98 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Cha,–2 Str Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Pahtras are Medium humanoids with the pahtra subtype. Pahtra Senses: Pahtras have darkvision with a range of 60 feet and low-light vision. Nimble: An off-kilter pahtra doesn’t gain the flat-footed condition or take the normal penalty to attacks, and they can steady themself as a swift action instead of a move action. Talented: Pahtras gain a +2 species bonus to Acrobatics checks, Stealth checks, and checks with one Profession of their choice. Wary: Pahtras gain a +2 species bonus against charm and compulsion effects. with little fur. At two to six months of age, pahtra kits are taken to a mystic to receive guidance on their lives based on interpretations of their fur patterns. Their early years tend to be idyllic ones, though their playtime activities are guided by the dictates of their supposedly predestined aptitude and social roles; however, all youths are encouraged to climb, experiment with music, and engage in childish play fights, as these activities are central concepts to pahtra culture. Once a pahtra turns seven, they’re expected to begin their official education. Private tutoring is considered adequate pedagogy for the least promising youths. Those children who show the greatest potential are expected to attend a school where even if they receive less individual instruction, they’ll be exposed to peers who can serve as constant competition. Music Almost every pahtra, both on Pulonis and off, has a deep love of music. It’s rare to find a pahtra who doesn’t know the basics of at least one instrument, and vocal lessons are taught alongside battle tactics and history lessons in school. Hired musicians liven the soundscapes of pahtra cities, and pahtra composers garner as much respect as the most prominent scientists, leaders, and generals. Concerts are some of Pulonis’s biggest social events, and pahtras will make a treacherous journey through the wilderness for thousands of miles around to witness the electric “singing coils” of the nation-state of Trenarez. WAR GAMES At 15 years of age, every pahtra is expected to participate in a coming-of-age ceremony, where they’re sent into the wilderness to compete against both their peers and the environment. These ancient rites of battle and survival last several weeks and claim several lives every year, but a pahtra’s performance in the ceremony often shapes their social and career prospects for the near future. The trials typically involve races, collecting rare hunting trophies, and survival in harsh environments with little equipment—all while skirmishing with other youths who compete for the same resources and accolades. The fierce competition begins well before the rite, with a young pahtra’s exploits influencing not only where they’ll perform their trials, but also alongside whom. The more prestigious the arena, the greater the challenges and the greater the prospect of glory. The most sought-after site is known as the Proving Grounds, a tract of wilderness wracked with dramatic tides, magnetic storms, and occasional earthquakes. Each pahtra nation-state is permitted to send 12 youths to the Proving Grounds each year, and Pulonis’s most influential citizens (and even a few from beyond) pay very close attention to these rites and their top performers. Given their combat and survival skills, it’s little surprise that the military is one of the most respected professions in pahtra culture—even if it involves joining the Veskarium’s armed forces. Military service also represents one of the few ways for pahtras to reliably leave the planet, as the rigorous exercise and conditioning needed to adapt to higher gravity worlds is difficult to obtain through other means. For their part, vesk soldiers respect their pahtra comrades, though they often ideologically clash over the former’s demands for conformity and the latter’s need for individuality. NAMES Traditional pahtra names consist of elements that are auspicious to a pahtra’s potential in life, as determined by a pahtra mystic in during the individual’s youth. These elements differ depending on nation-state, history, and lineage, and they vary enough that a pahtra’s parents can pick and choose what best appeals to them as well as add their own input to the name. Those pahtras who reject tradition have been known to change their names or name their children with elements that the youths have no “right” to bear, a trend that older pahtras find somewhat offensive. Sample Names Some sample pahtra names include Cahnex, Fetenekku, Hafsoumei, Ifset, Jeviish, Khieper, Lealorn, Mahdran, Onharaf, Rishhmani, Sanna, Tendris, Voyenrel, and Zamahaii. NEW FEATS Pahtra society exhibits a strong love of music and a strong respect for war, and it considers those who combine the two to be the pinnacle of their culture. The following feats play to a pahtra’s perfect pitch, and are thus appropriate for pahtra PCs, but might be available to other characters at the GM’s discretion. Crescendo of Violence (Combat) Your skill with modulating the sounds of your sonic weapons into musical patterns borders on showboating but also inspires your allies. Prerequisites: Charisma 15 or Profession (musician) 5 ranks Benefit: When you score a critical hit with a weapon that deals sonic damage, in addition to any other critical hit effect you would apply, all allies within 30 feet of you gain a +2 morale bonus to your choice of attack rolls, skill checks, or saving throws until the beginning of your next turn. Crescendo of Victory (Combat) Your perfect musical cues can accentuate a moment of triumph and send a surge of adrenaline through an ally.
99 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Prerequisites: Crescendo of Violence* Benefit: When an ally within 30 feet of you scores a critical hit against a significant foe, as a reaction you can spend 1 Resolve Point and a charge of a sonic weapon you’re holding. The ally regains Stamina Points equal to 3 × your level or 4 × the number of Profession (musician) ranks you have, whichever is higher. Discordant Din (Combat) By aiming carefully, you can cause your sonic weapons to emit a terrible noise on impact, aggravating the senses of creatures that rely heavily on hearing. Benefit: As a standard action, you can make a single attack with a weapon that deals sonic damage and uses charges; this attack uses three times as many charges from the battery or power cell as normal. In addition to your normal weapon effects and damage, all creatures within 20 feet of the target must attempt a Fortitude save with a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the weapon’s item level + the ability modifier you applied when making the attack with that weapon. Any creature that fails the save and possesses blindsense (sound or vibration) or blindsight (sound or vibration) is unable to use those abilities until the beginning of your next turn. Harmony of Bullets (Combat) When wielding multiple sonic weapons, you can modulate their frequencies to allow them to musically amplify each other when operated together. Prerequisites: Multi-Weapon Fighting Benefit: When you make a full attack with two or more small arms that deal sonic damage or with two or more operative melee weapons that deal sonic damage, increase the damage dealt by one of those weapons by an amount equal to your Charisma modifier. In addition, if two or more of those attacks hit the same target, combine the damage from those attacks before applying the target’s sonic energy resistance or hardness, if any. Operatic Shatter Through observation and experimentation, you can determine the exact pitch to shatter glass with your voice—and sturdier objects with your spells and weapons. Prerequisites: Perception 6 ranks Benefit: You can spend a full action to sing at and examine an unattended object or structure within 120 feet of you, such as a piece of armor or steel wall. For the next hour or until you use this feat to assess another object, you reduce the target’s hardness against sonic damage you deal by an amount equal to your level. If you have another ability or weapon special property that would also reduce the target’s hardness, you either reduce the hardness by an amount equal to your level, or you reduce the hardness by an amount equal to half your level plus any hardness reduction provided by the other source, whichever is higher. As a standard action, you can sing or use an instrument to play a powerful note that damages an object or structure you’ve assessed with this feat. This note deals sonic damage equal to your level and has a range of 30 feet. Once you’ve sounded this destructive note, you can’t do so again until you rest for 10 minutes to recover Stamina Points. Pinpoint Hearing You hear echoes so clearly that even the reflected sound of your footsteps or the hum of a starship’s engine can disclose hidden secrets. Prerequisites: Echolocation Attack COM, Perception 9 ranks Benefit: You gain blindsense (sound) with a range of 30 feet. If you already have blindsense (sound or vibration), you instead gain blindsight (sound or vibration, matching your blindsense type). When using the Echolocation Attack feat, you extend the range of your granted blindsight by 30 feet. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
100 On their home world of Nolasa in the Euditace system in Near Space, psacynoids have established a unique economy through their subterranean “farms” of magical crystals. Though they’ve made peaceful contact with others outside of their home system, psacynoids have yet to make a large mark on the galactic scene. However, the growing interstellar market for their magic crystals will surely bring the planet both wealth and fame soon enough. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION A psacynoid has four legs sprouting from a bulbous, rounded trunk at the base of their body. A slender torso rises up to a similarly shaped bulb that forms their head; some might mistake this torso for an elongated neck were it not for the psacynoid’s four thin arms extending from it. Their head features a wide mouth and an upward-pointing olfactory organ that looks like a crest of hair. The bottom bulb holds most of a psacynoid’s internal organs, including the stomach and heart, while their brain resides in the upper bulb encased in a thick skull. Due to the unusual distribution of weight in their body and the difference in proportions between their torso and their legs, a psacynoid tends to lead with their head, causing a careening gait that to many other sapient creatures appears more like stumbling than walking. A typical psacynoid stands about 6 feet tall and weighs 125 pounds. HOME WORLD The psacynoid home world, Nolasa, is the third planet in the Near Space system of Euditace. One of Nolasa’s most remarkable features is that it varies very little in elevation, both above and below sea level. The planet’s tallest mountain is less than half a mile high, and its deepest seabed is similarly shallow. This is due to a lack of tectonic activity on the surface; the ancient movement of Nolasa’s unique tectonic plates has instead formed thousands of miles of caverns throughout the planet’s crust, many of which are easily accessible from caves and other natural openings in the ground. Nolasa is also distinct for the magic crystals that can be cultivated in these caverns (see Crystal Cultivation on page 101). The planet has diverse surface biomes, but they all have very little in the way of wildlife, none of which grow larger than a few feet. These creatures include furred and horned lonimaks that prowl the planet’s low mountain ranges, insectile darmuirs that migrate monthly between sea and shore, and herbivorous uhzeents that glide from tree to tree on fleshy wings. None have historically posed much of a threat to psacynoids, who were able to peacefully evolve to be the largest species… aboveground. Bigger and more dangerous beasts thrive PSACYNOID Home World: Nolasa (Near Space) Psacynoids are bulbous-headed, multiarmed humanoids whose culture centers around community service and the creation of mystical crystals. They can see in the dark and tend to have equal knowledge of both mysticism and geology. in Nolasa’s cave systems, including shadowy oozes called vayleexis and white-scaled reptilian swiquas. These strange underground ecosystems were created by the endless wells of magic that pool and flow from cave to cave. Some grottoes are lit by a ghostly luminescence which seems to shift its hue based on the prevailing emotion felt by any inhabitants, while others see rivulets of water dripping in every direction heedless of gravity. These hollows are incredibly important to both psacynoid culture and economy (see Society below). Though they’ve been studying the caves for centuries, psacynoids have yet to map or even traverse their entirety. They use the well-protected caves nearest to their surface settlements for the cultivation of their planet’s famed mystical crystals, but tunnels lead miles in every direction, plunging deep into the crust. Psacynoids often send out expeditions to search for new areas in which to farm crystals, but these groups can make it only so far with the limited supplies they carry—if they return at all. One of the largest cities on Nolasa is Kruosk, a bustling magitech metropolis along the banks of the Yuahlish River and above the Iominae Caves, which hold acres of crystal farms tended by a variety of custodial corporations. Kruosk is a wide expanse of squat, square buildings constructed of steel, glass, and concrete by spellcasting architects and engineers. The plain, almost brutal architectural style originated within Kruosk and is prevalent across most of Nolasa’s larger cities. Thanks to robust government programs, Kruosk has solid public transportation infrastructure, and there are very few personal vehicles apart from small, pedaled conveyances. The city’s emergency services also have their own hover vehicles that travel on a series of streets designated for their use only. SOCIETY As the largest beings to evolve on the surface of Nolasa, psacynoids easily became the planet’s dominant sapient species. Many psacynoids developed spellcasting powers due to the saturation of magic across the globe, and while some inevitably used these skills for violence and evil, many more were driven by goodness and the desire for peace. After a band of heroes defeated a psacynoid necromancer whose plans would’ve spelled destruction for the entire species, community and religious leaders used their influence to create sweeping social changes. It soon became commonplace for psacynoids to donate regularly to charities or engage in community service. Generations later, this spirit of communalism has been practically ingrained into the psacynoid psyche. Before the Gap, when hard currency was used more frequently and sales of goods were mostly limited to neighboring communities, a psacynoid merchant would invest
101 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES a large percentage of their profits into their home community. This included paying for the creation, maintenance, and improvement of public infrastructure (such as roads and sewage lines) as well as ensuring that families undergoing hardships were taken care of. As such, poverty, hunger, and homelessness were practically nonexistent. During this period of evolving norms, psacynoids also discovered that the caverns beneath their feet contained remarkable power. Owelahana, a wandering geomancer whose name has since become an important part of psacynoid history, was exploring one such cave when they noticed the energy from their spells lingered after being cast. The magic instead began to coalesce into a small crystalline seed. Curious, Owelahana observed the phenomenon over several days, watching as the crystal grew. Further casting of spells of the same school resulted in more crystals, and Owelahana harvested them to bring back to the surface to study. Owelahana and psacynoids like them discovered that each of Nolasa’s caves resonated with a different magical frequency, producing a staggering diversity of crystals. Today the field of crystal cultivation is Nolasa’s most practiced vocation, and the sale of these crystals makes up the largest percentage of the planet’s economy. Psacynoids weathered the Gap fairly well, quickly reestablishing relationships and businesses in the wake of this period of universal amnesia. Some believe that Nolasa’s inherent magic acted as a kind of dampening field to whatever caused the Gap; these scholars posit that while psacynoids were as affected by the Gap as all other species, they were allowed to retain the faintest shadows of their memories. Some sages say this drained a portion of Nolasa’s magic, but since the planet’s caves are still producing crystals, others tend to dismiss these claims. Upon the construction of Drift engines and contact with other civilizations, the demand for Nolasa’s magical crystals has skyrocketed. Though this demand has put some pressure on custodians to produce more crystals and seek out new caves, greater wealth is undeniably pouring in. Psacynoids have since adopted the UPB-based Pact Worlds credit as a standard currency, and thanks to digital banking, profits made from the sale of crystals from one cave can be easily used to help a community on the other side of the world, resulting in a small population boom on Nolasa during the past century. Psacynoids tend to worship deities of magic and community, such as Abadar and Eloritu. A growing faction in Nolasa’s religious community, a sect calling themselves Stratumians, believe that the planet’s surface was manufactured and placed onto the system of caves by some ancient power. Stratumians hold that psacynoids descended from these world engineers but have lost the magic to repeat the monumental feat. They call for deeper forays into Nolasa’s caves to discover more about their progenitors in the hopes of learning this magic and gaining the ability to terraform other worlds. CRYSTAL CULTIVATION Psacynoids who want to participate in their planet’s lucrative business usually follow one of three paths. Custodians are given stewardship over individual caverns, cultivating and harvesting the crystals that grow there. A custodian must, of course, have knowledge of the same type of magic as the cavern in which they work. They often live within a small prefabricated structure in the cave or, if they’re lucky, within a settlement less than a 20-minute commute away. Those custodians who dwell apart from their fellow psacynoids typically only do so for a single growing season (approximately 6 months) and then return to their families and loved ones for a year or sometimes longer while another custodian takes their place. This rotation allows custodians to avoid becoming too isolated from their communities. During their “time off,” such custodians are free to have other jobs or to pursue a favorite pastime, comfortable in the fact that Nolasa’s extensive social programs ensure they won’t go hungry or without shelter. Another path involves training in combat to protect the crystal farms from Nolasa’s subterranean dangers. Referred to as gallants, these soldiers sometimes exhibit magical prowess of their own and learn to seamlessly blend spells into their fighting styles. Gallants are either stationed in defensive bunkers near the most perilous tunnels and caves EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
102 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Wis, –2 Str Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Psacynoids are Medium monstrous humanoids. Crystal Crafter: A psacynoid can craft a spell gem or a solarian weapon crystal in half the normal time; this bonus stacks with any provided by tools or environment. For instance, a psacynoid using a starship’s arcane laboratory can craft a spell gem in one-quarter the normal time. Hermetic Knowledge: Psacynoids gain a +2 species bonus to Mysticism and Physical Science checks. Multiarmed (4): See page 154. Psacynoid Senses: Psacynoids have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Sonic Resistance: Psacynoids have resistance 5 to sonic. or assigned to a patrol that delves deeper underground to hunt down certain creatures. During rare times known as the “blood seasons,” these ranging gallants are called to aid their cloistered allies as the subterranean monsters grow bolder and attack en masse. Sometimes these assaults last for days of grueling combat, with many psacynoids wounded or killed. For months afterward, the defenses are repaired, and injured gallants undergo hospitalization and physical therapy. Some “retire” to become custodians after a blood season, while just as many return to the front, their determination to keep others safe doubled. A newer career has expanded since other systems have made contact with Nolasa in the hundreds of years since the revelation of the Drift. The most charismatic and cunning psacynoids can find great success as brokers, finding extrasolar markets for Nolasa’s magic crystals. Brokers are probably the most well-traveled of psacynoids, and chances are if one sees a psacynoid outside of the Euditace system, they’re a broker or part of a broker’s retinue. Those familiar with psacynoid culture know that brokers are distinguished by a singular piece of clothing: a small, colorful cape that hangs from all four of the psacynoid’s arms. While this cape slightly restricts the broker’s range of arm movement, the broker never removes it in public. Some even wear special embroidered capes tailored to impress in business negotiations. All brokers must be licensed by the Nolasa Trade Union, which ensures that profits earned offworld are fairly distributed across the planet. While no self-respecting psacynoid would dream of impersonating a broker, the NTU maintains a small department of agents responsible for investigating suspected criminal behavior that could threaten the goodwill and lucrative trade agreements fostered by brokers (including the rare case of embezzlement). These agents are either former brokers or brokers-in-training who prefer paperwork over glad-handing. Elliuanahj (NG nonbinary psacynoid) is the current president of the NTU. In general, the NTU maintains a positive reputation with all the world’s custodians, but this standing is beginning to slip as Elliuanahj deals with a protracted legal dispute involving several small custodian guilds from Nolasa’s arctic continent of Mehi. The custodians claim the broker assigned to sell a recent harvest of ice magic–focused crystals has absconded with the cargo, and they demand restitutions. Elliuanahj has tried to assure the custodians that negotiations to sell the crystals are still ongoing and has shifted profits from other sales to Mehi’s social programs to keep tempers cool, but the union president is fighting a losing battle. In truth, Elliuanahj recently received a threatening note from an organization calling itself The Council of Ash, who holds the broker and their shipment of crystals hostage. The Council of Ash is demanding millions of credits from the NTU and has warned Elliuanahj that if they refuse to pay or if they try to contact the authorities, more brokers will end up “missing.” Elliuanahj has been resorting to some clever accounting in an attempt to raise the funds but fears this course will only result in them being ousted from their position and jailed. The union president has also begun discreet inquiries to find neutral parties who might be able to aid them in this predicament. NAMES Like the Psacynoa language, psacynoid names consist mainly of soft, rounded sounds interspersed with the occasional lateral or nasal consonant. Each name has several syllables, and psacynoid siblings often have nearly identical names distinguished by a single syllable. When a child is old enough to choose their name, tradition holds they pick one that’s an amalgamation of their parents’ names. Psacynoids who deal with other species usually accept being referred to by shortened forms of their names. Sample Names Aowheleh, Auhanuah, Ehmouwie, Iahuajeo, Olleohuian, Oyuahemeh, Weijheleam, Wouliashi, Yhisweoi, Yuiahmah. SPELL AMULETS Recently, enterprising psacynoid custodians have discovered a method to create and enchant sturdier spell gems. Known as spell amulets, these magic crystals retain the “memory” of the spell encoded within even after that spell is cast, allowing them to be used multiple times. In addition, the magic within a spell amulet confers a beneficial side effect when the spell within is cast. SPELL AMULET LEVELS 2-17 MAGIC ITEM PRICE VARIES BULK L Spell amulets can take many aesthetic forms, but in general, a spell amulet consists of a chunky piece of crystal mounted in a metal and silicon frame. A spell amulet functions in most respects like a spell gem, in that it grants the temporary ability to cast a spell encoded into the amulet without using one of your spell slots. You must be holding the spell amulet throughout the spell’s casting time and must spend at least a standard action using the spell amulet, even if the spell’s casting time is shorter. Only spellcasters are capable of using spell amulets—if you aren’t a spellcaster, you’re unable to make use of the knowledge the amulet unlocks. You don’t need to know the spell within a spell amulet to use it, but
