Fan Races!!

[Aramanthus]

It could probably be listed as Munchkin! I'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

[taalismn]

It could probably be listed as Munchkin! I'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Nobody's complained about my munchkins...(I'm almost disappointed)

[Aramanthus]

LOL We'll wait and see what people think when I finish it!

[taalismn]

(FWHOOOSSHHHH)..Yep, gas jet on the flamethrower hasn't clogged...

[Aramanthus]

ROFLMAO! I'm going to have to continue tonight and tomorrow on it. I've been working 10 hour days this week. Since I'm off tomorrow because of a company meeting. Trying to get my hours in.

[taalismn]

Yep...know the feeling....They flog you at work, they flog you here...tryin' to make a livin', and tryin' to make a megaverse...

[Aramanthus]

I did work on it last night. It's in a skeletal form. I need to ad flesh to its bones.

[taalismn]

Blame Shiiv-A for this one, too....

Prozacanoids
“Oh crud! That Spiney Ravager just downed those three purple-red guys!”
“Purple guys---? Everybody, pull back! Don’t engage the Ravager! Not just yet! Instead, surround and set up for crossfire! We may have an opportunity here!”

The Prozacanoids are a race of humanoid vegetable intelligences that hail from Delusia, a temperate and verdant world in the Thundercloud Galaxy.
Prozacanoids are not particularly fast, strong, or perceptive, and they have been unflatteringly compared to the coach-potato Phleg by some galactic travellers. Indeed, the Prozacanoids seem to be without worry or care, attitude-wise, and how they maintain their high standard of living in a society where zoning out seems to be the national pastime.
Because Prozacanoids are neither fast nor agile, nor particularly perceptive, evolution has nevertheless provided them with an effective natural defense...A combination of automatic psionics and natural pheromones provides Prozacanoids with a natural moving non-aggression zone around them..anybody entering a 40 ft radius of them tends to suddenly get sandbagged by feelings of non-aggression and mellowness. Only some serious effort to resist the unseen and unheard mental attack is capable of maintaining a hot temper and urge to do harm in the face of it This effect is magnified with additional Prozacanoids en masse. This ability is constantly on
There are several downsides to this...Prozacanoids working with groups of other beings tend to drag susceptible members of other species down to their level of mellowness, reducing their work efficiency. Also, Prozacanoids are not entirely immune to their own emissions...In part due to their own instinctual need to group together to maximize the effect of their powers, Prozacanoids tend to become agitated, increasingly nervous, and even paranoid when separated from the company of other Prozacanoids.
Of course, the fact that Prozacanoids are natural megadamage beings, further aides their complacency. Those hostiles who are able to resist the effects of the Prozacanoid Mellow Field, are often stopped in their fell intent by the Prozacanoids’ thick-shelled bodies. This all adds up to a ‘what me worry?’ attitude on the part of almost all Prozacanoids.
Prozacanoids are part of the CCW, their world having been discovered some fifty years ago, and the residents having (barely) made the requirements for CCW membership. Delusia has become an exporter of medicinal agro-products and chemicals, importing various commodities and luxury goods in return. A number of Prozacanoids have wandered off their homeworld as tourist-adventurers, looking to see the sights and experience the various pleasures of a galactic civilization.
A few governments and corporations have tried to take advantage of the Prozacanoids’ natural abilities for law enforcement, medical therapy, and prisoner control, finding ways to introduce Prozacanoids into riot situations, or keep a few wandering about prisons and psychiatric wards. The Splugorth Medcrythh has reported become interested in the species, which doesn’t bode well should the alien intelligence decide it’s worth its while to enslave them. The Coloye Dopamen are also reportedly interested in the Prozacanoids; a number of Prozacanoid tourists have disappeared off ships known to have been pirated by Dopamen and have never been seen from again.
Note: Spaced Marines are IMMUNE to the detrimental effects of Prozacanoid mind control, and in fact seem to become even more effective around them(take the penalties and turn them into BONUSES). However, reports of Spaced Marines devouring live Prozacanoids in cannibalistic orgies are false(as far as anybody can confirm).
Alignments: Selfish
Lifespan: 80 years
Size: 5 -6 ft tall, 200 lbs
Gender: Hermaphrodites who produce 1-3 offspring every 6 years through a process of budding.
Physical Description/Appearance:
Large-headed, neckless, beings with an oval, cylindrical torso, with two stumpy arms emerging halfway up ending in large spatulate five-fingered hands with stubby fingers and suction cups on the fingertips. The legs are somewhat longer, and end in broad elephantine feet. Their faces are seemingly plastered on the front side of the head, with two eyes, a broad mouth, and wide, flat, slit-noses. Prozacanoids have no apparent ears or external genitalia. Skin is waxy and plastic-like, with a reddish-white coloration...some Prozacanoids like getting tattoos of colored bands or small text up and down their bodies and across their ‘waists’. Prozacanoids tend to wear colorful, mismatching clothing...whatever strikes their fancy.
Disposition/Attitudes:
Phlegmatic, mellow, blissful, and complacent. Almost childlike in their naivete and optimism. Just like watching the universe and all the pretty colors go on around them.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: 2d6
ME: 4d6
MA: 4d6
PS: 3d6
PP: 2d6
PB: 2d6
PE: 4d6
SPD: 2d6+2
(ISP): By Psionic Class
(PPE): 3d6
Hit Points:----
SDC:-----
MDC: 1d6x10 MD
Horror Factor: 10 to anyone who fears being medicated against their will.
Natural Abilities:
*Megadamage Beings---Tough plastic-like skin

*Plant Organism---In order to survive, all a Prozacanoid needs is water, reasonable amounts of sunlight/UV radiation, and some nutritional supplements(vitamins and minerals)

*Regrow Limbs--_Prozacanoids can regrow a severed limb within 1d4 days, and suffer NO pain in the process.

*Doesn’t Need to Breath---Prozacanoids are IMMUNE to inhaled aerosol agents, drugs, and airborne chemicals.

*Immune to Horror Factor----Prozacanoids are NOT affected by supernatural horror afctor

*Pheromones----Prozacanoids fairly sweat a chemical brew of pheromones and other substances that have a profound tranquilizing effect on those who breath them in or absorb them through skin contact...airborne pheromones have a 10 ft radius, although if ventilation is not good, can fill a large sized(auditorium-sized) room within 1d6 minutes. Victims must save versus Non-Lethal Poison or be mildly stoned; -1 to Initiative, -1 to strike, parry, and dodge, and -20% to Speed. Generally feels less aggressive and rather happy. Effects last for 1d4 melees after leaving contact/proximity with the Prozacanoid.
` If a Prozacanoid’s blood or body tissues are ingested or injected,save versus Non-lethal poison or be -1d4 to Initiative, -1d6 to strike, parry, and dodge, and -50% to Speed. Victim will also be -20% to all skill rolls. Effects last 1d6 minutes.

Vulnerabilities:
*Herd Mentality---Prozacanoids are afraid of being alone; if left alone for more than 24 hours, they begin to become agitated and panicky; -1 to Initiative, -10% to skill rolls, and -2 to strike, but +2 to Dodge and increase Speed by 25%.

*Digestive Acids---Prozacanoids take DOUBLE damage from digestive acids

Psionics: Standard, plus:
*Autodefense Mindblock
*Empathic Projection: Peacefulness(Always On)----40 ft radius

Magic: None; but they think it’s pretty neat stuff; can you pull a Promethean out of hat, mister?
Cybernetics/Bionics: None
Available OCCs: Because of their rather blissed-out demeanors, Prozacanoids are limited to their own RCC...
Skills: Select 8 ‘other’ skills at Level One, plus an additional 1 at levels 4, 8, and 12.
Communications: Any
Domestic: Any(+15%)
Electrical: Basic, Electrical Generation, and Electrical Engineer(the latter count as THREE skill selections)
Espionage: None
Mechanical: Basic and Automative only
Medical: First Aide and Paramedic only(latter counts as TWO skill selections)
Military: None
Physical: Any except acrobatics
Pilot: Any except Robots and Spacecraft(and -10% to piloting Aircraft and military vehicles)
Pilot Related: Any
Rogue: Any
Science: Any(+5% to Math; it holds no anxiety for them)
Technical: Any
Wilderness: Any(+5%)
Weapons Profficiencies(W.P.): Any, except Heavy Weapons(but -1 to strike with ranged weapons)
Secondary Skills: 4 Secondary skills at Level One
Experience Tables: Use Vagabond Scout

Culture:
Prozacanoid society seems to be one big slow-motion party with leadership descending on those serious enough to actually get any work done. Technologically, they’re about equal to 20th century Earth(but it took them three times as long to reach that point), with an emphasis on ‘green’ technologies, but imports of CCW technology have upgraded their power production capabilities and computer systems to a more modern standard.

[Aramanthus]

Cool RCC Taalismn!

[taalismn]

...oh woowwwww...the colorsss.....

[shiiv-a]

*inspires the world of procrastination ...

not something to be totally proud of .. but i like the thought



anyways .. been bothered by real life issues at work and with the local economy and currently stapled to the ground while trying to crawl ahead. just like most of the world i guess.

[taalismn]

:lol:

*inspires the world of procrastination ...

not something to be totally proud of .. but i like the thought



anyways .. been bothered by real life issues at work and with the local economy and currently stapled to the ground while trying to crawl ahead. just like most of the world i guess.

Ah, don't sweat it...being my own private Canada, that is...
The annoying thing is that I'm able to write this stuff because I'm UNDERemployed, so don't feel down about living in the real world...As difficult as it can be, actual WORK conveys a sense of purpose that can be essential for emotional well-being...

Of course, I had cause to laugh out loud watching Jet Li's movie 'Black Mask', where the fugitive supersoldier hides out in a job as a librarian...'because nobody bothers librarians'....obviously they were never in a library to be buttonholed by three people simultaneously; one demanding material on oral contracts because their family telemarketer felt cheated out of a contract with a company that wanted to see paperwork first, somebody who was complaining about the glare from the overhead lights distracting them while they were internetting, and somebody else who couldn't understand that a 'web page' didn't translate into a single page of printed text(couldn't understand why they were paying 10 cents a page for three pages when it said only one 'page' on the screen)...Had I been Jet Li at that moment...*THWHACK*(FLIP!)*PUNCHPUNCHPUNCH*(LEAPKICK)*SLAM*(BODYTHROWTHROUGHWINDOW)*dust off hands*.....

