projectors.
Three pillars that support their society is consent, morphological freedom and love. This gives them great respect for the physical form and all that connects to it. However, now that they can travel off planet, the Bhozyari want to sample all the lifeforms that the Megaverse can offer. They can be seen in clubs, borg shops or anywhere that offers fun, flesh and more.

Bhozyari
Alignments: Any
Lifespan: Up to 400 years with the proper bionics
Size: 5’10 to 7’2 ft
Gender: Male Female, and Hermaphrodite

Physical Description/Appearance: Human with elf features, pointed ears and better looks. Bhozyari often have a few body modifications combined with their natural grown cybernetics, giving them a somewhat exotic look that people with that kind of attraction are drawn too. They have the look of a cyberpunk with the soul of a transhuman.

Disposition/Attitudes:
The average Bhozyari is always taking in the room and sights, absorbing information, and making lists. Who seems dangerous? Will these items help? Which of my teammates would be open to sharing a room with? A common dating ritual is an exchange of kink lists, some are even used as business cards for the high tiers of their society.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 4D6
ME: 3D6
MA: 5D6+3
PS: 3D6
PP: 3D6
PB: 3D6+10
PE: 3D6
SPD: 3D6
(ISP):
(PPE): 4D6
Hit Points: P.E. + 1d6 per level of experience
SDC:
MDC: None without their grown bionics
Horror Factor: 2
Natural Abilities: Grown cybernetics
Psionics: Only started within the last 300 years and mostly latent
Magic: Capable if taught proper
Cybernetics/Bionics: Their anatomy can easily handle cybernetics and bionics, but prefer what they have grown.

01-15% Eye Replacement: Full Spectrum Eye. One of the character's eyes has been replaced, giving her the ability to see across the spectrum. Only one of these can be activated at a time, but the character can quickly flip through to different parts of the spectrum at will (takes one attack/action). The eye provides the following optical enhancements, all with a range of 2,000 feet (610 m): thermographic vision (sees heat radiation), passive nightvision, infrared, ultraviolet, and electromagnetic energy (can see electrical and magnetic fields). The implant provides a +2 to Perception Rolls based on vision,+ 10% to any Tracking (animal or humanoid), Tailing, Detect Ambush and Detect Concealment rolls.

16-30% Eye Replacement: Advanced Marksmen. The eye provides telescopic vision (can read a stop sign from two miles/3.2 km away), a targeting sight that provides +2 to all ranged attacks,

31-45% Ear Replacement: Cybernetic Hearing. Techno-organic cybernetic replacement of the ears and inner ear gives the character amazing hearing and even improved balance. The character can hear almost inaudible sounds at up to 360 feet (110m) away. The ear automatically filters loud, potentially damaging sounds, like explosions. It also includes a gyroscopic ability that gives the character an innate sense of direction (can always tell which way is magnetic north) and improves balance (same as the Gymnastics and Acrobatics sub-skill) at 80% +2% per level. The character also receives +1 to parry, +2 to dodge, and +3 on initiative.
46-60% Limb Replacement: Arm. One arm has been replaced with a TO cybernetic equivalent. The arm has 40 M.D.C., adds +4 to P.S. and+ 1 to parry. Since the limb is made of M.D.C. material, it can parry Mega-Damage weapons. Punches with the bionic arm do 1D4 M.D. Note: This cybernetic feature can be selected/rolled twice. If both arms are limb replacements, the character gets + 10 to P.S. attribute and it is considered Robotic Strength. Reduce P.B. attribute -1 per bionic arm.

61-75% Limb Replacement: Leg. One leg has been replaced with a TO cybernetic equivalent. The leg has 60 M.D.C., adds +6 to Spd attribute number. Kicks do 1D6 M.D. This implant can be selected/ rolled twice. If both legs are bionic add +20 to Spd, can leap 20 feet (6.1 m) upward and 40 feet (12m) across, double with a running start, and the character has a +2 bonus to perform a leap dodge (each leap dodge counts as one melee attack/action), but reduce P.B. attribute -2 for each bionic leg.

76-90% Cyber-Antennae. These are 3 foot (1m) long, whiplike antennae that sprout from ports in the character's reinforced, M.D.C. skull (40 M.D.C.). They can be retracted to as small as one foot long when not in use, bend back and can fit under a helmet. However, when seen by ordinary people, the antenna appear otherworldly and bizarre. They provide the character with motion sensing abilities and heightened sense of smell. Bonuses: Penalties for being blinded or in absolute darkness are half ( -5 to strike, parry and dodge, instead of -10), cannot be surprised by opponents who attack from within 60 feet (18.3 m). +4 to initiative, and +2 to parry and dodge, and sense of smell is five times greater than the average human. In fact, the character can track by smell at 20% +5% per level and identify smells at 30%+5% per level of experience. Penalty: -2 to P.B. attribute and strong, repugnant odors may make the character vomit (lose two melee actions each time the character vomits; roll to save vs nonlethal poison).

91-94% Advanced Brain Box. This character's intellect has been artificially heightened by replacing his neurons and many of the nerves in the brain with TO-based bio-mechanical circuitry. Bonuses: + 1D4+ 1 to I.Q. attribute, + 1 to Perception Rolls, can select four additional O.C.C. Related Skills, and the character receives a +5% bonus (in addition to those for having a high I.Q. attribute) on any skills selected from Communication, Electrical, Mechanical, Medical, Science or Technical skill categories and has no restrictions on which skills can be selected from those categories. Penalties: The character's eyes are laced with bloodshots of lavender, and the character can often seem distant and distracted.

95-99% Full Bionic Skeleton Replacement. The character's skeleton had been replaced with M.D.C. bones, in effect giving him +1D6x10+60 S.D.C., +1D6 to P.S., bones are unbreakable, +5 to save vs impact, and the character takes half damage from all falls, crashes, and punches and kicks to the head, chest and legs.

Culture: Post cyberpunk with a recent focus on expanding into space for resources and new lifeforms to lay with. Bhozyari mythos and fiction is full of interspecies relationships so they have no real taboos against interspecies romance. The USA is slowly integrating them into the cosmic scene, so their planet is not raided by Splurgoth looking to get into NSFW content for more money.

[taalismn]

First new Race in a while, may need more work, comments and improvements are welcome.

Bhozyari

Interesting.
I rather prefer starfish aliens myself , but the random cybernetic growth is intriguing and a lot more extensive than, say the Order of the Void in Manhunter.
Though I'd love to see a bit more backstory on how this came to be in their evolution/culture. Deliberately engineered into them by other species? Silver goo experiment gone wrong? Ancient technology cache inadvertently cracked? Deliberate attempt to improve the species gone bad?

(Added to the fan creation list on pg 1.)

[taalismn]

Sorm-Calu(Villain NPCs)
“Spotted this strange-looking bug working on a warhead under a ‘cutter at one of their forward encampments. Looked smaller and more monkey-like than the rest of them, so I paid special attention to it. It, and the big missile it was working on looked might interesting, given nobody had seen anything Sorm like them before, so when the chance came, I ghosted in, careful to avoid its peripheral vision and stay out of psionics range. Don’t know if I was that good at sneaking or it was so focused on what it was doing it didn’t sense me, but I decided to use a headhunter drone anyway and killed it with a directed charge under a Silence spell. Nobody noticed the ‘tech get snuffed, so I got in closer, got some good pictures of the corpse and the bomb. I’d recognize a pistol-implosion nuke any day, and I knew the Sorm were having problems with the local resistance, so I guessed this was the Sorms’ response. So I finished the bugtech’s work with a booby-trapped trigger on the physics package, goo’ed the body to dust, then gat as fast as I could move. Caught some flak on the way out when some of the outrunners spotted me, but barely made it over the ridge before the valley went up in oppie-light. Saved the footage though, so all-around successful recon-run, no?”

Sorm-Calu are a recently observed form of Sorm. As the Sorms’ intelligent prey have begun hitting back against them, more is being learned of the Sorm as a species, especially as retaliation forces close in on the suspected Sorm homeworlds.
It is uknown if the Sorm-Calu are a deliberately-induced mutant form of Sorm, an evolved caste in a hive-like structured society, or a coexisting related species (like Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal Humans existing side by side). Though smaller, weaker, and apparently less overtly aggressive, Sorm-Calu seem to occupy a position of mechanics and artificers to the Sorm clans. Observed numbers of Sorm-Calu have been low, but their numbers must be greater than reported, if they are the only ones responsible for maintaining the Sorm space fleet. It has been ventured that the Sorm-Calu have not previously been discovered in examinations of derelict Sorm ships because they may have been quartered next to technically-sensitive/maintenance-intensive areas...that are also the most likely to suffer catastrophic damage in combat and thus leave little in the way of remains to be studied.

Alignments: Any Evil, but most Sorm(80%) are Miscreant
Lifespan: 180 years(barring violent death)
Size: 5-6 ft tall, 200-300 lbs
Gender: Unknown; Sorm-Calu bodies recovered and dissected have shown that their organs of generation have been surgically removed. Whether this was done to only those Sorm -Calu on offworld hunting expeditions or whether it is done to ALL Sorm-Calu remains unknown.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Sorm-Calu are smaller versions of the regular Sorm, but their arms sport extra joints and more dextrous clawed hands on both the upper and lower armatures, giving them extra-fine manipulation abilities. Their nostrils have a more developed nose, and their jaws are smaller and their teeth shorter and more uniform. Sorm-Calu also appear to have a greater level of psionics, though their focus seems to be more on objects and machinery, rather than anything else. They wear little in the way of clothing, but more than the ‘hunters’ do, but Sorm-Calu clothing is usually in the form of a tool-belt breechclout or pocket-covered apron.
Sorm-Calu are as dedicated carnivores as the ‘hunters’, but prefer softer cuts of meats. They also seem to enjoy the torture of other lifeforms.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Sorm-Calu seem more focused on academic and technical matters than Sorm hunters, and are less inclined to wholesale aggression and rarely take part in hunts. However, when it comes to torturing prey, they exhibit more creativity, and will spin out a prisoner’s suffering longer than a hunter would. Apparently they like to play with their food. Sorm-Calu also have a habit of becoming lost in work-related fugues, so intent on the task they are working at that they tune out their surroundings and can be distracted by their work. They are even less comunicative than their larger kin when it comes to talking to non-Sorm.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6+2
ME: 3d6
MA: 2d4
PS:(Supernatural) 4d6
PP: 4d6+2
PB: 1d6
PE: (Supernatural) 4d6+6
SPD: 2d4x10
(ISP): M.E. +4d6 +1d6 per level of experience
(PPE): 3d6
Hit Points:---
SDC:---
MDC: 2d6x10 MDC +P.E.
Horror Factor: 13
Natural Abilities:
*Megadamage Beings with Supernatural P.S. and P.E.

*Superior Peripheral Vision---Sorm have excellent all-around vision, but Sorm-Calu have slightly smaller eyes and not as great peripheral vision. They are, however, still -3 to be surprised from behind.

*Bite---Massive jaws do 2d4 MD

*Natural Weapons: Acidic Spit. ---Sorm -Calu have mildly acidic saliva which they spit on prey. Effective range of 20 ft and does SDC/1d4 MD(depending on what the target is) for 1d4 melees.

*Environmental Adaptation---Sorm are incredibly tough, and can handle extremes of heat and cold without ill effect, and can breath fairly dense and thin atmospheres without artifical support. They can even handle being exposed to vaccum for short periods of time; their P.E. in minutes, without any ill effects.

Psionics:(Major)
*Empathy(always on; no ISP cost)
*Presence Sense(4)
*See Aura(6)
* Object Read(6)
*Telemechanics(10)
Magic: None, but the Sorm have been known to keep captive magic users alive for eating last.
Cybernetics/Bionics: None; haven’t developed them, and would be seen as a sign of weakness anyway.
Available OCCs: Spacer and Operator are the most common
RCC Skills:
Track Humanoids(+5%)
Hand to Hand: Expert(equivalent)
Jury-Rig(+10%)
Skills of Note:
Electrical: (+5%)
Mechanical: (+5%)
MedicalL (+10%)
Wilderness (+3%)
Enemies/Allies: Same as for the baseline Sorm
Culture:
Unknown currently if Sorm-Calu are merely a sub-caste of the Sorm, or if they have their own distinctive sub-culture.

[taalismn]

Tyshhex---NPC Alien Species and Elder Race(?)

One moment she was walking to work, almost moving on routine-familiar automatic, making her way past lines of people waiting for buses, for the taxi, for the light to change, anonymous strangers blurred by daily routine. Her own way was clear, unobstructed, as she moved with her own purpose. Then she stumbled as the world seemed to CHANGE.
Suddenly she was under an unfamiliar open sky, in a landscape devoid of the cityscape that had been there just moments ago. Open, but for the massive black disc looming over the scene. The lines of people, still absorbed in their routine, were still there where they’d been previously, relative to her, but they seemed utterly oblivious to their strange surroundings as their lines wound around the giant saucer, large alien forms standing guard, insectile multiple limbs moving purposefully with alien devices in their grasp, around the saucer and the lines of people. And as for herself, she still seemed to be moving away from the crowd.
Then she realized that she was missing the familiar feeling of clothing. A glance at herself confirmed she was completely naked. And around her...two massive upright beetle-like forms, similar to those guarding the crowds, only altogether much too close, towering over her, staring at her through altogether too many eyes, and gesturing with all too many limbs, and gnashing mouths with too many sharp parts. And she saw the aliens around her were sheparding her away from the others, to some other destination and unknown purpose.
Her screams went unheard by the milling crowd, lost in city noise that wasn’t there.

The Tyshhex are an enigmatic alien species known to haunt various parts of the Three Galaxies(and some claim extradimensional space).
Though of unknown providence, the Tyshhex are suspected by some xenosociologists of being a surviving splinter or much-mutated offshoot of the mysterious Stinexx species, a culture of travellers and explorers known to have pervaded the Three Galaxies 30-80 thousand years ago and long-thought extinct. Other experts are skeptical of this claim, citing the massive physical differences between the humanoid Stinexx and the hexapodal Tyshhex. Given the evidence that the Tyshhex are heavily modified through gene modification and bio-organic implants, it is still conceivable that the ancient Stinexx could have radically altered themselves into the current Tyshhex. It has also been put forward that the Tyshhex may be the equivalent of organic robots or eugenically-modified clones created by the Stinexx to continue their work of cateloguing and collecting biological specimens, even long after the Stinexx disappeared from the scene. If so, then the Tyshhex would be a must-study species for scholars of the Stinexx era, were the Tyshhex not so hostile to anybody coming too close to them.
This hostility to study, however, is not two-way. The Tyshhex are of the general category of societies known as Abductors. One thing the Tyshhex (still) maintain in common with the ancient Stinexx is a curiousity and propensity for collecting other lifeforms, whether those lifeforms want to be collected and studied or not. The Tyshhex are particularly intrigued by humans(and those most like them), and are thus more apt to be involved in abducting humans more than any others. Unfortunately, despite their apparent infatuation with, and long study of, human beings, the Tyshhex seem to regard humans as merely very clever animals.
The Tyshhex have been known to snatch individuals or entire communities for their studies and collections. Many they will return, some the obvious victims of experimentation, others covertly implanted with bio-chips. It is rumored that the Tyshhex have had the occasional contact with slavers, such as the notorious Mad Scientist Scientific Supply(M3S), trading in involuntary test subjects, though this remains unconfirmed. Occasionally, certain individuals will be taken by the Tyshhex, never to be seen again.
Part of the reason for the callous disregard for the sensibilities of other lifeforms may stem from the fact that Tyshhex appear to be slightly out of phase with our reality. The Tyshhex others see may simply be the tip of a larger lifeform existing in alternate space. If so, the Tyshhex may simply see all other lifeforms that do not exist simultaneously across several planes of reality as not true sentients, or even lifeforms.
Tyshhex also possess powerful psychic abilities, both individually and in conjunction with their technology; they have been observed using psi-boosters of some type to blanket entire regions with psionic compulsions or illusions to facilitate their activities.

Little is known of Tyshhex society as only their expeditionary forces have been observed, and paramilitary-style organization in operation. Their most commonly seen vessels are variations on the flying saucer configuration, operating off larger golfball-like motherships(each dimple being a docking collar for a smaller saucer). As no Tyshhex colonies(only outposts) or population centers have been ever discovered, it is possible that they are entirely nomadic.

Beyond their out-of-phase nature and ships, and their psionic broadcasters, Tyshhex technology seems fairly coventional and even low end. They use a variety of lasers, plasma and ion weapons powered by either power cells inside them, or by broadcast power from their ships(typical range of 5,000 ft). Tyshhex weaponry has a rounded, organic, appearance, and is 2-3 times heavier than its human equivalents, and the handholds/controls require a combination of stiff articulated digits and multiple fine tentacles to hold and use. Those without tentacles will be -2 to strike with the weapons if they somehow acquire them.