103 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES the spell must be on your class’s spell list (or have otherwise been added to your spell list) and you must have a high enough key ability score to cast it. If the spell amulet’s item level is higher than your caster level, once you’ve spent the full casting time of the spell, you must succeed at a caster level check with a DC equal to the spell amulet’s item level + 1 or you fail to cast the spell. If you fail to cast a spell from a spell amulet, the spell remains, and you can attempt to use the amulet again. However, unlike a spell gem, the mystical encoding within a spell amulet isn’t lost when the spell is cast, and it can be refreshed each day. To do so, a spellcaster must expend a spell slot of the same level as the level of the spell encoded within the amulet during their daily preparations, though the spellcaster needn’t know the spell originally encoded in the amulet. For instance, a spellcaster can expend a 2nd-level spell slot to replenish a spell amulet of invisibility even if invisibility isn’t on their list of spells known. A 0-level spell can’t be encoded into a spell amulet. A spell amulet can’t be used with a spellthrower weapon, but it otherwise counts as a spell gem for the purpose of a psacynoid’s crystal crafter ability. To craft a spell amulet, you must know the spell you’re encoding into the gem. If a spell requires expensive materials as part of its casting (such as raise dead), they must be provided while crafting the amulet and each time it’s refreshed, and the amulet’s price is increased by the price of the components. Like spell gems, you can create compound spell amulets holding multiple spells, with a price equal to the total price of all spells stored within it plus an additional 10% of that total. Such spell amulets can be used to cast only one spell at a time. In addition, you can affix a spell amulet to a weapon or suit of armor in a process that takes 10 minutes. Only one spell amulet can be affixed to a single weapon or suit of armor. When the spell within the amulet is cast, you gain a temporary benefit depending on the spell’s school of magic (below); you must be wielding the weapon or wearing the suit of armor to gain this benefit. You can remove a spell amulet with another 10 minutes of work. Abjuration: You gain a +1 shield bonus to AC until the end of your next turn; this bonus increases to +2 if the spell cast is 4th level or higher. Conjuration: You gain a number of temporary Hit Points equal to twice the level of the spell cast. Divination: You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to saving throws until the end of your next turn; this bonus increases to +2 if the spell cast is 4th level or higher. Enchantment: As a reaction immediately after casting the spell, you can attempt a ranged attack against the EAC of a target within 20 feet. If successful, the target is staggered until the end of its next turn; if the spell cast is 4th level or higher, the target is stunned instead. Evocation: As a reaction immediately after casting the spell, you can attempt a ranged attack against the EAC of a target within 20 feet. If successful, an energy ray deals 1d4 damage per level of the spell cast of an energy type of your choosing. Illusion: Each enemy within 10 feet of you is dazzled for a number of rounds equal to the spell’s level. Necromancy: As a reaction immediately after casting the spell, you can attempt a ranged attack against the EAC of a target within 20 feet. If successful, the target is sickened for a number of rounds equal to the spell’s level. Transmutation: Your speed increases by 10 feet until the end of your next turn; this bonus increases to 20 feet if the spell cast is 4th level or higher. The cost and item level of a spell amulet depends on the level of the spell within. SPELL LEVEL ITEM LEVEL PRICE 1st 2 450 2nd 5 2,500 3rd 8 8,000 4th 11 21,000 5th 14 58,000 6th 17 200,000 EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
104 Quorlus are a quadrupedal species with three arms. Their limbs are long and flexible, as are their three eyestalks. Quorlus’ silicon-based flesh is pliable, rough, and extremely warm. A rocky shell protects their body but not as much as the species’ internal heat and elemental nature. Quorlus are newcomers on the galactic scene, but their culture leads them to be gregarious and curious as well as peace-loving and accepting of change. Since using Drift travel to leave their world, quorlus have become well known as explorers, prospectors, engineers, and performers; many other sapient creatures find quorlu singing enjoyable. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Quorlus evolved on a planet of restless geology with a thin and toxic atmosphere. They’re compact and roughly ovoid beings, only slightly taller at 4-1/2 feet than they are wide. This body belies their mass, which can approach 400 pounds. The bulk of their bodies is a roundish central mass from which 10 appendages radiate. Quorlus use four of these tentacular limbs for mobility and three for manipulation. Three others near the top of the body end in gemlike orbs, the color of any agate but commonly red-orange to gold, that quorlus use for vision. Limbs other than the eyestalks taper to a blunt tip. Quorlus can shape and divide this point into articulating digits, which act much like human fingers. They can have several digits on any limb, but only the three central limbs are dexterous enough for fine manipulation, while “toes” on their lower limbs help with stability. The malleability of these limbs makes it easier for quorlus to fit into gear intended for other species. Quorlus, however, are unlike many other beings. Their silicon-based physiology makes them akin to living rocks, explaining their mass. Their skin—which they use to hear, smell, taste, and touch—is made up of crystalline elements, and the harder rear shell is similar to a crust of cooled magma. Quorlus’ shell and skin can be a variety of colors and textures, depending on environmental influences, especially the minerals they consume for sustenance. Most resemble igneous rocks. One quorlu might show the featureless grays and blacks of basalt, while another has the speckled characteristic of gabbro, and yet another has the crystalline aspect of granite. Internally, quorlu physiology is more uniform with predictably placed internal structures. This internal structure requires raw material in the form of minerals quorlus consume as food, but it requires no air. Intense cold slows these hot internal reactions, which burn up toxins and non-magical medicinals alike. Plasma within quorlu bodies supports, nourishes, and protects crystal structures analogous to vital organs in carbon-based life-forms; it also contains molecule chains similar to the DNA of carbon-based creatures. Quorlus have no clear biological sex. They reproduce QUORLU Home World: Quorlosh (The Vast) Quorlus are multi-limbed, silicon-based beings who burrow settlement warrens in their tectonically active world. Quorlu physiology runs hot, like their planet, but they’re calm and value connection and new experiences. by sharing plasma, each would-be parent extruding nodules that develop into young quorlus. HOME WORLD Quorlus’ home planet, Quorlosh, is a rocky, terrestrial world in the Vast. Quorlosh is the second planet (of six) from the system’s star, a white star larger than the Pact Worlds sun called Quyna. Quyna’s habitable zone for common galactic species begins just beyond Quorlosh’s orbit; its proximity to their sun makes the surface too hot for liquid water. This scorching crust is only one of the hostilities that quorlus have endured for millennia. Quorlosh has a thin atmosphere composed mostly of volcanic gases spewed from the planet’s interior. The world spins rapidly, and its tectonics and volcanism can be violent. Magma forms the rivers and seas on this planet. Quorlosh is inhospitable to many forms of life and deadly to the most common expressions of carbon-based biology. Quorlus evolved in Quorlosh’s subterranean reaches, migrating with the ebb and flow of the world’s tenuous habitability. Although the planet supports non-sapient, silicon-based life, quorlus are the only sapient species, and they don’t rely on other living creatures for food. Where minerals are rich, quorlus can survive and thrive. Few quorlu settlements are entirely permanent and historically endured for no more than a few centuries. Magic, modern engineering, and advanced materials have enabled quorlus to build newer, more stable areas on Quorlosh. Their largest city is the underground metropolis of Zrielta, served by the Zrielta Station spaceport in geosynchronous orbit. Accommodations for non-quorlu sapient creatures are easiest to come by on the station, but the city has facilities for breathing species as well. Quorlus in Zrielta take pride in the array of cultural experiences the city offers, from historical archives to modern artistic displays and musical performances. From Zrielta, air or magical transport are the primary means for travel to other parts of the planet, but other locations on Quorlosh aren’t as welcoming to visitors. Quorlus are no less hospitable in other settlements, but such places tend to offer fewer accommodations for non-quorlus. Only a few spots of natural wonder—from the Pole Plumes, volcanic geysers that spew hot subterranean water into the sky, to Vrolata, an active supervolcano and tallest point on the planet—have amenities for tourists. SOCIETY Quorlus have adapted to Quorlosh’s harsh nature with a society that embraces impermanence. Philosophically, quorlus place little emphasis on material wealth or ancestral lands that other cultures value. Instead, quorlus esteem
105 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES peace, emotional connection, creativity, pleasure, and resilience. They take a practical view toward misfortune and disaster. Destruction calls for rescue, reassessment, and—if possible and sensible—restoration. Buildings and other installations are pragmatic, built to endure upheaval and plain in design, while portable and magical decoration is fancier and changes often. Quorlus like to explore possibilities and make work and play uplifting experiences. They value relationships and experiential but temporary forms of expression; their monuments and great works of art tend to be stories and songs passed from generation to generation. Sharing these aspects of being is important to quorlus, so communal groups called kindreds make up quorlu society. Kindreds form based on mutual values and, to a lesser extent, professional skills. A quorlu is born into a kindred, but they foster numerous others. Juvenile quorlus explore these relationships to find the right kindred, a home for the soul. Kindred affiliation can be as transient as a particular quorlu desires. Quorlus cherish personal growth and acknowledge that such development can create the need for new surroundings and relations. A quorlu might stay with a kindred all their life, or they might join numerous chosen families over the years. Quorlus rejoice at another’s choices for change, rather than having hard feelings, since these changes can foster new, positive relationships among individuals and kindreds that couldn’t have existed before. Quorlus’ high valuation of connection and seeking common ground makes them great explorers and diplomats. They also seek belonging, always searching for would-be kindred mates among other peoples. Although it’s rare for non-quorlus to join quorlu kindreds, it’s common for quorlus outside their society to form kindred-like ties. However, quorlus give their private ideals high priority and are unlikely to remain in relationships that force them to compromise their beliefs too often. When it comes to personal expression, quorlus are open, curious, and communal while simultaneously elevating individual inclinations. Quorlus often decorate their portable possessions as well as their bodies, tailoring their diet of minerals, crystals, and salts to gain an excess of a substance to use for bodily expression. They can also extrude minerals to change their skin and shell color over a long period of time. They love music, holographic or illusory art, and other artistic experiences, especially fleeting ones. Growing Up Quorlu Quorlus reproduce and rear children communally. Quorlus who wish to give birth mingle their internal plasma with kindred mates and other beloved quorlus to create egg-like nodules that contain the silicon genetic material from several quorlus. Exact parentage is irrelevant in quorlu culture, but quorlus still note heritage for historic and medical reasons. Kindreds have communal nurseries, where caretakers watch over nodules until they hatch, after which kindred members take in the infant for rearing. Quorlu children have their whole kindred as parents and teachers. After 10 years—an important increment to quorlus—juveniles can visit other kindreds and, if desired, live with and learn from them for a while. By the time a quorlu becomes an adult at 22 years, they have numerous relationships and a breadth of experience that can help them choose a kindred for themselves. Ancestral Spirits Spirituality among quorlus focuses on ancestral spirits, some of which resemble known deities elsewhere in the galaxy, and reincarnation. Sudden death and loss were common in developing quorlu society. Belief in transmigration of the soul from life to life developed from there, as did a belief that a soul can transcend the mortal plane, becoming one with the principles the deceased quorlu personified. Quorlus revere spirits of friendship, peace, justice, magical and earthly mystery, history, fate, adaptation, evolution, and rebirth. Among quorlus, spirits of these virtues have numerous names. Living quorlus, especially mystics, can be elevated to saintlike positions for embodying such ideals, thought of as reincarnations of virtuous ancestors. Modern quorlus recognize the gods as further embodiments of quorlu spiritualism. Quorlu mystics and spiritualists sometimes connect deities to their ancestor reverence, finding common ground with religious figures in other cultures. Divinities quorlus recognize most often include Eloritu, Hylax, Oras, Pharasma, and Yaraesa. Despite the violent phenomena EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
106 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, –2 Con Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Astrazoans are Medium aberrations with the shapechanger subtype. Change Form: As a standard action, an astrazoan can physically alter their form to look like any Medium creature, as long as they have seen a similar creature before. They can attempt to either mimic a specific creature or look like a general creature of the chosen type. The astrazoan gains a +10 bonus to Disguise checks to appear as a creature of the type and subtype of the new form. The DC of the astrazoan’s Disguise check is not modified as a result of altering major features or if they disguise themself as an aberration or a humanoid (though the DC is still modified if the astrazoan attempts to disguise themself as a different creature type). The astrazoan can remain in an alternate form indefinitely (or until they take another form). Compression: An astrazoan can move through an area as small as one quarter their space without squeezing or one eighth their space when squeezing. Darkvision: Astrazoans can see up to 60 feet in the dark. Many Forms: For effects targeting creatures by type, astrazoans count as both aberrations and humanoids. Rapid Revival: Once per day, when an astrazoan takes a 10-minute rest to regain Stamina Points, they can additionally recover Hit Points as though they had taken a full night’s rest. SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Con, +2 Cha, –2 Dex Hit Points: 6 Size and Type: Quorlus are Medium monstrous humanoids. Endothermic: Quorlus have resistance 5 to fire that stacks with one other source of fire resistance. Lithic: Quorlus gain a +2 species bonus to saving throws against bleed, disease, and poison effects, and they can’t benefit from drugs, medicinals, or similar non-magical substances. In addition, quorlus don’t breathe or suffer the normal environmental effects of being in a vacuum. Multiarmed (3): Quorlus have the multiarmed (3) universal creature rule. Ponderous: Quorlus have a land speed of 25 feet. Stable: Quorlus gain a +4 species bonus to AC against combat maneuvers to bull rush, reposition, or trip. Quorlu Senses: Quorlus have darkvision with a range of 60 feet and low-light vision. Susceptible to Cold: When a quorlu takes cold damage, they become fatigued for 1 round. This effect doesn’t cause a fatigued quorlu to become exhausted. Tunneler: Quorlus can dig through soil at a rate of 5 feet per minute. A quorlu can use this ability combined with their internal heat to dig through stone at a rate of 1 foot per minute. When they dig, a quorlu can leave a tunnel behind. Unflankable: Quorlus have the unflankable universal creature rule. on Quorlosh, quorlus don’t link the planet with any evil deities. They see their planet as a fickle and elemental force, neither good nor evil. Quorlosh gives and takes without conscience or volition. It’s worthy of respect but isn’t a spiritual influence. Good Vibrations For a people who lack any fixed orifices and don’t breathe, quorlus have remarkable “voices.” They eat and excrete through openings they create as needed in their skin. Using similar methods, quorlus create sounds with multiple sound-release vents and vibrations in their internal organs and skin. They speak and sing this way, creating pleasant tonal vibrations. Quorlus who invest time in training to use their voices can become incredible singers, negotiators, or both. A quorlu chorale can be a transporting experience, moving the body, mind, and spirit. Iterative Society Quorlus learned long ago to adapt quickly. Their scientific and magical practices have been refined in the same crucible as their society—the harshness of Quorlosh. A pragmatic streak in quorlu culture derives from survival needs, but their desire for joy gives life to artistic expression. Traditions endure among quorlus only if they present a benefit in an environment of rapid change or foment pleasure. Quick to discard anything that doesn’t serve such purposes, quorlus readily try new solutions for difficult-to-solve problems. Quorlus are also frank, honest, and willing to admit they’re wrong, especially when sticking to a falsehood is dangerous. Their magic and technology emphasize all these ideals. Entry into galactic society hasn’t tempered this cultural trait, but has opened a world of possibilities for what’s practical and enjoyable. An example of innovation due to leaving Quorlosh is quorlu heat-amp gauntlets, the most common of which are nearly useless against quorlu targets but work fine in combat against many other species. QUORLU MAGIC The existence of myriad possibilities, fates, and realities is a touchstone of quorlu culture. Quorlu magic has long included the manipulation of reality with the idea that it isn’t fixed. Everything is change. Magic is merely a manifestation of this principle, and beings can create even unlikely change with the application of practiced will. Traditional quorlu mystics channel ancestral spirits, sing change into existence, and oversee the cycle of life and death. Common connections include akashic, empath, healer, melophile, shaper, and trailblazer. Quorlus have a natural talent for the flamewalker connection, although few pursue this talent on Quorlosh. Quorlus are too pragmatic to fret about any philosophical space between magic and technology. The idea of magic as a tool alongside science appeals to quorlu sensibilities. Technomancers among quorlus tame the forces of creation to bend or defy the laws of science. When magic or tech can’t handle a problem alone, blending the two comes naturally to them. The belief that reality and possibility are malleable also comes easily to quorlus. Quorlu witchwarpers change what is to what could or should be, to what it needs to be. Many witchwarpers focus on using magic to hinder and harm foes, but quorlus are more likely to bend reality to protect and help their allies. This belief in possibility encompasses the concept of time and its malleability; quorlus see time as an unfixed agent of change. NAMES Quorlu names start as short phrases that distinguish a child. As a quorlu grows, more syllables join the initial string. These sounds hint at a quorlu’s habits and deeds. The sounds that make up a quorlu’s true name, as with the quorlu language, can be impossible for some species to replicate without aid. Among only quorlus, names signify identity in complex ways determined by personal preferences and individual conduct. Quorlus favor using names or shortened versions of names in place of pronouns, and their language has only two third-person pronouns—one singular and one plural. A quorlu also has several nicknames. These monikers are often specific terms of endearment or shortened versions of a quorlu’s true name. Since quorlu names can be long and impossible for other species to say, a quorlu often gives a shortened, Commonized version of their name or a favorite nickname to other species (as in the samples below). Sample Names Asada, Boomer, Dulcet, Gunif, Kaden, Laugher, Lork, Minni, Punam, Schmu, Tranquil, Vivar, Zaqui.