Sometimes this is work....real work's an adventure...

[Aramanthus]

That would have been cute to see a librarian kicking three whiners butts. I'm still working on putting flesh to my RCC.

[taalismn]

That would have been cute to see a librarian kicking three whiners butts. I'm still working on putting flesh to my RCC.

My secret dream...until I can write up the Mystic Librarian OCC, BIbliokinetics Martial Arts, and Book Magick....

[Aramanthus]

I still think about the time several years ago I was running another game. (not saying what system.) Any way the players were in this librarian were in an ancient library. I had the librarians moving around and they attacked them because they said the librarians were moving suspiciously. Just thought you'd like that one.

[taalismn]

In the name of my fellow profesional colleagues, I must find these varlets and tear up their cards!

[Aramanthus]

ROFLMAO!!! I sort of expected that one from you Taalismn!

[taalismn]

...yes, but did you expect the flying monkies?

[Aramanthus]

So when are you going to make that RCC......"Flying Monkeys"

[taalismn]

So when are you going to make that RCC......"Flying Monkeys"

Nah...that would an 'After the Bomb' mutant animal thread...

[Aramanthus]

ROFLMAO!! What about a race of Galactic Librarians?

[taalismn]

Put it on the (ever growing) List of Things to Do....next to 'eating', 'sleeping', and 'working'(notice that 'procreating' doesn't appear there)...

[Aramanthus]

I've got a growing list too! And that particluar one is on that list!

[taalismn]

Not sure if you'd consider this a monster or a piece of equipment....

P-40(*X*) Warhawk “Flying Tiger” Supernatural AeroFighter

“Brother Tsien-Pei! It is you! I thought the boys were mistaken!”
“It is I, Wi-Ren! And I have been away too long. It is nearly five years and the tenth moon of this year, and high time I visited you! So, you have made village headsman! Most impressive! And I thought Sai-Li was in the succession to take over!. ”
“Brother, do not take this wrong...it is indeed that tenth moon that concerns me...you should not be here...I am headsman only because the Crimson Cloud murdered Sai-Li and his clan for not paying the harvest-tithe on the tenth moon...They do not like strangers in the village. so I beg you, brother, leave now and return later, once they have taken their tribute, had their sport, and left!”
“Yes, I know, I have heard of the thrall you are under. This time, my brother, the Falcon Demons of the Crimson Cloud shall not rob you of your harvest, nor feast on the flesh of your village women...I have come with friends to see that it does not happen this year...”
“Are you mad, brother? Have you lost your wits since you last left us? Do you not think the Crimson Cloud knows of the guns of the so-called Liberation Brigade? They will not fear your firearms! They will laugh at you as they dance in the sky beyond the reach of your guns, and whatever champions you think you have gathered...laugh, and dance, and bring fire and death from above!”
“No, my understandably frightened little brother....I have not gone mad....I know what they will do, but they are not beyond the reach of our guns...You will see, brother...I have brought Flying Tigers.”

“Go get’em, Rakkie! Flying Tigers Forever!!!”

This monstrous creation seems to be some supernatural chimaera of an airborne predator and a WWII-vintage monoplane fighter. It resembles the old P-40 superficially, but the body of the aircraft seems composed of some sort of organic MDC material that flexes and bends like a living thing. The wings are feathered/scaled, and bend like regular wings, with embedded knife-sharp claws growing out of the ends, and two massive taloned legs protrude from the body of the plane. The open air-intake under the twin contra-rotating propellors has rudimentary fangs and a powerful jaw, complementing the vicious snarling visage painted(?) on the nose. Two predatory eyes sprout from behind the intake-jaw, under a set of chevroned nasal exhausts, like a thorny brow line. When the aircraft being is under duress or is exhausted, steam and smoke often shoot from these vents.
The aircraft/creature is fearsomely armed and armored, with the exception of the cockpit, which for some reason is/was initially paned in SDC glass(though those with the resources quickly replace this material with modern MDC transparent materials). P-40(*X*)s are typically colored in dun or green camouflage, with black tiger stripes, though other variations are not unknown. The entire craft seems less a machine, and more some biomechanical predator under the direction of its pilot/Controller, who sits in the cockpit, before a set of basic controls, though piloting is less a matter of manipulating manual controls as it is bonding with and directing a living creature, like a horse or a griffin.
Indeed, the Flying Tigers seem to breath, bleed, and heal like regular living beings, and must regularly eat as well, needing regular infusions of petrochemicals, supplemented with the flesh of other megadamage beings, freshly shredded by the plane-demons’ contra-rotating props into a thick mist that they consume through their forward airscoops. The creature-artifacts possess a rudimentary, animal-like intelligence, capable of predatory cunning and basic judgement, though they will defer, in all but the most dire situations, to their pilot/controllers. They are, even at rest, tempermental, aggressive beings, that will lash out at the unwary or disrespectful(much like a giant eagle or other bird of prey might), though they readily recognize their handlers/mechanics and their pilots. Though able to move about on the ground rather awkwardly, they are rarely inclined to leave their nest-like revetments and hangars where they are typically stabled when not in use. Indeed....a Flying Tiger left too long inactive/uncovered, and unfed, in the open, exposed to the elements, becomes cranky, uncooperative, slow to respond to commands, and may even eventually sicken and die, like any other living creature. A few neglected Flying Tigers have even been known to go feral, rather than starve to death, hunting on their own and refusing to let anyone else near them, let alone pilot them, in retribution for their passive abuse.
The origins of the Flying Tiger are unknown; common belief holds that the monstrous beings are the creation of a as-yet-unnamed Chinese sorceror who weilded a knowledge of history and a powerful form of technowizardry or biomancy, perhaps melding demon spirits with a technological framework. Adventurers from North America who have encountered the bizarre beings have developed similar theories about them being built by Dweomer City(or someone associated with them) on account of the similarities to the Automatons(Dweomer has denied having anything to do with the Flying Tigers, however, though they’d love to get their hands on one). Another suggestion is that the P-40(*X*) is really some alien lifeform summoned from an alternate universe, or which has shaped itself/been created to resemble an ancient Terran warplane. Whatever its origins, the P-40(*X*) is a truly fearsome warmachine.
The Flying Tiger is most commonly encountered in the demon-infested land of China, where it is most often in the hands of the few organized resistance cells fighting the Yama Kings and their demon legions. A few of these aircraft creatures have been encountered in other parts of the world as well, most likely adventurers or rebels seeking allies for their fight back home.


Note: Controllers CAN bond with the P-40(*X*) suggesting that it is some sort of Automaton, but the few who have, have noted that the proccess feels strange and alien.

Option: The P-40(*X*) could have (at GM’s discretion) originated in an alternate universe where WWII was a mage-war, fought between nations possessing powerful sorcery, and creating weapons combining the best(or worst) aspects of bio-wizardy, techno-wizardry, and alchemy(sort of like some of the ideas put forward in the novel “The Iron Dragon’s Daughter”)..... In this setting World War II has become an even longer and protracted struggle due to the re-discovery, in the course of the war, of magic. The feud as it now stands, has the necromancy-fueled Nazi warmachine, directed by the Thule Society, having a death-grip on mainland Europe and Western Russia. Their Italian alchemist allies, meanwhile, are taking part in the subjugation of the Mediterranean area, but have run into stiff resistance from the remanants of the British army, now backed by Egyptian desert sorcerors and Golem battalions from Palestine. Russia has rallied its Babi Yagas, and the Druids of the British Isles fight a bitter and stiff resistance against the Axis seige of their islands.
Meanwhile, Japan has swept through the Pacific with dragon magic, but are facing uncompromising resistance in Manchuria as the Chinese awaken their own dragons.....
America has come to a rare and unusual moment of compromise with its own varied, yet divided, native peoples, in the face of the darkness spreading from Europe and the dragons-fire from the Far East. Amerindian mysticism and Yankee/Canadian ingenuity have combined to form a powerful new science...Technowizardry...that promises to herald in a new age of wonders, if the more immediate global crisis can be overcome. The P-40(*X*) War Hawk is one of the first of the weapons developed by the fusion....a combination of powerful lesser-Thunderbird nature spirits, with the weaponry of the White Man....
The WarHawks in Rifts China are thus likely to be former members of the American Volunteer Group(AVG), the ‘military advisors’ who went over to remedy the disparity between the underequipped Nationalist Chinese air force, and the more advanced Imperial Japanese air forces.

In its home dimension, the P-40(*X*) is an SDC being, but in the magic-rich environment of Rifts Earth, it becomes a megadamage being.

Type: Curtiss P-40(*X*)
Class: Single Seat Fighter/Pursuit Plane
Crew: One
MDC/Armor by Location
Main Body 320
Cockpit* 100 _SDC_(typically refitted with 50 MDC)
Wings(2) 120 each
Tail Assembly 150
Claws(2) 100 each
Prop Spinner 150

*Difficult to hit target; -5 to strike even on a called shot. The pilot within is even more difficult to hit; -6 to strike, and typically wears MDC armor.
Note: the P-40(*X*) lacks any sort of environmental protection, so EBA, or at the very least, an oxygen mask and insulated clothing, are required for flying at high altitudes.
Height: 8 ft
Width/Wingspan: 37 ft
Length: 33 ft
Weight: 7,740 lbs
Cargo: Small space in cockpit for a survival pack and a sidearm
Physical Strength: Supernatural
Powerplant: Dual PPE and Liquid Fuel Engine
Can fly just about forever on a Ley Line, but off a line, the Warhawk must use its conventional engine, or walk
Can burn just about any liquid fuel that pours and burns(the peasant-warriors of China often fuel them on alcohol), but works best/prefers running on high-octane aviation fuel.
Often supplements its fuel-feed with monster-flesh(fresh or carrion).
Speed:
(Running) 15 MPH
(Jumping) Can leap 15 ft into the air for a jump-start, or 25 ft lengthwise
(Flying) 362 MPH w/ 31,000 ft ceiling
Can hit 450 MPH in a dive.
Can make leaping takeoffs(requires 300 ft or more to take off if carrying bombs), and can make landings in as little as 300 ft of runway(can attempt to make a vertical landing, but is -15% to pilot skill).
Range: ( Conventional Liquid Fuel) 850 miles
(Ley Line) Effectively limitless
Market Cost: Could easily bring about 8-10 million credits on the Black Market
Farnborough Air sells P-40(*X*)s, but whether they build them themselves, or ship them in from elsewhere is unknown. In Rifts China, where these things are more common, possession of one of these warmachines is worth 2-5 times as much to the beleagured resistance fighters.
Systems/Features:
*Radio: 100 mile range---This is not actually part of the aircraft, but a technological system fitted into the cockpit
*Basic Cockpit Instruments(altimeter, airspeed indicator, level, compass, gas guage, etc.).
*Magic Optics: Has the Eyes of a Hawk:
Make out small objects(like a sign or a face) at up to 2 miles
Nightvision: 2000 ft
Predatory Tageting: +1 to strike with ranged weaponry and bombs
See Auras/Magic----The Warhawk can actually see magical auras in its line of sight, allowing it to detect supernatural threats(including magically masked/naturally invisible ones).
Whatever the Warhawk sees can be viewed thru a small HUD(Head Up Display) in the cockpit.