Alignments: Effectively considered to be Aberrant or Miscreant.
Lifespan: Unknown. Readings have suggested that some Tyshhex are as young as 5 years, while others register as being as old as 300 years. Their out-of-phase state fouls accurate readings, and samples of their flesh quickly evaporate into nothing.
Size: 7-8 ft tall, 300-400 lbs
Gender: Hermaphrodites, from what few readings have managed to be taken.
Physical Description/Appearance:
A large bipedal beetle-like creature, with heavily carapaced back, and four clawed arms, the upper pair fitted with claws, the lower pair having four fingers and extending a cluster of eight small tendrils each. The head is actually a stump or fixed mound at the front top of the sloped back, with four eyes facing forward, and two looking back/up. A large glowing organ, believed to play a role in their psionics, is set in the middle of the pectoral plates, between the head and low-set mandibled mouth. Coloration ranges from dark earth tones to gray-purple. It has been suggested that the different colors may denote status or professional orientation, but any correspondance of such has yet to be proven.
How much of the visible Tyshhex is natural equipment and how much is appliqué bionics or bio-augmentation is conjectural; individual Tyshhex have been seen sporting extra body carapace, different limb configurations on the upper set of arms , different leg shapes, and even different sorts of telepathic organs in their chest.

Disposition/Attitudes:
Tyshhex are utterly alien in their mindset; they very rarely interact with others in any sort of peaceful or constructive way. Tyshhex seem very purpose-driven, to the point, and efficiency-minded. It has been suggested that they may have a collective intelligence or hive-mind. They have a range of vocalizations, but these seem more instinctual or primal, rather than a comprehensive language, and on those occasions when they do deign to communicate with others, they do so through telepathy, and even then they tend to be very laconic and to the point.
In confrontations, if they have any sort of advantage, they will press it to the utmost to intimidate or neutralize others. If faced with superior opponents, they will flee, though a few may remain behind to fight to the death to afford the others a better chance to escape.
It has been suggested that Tyshhex possess a hive mind, or at least a close-order psychic network; thus individuals matter less than the species as a whole.

Physical Attributes:
IQ: 18+1d6
ME: 12+1d6
MA: 16+2d6(very intimidating)
PS: 18+4d6, and can be considered to be Extraordinary/Bionic Strength
PP: 18
PB: 1d6
PE: 2d6+12
SPD: 4d6+12
(ISP): 120+M.E.
(PPE): 2d6
Hit Points:----
SDC: ----
MDC: 100+2d4x10
Horror Factor: 16
Natural Abilities:
*Powerful Jaws---Tyshhex can bite for 1d8 MD.

*Excellent Peripheral Vision----Tyshhex have four swiveling eyes that can move independently of each other. Attempts to attack them from behind are at -2 to Initiative.

*Phased State---Tyshhex exist slightly out of tune with physical reality. Physical attacks do only HALF damage to them, most energy weapons do NO damage to them, and only particle beams, phase weapons, magic, and psionics do FULL damage to them.
The phased state also makes accurate sensor readings on them difficult; radar, thermo-imaging, motion-detectors, and laser range finders have only a 50% chance of detecting them(or -50% to skill rolls). Weapons targeting systems are -1 to strike, though there are no penalties to Mark One Eyeball.
When killed, over half a Tyshhex’s mass simply evaporates, leaving the remaining physical tissue to rapidly decay and decompose, leaving little more than paper-thin inert material and sludge within 1d4 hours.

Psionics:
Tyshhex are major psychics and count as such for saving purposes:

*Psychic Illusion(30 ISP)---Tyshhex can project powerful psychic illusions, equivalent to the After the Bomb Animal Psychic power Mind Trap. Non-psychics get to save versus the illusion at the beginning of the inception, and then can attempt again every 30 minutes. Minor Psychics can attempt to break the illusion every 15 minutes. Major Psychics can attempt to break the illusion every 5 minutes, and Master Psychics can attempt to see through the illusion once every minute(4 melees). Full bonuses apply.
Range of 300 ft and lasts 3 hours.

*Mind Bond(No cost)---This can only be achieved by touching(ideally the other lifeform’s head) the circular organ in the middle of the Tyshhex’s chest. This also, incidentally, puts the other mind-bondee in range of the Tyshhex’s powerful mandibles; the aliens have been known to instantly kill their bond-partners once they’ve drained their minds or sense a threat in the other’s knowledge of them.

*Telepathy(4 ISP)

*See Aura(6 ISP)

*Empathy(4 ISP)

*Auto-Defense MindBlock

*Sense Dimensional Anomaly(No cost)-Being slightly out of phase with reality, Tyshhex can readily sense other perturbations in space/time.

*Read Dimensional Portal(No cost)- Again, being slightly out of tune with normal space, Tyshhex can sense the nature of dimensional portals without much effort.

* Psycho-Hood(50 ISP)(Mentally Possess Others/Hypnotic Suggestion)---By the same process as they Mind Bond(touching a being’s head to the circular organ in the middle of the Tyshhex’s chest), the alien can exude an ectoplasmic construct in the form of a helmet or cowl of glowing translucent bubbles around the victim’s head. This head covering is air-permeable, has 40 SDC, and allows the Tyshhex to directly monitor the prisoner(effective range of 6 miles), and lock them into a more personalized Psychic Illusion from which non-psychics do NOT get a save, and psychics are -2 to save. The cowl acts as both a restraint and a tracking device; the creating Tyshhex will know where the person wearing it is, and can even tap into what the person is hearing/seeing. Other Tyshhex can also get a general idea of where the cowled victim is, within 1,000 ft. The person can also be subjected to Hypnotic Suggestion and and Mentally Possess Others(no cost for either, but any actions under Mentally Possess Others subtract from the alien’s own APMs and attention, so its real body is distracted while it manipulates its ‘puppet’) from the Tyshhex, and are -2 to save against these psionic attacks..
The Psycho-Hood lasts 24 hours and cannot be removed by normal physical means(must be destroyed or magically/psionically removed). The creating Tyshhex will instantly know that the cowl has been destroyed.

Magic: None
Cybernetics/Bionics:(Equivalent) Tyshhex have been seen to have different sorts of organs and appendages grafted to them, suggesting either organitech bionics of some sort, or tissue grafts. The following have been observed on various Tyshhex individuals:

*Extra Body Armor---Adds + 2d6x10 MDC to the body, but reduce Speed by 30% and -1 APM.

*Upper Limbs---The upper limbs have been seen to to sport a variety of different end-appendanges:

---Ripper Claw---a giant claw that does 5d6 MD

---Nipper Claws---Two separate claws, joined at the elbow, the upper one larger and more powerful (4d6 MD), the lower one more agile and dexterous(3d6 SDC).

---Bio-Blaster---An energy projector grafted to the upper edge of the claw, and doing 4d6 MD at a range of 2,000 ft.

---Bio-Stunner---A projector bulb grafted to the upper edge of the claw, it fires a psionic-like beam of stunning energy. Those struck must save versis psionics or be stunned for 1d6 minutes. On a successful save, the target is -1 APM from the jolt, plus takes damage. On an UNsuccessful save, they are -9 to initiative, -7 strike/parry/dodge, and reduce Speed, APMs, and skill performance by HALF. Duration of stun is 2d4 melee rounds, and duration is cumulative with successive hits. There is also a 15% cumulative chance per additional strike of being rendered unconscious for 1d4 minutes.
Note: Works through most body armor up to 50 MDC. Those in armor protection of 51-80 MDC are +6 to save. Those in heavier armor, power armor, full conversion cyborgs, vehicles, robots, or who are MegaJuicers or Dragons are impervious.
Range of 500 ft.

---Ecto-Netter------A nozzle-like appendage on the outside of the claw-wrist that sprays a quick-setting goo. Can fire it twice per melee and the blob of goo covers a 10 ft area. The ecto-goo holds with a Supernatural P.S. of 30. Only MD strength or weapons, magic, or psionics can break free of teh gunk, and it takes 2 melees to do so. Lasts 30 minutes before evaporating. Range of 500 ft.

*Lower Legs/Swift Runner---The legs are modified for faster running: Speed: 6d6+46

*Wings---A biotech flight pack system; can fly at 55 MPH, maximum altitude of 1,000 ft.

*Shadowskin---A dark, stealth covering that gives the alien a low percentage of 20% of being detected by thermographic and radar sensors.

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 6

RCC Skills:
Radio: Basic(+20%)
Weapons Systems(+10%)
Navigation: Space(+10%)
Pilot Spacecraft(+10%)
W.P. Energy Pistol
Hand to Hand: Expert
Skills of Note:: Select 8 ‘other skills at Level One, plus an additional 2 at levels 4 and 7, and 1 at levels 10 and 13 .
Communications: Any(+10%)
Domestic: None
Electrical: Any(+10%)
Espionage: Any
Mechanical: Any(+10%)
Medical: Any, except Holistic Medicine
Military: Any
Physical: Any
Pilot: Any(+12%)
Pilot Related:Any(+10%)
Rogue: None
Science: Any(+10%)
Technical: Any(+5%)
Wilderness: None
Weapons Profficiencies(W.P.): Any
Secondary Skills: 4 Secondary Skills
Experience Tables: Use Cyborg Exp tables
Culture:
Little is known of Tyshhex culture, as they never allow others close enough to study them. As noted above, they are rumored to have occasional contacts with slaver species, and have reportedly been seen in the company of the equally mysterious Pyashche Probes.

Tyshhex Psionic Broadcasters
Tyshhex possess psionic technology that allows them to broadcast mind control messages, such as psionic illusions, over large areas(up to 5 miles in diameter in some cases).
Those with saves against psionics save as normal, though it should be noted that Tyshhex psycho-amplifiers seem to be thwarted by tin foil hats.

Tyshhex Implants
The Tyshhex have been known to bug abductees with special implants, typically in the skull, to tag and monitor them. Some of these implants appear to be simple tags, while others allow the Tyshhex to take over the abductee and use them like remote control puppets.
The process of implantation is done through the eye sockets, nasal cavities, or ear channels, and the implants themselves are slightly out of phase with realspace, like the Tyshhex themselves, making them diffcult to spot(-30% on Read Instrument or Medical rolls to detect using medical sensors) and remove(magic , psionics, and phase technology work quite handily, but the implants are impervious to other methods of removal).


Tyshhex Saucers

“They’re coming to take us away! I seen them aliens! One of their flying saucers landed in the middle of Spitoonville and them buggers started rounding up people and packing them away like bags of potatoes! Great big black frisbee thing!”

The standard Tyshhex spacecraft is a multi-purpose flying saucer configuration aerospacecraft, variously named the ‘Invader’, the ‘Violator’, or the ‘Black Nimbus’ by those unfortunate enough to have encountered the Tyshhex.
The few eyewitness accounts of the interior of Tyshhex saucers depict them as being spartan affairs, packed full of weaponry and other mission-associated equipment, with little, if any, crew aocommodations or facilities(this gives further fuel to theories that the Tyshhex are more akin to biological machines or cyborgs than actual sentient beings).
Like the Tyshhex themsellves, their ships self-destruct if incapacitated and captured. The ships melt away into atomic dust.

Type: Thx-S01
Class: Multipurpose Interstellar Light Transport
Crew: 30-50
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 900
Disintegrator Turrets(6) 180 each
Forcefield 1,000
Height: 50 ft
Width: 200 ft in diameter
Length: 200 ft in diameter
Weight: 800 tons
Cargo:
Can carry up to 120 human-sized prisoners in stasis
Powerplant: Unknown; believed to be anti-matter.
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Hover to Mach 3; transatmospheric.
(Sublight) Mach 11
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 1.1% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 6 light years per hour
(Underwater) Perfectly functional underwater; can move at 60 MPH and survive depths down to 1 mile.
Market Cost: No Tyshhex has ever been known to be captured or offered for sale, so it is not known what value might be attached to the ships.
Systems of Note:
Generally believed to have the equivalent of standard starship systems, plus:

*Stealth Systems---Tyshhex Saucers are virtually invisible to radar and optical sensors(only a 15% chance of being detected by either), though they are only -10% to be detected by gravitc sensors.

*Phase-Protection---Like the Tyshhex themselves, their ships appear to be slightly out of phase with reality: normal attacks do HALF damage, though magic, psionics, and phase weapons do FULL damage.

Weapons Systems:
1) Disintegrator Turrets(6)---These weapons essentially neutralize the atomic bonds holding matter together, resulting in vaporizing explosions at the point of beam impact.
Range: 1 mile in atmosphere, 2 miles in space
(Kitsune Values: 2 mile in atmosphere, 200 miles in space)
Damage: 2d6x10 MD per blast
Rate of Fire: EGCHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Mind-Trap Generator---This is a powerful psionic amplifier that can be used to affect several acres. The Tyshhex will typically use several saucers to blanket an area, such as a small community, to fool the residents into believing nothing is unusual, while the aliens harvest the locals.
Range: 1 mile radius
Damage: Those in the area of effect must save vs psionics or be caught up in a mass hallucination similar to the psionic power Mind Trap.

3) Self-Destruct----Accounts vary, but Tyshhex saucers may be fitted with self-destruct mechanisms to prevent capture. Even badly damaged saucers have been known to undergo catastrophic combustion or rapid decomposition, denying investigators the opportunity to more thoroughly study them.

Auxiliary Craft:
Typically 3 eight-man hoversleds(150 MDC, 75 MPH).

Variants:
Some accounts tell of Tyshhex saucers firing energy bolts(with ranges of 10-1,000 miles, and doing 1d4x100 MD on a strike), or the equivalent of medium range missiles(typically firing them in volleys of 1-6) that are -2 to strike by point defense systems, suggesting the missiles are, like the saucers, slightly out of phase. In either case, it’s been suggested that these installations take up the internal space normally used for cargo or prisoners.


Tyshhex Motherships
“That’s no asteroid...”

Tyshhex Motherships resemble enormous golfballs, dimpled with indentations that are really docking alcoves for Tyshhex Violator Saucers. The standard observed Mothership can carry 336 saucers, making attacking one a formidable challenge to most spacefaring species. Tyshhex Motherships have been rarely encountered and when they do, it typically means that a mass disappearance(of entire communities) somewhere in nearby space is in the offing. They have not been observed to mount any weapons systems, but some accounts claim that their appearances have been accompanied by widespread electromagnetic-band jamming.

Type: Thx-M01
Class: Heavy Carrier
Crew: 8,000 permanent crew + 16,800 saucer crew+ 1.2 million human-sized prisoners in stasis
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 1.2 million
Docking Bay Doors(336) 400 each
Variable Forcefields 200,000 per side, 1.2 million total
Height: 2 mile diameter
Width: 2 mile diameter
Length: 2 mile diameter
Weight: Estimated at upwards of 60 million tons
Cargo:
Can carry 1.2 million human-sized captives in stasis
Powerplant: Unknown, suspected of being pwered by a micro-singularity
Speed:
(Atmosphere) Not capable of entering an atmosphere
(Sublight) Mach 9
(Kitsune Values: 60% of light speed; Accelerates/decelerates at 0.9% of light speed per melee)
(FTL) 7 light years per hour
(Underwater) Not possible; the body of water able to hide a Tyshhex Mothership would have to be very deep.
Market Cost: Unknown.
Systems of Note:
Generally believed to have the equivalent of standard starship systems, plus:

*Phase-Protection---Like the Tyshhex themselves, their ships appear to be slightly out of phase with reality: normal attacks do HALF damage, though magic, psionics, and phase weapons do FULL damage.

Weapons Systems: None observed, and may rely entirely on embarked saucers for defense, but some witnesses claim that the Motherships have the ability to manipulate and disrupt planetary power grids and radio communications from orbit. Some reports make them also apparently capable of disrupting CG-drives at a distance, hampering attempts at escape/pursuit.
Auxiliary Craft:
336 Thx-S01 saucers

[SolCannibal]

Don't do much in the way of race creation i guess - well, not in anything like a full write up or stuff.

Nine times out of ten i just make some peculiar culture for an already existing one, probably from the Conversion Book, like pseudo-egyptian anubis-worshipping Coyles, for example.

Or alternatively use some races stats for some "new race", like the "children of fenrir & Jormugand" in lesser (dog-boys & such) and greater (dragon hatchlings but with giant wolf & snake true forms) variants, from a nation of norse starfarers (ok, actually more dimension-hoppers than real starfarers) in the backstory of my last shifter character. For reference, humans, elves & dwarves were also member races.

Also made a polish clan of minotaurs that are heavily involved with the cybernetics business, out of a passing reference to cyber docs in the OCC lists for minotaurs and wanting to detail some of Tarnow's supposedly large D-Bee population.

[taalismn]

Don't do much in the way of race creation i guess - well, not in anything like a full write up or stuff.

Nine times out of ten i just make some peculiar culture for an already existing one, probably from the Conversion Book, like pseudo-egyptian anubis-worshipping Coyles, for example.

Or alternatively use some races stats for some "new race", like the "children of fenrir & Jormugand" in lesser (dog-boys & such) and greater (dragon hatchlings but with giant wolf & snake true forms) variants, from a nation of norse starfarers (ok, actually more dimension-hoppers than real starfarers) in the backstory of my last shifter character. For reference, humans, elves & dwarves were also member races.