107 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES WITCHWARPER OPTION Quorlus value the realm of possibilities and impermanence but also place a high priority on the sort of stability that keeps them safe in the face of disaster. The following are additional effects you can choose from when using the witchwarper’s infinite worlds class feature. These effects are available to witchwarpers of any species. • 1st (Environmental): You cause difficult terrain in the affected area to become normal terrain. When you eliminate non-magical difficult terrain in this way, you create magically altered terrain. • 2nd (Environmental): You stabilize the affected area, steadying unsteady terrain, preventing collapse, and filling gaps. Reduce the DCs to avoid falling, maintain footing, and balance in the area by 5. The area can collapse only due to circumstances that change after you create this effect or if the GM rules stability is impossible. For example, you can hold a collapsing cave in place for the duration but not a platform lacking any other support. Any round during which you use a standard action to maintain this effect doesn’t count against its duration, but the effect can last for a maximum of 1 minute per witchwarper level you have. • 3rd (Environmental): You create a translucent sphere of protection centered on you that moves with you. This barrier and bubble of altered reality might be a thin, semisolid fog, a field of wind, or a bubble inside a film of ectoplasm. This sphere’s boundary provides soft cover and concealment. Atmosphere, gravity, and temperature are tolerable for any creature inside the sphere. Any round during which you use a standard action to maintain this effect doesn’t count against its duration, but the effect can last for a maximum of 1 minute per witchwarper level you have. • 4th (Environmental): You create open space in the affected area, provided any structural material and big masses, such as rubble or liquids, in the area have a hardness of 15 or lower. The effect makes it easy to temporarily excavate an area, removing all inanimate objects, but it’s harder to use to replace artificial structures, such as a standing stone building or vault, or to join strongly disparate environments, such as a starship interior and hard vacuum. The GM can increase a structure’s effective hardness by 10 if it meets these criteria. Creating this effect in an area with any structural material harder than hardness 15 requires you to succeed at a caster level check (1d20 + your caster level) against a DC equal to the hardness of the hardest structural material in the area. If this check fails, the alternate reality fails to manifest, and the spell slot used for this ability is expended with no effect. This open space doesn’t damage surrounding structures or cause them to collapse, and it temporarily holds out moving materials, such as flowing water or unstable debris. If you open this space in an area that contains creatures, they remain and act appropriately according to other environmental factors that don’t change, such as atmosphere and gravity. Any round during which you use a standard action to maintain this effect doesn’t count against its duration, but the effect can last for a maximum of 1 minute per witchwarper level you have. When the effect ends, creatures and objects that weren’t inside the open area before it appeared are safely shunted to the nearest open space outside the effect. Creatures and objects that were inside the area before it appeared and remained inside are safely shunted back to their original locations. You could, for instance, use this effect to rescue a creature buried in rubble, but removing the creature from the affected area before the superimposed space disappears is crucial. • 5th (Environmental): Creatures in the area move and act normally despite being encumbered, entangled, exhausted, fatigued, off kilter, paralyzed, staggered, or hindered by another effect that reduces activity or speed, such as the slow spell. Within the area, creatures can’t be grappled or otherwise bound, and they automatically succeed at escaping from being grappled, pinned, or bound. Also, creatures ignore effects from the environment, such as from being underwater or in zero gravity, when moving and attacking. If a creature ignores an ongoing effect due to being in the area, the ongoing effect’s duration continues to elapse, and the effect resumes normally if the creature leaves the area or this effect ends. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
108 Biotechnology defines life as a raxilite, from the composition of their bodies to the starships and flying cities that many call home. What their tiny bodies lack in physical strength, they more than make up for in ingenuity and a cultural ethos of cooperation. For some raxilites, intellectual curiosity drives them to explore and learn all they can, both to achieve personal excellence and to help their home world of Raxil reach new heights of prosperity. For others, change has come all too fast, and each raxilite must find their own balance between keeping to traditions and broadening their horizons. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Raxilites’ bodies are comprised primarily of plant matter. Their round heads are large in proportion to the rest of their bodies and topped with either a flower or cluster of fluffy seeds depending upon the current stage in their life cycle. Their small hands are capable of delicate manipulation, and their legs end in tapered stumps. Layers of flexible woody fibers cover their bodies. This woody covering hardens over time, restricting a raxilite’s movement if they don’t periodically shed it—usually about once a year. The time just after a shed is ideal for adding augmentations, of which raxilites are particularly fond. Some biomechanical augmentations have become so prevalent that raxilites consider them to be as much a part of their species as their organic bodies. Chief among these augmentations is the Internal Mobility Augmentation System (IMAS), which is installed in each raxilite’s body shortly after they sprout. The IMAS serves as a system of artificial muscles that are connected directly into each raxilite’s brain system. While their purely biological ancestors might have been able to slowly move around without technological assistance, modern raxilites evolved together with their technology and rely on the seamless integration with their IMAS. Almost as central to life among adventuring raxilites is the Lifting Floret Activation Network (LFAN), an invention produced by raxilite bioengineers in response to their first contact with species from other worlds. The LFAN is a collection of tendrils that allow raxilites to manipulate objects designed for much larger creatures. Implanting LFANs is now standard practice for raxilite sprouts, and the vast majority of raxilites born before first contact have had LFANs installed. Raxilites possess only limited photosynthetic abilities. Basking drives some starch production, but mostly sunlight helps raxilites’ bodies manufacture a wide variety of vitamins, proteins, and other non-carbohydrate nutrients essential to good health. For most of their energy, raxilites need to eat. Their typical diet is predominantly vegetarian with a smattering of diverse soils ingested to secure key nutrients. Raxilites can digest meat, dairy, eggs, and related products, yet these foods are considered curiosities rather than staples. In times of nutritional stress, a RAXILITE Home World: Raxil (The Vast) Raxilites are ambulatory plants who augment their bodies and adapt to their environments with advanced technology. As relatively new arrivals to the galactic community, they balance contributions abroad with protecting their home world’s pristine ecosystem. raxilite can drive their legs into rich soil and take root, growing a shallow system of rhizomes and entering a state of photosynthetic torpor in which they’re barely cognizant of their surroundings. However, this strategy sometimes deactivates or even destroys parts of the IMAS, and there are enough cautionary tales about this transformation being difficult to reverse that most raxilites avoid it except as an act of desperation. HOME WORLD Water covers most of Raxil’s surface, and its land is divided into clusters of warm, volcanic islands. The planet supports countless species of plants and fungi as well as a diverse array of aquatic animals. Beyond some small pollinators, land-dwelling animals haven’t evolved on Raxil, leaving its ecosystems particularly vulnerable to invasive species. As the only native sapient species, raxilites believe it’s their responsibility to protect and preserve their planet from harmful external influences. Raxil’s ground settlements are typically small, dedicated to research or the sustainable collection of natural resources. The largest of these communities, Everbranch, entwines and threads throughout a colossal tree that raxilite scientists painstakingly grew and shaped into a biological skyscraper. Yet most raxilites live in flying cities that stay aloft through a combination of gas-filled chambers, clever aerodynamics, and biotech thrusters. The largest sky city, Bloom EBS, serves as Raxil’s premier trade hub and point of contact with people from other worlds. The city is named for the legendary raxilite engineer Egveric Brilliance of Stars, who designed the first flying city a millennium ago. The city also sprouts programmable biotech vines that can be shaped into anchors and bridges to vessels of all sizes. Twice during each of Raxil’s years, Bloom EBS and other flying settlements convene to create a conjoined supercity with unified systems of trade and transportation. The government of Bloom EBS subsidizes starship production and space travel to ensure they’re broadly accessible to raxilites. Entering Raxil is far more challenging than leaving it, particularly for those who aren’t from the planet. Starships are only permitted to dock on Bloom EBS and must undergo extensive decontamination procedures. While citizens of Raxil can freely disembark, other visitors face polite but protracted questioning about their reasons for visiting. Among those who are allowed to stay, few are permitted to travel beyond Bloom EBS. Bloom EBS is sized for raxilites, yet the growing neighborhood of Bloom CR (short for Castrovelian Residences) accommodates larger visitors, including homes for the few authorized permanent offworld inhabitants. As the neighborhood’s name suggests, these long-term residents are primarily lashuntas from Castrovel, but they also include Xenowardens from other species and planets.
109 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES SOCIETY Raxilites view thriving ecosystems as a model for society; every living creature and natural feature has its place. Change is inevitable and not to be feared, so long as it’s akin to the natural evolution of biomes as seeds spread and currents shift, rather than the disruption and devastation that invasive species can bring. Of course, whether any given change more resembles the former or latter is a matter of perspective, and these kinds of questions undergird many of the philosophical debates that pervade life on Raxil. These discussions cover an array of topics: is research and the knowledge it provides valuable for its own sake (whether or not it will have a known future application), or should resources be directed toward causes that there’s reason to believe will provide a societal benefit? With implementation of IMAS universal and LFAN widespread, are there other biotech augmentations that should be considered for mass implementation in raxilite sprouts? To what extent should customs, people, and technology from other worlds be allowed to migrate to and shape life on Raxil? While many raxilites enjoy a good debate, their cultures places a heavy emphasis on community and cooperation. Thus, while these questions might produce political factions, they don’t create rancorous divisions. All raxilites have a duty to their communities to share their knowledge and ideas. While younger raxilites are more likely to be inexperienced, raxilites hear all voices and listen to experts regardless of age. On Raxil, there’s nothing unusual about a 70-year-old diplomat scheduled to meet with an emissary from another planet consulting first with a 3-year-old raxilite with firsthand experience of that planet. Raxilites generally don’t place importance on the concept of gender, and rarely identify with a single one. Some raxilites describe themselves as agender, genderfluid, or belonging to multiple genders at once. Their choice of pronouns can be guided by factors such as sound and perception; they might pick one pronoun in Common and a different one in Akitonian depending upon what sounds most pleasing to them, or they might pick the pronouns that they feel best represent their societal role. Connections Interconnectedness is a core value. A raxilite’s social standing stems largely from the number of connections they keep. As a result, raxilites typically prioritize cultivating relationships, and while gregariousness is an asset, raxilites who lack social graces still find connections by demonstrating their skills and developing a reputation for excellence. Because of the emphasis on friendship, raxilites use the term “friend” more loosely than members of most other species. They often agree to perform favors when asked just to help deepen social connections, yet they expect the same consideration in return. Someone who regularly fails to reciprocate favors might find their connections dwindling as their social reputation sours. Tracking connections is almost as important as forging them, as there’s no greater insult to a raxilite than their name and accomplishments being forgotten. It’s common for raxilites to exaggerate their number of connections or level of closeness, and people on Raxil have come to expect these enhanced reports. Exaggeration isn’t the same as invention, however, and it’s taboo to either claim a non-existent connection or misrepresent one’s skill level to build connections under false pretenses. After all, if deception leads to a raxilite being depended upon to perform a task they aren’t capable of, then the deception has inflicted unnecessary hardship on others. The desire to build new connections is a major driving force for adventuring raxilites. Not every adventuring raxilite cares about social conventions, however; raxilites with a desire to break away from the expectations of society on Raxil are also drawn to explore the potential of life on other worlds. Language Raxilites tend to make heavy use of acronyms and abbreviations. According to their cultural traditions, the more important EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
110 a concept or object is, the more deserving it is of having a compact means of representation, whereas obsolete concepts or technologies tend to be referred to by lengthy descriptors. The Raxi language takes this concept to the extreme, regularly cycling vocabulary to promote efficient communication. Raxi academic papers and research journals are particularly prone to introducing new acronyms, making them infamously inaccessible to unfamiliar readers. Children Almost all raxilites are born on Raxil. Other planets lack the resources and infrastructure to install IMAS and LFAN systems, and most raxilites consider it negligent to deprive children the initial connections of being raised within a raxilite community. Raxilites produce about 20 seeds at a time, and once planted in a suitable soil, they take about two weeks to germinate and uproot. Newborn sprouts are raised communally, though the parents are expected to remain nearby and help provide food and guidance. Sprouts spend their brief childhood learning, growing, and beginning to discover their strengths and their interests. After just one season on Raxil (roughly 1 Pact Standard year), raxilites sprout their first flower and are recognized as full members of the community, able to vote, enter into contracts, travel the stars, and participate in all aspects of civic life. With strong community support and a particularly short time in which children require extensive attention, most raxilites choose to have children at least once in their lives. Raxilites have both female and male reproductive systems. Flowering raxilites who want to have children convene with one or more partners and exchange pollen. As their seeds mature, they enter a seeding stage, where white puffy seeds sprout from their head. They can maintain this stage indefinitely, and mates often choose to germinate their seeds in the same community and around the same time. Even so, it’s entirely acceptable to part ways and raise their respective offspring at different times and places. While raxilites are capable of self-pollinating, they seldom choose to do so. The few raxilites who rely on such cloning to produce offspring face considerable stigma from other members of their communally minded species as well as pointed questions about why they were unable to find a suitable partner. BIOTECH INNOVATION Thanks to their shared commitment to protecting natural environments, members of the Xenowardens have had more success than most in establishing connections with Raxil. Perhaps the most prominent symbol of this collaboration is the UC Bloom, a biomechanical starship built as a joint venture between Xenowardens and Raxil’s scientists. This luxury freighter is popular among raxilites heading to the Pact Worlds. Hoping to allay the passengers’ homesickness, raxilite engineers named the ship after their planet’s hub city so starfaring raxilites would feel a sense of connection to their origins while abroad. The UC Bloom is equipped with a pheromone system inspired by communication behavior of species from other planets. Some bioengineers have begun experimenting with versions of these systems to be deployed in public venues throughout Bloom EBS, with the aim of promoting well-being and preventing violence. These experiments have triggered spirited ethical debates about whether and how such technologies should be used. Other ship features pioneered by raxilites include dendritic interfaces that allow crew members to connect their nervous systems to those in a biomechanical ship’s computer as well as mechanisms for ships to efficiently connect and detach from each other, as seen in ships like the UC Gowan, which is composed of a dozen smaller hive-joined vessels. NAMES Raxilites are given simple single names as sprouts, and they add more names to acknowledge their discoveries and formative experiences. Acronyms are almost as common a feature in raxilite naming conventions as in their technology. Acronyms in raxilite names aren’t uniquely theirs, however; raxilites use acronyms to represent the names of other people who are particularly important to them, whether they’re heroes the raxilite looks up to or someone with whom they share a close personal connection. Sprout names always have at least two syllables; a monosyllabic name is a mark of honor that can only be bestowed upon a raxilite by their community. Among raxilites, short nicknames and acronyms are a sign of respect, while adding extraneous syllables to someone’s name is a surefire way to insult them. SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Cha, –2 Con Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Astrazoans are Medium aberrations with the shapechanger subtype. Change Form: As a standard action, an astrazoan can physically alter their form to look like any Medium creature, as long as they have seen a similar creature before. They can attempt to either mimic a specific creature or look like a general creature of the chosen type. The astrazoan gains a +10 bonus to Disguise checks to appear as a creature of the type and subtype of the new form. The DC of the astrazoan’s Disguise check is not modified as a result of altering major features or if they disguise themself as an aberration or a humanoid (though the DC is still modified if the astrazoan attempts to disguise themself as a different creature type). The astrazoan can remain in an alternate form indefinitely (or until they take another form). Compression: An astrazoan can move through an area as small as one quarter their space without squeezing or one eighth their space when squeezing. Darkvision: Astrazoans can see up to 60 feet in the dark. Many Forms: For effects targeting creatures by type, astrazoans count as both aberrations and humanoids. Rapid Revival: Once per day, when an astrazoan takes a 10-minute rest to regain Stamina Points, they can additionally recover Hit Points as though they had taken a full night’s rest. SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Int, +2 Cha, –4 Str Hit Points: 2 Size and Type: Raxilites are Tiny plants. Low-Light Vision: Raxilites have low-light vision. Flowering or Seeding: Flowering raxilites gain a +2 species bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy checks. Seeding raxilites gain a +2 species bonus to Acrobatics checks and can attempt a DC 15 Acrobatics check to negate falling damage when in an atmosphere. A raxilite can change from flowering to seeding (or vice versa) with 1 week of rest. LFAN: An LFAN, or Lifting Floret Activation Network, is a biotech augmentation that looks like a cluster of artificial, prehensile “vines” attached to a raxilite’s brain system (the raxilite can add one other brain augmentation to the LFAN). The LFAN is as dexterous and strong as a human hand, and the vines can extend and retract, allowing a raxilite to use one-handed items as if they were a Medium creature with a reach of 5 feet. LFAN Symbiosis: When two or more raxilites share the same 5-foot space, they can use their LFANs together, allowing them to handle larger objects. Up to four raxilites can work together in this way, each acting as one hand. Limited Plant Benefits: Raxilites lack the immunities of most plants. Instead, they gain a +2 species bonus to saving throws against mind-affecting effects, paralysis, poison, polymorph, sleep, and stunning effects, unless the effect specifies it's effective against plants.
111 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Sample Names Allonius Cultivator, CQ Dembril Sailspin, Fabrian TMLE, Jatri Driftweaver, Luti Vinegrasp AC, Sprix, Yorifa Enginesong KL. SPELL Raxilites developed this spell to repair each other, though it’s nonetheless effective on other creatures’ physiologies. BIOMECHANICAL SYMBIOSIS TECHNOMANCER 2-6 School conjuration (healing) Casting Time 1 standard action Range touch Targets one creature with a biotech, cybernetic, or magitech augmentation Duration instantaneous and up to 1 minute (see below) Saving Throw Fortitude negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless) You energize the target’s natural healing. For 5 rounds, the target gains fast healing and electricity resistance based on the spell slot used to cast the spell. If the target is a plant, the spell instead lasts for 1d6+4 rounds, and the spell removes one condition affecting the target that could be ended with lesser remove condition. Casting this spell drains all charges from a fully charged battery, otherwise it fails. 2nd: The spell grants fast healing 2 and electricity resistance 5, and drains a standard battery. 4th: The spell grants fast healing 4 and electricity resistance 10, and drains a high-capacity battery. The spell can end one condition affecting a plant target as though it were remove condition. 6th: The spell grants fast healing 6 and electricity resistance 15, and drains an ultra-capacity battery. The spell can end one condition affecting a plant target as though it were greater remove condition. FEATS These feats augment a raxilite’s LFAN and might be available to PCs with similar augmentations. Grasping LFAN You’ve modified the ends of your LFAN to tighten their grip. Prerequisites: Pincered LFAN Benefit: You gain a +2 species bonus to your KAC against disarm combat maneuvers. You can use your LFAN to grapple other creatures. When you score a critical hit with your LFAN natural weapon, you can also automatically grapple the target if your attack roll equals or exceeds the target’s KAC +4 (pinning them instead if your attack roll equals or exceeds the target’s KAC +13). Multitudinous LFAN Your LFAN’s tendrils can lift heavy loads that unbalance you. Prerequisites: Strength 13, LFAN species trait Benefit: Your LFAN is as strong and flexible as two human hands, allowing you to use two one-handed items or a two-handed item as though you were a Medium creature with a reach of 5 feet. While doing so, you’re flat-footed unless you have a Strength of 17 or higher. Pincered LFAN You’ve developed sharpened, retractable pincers at the ends of your LFAN tendrils, turning them into lethal weapons. Prerequisites: LFAN species trait Benefit: You gain the natural weapons universal creature rule, dealing piercing damage. Special: When you gain this feat, you can choose for the special unarmed strike to gain the operative weapon special property. If you do so, the special version of the Weapon Specialization feat at 3rd level adds only your character level to your damage rolls with the unarmed strike, not 1-1/2 × your character level. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
112 Ryphorians are trimorphic humanoids with variant physical characteristics depending on the season of their birth. Magic and technology allow present day ryphorians to transcend the seasonal cycle, though old stereotypes surrounding summerborn and winterborn individuals endure, as does the mystery surrounding the rare transitional ryphorians born between winter and summer. Ryphorians evolved on their home world, Triaxus, but can live anywhere in the galaxy. Their Skyfire Legionnaires soared among the stars before the Gap, and many ryphorians still become pilots or warriors alongside their bonded dragonkin partners. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Due to the generations-long seasons on Triaxus, ryphorian biology differs depending on the season in which they’re born. They’re separated into three categories: winterborns, summerborns, and transitionals, who often appear as a combination of the two primary forms. Ryphorians have long, pointed ears with feathered edges that give them exceptionally good hearing and particularly large canine teeth that can protrude from their mouths like fangs when they smile. In general, ryphorians have long arms and legs that struggle to retain noticeable muscle mass, though despite their lithe appearances, the harsh environment of their home planet means most have developed sturdy forms and overflowing stamina. The current season on Triaxus is winter, so the vast majority of ryphorians are winterborns. They have pale skin, narrow eyes to protect from snow blindness, and their skin is covered in a light fur to help protect against subzero temperatures. Winterborn ryphorians have no difficulty growing full heads of long hair even into old age, though winterborn hair color is almost always a shade of blonde, silver, or white. It’s trendy for winterborns to dye their hair with bright fashion colors as a show of originality. Winterborns who form bonds with dragonkin partners often dye their hair and fur to match their partner’s scale color. Modern technological advancements and magical discoveries allow ryphorians of any type to survive the seasons in relative comfort. Though all are born with a form matching the current season, many choose to convert to summerborn. Summerborns have hairless bodies, dark skin tones, and wide, dark eyes to protect them from the harsh and constant rays of the sun. Many summerborns favor colorful and intricate tattoos, sometimes completely covering their skin. Summerborns bonded to dragonkin often get matching tattoos in solidarity with their partners. Transitional ryphorians are only born during the short periods between seasons, when temperatures and weather are unpredictable. Converting to a transitional form is possible, though few choose this path. Unfortunately, the ancient anxiety surrounding the harbingers of a seasonal change still plagues today’s transitional ryphorians. Outsiders, artists, and freethinkers RYPHORIAN Home World: Triaxus (Pact Worlds) Shaped by their home world’s long, eccentric orbit, ryphorians develop dramatic adaptations based on their birth season. Yet, no matter their physiology, ryphorians have become their planet’s dominant species in partnership with their ancient dragonkin allies. are more likely to seek this transformation. Charlatans and manipulators sometimes take advantage of the third form’s mystique, claiming to be powerful mystics or prophets because of their transitional appearance. Transitional ryphorians often display a combination of summerborn and winterborn traits, such as brown skin and patches of fur. Transitionals also have unusual characteristics, markings, and fur coloration; these features are a deformity to some and rare beauty to others. HOME WORLD Much of ryphorian biology revolves around their centuries of evolution on the planet Triaxus, the seventh planet from the Pact Worlds’ sun. Triaxus is defined entirely by extremes: frigid winters, scorching summers, and intense tectonic and volcanic activity. In winter, it’s a frozen landscape marred with icy rivers, endless snow, and temperatures that rarely rise above freezing. Summer is a time of extreme overgrowth, deadly wildfires and droughts, and sweltering heat. The ephemeral springs and falls in between don’t last long enough for even a single generation to begin and end. The planet is peppered with active glaciers and volcanoes, making the environment even more dangerous and unpredictable. Ryphorians share this planet with dragonkin, massive 10 to 15 feet tall humanoid dragons that have had an alliance with the ryphorians since before the Gap. True dragons also inhabit Triaxus, often occupying positions of power. In ancient times, chromatic dragons warred with each other using ryphorians as pawns or even to attack the free Allied Territories. Today, ryphorian and dragon relations remain shaky thanks to their shared history. Most ryphorians live in the eastern portion of Triaxus’s massive northern continent. They refer to their lands as the Allied Territories, named for its status as a collection of allied nations and city-states with their own respective governmental structures. Their alliance is held together by a council elected from each of the territories, which meets to decide political and trade issues between the independent territories. Despite the frequent disagreements and disorganized council structure, the Allied Territories work together when necessary, presenting a united front to any potential enemies. In the opposite hemisphere, the Drakelands are primarily inhabited by dragons. The central land bridge connecting these two continents, called the Skyfire Mandate, is independently controlled by Skyfire Legion mercenaries. The southern island continent of Ning is the birthplace of the battleflowers and continues to be ruled by the Immortal Suzerain and their five-person Council of Wisdom. While it’s also home to many ryphorians, Ning’s mercantile culture completely differs from the mainland. Its 14 mercantile groups are governed by an oligarchy following ancient traditions and practices that seem incomprehensible.