*Regenerate MDC---The Warhawk naturally regenerates 2d6 MD every 30 minutes, or 5d6 MD on a Ley Line or with the infusion of 100 PPE. The living machine can increase its regeneration rate by consuming the flesh/skin/ shell of other megadamage beings(add 1 MDC for every 5 MDC of flesh/wreckage devoured)

*Preservation Mode---If the War Hawk should lose more than 70% of its main body or wing MDC, the ensorceled nature spirit’s instincts take over and the aircraft goes into a berserker mode, fighting either to escape(60%) or take its tormentors out/down with it(40%). The aircraft has 4 Actions/attacks per melee, and is +3 to strike, and +6 to dodge until the target is destroyed or the danger is escaped. There is also a 20% chance that the aircraft/spirit will attack any friendly aircraft in the vicinity, in a blind rage. The pilot is at -20% to Piloting Skill; Airplane to retain/regain control of his aircraft.

*Flicker Dodge---A special capability, an apparent application of the Astral Hole spell. The aircraft can actually “skip out” of reality into a temporary astral pocket in order to dodge enemy fire, disappearing from the enemy’s sights, only to reappear a few seconds later in that same spot, ideally after the enemy has gone past...or even behind the pursuer!. Typically, a P-40(*X*) can engage this system 10 times before needing to recharge the system on a Ley Line(takes about 24 hours), or the pilot can pump in 120 PPE

Weapons Systems:
1) 6 .50 Caliber Machine Guns---These conventional weapons represent the main armament of the P-40(*X*). In Rifts terms, their damage is pretty poor, but since being introduced to this world, it’s been discovered that the machine guns can be modified to accept explosive rounds with (marginally) greater power. In Rifts China, equivalent ammunition is produced by several free human enclaves and the Geofront’s guerilla resistance program.
Range: 6000 ft
Damage: 1d6x10 SDC per rd
1d6 MD for a 10 rd burst
6D6 MD for a simultaneous burst from all 6 guns
(Explosive Rds)
3d6x10 SDC single rd
3d6 MD for a 10 rd burst
2d4 x10 +20 MD for a simultaneous burst from all 6 guns
Rate of Fire: Standard, EPCHH
Payload: 300 rds per gun, 1800 rds total

2)(Optional) Bombs----Underwing and underbody modified quills allow the Warhawk to carry and release simple ‘iron’ bombs on command of the pilot. The resistance warriors of the Chinese often use modern explosives supplied to them by the Geofront, or homemade anti-demon bombs of iron, silver, and peach-wood shrapnel, and black powder charges. or other mixtures of ingredients.
Can carry 6 20-lb bombs(1d4x10 MD to 10 ft blast radius),
or 3 500 lb bombs(4d4x10MD to 60 ft blast radius)
Note: Users can substitute other bomb/weapon types, depending on whose rules/ordnance they prefer...these are just sample weapons)

3)Hand to Hand---The P-40(*X*) can actually engage in hand-to-hand combat, tearing with its talons, and its spinning propeller blades. The gaping air-intake can also deliver a nasty bite.
Foot-Claw 4d6 MD
Wing Slash 2d6+3 MD
Bite 2d6 MD
Propellor Slash 1d6x10 MD
Tail Slash 1d4 MD
High Speed Diving Slash---Similar to a hunting hawk’s aerial strike on flying birds, this maneuver takes three attacks, but does 1d6x10+10 MD, and 70% chance of knocking airborne targets out of the air; victim must roll under their PP(or make a piloting roll) to regain control of their fall, and they lose 1 APM and all initiative on the next round as they struggle to regain stability(similar to a knockdown).

Alignment: Typically Good/Unprincipled. Feral P-40(*X*)s are Anarchist
Attributes of Note:
I.Q.: 10
M.E.: 22
P.P.: 18
P.P.E.: 35; regains 4 PPE per hour, 8 PPE per hour of inactivity, 10 PPE per melee on a leyline, 20 PPE per melee at a nexus(can also gain PPE from Freely Given PPE from passengers)


By itself, the P-40(*X*) has 4 attacks per melee, no bonuses to strike, dodge, or parry without a pilot behind its controls. They possess innate bonuses of +6 save vs Magic, +4 save vs Psionics,

Bonus: the P-40(*X*) enjoys a +2 APM, +1 to strike with its ranged weaponry, +10% to pilot skill, and a +1 to dodge due to its mystical nature, in addition to any bonuses from its pilot.

[DhAkael]

Not sure if you'd consider this a monster or a piece of equipment....

P-40(*X*) Warhawk “Flying Tiger” Supernatural AeroFighter

Looked that over...
EEK!

[Aramanthus]

That is one heck of a fighter! Its very detailed! I think it really gives it that WW2 fighter. Great job Taalismn!

[taalismn]

Not sure if you'd consider this a monster or a piece of equipment....

P-40(*X*) Warhawk “Flying Tiger” Supernatural AeroFighter

Looked that over...
EEK!

It gets worse, as you shall see...

Basically, I'm trying to merge 'Splicers' and magic in a contemporary setting....

[taalismn]

Cessnar Skyhawk
“Made the mistake once of insulting an Aerial Express courier’s ride once....”Couldn’t afford a hovercyc, could you, air-boy?”, “Doya need help winding up the rubber band, wingy?”, and “Can I play with your paper plane, geek?” were a few of the more polite things I said...I think I also spit in the guy’s beer and a few other things like pouring salt in his oil can...
How was I supposed to know the thing was one of those Cessnars? We’d never heard of no living planes in these parts! And nobody else at the grog-stop never told me any different! But that gave that pencil-neck no right to buzz me on the way out! Nearly totalled me bike when he feather-dusted me!
And, ouch, those damn quill-holes still hurt!”

The Cessnar Skyhawk seems some unusual cross between a technological aicraft, a living entity, and a magical construct.. .It is not known whether the Cessnar should be rightly classified as an alien being, a technowizard artifact, or what, just as its origins remain unknown; d-bee creation or inspired Rifts Earth product. The most common consensus is that the Cessnar came from some alternate Earth where magic and technology merged along the lines of biology...and continued to evolve. To a few travellers, they seem to be similar to the Curtiss P-40(*x*) Warhawks said to be haunting China(indeed, these observers speculate that if they do come from the same place/creators, the Cessnars may represent a later development).
Even more surprising, and lending more credence to the idea of an alternate Earth origin is that the Cessnar resembles a pre-Rifts civilian airplane; any of the high-wing, single-engined, fixed landing gear private airplanes popular with civilian aviation. Only this airplane has been crossed with some sort of alien hawk....the wings are fully articulated and feathered like a hawk’s wings, the tail fan-like, and the landing gear are claw-like. The Cessnar has a propellor spinner in front, but also has a small mouth with long extendable hollow tongue in it, just below the aircraft’s ‘chin’. If cut/damaged, the Cessnar bleeds a oily red blood, and can heal/regenerate damage. However, it also has a regular cockpit with openning doors(though the hinges are more like cartilege joints), with interior seats(with what look like metallic bone frames, and padded in heated leather) and windows(plastic-like optical corneas). The aircraft also has a number of innate magical abilities. The interior is protected by an integral Breath Without Air spell, that seems to act in lieu of cabin pressurization. The ability to activate an innate Featherlight spell also allows the craft/creature to make short-run takeoffs and landings(almost vertical) without harm, as well as drift to the ground if too badly damaged/injured to maintain regular flight.
Being basically biological in nature, Cessnars have both advantages and disadvantages compared to purely technological vehicles. The Cessnar can regenerate damage, and with their own brains, respond to crisises independent of a pilot, and can assist in their own piloting. However, they must also feed periodically; in particular, the Cessnar can feed off ley line energy/PPE, but also needs liquid fuel(avgas works best), and the occasional handful of mixed birdseed, machine oil, and small metal parts(nuts, bolts, screws, etc...). The Cessnar also occasionally needs rest, like any other biological being, though it needs nowhere near the same amount of sleep as most other animals. Being biological, the Cessnar is also vulnerable to magic and psionics, but as as supernatural creature, it has a bonus to resist magic and psionics(see below).

Cessnars can be ‘ridden’ from inside their cockpits by a trained pilot, using the controls inside, but owing to the biological nature of the beasts/aircraft, pilots used to technological machines have a -5% to their skill rolls. If the Cessnar decides it doesn’t like the pilot, and chooses to resist, the penalty is increased to -20%. Should the Cessnar be treated with kindness, and take a liking to its pilot/crew(hand-feeding is one way to gain a Cessnar’s trust), the plane will actually assist its pilot. picking up on his intent, and giving a +10% to piloting rolls, rather than imposing a penalty.
Of course; CATCHING a Cessnar to ride is the problem; feral Cessnars are about as skittish as a Pegasus, flying away if spooked(though a feral BloodHawk may take the opportunity to strafe its pursuers before escaping), but they can be approached carefully(and often with high octane gasoline as a bait), then captured(it takes 1d4 melees to prize open the door and get inside to the controls). Some handlers use baits of avgas and hangars to gain the living airplanes’ trust, while others use Carpet of Adhesion spells and nets to trap the planes, then domesticate them. Domesticated Cessnars can be treated as horses, or other exotic mounts, and are pretty much dependent on their handlers, but harsh treatment will make the Cessnar, like any self-respecting mount, less inclined to cooperate with its captors.
Cessnars have their own brains and intelligence, but the intelligence is animal-like, more akin to a domestic dog or parrot...The Cessnar can understand and obey simple commands, and is even capable of exhibiting a dog-like affection, but they aren’t terribly bright. They cannot speak, but they can produce high-pitched whines, buzzes, groans, and rumbles that give some idea of their emotional state.
Cessnars tend to behave like horses and other domestic beasts, especially in regard to sensitivity to the supernatural, and their responses to it. Most Cessnars will attempt to flee from danger, including airborne predators, and magical storms, and will fight a pilot’s efforts to steer them into such dangers.
The exception is the Cessnar Bloodhawk....a much rarer(1 in 20) ‘combat’ variant of the Cessnar, with a more combat-oriented mindset(like a well-trained warhorse), slightly tougher build, slower overall speed, but more aggressive attitude. Cessnar Boodhawks also differ from their flightier cousins in that they have developed/been created with integral biological weapons....a more powerful prop-blade spinner, laser light cells in the wings, feather quill projectiles shooting from the wings, and the ability to grow and drop small biological explosive ‘bombs’ from the wings.
Cessnars tend to have brightly colored body plumage similar to parrots, cardinals, jays, and birds of paradise. Cessnar Bloodhawks tend to have earth-tone patterns or camouflage plumage schemes.