Also made a polish clan of minotaurs that are heavily involved with the cybernetics business, out of a passing reference to cyber docs in the OCC lists for minotaurs and wanting to detail some of Tarnow's supposedly large D-Bee population.

Whatever works...and an infinite megaverse means infinite variation...Why can't there be Polish minotaurs, neolithic stone ax-flaking elves, or erudite high-tech developing orcs?

[SolCannibal]

Don't do much in the way of race creation i guess - well, not in anything like a full write up or stuff.

Nine times out of ten i just make some peculiar culture for an already existing one, probably from the Conversion Book, like pseudo-egyptian anubis-worshipping Coyles, for example.

Or alternatively use some races stats for some "new race", like the "children of fenrir & Jormugand" in lesser (dog-boys & such) and greater (dragon hatchlings but with giant wolf & snake true forms) variants, from a nation of norse starfarers (ok, actually more dimension-hoppers than real starfarers) in the backstory of my last shifter character. For reference, humans, elves & dwarves were also member races.

Also made a polish clan of minotaurs that are heavily involved with the cybernetics business, out of a passing reference to cyber docs in the OCC lists for minotaurs and wanting to detail some of Tarnow's supposedly large D-Bee population.

Whatever works...and an infinite megaverse means infinite variation...Why can't there be Polish minotaurs, neolithic stone ax-flaking elves, or erudite high-tech developing orcs?

Polish cyber industrialist minotaurs.
Have to catch that list and post with some tweaks in the threads one of those days.

And true, sometimes a little thing, like making a basilisk with stats more in line with other dragons, goes a long way within one's game.

Or an hydra that is actually a colossal gorgon-esque head, If you're up for some grotesque fun.

[taalismn]

(based on 89er’s Bhozyari)
Rezzus----Bhozyari Mutants
“”What’s my malfunction?!’, you ask? Take a look at me and GUESS!”

The Rezzus are arguably a psuedo-ethnic subset of the cybernetic Bhozyari. In reality, they are the result of a malady; unchecked mutation of the nanotech biome internal to Bhozyari. Roughly 1 in every 15,000 Bhozyari births results in a Rezzus.
While the average Bhozyari is carefree, fun-seeking, and extroverted, Rezzus tend to be more serious-minded, introverted, and in many cases embittered by what they see as the universe singling them out at birth. Others take their deformations in stride, or even see them as a sign of being singled out for some special purpose.
The Bhozyari are uncharacteristically divided as a people about the Rezzus. On one hand they are clearly the result of a malfunction in the Bhozyari physiology, and native doctors are seeking to cure the condition. Some see the Reezus as deformed repulsive parodies of Bhozyari perfection of form and function and shun them, treating the mutants as second-class citizens. Others treat the Rezzus as unique natural works of form and even find them rather kinky(resulting in both the Rezzus and these sympathizers being regarded with horror by those already leery of the mutants). Rezzus often form their own communites apart from other Bhozyari(in the past they were forcibly exiled to them), a trend that has continued into the modern galactic period.


Random Rezzus Cybernetic/Bionic Mutations:
These are in addition to the regular Bhozyari grown cyberenetics/bionics

(Note that if the P.B. goes into negative values, that becomes a Horror Factor rating +2 from the Bhozyari exotic uncanniness )

Number of Mutations:
01-40% One
41-65 Two
66-80% Three
81-00% Four

Type of Mutation:
01-10% Bug Eyes---The eyes bulge out and are metallic and multifaceted, like a metal insect’s. -2d6 P.B, but is +2 to Perception, has 240-degree arc of vision, and is -4 to strike from behind.
11-20% Cyber-Tumors----The Rezzus’s body is covered by large cyst-like eruptions that deform the body and interfere with movement. PB is only 1d10, -3d6 MA, reduce hand to hand dodge and parry bonuses by -1d6. However, the Rezzus also becomes a megadamage being with 2d6x10 MD, and regenerates damage at 1d6 MD per minute.
21-25% Tail---The Rezzus has acquired a 2-4 ft long tail. The extra appendage is NOT prehensile and just gets in the way.
26-30% Extra Eyes---The Rezzus sports 1d8 extra cybernetic eyes growing around their body, usually around the head or upper body. These extra eyes give a +1d6 to Perception, but -1d6 P.B. and the extra sensor input taxes the attention of the Rezzus; -1 on Initiative. Also roll for each extra eye: 01-50% basic vision only, 51-65% night vision/light enhancement, 66-75% thermal-imaging 76-85% infrared, 86-95% ultraviolet, 96-00% short ranged laser(200 ft, 1d6 MD, two shots per melee).
31-35% Electrostatic Field---The Rezzus suffers the electronic equivalent of a glandular disorder; he or she constantly generates a low powered electromagnetic field that delivers a shock(1d8 SDC) to anybody touching them. The field also scrambles attempts to scan them with electronic sensors, and causes compasses to go haywire within a 50 ft radius. Insulated clothing helps with physical contact and can shield other electronics. However, they show up like a torch on EM detectors.
36-40% Claw Hands---The Rezzus’s forearms have acquired vambraces and gauntlets of modified bone that have deformed the limbs into natural weapons. -2d4 P.B., -15% to skills requiring a fine touch, but gets a 1d4 MD slash attack, and a 4d4 MD scizzor-snip attack.
41-50% Metal Skin----The Rezzus’s body attempted to grow cyberarmor; the Rezzus is now covered in segmented plate armor that makes him or her look like a human robot, armadillo or insect. -1d6 P.B., and sense of touch is reduced by -20%, but gets an A.R. 18 and 75 MDC. It repairs itself at 1d6 MD per 24 hours/
51-55% Radio-Spazzites----The Rezzus sprouts growths of 2d6 small (3-6 inches long) spikes or antennae from their head that act as radio transmitters/receivers. They can transmit as far as 50 miles(as opposed to the normal head-comm range of 20 miles) and receive signals across the spectrum. However, the Rezzus is prone to uncontrolled outbursts of radio static that can overpower nearby radios and cellphones in a 100 ft radius for 1d4 melees. These outbursts can occur 1d4 times per day, typically if the Rezzus is stressed(the Rezzus will get a feeling of internal tension 15 seconds before they happen, and can attempt to damp them down, by spending 1 APM and rolling a save vs psionics. Whether the save is a success is not, the Rezzus will be mentally spent afterwards: -3 on Initiative, -1 strike/dodge/parry for 1d4 melees).
56-60% Second Head---A second head or face forms on the shoulders, back, or chest. 01-55% it resembles a robotic skull, 56-00% it resembles the Rezzus’ own natural face. The second head can see, smell, hear, and speak, but cannot eat. -2d6 P.B.. It gives a +1 to initiative, +1d4 to Perception
61-65% Plastic Body---The body’s bone structure has been replaced with flexible composite materials, and stiff jointing replaced with flex-points. The Rezzus has an unnatural elongated appearance. -1d8 P.B., reduce P.S. and SDC/MDC by HALF, but gets +1d6 to P. P., +10% to Escape Artist, and takes HALF damage from kinetic strikes.
66-75% Heavy Teeth---The teeth have grown in sharp,jagged, and dark/metallic, the jaw deforming to accommodate them. -2d4 P.B., but can now bite for 1d4 MD.
76-85% Multiple Arms---+1d4 extra arms. The extra limbs are unbalancing, so the Rezzus gets a -1 to dodge per pair of extra arms, but also gets +1 APM, +1 strike/parry per pair of arms, but only a +1 to parry for a single extra limb.
86-95% Multiple Legs---The Rezzus has grown 1d6 additional bionic legs. The extra legs can allow the Rezzus run at a maximum of 80 MPH, but for every extra leg there is a 20% (non-cumulative) chance of the extra limb being so misplaced as to hinder coordinated movement; -10% to maximum running speed.
96-00% Second Soul---A mutation of the Advanced Brain Box, the Second Soul is a Brain Box that has grown in addition to what the Rezzus already has, and the second Box has acquired its own personality, leading to a case of Multiple Personality Disorder.

[taalismn]

Chelrits---D-Bee Species
“Yep, we adopted a Chelrit...she didn’t have any living relatives left, and the adoption agency really wanted to place her someplace really stable. Since I’d been reassigned to Logistics due to my pregnancy, Ardan had gotten his request to work in Refurbishment, and Lia was studying child care to help me out, and herself later when we got Ardan to come around, we figured we were a good fit, and Family Services agreed. So little Chevi joined us. She and Samsis hit it right off, him wanting to be an older brother and what not.
We have a senior Chelrit advisor come around every once and a while to check on Chevi’s progress, but so far there have been no problems adjusting. Chevi’s just the sweetest little girl who hardly fusses, though she’s come close when dealing with her little sister. She wants to go into astronautics, ever since we got her those Fleet models, when she gets older.”

“We’ve been accused of looking like devils, which has been hard on us as a people. I hope and pray that none of our REAL devils have followed us, because the Kolvatt will certainly do little to disabuse anybody of that notion, through their misdeeds. The only hope there is that those havaking monsters will be burned at the stake the minute they try anything like they did back on our old homeworld. Much as I hate to approve of bigotry in any form, it would be ironic justice if the bloodstalkers were killed for imagined slights such as they would kill people at whim for imagined crimes against their precious state!”

The Chelrits are a humanoid species that came to Rifts Earth as refugees, fleeing a civil war that devastated their homeworld.
Chelrits originated in a magic-using culture that had just entered its Atomic Age. A global war had broken out between an expansionist fascist government and the free nations of the Chelrit homeworld, in a situation similar to World War Two, only the fascists were winning. Desperation led to the development of weapons of mass destruction, both magical and technological, by both sides. The fascists developed the uranium bomb first, while the free nations found magic ways of splitting the atom and unleashing Elemental forces. Fearing they would lose the initiative, the fascists began nuking their enemies indiscriminately, while hunting down mages with any knowledge of the magic weapons programs. In retaliation, the free nations, afraid of losing their scant gains, fired back with magic weapons that had barely been perfected. The collision of the two destructive forces was catastrophic, as both wavefronts of WMDs clashed with each other.
The refugees came from nations that had siphoned off knowledge from the magical WMD programs, particularly those concerned with D-shifting and Summoning, in an effort to find ways of escaping the looming holocaust. Fearing the worst, the Chelrit began opening dimensional gates in hopes of finding safety, but the disruption of their planet’s space/time fabric led to the gates opening haphazardly, resulting in a Rifts-style catastrophe,
Unfortunately, the largest group of Chelrits came through the Rifts into the middle of the Minion Wars on Rifts Earth, specifically in the middle of the Magic Zone, where they were mistaken by pretty much everybody involved in the fighting for Infernal reinforcements, and were attacked from all sides. Attacked by the Coalition States and Magic Zoners, or rounded up, enslaved, and sacrificed by the Infernals, the Chelrits had escaped one inferno to an arguably worse one.
A number of Chelrits, mostly children whose parents died or were abducted trying to fight long enough for their families to escape, managed to survive lto be picked up by Greater New England recon patrols foraying into the Magic Zone.
Without enough adult Chelrits to make up traditional families for the orphaned refugees, many of the children were adopted into willing families in the GNE. Chelrits in Greater New England and Lazlo have fared much better than other places, elsewhere they are a scattered people, trying to survive and find others of their kind.
Many Chelrit, including the children who have grown up in the GNE, have an inherited fear of the ‘Kolvatt’, an SS-like organization that became the boogiemen of the Cherit global war, excelling in acts of brutality and atrocities in pursuit of promoting their twisted agendas. Though there’s no evidence of the Chelrit fascists having discovered the means of traveling to Rifts Earth, there were rumors late in the war that the Kolvatt were scouring their territories for shifter- and summoner-style magicks and their users. Some of the adult refugees claim to have heard of infiltrators in the ranks of the refugees, or possible sightings of the dreaded Kolvatt, and fear that not only have the fascists survived the disaster that was unfolding on the Chelrit homeworld, but have managed to follow the refugees.

Alignments: Any
Life Span: 125 years
Size: Top out at 6 ft for the tallest, with the average being 5 ft. Average weight is around 90-100 lbs.
Gender: Heterosexual; males and females. Reach sexual maturity in their teens, and mate and give birth similar to human beings.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Slender-build humanoids on the short side, with bright blue skin, dark hair, pointed ears and small ram-like horns at the temples(The ‘horns’ are less natural weapons and more extrasensory organs), but otherwise very attractive (one observer called them ‘beguilingly attractive’, while others, unfortunately, called them ‘dyvallishly attractive’) features. Eyes range from pale violet to gold in color. Their hands are of the standard five-digited type(four slender fingers and an opposable thumb), while their legs end in deer-like hooves. They tend towards delicate physiques.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Similar to humans, but be tend to much more calm, cool, and collected, with a near-unshakeable confidence and peace of mind, at least normally. Unfortunately, the Chelrit global war seems to have been a long pent-up catastrophic nervous breakdown that shattered the cool of everybody involved. Many(60%) of the adult Chelrit refugees suffer from some sort of trauma-induced insanity, while only 20% of the children(under GNE protection) suffer lingering problems, mainly as result of better experiences.
Adult Chelrit refugees tend to be bitter and fearful about the new world they’ve come into, and are distrustful for the most part of strangers and the strange. They are also fearful that some of the evil they originally escaped may have followed them. A significant number of them have come to blame technology and advanced magic studies for the degression into violence that destroyed their homeworld.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6+2
ME: 3d6+12
MA: 2d6+6
PS: 2d6
PP: 2d6+13
PB:: 2d6+18
PE: 2d6
SPD: 2d6+5
(ISP):----
(PPE): 4d6
Hit Points: 15
SDC: 30
MDC: By magic or technology only
Horror Factor:----
Natural Abilities:
-Quick and Alert: +3 on Initiative, +1 Dodge
-Nightvision---Can see in total darkness for 300 ft.
-See the Invisible---Chelrit possess an extrasensory ability to sense psychically and magically-concealed beings and objects, using their ‘translucent ivory/crystal-like ‘horns’, that act like secondary eyes. Effective range of 100 ft +5 ft per level of experience.
Psionics: Standard
Magic:
Magic Using Culture: Most of the adult Chelrit magic-users who came through and survived were of civilian pursuits; healers, scryers, and artificers; scholars and tradesmen for the most part. Those who came as children are finding it easy to take up pursuits such as ley line walking and technowizardry.
Cybernetics/Bionics: Those raised in the GNE have no objections to cybertech, but older Chelrit avoid getting any implants, except for necessary medical reasons.
Available OCCs: Any, but especially magic professions.
RCC Skills:---
Skills of Note:----
Culture:
Chelrit evolved on a world with slightly lower gravity than Earth’s.
Chelrit history and culture has come down to the people of Rifts Earth from the tattered accounts of the often traumatized refugees. Their homeworld cultures experimented with a variety of governments, including monarchies, democracies, communism, and fascism, becoming more polarized and extreme with the advance of technology and magic.
Many older Chelrit fear, beyond a limited gene-pool, that the younger generation have assimilated TOO well into their host culture(s) and have forsaken their original ones. Some of the adult refugees, however, argue that might not be a bad thing, given how the Chelrit tore themselves apart, and that the Chelrit must move on if they are to survive as a species, if not as a culture. A number of older Chelrit are rejecting technology and more advanced magicks, in favor of embracing simpler spirituality modes.

[SolCannibal]

Looks like those people crossed over the worse of the luck of the D'noor devilmen and the Kremin cyborgs in one seriously tragic and traumatizing package indeed.

[Omegasgundam]

I'm in a different section of the forum, so it counts as not being about Rift's Earth right?

Klia Thrall Techno-Wizard O.C.C.

(NPC exclusive class)

“The demands for industrial war clearly show that we simply need more production capability, and it is exceedingly unlikely that we will be able to convince enough fellow Azhur to take up the duty of enchanting all of the vehicles that our forces require. As such, if our campaigns are to continue, we need to train a notable number of Klia in the Techno-Wizard arts. Our specialists believe that it is possible to develop a sufficiently limited training program to teach them only what is needed, which will NOT include construction of the engines. That is simply too far a stretch, and as it is both relatively quick and the most interesting part of the entire process we should be able to have the Azhur power for that.”
--- Cornelian Dravite, Head of Azhur Production and Development

“The Trall-Wizards that they brought back are practitioners, but it's physically painful to see how cripled their education is. While I’m told that they’re above average for Klia, you can tell that all but a handful of them would never be considered by our standards due to how weak willed they are. Them being a form of elemental works around that problem, but it’s still painful to watch. We’ve started filling in the gaps, but it's going to be a long process. And I thought I already hated the icy bastards.”
--- Some Hanger-18B Techno-Wizard

“While I am told that they are highly limited, they are ideal for establishing our own production facilities. With Burgasov being more tempered it is possible to establish a complex at the eastern nexus of the Old Moskva network, which I am also told will greatly simplify several aspects and it is not in easy striking range now that the Anzur are being pushed back across St Peter’s Spire. I have a few single Ley Lines in my territory, but they are inferior options for a number of reasons. I’m already seeing constant attacks on the factories that I have, and those icey kozyol are eager to kill any of their pets that slip their leash.”
--- Warlord Seriyev

The simple fact is that there are not enough Azhur interested to do all the work needed to produce the Techno-Wizard craft that their forces need if their campaigns are to be successful. Thus, after a great deal of debate, it was decided that certain branches of Klia would be taught a highly limited form of the practice to provide the grunt work. The activity of Ensorceling elementals to serve as engines was an enjoyable experience to many, so they could avoid instructing their thralls any form of control or summoning magic. Additionally, the only three direct attack spells that were truly needed were considered laughable at best in their directly casted forms. The rest of their spell list is either defensive or strictly utility, with the former being due to their use in the Azhur’s aircraft and the later due to being too useful to not hand out.