113 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES SOCIETY With the political structure of the Allied Territories being so varied, ryphorian faiths and political views can be difficult to follow, and the societal structure can greatly differ from place to place. Nevertheless, some cultural norms exist among an overwhelming majority of ryphorian settlements. Ryphorians tend to prefer communal living spaces. With the cultural acceptance of the ryphorian-dragonkin bond, bonded partners often live together alongside one another’s domestic and romantic partners, children, and immediate family. Most housing in the Allied Territories is built to accommodate these large and complex family lives. Ryphorians who aren’t bonded or lack steady romantic partners often live with several roommates, or alongside extended family, in apartments or houses with numerous bedrooms. When the workday ends, these households—often called “domestic alliances”—enjoy activities together, such as gaming, watching and commenting on vid programs, or discussing the day’s events. Outside the home, many residents enjoy the spas and hot springs made possible by the planet’s volcanic activity. Most of these spas open in the afternoon and catch much of their business in the evening, with large reservations for ryphorians and dragonkin friends sharing a relaxing post-work soak. During the summer, these spots stay open much later so parties can enjoy outdoor springs in slightly cooler temperatures. Indoor holo entertainment parlors are also common, utilizing the easiest and safest way to escape from the harsh Triaxian climate, even if only for a few hours at a time. Many ryphorians from the Allied Territories feel comfortable in groups and experience anxiety when forced to be alone for long periods of time. Communal living vidstreams are popular with ryphorians traveling outside the Territories. The streams simulate group meals, bathing, and gaming to combat the sense of profound isolation caused by cramped one-person apartments and ship quarters. Neighborly Connections Dragonkin and ryphorians shared bonds and integrated their cultures long before the Gap. All territories that belong to ryphorians belong just as much to the dragonkin who live among them. Since the two groups are so strongly integrated, council members and emissaries from the Allied Territories can be of either species. Sometimes, chosen delegates serve alongside their bonded partners and are treated as a single council seat. Typical Triaxian architecture reflects this connection. Most buildings are designed to accommodate creatures of different sizes, with adjustable furniture, ramps, and steps of different heights being commonplace. Despite their status as a minority population in the Allied Territories, dragonkin are considered equal citizens, and their partner bonds are legally protected, imbuing partners with next-of-kin status and power of attorney. Implying any connection between dragonkin and the true dragons of the Drakelands is considered gauche and likely to start an argument in the Allied Territories. Though the peoples of the Allied Territories and the Drakelands are no longer at war, old prejudices and rivalries toward dragons still live in the hearts of many ryphorians. The Skyfire Legion in particular distrusts the draconic inhabitants of the Drakelands. Today, the real war happens in business and political spheres. Dragon-owned corporations and ryphorian companies routinely commit corporate espionage against one another and compete in similar markets. The Drakelands and Allied Territories maintain separate governments with icy relations and begrudging cooperation at best. Ancient laws and crushing bureaucracy bog down draconic politics, which are rife with extravagant decor, elaborate ceremony, and excessive posturing. Outsiders employ draconic cultural experts, mostly ryphorian academics who have undertaken rigorous sociological and linguistic study. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
114 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Con, +2 Wis, –2 Str Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Ryphorians are Medium humanoids with the ryphorian subtype. Bonus Feat: Ryphorians gain a bonus feat at 1st level. Keen Senses: Ryphorians’ distinctive ears help them hear precisely, granting a +2 bonus to Perception checks. Low-Light Vision: Ryphorians can see in dim light as if it were normal light. Trimorphic: Summerborn ryphorians gain fire resistance 5. Winterborn ryphorians gain cold resistance 5. Transitional ryphorians gain cold and fire resistance 2, and when in conditions of severe cold or heat, they have to attempt Fortitude saves only once per hour instead of once every 10 minutes. A ryphorian can stack this natural resistance with one other form of resistance. Despite the hostility between the two cultures, they’ve continuously influenced one another over the millennia. Today, draconic and ryphorian fashions and technology move in predictable cycles thanks to parallel development and appropriation. Many Draconic loan words are used in the common ryphorian language, including a term specific to dragons used to denote periods of time that last generations for shorter-lived beings. This word was first borrowed and adapted to refer to the length of a Triaxian season and is now a fixture in daily ryphorian vocabulary. Battlefield maneuvers are often named using a Draconic patois, and medical terminology has roots in the dragons’ tongue. Many offworld settlers face an uphill battle when it comes to living on Triaxus. The harsh climate and the varied political structures can make it difficult to acclimate. However, most ryphorians are welcoming to offworlders and put in the effort to help visitors feel comfortable in their societies. Their communal and multicultural lives make them willing to listen to the concerns of other species living among them. Even elves who live on Triaxus tend to eschew their typical isolation to live among bustling ryphorian family structures and become romantically involved with ryphorians. The children born of intercultural romances are quickly accepted by their ryphorian families and often become skilled diplomats or planetary guides due to an early grasp of the interactions between multiple cultures. PLANETARY GUIDES Since ryphorian politics and society is so intertwined with their complicated family and household structures, numerous disconnected member states, and the cultural interactions with dragons and dragonkin, most tourists and business travelers hire planetary guides. These guides are well-educated and trained to deal with people from the Drakelands, other parts of the Pact Worlds, and beyond. Guides are respected by their communities, and the profession is quite lucrative, especially for those hired by high-profile clients. The job training is difficult, and the work is sometimes dangerous, but the prestige and cultural necessity for guide keeps many motivated to enter the profession. Planetary guides operate at a strange intersection of academia, performance theater, and politics. Every planetary guide must be trained in over a dozen different ryphorian cultural laws and customs as well as draconic laws and procedures for interactions in the Drakelands and Skyfire Mandate. They must be outgoing and resourceful with the ability to speak confidently in front of crowds and the discipline to keep client secrets. Universities on Triaxus offer a specific field of study to educate certified planetary guides, which combines international politics, linguistics, and economic studies with military-style combat and environmental training. The tiered course catalog increases in difficulty each semester, with most students completing their initial degree in 5 to 8 years. As a rule, foreign diplomats and business executives hire elite planetary guides when traveling to Triaxus. For these positions, the pay is high, and the risks are higher. Certain guides are sought after for their ability to detect and take down threats before the client’s bodyguards can even react. The militant aspect of guide training also helps protect tourists, particularly those surveying the unforgiving Triaxian wilderness or visiting volatile areas. Even from the safety of vehicles and snow lodges, the environment and fauna of the planet can be fatal to those untrained to handle it. Yet, despite their training, occasional accidents result in the death of planetary guides. In these cases, Allied Territories governments offer significant restitution to any kin the guides leave behind. An investigation always occurs after the death of a planetary guide to determine if the death was an accident or the fault of a client. If any clients are found responsible, either through carelessness and not following guidelines for tourists or through failure of a high-profile client to provide proper protection against their rivals, those responsible are forced to pay further restitution to the fallen guide’s kin. In the most extreme circumstances, the client might be forced to return home with their right to visit Triaxus in the future suspended or even revoked. NAMES The Ryphorian language shares many similarities with the Draconic language, sharing phonemes, root words, and even idioms. With this influence, ryphorian names tend toward containing a lot of the same harsh sounds found in Draconic ones but with less syllables. Most ryphorian names are no more than three syllables long, making it easier to remember and distinguish many names within friend and family groups. Ryphorian last names can be inherited from parents but are more often gifted to children by a close friend within their parents’ circle. They follow the same trends as ryphorian first names and are often repurposed first names passed onto a member of the extended family. Being offered the chance to gift a last name to a friend’s child is considered a high honor and proof of an extremely close friendship. Sample Names Atioka, Chezhek, Emex, Jaxek, Kaxani, Raysel, Renn, Syzon, Tyrax, Xalke, and Ziratyk.
115 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES SPELLS Ryphorians developed the following spells to mimic Triaxus’s tumultuous nature. ARTIFICIAL GEYSER TECHNOMANCER 2 School evocation Casting Time 1 standard action Range 60 ft. Area 20-ft.-line Duration instantaneous Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance yes You create a burst of pressurized boiling water. This deals 3d8 slashing and fire damage and applies the burn condition for 1d6 to each creature in the area. A successful Reflex save halves this damage and negates the burn condition. CHANGE OF SEASONS PRECOG 2 WITCHWARPER 2 School transmutation Casting Time 1 standard action Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels) Targets one creature Duration 1 round/level Saving Throw Will partial; Spell Resistance yes You accelerate time for the target, making them experience the concentrated effects of a Triaxian season. This spell imbues a target with vulnerability (as the universal creature rule) to cold or fire (chosen when cast); if the target has resistance to that type of damage, it instead reduces a target’s resistance to cold or fire damage by 5. If the target is immune, it’s instead treated as though it had fire or cold resistance 10 for the duration of the spell. A successful Will save reduces the duration to one round. CHANGE OF SEASONS, GREATER PRECOG 4 WITCHWARPER 4 School transmutation Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) Targets one creature This spell functions like change of seasons except it causes vulnerability to fire or cold even if the target has resistance and reduces immunity to fire or cold resistance 5. VOLCANIC WRATH MYSTIC 1-6 WITCHWARPER 1-6 School conjuration Casting Time 1 standard action Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) Area varies by level Duration instantaneous, plus 1 round/level Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance yes You summon an erupting volcano that unleashes molten rock over an area, dealing fire and bludgeoning damage. The eruption leaves molten rocks, thick ash, and smoke, making the entire area of effect difficult terrain for the duration of the spell. 1st: When you cast volcanic wrath as a 1st-level spell, it deals 2d6 damage in a 10-ft-radius, 20 ft. high burst. 2nd: When you cast volcanic wrath as a 2nd-level spell, it deals 4d6 damage in a 10-ft-radius, 20 ft. high cylinder. 3rd: When you cast volcanic wrath as a 3rd-level spell, it deals 7d6 damage in a 20-ft-radius, 40 ft. high cylinder. 4th: When you cast volcanic wrath as a 4th-level spell, it deals 10d6 damage in a 20-ft-radius, 40 ft. high cylinder. 5th: When you cast volcanic wrath as a 5th-level spell, it deals 15d6 damage in a 30-ft-radius, 60 ft. high cylinder. 6th: When you cast volcanic wrath as a 6th-level spell, it deals 17d6 damage in a 30-ft-radius, 60 ft. high cylinder. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
116 Resembling sea jellies, scyphozoans are sophisticated herders and technologists. Most of scyphozoan history centers on nomadic societies that grew increasingly belligerent and expansionist, yet within the past century, they’ve achieved planetwide peace and developed unique biotechnology. Since then, they’ve created living machines and organic starships that carry scyphozoans across the galaxy as explorers and scientists. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Scyphozoans evolved from a species of large amphibious sea jellies, and they retain many of their ancestral features. An adult stands about 7 feet tall and weighs about 150 pounds, with their body commonly defined by three sections: the bell, the inner mantle, and the tentacles. The bell constitutes scyphozoans’ dome-like exteriors, comprised of layers of gelatinous flesh that collectively function as a complex muscle and protective shell. In water, scyphozoans can relax and contract their bells to create thrust. Out of water, the bell retains moisture and is key for respiration; scyphozoans retract their gills into their bodies, relying on gases to diffuse directly through the flesh, where the gills undulate to circulate fluids. The collagen-rich bell is also one of the toughest body parts, shielding softer organs by turning aside cuts and dissipating impacts. The bell is also key to communication and stealth. Several hundred bioluminescent patches are spread throughout the upper-middle tissues, the glow of each bleeding into surrounding flesh to give the creature a warm opacity. Scyphozoans can vary their color and intensity to a limited degree. Too faint to illuminate an area, these lights instead convey emotions and simple messages, much like facial expressions in most humanoids. By dampening the lights, their bodies become nearly translucent, helping them hide. Likewise, the bioluminescence can create a countershading effect that helps scyphozoans blend into brighter environments and break up their outlines. To communicate vocally, scyphozoans don’t speak through their mouths but rather by gently squeezing their bells to create pressure; doing so creates a pleasant hum they can modulate into words using the vocal frills along the underside of their bells, giving the speaker a musical quality. Above water, the varied gas levels in scyphozoan’s bodies sometimes add a crackling sound when speaking, like the popping bubbles of a freshly opened carbonated beverage. A series of chambers known as the inner mantle within the bell contains various sensitive organs. Of these, the digestive system is the most extensive, forming a loop that begins and ends at the circular mouth. Powerful pores along the mantle allow scyphozoans to absorb fluids underwater or retain moisture in drier environments. Scyphozoans can survive indefinitely (although with increasing discomfort) aboveground. SCYPHOZOAN Home World: Primoria (The Vast) Scyphozoans have soft, translucent bodies consisting of a bell and specialized tentacles that let them walk, manipulate objects, and deliver painful stings. They use living technology to grow houses, weapons, computers, and starships from genetically engineered organisms. Scyphozoans’ tentacles take numerous forms based on their purpose, generally classified as locomotive, sensory, and gripping tentacles, each of which anchor to the underside of the bell. Most scyphozoans have four locomotive limbs, each about 5 feet long and end in several toe-like projections for additional balance when walking. These tentacles aren’t entirely flexible, instead having a few cartilaginous, disconnected “bones” that help provide strength. On land, the quadrupedal movement has a balanced gait, making scyphozoans appear as if they gently float above the ground. Underwater, these appendages typically flatten slightly, acting as rudders. Two sets of sensory tentacles are arranged evenly around the body. Skirt tentacles dangle near the locomotive limbs, acting like antennae to detect nearby vibrations in the air and water. Crown tentacles are far shorter and curl up around the bell, further augmenting vibration sensitivity while also serving in various smell, taste, and chemoreception roles. These tentacles all augment the senses of the bell, which absorbs and processes incoming sounds like a giant ear. A scyphozoan’s eyes are all aligned along one side of the bell, providing complex vision in exchange for 360-degree sight. Nodes of nervous tissue extend through sensory tentacles, creating a network of secondary brains that all connect to the central brain contained in the inner mantle. Finally, several gripping tentacles allow scyphozoans to manipulate devices with equivalent dexterity to a human’s hands. These tentacles are adapted from ancestral stinging tentacles, and each gripping appendage contains a host of acidic nematocyst stinging cells that scyphozoans can deactivate at will. Scyphozoan reproduction is entirely aquatic, with males and females releasing sex cells into the water and letting fertilized eggs settle onto shallow sea floors. There, hatchlings anchor themselves to debris and develop into anemone-like polyps that feed and grow before metamorphosing into smaller versions of adults. HOME WORLD Scyphozoans are native to Primoria, the second of six planets in its star system in the Vast. The other planets in the system are airless or have toxic atmospheres or seismic instability, deterring habitation. From a vertebrate’s perspective, Primoria seems like a primeval world because its native life evolved neither backbones nor lignin-dense plant life like trees, creating a world dominated by invertebrates, ferns, and fungi. Arthropods are the most diverse and populous group of animals on Primoria, ranging from moss-eating beetles to titanic centipedes. Swarms of scythe shrimps and dreadnought trilobites patrol the oceans. Worms are a close second in diversity, including burrowers like the gigantic ringmouth, climbers like the venomous arrow worm, and swimmers like the serpentine harpoon leeches. Mollusks have speciated into most environments as well.
117 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Three-armed tree-dwelling cephalopods sling from one fern tree to another and constrict their prey, while giant slugs with webbed tails swim like seals. Many species of sea jellies—including scyphozoans—live in the ocean and near the coasts. Fungi and plants are also diverse. Several species of ferns, horsetails, and mushrooms grow taller than 30 feet, forming forests. Carnivorous fungi and plants are prevalent, such as the hugger moss, which forms thick, spongy patches that entangle and digest animals. Scyphozoans warred against mycelars (sentient, bipedal masses of stringy fungal matter originating from the planet’s vast fern and moss forests) for centuries in the past, but today, the two species live in peace. Most of Primoria’s species inhabit the supercontinent Eukarya, which represents roughly three quarters of the planet’s landmass. The remaining territory is split between three other continents: Cyrontia, Laurentia, and Velluria. Scyphozoan settlements dot Eukarya’s coastline, forming a nearly unbroken belt around the continent. Only the northernmost reaches, which extend into the arctic zone, lack permanent habitation due to extreme temperatures and limited resources. Scyphozoan settlements tend to straddle the coastline with structures both above and below the surf. Inland habitation mostly clings to rivers and marshes, allowing scyphozoans to regularly submerge for both hygienic and reproductive purposes. Most communities remain small with only five larger cities—Askaneh, Heankaar, Kishkanon, Qalicar, and Tarinth—exceeding 100,000 souls. The most populous and prosperous of these settlements is Tarinth, a thriving center of learning and science that also hosts a large population of mycelars. Deeper within Eukarya’s interior lies Arbaath, a vast forest that covers roughly half of the continent. Today, only a few scyphozoan trading posts exist within Arbaath— most of the forest is either entirely untamed wilderness or controlled by mycelars. Save for the mycelar city Bisporia, where scyphozoans trade and live among mycelars, Arbaath remains mysterious and largely forbidden to outsiders. Primoria has two moons, whose gravity causes significant tidal changes in sea level, so many marine species of animals and plants have adapted to living on land and vice versa. Since the advent of space flight, scyphozoans have established small colonies on both moons. The blood-red Acryllae is rich in ferrous metals, while the steel-gray Mandarth has major deposits of crystals and other minerals. Regardless, scyphozoans are so biotech-focused they easily obtain the few minerals they need from Primoria, and the lunar colonies exist mainly for research. SOCIETY Early scyphozoans were hunters and pastoralists who followed prey and herded domesticated plankton swarms in seasonal cycles. As technologies developed further, scyphozoan tribes developed professional identities, such as communities specialized in tanning, metallurgy, and crustaceanware vessels, which in turn helped develop continentspanning networks of trade that reinforced cultural identities. Scyphozoans increasingly explored inland, forcing encounters with the mycelars of Arbaath. The mycelars interpreted these scyphozoans as invaders, spurring generations of warfare that united scyphozoans as a species thanks to their shared enemy. The wars transformed scyphozoan and mycelar society alike. As scyphozoans increasingly cooperated against their enemy, they simultaneously questioned their expansionist policies that had started the conflicts in the first place. After generations, the war-weary forces sought peace. A century ago, massive reconciliation efforts drew the deadly feuds to an end, beginning a rich exchange of scientific knowledge that spurred a biotech revolution (see Scyphozoan Technology on page 118). Today, most scyphozoans are tech savvy and nonviolent, with little desire to spark new conflicts like the one their planet only recently concluded. Urban scyphozoan society demonstrates a fascination with its ancient past, especially with pastimes of its ancient nomadic roots. Games once used to teach hunting and warfare skills EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
118 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Con, +2 Int,–2 Cha Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Scyphozoans are Medium aberrations. Acidic Tentacles: As a swift action, a scyphozoan can make one of their prehensile tentacles secrete acid; their unarmed strikes with that tentacle count as having the corrosive weapon fusion, except the ability isn’t magical. While the effect is activated, the scyphozoan is considered armed, and the attack doesn’t count as archaic, but the scyphozoan can’t hold an item in that tentacle. Starting at 3rd level, a scyphozoan adds 1-1/2 × their character level to the damage while the effect is activated. A scyphozoan can deactivate the effect as a swift action. Amphibious: Scyphozoans are able to breathe both water and air normally. Scyphozoan Senses: Scyphozoans have blindsense (vibration) with a range of 30 feet. Sea-Born: A scyphozoan has a land speed of 30 feet and a swim speed of 30 feet. Translucent: Scyphozoans receive a +2 species bonus to Stealth skill checks. have become national sports that have teams competing in a planetwide league. Despite pacifistic trends, dueling has become an edgy practice involving youths clashing with traditional combinations of tentacle and spear taught in many martial arts studios. Deaths are infrequent, but acid burn scars serve as status symbols for this subculture. These sports represent a revival and revision of old traditions, often in stark contrast to the seminomadic populations that still practice these original arts. This ongoing change shapes modern scyphozoan hierarchies. Since time immemorial, scyphozoans have organized themselves into tribes that adopted and integrated newly emerged scyphozoans from the oceans, inducting them as apprentices into the tribe’s key industries. Leaders glowed brightly to affirm their superiority, whereas low-ranking members would dim their own bioluminescence in deference. Advancement often depended on an individual’s coloration and patterns, equating idealized appearances with the potential for greatness; those fortunate scyphozoans therefore earned more resources and training, which in turn validated society’s assumptions about their talent. The tradition of prophesying a youth’s lights has given way to a more meritocratic society, yet tribal affiliation remains part of scyphozoan identity. After all, scyphozoan reproduction leaves little sense of a child’s parentage, so tribes provide an extended family and serve a crucial role in raising adolescents. Even so, color displays carry ancient weight, and showing bright colors conveys a certain vanity, as if the flashy individual is behaving like one of the High Radiants of old. Many scyphozoans travel to other systems to learn more about alien cultures and study alien technology. Conversely, Tarinth welcomes people from the Pact Worlds and other systems to study and teach biotechnology and other subjects at the Tarinth Science Academy. Thus far, Common is widely spoken only in Tarinth, where it has become the preferred language of science in academia and publication. Even as scyphozoan society evolves in this new age of peace and travel, many cultural elements remain the same. Most still subsist on traditional diets of plankton-based staples and tender fern shoots supplemented by various invertebrates. Scyphozoans can subsist on offworld foods, though travelers often carry pickled seafood condiments with them to ensure their meals taste sufficiently fishy. Scyphozoan festivals often feature an array of massive percussion instruments that create body-shaking bass tones, which they find pleasing; on the other hand, scyphozoan bells tend to find higher-pitched music somewhat uncomfortable. Biopoetry survives as an honored art form, in which writers grow poetic messages into carefully cultivated fungal fruiting bodies that are then harvested, preserved, and read by touch. SCYPHOZOAN TECHNOLOGY Though many scyphozoan innovations have similar functions as their mechanical or electronic counterparts, most are based on biotechnology. Scyphozoans grew things like furniture, lighting devices, houses, and simple weapons from living organisms even before the modern era, but it wasn’t until their mycelar allies revealed their “plant whispering” techniques that scyphozoans learned to program modified organisms on a cellular level. Among the first innovations were plants designed to express a simple group intelligence to better fend off pests, increase yield, and communicate their needs. Microbiologists then engineered powerful biobots that perform surgeries and kill pathogens. Even living vehicles are possible, most famously the dracopter aircraft created from giant dragonflies and living starships grown from specialized ferns. Scyphozoans also developed computers using nerve cells for processing, memory, and storage, consisting of light-emitting chromatophores. Primoria’s infosphere uses a high-speed mycelial backbone and wireless connections, incorporating some non-biotech components. Combining the efforts of their leading scientists in aviation, computing, and other fields, scyphozoans built their first living starship less than a century ago. Today, scyphozoan ships equipped with Drift engines operate in the Pact Worlds and many other systems. Primoria’s citizens delight in their inventions yet are cognizant of not just the ethical challenges of repurposing living creatures in this way, but also the potential risks of infusing technological intelligence into their living devices. Even as entertainment media sensationalizes bioengineered uprisings, Primoria’s scientists continuously devise new safeguards to ensure their inventions remain safe for everyone. NAMES Naming patterns vary wildly from one scyphozoan community to another. Traditionally minded communities (such as nomadic plankton herders) tend to have onomatopoetic names that mimic the sounds of the ocean, such as those of ocean waves crashing on the shore or sea wind at night. Urban scyphozoans, particularly in Tarinth, favor shorter names that are easier for people of other species to pronounce.