Note: Mechanical/bionic improvements/additions CANNOT be added, but technowizardry modifications CAN be made to a biomechanoid aircraft like a Cessnar(costs TWICE as much in terms of PPE, however).

Note2: In their native universe, Cessnars are SDC beings, but on Rifts Earth, they become megadamage(MDC) beings.

Type: Cessnar SkyHawk/Bloodhawk*
Class: Biomechanoid Light Aircraft.
Crew: One, plus enough space in the cockpit for 1-4 passengers(5 if cramped in)
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 180(200*)
Cockpit 100
Wings(2) 100(120 *)each
Tail 75(100*)
Landing Gear(3) 15 each
Height: 8 ft
Width: 35 ft, (8 ft with wings folded)
Length: 27 ft
Weight:2,000 lbs
Cargo: Up to 400 lbs behind the passenger seats
Powerplant: Biological/Magical with 700 mile range before needed feeding/refueling.
Can digest/burn alcohol(but tends to act a little giddy; reduce range by 10%)), turpentine(tends to act somewhat constipated and cranky; reduce speed by 10% , and no dodge bonus), gasohol(no penalties), or avgas(+1 to initiative rolls). Can consume 50 gallons of liquid fuel(slightly more efficient than a conventional Cessna) Can sustain itself off of PPE reserves and a quart of oil a week, but will be cranky and listless.
Speed:
(Ground) Can taxi/walk at 5 MPH
(Leap) Cessnars can hop 6 ft up/across
(Air) 135 MPH(130 MPH*), maximum safe altitude 13,000 ft(can get up to 35,000 ft w/ cockpit Breathe Without Air activated to protect the crew)
Can take off and land in as little as 300 ft, or can hover/make VTOL landings with great difficulty(-20% to skill roll)
Can hit 400 MPH in a dive with wings folded
Alignment: Typically Good/Unprincipled. Feral Cessnars are Anarchist
Attributes of Note:
I.Q.: 13
M.E.: 18
P.P.: 20
P.P.E.: 30; regains 4 PPE per hour, 8 PPE per hour of inactivity, 10 PPE per melee on a leyline, 20 PPE per melee at a nexus(can also gain PPE from Freely Given PPE from passengers)
Actions/Attacks Per Melee: (Skyhawk): 3 (BloodHawk): 4
Bonuses:(Skyhawk): +3 Dodge, +5 save vs Magic, +2 save vs Psionics. (BloodHawk): +1 Strike, +2 Dodge, +5 save vs Magic, +2 save vs Psionics, +3 save vs Horror Factor
Skills:
Navigation: Air 55%
(BloodHawk) Detect Ambush 45%
Lifespan: 75 years
Market Cost: A tame Cessnar can fetch 2 million credits(4 million for a BloodHawk) from an exotic animal/mount dealer....very rarely available. The Splugorth would pay twice as much to dissect these things and learn how they tick....
Systems of Note:
*Basic Dashboard Instrumentation: altimeter, fuel gauge, airspeed indicator, level, compass. BloodHawks will have a simple targetting mechanism for their weapons(+1 to strike)
*Regular Vision---Has vision roughly equal to a Human’s.
*Running Lights----Natural bioluminescence organs
*Regenerates 2d4 MD to main body per hour, 1d6 MD to all other locations. CANNOT regenerate totally destroyed parts(must have at least one point of MDC left to regrow). Only the application of an advanced healing/repair spell like Restoration, or the outfitting of the biomechanoid at ‘birth’ with a powerful regenerative ability can regrow totally destroyed major parts. Destroying the main body KILLS the biomechanoid(no hope of regeneration/resurrection).
*Bio-Comm---Long ranged biological radio system; only works between similar bio-comm systems. Range of 50 miles

Magical Aspects/Features:
*FeatherLight(5 PPE for 1 hour)---This reduces the weight of the aircraft, allowing it to make short take-offs and landings in as little as 300 ft under most conditions.
*Breath Without Air(5 PPE per 20 minutes)----This protects the crew cabin with pressurization and air.
*De-Icer(5 PPE for 2 hours, 60 PPE for 24 hours)---Keeps the wings free of ice, and keeps the windows clear of fog/condensation.
*Ley Line Flier---On a Ley Line, the biomechanoid can fly virtually forever., sustained by the energies of the Line. However, speed drops to 100 MPH(this is NOT a Ley Line Booster flight system).
Weapons Systems:
The Cessnar SkyHawk is limited to ‘biting’ with its prop spinner and limited attacks/buffets with its wings;
1) Prop Bite(Melee) Does 2d4 MD
2) Hand to Hand
Wing Slap----2d6 MD
Tail Slap---1d4 MD

The BloodHawk has the following weapons:
1)Prop Death Spinner(Melee)----The prop blades of the Bloodhawk’s spinner are harder, sharper, and enchanced by what appears to be an integral Spinning Blades enchantment, causing the blades, in combat, to expand into a veritable rotating swarm of sharp razor-edges.
Range: Melee(prop has a 6 ft radius when activated)
Damage: 3d6 MD

2)Razor Feathers---The wings conceal specialized muscles and hardened feather darts that can be uncoupled and thrown by those muscles with incredible force; enough to penetrate armor. However, the range is woefully limited.
Range: 1,000 ft
Damage: 1d8 MD per quill
Rate of Fire: Volleys of 1-10
Payload: 20 quills per wing(40 total), regenerates

3)Laser Cells(2)---What look like running lights in the leading edge of the wing are really bio-crystalline laser energy projectors that fire forward.
Range: 3,000 ft
Damage: 1d10 MD per blast; 2d10 MD for both lasers firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

4) Wing Bombs----Growing from pouches under each wing are pod-like biological explosives that can be dropped like bombs.
Range: Can accurately drop bombs from 300 ft up, -1 to strike for every additional 100 ft of altitude
Damage: 5d6 MD to 10 ft blast radius
Rate of Fire: Can drop 1-6 at a time
Payload: 6 per wing(12 total); regenerates payload within 24 hours

5)) Hand to Hand
Wing Slap----2d6 MD
Tail Slap---1d4 MD

[taalismn]

CeeFy “Galaxy Mother” Biomechanoid

Ridley Rickles had been beside himself as he looked over the result of his long hard work....and better yet, he’d hadn’t had to kill anyone for it....Pretty amazing actually, he thought, as his cranky old crawler-truck clunked along, dragging several trailers of varied salvage; one rarely got to pick over any sort of a battlefield, especially one where the Coalition was involved, without tripping over a spoilsport-armed explosive, or ran into a CS grave patrol, or got potted by one of those Skelebots the Deadboys liked to leave behind to keep anyone from redistributing the goods....But he’d gotten in and out with a whole load of stuff, stripped off armor plate, unused munitions, body armor, torn-out weapons, engines, and the like, before the CS could think to register the site, and before the other vultures could swoop in and try to rob him....He’d really lucked out this time, and as soon as he got far enough away from the Minnesota front, the sooner he could get to sorting the stuff and arranging to fence it.
H e was still telling himself that when the huge winged shape blotted out the evening sun and slammed hard into the ground with a roar of displaced air and a blind cloud of thrown-up dust and dirt.
His first thought was DRAGON, his second thought was I’m in deep crudola, his third thought was I’m going to die....
Somewhere along his line of thoughts was Why ain’t I dead yet?
When curiousity finally got the better the better of him and he ventured his head out of his truck to look, he almost freaked again....
It might not have been a dragon, but it was big, and right next to him...close enough that he could see the massive flanks heaving with respiration, the curious hexagonal scaling on those sides moving and distorting the markings he thought were letters of some sort, but which illiteracy had robbed him of the ability to read...He thought he’d see that bars and star pattern somewhere before, though. He could hear the rumble of internal plumbing from within what had to be the cavernous guts of the beast. He could even smell the oily sweat and petroleum tang of its body....but it seemed blissfully unaware of his presence...for now at least....
It was the slow crunching sound that drew his attention to one end of the massive beast, though, and what it was doing there...
“Huh....hey...hey...that’s MY SALVAGE!!!!!!”