Their normal skill set is also extremely focused, with virtually nothing beyond those directly useful to factory work. Naturally, no combat skills are included, and physical training was thought to be extraneous. The only reason they were taught Dragonese was because so much of the lore was written in it, and it was more effective in expressing certain parts of non-elemental magic. An additional control feature is that these Thralls are so limited in their mystic education that they are unable to cast any spells at all without an appropriate item to channel it though. Those freed from the Azhur can be instructed with the full Techno Wizard skill set, but they are a vanishing sight anywhere but the Azhur’s production facilities, where they have essentially no contact with the outside world.

While most of the production of the physical craft can be done by non-wizards, the enchantment process is only done at heavily fortified facilities established at nexus points. The largest and most important of which was the Dravite complex, named after its Azhur overseer, which in addition to being the main production site for the Su-27 was also the primary R&D facility for the Azhur air force. It would be successfully raided in 112 PA by the GNE and Seriyev War Camp, and almost 500 Thrall-Wizards would be rescued, and they would be used to establish a new facility in Russia to produce a further improved version of the Su-57 for use by the Council of Warlords and the Sovietski. Seriyev, Brugasov, and Kolodenko hope to use them as the start of their own Techno-Wizard training efforts, with a number of ex-Tolkeen refugees serving to bring them up to acceptable standards. Other gains from the raid were the Azhur’s research into using more capable elemental breeds for engines, the entirety of their development notes for their conversion of the stealth Su-57, and the construction schematics for a specialist tool to recast Ensorcel for engine maintenance, the last of which has been widely copied by Hanger-18B to greatly simplify their own commercial concerns.

Spoiler:

Trall Techno-Wizard O.C.C. Abilities

1. Starting Spell Knowledge: The Azhur tightly regulate what their thralls learn, focusing on what is needed to produce their equipment. As the Klia are minor elemental beings, they also gain access to the Air and Water Warlock tree by default.

Warlock: Breathe Without Air (3), Call Lighting (10), Detect the Invisible (10), Invisibility (20), Levitate (7), Protection From Lightning (20), Shards of Ice (15)

Invocations: Armor of Ithan (10), Energise Spell (12+), Energy Bolt (5), Energy Field (10), Energy Sphere (120), Extinguish Fire (4), Globe of Daylight (2), Invisibility: Simple (6), Invisibility: Superior (20), Mend the Broken (12+), See Aura (6), See the Invisible (4), Sense Magic (4), and Telekinesis (8)

2. Learning New Spells: As normal Techno-Wizards, but are strictly limited to what their Azhur overlords permit unless they are acquired by someone else. They can also learn Air and Water Warlock spells, but need assistance in working them out.

3. P.P.E: The Klia, being an inherently more magical species than humans, means that they have a higher PPE base when trained to use it.

Permanent Base P.P.E.: 3D6x10+PE. Add 3D6 P.P.E. per additional level of experience. They can draw from ley lines, nexus points, and other people.

4. Ley Line Piloting: As Techno-Wizard. Most often used to control factory vehicles around the production nexus.

5. Magic Bonuses: Has the Spell Strength and Perception bonuses of the normal Techno-Wizard, but nothing else. The thralls are intentionally limited in their casting options, and must have a focus to perform any magic at all. If later educated or trained free, bonuses and casting are as a normal Techno-Wizard.

Trall Techno Wizard O.C.C. Stats
Alignment: Any

Attribute Requirements: I.Q. 12 and M.E. 8.

Race Requirements: Must be a Klia own by the Azhur.

O.C.C Skills: 26 skills, 0 secondary. If trained free, use the alternative class below.

Communication

Language (Elemental): 98
Language (Dragonese): 80
Literacy (Elemental): 95
Literacy (Dragonese): 80
Laser Communications: +10
Optic Systems: +10
Radio (Basic): +10
Sensory Equipment: +10
Electronics

Computer Repair: +10
Electrical Engineer: +15
Electricity Generation: +10
Robot Electronics: +10
Mechanics

Aircraft Mechanics: +15
Mechanical Engineer: +20
Robot Mechanics: +10
Vehicle Armorer: +15
Weapons Engineer: +15
Techno-Wizard Construction: +10
Science

Math (Basic): +20
Math (Advanced): +20
Technical

Computer Operation +10
Computer Programing: +10
Jury-Rig: +10
Lore (Magic): +15
Recycling: +10
Salvage: +10
No HtH skill

O.C.C Related Skills: Gain 1 additional skill at levels 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15. If free, they learn as a normal Techno-Wizard after the first level, and can back date lost choices.

Communications: None
Domestic: Any
Electrical: None left, but +10 if there are more due to house rules.
Espionage: None
Horsemanship: None
Mechanical: Any, +10 (But only Automotive, Bioware, and Locksmith are left)
Medical: First Aid only
Military: None
Physical: None
Pilot: None
Pilot Related: None
Rogue: None
Science: Chemistry only, +10
Technical: Lore only, +10
WP: None
Wilderness: None

Secondary Skills: Gains a secondary skill at levels 4, 8, and 12.

Standard Equipment: Nothing, not even themselves. Usually given some form of light protective armor to hedge against workplace accidents, along with whatever tools and equipment are relevant to their assignment.

Equipment Available Upon Assignment: Whatever their owner believes necessary to accomplish their tasks. They rarely leave the confines of the nexus-production facilities.

Money: None.

Cybernetics: None.

Klia Free Thrall Techno-Wizard O.C.C.
Those liberated by sympathetic outside parties have a much more flexible skill set, as well as a more extensive mystical knowledge base. Both Warlords Seriyev and Brugasov desire to have as many loyal mystic craftsmen as possible, so they have established training programs for the Klia that have the aptitude for it. It will be years before there are any graduates, but they will likely be the largest source of Russian Techno-Wizard devices for quite some time. The Sovietski are of similar opinion, and consider the Klia to be more reliable than most of their own citizens. None of them care to see their craftsmen go into combat, but on Rift’s Earth it is an inevitability, so training is available.

Spoiler:

Free Trall O.C.C. Abilities

As a normal Thrall Techno-Wizard, but has the full list of starting Techno-Wizard Invocations, casts as a normal Techno-Wizard, and has the full Techno-Wizard Magic Bonuses.

Free Thrall O.C.C Skills: 18 skills, +7 related, 5 secondary.

Communication

Laguage (Elemental): 98
Language (Choice): 80
Literacy (Elemental): 95
Literacy (Choice): 80
Radio (Basic): +10
Sensory Equipment: +10
Electronics

Computer Repair: +10
Electrical Engineer: +15
Mechanics

Aircraft Mechanics: +15
Mechanical Engineer: +20
Vehicle Armorer: +15
Weapons Engineer: +15
Techno-Wizard Construction: +10
Science

Math (Basic): +20
Math (Advanced): +20
Technical

Computer Operation +10
Computer Programing: +10
Lore (Magic): +15
HtH Skill bought as a normal Techno-Wizard

Free Thrall O.C.C Related Skills: Select 7 skills at level one from the Techno-Wizard table, and then as a normal Techno-Wizard.

Free Thral Secondary Skills: Select 5 skills from the Secondary list, and gains an additional secondary skill at levels 4, 8, and 12.

Standard Equipment: As a normal Techno-Wizard, but don’t have a vehicle unless they have a piloting skill.

Money: Those that can get around the concept of having their own funds are generally given a salary equal to that of a high end college educated professional.

[SolCannibal]

Hmmm, got an update warning from this topic though i see none. Funny that.

Well, might as well leave it as a placeholder for when i do have some race idea to post....

[taalismn]

Hmmm, got an update warning from this topic though i see none. Funny that.

Well, might as well leave it as a placeholder for when I do have some race idea to post....

Crazy, man...crazy, you getting warnings from the aether.

[SolCannibal]

Hmmm, got an update warning from this topic though i see none. Funny that.

Well, might as well leave it as a placeholder for when I do have some race idea to post....

Crazy, man...crazy, you getting warnings from the aether.

Hmmm, what would the Aether dimensional stats be on the Megaverse Builder.....

[taalismn]

Which aether-verse?

[SolCannibal]

Which aether-verse?

One that sends warnings about posting updates that are not there - i guess the main doubt would be if it was a prediction, a prank or a bit of both, as the answer might influence some aspects of the dimensions focus, no?

[taalismn]

Ximtee---Arachnoid D-bees
“Want to see a real comedy of motion?...Watch a Ximtee try to pull on a sweater...”

“harharhar...I spent forty credits having a sweater made with eight sleeves and I gotta put up with you cripples yarfing it up...that will be ten credits for the show, please, unless you wanna find that sportser of yours cocooned and hanging over the river from under the county creek bridge!”

“Tried Xiticix on a dare....damn things are pretty much poisonous-tasting, and I wouldn’t care to try it again....much to my colleagues’ dismay...I think they were sorta hoping we’d start migrating to Xiticix country to take up round-the-clock bug-hunting!”

“I have to admit I’m -terrified- of spiders and critters like them, having grown up near the Dinosaur Swamps and Gruesome Tarpid territory. I joined the Greater New England military to get AWAY from cobweb land. So what do they assign me as my partner in training? A Ximtee. A giant freakin’ SPI-DER. Had me climbing the walls for weeks before I could calm down long enough for Vec to talk to me such that I’d listen. Now we’re brother-buddies, having saved each others’ lives several times. Got to meet each others’ families even. Though I’d advise against going to a Ximtee cook-out...they got some really UGLY chicken equivalents.”

The Ximtee are a race of aliens with an undeserved bad reputation among humans, all because of their appearance, which almost all humans find instantly horrifying and revolting...But anyone brave enough to look beyond mere appearances, will find these eight foot-tall tall giant arachnids to be charming, friendly, and resourceful people of great intelligence.
On their homeworld, the Ximtee have just reached the nationalistic empire-building phase, and have managed to develop electricity and steam power, though they had already developed an impressive national communications network, using tautly-stretched webbing(requiring frequent retransmission stations as the vibrations diminished over distance, and were useless in extreme weather). They had already created a form of elevated railway system with wind and steam-propelled carriages for convenience, and were experimenting with lighter-than-air airships. They had firearms of the flintlock and shotgun varieties, and had just developed breech loading cannon, While many Ximtee still hunted wild game, increasingly, most Ximtee were practicing the equivalent of shepherding and farming, raising crops to feed to flocks of meat-fowl, as well as growing palatable vegetation for themselves. Magic is unknown to them, existing only in their equivalent of fairy tales, though psionics and minor supernatural beings are known, and indeed are regarded as pests.
However, of late, the Ximtee homeworld seems to be experiencing dimensional rifting activity; ‘storms of light’ as the Ximtee call them, that pop up unexpectedly and rampage across the land, causing great damage and disappearances of many of the people in their path. These people end up on other worlds, stranded far from home. The cause of the rift-storms on the Ximtee homeworld is unknown; whether it is some natural phenomenon or deliberately produced remains unknown. All the Ximtee know is that the storms are spreading their people into strange and often dangerous new worlds.
The Ximtee came to Rifts Earth, most likely as slaves, but the clever beings soon found the opportunity to escape(one favorite tale tells of a family of Ximtee fashioning folding web hang-gliders and escaping in the middle of a vicious windstorm). They’ve since spread out across the land, making a living as residents of Earth. They’ve had a hard time getting other races to trust them, mostly because of misidentification and negative association with giant mutant spiders and demon-spiders, but the patient and intelligent Ximtee have managed to overcome their own mistrust of the humanoids they’ve encountered on Rifts Earth, and persuaded some of them that the Ximtee are really good neighbors, and not monsters to be destroyed.
Despite what others may think, Ximtee are NOT mindless predators who eat anything that comes their way...If asked, Ximtee will discourse at length at how completely UNLIKE humanoids look like the Ximtees’ native avian prey animals*. Ximtee prefer to catch flying prey, and are perfectly happy dining on large birds(they notably, though, have an aversion to eating songbirds, regarding it as sacrilege), waterfowl, giant insects, and other flying creatures, such as dragonfish, and frankly find humans and other/most ground-dwellers to be rather revolting taste-wise... Though some Ximtee capitalize on human fears on occasion, with some heavy-handed threats to eat them if the bipeds don’t knuckle under. Of course, flying intelligent races like Phoenixi take exception to Ximtee dietary habits, claiming that the arachnids are less discriminating when it comes to avian sentients caught in their webs.
About 6,000-9,000 are known to have settled in North America, most in the Washington Free State and West Coast, especially around the Rocky Mountains, where they set up giant webs in canyons and between mountains, to hunt for giant insects, and avian monsters.

*The Ximtee also cultivate their equivalent of a chicken, which they call a grota, but other people call grotesqskis. These hog-sized creatures resemble a cross between a chicken, a deep-sea anglerfish, and a bloated, hideous humanoid face on legs. They often grow a dozen limb-like(but useless) appendages that look like arms, but are nonfunctional. Others have compared them to a walking giant chickenheart with a malformed face growing out of one side of it. Aside from their hideous appearance, stupid behavior, and bad smell, grota are considered to be fine eating by the Ximtee, and those few others who have tried them claim grota meat is pretty tasty. The false limbs are considered especially delectable and conveniently dippable(though a favorite sophomoric gag is to introduce newbies to Rifts Earth cuisine to partake of ‘ roasted baby limbs’) .
Grota stand 1-3 ft tall, weigh between 25-200 lbs, have a running speed of 4d6, and possess 25 SDC. To the uninitiated, they have a Horror Factor of 1d6+11 , and they bite for 1d6 SDC. They are omnivorous, but prefer vegetation, and have goat-like tolerances for roughage.

Ximtee
Alignments: Any, but most(83%) are Scrupulous and Principled
Lifespan: 65 years
Size: 8 ft long, but can scrunch up to a third of that size. Weigh between 200-400 lbs. Females are typically 20% larger than the males
Gender: Heterosexual. Ximtee generally mate once every two years, the female producing 4-6 eggs that hatch after 6 months. Young Ximtee reach sexual maturity after 10 years, being watched over by their parents. Ximtee typically mate for life.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Giant spiders, with a more conventional humanoid mouth and jaws(filled with sharp teeth, and flanked by large mandibles). The head sports four feeding mandibles that end in hand-like graspers for manipulating small objects. They have eight eyes, four of them on short stalks. Eight large long legs each end in a four-clawed crude hand-foot, capable of picking up larger objects, and of digging into surfaces for climbing. Covered by thick, dense, black or dark brown fur, with multiple bands of light orange, yellow, or tan circling the legs---Ximtee may possess large lighter-colored ‘birthmarks’ on the abdomen(a popular fashion among Ximtee is to dye their fur with false markings, or have permanent ‘tattoos’ bleached or electrolyzed into their fur).

Disposition/Attitudes:
Surprisingly human-like, with an artistic bend(weaving, in particular). While there are evil and self-serving Ximtee, the majority of the race seem to be easy-going, tolerant, down-to-earth(or up in a web) folk who are just trying to make a living for themselves and their families. Fairly friendly with people who are willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Ximtee universally regard songbirds as beautiful; something in the idea of flying singing creatures just touches a thread of poetry in the arachnoids’ psyche. Ximtee may keep songbirds as pets(though few do, regarding it as boorish) but they will never harm or eat any. They thus get along very well with small flying sophonts like blinkadees and pee-vees.

Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 3d6
MA: 2d6
PS: 4d6
PP: 3d6+2
PB: 2d4
PE: 4d6
SPD: 5d6
(ISP): By psionic class
(PPE): 3d6
Hit Points: 55
SDC: 110, Natural A.R. carapace of 17.
MDC: By magic or technology
Horror Factor: Very unsettling to people afraid of spiders: H.F. of 13
Natural Abilities:
*Climbing---Ximtee can climb and cling to sheer surfaces with the best of them. Short of teflon and other slicked surfaces, they can cling to just about anything.
*Double-Jointed---Ximtee limbs are insanely flexible, and they can dangle from their legs as readily as they can stand upright on them. +10% to Escape Artist
*Multiple Limbs/ Actions---- +2 APMs

*Spin Webbing--- Ximtee can extrude tough strands of webbing material that have a tensile strength of 2,000 lbs and that they can wave into webs and cable. A single strand takes 25 SDC to break. A Ximtee can produce as much webbing as their P.E. x200 in ft per day.