119 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Sample Names Bellbell, Cidariz, Cubowan, Fizzbicah, Koshkahal, Liplaptiplip, Liralii, Medu, Merilima, Qualipan, Sihisih, and Washau. SCYPHOZOAN WEAPONS Despite having established planetwide peace, scyphozoan manufacturers like Meduza Industries continue to develop weapons for ceremonial, recreational, and security purposes. Hydrodynamic Special Property: This weapon can be thrown underwater effectively, taking no penalty to attack rolls or damage for underwater combat. Meduza Grenade Once armed, this grenade rapidly unfolds into a hand-sized, glowing jellyfish. On impact, the grenade hurls tendrils of stinging cells throughout its area. When thrown underwater, the jellyfish contracts its bell and jets toward its target. Meduza Rifle A meduza rifle fires acidic filaments that cut and burn the target. The filaments quickly become inert but retain some adhesive properties. The rifles are grown from genetically engineered material taken from both scyphozoans and other Primorian species. Nematocyst Spear These traditional spears are fashioned from the tentacles of scyphozoans who died honorably in combat. Some modern versions of the spear are grown in laboratories rather than harvested from the dead. TABLE 2–12: ADVANCED MELEE WEAPONS TWO-HANDED WEAPONS LEVEL PRICE DAMAGE CRITICAL BULK SPECIAL UNCATEGORIZED Nematocyst spear, ceremonial 4 2,100 1d8 A & P Staggered 1 Analog, injection, reach, underwaterPW Nematocyst spear, dueling 9 13,500 2d8 A & P Staggered 1 Analog, injection, reach, underwaterPW Nematocyst spear, hunter 13 50,000 5d8 A & P Staggered 1 Analog, injection, reach, underwaterPW Nematocyst spear, warlord 17 260,000 10d8 A & P Staggered 1 Analog, injection, reach, underwaterPW Nematocyst spear, champion 20 850,000 15d8 A & P Staggered 1 Analog, injection, reach, underwaterPW TABLE 2–13: LONGARMS TWO-HANDED WEAPONS LEVEL PRICE DAMAGE RANGE CRITICAL CAPACITY USAGE BULK SPECIAL UNCATEGORIZED Meduza rifle, stinger 2 720 1d8 A & S 40 ft. BindAR 20 charges 2 1 Analog, livingAR Meduza rifle, blitz 6 3,950 2d8 A & S 60 ft. BindAR 20 charges 4 1 Analog, livingAR Meduza rifle, assault 10 17,200 3d8 A & S 70 ft. BindAR 40 charges 5 1 Analog, livingAR Meduza rifle, commander 15 100,000 7d8 A & S 80 ft. BindAR 80 charges 5 1 Analog, livingAR Meduza rifle, gorgon 19 500,000 11d8 A & S 100 ft. BindAR 80 charges 8 1 Analog, livingAR TABLE 2–14: GRENADES GRENADES LEVEL PRICE RANGE CAPACITY BULK SPECIAL Meduza grenade I 3 240 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (1d6 A & S, corrode 1d4, 5 ft.), hydrodynamic Meduza grenade II 7 920 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (2d6 A & S, corrode 1d6, 10 ft.), hydrodynamic Meduza grenade III 13 7,200 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (5d6 A & S, corrode 3d6, 15 ft.), hydrodynamic Meduza grenade IV 17 36,000 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (10d6 A & S, corrode 5d6, 15 ft.), hydrodynamic EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
120 Born on a world wracked by eternal storms, shimreens are autochthonous humanoids composed of glimmering crystal who rose to prominence through tenacity and ingenuity, using magic and technology to adapt to their volatile environment. Now, these ingenious innovators live in idyllic city-states, each encased in a crystal dome that both shields the metropolis and powers the city with the limitless energy of a raging storm. Like the technology that keeps them safe, shimreens aren’t born, but made—forged in sacred volcanoes from lava and crystal shards donated by family. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Although humanoid in shape, shimreens are composed of luminous crystal rather than flesh and blood. Their tall, angular bodies are hard to the touch, and flexible clusters of crystal fragments form their joints. Due to their composition, shimreens are dense, with a typical 7-foot-tall shimreen weighing over 600 pounds. Shimreens come in countless colors and consider body clarity and smooth surfaces to be signs of good health and beauty. Their bodies emit a persistent glow that varies in intensity to match their moods. Most learn to control their luminance at a young age and can dim or brighten at will. The Shimreeni language incorporates optional light flourishes that convey emphasis, instill poetic flair, or are part of regional accents. Regardless of a shimreen’s control, only death can extinguish their light. Thanks to their crystalline structure, shimreens are resistant to electricity and reflect light. Even when energies reach dangerous levels, a shimreen can absorb a portion of the energy, amplify it, and release that energy through touch. Shimreens are also sensitive to vibrations, not just hearing but also feeling sound as a thrumming in their chests. Each shimreen’s body resonates at specific frequencies, and those sounds that match their resonance cause a tonal harmony shimreens find pleasant. Shimreens exhibit considerable control over their bodies, displayed in three primary ways. First, they can reshape their arms, transforming them into simple crystal lances or tools. Second, shimreens can purposefully alter the crystalline memory reservoirs that perform most brain functions, allowing them to slowly edit out bad habits or clear traumatic memories in a process that takes either considerable focus or outside assistance. Finally, a shimreen controls how their crystals grow along their head, shoulders, and necks, tailoring their bodies into preferred styles as whim and fashions dictate. Most shimreens shape their head crystals to form crowns or let the crystals around their faces grow wild to form clusters called manes. Life Cycle Shimreens aren’t born, but purposefully created by their families from crystal shards—freely shorn from crests, crowns, SHIMREEN Home World: Shimrinsara (The Vast) Shimreens are radiant crystalline humanoids who are resistant to electricity and amplify energy. They can tweak their body, shifting an arm into a weapon or adjusting their luminosity. manes, and spurs—that are mixed with the lava from one of seven sacred volcanoes in special creation chambers. These shards melt, either being consumed by the lava or attracting a soul. If the latter, a newborn shimreen about half the size of an adult coalesces from the molten minerals, rising from the lava in a shell of heat-resistant gel that sloughs away moments later. It’s possible for any number of living shimreens to contribute crystals to a child’s creation, from a single individual to an entire community. In addition to inheriting some qualities of the parents who donated crystal shards, a young shimreen’s composition is also shaped by the volcano of their birth. The most prestigious of these seven mountains is Pharasma’s Forge, a small volcanic hot spot and temple complex whose mountain face is carved with ray-like canals that direct rivulets of lava into the creation chambers. Near the city of Zaniir stands the most infamous volcano, Shadowgulch Peak. As the Gap ended, this volcano began spewing noxious, purple lava that attracted mutated beasts and undead shimreens. It’s still possible to birth new shimreens there, but the process is so dangerous as to be rarely attempted. Over their two to three centuries of life, a shimreen’s light dims, their body becomes clouded, their exterior softens, and they lose control over their crystal growths. The eldest shed crystal fragments, eventually crumbling peacefully at the moment of death. Shimreen dead are carried in a solemn procession to the nearest sacred volcano and cast into the magma, where their spirits contribute to making future life. Many shimreens believe this step to be necessary in their life cycle, and that if enough shimreens aren’t returned to the sacred volcanoes, the volcanoes will lose the ability to produce them completely—perhaps the reason shimreens can be created only on Shimrinsara. Archaeological evidence indicates shimreens of the ancient past might have offered live sacrifices to the volcanoes for precisely this reason—a dark history most believe is pure fabrication. HOME WORLD Shimreens are from Shimrinsara, an isolated planet deep in the Vast wracked by powerful, never-ending storms. The only planet in its solar system, Shimrinsara is orbited by seven small moons occasionally visible through the planet’s pervasive storm fronts. Each moon boasts a single preGap ruin believed by shimreen scholars to be either shrines dedicated to forgotten divinities or memorials to ingenious innovators whose inventions changed the course of shimreen history. Regardless of their purpose, these ruins indicate that shimreens were capable of spaceflight in the distant past. It’s unclear what halted their starflight endeavors, but they and their fellow Shimrinsarans (the clawed, crustacean-like corovites and the subterranean, gloom-shrouded uldroons) were grounded by the time the Gap ended.
121 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Shimrinsara’s storms are its most prominent feature, coating the planet entirely and blotting out the sun, moons, and stars but for the briefest of moments. The roar of the wind, rumbling of thunder, and torrential downpours are impossible to avoid, as are the constant lightning strikes that flash with terrifying frequency. Flying is difficult, with only starships able to navigate the storms safely, and even then, most choose to fly over the clouds rather than through them. The majority of Shimrinsara’s surface is covered in stormy oceans with towering, erratic waves. Ocean-faring shimreens travel by submarine, rather than ship or hovercraft, and don’t tarry long. To shimreens, the ocean is a mystery they have little desire to plumb, leaving Shimrinsara’s waterways as the domain of corovites. Dense jungles occupy most of Shimrinsara’s land. Thick-trunked trees weather the gusts and rain, with most flora resistant to electricity in some way. Some plants even reproduce by growing short-lived shoots high above the canopy to act as lightning rods, delivering high bursts of energy essential to those plants creating or dispersing seeds. Elsewhere lie vast, vitrified plains—deserts in a time long forgotten, presumably transformed by innumerable lightning blasts into a jagged glass wasteland. Volcanoes are rare but powerful and active. Most stand near one of the seven shimreen cities and are considered holy sites due to their role in the shimreen life cycle. However, the volcanoes are also home to lava-dwelling ceractals, cunning beasts that devour shimreens and grow more powerful with each soul consumed. Shimrinsara boasts extensive subterranean cave systems within which reside the uldroons: intelligent hunters shimreens have warred with since prehistory, when shimreens sought shelter underground. The caves are hot, humid, and often flooded with nutrient-rich runoff that feeds massive fungi and a host of grazers. Seven luminous crystal domes offer the only refuge from Shimrinsara’s weather, each containing a shimreen city-state and designed to harness the storm’s power and protect its residents from the dangerous creatures and elementals that roam the planet. Collectively known as the Jewels of Shimreen, these cities—Baruve, Elindom, Haidarus, Irridus, Kaniqlu, Tormalyx, and Zaniir—are part of the united, planetwide shimreen nation. The capital, Kaniqlu, stands near two holy sites: Pharasma’s Forge and Sunspot, the only known location where storms never reach and the sky is always visible. Today, Sunspot serves as a safe landing zone for interstellar travelers and as a launch point for the airships, starships, and jungle convoys that travel between the seven cities. Thanks to the advent of Drift travel, Shimrinsara is a part of the wider galactic community, but few shimreens desire to leave their home planet permanently. Most who leave do so to trade, learn, or explore. All who hope to reproduce must eventually return home, as the lava of other worlds seems incapable of creating shimreens. SOCIETY Shimreens are a logical, orderly people, and their society is both rigid and highly stratified. Citizens are primarily divided into two castes: warriors and workers, with warriors consisting of soldiers, Spectrum Guards, and the Ordered as well as athletes, hunters, and explorers of all kinds. Workers are more diversified, including everything from artisans, engineers, miners, and scientists to doctors, educators, musicians, and politicians. Many shimreens worship Pharasma as a deity of cycles whose blessings are necessary to create offspring. Resources are plentiful and easily acquired, thus most shimreens have plenty of time to devote to their education, trades, careers, and hobbies. Fashion, music, and sports are among the most popular pastimes, and engineering and the physical sciences the most popular trades. Cosmeticians etch or paint patterns into shimreen exteriors, DJs direct complex tonal symphonies designed to resonate with as many shimreens as possible, and athletes compete in all manner of organized sports and daredevil antics, from lance duels and free climbing lightning rods to electrifying EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
122 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Int, –2 Wis Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Shimreens are Medium humanoids with the shimreen subtype. Amplify: Whenever a shimreen takes energy damage, they can voluntarily take an additional 1d4 damage of the same type by amplifying the energy within their crystalline form. This empowers their next melee attack. The next melee attack the shimreen makes releases this energy, dealing an additional amount of damage equal to the extra damage the shimreen took (and of the same type). The shimreen can’t take additional damage again until they release the energy they’re storing. If unused, this stored energy dissipates after 10 minutes. The amount of extra damage the shimreen takes (and deals) increases to 2d4 at level 8 and 3d4 at level 16. Electricity Resistance: Shimreens have electricity resistance 5. Radiant: Shimreens constantly emit light (dim, normal, or bright) in a 5-foot radius and are immune to the dazzled condition. Shimreens can adjust their current level of light as a move action, but they can never extinguish it. Shift Limb: A shimreen can transform one of their arms into a weapon as a swift action. This crystal lance is a natural weapon that deals 1d3 lethal piercing damage with unarmed strikes; this attack doesn’t count as archaic. A shimreen gains a unique version of the Weapon Specialization feat with their natural weapon at 3rd level, allowing them to add 1-1/2 × their character level to their damage rolls with their natural weapon (instead of just adding their character level, as usual). games of blazerball and edderet. Shimreen engineers are known for their solid and reliable constructions—a necessity due to their weight—and the phrase “built for a shimreen” has become synonymous with nigh indestructibility throughout the galaxy. Government Shimrinsara is governed by the Spectrum Council, an elected body consisting of one representative from each of the seven shimreen cities. From the capital of Kaniqlu, these leaders manage matters of planetwide significance, including budgeting, laws, taxes, and interplanetary affairs. The Spectrum Council is served by the Council Guard and a few dozen bureaucrats, officiaries, and lawyers collectively called the Heptad Ministry. Candidates run in pairs, with one becoming a Spectrum Councilor and the other becoming the associated city’s Facet Councilor—the equivalent of a mayor. Shimrinsara’s seven domed cities—the Jewels of Shimreen—are presented as idyllic city-states with little violent crime and no war. This is largely thanks to the Ordered, local law enforcement who quickly adjudicate disputes, arrest lawbreakers, and investigate crimes. However, shimreens consider imprisonment wasteful, so criminals instead undergo “realignment,” a lengthy process of surgically modifying the criminal’s neural matrix to erase dangerous habits. Even though the populace at large accepts or politely ignores this brainwashing, many privately consider it immoral. The more shimreens explore the galaxy and study other cultures, the greater the opposition becomes. However, the threat of exile to the planet’s unforgiving wilderness has silenced most dissent—so far. Origins Traditional shimreen stories indicate the first shimreen was kissed by lightning, rising out of the earth and into sapience, and their spark was passed down through the generations. Although most scholars consider these tales more fanciful than fact, archaeologists have confirmed that early shimreens lived underground. Evidence from these prehistorical days indicate shimreens were hunted by—or perhaps at war with—uldroons, intelligent beings who seep shadows from their bodies much like shimreens radiate light. Although there’s little evidence of these encounters in shimreen oral traditions, tales of monstrous uldroons stalking wayward shimreens are common children’s tales and ghost stories, with uldroons seeking to snuff or absorb the light of shimreens. THE 8TH CITY Despite their prosperity and peace, not all is well in Shimrinsara. Lusterless shimreen are ostracized and shunned, socially forced to the fringes of the dome cities alongside dissidents and the oft-realigned. An addictive sonic drug that triggers a user’s tonal resonance is making its way through Kaniqlu under the street name “vibrato,” and a three-block radius on the fringes of Irridus is shrouded by perpetual gloom that blots out even the brightest shimreen’s glow. Dubbed the Pall, this gloom is rumored to be the work of uldroons. Outside earshot of the Ordered, citizens whisper of a fabled “8th City,” where the foulest criminals and most rebellious anarchists mingle amid lusterless and unrepentant shimreens who escaped reeducation. Although talk of the 8th City favors tumultuous narratives with insurrectionists, gangs, and warlords, there’s also speculation that the 8th City is some hidden utopia beyond the Spectrum Council’s meddling. Whatever the case, reliable information about the secret metropolis is hard to come by, and most believe it little more than a fable. NAMES When a shimreen is birthed in Pharasma’s Forge, each shimreen who donated a portion of their body to that shimreen’s creation also contributes a portion of their name. Usually a single syllable long, these name fragments are shuffled and combined into a new name for the shimreen, which is both unique and signifies their lineage and familial affiliation. In instances where a single individual contributes all the crystal components to the birth of a new shimreen, the individual typically provides numerous fragments of their name, in addition to unused name fragments from their parents. As a result, shimreen names are long, with most varying in length from four to six syllables, and many running longer. Shimreens traditionally have only one name; however, shimreens visiting other cities or worlds often adopt their origin city as a temporary last name, to be shed when they return home.