It wasn’t known where such biomech aircraft as the Cessnar originated from until battlefield scavenger Ridley Rickles had a close encounter with a massive airborne creature while he was looking for salvage in Minnesota. What he saw openned up a world of understanding about the mysteries of the Cessnar and other biomechanoid aircraft...but also raised many more questions.
The CeeFy ‘Mother Galaxy” is a massive biomechanoid creature that bears a strong resemblance to a pre-Rifts Lockheed C-5A “Galaxy” heavy airlift cargo jet aircraft, except that the swept wings and underhung jet nacelles have been replaced with a massive articulated vulture/condor-like wing(with jet orifices in the trailing edge), the retractable landing gear now resemble multiple rubber-tipped bird’s feet, and the whole aircraft is covered in close-fitting hexagonal feathers or scales.
Ceefys have their own brains and intelligence, but the intelligence is animal-like, more akin to a domesticated bison, or perhaps a beluga whale...The Ceefy can understand and obey simple commands, and is even capable of exhibiting animal-like loyalty, but they aren’t terribly articulate or complex. Their thought proccesses tend to be ponderous, dedicated to duty and survival...they will not cooperate with those they consider enemies, and tend to ignore all others. Their crews are shown what might be respect, in a monolithic, ponderous, obediant fashion. They cannot speak, but they can produce high-pitched whines, roars, groans, beeps, bellows, and rumbles that give some idea of their emotional state.
Like the other biomechanoid aircraft, the CeeFy has a small crew accommodation...a cockpit and cabin capable of sustaining human life(suggesting an engineered origin), and manual controls that allow a pilot to take direct control of the massive biomechanoid(though the CeeFy may attempt to resist the manual control if it doesn’t like the pilots)....However, the cockpit and pilot/co-pilots’ seats also act as mental interfaces, allowing those who sit in them to direct the CeeFy’s most important capability; creating more biomechanoids.
Despite its resemblance to a historic cargo craft, the CeeFy cannot carry cargo in the bulk of its body...instead, the massive internal body cavity is a giant birthing apparatus...the CeeFy is literally a ‘mothership’ for creating other biomechanoids. Exhibiting vulture-like characteristics, a CeeFy will gravitate towards scrapyards, rubble zones, and old battlefields with plenty of metal and other recycable materials....preferably near a source of strong, ambient magic, like a leyline nexus. There, the massive biomechanoid lands, opens its gaping visor-like maw, and begins shovelling in whatever debris it can find. The CeeFy prefers metals and plastics, especially megadamage materials, but it is not averse to consuming other megadamage materials, SDC metals/composites, and supernatural flesh. Once it has consumed a sufficient quantity of material to work with, and accumulated enough PPE, the Galaxy-Mother begins gestating biomechanoid offspring...who then slid out the rear ‘cargo ramp’, full-sized, wings folded, wrapped in a plastic tarp-like ‘birth sac’ that is then quickly shed.
(With the revelations that the CeeFy is a created being, it has been inferred that the alternate Earth from which the CeeFy originates is in the midst of a Cold War situation wherein it has been deemed desireable that aircraft production facilities be mobile.....not a reassuring state of affairs).
Despite their apparent dull-witted behavior, CeeFys have complex minds, with a massive inherited/genetically-programmed knowledge of aircraft design, biology, techno-wizardry design, and genetics, complementing an internal genetic ‘library’ of avian and insect genetics to be grafted into its creations. The CeeFy can also learn/be taught new ideas, designs, and configurations, especially if the concept is accompanied by a sample(it’s said that a CeeFy once rendered a Coalition Nightwing into a biomechanoid, after consuming the wreckage of one to use as a template). However, the CeeFy’s expertise is AIRCRAFT...it cannot, and will not. produce other forms of vehicles or equipment.
It is not known how and why CeeFys produce certain types of biomechanoid aircraft and in what specific numbers....Domesticated CeeFys take their direction from their crews in much the same way as ARCHIE-3’s telemechanical nueral helmet linkage works. However, feral CeeFys seem to give birth in a manner suggesting an almost insect-like social structure; giving birth to squadrons of smaller ‘helper’ biomechanoids; warplanes to defend (and bring down prey in lean times), scout-reconnaisance aircraft to seek out danger and food resources, and utility aircraft to help feed the mother CeeFy.
CeeFys ‘ ability to produce specific types/configurations of aircraft are affected by how much raw material and PPE they can take it, and the size and features of the aircraft being produced. Total weight cannot exceed a maximum of 264,500 lbs. Rather than spend all the available material and PPE on one offspring, though, the CeeFy may elect create a ‘litter’ of 1-3 smaller biomehanoids(typically of the same), divving up the material among them. Sheer physical size is another factor; the CeeFY cannot produce any aircraft larger than its cargo bay(please note, though, that the biomechanoids are born with their wings folded) which is 121 feet long, 19 feet wide, and 13.5 ft high, though multiple smaller craft may be simultaneously gestated.
The only exception is birthing new CeeFys....While it is believed that most biomechanoid aircraft are sterile ‘mules’, unable to reproduce on their own, CeeFys CAN reproduce...Many details of their life cycle are not known, but a Coalition Air Force report of two large cargo aircraft matching the description of a pair of CeeFys engaged in what appeared to be aerial refueling, may in fact have been an airborne mating. Young CeeFys are born as apparently wingless, grub-like fuselages carried on muscular wheel-and-claw legs, and are roughly the size of a COD(carrier onboard delivery) aircraft. These juveniles spend their first year and a half of life ground-bound, crawling about the ground eating and absorbing, growing in size, and growing out their wings until they finally ‘fledge’ and can fly.
CeeFys instinctively know a number of basic spells that can be incorporated into its ‘offspring’, but it can also learn additional spells(and their applications) through communion with its ‘crew’, lifting the knowledge from their minds.
The CeeFy, for all its size and power, is relatively defenseless, except for integral body armor, flare-chaff dispensers, and a few other defensive measures. For this reason, feral CeeFys will most often first create combat aircraft ‘children’ to act as escorts and protectors.
Keeping a domesticated CeeFy brood-mother is no easy task; the massive biomechanoids require regular feedings of material and energy substrates (avgas), access to a reliable source of PPE(leyline, leyline nexus), shelter(a hangar), and they must be exercised regularly(flown at least twice a month). Neglecting a CeeFy is to risk its health, its ability to produce biomechanoids, and may even cause it to run feral, break loose, and escape into the wild blue yonder.
Type: CeeFy Galaxy Mother
Class: Heavy Airborne Biomechanoid Mother-ship
Crew: Three, with provision for up to 60 passengers in a cabin/cavity behind the cockpit.
MDC/Armor by Location:
Main Body 900
Cockpit 180
Wings(2) 350 each
Tail 300
Landing Gear() each
Height: 63 ft
Width: 222 ft
Length: 247 ft
Weight: 180,000 lbs
Cargo: If not hauling passengers, about 8 tons of gear can be packed into the passenger cabin
Powerplant: Biological/Magical with 3700 mile range before needed feeding/refueling
Can digest/burn alcohol(but tends to act a little giddy; reduce range by 10%)), turpentine(tends to act somewhat constipated and cranky; reduce speed by 10% , and no dodge bonus), gasohol(no penalties), or avgas(+1 to initiative rolls). Can consume 50,000 gallons of liquid fuel(slightly more efficient than a conventional CeeFy).
Can sustain itself off PPE reseveres, fifty gallons of oil a week, and 250 lbs of monster flesh, but will be unable to create new biomechanoids, and flies at only 50% top speed and 25% of normal range. Furthermore, the biomechanoid will be cranky and listless and not too happy.
Speed:
(Ground) Can crawl/taxi along the ground at about 5 MPH
(Flying) 570 MPH, maximum altitude of 34,000 ft,
Alignment: Typically Good/Unprincipled. Feral CeeFys are Anarchist
Attributes of Note:
I.Q.: 18
M.E.: 25
P.P.: 15
P.P.E.: The CeeFy is a massive accumulator of PPE; 2d4x100 +150, regains 6 PPE per hour, 10 PPE per hour of inactivity, 20 PPE per melee on a leyline, 40 PPE per melee at a nexus(can also gain PPE from Freely Given PPE from passengers)

I.S.P.: The Ceefy is one of the few biomechanoids with psionics; 50 ISP

Actions/Attacks Per Melee: 3
Bonuses: No dodge bonus, + save vs magic, save vs psionics
Skills:
Navigation: Air 70%
Lifespan: 100 years(?)

Market Cost: None have been made available on the Black Market, but a tamed CeeFy could fetch 100 million credits and up from the right parties. The Splugorth would LOVE to get ahold of one of these creatures/vehicles, learn its secrets, and breed it for slave-stock.
Systems of Note:
*Regular Vision---Has vision roughly equal to a Human’s.
*Radar Sense----Effectively has radar with 60 mile range
Can also DETECT radar radiation.
*Running Lights----Natural biolumensence organs
*Regenerates 2d4 MD to main body per hour, 1d6 MD to all other locations. CANNOT regenerate totally destroyed parts(must have at least one point of MDC left to regrow). Only the application of an advanced healing/repair spell like Restoration, or the outfitting of the biomechanoid at ‘birth’ with a powerful regenerative ability can regrow totally destroyed major parts. Destroying the main body KILLS the biomechanoid(no hope of regeneration/resurrection).
*Bio-Comm---Long ranged biological radio system; only works between similar bio-comm systems. Range of 15 miles

*Bio-Interface---The Pilot, Co-Pilot, and Flight Engineer’s seats serve as bio-interfaces...the CeeFy can work with one person, but a full crew of three works best(as two people can remain focused on looking out for possible threats and staying awake). By sitting in the seat and donning the connected flight helmet(60 MDC), the wearer can tap into the CeeFy’s Biocomm system, as well as give directions, but the transfer is two-way...the CeeFy can plumb the crew’s minds for ideas, mechanical designs, desired aircraft/characteristics, and can even tap into the crew’s knowledge of magic, including spellcasting(this is how the CeeFy acquires spells to incorporate into its offspring, though it cannot use the spells to benefitt itself.
If the mage/crewmember wishes to NOT share his spell knowledge with the CeeFy, he may choose to resist, similar to attempting to resist a MindBond---a successful roll means that the CeeFY has NOT been able to tap into the crewmember’s mind.
The Bio-Interface also allows the CeeFy to more efficiently tap PPE, not simply from the pilot, but from any passengers in the rear cabin; in its plane of origin, the CeeFy’s extended crew typically consisted of Techno- and Bio-Wizards who acted as supervisors and production assistants to biomechanoid aircraft production.
Magical Aspects/Features:
*Breath Without Air----This protects the crew cabin with pressurization and air.
*Ley Line Flier---On a Ley Line, the biomechanoid can fly virtually forever., sustained by the energies of the Line. This IS a Ley Line Booster flight system equivalent, boosting the speed of the aircraft up to 855 MPH, making the massive CeeFy supersonic!
Spells Known:
*Breathe Without Air(5)
*Fuel Flame(5)
*Ignite Fire(6)
*Impervious to Fire(5)
*Float in Air(5)
*Fire Bolt(7)
*Featherlight(10)
*Energy Bolt(5)
*Fireball(10)
*Frequency Jamming(15)
*Call Lightning(15)
*Spinning Blades(20)
*Create Steel(68)
Can select 1d6 additional spells from levels 1-6

Psionics: (Minor)
*Mind Block
*Object Read

Weapons Systems:
1)Laser Cells(4)---What look like running lights in the ends of the wings and on the tail are really bio-crystalline laser energy projectors that fire forward, laterally, and rearward.
Range: 3,000 ft
Damage: 1d10 MD per blast; 2d10 MD for both lasers firing simultaneously
Rate of Fire: ECHH
Payload: Effectively Unlimited