Psionics: Standard(see Ximtee Ghost-Catcher)
Magic: By OCC
Available OCCs:
Just about any OCC is available to Ximtee, that doesn’t require one to be a biped(like Glitterboy Pilot). Many Ximtee take up engineering(Ximtee suspension bridges are famous for their strength and elegance). At least one Ximtee bounty hunter has made a name for herself ‘bringing ‘em in alive’. There are even a few Ximtee Full Conversion Cyborgs!
Ximtee magic users are possible, but just not very common. Magic was the stuff of legend and faerie tale on their homeworld, and very few Ximtee have expressed the desire, or the sufficient level of belief, to pursue the magical professions.
Psionic OCCs are somewhat more common. Even on their homeworld, Ximtee exhibited psychic abilities, and many Ximtee stories and pop icon media characters are readily identifiable as Ximtee using psionic abilities.

Cybernetics/Bionics: None....Ximtee have no objection to cybernetics or bionics, but most avoid them, except for medical purposes, on account of the high cost(double the normal cost) of adapting them to Ximtee physiology.
RCC Skills:
Climbing(Rope lines)/Rappelling(+25%)
Ropeworks(+15%)
Weaving(+15%)
Wilderness Survival(+5%)
Skills of Note:
Gets a +10% to Trap Construction if taken
Enemies: Most humans and humanoids(those who react badly to them). Aren’t too fond of dragons, either.
Culture:
Democratic matriarchies with extended families. Females tend to be recognized as family leaders, but worthy males may also share power and take positions of prominence.
Ximtee are not averse to Techno-Wizardry (which they see a more believable form of magic) or high technology, seeing advantages to both, and they love discovering new things.

Ximtee Ghost-Catcher
(aka ‘Ghosteater’)
“Let’s see what the traps around the haunted grove caught last night.”

“Oh boy, wind storm blew a lot of junk into the webs last night. That gave the tectonic entities we found some ammunition to use on us when we arrived, Taking those things down was a lot harder than it should have been. Should have negotiated an extra hazard pat clause with our job employer because what we got for the clearing job barely covered medical.”

The Ximtee Ghost-Catcher is a master psychic unique to the Ximtee, and is regarded as the arachnoids’ version of a Psi-Stalker. Ximtee Ghost-Catchers notably can produce webs that can capture nonmaterial entities like Haunting Entities. Besides capturing and eliminating bothersome nonmaterial entities, the assignment of dealing with other paranormal problems also tends to fall to the Ximtee Ghost-Catchers.
Because the Ximtee have had less time as a Rift-afflicted world, but more time as a psychic zone, there is no distinction between ‘wild’ and ‘civilized’ Ghost-Catchers as there does with the psi-stalkers of Rifts Earth. Ximtee Ghost-Catchers generally exist as part of hereditary family lines of horror-hunters or as part of professional ‘pest control’ groups.
About a couple of dozen Ximtee Ghost-Catchers took party in the Mexico Crusade, the ability of their ecto-webs to catch mist-form vampires proving a great service to the security of the forces of Light.

Physical Bonuses: +1d6 M.E., +1d4 P.E.
Psychic Bonuses: +6 save versus Horror Factor, save on a 6 of better versus psionics, +5 versus possession and mind control.

Special Abilities:
*Dependence on PPE----Like their human psi-stalker equivalents, Ximtee Ghost-Catches have come to depend on supplementing their diets with PPE from supernatural sources. However, unlike psi-stalkers, XGCs are not as dependent on a regular intake of PPE, nor can they absorb it from a distance. Their PPE source must be in contact with an ecto-web, meaning the Ximtee must have caught or cocooned their prey before they can drain it of PPE.
Like Psi-Stalkers, XGCs need a minimum weekly ration of PPE to keep healthy, though having evolved in a less strenuous environment, they require less of the immaterial energy(and thus correspondingly need to eat more) at least 25 PPE per week to sustain themselves, with 40-60 being the comfortable target. They can get by, materially, on 50 lbs of solid food(meat) a week.

*Ecto-Webbing----Ghost-Catchers can produce a natural ecto-fiber they can use to produce their ghost-traps. The strands of the ectoweb are less durable than regular Ximtee webbing(a strand only has 15 SDC) but they can catch and hold magically immaterial entities, such as ghost-entities, ley line-phasing mages, and even vapor-form vampires(however, those who can revert to more solid material form find it a simple matter to break the webbing and free themselves). The webbing also evaporates within 48+4d6 hours.

*Web-Affinity---A Ximtee Ghost-Catcher will instantly know when something is caught in one of its ecto-webs, regardless of the distance.

*Touch the Intangible----By coating their leg fur with their ectoplasm, XGCs can grapple and damage otherwise intangible beings. Furthermore, by wrapping handheld melee weapons in ecto-webbing, the weapons will also do damage to intangible beings. However, this is limited to BLUNT weapons(bladed weapons would cut through the wrappings) and cannot be transferred to others. It takes two APMs to wrap a limb or weapon, and the webbing lasts 4d6 hours,

*Web-Armor---- Ximtee Ghost-Catchers can weave themselves a covering of ecto-fiber that acts as body armor. Roughly equivalent to light padded armor and can resist ordinary attacks (45 MDC +5 MDC per level of experience), but is most effective against entities, psionics and magic; +4 Save Vs Magic, +3 Vs Psionics, and magic/psionic attacks do 25% less damage.
Creating a suit of web-armor costs 35 ISP, and lasts 5 hours.
Can also create web-armor for others, though this costs 45 ISP, and lasts only 2 hours.
In both cases it takes 1d8 minutes to weave up a set of web-armor.

Psionics:
Considered to be Master Psionics; save vs psionics on a 6 or better.
*See Auras(No ISP cost)
*See the Invisible(No ISP cost)
*Select four additional powers from the Sensitive category.

Base ISP: 1d6x10 +ME + 1d6 per level of experience
Regains 2 ISP per hour of sleep/rest/meditation.

OCC Skills:(in addition to RCC skills)
Language/Literacy: Two of choice(usually a Ximtee native language and one other)
Radio: Basic(+10%)
Lore: Demons & Monsters(+10%)
Lore: Entities & Ghosts (+15%)
Land Navigation(+10%)
Prowl(+15%)
Running
Wilderness Survival(+15%)
Trap Construction(+15%)
Pilot Truck or Automobile(+10%)
W.P. Blunt
Two Ancient W.P.s of choice
Two Modern W.P.s of choice
Hand to Hand: Expert(cam be upgraded to Martial Arts or Assassin(if of an evil alignment) for two ‘other’ skill selections).

Skills: Select 6 ‘other skills at Level One, plus an additional 1at levels 3, 6, 9, and 12.
Communications: Any(+5%)
Domestic: Any
Electrical: Basic Electronics only
Espionage: Detect Ambush, Detect Concealment, and Escape Artist only
Mechanical: Basic and Automotive Mechanics only
Medical: First Aid and Paramedic only(the latter counts as two selections)
Military: Camouflage and Trap Construction only(+15%)
Physical: Any
Pilot: Any, except Robots and Spaceships
Pilot Related: Any
Rogue: Any
Science: Basic Math only
Technical: Any
Wilderness: Any(+5%)
Weapons Proficiencies(W.P.): Any
Secondary Skills:
Can select 5 Secondary Skills at Level One, plus an additional 2 at levels 3, 5 and 12.
Experience Tables:
Use the Psi-Stalker XP table.
Standard Equipment: Ghost Hunters on the Ximtee homeworld typically had equipment similar to a pest removal expert, with a steam-powered automobile or small truck, to carry cages, nets, and other equipment.
Ximtee on Rifts Earth will try to acquire a vehicle that can be modified to seat them, but most are forced to go on foot, carrying what possessions and survival equipment they have in a web sack. Those employed with the GNE will have a truck or van, survival kit, weapons to fit their skills, recording equipment, kirallian cameras, and a selection of magicked nets, cages, and jars for holding paranormal entities.
Starting Money: Varies; Ghost Hunters on the Ximtee homeworld were generally paid similarly to vermin exterminators, with equivalent savings of 3d6x1,000 credits. Those on Rifts Earth are likely to only have 6d6x100 credits and about 1d4x1,000 in barterable items.

[SolCannibal]

Wow, i'm utterly incapable of doing such a complete write-up - just too damn lazy to go beyond "use a fire dragon hatchling, but its true form looks like a giant fire-breathing wolf instead" or somesuch.

[taalismn]

Wow, I'm utterly incapable of doing such a complete write-up - just too damn lazy to go beyond "use a fire dragon hatchling, but its true form looks like a giant fire-breathing wolf instead" or somesuch.

Mind you, the Ximtee's(along with a dozen other sophonts) been on my hard drive for well over a year, and has gone untouched for periods of months, with me adding or subtracting bits when the mood or inspiration strikes me, and moments of total revision of whole chunks...It helps that I use three different Palladium generation tables to flesh out stats(so I'm not always creating MUNCHKIN SUPERGUARDIANS OF THE MEGAVERSE), then use some artistic license to adjust where I feel appropriate. And I go with my gut feeling a lot, so when the muse finally comes, I listen.

[89er]

Happy belated July 4th, here are the Dwarven Aquatic

Lagiselt: Aquatic D-bees
A joint Lemurian/GNE strike against a major Deevil pirate safekeep came with a surprise. Among the freed slaves and spoils was a massive magically reinforced iceberg that had life signs inside. After careful probing, part of the ice revealed a prepared trio of Lagiselt in the event of first contact. The iceberg was one of hundreds of ark vessels that were cast through the elemental plane of Water across the Megaverse due to their demiplane becoming undone. Another casualty of the Eco-War over the Elemental planes themselves. Knowing the oceans of Earth were too dangerous for their few number and after several negotiations a contract was struck. The majority of the population would be sent to the New Stratford colony to settle down while a select number would work as deep-sea miners, Gene-mages and other careers to help their people. The Lemurians are surprised to find other Biomancers but shudder at the bluntness in their creations.

Alignments: Any, but 80% fit between Scrupulous and Aberrant
Lifespan: 140 years but past 100 most lose their mental faculties and volunteer as sustenance

Size: 3-4 ft tall
Gender:
Male and female with triplet births common. Babies are birthed in sacs that can easily be preserved and revived when frozen due to adaptations over generations. The sacs break after a week and the babies are properly born.

Physical Description/Appearance:
Having a common ancestor with Dwarves and altering their genes with biomancy, the Lagiselt have their differences. Skin pigmentations are often dark, warm colors. (Reds, Oranges, Yellows, Pinks) A wiry build with three arms and three legs to move through the water and cavern spaces allows for ease of movement. A secondary set of smaller eyes allows for identification of bioluminescent bands across their bodies in dark places. Beards have survived from hair to facial tendons that can be braided. The mouth has replaced the teeth with two edged bony plates not unlike the Dunkleosteus of prehistoric earth oceans. Gills line under the jaw and across the abdomen.

Disposition/Attitudes:
Pragmatic and reserved, the Lagiselt prefer to show their emotions through their labors. This reflects on the function over form approach to biomancy, seeing the Lemurian creations as working but flimsy, unable to handle true stress conditions. Dealing with a new environment near people is forcing them to be more social than comfort allows but younger generations seem to be adapting well.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3D6+3
ME: 3D6
MA: 3D6
PS: 4D6
PP: 3D6
PB: 1D6+2
PE: 4D6
SPD: 2D6 on land, 5D6+3 while swimming
(ISP):
(PPE): 2D8
Hit Points: 60
SDC:
MDC: By magic or technology
Horror Factor: 4, if dark and underwater can be 10
Natural Abilities: Breathe underwater and on land. Nightvision, Takes Half damage from heat and cold damage but affected by MD versions.
Psionics: Minor Psionics until age 70.
Magic: Versed in Biomancy and some stone magic.

Cybernetics/Bionics: No machine versions, they use magic to regrow limbs and organs. Implanting cybernetics seems useful but are seen as waste of materials.
Available OCCs:
RCC Skills:
Swimming 90%
Marine Biology 86%
Marine Salvage 60%

Culture:
Leadership is by merit and public opinion, with a conclave of 12 with three sections made of four elected officials. Most of the examples of culture were made of grand structures, but the destruction of their demiplane home and lack of archive space in the iceberg has led to the history, traditions, and deeds being oral tradition. Younger generations and those who work with other sapient kin adapt some traits of their group, but are more Biochauvinist in dealing with incorporeal people, Artificial Intelligence that reject a physical form or registered Geist Greeners.

[taalismn]

Paven
“I didn’t even see that Silhouette pull his gun on me, but E-la Moor spotted him right quick and acted immediately. I didn’t see the Paven move either until after he’s completed his strike and the assassin’s gun went flying along with most of the guy’s fingers. That’s how damn fast Paven are.”

The Paven are a race of non-humanoid amphibians with a technological civilization and spacefaring capabilities. They evolved from amphibious packhunters and their society and maturation development reflect their origins. They occupy a single solar system in the Anvil Galaxy, but have terraformed three other bodies in their solar system.
The Paven resemble large flat seasnakes with a cobra-like cowl. A flexible fringe runs down both sides of this cowl and along the flanks of the body. In water, its undulations help the Paven swim. In air, the fringe also helps carry the Paven over land and is a part of Paven nonverbal communication, the speed, frequency, and depth of the undulations a good indicator of the Paven’s state of mind. In air and on dry land, they rear up like nagas on the snake-part of their bodies. Two forward fins have evolved into long manipulatory arms.
Paven can breath both air and water and are equally comfortable in both, though they do require constant moisturization to keep their skins front painfully cracking.
The Paven are known to the United Systems Alliance through WZTechyards, who has bought and licensed a number of aquatic vehicle designs from the Paven, who were previously known to the Three Galaxies as the manufacturers of modular marine spaceport facilities. The WZ-USF-023-ST Sub-Fighter was their effort to launch into galactic arms sales, using a design previously developed for a local military requirement(the Paven military passed it up in favor of a more expensive and heavier design).
Though interested in galactic trade, few Paven actually want to travel outside their solar system, making it a rare occasion to encounter any on the galactic travel lanes. A few of the more adventurous individuals of the species, though, have been known to travel far afield, seeking opportunity and glory.
The Paven are not members of the United Systems Alliance, though they support it through WZT. They officially prefer to remain nominally allied with the Consortium of Civilized Worlds.

Alignments: Any
Life Span: 80 years
Size: 9-10 ft long
Gender: Two sexes, male and female. Give birth to 1-4 offspring after a seven-month gestation period. Offspring remain restricted to water for the first five years of their lives before becoming strong enough to emerge onto dry land. Reach sexual maturity at 18 years.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Flat, long, snakelike body with a forward torso sporting a pair of long skinny arms ending in four-digited/tendriled hands. The body is edged in wide lateral fringes that ripple the length of the Paven, acting as locomotion on land and propulsion in water. The head sports an expandable cobra-like cowl, large split-lense eyes that allow them to see above and below water at the same time, and small triangular jaws filled with sharp teeth. Skin is sleek and leathery. Overall coloration is purple-black with lighter blue and red highlights, though some ethnicities display lighter russet-red or puce skins.
Paven move with a disturbing grace that reminds others too much of fast-strike predators.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Brisk, brusque, and businesslike. Though they are team players, Paven feel compelled to jockey for leadership (alpha position) in any group they’re a part of, but once a pecking order is sorted out, they will also defer to the leadership. They also make liberal allowances for anybody just starting out in a task or profession, on the basis that ‘one must learn to swim before walking’, but also expect to see definite progress. When opportunity presents itself, they are quick to grab for it; yet they can also exercise extreme patience, waiting for the right time to make a move.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6
ME: 2d6+10
MA: 2d6+12
PS: 3d6+6
PP: 1d6+23
PB: 1d4+2
PE: 3d6+12
SPD: 3d6+12 running and swimming
(ISP):-----
(PPE): 2d6
Hit Points: 47
SDC: 90
Natural A.R. 15
MDC:----
Horror Factor: 13
Natural Abilities:
*Swimming---98% and can survive depths of 500 ft+ their P.E. x 10 in ft.
*Dual Lungs and Gills---Can breath air AND water.
* Soft Tread---Paven locomotion has a large footprint and low ground pressure...while they may be +5% to track because of their distinctive trail, they can cross soft earth, mud, deep snow, quicksand, and bog without penalty because they effectively ‘swim’ across such surfaces.
*Teeth/Fangs---Bite does 2d4 damage.
* Razor Fringe---The edges of the lateral fringes are tough and sharp enough, as well as being lined with stiff sharp bristles, that they can be used to strike, doing 1d6+4 damage, cutting like razor-wire.
*Low-Light Vision---Paven vision evolved to see in murky or deep water; effective range of 200 ft
*Nonverbal Communication---Paven can converse quite comprehensively using their cowls and fringes as a nonverbal means of communication. Several different ‘languages’ exist; the average Paven gets 2 at 85% proficiency.