123 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Sample Names Asharin, Fractarial, Imrasara, Miacrysimia, Prisalasim, Qivalaceid, Shionvawei, Telfarashel, Ulashanopar. SPELLS Shimreens originally developed the following spells. CRYSTAL ERUPTION MYSTIC 2 WITCHWARPER 2 School conjuration Casting Time 1 standard action Range 30 ft. Area cone-shaped burst Duration 1 round/level (D) Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance no You force unstable magic into the ground, causing jagged crystals to erupt in the area. Creatures in the area and in contact with the ground when the spell first takes effect take 2d8 piercing damage. The crystals remain for the spell’s duration, making the affected area difficult terrain that deals 1d4 piercing damage to a creature any time they move into an affected square on foot. CRYSTAL MINE TECHNOMANCER 4 WITCHWARPER 4 School conjuration (electricity) Casting Time 1 standard action Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level) Duration 1 minute/level Saving Throw Reflex partial; Spell Resistance no You create three electrified crystal proximity mines under the ground within range. Each mine must be within 30 feet of at least one of the other mines. Each mine occupies one 5-foot square and remains for the duration or until triggered. When a creature enters a space adjacent to a mine, that mine immediately explodes, dealing 2d8 piercing damage and 2d8 electricity damage to creatures in a 10-foot-radius burst centered on the mine. A creature can spot and disable a crystal mine as a trap with successful Perception and Engineering checks respectfully (DC = 15 + your caster level + your key ability score modifier). MEMORY PRISM MYSTIC 4 PRECOG 4 School divination Casting Time 1 minute Range personal Duration 24 hours (D) You copy one memory you have and cause it to crystallize into a small prism of negligible bulk. The memory can’t exceed 10 minutes in length, and the spell doesn’t work on memories that have been removed (such as with displace memoryCOM) or that you know have been magically altered (such as with modify memory). For the spell’s duration, any creature touching the crystal can observe the memory as if with share memory, though they witness 1 minute of memory per round spent reviewing the crystal’s contents. STORM-DEFLECTING SPHERE MYSTIC 3 TECHNOMANCER 3 School abjuration (electricity) Casting Time 1 standard action Range personal Duration 10 minutes/level or until dismissed (D); see text Saving Throw Reflex half; Spell Resistance no You surround yourself with an intangible crystalline sphere that grants you electricity resistance 10 for the spell’s duration. As a reaction when you resist electricity damage or cast another spell with the electricity descriptor, you can dismiss the spell to shatter the sphere, releasing its energy; creatures adjacent to you take 2d12 electricity damage. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
124 Unlike androids, SROs aren’t built to closely emulate any specific living creature’s form or function, but instead fill the same limitless number of niches as non-sapient machines do, from performing rote tasks to running vast operations too extensive for most biological minds to comprehend. Many SROs are unique constructs, built individually to perform some specific task and only developing a soul after hundreds of cycles of self-programming to be better at that task. Others are specific members of entire classes of robots that happened to achieve the specific complexity needed to become self-aware, even when many of the same make and model haven’t. SROs who are part of a series of robots that all gain self-awareness are among the least common types, and even those who have such beginnings often modify themselves beyond the point of recognition. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Nearly the only commonality among the appearances of different SROs is they appear clearly mechanical, constructed, and artificial in design. They range from as short as 3 feet to as tall as 8 feet, can weigh anywhere from 45 to 150 lbs. (and larger SROs aren’t always heavier, depending on the materials used in their core construction), generally have two tool-manipulators (which might be arms, tendrils, or even short-range manipulator beams), and some form of ground mobility (most often legs, wheels, or treads, though anything from hoverlifts to mechanical slitherpads are possible). Even so, there are some broad categories of physical traits many SROs fall into. One common design principle is for SROs to have roughly the same dimensions and form as the species that built them. Thus, SROs constructed by humanoids are often 2-armed bipeds with most sensors in a head near the top of a central body and with an average height between 5 and 7 feet. Of course, there’s a vast range of flexibility within that description, and it’s rarely possible to tell if an SRO was designed by a human, android, lashunta, elf, vesk, or some other two-armed, two-legged bilaterally symmetrical species. While some common aesthetic tendencies might help pinpoint the species or culture of an SRO’s origin, such qualities can’t be depended on. A particularly chitinous, long-limbed SRO with antennae and small vestigial arms in its mid-section might have been designed by a shirren, or it might be a vesk communication maintenance robot that happens to need to fit into narrow spaces and have numerous transmitters and receivers. SROs designed by other species might have some of those species’ features, but given their heavily mechanical nature, it can be difficult to determine at a glance. An SRO that began as a formian security drone might have four legs and an insectile appearance, but so could one built by an astriapi, trox, or any of a dozen other known species. Further, SROs crafted by one species might have an appearance inspired by another. Since bantrids SRO Home World: Special “Sentient Robotic Organism” is a broad term for self-aware mobile machines with positronic brains of such complexity that they attract souls, much as androids do. Being wholly constructed, SROs come in a staggering variety of shapes and sizes. have entered galactic society, an increasing number of robots are constructed with a single monoball motivator inspired by bantrid biology, even though very few of these designs were created by bantrids themselves. Because they’re generally designed with function as a higher priority than form, SROs often have an “exposed” appearance with camera eyes, speakers, piston muscles, cables, and gears all visible to the naked eye, perhaps with areas most likely to bump into things covered by a few simple plates. Even SROs with a more contained design generally have at least a few exposed pieces, such as secondary wires leading to tread wheels or a high-flex area covered in wires and mesh rather than hard plates. Even these trends are far from universal, of course. Anything from a mobile art piece to a fully enclosed diving robot could gain the needed complexity to attract a soul and become an SRO. HOME WORLD Because SROS are designed and built by advanced societies, rather than evolved from life-forms on a single planet, they can’t be said to have any specific home world. However, they’re much more common on Aballon and, to a lesser extent, the rest of the Pact Worlds than anywhere else. It’s a common misconception that SROs are related to the native anacites of Aballon; in fact, anacites, as a species, are much older than any currently known design of SRO. Instead, the fact that Aballonian society is welcoming to, and designed for, constructed beings serves as a strong incentive for SROs to settle there. Rather than face misunderstandings and actively work around needless restrictions in living spaces designed for biological entities (such as the need for things like air and water that SROs can do entirely without), many SROs find integrating themselves into a construct society easier, safer, and more fulfilling. There are potential bias and safety reasons for SROs to select construct-friendly places as well. While Pact Worlds law makes it extremely clear that a Sentient Robotic Organism is an autonomous individual, with all the rights and protections of a biological person, SROs are aware those protections might not keep them from being seen as, and treated like, mere machines. The fact that an SRO lacks the near-biological appearance of androids, and that an SRO can outwardly look exactly like a model of robot that isn’t self-aware, makes it easier for both accidental and intentional violation of SRO rights to occur. While SROs can be found throughout the Pact Worlds, Eox also has a heavy concentration of their population. It has less to do with Eox being particularly friendly or respectful toward SROs and more to do with SROs being safer on a world of oft-hungry undead than biological entities. The planetwide scarcity of air and food that can restrict most visitors to Eox to the Lifeline has little to no effect on SROs; while there are undead that feed on battery power
125 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES and mechanical generators, they’re far less common than those who drink blood or eat flesh. When non-Eoxian organizations must send someone to Eox, or an Eoxian organization needs to hire an outside expert, SROs are generally a safer option than even androids. SOCIETY SROs are rarely able to build communities designed primarily around their needs, beliefs, and traditions; similarly, they rarely find themselves living in such communities for any notable period. Even when a line of SROs all achieve self-awareness, they’re almost always built by a biological society that influences and shapes their attitudes and experiences well before any SRO-specific culture can do so. As a result, SROs are often knowing outsiders in the societies they move through, examining history, traditions, laws, and cultural norms as entities affected by them, but they don’t have the attachment of feeling that can make these things a crucial part of who or what defines each SRO’s personality. Indeed, SROs often see the idea of a society or culture built on traditional norms to be unimportant, at least as far as an SRO is concerned. They can see the momentum ideas have can shape an entire world’s or even system’s attitudes and goals, and they acknowledge these attitudes can have important implications for any SRO within such places; however, most SROs prefer to decide what they consider important based on their own interests. They often consider anything but a rigorously logical or pragmatic cultural norm to be more an impediment to self-realization than a comforting path to help its members know they’re on a reasonable and acceptable path. Part of this sense of separation comes from SROs being well aware their physical forms are less a crucial part of who they are than many biological entities believe. An SRO can easily rebuild their form, swapping out legs for wheels, cameras for radar domes, or short frames for long, lanky scaffolding, and they still feel they’re “themselves.” Only two parts of an SRO seem integral to their sense of self: their positronic brain and their healing circuits. Their forms drive a sense among many SROs that any creature, group, or society should identify what’s core to itself and be willing to change peripherals as appropriate to protect and assist that core. Clinging to any attitude or belief that no longer serves a purpose makes as much sense to an SRO as carrying an entire dining table around because it once held food. By the same token, once an SRO decides what’s core to their sense of self, the things they believe are necessary for their soul to remain healthy in the cradle of their positronic brains and healing circuits, changing or abandoning that core trait is unacceptable in any circumstance. However, SROs don’t exactly have any more consistency about what’s important to their core values than any other creatures. Some SROs are driven purely by logic, or while others have a utilitarian drive to create the best circumstances for the most creatures. Others dedicate themselves to defending the weak, seeking justice, gaining personal power, expanding the body of historic knowledge, or the love of a specific aesthetic style. Some SROs spend several years seeking something that feels like a core, irreplaceable part of their personalities and, once they find it, rarely change or abandon this trait. In place of accepting the societies and cliques they’re built into, these core-focused SROs often consider an exchange of ideas and regular updates about one another to be the most important part of societal engagement, and they become extremely involved in infosphere communities that communicate through message boards, archived broadcasts, and other electronic communication. These infosphere monocities are often organized along intellectual and aesthetic interests, ranging from theories about the Gap to the best flavors of AbadarBurger dipping sauces. PANPSYCHISM SROs often find themselves facing the question of how they became self-aware, especially since in some cases an SRO originates as a mass-produced model of drone or robot that don’t universally gain souls and sapience. While some EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
126 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Str or +2 Dex (see below) Hit Points: 2 Size and Type: SROs are Small or Medium constructs with the technological subtype, though unlike other constructs, they have Constitution scores. Small SROs are agile (+2 Dexterity at character creation). Medium SROs are burly (+2 Strength at character creation). This decision is made at character creation and can’t be changed. Darkvision: SROs can see up to 60 feet in the dark. Healing Circuit: In addition to being constructs and thus able to benefit from spells like make whole, SROs count as living creatures for the purposes of magic healing effects that work on living creatures, though the number of Hit Points restored in such cases is halved. A character must use the Engineering skill to perform the tasks of the Medicine skill on SROs. SROs also heal naturally over time as living creatures do and can benefit from magic or technology that can bring constructs back from the dead, as well as effects that normally can’t (such as raise dead). Integrated Equipment: An SRO has an internal, integrated standard datajack and comm unit. If an SRO is helpless, these can be removed or destroyed without damaging the SRO. They can be replaced or upgraded for the normal price of this equipment. An SRO has an additional built-in cybernetic component with an item level no greater than half the SRO’s character level (minimum item level 1). Each time the SRO gains a level, they can swap out this piece of equipment at no additional cost to represent internal reconfigurations. These pieces of equipment don’t count against the systems in which an SRO can install cybernetics. Robotic: SROs are immune to bleed, disease, death effects, poison, nonlethal damage, and sleep effects unless those effects specify they affect constructs. SROs can be affected by effects or spells that normally target only humanoids but receive a +4 species bonus to saving throws against such effects. SROs can eat and drink, though they don’t need to, and they must recharge their internal batteries by entering an off-line mode that is similar to sleep for 8 hours every day. SROs don’t breathe or suffer the normal environmental effects of being in a vacuum. assume there’s no significant difference between sapient robots and androids, other SROs come to believe they’re evidence of a deeper truth—that all matter in the universe is at some level part of a universal form of consciousness, and particularly complex patterns of matter simply become able to express individual levels of that consciousness. Known as panpsychism, this theory suggests any complex pattern of matter could attract a soul and thus gain self-awareness, with biological systems simply being more likely to develop the appropriate kind of complexities. The appeal of panpsychism for SROs is that it proposes they aren’t so much exceptions to the natural order of the universe and the placement of souls into self-aware vessels, but simply another expression of how that natural order develops within various systems. This belief helps some SROs feel connected to societies and cultures created by non-SRO intelligences because it proposes that all matter is conscious at some level, and thus all consciousnesses are linked at a fundamental level, regardless of the form or origin of each self-aware entity. Proponents of panpsychism often postulate that an ancient, vastly advanced society that understood the rules of the universal consciousness of matter originally created androids and specifically engineered them to take advantage of those rules. Biological entities instead generally achieve consciousness through a complex from of evolution, where a soul and self-awareness are the end state of increasingly complex patterns of matter that grant early life-forms an advantage in survival. These theorists propose other forms of self-aware machines, such as anacites, are an example of technological evolution but essentially still the result of certain forms of complexity granting an advantage to the survival of self-replicating machines. Within these thought experiments, what sets SROs apart isn’t that they’re technologically derived, self-aware housing for souls, but that they generally aren’t products of intentional boosting of the consciousness of matter into self-awareness (as androids are) nor the result of an evolutionary chain of advantageous complexity eventually resulting in self-awareness. SROs are essentially seen as a true expression of panpsychism because their self-awareness develops independently of both intentional construction of soul-housings and evolutionary processes. SROs who believe in panpsychism, and even those who merely consider it possible (if untestable), often show a great deference for complex systems of any kind. They don’t claim that a crystal structure or intricate fungal network is in any way a “person”; however, the idea that all matter is, at some level, conscious, and that more complex structures of matter are closer to self-aware, leads these SROs to seriously consider any action that might destroy complex organizations of matter. Going a step further, some proponents of the theory consider disintegrator weaponry particularly heinous, as such weapons break down complex matter to its simplest possible forms. NAMES Most SROs have a complex, self-identifying alphanumeric sequence derived from their core components. These sequences are often one of the first things SROs become aware of when they reach full self-awareness. However, since these sequences can be hundreds or thousands of digits long, most SROs also have names of convenience, what others consider nicknames. Some SROs select a few key elements from their self-identification sequence to serve as a name, while others pick up an appellation from interactions with biological entities or pick a name appropriate to the culture they operate in early on. These nicknames are sometimes the SRO’s legal name for documents and government interactions, but most SROs still see them as a form of shorthand. Sample Names Alpha-66, Bee-Cee-Dee, Damiar V, Di Gital, E1-F9, Gears, Izak-10, J-27, Klex, N-115, Pinion, Rothay the Robot, Russ T. Bucket, Sea-Tech, Zed-7-Zed.
127 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES MECHANIC OPTIONS As robotic beings who take a variety of forms, SROs don’t hesitate to make improvements to themselves in whatever way is effective, adjusting their components without concern that it somehow makes them any less sapient. The following are appropriate for SRO characters but might be available to other characters at the GM’s discretion. Robotic Improvements This mechanic alternate class feature can be taken only by characters who can be targeted by affects that only affect constructs, including those of the construct type and those with the constructed species trait (such as androids). You’re constantly tinkering with your robotic components, adding, adjusting, and removing them as suits your wishes. At 1st level, you add equipment to your robotic body that performs a specialized function. You gain 1 drone mod, which applies to you rather than to a drone. You must meet any prerequisite the drone mod has, though you’re automatically considered to have manipulator arms. You select one kind of drone chassis and count as that chassis for purposes of meeting mod prerequisites, though you gain none of that drone chassis’s other abilities. You aren’t considered to automatically have a melee weapon arm or weapon mount, though you can select those as mods to add to yourself. There’s no cost for this bonus drone mod, but if you get a mod that can use other equipment that must be bought separately if added to a drone (such as needing to buy weapons separately if you give a drone a weapon mount), you must still pay for that additional equipment normally. You can’t select any drone mod that affects your AC (such as extra armor), saving throws (such as hardened AI), and class skills or skill ranks (such as skill subroutine), nor any that grants you temporary Hit Points (such as energy shield) or allows the drone to take actions when you’re unconscious (such as medical subroutine). You also can’t select mods that result in a drone shutting itself down (such as shock waves) or causes it to share a space with its mechanic. Alternatively, in the place of a drone mod, you can install a specialized piece of internal equipment that gives you a bonus feat. This feat must be one a drone can select as a feat, and you must meet its prerequisites. If you have a trick that expands what feats a drone of yours could take (such as exploration routine; see page 18 of Starfinder Galaxy Exploration Manual), you can select from that expanded list as well. Each time you gain a mechanic level, you can swap out one robotic improvement, removing a previous selection and making a new choice. You can’t remove a robotic improvement that gives you a feat that’s a prerequisite for any option you’ve taken. You gain an additional robotic improvement at 5th, 7th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level. Robotic improvements replaces the mechanic’s artificial intelligence class feature. Mechanic Tricks SRO mechanics often learn the following mechanic tricks, as do androids. 2nd Level You must be 2nd level or higher to choose these mechanic tricks. Hunk of Junk (Ex) You can appear to be a defunct piece of junk. As a move action, or as a reaction whenever you take damage, you can attempt to appear defunct. You immediately fall prone and attempt an Engineering check against each opponent who’s aware of you (DC = 10 + the opponent’s Sense Motive bonus, or 15 + 1-1/2 × the opponent’s CR, whichever is greater). Anyone you succeed against believes you’re useless mechanical junk and acts accordingly. An opponent who closely inspects you as a standard action can attempt an Engineering, Perception, or Sense Motive check at the same DC to uncover your deception. Maintaining this ruse is a full action each turn. This trick can be taken only by characters who can be targeted by effects that only affect constructs, including those of the construct type and those with the constructed species trait. Spell Chip Array (Ex) You’ve built in a receiver for spell chips (Core Rulebook 215). You can insert a number of spell chips equal to half your level. Using these spell chips has the same requirements as normal. Because you have the chips linked in an array, you can expend a spell chip to cast a spell on any other spell chip you’ve inserted of the same or higher spell level. A spell chip array is difficult for creatures not aware of it to locate; someone performing a close inspection can discover it with a successful Mysticism or Perception check (DC = 10 + your total Engineering skill modifier). This trick can be taken only by characters who can be targeted by effects that only affect constructs, including those of the construct type and those with the constructed species trait. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
128 Trox are communal arthropods from Nchak, one of Liavara’s moons. However, in their dedication to the Forever Queen Hylax, they ensure the group’s success never overshadows individuals’ desires, passions, and pursuits. Trox are fiercely loyal to whatever they commit themselves to, including other creatures and idealistic causes. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION As a species, trox have undergone numerous supernatural transformations during their long history in the Pact Worlds. Their modern bipedal form arose in response to a divine messenger’s decree, believed to be a mortal incarnation of Hylax. Though hypothesized to have once resembled giant, eight-legged beetles, trox now stand on their two hind legs, towering as much as 12 feet in height. As their uppermost pair of limbs developed into powerful arms, their middle four limbs shrank and now have a fraction of the strength. A pair of sword-like mandibles frame their smaller jaws. The former mandibles close slowly and clumsily, serving more like an extra set of hands than a set of natural weapons. Trox lay eggs in small clusters, and young hatch as nymphs who resemble small versions of their parents. Trox can only grow as much as their exoskeletons allow, so youths molt numerous times a year until they reach adulthood at age six. During this rapid growth, trox are predominantly carnivorous, requiring tremendous amounts of protein. The specialized nutrients required for healthy exoskeleton production also drive many nymphs to consume their old exoskeletons and burrow, hunting for key minerals. The nutritional needs shift upon reaching adulthood, at which point most favor a largely vegetarian diet. Once fully grown, a trox tends to shed only a few times a decade as part of healthy shell maintenance. A new exoskeleton takes about a week to harden, during which time a trox is quite sluggish and vulnerable. However, the soft chitin provides a delightful opportunity: customization. Although their natural coloration ranges from a light rosy brown to dark crimson, the fresh exoskeleton readily absorbs injected dyes and can be subtly shaped to create a variety of patterns and surface textures. As a result, adolescents regularly experiment with their appearance using magical dyes, shallow molds, and incised tattoos, knowing that if they don’t like their new aesthetic, they can just shed and redo it a few months later. Whatever the surface treatment, a trox’s exoskeleton provides crucial support and protection. The thick plates along the head, forearms, and thighs fit together loosely when they curl up, and even when crouching, they shield a large portion of the body. Together with a set of abdominal horns, a trox’s relatively soft underbelly and vestigial limbs become difficult TROX Home World: Nchak, moon of Liavara (Pact Worlds) Trox are strong yet gentle insectoids who work to build community and harmony through service to others. When angered, they become implacable guardians who protect their friends. to reach. Only a few sections of the body aren’t covered. The upper arms and fingers all have thin, slightly pliable exoskeletons that provide a trox additional flexibility while still allowing space for muscle attachment. Likewise, each trox has a muscular tail that’s structurally similar to an elephant’s trunk, providing boneless balance and support. Although capable of lifting and clumsily maneuvering the tail when moving, it most often lies flat and drags along the ground. Protective as it might be, the exoskeleton presents challenges. Overlapping plates and thick chitin limit a trox’s agility, and their massive size makes it difficult to circulate air throughout their bodies. To compensate, a trox has a set of humanlike lungs sufficient for resting respiration and four supplemental book lungs: two near their shell, partway up their torso, plus one in each thigh. Fed by spiracles, these book lungs help reoxygenate blood, especially when moving quickly and driving additional air through these systems. As a side effect, trox reflexively shiver whenever these spiracles become submerged—a gag reflex as the pores close off to avoid flooding. HOME WORLD Trox hail from Nchak, one of Liavara’s inhabited moons. The surface is relatively barren with most communities lying beneath the surface. These trox-dominant settlements are distributed evenly, but those surrounding the Forever Halls are the most populous. After all, within those sacred halls lives the Forever Queen, a being most Nchaki believe is Hylax’s mortal avatar. The inhabitants pride themselves on being good hosts, providing religious pilgrims generous quarters to facilitate the visitors’ search for wisdom and peace. Visitors also adore Gebanon Springs, a community built along an underground lake fed by geologically heated springs. The mineral-rich waters naturally fortify a trox’s hardening shell, making it a favorite bathing destination for those about to shed. Even for those with endoskeletons, the bathhouses are refreshing. However, Nchak’s crust shelters a variety of strange creatures who periodically get swept up in the warm geysers or swim up on their own. Most are harmless, yet occasionally, a Nchaki cercaderre (a type of amphibious cephalopod) or worse ascends, requiring swift armed intervention from the town’s guards. For all their dedication to peace, trox on Nchak prepare for war. The starship manufacturer Starhive maintains a major manufacturing facility on the surface above the subterranean city of Szeyack, employing thousands of trox engineers and laborers. Given shirren-run Starhive’s aggressive stance against the Swarm, trox are only too happy to help, seeing this work as crucial to protecting the rest of the galaxy from this enemy.