2) Needle Clusters(4)---These pod-like glands produce quill-like needles that can be propelled in salvos with bullet-like velocity. They are short-range close-in weapons, intended for use against incoming missiles, but can also be used against predators on the ground,
Range: 500 ft
Damage: 6d6 MD to a 15 ft wide area
Rate of Fire: Six times per melee
Payload: Each pod has needles, and regenerates

3)Flare/Chaff Launchers(4)----Special glands that produce thermal-active chemicals and metallic bundles that act to decoy missiles and other guided weapons.
Range: Close Defense
Damage: None; similar to Triax-style chaff
01-50 Enemy Missile or volley detonates in chaff and threat is nuetralized
51-75 Missile/Volley diverts and may pursue/lock on to other targets
76-00 No Effect! Missile(s) still on target!
Will aslo temporarily blind and impede flying monsters who fly into it.
Reduce APMs/combat bonuses/ speed by half for 1d4 melees
Payload: 48 chaff clusters(12 per launcher), regenerates within 24 hours

4)Melee Combat---Though the CeeFy’s teeth are designed more for chewing metal than tearing flesh, the massive mouth can still deliver a respectable bite, and the powerful wings can hit like a hurricane
Bite---4d6 MD
Wing Slap---1d6x10 MD


Quick and Dirty Rules for Biomechanoid Construction
Ideally, what one should do is crack open a book on aircraft for templates, and have your copy of Splicers handy as well....Keep the general dimensions, maybe tweak the range and performance a little, and use any armaments and options as inspiration for additional systems to add in.
Biomechanoid Aircraft typically resemble whatever they’re based on, but with a few biological modifications....fuselage skins may be scaled, leathery, or covered in fine feathers...wings are typically articulated and bird like(prop and small aircraft typically have wings like small birds/hawks, helicopters typically have multiple dragonfly, hornet, or bee-like wings, and larger aircraft typically have widespread wings like condors, eagles, or vultures.
Most will have a few general TW systems and innate spells, such as Breathe Without Air to protect the crew,, and will be able to accept TW modifications, but NOT bionic/mechanical augmentation.

MDC Requirements----The CeeFy’s internal processes can build MDC from ingested materials at a 11:10 ratio...for every 11 MDC ingested, the CeeFy can create 10 points of MDC for its offspring(there is some wastage). The CeeFy can also convert regular metal into MDC, generally having to devour/digest 50 lbs of metal for 1 point of MDC.
The CeeFy can devour megadamage flesh, but it prefers metals and plastics/artificial materials. A wholly MDC flesh diet can be converted into regular material MDC, but at a 3:1 ratio...for every 3 MDC of say, grigleaper meat, the CeeFy can convert it into 1 MDC of biomechanoid.

Type---Aicraft TYPE also carries a price.
Propellor-Driven Aicraft are the cheapest, production-wise---they carry an additional PPE cost equal to 25% of the total MDC
Helicopters generally cost slightly more because of their more energetic metabolisms---they carry an additional PPE cost equal to 50% f the total MDC
Jets are very energy expensive---they carry an additional PPE cost equal to 100% of the total MDC(effectively DOUBLE the cost)

Time---Generally it takes the CeeFy 1 hour per 50 MDC of an offspring to gestate it(plus whatever time it takes to collect materials and PPE). Once gestation is complete, the offspring is ‘birthed’, and is ready to fly in 3d4x10 minutes. Note, however, that certain weapons systems such as bombs and missiles will NOT be ready until the offspring has had time to grow them(or had a good solid ‘meal’ first).

Magic Properties---Any magical properties that are to be made inherent in a created offspring require that the CeeFy know the necessary spells(or be able to access them from its crew), and pay DOUBLE the spell PPE cost to ‘install’ it.

Splicer Conversion----
Take the point cost for a system and multiple it by 5 ...this is its cost in PPE...so having four light cells amped up to lasers, costs((4x3)+(4x1)+(4x10)x5) 280 PPE, plus another 20 PPE(4x5) to extend their range(300 PPE total).
Metabolisms----Most biomechanoids have a dual PPE/liquid fuel metabolism, supplemented by small amounts of solids(typically metals and chemicals), but it is possible that there has been experimentation/mutations in alternate metabolic proccesses...such could rsult in aviaforms fuelled primarily by carnivore or herbivore diets, or even lithovores(a coal-fired aircraft?) with all the advantages and drawbacks of those systems.
Systems----GMs, use commonsense....snake lower torsos and stalked eyes really don’t mesh with bird-themed aircraft, but additional eyes with special vision propeties are great for photo-recon aircraft-based biomechanoids, and exceptionally alert avianforms.
Limbs----Legs for avian form biomecha should have their speed reduced by 75%---the main focus of the avian forms is on flight, not running.
Additional limbs such as arms are rare, but tentacles and tendrils on the wings and underside can serve as hardpoints for carrying conventional bombs, or used to carry/trigger crude rocket-launch pods and other weapons.
BioComms now have been enhanced with Whisper of Wind spells so they cost the same PPE-Point-wise, but the range is extended to 50 miles
Weapons Ranges--Most Splicer weapons are scaled for infantry, so range isn’t really adequate for aircraft weapons; so presume that the biomechanoid systems are somehow magically augmented/enhanced for greater range(range x2)
Explosives---Stays the same, with scaleable damage; creating bio-explosives with HALF the listed damage as in the Splicer book costs HALF the PPE/BIO-E as listed; on the other hand, creating more powerful explosives, scale proportionally for cost; something 25% power powerful will cost 25%, something TWICE as powerful will cost TWICE as much.


GMs, use your imagination when adapting Splicers systems to Biomechanoid avionic equivalents----Resistance to Heat can translate into spaceshuttle/re-rentry vehicle-style thermal-resistant tiles, while Cold Resistance can easily mean the biomechanoid can operate in arctic/antarctic conditions without penalty. Regeneration modes mean more advanced self-repair abilities. Extra eyes/sensor organs are approriate for combat/recon craft. What can’t be covered by Splicer systems straight from the book, can likely be boosted, or replaced, by magic systems(scale up the price accordingly).

[Aramanthus]

Two very nice RCCs Taalismn! I'm still working on mine. Should be posted soon.

[taalismn]

Take your time...I'll be out for a week...

[Aramanthus]

I hope you have fun on your trip!

[taalismn]

Loads....several dozen pages of ideas that did to be typed up and fleshed out...good books...double rainbows....fireworks...paper lanterns...

Of course, I return to find my house just ATE my checkbook, so I have been going nuts trying to find the flarrbasting thing or else reconstruct my most recent financial history....

[Aramanthus]

I'm looking forward to your next RCC. I hope you find your checkbook!

[taalismn]

I'm looking forward to your next RCC. I hope you find your checkbook!

Found...Now I can order the latest Palladium books...

I'll have to review demonic races....Have a feeling they're going to become rather more common in days to come...

[Aramanthus]

I have a feeling you are correct!

[DhAkael]

-sighX20-

[Aramanthus]

I'll try and post my creation tonight after I get home. Sothat means around 1am or so.

[taalismn]

Looking forward to it....

[Aramanthus]

I have the stats. I still have to flesh it out. Like those very cool story you write along with the specs. I promise I'll put it down. Soon!

[taalismn]

Crysilians

“The reactor’s gone on the fritz, radiation count’s pegging off the scale outside, we’ve got drive damage, there’s no way to get to it from inside and we have no spacesuits to repair it from the outside of the hu---where are you going, miss---?!”
(Stepping into airlock)”Is that ALL you’re worried about? It’s going to be just like a stroll around home...I’ll be back in in a few minutes, if I don’t decide to do some sunbathing on the outer wing if that solar flare is as powerful as you say it is...”

Crysilians are a radical human variant sept that emerged as a result of the partially successful colonization of the Aerys Cluster.