Vulnerabilities:
*Moisture Dependency---Unless able to soak themselves in water on a regular basis, Paven begin to dry out and suffer from cracking skin and muscle aches. They can hold out for as many hours as they have P.E. points, after which they begin losing P.P. and A.R. at a rate of 1d4 per hour(recalculate P.P, bonuses accordingly). At zero P.P. they are too busy itching and writhing in agony to put up a fight. Immersing them in water restores their skin at a rate of 1d4 P.P./A.R. per hour.

*Right-Hand DNA----Paven come from an ecology where right-handed DNA prevailed. This means that most left-handed proteins and foodstuffs as consumed by most life in the Three Galaxies are either non-nourishing, or outright poisonous, to the Paven.

Psionics: None; they lack the potential
Magic: None; they lack the potential
Cybernetics/Bionics: Ill-inclined to get anything other than necessary medical systems
Available OCCs: Any high-tech professions, though they are difficult to accommodate to most Three Galaxies’ equipment, owing to the Paven anatomy.
RCC Skills:
Swimming 98%
Prowl(+5% on land, +15% in water)
Skills of Note:-----
Culture:
Paven evolved from cooperative pack-hunters. They traditionally form packs of 6-120 individuals to carry out activities, breaking into smaller groups as needed. Take single mates and tend to mate for life, but will often leave the offspring in the communal care of their extended ‘home’ pack.
Paven society has only recently been globalized within the last three centuries, so planetbound nationalist distinctions are still clearly evident.

[SolCannibal]

The Paven are a race of non-humanoid amphibians with a technological civilization and spacefaring capabilities. They evolved from amphibious packhunters and their society and maturation development reflect their origins. They occupy a single solar system in the Anvil Galaxy, but have terraformed three other bodies in their solar system.
The Paven resemble large flat seasnakes with a cobra-like cowl. A flexible fringe runs down both sides of this cowl and along the flanks of the body. In water, its undulations help the Paven swim. In air, the fringe also helps carry the Paven over land and is a part of Paven nonverbal communication, the speed, frequency, and depth of the undulations a good indicator of the Paven’s state of mind. In air and on dry land, they rear up like nagas on the snake-part of their bodies. Two forward fins have evolved into long manipulatory arms.
Paven can breath both air and water and are equally comfortable in both, though they do require constant moisturization to keep their skins front painfully cracking.

Eusocial amphibians? Quite unusual and curious. True, i guess there are a number of those races in Phaseworld & AU books but your intro lampshades what is actually a quite remarkable branch in evolutionary terms. The "giant cobra with arms" look doesn't hurt either.

Being amphibian they might find a quite lucrative business niche in developing and managing underwater industries in worlds dominated by landbound sapients, but i guess the same applies to lots of amphibian or waterbound sapient species.

Though interested in galactic trade, few Paven actually want to travel outside their solar system, making it a rare occasion to encounter any on the galactic travel lanes. A few of the more adventurous individuals of the species, though, have been known to travel far afield, seeking opportunity and glory.
The Paven are not members of the United Systems Alliance, though they support it through WZT. They officially prefer to remain nominally allied with the Consortium of Civilized Worlds.

*Right-Hand DNA----Paven come from an ecology where right-handed DNA prevailed. This means that most left-handed proteins and foodstuffs as consumed by most life in the Three Galaxies are either non-nourishing, or outright poisonous, to the Paven.

Oh, that last bit throws quite the monkeywrench on my previous idea of economical niches, as it makes trade and tourism definitely problematic to say the least, since any offworld business would also requires constant food imports or establishing local self-contained farms (and taking care to avoid any ecological contamination of either their reserves or local biospheres, what might make any locals mighty peeved with the Paven).

Quite the merit of their pragmatism & sociability that they didn't go in some kind of genocidal bender like the Star Hives upon finding out most lifeforms in the 3 Galaxies are poison to them. Also, i imagine that someone could make quite the monumental monetary gain from tracking down planets with Right-Hand DNA biospheres for them to potentially colonize.

Psionics: None; they lack the potential
Magic: None; they lack the potential
Cybernetics/Bionics: Ill-inclined to get anything other than necessary medical systems

I see potential for immense opportunities or lots of trouble there, most probably both.

That they are incapable of doing magic doesn't mean their worlds are magically dead - though probably in a BtS low as norm, otherwise they would probably have some familiarity with ley lines, rifts and the supernatural - and considering their quite limited options when it comes to potential worlds to occupy, having access to rift use could be quite the godsend for them, since physically traveling the space between systems could become much less of an issue.

Yes, they would require consultants from other species to set up and maintain such a network for them, at least until they find some bizarre way to get around it with magical objects or somesuch (what might or not be possible and anyway quite unique and complex to pull off, even if they had a lot of know-how they do not possess in the subject) but that's what diplomacy and networking are for, no?

Also, they are naturally incapable of learning magic - but could not supernatural intelligences get around that? Or does their lack of potential also means they are incapable of making the links/pacts essential to the making of priests, shifters or witches? It could go either way, since a BtS low in ambient PPE might explain why no entity came in that might tap in such an undeveloped terrain (yet).

Anyway, whatever circunstances brings the first large scale exposure of Paven star-sphere to magic is bound to bring all kinds of crazy upheaval.

Psionics it's a little more complicated i guess, since it seems to be more connected to a biological, or at least inherent capacity (since Archie-3 counts as a Mind Melter even though it's not biological by any stretch of imagination).

Bionics - oh-hoho, ain't that bound to change.... their military and/or PMCs will learn well enough soon, no doubt about that.

[taalismn]

[
Bionics - oh-hoho, ain't that bound to change.... their military and/or PMCs will learn well enough soon, no doubt about that.

Part of their reason for staying at home and selling via the galactic internet, besides other worlds being poisonous to them, may be to fort up at home and avoid dealing with the problems of augmentation. However, the universe is getting smaller and crowding in, and they're going to have to set aside some of those long-held reservations about augmentation....


I realize now that I've accidentally repeated a species that I created for another (as yet) unreleased project; there a species of giant amphibious pleisosaur-like aliens inhabit a high gravity planet with a poisonous atmosphere and acid seas; they can't easily leave their world without big cumbersome life support systems, so they use advanced probes and a robot fleet linked by FTL, and later on proxies in the form of other species they manipulate through clever negotiations, to interact with the rest of the galaxy. Then they discover an FTL internet and start becoming the equivalent of Chinese/Russian hacker-trolls...oh boy

[SolCannibal]

Bionics - oh-hoho, ain't that bound to change.... their military and/or PMCs will learn well enough soon, no doubt about that.

Part of their reason for staying at home and selling via the galactic internet, besides other worlds being poisonous to them, may be to fort up at home and avoid dealing with the problems of augmentation. However, the universe is getting smaller and crowding in, and they're going to have to set aside some of those long-held reservations about augmentation....

Definitely, because if the authorities don't, some PMC might, what can lead to problems. And if neither does, criminal or nationalist-terrorist groups might and when it does that will bring down severe consequences indeed.
Any of their worlds could be just one crazy mining/high-tech magnate away from a state coup if they are not careful on that subject.

I realize now that I've accidentally repeated a species that I created for another (as yet) unreleased project; there a species of giant amphibious pleisosaur-like aliens inhabit a high gravity planet with a poisonous atmosphere and acid seas; they can't easily leave their world without big cumbersome life support systems, so they use advanced probes and a robot fleet linked by FTL, and later on proxies in the form of other species they manipulate through clever negotiations, to interact with the rest of the galaxy. Then they discover an FTL internet and start becoming the equivalent of Chinese/Russian hacker-trolls...oh boy

That's kind of the trap with random rolls, no matter how varied, there's still a chance of certain combination repating itself and painting you in a corner while not looking.

That said the Paven seem considerably friendlier than those other guys.

[SolCannibal]

As an aside, it just crossed my mind that devastated worlds might have some significant value to them, since almost nobody in the greater transgalactic society, for whom the dearth of options makes biosphere reconstruction a far less economically appealing subject, will really cry much about nearly unhabitable planets being handed over and terraformed to their own standards.

[taalismn]

As an aside, it just crossed my mind that devastated worlds might have some significant value to them, since almost nobody in the greater transgalactic society, for whom the dearth of options makes biosphere reconstruction a far less economically appealing subject, will really cry much about nearly unhabitable planets being handed over and terraformed to their own standards.

Now THAT'S world building in both the meta-gaming and in-gaming sense!

[SolCannibal]

As an aside, it just crossed my mind that devastated worlds might have some significant value to them, since almost nobody in the greater transgalactic society, for whom the dearth of options makes biosphere reconstruction a far less economically appealing subject, will really cry much about nearly unhabitable planets being handed over and terraformed to their own standards.

Now THAT'S world building in both the meta-gaming and in-gaming sense!

If memory tricks me not, the United Systems Alliance's timeline currently stands a few years after Dimensional Outbreak and the Minion War's large scale intrusion in the 3 Galaxies, no?
If so, the availability of "dead" worlds in Anvil might be greater than one might otherwise expect.

[SolCannibal]

Reading some old posts here and there on the actions of the USA and allied space polities, one question has crossed my mind: Who are the Sorn neo-barbs, mentioned as a major regional headache comparable to the Chor'ri?

[taalismn]

Reading some old posts here and there on the actions of the USA and allied space polities, one question has crossed my mind: Who are the Sorn neo-barbs, mentioned as a major regional headache comparable to the Chor'ri?

The Sorm appear on page 48 of this thread
A sub-caste or sub-species, known as the Sorm-Calu appear on page 52 of this thread.

Their ships appear on https://www.palladiumbooks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=66139&start=3100

Their general location is near the Chedive homewards in the Thundercloud Galaxy, Gaelra Arm on the CCW zone's spinward border.

[SolCannibal]

Reading some old posts here and there on the actions of the USA and allied space polities, one question has crossed my mind: Who are the Sorn neo-barbs, mentioned as a major regional headache comparable to the Chor'ri?

The Sorm appear on page 48 of this thread
A sub-caste or sub-species, known as the Sorm-Calu appear on page 52 of this thread.

Their ships appear on https://www.palladiumbooks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=66139&start=3100

Their general location is near the Chedive homewards in the Thundercloud Galaxy, Gaelra Arm on the CCW zone's spinward border.

Took a look on them, yeah, they are just one short step away in the cosmic powers lottery of being an infernal race.
Either side of the Minion War would love to have them as pawns and agents.

[taalismn]

Ivoians, coming soon.
I justr forgot to hit 'save' last night when pasting their profile into the rich text file to past into the forums....that, among other minor frustrations, has categorized my day today...

[taalismn]

Ivoians
“If an Ivoian smiles at a Human, it’s a fair bet that blood’s going to fly soon. Maybe not at the Ivoian’s hand; they HATE staining their white skin with filthy Human blood, but there’s nothing but calculating hatred behind that smile.”

“If humans are so common throughout our galaxy, let us take a more enlightened approach to the problem they pose. Let us not see them as competition, obstacles, or an anoyance, but as an exploitable resource. Aren’t there uses we can put them to? And aren’t there other species who would pay for humans? If we go about this the right way, gentlebeings, our ‘human problem’ can in fact, be our next great natural resource.”

“Ivoians are absolutely batshif TERRIFIED of human psychics. It’s one of those wild cards that Humans can do that the Ivoians can’t. To them mindmelters are demons incarnate, and the idea that a Human can psychically possess a Ivo is enough to drive them off the deep end and start throwing block-burners if they suspect there’s a human mindmelter nearby.”

Ivoians are a spacefaring species of near-humans with a great degree of biological compatibility(in terms of digestible foodstuffs, drug tolerances, and biochemical interactions). That’s the problem; Ivoians are so compatible that they regard humans as competition.
Somewhere along the line in their history, Ivoians developed a contempt bordering on outright hatred for humans. Ivoians see humans as unwelcome burgeoning competition and as particularly obnoxious and prolific vermin. The fact that humans are apparently more successful and flexible(“like bacteria”) than the Ivoians in a number of things, despite Ivoian physical superiority, further aggravates them. Ivoians in a party with humans will attempt to dominate, belittle, or manipulate the humans into compromising positions. The crueler Ivoians treat humans as chattel-animals, slaves, and playthings for their more sadistic impulses. Ogres are seen as simply bigger humans, with the only saving grace being a slower rate of birth. Atlanteans are seen as ‘super-vermin’, with only their rarity saving them from increased negative attention by the Ivoians. Elves are treated rather better, as possible lost kin, but those closest to humans, and most human in appearance, will be similarly treated as being tainted by association. Other alien species are handled on a case-by-case basis.
It’s not known where this hatred of humanity comes from; it’s been suggested that the Ivoians may have had a traumatic encounter with humans early in their history, but there’s no evidence of it. The Ivoians just seem to instinctively bristle whenever around humans, and more recent cultural anthropology theories have speculated that they are evolutionarily inclined to regard those most similar to them as competition for the same resources. Given their appearance, however, this is discounted by others, who feel the emnity may stem from the fact that humans, as the ‘rats’ of the Megaverse, may psychically trigger predatory urges in the Ivoians. Or simply that, despite all the advantages that Ivoians possess, that tell them they SHOULD be more sucessful as a species, humans just leave them in the dust, being more prolific and powerful.
Recent reports have also sighted a number of Altaran Warrior Women interacting with the Ivoians. This has fueled speculation of a Splugorth connection, or that the Ivoians are providing sanctuary for escaped Altarans.
The Ivoians hold sway over a star-nation of their own, the Celec Union. They also spawned a sub-culture, the Lucim Imperium, which attempted to establish their own territory on the edges of the Anvil Galaxy, though their policies and attitudes were essentially identical to the Celec Union’s. The Lucims’ efforts to exterminate and planet-jack a neighboring low-tech Human-settled world came to naught, however, when they ran afoul of the Botwhin Char’chuga and the SAAPA. The Ivoians regard the Lucim discomfiture as the result of weakness and Human conniving.

Alignments: Any, but Aberrant(70%) is the most common.
Lifespan: 125 years
Size: 6-7 ft
Gender: Hetereosexual. They give birth to live young(one at a time) after a 13-month gestation period, and their children are well-developed at birth, walking within their first year, and talking shortly afterwards. Twins are EXTREMELY rare, and regarded as a sign of great fortune, despite the great toll carriage takes in the mother.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Slender, elven-build humanoids with slim,wirey physiques. Ivoian skin is almost bone-white(with ethnic variations of light gray, light blue, or purple), and their hair light-colored and stiff. Their eyes are black with white pupils. Ears are long and pointed, while the nose is barely a two-nostriled bump in the middle of the face. Their teeth are small and sharp, and it has been suggested that the Ivoians may have evolved from ferret-like ancestors. They move with a smooth grace and speak in a manner that many humans find very attractive and alluring.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Generally calm, cool, and collect, but quick to anger if insulted or slighted. Around humans, however, their demeanor changes to become increasingly aggressive and predatory. They generally deal with other non-Ivoian species on a case-by-case basis, but only really warm to those with known anti-human policies and sentiments mirroring the Ivoians’ own. Deep down inside, they seem to be very insecure, petty, and resentful, especially of those who are more successful than they are, and hints of their possible predator ancestry may be deduced from their fidgety nature and explosive outbursts of activity.
A few Ivoians do NOT hate humans, and see their species’ hatred of humans as inexplicable and dangerously counterproductive. These enlightened individuals will NOT react in negative fashion to humans, and a very brave handful actvely try to help those hapless humans caught up by the Celec Union’s prejudice. However, such tolerant and brave individuals are seen with contempt by the rest of Ivoian society, and are often persecuted when their pro-human leanings(‘deviancy’) become known.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3d6+3
ME: 2d4
MA: 2d6+6
PS: 3d6+6
PP: 2d6+13
PB: 2d6+12
PE: 2d6+6
SPD: 3d6+12
(ISP):----
(PPE): 1d6
Hit Points: 55
SDC: 110
MDC: By technology only
Horror/Awe Factor: Not applicable
Natural Abilities:
*Acute Sense of Smell---Ivoians have a sense of smell TWICE as sensitive as a human’s.
*Leaping---Ivoians have a springbok-like abilty to snap-leaptwice their height, and drop four times their height without injury
* Advanced Hearing---Ivoians have excellent hearing; +1 on initiative
*Natural Stalker----Instinctive Prowl ability of 60+3d6%, and get a +5% to Tracking and Surveillance skills.
Vulnerabilities:
*Weak Mental Defenses----Ivoians are particularly susceptible to psionics: -2 to save versus psionics and insanity.
Psionics: None, and another advantage the Ivoians resent about humans.
Magic: None, and have no potential
Superpowers: None
Cybernetics/Bionics:
Ivoians prefer bio-systems and cybernetics, but frown on more extensive implantation/augmentation. Only the most desperate or zealous would consider bionic conversion(indeed, the most elite and feared ‘Death Guard’ supersoldiers of the Ivoian military are full conversion cyborgs, and they are regarded with fear even by other Ivoians)
Available OCCs: Any high-tech OCC, except Glitterboy Pilot. Cannot take any psionic, magic, or superpower class.
Culture:
Ivoian society is run by a Technocracy, where those most technologically adept run society. From street level, Ivoian society is run by various technology conglomerates and corporations in competition with each other, but in reality they are all interlinked, and it is not unknown for a particularly bright innovator in one company to be transferred to another more highly placed and influential corporation in the course of political re-organization. The technocorps will often speculate and invest in particularly promising technical talents.
Duels of honor are commonplace in Ivoian society, and occasionally offered to outsiders who have fallen into a dispute with an Ivoian. However, offered duels with Humans are ALWAYS going to involve cheating, as the duels are not considered proper honor affairs, and the involved Ivoian will suffer no loss of face if they cheat against a human...as long as they win.