129 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Beyond the factories and several hundred scattered ranches and farms for raising a few hardy foods, the other noteworthy surface installation is the Zeffrac Science Platform. Publicly, it’s a joint research endeavor for observing and recording Liavara’s weather, helping officials predict gaseous tides that might threaten Roselight, the planet’s capital. However, the site experienced a mysterious attack several decades ago, where its occupants with an intelligent, mind-controlling fungus. The attack foiled the fungus’s schemes while hinting at more threats to come. While the science platform is now back in operation, only a fraction of its equipment monitors weather anymore. Secretly, the facility has been reconfigured to monitor covert invaders from beyond the Pact Worlds with teams specialized in identifying the likes of dycepskians, reptoids, grays, and more. Understandably, anyone approaching the base is now subjected to extensive biological and magical testing to confirm their identity. SOCIETY Carefully balancing the duality of individuality and community is crucial in trox society, guided by widespread reverence of Hylax. Trox find instinctive comfort in groups and promote the community’s well-being even at risk of their own opportunities. Even if their behavior falls short of eusociality, trox peacefully and graciously provide their time and energy to neighbors. However, duergar enslaved many trox in the ancient past, exploiting their community mindset to compel compliance and labor. The memories of servitude are distant, yet they nonetheless steel trox against slavery and encourage them to embrace their own personal liberties. This individuality parallels Hylax’s teachings, recognizing a community’s strength comes from the individual passions of each member. Trox encourage nymphs to pursue first their own passions, at which point elders help instruct them on how those passions might benefit the community. For example, a young trox excited about art would be encouraged to hone their skills, develop a personal style, and then work with leaders to create art the community could witness and appreciate together. Trox societies typically consist of extensive, overlapping clans that collaboratively raise their young. Membership is informal and fluid, though status relies on kinship, periodic residency, service to the community, or some other ongoing or exceptional impact on the clan. As a result, a trox’s family isn’t necessarily based on kinship ties or even shared species, causing many traveling trox to develop found families they guard with unshakable determination. Gifts are a significant aspect of maintaining social ties. General reciprocity—giving goods and services, knowing that similar, unspecified kindnesses will be returned at some point— forms a large fraction of traditional trox economics, though credits and commerce have become increasingly prominent over the centuries. Nonetheless, gift giving is a trox art form. Perhaps the greatest gift a trox might offer is trust, and among the most important examples of trust is the Leaving: the moment when elders cede responsibility to their next generation, recognizing their descendants have realized the expertise and wisdom to take up the mantle of leadership. As a result, trox typically retire well before death, ensuring a careful transfer of power. They then explore new hobbies, teach, repair public works, and occasionally dedicate themselves to some grand project intended to preserve their legacy. Although the Leaving primarily refers to this transfer of responsibility within a community, it’s increasingly also referred to as a community ritually blessing a trox who wishes to travel the stars. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
130 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Str, +2 Con, –2 Dex Hit Points: 8 Size and Type: Trox are Large monstrous humanoids with a space and reach of 10 feet. Darkvision: Trox have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Bulwark: When a trox fights defensively or takes the total defense action, they can grant half the bonus to AC granted by that action to an adjacent ally. Burrower: Trox have a burrow speed of 20 feet. Chitin: Trox chitin can help deflect effects, granting trox a +1 species bonus to Reflex saves. Frenzy: Once per day, when a significant enemy causes an ally to take Hit Points damage, a trox can fly into a frenzy, gaining a +2 species bonus to melee attack rolls and a –2 penalty to AC for 1 minute. Grappler: Trox gain a +2 species bonus to grapple combat maneuvers. Spiritual Fervor: Trox gain a +2 species bonus to Intimidate and Mysticism skill checks. Swift: Trox have a land speed of 40 feet. Vestigial Arms: A trox’s four vestigial arms can be used to hold, draw, or put away items of negligible bulk but not to make attacks, wield weapons, or use items. Not all trox have so positive an outlook. With both legends of past exploitation and a growing number of galactic threats like the Swarm, trox increasingly believe their community extends well beyond Nchak; they’re called to protect other worlds. Each generation sees more trox joining the Stewards, adopting vulnerable colonies in the Vast as protectorates, patrolling the stars, or joining adventurers to uncover the next threat to galactic peace. Thanks in part to remittances regularly sent back to Nchak, their home world continues to thrive. DUNETS’ TALE A favorite bedtime story and cautionary fable on Nchak tells of two clutch-mates, Keldunet and Idzdunet, commonly remembered as the Dunet twins. As they reached adulthood, the twins became restless, craving some greater purpose than their community could provide. Their family and neighbors sponsored their travels and encouraged them to discover, yet they were sad to see the twins depart. The galaxy was intoxicating in its size and diversity, and the Dunets became lost among the cosmopolitan bustle, short on cash, and no closer to discovering their destinies. That changed when they spotted a duergar struggling to move a crate. As properly raised trox, the twins selflessly volunteered to help her. She marveled at the trox’s strength, and each time they helped the duergar move something, she praised their might and bemoaned some even heavier load that needed to be relocated. The Dunets preened at the duergar’s compliments and those of the gathering crowd, eagerly doing her work for free. At last satisfied, the duergar shared a secret: she had a treasure map leading to untold riches but needed strong friends to help extract the wealth in exchange for a share. The two followed the duergar toward her starship, but the more they listened to her promises, the more Keldunet grew suspicious and the more Idzdunet became enthralled. With each concerning clue the former noticed, she mentioned it to Idzdunet to convince him of the growing danger, but he was drunk with purpose—the duergar needed help! At last, Keldunet decided to turn back, begging her brother to join her, but she respected his decision to follow the duergar. Forlorn, she returned home and left her brother to his fate. Her community welcomed Keldunet back yet reprimanded her for abandoning her twin. Ashamed, she departed once more to find Idzdunet, and the story typically involves her rescuing her brother from captivity, servitude, and misfortune. Each trox interprets the tale in a different way. For some, it’s a story about never abandoning one’s family and friends or a tale about how one should risk one’s own safety to save others. Sometimes it’s just a story well-intentioned relatives reference to guilt their traveling kin to return home for a visit. Others believe it teaches that while it’s good to help others, it’s important not to let others exploit that generosity. This last lesson in particular makes trox especially protective of skittermanders (sometimes endearingly called “little Dunets”), whose compulsive helpfulness leaves them vulnerable to the Veskarium’s domination. NAMES A nymph’s extended family gives them a birth name that most keep throughout their lives. As an adult, a trox often invents an additional name for themself that becomes their primary appellation, representing their evolving identity and individualism. Trox deeply respect honorifics and occasionally bestow them on one another for great feats performed in service to others, such as “Hammer of Hylax” for a warrior who saved a town. In most cases, an honorific is spoken after the name, such as “Kembah, Defender of Nine Spikes,” yet it’s uncommon for a trox to use only their earned title. Sample Names Bojesah, Dunet, Kasiyah, Kembah, Lyret, Marvad, Nabela, Nelkon, Pincot, Rabarah, Renist, Ribiah, Tavaeh, Varasah. FEATS The following feats and spells are appropriate for trox PCs but might be available to other characters at the GM’s discretion. Chitinous Wall Your protective plates can better shield nearby allies. Prerequisites: Bulwark species trait Benefit: When you use your bulwark species trait to grant an ally a bonus to AC, you grant a +5 bonus to AC against ranged attacks and a +1 bonus to Reflex saving throws when providing soft cover to allies until the beginning of your next turn. Normal: Soft cover provides a +4 bonus to AC against ranged attacks and no bonus to Reflex saves. Righteous Frenzy Your furious defense of injured friends transforms you into a conduit for divine power, likely Hylax’s, but perhaps that of some other patron.
131 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Prerequisites: Frenzy species trait Benefit: When you activate your frenzy species trait, choose either destructive or healing energy. If you choose destructive energy, whenever you observe an enemy deal Hit Points damage to one of your allies during your frenzy, your next successful attack against that enemy before the end of your next turn deals additional force damage equal to 1 + 1/2 your level. If you choose healing energy, whenever you observe an enemy deal Hit Points damage to one of your allies during your frenzy, your next successful attack against that enemy before the end of your next turn causes an ally who has 0 Stamina Points to regain a number of Stamina Points equal to 1 + 1/2 your level. Even if you witness enemies harming your allies multiple times, you can’t deal additional damage or restore Stamina Points in this way more than once per round. Tunneling Vanguard By taking your time, you can clear a way through soil for your companions, not just for yourself. Prerequisites: Burrow speed Benefit: You can leave a tunnel when burrowing so long as you move at half your normal burrow speed. A typical tunnel remains open and usable for a day, though tunnels through especially rigid or loose soils might last longer or shorter at the GM’s discretion. Normal: Burrowing creatures don’t leave behind tunnels other creatures can use. Vestigial Vigor Whether due to genetics or carefully targeted exercises, your vestigial arms are especially strong. Prerequisites: Vestigial arms species trait Benefit: You can combine the use of your vestigial arms to perform any one-handed task, including making attacks and using items. However, your reach with any weapons wielded by your vestigial arms is reduced by 5 feet. Special: If you have at least four vestigial arms, you can take this feat a second time. If you do, your vestigial arms can be used as if they were two hands, each requiring the dedicated use of half your vestigial arms. SPELL Trox spellcasters were the first to bring this spell to the wider galaxy, and now many precogs and witchwarpers learn it to provide additional protection for some of their most vulnerable allies. SPELL REDIRECTION PRECOG 1-5 WITCHWARPER 1-5 School transmutation Casting Time 1 reaction Range 20 ft. Saving Throw Will negates Duration instantaneous When an ally within range is targeted by a non-harmless spell or spell-like ability, you can redirect the spell so it targets you instead. Spell redirection fails if you’re immune to the triggering spell’s effects. It can’t redirect spells that affect an area, though it can change one target of a spell that affects multiple targets. The spell’s caster can attempt a Will save to negate this effect. The maximum spell level spell redirection can affect depends on the spell level of spell redirection. 1st: You can redirect a spell whose level is 2nd or lower. 2nd: You can redirect a spell whose level is 3rd or lower. 3rd: You can redirect a spell whose level is 4th or lower. 4th: You can redirect a spell whose level is 5th or lower. 5th: You can redirect a spell whose level is 6th or lower. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
132 Though their physical forms resemble those of their mundane counterparts, uplifted bears are far from simple animals; those who underestimate them do so at great peril. At some point in the past, a population of bears—the stories range from an initial group of several dozen to all the bears on a dying planet—were modified to increase their mental capabilities, granting them extraordinary intelligence. The details of who modified the bears, and why, were either lost to the Gap or, as more conspiratorial takes posit, deliberately concealed. While some uplifted bears are obsessed with uncovering their origins, others feel this focus on the past only holds their people back. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Physically, uplifted bears resemble non-sapient bears, though their bodies were modified along with their minds to grant them a few enhancements. Their clawed forepaws are more dexterous than those of an animal bear, with opposable thumbs to manipulate objects easily. They retain all the physical strength of any bear, and their size is formidable. An uplifted bear can be roughly 5 feet tall when on all fours, but when maneuvering bipedally, as most prefer, they stand up to 10 feet tall. Like animal bears, they generally have short tails, small rounded ears, and thick fur coats consisting of both long guard hairs and shorter insulating hairs. Though they have the teeth and digestive systems common to a carnivorous species, uplifted bears are typically omnivores and can subsist on a wide variety of diets—though they need a larger volume of food if consuming solely vegetarian fare. An uplifted bear’s sense of smell is generally weaker than that of an animal bear. The original uplifted bears appear to have been drawn from an assemblage of Pact Worlds species, creating a diverse array of features and pelages. Coat coloring ranges among black, brown, blonde, and white, including patterns that resemble those of Lost Golarion’s pandas or Castrovel’s sun bears. Some populations grow especially large, with massive appetites and thick fur to help them stay warm in colder climates. Others have bodies better designed for swimming than clambering up trees, and others still have especially long tongues once designed for insectivorous diets. Whatever their apparent species differences millennia ago, the process that uplifted these bears also left them genetically compatible with each other (but not with animal bears or other ursines). Strangely, uplifted bears’ brain structure seems to resist most technological augmentations, except for datajacks or custom-designed rigs. Some bears believe it was intended as a means of protection against external control by whoever modified them, while others fear that it’s a sinister method of holding them back from achieving their true potential. UPLIFTED BEARS Home World: None Uplifted bears’ fearsome, ursine appearance belies their keen intellect, natural curiosity, and innate telepathic abilities. The species’ origins are shrouded in mystery, even to uplifted bears themselves. HOME WORLD With no memory of their origins, uplifted bears lack a home planet of their own. Small communities of uplifted bears exist throughout the Pact Worlds. Many occupy higher-gravity planetoids in the Diaspora, while others live on heavily forested or jungle planets such as Castrovel or Landahl in Near Space. These settlements range in size from tiny outposts of a few dozen residents to small villages of a few hundred. One of the largest uplifted bear settlements is on a Diasporan planetoid optimistically named Greenview. Greenview has a breathable, if thin, atmosphere, and for the past several decades, uplifted bear scientists have been attempting to terraform the planetoid to encourage plant growth, with mixed results. What began as a research outpost grew into a town of nearly 600 residents now known as Furmark as trade sprang up to support the scientists’ work. Although only limited vegetation has been coaxed out of Greenview’s rocky soil thus far, there are plenty of mineral deposits to support the community in the meantime, and Furmark does a brisk trade in various valuable ores. Recently, an uplifted bear team exploring the Vast discovered a planet in the Ferra system unpopulated by sapient creatures and full of skyscraper-sized trees. Since this report spread, a contingent of uplifted bears has begun calling for their kind to adopt this planet as their home world. Further surveys have noted that the planet, dubbed Ursana by its original explorers, contains ample natural resources and animal life. Ursana still has no formal status according to the governments of the Pact Worlds, though several members of this uplifted bear group— dubbed the Open Paw for their slogans promising “an open paw” to any bear wishing to settle on Ursana—have filed pending petitions with the Pact Council to have it officially recognized as their home world. Though the Pact Council has provided no response thus far, the bears’ cause has attracted the support of several prominent organizations thanks to the efforts of the Open Paw’s de facto leader, Devran Gars, a professor of natural history at the University of Qabarat. In the meantime, some uplifted bears have begun immigrating to Ursana and building settlements, most of which are still quite small. An advertising campaign by the Open Paw aimed at uplifted bear communities throughout the Pact Worlds hopes to encourage more to settle on Ursana, extolling the benefits of having a unified home planet. Not all wish to relocate so far away, however, especially since Ursana’s location in the Vast would prevent it from becoming a member of the Pact Worlds proper. SOCIETY As a widely dispersed population, uplifted bears often adopt cultural characteristics of their neighbors. Regardless of location, though, they often have several points of commonality.
133 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Many uplifted bears are more comfortable in natural, vegetated environments than in large cities or space stations, and their settlements tend to reflect this preference. A typical uplifted bear town is a marvel of engineering, with structures built into and onto the surrounding trees and walkways twining up through branches. In areas where native vegetation is unavailable, uplifted bears often opt for artificial alternatives or expensive imports. This affinity for natural landscapes has given them a reputation for preferring terrestrial living situations over space stations. Though commonly true, it isn’t universal, and some uplifted bears do make their homes in places like Absalom Station. In general, however, many uplifted bears prefer the company of animals and animal-like humanoids and choose to settle in less urbanized and populous environments. Due to their bestial and imposing appearance, uplifted bears have an unfair reputation for violent tempers, yet their personalities are as varied as any other sapient species. While some bears are happy to live up to the stereotype, others frown at the notion that physical might makes one a ferocious brute. Many uplifted bears, particularly those in scientific or academic professions, deliberately cultivate an erudite and sophisticated appearance to counter such assumptions. As a species scattered across the galaxy, uplifted bears value community and are often delighted to encounter a fellow bear unexpectedly. Still, uplifted bears also enjoy having their own space, and bear families in a settlement typically maintain homes of their own set away from the central town structures—close enough to go socialize when they wish, yet far enough that they can live without feeling as though their neighbors are peeking over their shoulders. Uplifted bears don’t typically engage in formal marriages; bears wishing to formalize a romantic relationship simply move in together without much fanfare, and bears wishing to end one just separate with an equal lack of ceremony. Though community is important to them, uplifted bears generally consider communities to be rather loose arrangements; they’re happy to help their neighbors when needed but prefer maintaining their independence as much as possible. Accordingly, uplifted bear communities seldom have formal leadership, with each family deciding its own affairs. For settlement-wide issues, a forum convenes to discuss the issue, culminating in adults voting on a course of action. This method can be inefficient, particularly when contentious topics are involved, but ideally ensures that every member of the town gets an equal say. On Ursana, community governance is slightly more formalized. Each uplifted bear settlement on the planet is under the auspices of a town council with a loose network of mutual-aid agreements between communities. The Open Paw has advocated the creation of a unified planetary government, an Ursanian Senate, to represent uplifted bears’ interests to the Pact Worlds. Aside from a few self-styled bear senators taking the role upon themselves, such efforts have largely stalled while awaiting the Pact Council’s decision on Ursana’s status. Life Cycle Uplifted bears are born into litters of up to four cubs. A pair of uplifted bears usually only have one or two litters during their lifetimes, and they never try for a new one until the first set of cubs are at least 6 years old and require less direct care. Uplifted bears age more slowly and live longer than their animal counterparts, reaching physical maturity around 12 years old. They’re still considered somewhat mentally immature at this age, however, and often don’t leave their parents’ home until several years later. Most uplifted bears live between 50 and 60 years, though it isn’t unheard of to encounter an elder in their 70s. Spiritual Traditions Without a unified history, uplifted bears often experiment with new traditions to see what might bind their communities together, particularly in matters of faith and spirituality. When something works, these communities often dispatch informal evangelists to share the tradition with other groups, ever EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
134 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Str, +2 Int,–2 Wis Hit Points: 6 Size and Type: Uplifted bears are Large magical beasts with a space of 10 feet and a reach of 5 feet. Climber: Uplifted bears have a climb speed of 20 feet. Ferocious Charge: Uplifted bears have the ferocious charge universal creature rule. Limited Augmentation: The only augmentations that can be installed in an uplifted bear’s brain are datajacks and the mechanic’s custom rig. Limited Telepathy: Uplifted bears have limited telepathy with a range of 30 feet. Low-Light Vision: Uplifted bears have low-light vision. Natural Survivor: Uplifted bears have a +2 species bonus to Life Science and Survival checks. Natural Weapons (S): Uplifted bears have the natural weapons universal creature rule. Swift: Uplifted bears have a land speed of 40 feet. eager to create some shared cultural zeitgeist. Nature-themed traditions are among the most successful, tapping into uplifted bears’ instinctive appreciation of the wilderness. As a result, many uplifted bears adopt elements of the Green Faith, often syncretizing it with other spiritual beliefs or pantheons. Of the major Pact Worlds deities, Oras is the most commonly worshipped amongst uplifted bears, especially by those who believe it was responsible for their sapience. Talavet’s faith is also common, as the uplifted bears who follow her feel she provides inspiration for a unified sense of tradition their people haven’t yet achieved. Uplifted bears with an academic inclination often follow Yaraesa, appreciating her focus on scientific achievement, while those who dedicate their lives to solving the enigma of their creation might follow Eloritu in the hopes that one of the many hidden truths he holds contains the key to the puzzle. Uplifted bears of a cruel and malicious disposition might follow Damoritosh or Lamashtu, believing that their physical might makes them superior to others and deserving of whatever they can take from those who are weaker. Unity or Assimilation? Arising inexplicably in far-flung locales, uplifted bear communities are caught between two impulses: one emphasizing development of a shared cultural unity, the other viewing a bear settlement as having more in common with the other peoples in the area than the distant homes of other uplifted bears. The tug-of-war between the two is currently the central question of uplifted bear societies, and nearly all uplifted bears have an opinion on the matter. Many fall somewhere in the middle of the two extremes, recognizing the benefit of having some shared traditions while adapting to the worlds on which they’ve made their homes. The Open Paw has made some concerted efforts to disseminate information about traditions or customs that various bear communities have started. This effort has led to the creation of several holidays, such as a winter solstice festival known as Evernight and Trailblazers’ Day, commemorating the discovery of Ursana. Attempts to create a constructed uplifted bear language have been less successful, as most bears view the notion an interesting thought experiment but impractical for actual use. MYSTERIOUS ORIGINS No matter their birthplace or circumstances, every uplifted bear shares one commonality: the knowledge that their people owe their sapience to whoever—or whatever—uplifted them. Theories differ regarding who might have done so and their motives. Some uplifted bears believe their sapience was a gift given to them by a powerful mystic of the Green Faith, while some believe that Oras, god of evolution, chose to transform them beyond their animal origins. Others fear they were created for a darker purpose as an army of sleeper agents and that their creator might one day return and carry out nefarious plans. Uplifted bears deal with the mystery of their creation in various ways. Many uplifted bear settlements began as scientific outposts dedicated to studying pre-Gap relics in an attempt to uncover their origins. Sometimes, an uplifted bear delving into these matters becomes obsessed with solving the puzzle, abandoning all other concerns along the way. Uplifted bears refer to such individuals as being “rooted” and view them with pity tinged with trepidation. Family and friends often try to intervene early with such an obsession, hoping to head it off before it becomes ingrained. Some uplifted bears, especially those of younger generations, find this focus on the past frustrating. They view it as holding their people back, forcing their attention toward their past circumstances rather than looking to the future. Such individuals often leave their home communities for areas more heavily populated by other species, building new lives where their origins are less important than their capabilities. Still, they too grapple with the mystery of their past, even if only in trying to ignore it. NAMES Uplifted bears generally use a single given name with no surname, though those who live primarily among other species might adopt one. These names tend to sound harsh and guttural to the humanoid ear. Uplifted bears also often adopt epithets throughout their lives, placed after their given names. These epithets can refer to physical characteristics, careers, personality characteristics, or accomplishments and are often used as nicknames. Some example epithets are “Firetail,” “the Engineer,” “Silvertongue,” and “the Starseeker.” Sample Names Some sample uplifted bear names include Arrak, Baors, Durran, Girra, Hako, Koroek, Nozobi, Mur, Rauki, Tarrathak, Uenka, and Zavranik. FEATS Uplifted bears have developed numerous combat styles and other techniques to complement their natural strength and cunning.