The Aerys Cluster is a large, fairly dense stellar cluster in the Thundercloud Galaxy, a complex stellar nursery crowded with hot-burning, newborn stars, and the remnants of older, decrepit stars being recycled into newer solar furnaces. Both new fusion torches and dying stellar embers pump out a great deal of ambient and exotic radiation into the void, and the clouds of condensed stellar ejecti, ash, and debris that swirls about the cluster. The streams of heavy particles, clouds of dust, belching radiation storms, and fluctuating gravitational interactions within the densely packed stellar matter, make navigation at just about any speed nearly impossible, and extremely dangerous, while the background radiation makes travel even more hazardous for living beings. Despite the large amount of solid debris in the Cluster, including many fair-sized asteroids and planetoids, none of them are capable of supporting organic life as most of the Megaverse is familiar with...
Nevertheless, over eight thousand years ago, the Aerys Cluster was colonized by several nearby, and predominately human, systems, particularly the Domins Consortium, despite the incredible dangers. Why? Because the Cluster is thick with heavy metals and exotic materials with great commercial potential. Initial efforts to use purely robotic and remote operation means to mine the Cluster proved futile, owing to the shifting conditions, high radiation, and distances involved. That should have been indication enough that the Cluster was inhospitable, but the lure of the Cluster’s riches was too great, and so the regional homeworlds elected to send heavily shielded manned expeditions into the stellar maelstrom. First, highly paid volunteers were sent, then later on prisoners and technically-skilled undesirables(the idea being that humans were cheaper than equivalently intelligent machines), all of whom suffered hideous casualties from radiation poisoning, but nevertheless, a beachhead was established in the Cluster. Using a combination of expendable robots, and only slightly less expendable human supervisors, overseeing expendable long term workers and ‘hot-shift’ temporaries, the exploitation of the Aerys Cluster got underway.
Work in the Aerys Cluster was considered among the most dangerous in the Domins Consortium....virtually unnavigable stellar lanes in and out of the Cluster, unpredicatable radiation storms, and a plethora of other deep space hazards racked up an overly large annual body count...even in the most heavily shielded domes and facilities, the rate of cancer was over fifty times what it was on the homeworlds. But as hazardous as it was, the work paid well(for those lucky enough to be paid); even though personnel accidents and equipment breakdowns meant that the asteroid mines and ramscoop miners operated far less efficiently than operations elsewhere, the great density of valuable and useful metals and materials meant that even an inefficient mining op in the Cluster scooped up more than those in safer, less exotic locales. Volunteer ‘hot-shift’ workers who came in and worked for eight months at a stint, made the equivalent of combat pay, and returned home as rich men...criminals, sentenced to longer, or ‘life’, sentences faired less well, dying by the droves. Despite the hellish conditions, the Aerys Cluster was a literal goldmine for the Domins Consortium....cheap fissionables, heavy metals, and exotic metals flowed into their factories, and, more ominously, they could stash any unwanted population and political undesireables in productive (and fatal) work in the Cluster.
This pattern continued for nearly three hundred years, when disaster struck. After a period of unusually high stellar activity within the Cluster, workers in the Cluster mines began falling victim to a fatal condition or microorganism of some sort, that struck witout warning, and spread like wildfire, even into the most heavily shielded and secured complexes. Even the adminstrative blocks were affected as something infected the colonies, despite the best efforts to identify and contain it. Victims simply collapsed, their internal organs hardening with mineralization, then were metabolized by crystalline growths that burst out of their bodies, devouring their organic matter, like some sort of parasitic fungus. All living organic materials and lifeforms within the colonies were attacked by the voracious microorganism, which covered the insides of the colony domes in rapidly spreading crystalline filaments. Horrified, the outer colony outposts nearer to the rim of the Cluster, could only watch the stuttering communications links as more and more of the inner Cluster facilties succumbed to the ‘Crystal Ripper’. Spacecraft in transit were called back and quarantined, but increasingly, ships from the deep inner Cluster were destroyed outright by panicked Domin Constorium authorities...even some of the outer Cluster outpost communities, despite showing no signs of the Crystal Ripper, were obliterated as part of the quarantine. Some of the colonies even destroyed THEMSELVES, loyal administrators sabotaging landed spacecraft and sealing their own fates, rather than permit an alien pathogen to spread to the homeworlds.
As word of the Crystal Ripper spread, the Domin Consortium declared the Aerys Cluster off-limits. The Consortium media dubbed the Cluster the ‘Death Cluster’. All travel to and from the Aerys Cluster was ceased and prohibitted, even as some of the last remaining colonies in the Cluster still screamed for help and evacuation. Frightened by the prospect of a seemingly unstoppable alien plague that defied all efforts to study and cure, the governments of the Domin Consortium turned deaf ears to the last faltering transmissions for help, that were eventually drowned in the background radiation static from the Cluster.
Secondary effects took far longer...as the pipeline of cheap metals and power materials came to a screaming halt, economies that had become dependent on the supply stumbled and ultimately collapsed. Protests of Cluster policies, health standards, and the rumored forced deportation of political or low-threat criminals and ‘undesirables’ , met vehement government and corporate denials in this environment of dissatisfaction. Tensions rose, and in some areas, even ignited into full scale civil unrest. While the Domins Consortium might have been able to overcome this time of troubles, it was weakened at a critical time when several more aggressive neighboring superpowers had entered a period of expansion and conflict . Divided by its own problems, the Consortium found itself unable to adequately defend itself from several waves of invasion, counterattack, and refugee migration through its territories. The Consortium ultimately collapsed into its constituent worlds, several of them occupied by outside superpowers, and two actually destroyed outright. But the continued ban on travel into the now ominous-seeming Cluster remained.

However, within the Cluster, a different story was taking place.
Even as the Consortium was closing off the borders of the Cluster, the ‘dead’ of the innermost afflicted colonies were WAKING UP. The masses of crystalline fungus were being broken from INSIDE, and groggily, the beings within pulled themselves out to find themselves more or less naked, born into a strange new world...
...And transformed.......They had their human shapes, their feelings, their memories...but their bodies were now composed of a strange, semi-translucent crystal, smooth to the touch, flexible as flesh, but also hard as diamond, and wholly alien...
The awakeners discovered their facilities in chaos and disarray....without maintenance, computer systems had been wiped, systems shorted out, life support lost, and infrastructure damaged. But, as the nearly transformed colonists discovered, life support was no longer needed...their new bodies seemed able to survive quite well in the hard vaccuum and hard radiation of the Cluster! Able to move with previously unknown freedom about the OUTSIDE of their domed communities, the colonists set about repairing and restoring the facilities. But efforts to communicate with the outside worlds, through the series of relay stations set up to punch through the gravitational and radiation static of the Cluster, and deliver the good news of their survival, proved futile. No one was responding.
A few intrepid miners took some of the few remaining spacecraft and edged out along the debris-clogged spacelanes to the outer outposts and waystations. The explorers were shocked to discover some of the outposts completely destroyed by nucleonics, but it was the more intact outposts that were even more shocking. Here, they found evidence of mass suicides, or of suffocation and starvation. They also found intact records of what had happened...the plague, the quarantine, the panicked reaction of the Consortium, and the edict against travel...and even of letting any travellers from the Cluster survive to make planetfall.
When word of these findings reached the reorganizing colonists in the Inner Cluster, it threw them into turmoil...What should they do? Some of the newly transformed colonists wanted to press on and make contact with the homeworlds, to explain the true nature of the alien plague, and what it portented for the future of operations within the Cluster. Others wanted to wait and see if the Consortium would ease their restrictions with time and further deliberation, and attempt to colonize the Cluster again. A particularly vocal faction of ex-political prisoners and transported criminals wanted to cut off all relations with the outside, citing the increasingly belligerent language used in the recorded communiques from the homeworlds, their calluous disregard for human life, and their own wrongly accused state. The virus, they claimed, had given them the heaven-sent opportunity to start their lives anew, in a haven shielded from the eyes of the uncaring Consortium.
After fierce debate and a near civil war of their own, the ‘Wait and See’ faction, allied with the Isolationists, won out, and the ex-Consortium citizens settled down to adjust to their strange new world and await developments from outside. They were, now truly colonists, it seemed, or were they the colonized? As the Aerys Cluster’s newest resident sapients tried to puzzle out what had happened to them, they tried to build a new society.
With the new freedom and mobility granted to them by what came to be called the ‘Crysalid Virus’, the new inhabitants of the Aerys Cluster set out to thoroughly explore their little corner of the cosmos more thoroughly. Not having to worry about the lethal effects of radiation, the colonists were able to navigate the gas clouds and gravity shears of the Cluster at their lesiure, negotiating the various plasma fields, proto-stars, debris discs, and particle clouds, mapping the large solid bodies, and charting the safe corridors through the mess.
What they learned was that there were very few ‘fast ways’ through which FTL ships could safely enter into the Cluster, and most of these access corridors in space/time were, by great fortune, already known, the Consortium having stumbled across them in its earlier explorations. Any other approaches to the Cluster would force ships to drop out of subspace and crawl through the Cluster at velocities that could take years to reach any of the major inhabited worlds of the Cluster. Long-term, this meant that invasion of the Cluster by hostiles would be a very difficult proposition, especially if the colonists established ‘choke points’ and fortified them on the known approaches.
Their curiousity about the layout of their immediate neighborhood satisfied, and some measure of security attained with the mapping of the navigable corridors, the Crysalians now turned to the matter of the outside universe that had apparently abandoned them.

Fearful at first of the outside universe, the Crysalians’ first forays into the outer spaces beyond the dust clouds of the Cluster were slow, careful, and secretive. Not knowing what they might encounter, and fully expecting massive picket-lines of quarantine-enforcement dreadnoughts and deep space minefields, the first Crysalian ships skittishly picked their way out of the Cluster through backdoor hyperlanes. Sensor grids at maximum extension, the ships approached the nearest inhabited systems, ready to cut and run in event that they met with a less-than-friendly reception.
What they discovered pleasantly surprised them.....The very societies that had abandoned them had collapsed, leaving very little in the way of records and memory of the Aerys Cluster settlements, aside from a few legends of death worlds and alien plague that had kept all but the most foolhardy explorers from going near the Cluster-space.

Using the vast mineral wealth at their disposal, Crysalian agents began to build economic foundations on various worlds, disguising themselves as normal beings, infiltrating the local cultures, and setting up shop. On many worlds, various shell companies sprang up to launder offworld minerals into local currency.....Local mining companies and refineries were favorite disguises, only the mines produced only low-quality ore or worthless rubble, if anyone had bothered to check(in reality, those same mines disguised hangar bays and living complexes for offworld workers), sending high-grade power metals and ores, shovelled up from Cluster resource asteroids, into the local economies......In this manner, the Crysalians insinuated themselves into the worlds around the Cluster, and setting up galactic trade for their goods.
Disguise wasn’t always possible to maintain, nor desireable. Occasionally, they were discovered(and then left, rather than stir up trouble), while in other circumstances they chose to reveal themselves....the Venomoid infestation of the defenseless world of Nevo Tieran was bloodily repulsed with the surprise revelation of a large Crysilian mineral consortium presence on the planet...along with their well-armed security forces.... In some other sectors, the Crysilians approached the galactic market openly, though they claimed to be from an entirely different region of the cosmos. Ultimately, this campaign would introduce the Crysilians gradually to the outside cosmos, and prime the market for Crysilian minerals and metals once more.
Even in the modern era, despite their established wealth and influence, Crysalians who travel abroad often do so in disguise, maintaining a low profile. Part of this is still paranoia of the Quarantine Era, but also the fact that Crysalians have learned not to flaunt their affluence, for fear of alienating potential customers, offending their hosts, and attracting the wrong sort of attention...On the other hand, touring Crysalians are more likely than not to be giving themselves the best equipment money can buy for their travels, even if they have to keep most of it under wraps.


It is unknown whether the Crysalid Virus is a native of the Cluster, a mutated import, a secret genetic engineering project that got out of hand, or another alien to the Cluster. One favorite theory promulgated among the Crysilians is that the Virus is really the true sapience of the Cluster, which decided to form an alliance with the human colonists by forming a symbiotic relationship. The intelligence in the case has not communicated directly with its human hosts because it either does not recognize humans as intelligent, it is far too alien to see much in common and worth communicating with its hosts as individuals, or it is simply waiting for some proper set of conditions before breaking its silence. The various sects of the emergent Crysilian faith promulgate all of these beliefs and then some.
The Virus also seems to affect plants and animals as well, converting them into Crysilian analogues. The Virus seems to be oddly selective in what it converts...it infects and converts certain species, but ignores others. Humans and a small handful of other sapient species are ‘susceptible’ to the Virus’s conversion process, while other races are ignored, or else fatally infected(shapeshifters seem most at risk, yet at least one lycanthrope has been successfully ‘crystallized’). Galactic xenobiologists are at a loss to explain why this is so...so far they have been unable to find any common denominator in infectible hosts. This has given further support to the ‘sapient virus’ theory, as supporters claim this as evidence of a unique and elective ‘criteria’ and selectivity by a micro-organic intelligence. Cataloguing what species the Virus will convert and looking for commonalities in its infection hosts is a major part of ongoing Virus study(the Crysilians have several ‘zoo-garden asteroids’ set aside as experimental biological stations for this work).