O‘Voian Celec Union ( Anvil Galaxy)
“ Be advised, on Ivoian worlds, the law is more likely to impose serious penalties, including the death penalty, if you’re a human. And there’s no shortage of ivoians all too happy to help you get into trouble with the law.”

The Celec Union is the interstellar conglomeration of the various earlier planetary factions of the Ivoian homeworld, Rothmere. Though it presents itself as a peaceful, enlightened, intellectual society devoted to promoting the wellbeing and quality of life of its citizens, the Union is really seething under the surface with the desire to claim manifest destiny and expand explosively into neighboring space. Incentives are offered in Ivoian society to develop and refine the technologies that will make them a major player in the Three Galaxies. Competition is fierce among Ivoian technology firms and engineering schools to develop the technologies that will make them major powers in the government. Meanwhile, the Union is building a military to spearhead their expansion.
The problem is that the Ivoians believe that they are late to the table, and that available territory is being snapped up by other species, especially the less-worthy humans. The Ivoian desire to claim a destiny in the stars is, they feel, being blocked by the rampant expansion of lesser species, especially the humans, who appear poised to outbreed the rightful heirs to the galaxy out of the picture.
The Celec Union has a history of abrasive relations with its human neighbors, who they see as encroaching on Ivoian territories. It is rumored that they have been behind an increasing number of disappearances of Human ships and tourists in the sector, and that they have been sponsoring anti-human violence in neighboring sectors.

A. Size
14 systems
B. History
Newcomers
C. Level of Technological Sophistication
Mature Space Age---They possess FTL drives, but their indigenous technology is still several generations behind the CCW and TGE.
D. General Attitude/Culture
Warrior Society---Though peaceful on the surface, the Ivoians see themselves as fierce, proud, and superior. They claim Warrior status, though this shades increasingly toward Racial Supremacist.
E. Racial Composition
100% Ivoian
F. Government
Technocracy---Ivoian society is run by the technologically literate; those able to understand and improve on technologies gain prestige and status, heading up increasingly larger and more important development projects and programs. For example, the Ivoian group that created the first successful Ivoian FTL drive has effectively created a dynasty that is still a major power in the government to this day.
G. Administrative Control
Lax---Ivoians are allowed a great deal of leeway by their governments, and the only real crime is being too stupid to avoid the law, when it is so easily avoided.
H. External Trade
Trade---Ivoians are enthusiastic traders with anybody with the goods and the money....well, they hardly trade with humans, and when they do trade directly, will try to cheat them any way they can.
H1. Commodities
Exports: Biotech---Usually environmental testing gear and pest control measures. The Ivoians have developed several profitable space-ugly repellent and control sprays.
Imports: Agriculture---The Union imports a lot of meat
I. Status
Boom---The Celec Union is growing in strength...but not nearly fast enough for the Ivoians. They look to the even more rapidly expanding human polities around them and see competition trying to pen them in and squeeze them out of the galaxy.

[SolCannibal]

Physical Description/Appearance:
Slender, elven-build humanoids with slim,wirey physiques. Ivoian skin is almost bone-white(with ethnic variations of light gray, light blue, or purple), and their hair light-colored and stiff. Their eyes are black with white pupils. Ears are long and pointed, while the nose is barely a two-nostriled bump in the middle of the face. Their teeth are small and sharp, and it has been suggested that the Ivoians may have evolved from ferret-like ancestors. They move with a smooth grace and speak in a manner that many humans find very attractive and alluring.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Generally calm, cool, and collect, but quick to anger if insulted or slighted. Around humans, however, their demeanor changes to become increasingly aggressive and predatory. They generally deal with other non-Ivoian species on a case-by-case basis, but only really warm to those with known anti-human policies and sentiments mirroring the Ivoians’ own. Deep down inside, they seem to be very insecure, petty, and resentful, especially of those who are more successful than they are, and hints of their possible predator ancestry may be deduced from their fidgety nature and explosive outbursts of activity.
A few Ivoians do NOT hate humans, and see their species’ hatred of humans as inexplicable and dangerously counterproductive. These enlightened individuals will NOT react in negative fashion to humans, and a very brave handful actvely try to help those hapless humans caught up by the Celec Union’s prejudice. However, such tolerant and brave individuals are seen with contempt by the rest of Ivoian society, and are often persecuted when their pro-human leanings(‘deviancy’) become known.


ME: 2d4
Vulnerabilities:
*Weak Mental Defenses----Ivoians are particularly susceptible to psionics: -2 to save versus psionics and insanity.
Psionics: None, and another advantage the Ivoians resent about humans.
Magic: None, and have no potential

So, neurotic, jealous, insecure space NotElves to the Palladium antisocial sometimes overbearing ones? Nice people.

[taalismn]

[
So, neurotic, jealous, insecure space NotElves to the Palladium antisocial sometimes overbearing ones? Nice people.

Yep, with ferret-bloodlust on top of it.

[SolCannibal]

So, neurotic, jealous, insecure space NotElves to the Palladium antisocial sometimes overbearing ones? Nice people.

Yep, with ferret-bloodlust on top of it.

I really ask myself how will the Celec Union feel about their Lucim brethren when they end up under the sights of the Botwhin Char’chuga over some possible infrigment of the SAAPA....


Or a Mindolar pops up in one of their worlds. Oh boy, that is bound to hurt big time.

Hmmm, could individual Mindolars develop a P.C.C./Psychic O.C.C. like those described in Psyscape instead of Mind Melter or would that enter variant race terrain?
What about a "Mindolar Mystic" perhaps?

[taalismn]

I really ask myself how will the Celec Union feel about their Lucim brethren when they end up under the sights of the Botwhin Char’chuga over some possible infrigment of the SAAPA....

"Which one of those genetic deadend losers figured us to the giant caterpillars?!"

[taalismn]

with a nod to omegasgundam for the Pyha Tilaus posts)

Children of the Snow---Arzhur/ Klia-Human Fusions(aka ‘Glacier-kids’)
“Cold lover, hot sex. Kids have gotta be a storm front.”

“Quit saying ‘it’s biologically impossible!’. It’s possible and it’s happening. Just ascribe it to sparkly magic bull$#!+.”

“HEY! NO TRYING TO USE YOUR POWERS TO GET A SNOW DAY OFF FROM SCHOOL!”
‘Aaawwwwww....!”

“Expect to see a lot of strange hair, skin, and eye colors in the populations of the Russian states and Greater New England northern territories in coming years. It’s a new demographic entering the gene pool.”

Children of the Snow are an emerging phenomenon literally born of the union of humans and fully humanized and culturally assimilated Klia(and the rare cooperative Arzhur). The children can be born of a female parent of either species. Even though acclimated Klia/Arzhur may lose most, if not all, of their original powers in the transition to human form, magic genetics seem to be imbuing the next generation engendered by them with a random grab bag of their traits, including control over aspects of air and temperature.
CoSes are becoming more common in North America and northern Russia as assimilated Klia/Arzhur interact more with humans.

Though Humans make up the majority of CoS -generating unions, there is a 60% chance of successful conception with Ogres, and 25% with Elves and Dwarves(“More sparkly magic bull$#!+.”).

Common Abilities:
*Immune to Hypothermia---CoSes take NO damage from normal cold; only extreme cold(like -50 degrees F) and magic cold does HALF damage.
* Weather Sense----CoSes can sense the approach of cold weather/cold fronts 1d6 hours in advance.

Appearance(roll 1d4 times)
01-15% Odd Eye Color
01-20%Stark White
21-40%Pale Blue
41-60% Pale Green
61-80% Dark Blue
81-00%Glowing; shifts like the aurora

16-30% Odd Hair Color
01-20% Stark White
21-40%Pale Blue
41-60% Pale Green
61-80% Dark Blue
81-00% Shifting----The CoS’s hair shifts and shimmers like an aurora between shades of yellow and green. The hair loses this effect when cut off.

31-40% Crystalline Hair/Nails---The hair looks like clear/tinted plastic fibers, and finger and toe nails appear like chips of ice.

41-60% Odd Skin Color
01-35%Stark White
36-65% Pale Blue
66-00% Pale Green

61-75% Frost Patterns---The skin is marked with pale delicate traceries of color that look like fractal frost patterns.

76-80%Windblown Hair---The CoS’s hair seems to perpetually be blown by a personal wind and will escape any hairdo arrangement unless consciously willed to stay in place(or a Disguise roll is made). If the Bald Appearance modifier is also rolled, then the person is bald, but seems surrounded by a swirling light mist(again, unless an effort is made to consciously dispel/hide this, it imposes a -10% on Disguise rolls)

81-00% Glossy Skin---The CoS’s skin has a shiny appearance, as if frozen ice.

Special Abilities(roll 1d4 times)
01-10% Glare Resistance---The CoS is immune to being blinded by bright lights and is +2 to see versus optical and magic illusions using bright light or lasers.

11-20% Manipulate Temperature---The CoS can alter the temperature around them, being able to drop the temperature as much as 5 degrees per point of M.E. they possess. Affects a 5 ft radius. Conversely, they can RAISE the temperature around them by that same amount, with the upper limit being their normal body temperature(so, standing in -30 degree weather, the CoS can create a zone of warmth around themselves).

21-25% Minor Spell Ability: Wave of Frost---The CoS can call up a sudden wave of cold equivalent to the spell Wave of Frost, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their PE/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

26-30% Minor Spell Ability: Northwind--The CoS can call up a sudden wave of cold equivalent to the spell Northwind, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their PE/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

31-35% Minor Spell Ability: Snow Storm---The CoS can call up a sudden sustained gust of snow equivalent to the spell Snow Storm, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their PE/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

36-40% Minor Spell Ability: Summon Leaf Rustler---The CoS can call up a sudden sustained gust of snow equivalent to the spell Summon Leaf Rustler, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their ME/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

41-45% Minor Spell Ability: Breath Without Air---The CoS can alter their breathing equivalent to the spell Breath Without Air, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their PE/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings, and on others as well, of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

46-50% Minor Spell Ability: Whisper of the Wind---The CoS can cast their voice on the air equivalent to the spell Whisper of the Wind, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their PE/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings, and on others as well, of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

51-55% Nightvision---The CoS can see in total darkness out to 600 ft.

56-60% Thermal Vision----The CoS can SEE gradients of heat, like a technological thermo-imager.

61-70% Instant Snowball---The CoS can instantly and effortlessly form a snowball, even in the height of torrid summer, condensing atmospheric moisture in the palm of their hand.

71-75% Minor Spell Ability: Northern Lights----The CoS can flare out a spectacular auroral light show that entrances and bedazzles, equivalent to the spell Northern Lights, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their ME/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings, and on others as well, of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

76-85% Disease Resistance/Cold Healing---The CoS is effectively immune to diseases like the flu, common cold, and pneumonia. The character also heals twice as fast when immersed in cold water or freezing conditions.

86-90% Minor Spell Ability: Orb of Cold---The CoS can create a projectile of ice equivalent to the spell Orb of Cold, equal in level to their level of experience. They can perform this spell equal to their PE/2 per 24 hours. If they have a magic OCC, they perform additional castings, and on others as well, of this spell at HALF PPE cost.

91-00%Manifest Aura---The CoS can surround themselves with a glowing manifestation of their aura, like a personal aurora borealis. This is bright enough to read by(counts as a Lantern of Light spell, with regards to range and effect, but costs NO PPE)


Vulnerabilities: (roll 1d4 times)
01-20% Numb---The CoS suffers from reduced skin sensitivity; -10% to skills requiring a fine touch, and the person may not always react appropriately to temperature extremes(may put their hands on a hot surface and not realize they’re getting burned).

21-30% Cold Demeanor----The CoS has an inherent coldness to their personality; +1d6 to ME but -1d6 to M.A..

31-40% Heat Vulnerability---While not in any danger of melting away, the Child of the Snow is still susceptible to heat, with an increased chance of heatstroke at the lower end and greater injury and recovery time from burns. At temperatures above 70 degrees F + the characters P.E. in degrees, the person becomes listless and uneasy; -1 on initiative, and -5% to skills. Takes DOUBLE damage from heat-based attacks, and burns take TWICE as long to heal.

41-45% Weakened Will---A (perhaps mistakenly attributed) negative legacy of Pyha Tilaus‘s breeding program, these unfortunates are easily swayed or convinced to follow the orders of others. -1d6 ME and Seduction and Intimidation attempts on them gain a +10% bonus against them.

46-55% Cold Horror---The Child of the Snow may be the nicest person, but they unconsciously radiate a Horror Factor of 10.

56-70% Whispery Voice---The CoS has a breathy low-toned voice that sounds like a low breeze and barely rises above a whisper. Without some form of amplification, the person may be difficult to understand(-10% to others’ Language comprehension) and cannot shout commands or warnings

71-85% Clammy Skin---Even though their body temperature reads as normal, they remain cold to the touch, and radiate a sort of psychic chill that others may find disturbing(roll vs psionics), -1d4 to M.A.

86-95% Brittle---The CoS is susceptible to physical damage; attacks like kicks and punches do 50% MORE damage, and broken bones are a common problem.

96-00% Thermophile----The CoS gets a VERY pleasurable reaction from heat; anything above 80(+ the character’s ME) degrees F causes them to get aroused, lose their inhibitions, and generally act drunk. -1d6 on initiative, HALF all APMs and skill/action bonuses. This condition is extremely dangerous if combined with Numbness, as they may be blissfully unaware of how much damage they’re suffering while in the throes of an orgasmic state.

[SolCannibal]

I ask myself if "the sparkly magic bull$#!+" that makes the conception of Klia/Arzhur hybrids with Humans, Ogres, Elves and Dwarves possible might not also act as a "glue" of sorts further confusing the gene pool when in future generations Children of Snow of human, elf, ogre or dwarf stock inevitably end up mixing here & there...

[taalismn]

I ask myself if "the sparkly magic bull$#!+" that makes the conception of Klia/Arzhur hybrids with Humans, Ogres, Elves and Dwarves possible might not also act as a "glue" of sorts further confusing the gene pool when in future generations Children of Snow of human, elf, ogre or dwarf stock inevitably end up mixing here & there...

Yah, and just imagine what might happen if the CoS meet the Davasagarans, those descendants of humans and reformed demons?
Canon Palladium says 'No way, uh-uh', 'Their extreme magic natures would negate each other at best', and 'We were hoping to avoid this sort of part-Timro, part-halfling, part-Wulfen, part-lizardman nonsense'....
But SMB(sparkly magic bull$#!+)

[SolCannibal]

I ask myself if "the sparkly magic bull$#!+" that makes the conception of Klia/Arzhur hybrids with Humans, Ogres, Elves and Dwarves possible might not also act as a "glue" of sorts further confusing the gene pool when in future generations Children of Snow of human, elf, ogre or dwarf stock inevitably end up mixing here & there...

Yah, and just imagine what might happen if the CoS meet the Davasagarans, those descendants of humans and reformed demons?

Must admit i know nothing whatsoever about those Davasagarans you mentioned. Can you point them to me?

Canon Palladium says 'No way, uh-uh', 'Their extreme magic natures would negate each other at best', and 'We were hoping to avoid this sort of part-Timro, part-halfling, part-Wulfen, part-lizardman nonsense'....
But SMB(sparkly magic bull$#!+)

Just playing with light but somewhat science-sensible genetic drift and such can lead to surprises & weirdness aplenty. Magic just adds a little extra rocket fuel to the craziness fires.

[taalismn]

Must admit i know nothing whatsoever about those Davasagarans you mentioned. Can you point them to me?:

They're in the Interstellar Kingdoms thread, one or two pages back...They're a USA protectorate.
(I should probably double-post, with the species stats being reposted here to make sure the Fan Race thread is as complete as I can make it)

[SolCannibal]

Must admit i know nothing whatsoever about those Davasagarans you mentioned. Can you point them to me?:

They're in the Interstellar Kingdoms thread, one or two pages back...They're a USA protectorate.
(I should probably double-post, with the species stats being reposted here to make sure the Fan Race thread is as complete as I can make it)

No luck in finding them with the search function at least.

[taalismn]

No luck in finding them with the search function at least.

https://palladiumbooks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=124225&start=350

[SolCannibal]

No luck in finding them with the search function at least.

https://palladiumbooks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=124225&start=350

Thanks. Now, hope you don't mind me taking the initiative.


(From taalismn's post in the "Random Interstellar Empires/Star Kingdoms" thread)


Davasgaran---Human/Enlightened Yama Demon Hybrids (Effectively Variant Human Sept)
“The Davasgarans may be peaceful types who have embraced the ways of compassion and coexistance, giving up the powers of their demonic ancestors to assume the ways of the mortal world, but they discovered their lost teeth in a hurry when the Infernals came to set up camp. Mind you, the Infenals were rolling over them and they would have lost badly but for our intervention, but apparently on several occasions the Davas pulled out all the stops and hurt the Infernals real bad, bad enough to draw some serious ichor. There’s rumors that they either remembered or discovered enough Elemental magic to cause a catastrophic subsidance of an island one of the Demon Lords invading them was using as a base of operations. Whole island collapsed into its old subsurface caldera, Caught most of the Infernals offguard and they either drowned or were boiled to death.
Of course, the Demons cursed and burned two densely-inhabited islands to extinction in retaliation, and would have wiped out more if we hadn’t dropped in, but it goes to show you what the local fisherfolk and scroll-academics could get up to when their ire started running hot.”


Of the many worlds of the United Systems Alliance, small, lightly-populated Davasgar seemed to attract an unusual amount of attention from Infernal forces, puzzling USA analysts. The planet had no great ambient magical energy fields, magical minerals, or ancient ruins on it, which were the usual reasons for the Infernals to make repeated stops on it. Nor was the planet strategic in any way, or even heavily populated. Nevertheless, it seemed to have become a popular stop for both sides in the Minion War’s extension in the Three Galaxies. It wasn’t until the USA had enough time, after beating back attacks on the planet, to settle in and start making inquiries that they learned the truth about the humble fisherfolk and island-dwellers of Davasgar.
It came out that the human(oid) inhabitants of Davasgar are the blood descendants of a group of Enlightened Demons, refugees from the Yama Kings and the Seven Hells, after the demonic guards were corrupted to embrace mortality by their human slaves. These ‘tainted’ demons fled their former masters, taking with them their mortal teachers, servants, friends, and lovers, as their human captives had become to them. After fleeing cross-dimensionally, they found a sanctuary on a planet in the Three Galaxies, and settled down to make lives for themselves. Though the demons had shed almost all their powers and physical traits, their mixed-blood descendants, especially due to interbreeding with other demon-hybrids, manifest various physical and metaphysical attributes of their ancestors, if not their former evil dispositions. The Davasgarans lived in peaceful isolation until the Minion War came to the Thundercloud. The Devyls and Demons recognize the demons of the Yama Kings as rivals and finding an isolated colony of depowered psuedo-demons proved just too tempting. The Infernals started raiding Davasgar for sport, food and slaves and might have done so until the settlement’s extinction, had not the United Systems Alliance been checking worlds along their own borders for Infernal activity and followed rumors to Davasgar. Detecting an inordinate amount of Infernal activity in the same sector as JurenA/B(Davasgar’s dual suns), the Alliance Joint Command launched a number of attacks both in space and on Davasgar’s surface that pushed the surprised Infernals out of the sector.

The grateful Davasgarans cheerfully applied to join the United Systems Alliance though they currently only enjoy staus as a self-governing protectorate. Despite the still raw ravages of the Infernal attacks on their world, the Davasgarans have offered what they can to the Alliance protecting them. This trade has been mainly in marine foodstuffs, minerals, and agricultural goods, but a few Davasgarans have joined the USA as recruits, or have simply taken advantage of the newly established offworld trade to adventure and see the megaverse.
While there was some concern from some quarters about the Davasgarans’ ancestry(just as quickly countered by arguments about how many existing members of the USA would have to be disqualified by their own peoples’ checkered histories), the Davasgarans have proven exemplary members of the USA for their limited capacities.

Davasgarans appear as generally Human (and are able to interbreed with humans), with Human stats, but are distinguished by having some residual or vestigial demonic features and traits (roll on the following tables):
Alignments: Any
Dispositions:
While Davasgarans show as wide a range of emotions and attitudes as normal humans, in general they can be typified as loving their liberty and lifestyles. Tjey take exception to anybody trying to take that away from them, and only the most disgruntled and blackhearted Davasgaran rogues ever considered, let alone actually went ahead with, betraying their people by cooperating with the Infernals.
Physical Attributes:
Fall within the human range of 3d6 for all attributes, unles otherwise modified.
Hit Points: As per human norm
SDC: As per human norm
MDC: Unless otherwise noted, Davasgarans are SDC beings.
Psionics/ISP: Standard (Rifts Earth) chance of psionic abilities (this is still better than most of the Three Galaxies)
PPE: Higher than the Human norm; 5d6

Ancestral Traits:
Roll 1d4 times:
01-10% Perfectly Human Appearance---Ignore all other rolls
11-18% Unusual Eyes---Unusually colored; 01-11% Yellow, 11-20% Glowing Green, 21-30% Flaming Red, 31-40% Completely Gray, 41-50% Completely Light Blue, 51-60% Stark White 61-70% Completely Dark Blue, 71-80% Coal Black, 81 -90% Purple, 91-00% Orange
19-20% Unusual Eye---Rather than both eyes being exceptional, one eye is slightly larger, unusually shaped and colored, and possesses special abilities: 01-20% Clairvoyance (known locally as ‘Weather Eye’), 21-40% See Aura ,41 -60% See the Invisible, 61 -80% Hawk-like distance vision (2 miles), 81-100% Night vision (2,000 ft)
21-30% Odd Skin Color----- 01-11% Yellow, 11-20% Green, 21-30% Red, 31-40% Gray, 41-50% Light Blue, 51-60% Stark White 61-70% Dark Blue, 71-80% Coal Black, 81 -90% Purple, 91-00% Orange
31-35% Ears----01-75% large and pointed, or 76-00% animal-like, like a pig’s or a canine’s. 10% chance of having enhanced hearing.
36-40% Disproportionately Large Body Feature---This could be a nose, hands, ears, or sexual organs.
41-45% Hair----01-30% Exceptionally hairy with abundant body hair, 31-60% ‘Big Hair’; has an exceptionally large and unruly mane that seemingly moves of its own accord, or 61-00% totally bald. 20% chance of any hair being unusually colored;
46-55% Horns---1d4 horns adorn the head
56-60% Vestigal Tail-----25% chance of it being prehensile (+1 APM)
61-65% Vestigal Wings---A small pair of wings sprout from the shoulder blades; these are small enough to conceal under loose clothing. They are completely nonfunctional
66-85% Sharp Teeth---The person either has enlarged fang-like canine teeth or a mouth full of many smaller sharp teeth.
86-95% Muscular---The Davasgaran is built like a brick ####house; increase body mass and weight by 1d4 times, +3d6 to P.S. and +2d4 to P.E., reduce Spd by HALF.
96-00% Willowy---The Davasgaran has an exceptionally thin and attenuated build; almost skeletal. Reduce body mass by HALF, increase height and reach by 1d10x10%. +2d4 to P.P. and Speed.


Metaphysical Traits---Some (30%) Davasgarans have inherited metaphysical traits from their demonic ancestors:
01-05% Weapon Master---The Davasgaran has an innate proficiency with melee weaponry;+2 strike, +1 parry with any melee weapon
06-15% Bio-Regeneration---2d6 per melee round
16-25% Immune to Cold---The Davasgaran never suffers from chill or frostbite, and cold-based attacks, even megadamage ones, do NO damage.
26-45% Immune to Heat---The Davasgaran takes no harm from heat, including heat prostration and fire. Megadamage heat and fire, on the other hand, do FULL damage.
45-50% Environmental Adaptation--The best of both worlds; the person is effectively immune to extremes of hot and cold.
51-60% Hot Touch---The Davasgaran’s touch can burn like a lit cigarette or hot iron, and can be used to light fires. 1 SDC damage.
61-70% Wind Runner---In a brisk wind or stiff breeze, the character gets a boost of speed and agility: increase running speed by 50%, leaping distance x10, and + 1d4 to Dodge and Roll.
71-75% Magic----The Davasgaran has a natural talent for magic, and instinctively knows 1d6 spells from levels 1-4. Gets a bonus of + 1d4x10 PPE.
76-85% Superhuman Strength--- +1d6 to P.S. and is considered to be Superhuman
86-90% (Super)Natural Linguist---The Davasgaran can understand and speak any SPOKEN language with 1d4 melees of listening to it being spoken, though they may not be able to understand any colloquialisms, codewords, or cultural references.
91-95% Psionics---The character has acquired extra psionics. +1d4 powers from ONE class, except Super, and ISP is ME +1d6 per level of experience. Saves as a Minor psychic. If already a psychic from the random chance roll, move up a psychic class and increase ISP by 50%.
96-00% Metamorphosis----01-30 Land Animal (typically goat, pig, ox, horse or monkey), 31-60%-Avian (typically a falcon or sea bird), 61-90%-Fish (typically a shark), 91-00%-Mist.

Vulnerabilities: ---Some (30%) Davasgarans have also unfortunately inherited certain vulnerabilites from their ancestors:
01-50% Silver---Takes DOUBLE damage
51-60% Bone---Takes DOUBLE damage
61-85% Fire---Takes DOUBLE damage
86-00% Magic---Takes DOUBLE damage


Davasgaran Society Notes:
- The Davasgarans practice a form of Confucianism, though Taoism is more prevalent in their daily lives.
- The Davasgaran trade language is recognizable as a mix of various Chinese tongues and Demgogian. Speakers of any of those languages will be able to understand it, but are at -20% to skill rolls due to island dialects and local cultural references.
- Between its odd orbit around Hauli, odd axial tilt, and Hauli’s odd orbit around the Jur-aka binary, Davasgaran clocks and calendars tend to be complicated affairs, and timekeeping a real skill, bordering on an art, as the length of a day can vary over the year. The Davasgarans have never developed a workable wristwatch as others know them, and many offworlders believe that this has contributed to the rather laid-back attitude most Davasgarans affect.
-Owing to the unusual orbit around the planet’s twin suns, Davasgarans often speak of ‘red’ and ‘blue’ seasons(giving them a total of eight seasons altogether), and speak of the season and season type one is born in determining in part what special abilities one has. There’s little hard evidence of this having any truth to it, but the Davasgarans still believe.

[taalismn]

Yeah, as you can see, they're a pretty ...interesting...lot.
Got a LOT of interesting random dice rolls rolling up their solar system to add to the exoticness...

[89er]

Finally finished my trio of species, comment and review when able.

Juzyam

“Oh, Dhalshul has been nothing but a big help. He is so polite, helps with chores, quite when sneaking, and makes spelined tea. The fact he can crumble zombies to nothing with a touch is just a bonus for our group.”
-Mama Crux, Atlantian Undead Slayer

In the aftermath of the UWW founding and liberation of splurgorth dominion, not all who were freed wanted to join with this new government. A patchwork tribe of orcs bonded through oppression requested a colony ship and a habitable planet to be left alone. Seeing the benefits of offering some goodwill the Warlock council granted the request, the chosen world in the Durotin system overlapping with the border inward to the Anvil galaxy center.

The orcs landed and spread across the lands of Durotin 4, using few TW devices in fear of what high magic could easily unmake. Centuries later, the population now calling themselves the Juzyam, had settled and explored most of the planet, with plans to colonize the rest of the system, until it was too late. Reports for the past decade told of missing people, debauchery in the streets and nights becoming less safe. Vampires had infiltrated the people and shortly took over before a fight could be had. Commanded over by the innovative Vampire Intelligence Olnd’Ctt, he had some skill with biomancy and wizardy. Knowing the orc breed to be suitable warriors and better laborers, the VI vowed to shape the people into ideal workhorses to all vampires.

Great Chthonpolises were carved and shaped beneath the earth as solar farms were built into the side of mountain ranges to fuel the vile designs. Vast Genobaths were created and changed the captive orcs into universal blood donors for slaves and their masters, a sanguine spam. The bulk made lean, and the rich green and brown dermis changed to a pale honeydew color. All aesthetic traits made to please vampire sensibilities. Enjoying his new creations Olnd’Ctt planned to sell the new slaves to other vampiric empires, not caring that the Juzyam still resisted. Even with knowledge of their master’s weakness and hidden cashes of arms the leaders of this reclamation knew they needed an edge, an arcane one.

Secret rituals sent pleas for aid and honor out into the Megaverse, offering whatever could be offered for aid in removing the fanged cancer from their world. Fortunately, their calls attracted two traveling deities one of day the other of night, who had no love for vampirism. They would offer two boons in exchange for all the people of Durotin’s present and future magical potential for great mastery of PPE. The duo was surprised with how fast the orcs said yes, stating that the arcane always attracted these problems and the orcs would crush their enemies without high magic. The day ruler enchanted the bones and tissues of the Juzyam with the rays of the original sun archetype, making their touch toxic to any undead. The exarch of the night made the Juzyam more silent and unnoticed as shadows and to tell who served any undeath touched. As a bonus, one night the VI suddenly fell into a vegetative state, disrupting the hierarchy of the fanged.

During the disruptions, the resistance activated deity created “sunlight viral bombs” that were placed hidden on the leyline crossroads. When detonated, the bombs suffused the leylines with sunlight that traveled across the planet, ravaging the vampire centers of power. This was the signal that launched the Grand Sanitization to reclaim Durotin 4. It took four years for global victory, three years to reclaim the planet and an extra year hunting down any survivors that had plans to start anew. Olnd’Ctt was slain during the final year, buried but no threat of escalation or retaliation.
During recovery and rebuilding, the UWW sent a few ships to investigate the surge in arcane energies at the edge of their territory, only to be surprised by finding descendants of the that orc colony ship that was a footnote in the founding story of the UWW. The Juzyam were quickly brought back into the UWW umbrella for safety and to take advantage of their resources for rebuilding. To afford such undertakings, numerous youths left their homeworld to serve in various capacities. Be it uprooting Dark Covens, apprenticing in an Atlantian Undead Slayer’s entourage, or finding a career with GNE/USA and staring a family, all would send a portion of their payment to Durotin 4, so the people could now thrive both in light and the dark.

Alien Race/RCC: Juzyam, Orc sept
Alignments: Any, but 65% can fall under unprincipled.
Lifespan: 70 to 77 years
Size: 6ft to 6.9ft
Gender: Male and female
Physical Description/Appearance: Descriptions range from if human and orc had baby to that one doesn’t look healthy. The differences between baseline orcs and Juzyam include their leaner build, honeydew green skin and pointy incisors to go with their shortened tusks. Vampiric tastes traded the brawn for corded, wiry frames to move with little noise or bother.
Disposition/Attitudes: Generations of training as servants and laborers have made this breed more willing to take orders smoothly, but when provoked that classic rage can resurface.

Physical Attributes:
IQ: 3D6
ME: 3D6
MA: 3D6
PS: 4D6
PP: 4D6
PB: 3D6 +4
PE: 4D6+12
SPD: 4D6
(PPE):1D4
Hit Points: 1D4x10
SDC: 2D6x10
Horror Factor: 6 when people are told what happened to the Juzyam.

Natural Abilities:
-Universal blood donors across most humanoid species, even some non-humanoids.
-Blood and Undead Smell plus gut sense about who serves a vampire or not.
-Sunblessed Bones: When a Juzyam touches an undead with any part of their body, a potent safety orange aura glows beneath the skin, highlighting the parts of the skeleton that is in contact with the undead. This blessing damages undead Health Points at P.S. plus a 20% boost. This damage is double against greater undead. The Juzyam must make skin to skin contact to make it work, covering up with cloths or gloves halts the effect.
-Can easily interbreed with other orc septs.
Psionics: No sighs so far.
Magic: No potential now or in the future, sacrificed it all to survive. Have heard rumors of Elemental Fusionists who intwine light and shadow.
Cybernetics/Bionics: Can be installed but any removed limb removes the natural aura for that limb. Minor/Cosmetic seem to be alright, but it is a case-by-case basis.

Culture: Currently in recovery, but renting out the subterranean cities attracts academics, tourists and species who prefer to be underground. The UWW is helping but positioning the Juzyam as the poster child as why no one should trust vampiric power. Most people live day by day, relearning to think for themselves and not have everything planned out by a higher up. Several Orc and “monstrous species” run NGOs based out of USA, have provided funding and guidance in reconnecting with Orc roots. Where there are undead to fight, the Juzyam will be there to bite back.

[taalismn]

Finally finished my trio of species, comment and review when able.

Juzyam

During the disruptions, the resistance activated deity created “sunlight viral bombs” that were placed hidden on the leyline crossroads. When detonated, the bombs suffused the leylines with sunlight that traveled across the planet, ravaging the vampire centers of power. This was the signal that launched the Grand Sanitization to reclaim Durotin 4. It took four years for global victory, three years to reclaim the planet and an extra year hunting down any survivors that had plans to start anew. Olnd’Ctt was slain during the final year, buried but no threat of escalation or retaliation. .

Owwww....I wonder if the High Sardye would see that weapon and recognize it as similar to something they used back in the day when they were stomping Vampire Intelligences.