The infection process itself seems to be able to take place only within the Inner Core of the Cluster, suggesting that some as-yet-undeteremined gravimetric or radiation-threshold conditions exist within this region that allow the Virus to reproduce and carry out its conversion processes. Outside the Inner Core, the Virus would appear to be dormant, even in the presence of intense radiation and vaccum. Note that this hasn’t put a damper on the reproduction of the Crysilians, as their biology allows them to copulate and reproduce in the normal fashion, producing healthy Crysilian children, even outside the Cluster...but non-Crysilians cannot be converted by the Virus except in the Inner Core worlds.

The infection process itself is relatively swift, as observed during the conversion of immigrants in special Inner Core ‘birthing chambers’. Convertees are introduced into a sealed, shielded, room, ‘dusted’ with viral spores(micro-silicate dust)and subjected to increasing doses of radiation, special drugs being administered to them to control and prevent dangerous levels of onset radiation sickness(sedatives are often given to ease discomfort)...the radiation seems to fuel the Virus’s growth. After several hours, convertees complain of fever and headaches, and pebbly skin rashes, before succumbing and falling unconscious. The rashes then break out into rapidly-spreading growths that become hardened cysts and crystalline scales. The victim’s internal organs grow hard and brittle, then explode into crystalline growth that mushrooms, breaking through the person’s flesh. Within minutes, the victim seems to have been torn apart from the inside and consumed by a crystalline fungal growth that rapidly assimilates all organic matter.
As the growth mushrooms into a huge nodule, the Virus is hard at work copying and translating the victim’s DNA and memory-essence into new form, and assembling a non-organic copy of the person. During this stage of the process, convertees report recollections of strange dreams, or sensations of floating in white limbo.
This process takes about three weeks, during which the nodule continues to swell.
At the end of the three week period, the victim regains consciousness and control over their new body, and begins to break out of the brittle cocoon, and in doing so, releases the silica dust spores of the virus to find a new ‘host’ to infect. A few hours of learning to walk again, and the new Crysilian can move about as readily as they did before the conversion process.

The average Crysilian looks very much like a normal human being, with respect to appearance, general layout of internal organs, function of same, behavior, and personality..Except that the whole seems to be made of a semi-translucent glass or smootrh crystal. This strange material is as flexible as normal flesh, but is much firmer as well, and cannot be penetrated by ordinary blades and projectiles. Most Crysilians are a light blue-white-silver in coloration, but other colors are also possible; Crysilian biologists believe that skin coloration may be a result of minerals present in the surroundings of the transitition environment when the Virus converts. Any hair they retain will be crystalline and flexible as well, like optical fiber, and can even pass light, though Crysilian hair fiber is too contaminated with impurities to be useful for communications grade applications.

Crysilians can pass for normal humans with contact lenses, hair dye, and skin makeup. In fact, the Cluster has developed special ‘skin sticks’ that use special optical scanners to take note of skin features and body hair, and precisely spray a mono-molecular skin film, when passed over the skin, like an ink-jet printer. This waterproof skin dye can be easily removed with a mild solvent.

Crysilians draw nourishment much like normal human beings by eating on a regular basis, but now they draw sustenance from eating minerals and metals. They can also eat normal organic foods and taste them, but aside from absorbing a few needed minerals, normal caloric intake means nothing to them....nutrient wise, they’re better off eating the plate or the silverware(one of the early complaints in adapting to life in the Cluster was the lack of traditional ‘comfort foods’...eating rocks and sheet metal began to wear on many Crysilians, and it was with no small amount of relief that they discovered that many foodstuff plants could be Virus-converted and still be viable food sources). In the Cluster, they seem able to also draw energy from the ambient radiation, absorbing it through their skin.

Technology
Because of the predominance of heavy metals for construction, Crysilian spacecraft and equipment tend to be heavier and tougher than their out-Cluster equivalents. The lack of light elements and volatile organics, such as hydrocarbons, means plastics and composites are in short supply. This also means that Crysilians tend to dress lightly, if at all, in either starkly utiliarian garments of woven fine metal mesh or silicates, or in next to nothing. Needless to say, sealed organics and light elements are in great demand in the Crysilid Cluster, and worth more than their weight in gold.
Power is in abundance, supplied by old-fashioned fission reactors or massive solar scoops.
Because of the airlessness of their environment, Crysilians try to work around the lack of air to carry speech by using a variety of other communications means. Short range subvocal throat mikes and eardrum inducers, as well as implanted close-range radios, are particularly popular. The Crysilians have also developed an elaborate code of body and sign language to help them communicate. In enclosed spaces, Crysilians use airlocks, not to keep breathing air in, but to allow them to maintain sustainable atmospheres of gases, such as nitrogen, to allow them to speak normally indoors.

Dominion
The Crysilians claim about eighteen planets within the Cluster and about five hundred asteroid outposts and space stations of at least 50 permanent residents. Crysilian worlds, however, all tend to be uninhabitable by normal human standards, being airless(or having very thin and unbreathable atmospheres) and typically subject to lashings by radiation storms and intense solar wind.
Outside the Cluster, the Crysilians have claimed six worlds and have substantial business and industrial enclaves on several dozen more.

Gateway
Gateway is the last human-habitable world between the Cluster proper and the outside galaxy. The world is Crysilian territory, and serves as a transit hub in and out of the Cluster. Here pilots to the tumultous inner Cluster travel lanes are embarked, cargoes transferred, emigrants screened, and contacts made with the outside world. Gateway is also the world where prospective new citizens are screened, tested, and then judged for worthiness to join Crysalian society; rejects are deported from Crysalian space, while those lucky few who are accepted are readied for their trip to the Inner Cluster, exposure to the Crysalid Virus, and conversion into Crysalian form.


Crysilian R.C.C.
Alignments: Any
Lifespan: 200-300 years
Size: As per race
Gender:As per race
Physical Description/Appearance:
Appears as a regular speciman of the transformed race, only made of a smooth, but flexible, crystalline material. Eyesd become prismatic
Attitudes:
Same as regular humans, but being megadamage beings who live inside a nearly unnavigable nebula, and are immensely rich with mineral wealth has, some outsiders claim, made the Crysilians somewhat swaggeringly arrogant and self-assured.
Physical Attributes:
IQ: As per race, but Humans will have 3d6
ME:As per race, but Humans will have 3d6
MA:As per race, but Humans will have 3d6
PS: +1d6+6
PP:As per race, but Humans will have 3d6
PB: +1d4
PE: +1d6+6
SPD: +1d6+6
(ISP): By Psionic Class
(PPE): 1d6
Hit Points: In non-MDC realms, Cryslians have
SDC:In non-MDC realms, Cryslians have their racial/OCC SDC x10, and an Armor Rating(A.R.) of 15
MDC: Convert SDC to MDC, point for point.
Horror Factor: ----
Natural Abilities:
*Do Not Need to Breath

*Immune to Poisons/Toxins----Just about all organic-affecting poisons and toxins have NO effect on the Crysilian physiology, though corrosive/acidic toxins do normal damage(especially if ingested).

*Immune to Radiation----In extreme radiation conditions, in fact,Crysilians actually REGENERATE at 2d6 MD per every hour of exposure, and can go without solid food as long as they are exposed.

*Impervious to Extreme Heat/Cold---Megadamage heat- and cold-based attacks only do HALF damage. The normal bitter cold/inferno of space does NO damage

*Limited Laser Resistance---Crysilian flesh is slightly more laser resistant than other materials; lasers do 1/4 less damage.

*Vision Enhancement----Crysilians can see into the ultra-violet range and their altered optics act as natural sunglasses....they are able to walk around in the direct sun/star-glare of space without the need for protective eyewear.

*Natural Megadamage Beings(In Megadamage universes)

Super Abilities: The high levels of mutagenic radiation in the Cluster encourage the acquisition of mutant traits, even among the radiation-hardened Crysilian populace. About 25% will be born with random super abilities, mainly energy control talents.

Psionics: Perhaps 15% of Crysilians have natural psionics

Magic: None---The PPE-poor Cluster environment discourages the practice of magic

Available OCCs: Tend to gravitate towards high-tech industrial and space professions
RCC Skills:
Sign Language(+15%)
EVA(+15%)

Cybernetics/Bionics: Crysilans can readily acquire implants, and most citizens will have 1d4 minor implants(mainly communications and entertainment devices such as built-in comlinks and illuminated holo-tattoos).

Note: Due to a profit-share arrangement, almost all Crysilians receive a share of the immense revenues from the mineral and metals trade...Crysilians start out with DOUBLE the normal amount of savings they get from their OCC choice.

Culture:
Democratic Government with Strong Corporate Blocs

[Aramanthus]

Very nice RCC Taalismn! I like how detailed a history they have! Excellent job!

[taalismn]

Thanks...I have a number of 'munchkin' uber-races that have long involved run-up stories(like the Sumi and Elan ) that I've had to 'retool' to make them less uber-munchy, give them some limits, or at least not make them potentially inclined to overthrow known Palladium canon(like making their numbers in the Three Galaxies limited because they are newly emrgenct onto the galactic scene, or come from another universe and are just now travelling with some regularity into the 3G/Rifts Earth).

[Aramanthus]

I understand from that prespective. Something can created that can be way way too powerful.

[taalismn]

NOt that I having anything against being able to take over the THree Galaxies in a (relatively) bloodless and grotesquely one-sided campaign, you understand

[Aramanthus]

Of course not! That makes for a good desperate PC campaign to stop the overwhelming enemy forces.

[taalismn]

-sighX20-

...Now what species could make a sound like that...I've already done bellows-lunged mimicking accoustic frog-aliens...Perhaps a species of organic steam engines? INtensely hot-running biometabolisms(or elemntal fire magic-based) producing lareg volumes of steam? Perhaps amphibious, with either rapid-skin absorption of water or special appendages/orifices to draw in additional water to be heated? Maybe adapt something from Splicers to flesh tehm out?

[Aramanthus]

That would be an interesting rcc. I'd like to see it developed.

[taalismn]

Yep, pneumatic physiologies could be quite exotic, but coming up with the circumstances under which such would evolve naturally is going to be a doozy, unless they were deliberately engineered....

[Aramanthus]

Doozy? That is an interesting word. Is it going to be a true munchin? Or is it going to be a near munchkin?