135 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Bear Hug You can crush grappled opponents in your arms or other limbs, squeezing them hard enough to cause injury. Prerequisites: Improved Combat Maneuver (grapple) Benefit: When you successfully renew a grapple, you can also deal your unarmed strike’s base damage (not including your Strength modifier or Weapon Specialization) to the grappled creature. Brutal Slash You use your finely honed natural attacks to rend an enemy to pieces. Prerequisites: Str 17, Dex 13, base attack bonus +6, Rending Slash Benefit: When your unarmed strike inflicts bleed damage using your Rending Slash feat, that unarmed strike deals additional slashing damage equal to half your character level. The bleed damage caused by Rending Slash increases to 1d8 + half your character level, or 2d8 + half your character level if your base attack bonus is +13 or higher. Hibernate You can enter a deep, meditative state to heal yourself of wounds and infirmities. Prerequisites: Con 13, any species that grants at least 6 Hit Points at 1st level Benefit: When you begin a full night’s rest or begin a full day’s rest, you can choose to enter a special form of regenerative torpor instead of sleeping normally. Upon completing your rest, you regain twice the normal number of Hit Points, heal twice the normal points of ability damage, and gain a +2 circumstance bonus to any saving throws you attempt to remove negative levels that day. While in this torpor, you’re difficult to rouse; if awoken before you finish resting, you’re flat-footed and fatigued until you can rest for at least 8 more hours. Rallying Roar You’ve honed your voice to echo over the battlefield. Prerequisites: Cha 13, Intimidate 1 rank Benefit: You can roar as a move action, affecting all creatures within 60 feet. Affected allies gain a +1 morale bonus to Will saves, and affected enemies take a –1 penalty to Will saves. These effects last until the start of your next turn. Once you roar in this way, you can’t do so again for 1d4 rounds. This is a sense-dependent, mind-affecting effect. Rending Slash You viciously tear into an opponent’s flesh, leaving behind deep, jagged wounds. Prerequisites: Str 13, Dex 13, natural weapons (s) species trait Benefit: On your turn, the second time you successfully hit and deal slashing damage to a creature using the unarmed strike granted by your natural weapons trait, the target also takes bleed damage equal to 1d4 + half your character level. Startling Charge You use your charge mainly to frighten your enemies rather than to attack them directly. Prerequisites: Str 13, Intimidate 1 rank, ferocious charge universal creature rule Benefit: When you charge as a full action, you can attempt an Intimidate check to demoralize a creature within your melee reach at the end of the charge, rather than making a melee attack. If you succeed at your Intimidate check, the target is shaken for 1 additional round and you gain a +1 morale bonus to attack rolls to resolve combat maneuvers against the target until the end of your next turn. Special: If you have an ability that allows you to charge without taking penalties to your attack roll or AC (such as the charge attack ability from the soldier’s blitz fighting style), you qualify for this feat as though you had the ferocious charge ability. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
136 Outside of their home world of Dykon, urogs have a reputation as brash know-it-alls who stay engaged only while a topic interests them. Within Dykon’s society, their lives of careful study show how they truly engage: sharing knowledge, avoiding the waste of precious energy by keeping conversations short, and leaving topics that require nuance to subject-area experts. However, not all urogs call Dykon home; at least one concentrated settlement of urogs on Akiton primarily worship Oras as they expand their understanding of silicon-based life. Urogs often make valuable members of starship crews as well, especially those who enjoy optimizing navigational routes. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION As silicon-based life-forms, urog physiology differs drastically from their carbon-based counterparts. Their flesh is dense, heavy, and translucent—supple yet firm and covered in tough shell scales. While these shell scales are sometimes identified as an exoskeleton, urogs understand them as an extension of their segmented limbs and see the exoskeleton label as a holdover from carbon-based life being the standard paradigm. Many of urogs’ so-called eccentricities come from the fundamental difference between carbon-based and silicon-based life. Overall, urogs don’t bother fighting these misunderstandings—likely due to the amount of energy it would take to correct them. Energy conservation and efficiency are biological imperatives for urogs. As their flesh is firm and mostly immobile at comfortable temperatures, they need to expend considerable energy to move their limbs. However, it doesn’t affect their mobility, as they typically move by using minute cilia to generate electromagnetic currents and float over the ground. A similar electromagnetic process in their biology breaks down food into its molecular structure for consumption, making it so that urogs can consume almost any object. However, urogs prefer the easily consumed plant life and minerals from their home world since these silicon-based structures require less energy to digest. Their control over this process is precise to the molecular level, enabling urogs to consume choice nutrients and leave non-nutritive substances behind. For efficiency, they only keep their consumption field active to purposefully break down food or to safely carry delicate items. When inactive, urog bodies settle into a resting state, their shell scales hanging over their limbs and making them appear like a scaled slug. When fighting, engaging directly with the environment around them, or otherwise exerting significant physical energy, urogs enter an active state, extending their beaked head-stalk and unfurling the limbs that line their UROG Home World: Dykon (Pact Worlds) Urogs are silicon-based life-forms who shift between a slug-like relaxed state and a beaked, multi-limbed active state. On Dykon, they live relatively peaceful lives in pursuit of efficiency and knowledge. abdomen. In this state, their body temperatures rise to make their joints supple enough to move. Maintaining this active state is physically taxing on an urog’s body, to the point that a single hour in this state requires the same energy as a single day in their resting state. This active state is typically reserved for academic study, life-or-death situations, reproduction, or interacting with other species. Urogs control the layering of their shell scales as they return to their resting state. Specific combinations act as fashion statements, mood indicators, or personal identifiers. They can also manipulate their color by purposefully consuming supplemental minerals. The changed color ranges from iridescent tone to a saturated dye, depending on the amount consumed, and fades over time. These supplements are produced solely on Dykon, so any urog who wishes to maintain their coloration typically stocks up when visiting, imports through a specialized mail-order outfit, or creates a unique blend and processes their own from locally accessible materials. HOME WORLD The crystalline Dykon, one of the moons of the gas giant Bretheda, is a vibrant, silicon-based world. The moon itself is home to a vast array of plant life, most of which is unique in the Pact Worlds due to the moon’s distinctive biochemistry. Urogs, truly having no other world than Dykon that could easily support their biological needs, have undertaken a significant effort to catalog much of their native flora and fauna so they can maintain a well-tended moon. This planned ecosystem includes a balance between staple foods, medicinal plants, and the necessary biodiversity to support the scarce fauna that live alongside urogs. This control over their planetary environment is possible only because urogs face few threats from the natural world and have political independence in all but name. Dykon formally falls under the leadership of Bretheda, but the planet’s ruling body, Confluence, leaves Dykon to govern itself. The urog government on Dykon, the Preeminence, is a panel of experts on areas of planetary concern. New experts are nominated for appointment by their research institution whenever a previous member steps down or the panel decides that a new perspective is required. The majority of Dykon remains undeveloped, with a few concentrated settlements housing the whole population while a few countryside hermits and academics engage in full-time field work. The major population centers serve specific functions and include research centers that specialize in those areas. For example, the city of Zethir, originally carved into the side of an immense crystal cliff and now encompassing the buildings that have sprung up around it, hosts child-raising centers and life span–development researchers. One of the smaller
137 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES settlements, the town of Precursor, hosts mostly engineers who work on prototype structures that give it a cluttered, eclectic appearance: no two buildings are alike. Venturing outside of these settlements is common, as the relative safety of the moon enables urogs to wander without threat. Scenic depictions of Dykon commonly include classes of urogs engaged in field work, floating cloudlike above silica crystal fields. The moon holds several famous research sites, such as Lake Kellgin, a mile-wide ammonia lake, and the silica run just outside of the spaceport Ekynas. More curious still is the Oscillation Field with a reputation for altering consciousness that attracts urogs who believe they aren’t living up to their full potential. Out of all the various academies and universities, the Dykon Replication Studies Center maintains the most prestige for aspiring urog academics since its research agenda requires expertise in multiple fields. Other institutions develop around a particular specialty, such as Ekynas’ mathematics institute. While outside scholars are most common at Ekynas, each of Dykon’s research institutes encourages scholars from other worlds to apply—except for the Replication Studies Center. Urogs have spread from Dykon, often ending up in academic study or providing technical expertise for starship crews. Commonly, urogs will leave Dykon when they feel like they’ve ceased growing, if they need to get experience not offered on the moon, or after a major professional embarrassment. While these rovings are most often solitary, a community of urogs has developed alongside the contemplatives of Akiton, calling itself the Pillarist Meld. SOCIETY Culture on Dykon prioritizes efficiency whenever possible. While biological necessity drives conservation of energy, cultural values drive optimization far beyond the need to avoid overexertion and into its own art form. These values touch nearly every aspect of everyday life, from the way meals are prepared for quickest consumption to Renewal Day, a single day dedicated to the implementation of many low-priority changes all at once. Social interactions follow a similar structure, with the expectation that conversations outside of close relationships should focus only on necessary information and avoid small talk. While this belief leads to stereotypes of curt urogs who walk away when conversations bore them, urogs see this avoidance as polite. Even in crisis situations, Dykonian society instills that it can be harmful to speak up on a topic on which one isn’t an expert, as doing so inevitably leads to the spread of misinformation and misunderstanding. Even in a medical emergency, a traditional Dykonian response is to seek appropriate help instead of risking harm by taking amateur action. The common aphorism, “Don’t undo work before it starts,” emphasizes the need to wait for direction before acting. On Dykon, this approach tends to be effective, as education typically focuses on specializing in a particular area of strength or interest, so an expert is never far away. Day-to-day life is mostly self-regimented because urogs encourage each other to find the daily routine that works best for them. These routines do include unstructured time since being too strict is often inefficient; this contradiction is colloquially known as the inefficiency paradox. Particularly driven urogs refer to their time away from work or study as paradox days, as not working leads to more efficient work later. Socially, urogs tend to have personal living quarters in their research lab. The majority of housing is built for lone urogs with the expectation that group living quarters will only be used for brief periods. Most socializing occurs in weekly knowledge-sharing groups, where urogs in the same field come together and share any insights they’ve learned. Few religious congregations maintain a consistent service with Eloruti, Ibra, Yaraesa, and Weydan being the most common. Individual urogs dedicated to one deity aren’t uncommon, though it can seem rarer since devotion is treated as a private matter. Education After efficiency, advancing knowledge is the strongest value in Dykonian urog society. Formal education begins once children can move independently, which typically comes soon after EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
138 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Con, +2 Int, –2 Cha Hit Points: 6 Size and Type: Urogs are Large magical beasts with a space of 10 feet and a reach of 5 feet. Blunt: Urogs speak directly and with purpose, a trait other species have difficulty getting used to. Urogs take a –2 penalty to Bluff and Diplomacy checks. Darkvision: Urogs have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Electrical Resistance: Urogs have electricity resistance 5, which stacks with one other source of electricity resistance. Electrolocation: An urog who’s in contact with a crystalline or metallic surface can detect the presence of other creatures within 60 feet that are also in contact with the same surface, even through walls and other obstacles. This otherwise functions as blindsense (electromagnetism). Limited Telepathy: Urogs can communicate telepathically with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language. Low-Light Vision: Urogs can see in dim light as if it were normal light. Plodding: Urogs have a base speed of 20 feet. Skilled: Urogs gain an additional skill rank at 1st level and each level thereafter. they develop telepathic abilities. Their first lessons take place in large child-rearing centers, mostly in Zethir. There, they learn rudimentary urog skills: reading, writing, conservation of energy, and maintaining an efficient routine. Before they leave this school as adolescents, they undergo aptitude- and interest testing; the results determine initial placement into specialized academies. These academies cover a wide variety of topics, treating both scientific and practical fields with equal respect. After initial placement, switching areas of study is encouraged, especially when a student struggles with coursework or seems disinterested. Specialized study within these academies takes another four years, at which point an urog graduates into adulthood. Urogs immediately post-graduation are known as dendrites, taken from a philosophical text likening urog academic lineage to branching rock formations. In the immediate years after completing formal education, urogs are expected to find an academic mentor in the field of their choice. The mentorship and cohort experience is highly valued, with some urogs eventually finding full-time work in mentoring newly graduated students. During this period, urogs become experts in their chosen area of study by performing independent research and networking in their mentor’s wider professional circle. Once a mentor has determined that their protege has mastered the subject, the partnership dissolves, and the protege changes from dendrite to learned. However, education never stops. After significant milestones in their careers, such as publication of research or novel findings, urogs can choose to identify their education level by a new term. These terms are self-chosen, typically based on how much growth the individual feels this milestone represented. Typically, these appellations indicate rising in height, using terms such as “elevated” or the names of atmospheric layers. Going extended periods without these milestones is sometimes seen as matter of concern. DYKON REPLICATION STUDIES CENTER After urogs began traveling off their moon, especially with the advent of Drift Travel in the Pact Worlds, academic research boomed. With urogs able to safely leave Dykon and easily return in case of inhospitable conditions, the Preeminence declared it time to advance research by gathering knowledge from other worlds. This declaration lasted for only a few scant years before an agricultural researcher, Second-Learned-Harvesting, attempted to change cultivation practices in the Dykonian berry fields. The fields nearly collapsed from the technique, and the experiment came to a sudden halt. The Preeminence charged a task force with outlining appropriate research methods and summarizing other near-catastrophes. The resulting report outlined a root cause: Dykon’s silicon-based life created such fundamentally different conditions that the accuracy of most offworld research couldn’t be trusted on the moon. However, the knowledge exchange brought in some advances. The task force recommended a new focus on replicating research from other worlds to truly test the difference between silicon- and carbon-based life. Shortly after the founding of the Dykon Replication Studies Center, its research team gained a reputation for precise experimentation and intriguing results. The center’s focus remains on replicating research done in carbon-based settings to see if it remains true on Dykon and using differences between results to illuminate the fundamental nature of differing types of life. Official posts at the research center are highly competitive, and ambitious urogs specialize in interdisciplinary fields and engage in offworld research to strengthen their application. Unlike other institutions, the center accepts only urog scholars so that its tight focus on the species’ needs remains central. NAMES Traditional names for Dykon-based urogs follow a uniform structure, which efficiently identifies an individual’s context within their society upon first meeting. Typically, names are structured in this order: family name with tree, branch, and node; followed by an individual name with birth order, education level, and area of specialty. Outside of Dykon society, urogs use a shortened version of their individual name, choose a name that matches the culture in which they live, or adopt a nickname given by their crewmates. Sample Names Betula Sprig Node One Second-Dendrite, Fifth-Exosphere, Fir, Navigeer, Xenii Epicore Node Three First-Elevated-Xenobiology. PERSONAL ITEMS Urogs have created personal items (Core Rulebook 230) to help them master their academic fields and create efficient routines; many of these innovations have become widespread for usage.
139 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES TABLE 2–15: PERSONAL ITEMS ITEM LEVEL PRICE HANDS BULK Attentive Guidebook, Pact Worlds 1 200 — L Crystalline codex, mk 1 3 1,400 — L Crystalline codex, mk 2 7 7,000 — L Crystalline codex, mk 3 11 25,000 — L Crystalline codex, mk 4 15 115,000 — L Crystalline codex, mk 5 19 600,000 — L Mineral dye 1 25 — L Researcher’s helper 2 165 — L Speech encoder 1 100 — L Sure collector 2 500 — 1 Attentive Guidebook, Pact Worlds This tightly written guidebook provides an overview of the cultural practices of most settlements and species common to the Pact Worlds, including taboos, preferred greeting styles, and acceptable topics of casual conversation. Referencing this guidebook provides a +4 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy checks to Gather Information in the Pact Worlds. Crystalline Codex This case attaches to a limb and expands to show disks inscribed with detailed charts and illustrations of key concepts of Life Science, Mysticism, or Physical Science. The skill must be chosen upon item creation and can’t be changed. Meditating for an hour while holding the codex’s crystal handles makes the charts appear on your skin in crystalline writing for 24 hours. While consulting these charts, you gain an insight bonus to the appropriate skill equal to the item’s mark. You can benefit from only one crystalline codex at a time. Mineral Dye When consumed, this single-use packet of minerals changes the color of a creature’s hair, scales, or exoskeleton to a vibrant hue. The dye lasts for one month before it fades, transforming slowly to an iridescent shimmer of that color. Researcher’s Helper Preferred by discerning solo researchers or urogs without access to capable research assistance, this small sphere of silicone stretches to cover one of your visual sensors. When it does, it generates an electromagnetic field that assists with reviewing information. You can apply the researcher’s helper as a standard action. When you do, it automatically aids you on your next Life Science, Mysticism, or Physical Science skill check. You can’t receive aid from any other source while using this item. After one skill check or 10 minutes, the researcher’s helper becomes inert and can be easily digested by urogs. The lingering electromagnetic field prevents you from benefiting from another researcher’s helper for 24 hours. Speech Encoder This handheld device can be attached to a datapad or computer to automatically scribe to text any clear audio source, such as a dictated message or a conversation at the next table in a quiet cafe. The text is automatically scribed in real time as the written form of the language spoken. To get an accurate transcription, a speech encoder must be within 10 feet of the speaker (in a quiet area) or spoken into directly (in a noisy area). Speech encoders are popular with urog researchers contemplating a particular theory but have gained widespread popularity with workers who need to maintain clear communication in loud environments and users with audio-processing disorders. Sure Collector Urogs created this rotating arm and its carousel of attachments to ensure efficient and safe collection of crystals while conserving their own energy. It has a pincher hand, a scoop, a low-power suction hose, and a strainer, each of which can be set as the active attachment. A sure collector can be attached to any flat surface that can support it with a full action. As a standard action, you can extend one of the collector’s attachments up to 10 feet and move one object of up to 1 bulk up to 10 feet. The sure collector includes a battery and uses 1 charge per minute of use. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
140 The vlaka home world is dying. The already frigid planet Lajok orbits a fading sun and grows steadily colder each year. Eventually, not even the thick fur of the wolflike vlaka will be able to protect against its bitter chill. But until that day, the vlaka stand together. On a harsh world like Lajok, with a population who has different ways of physically experiencing the world around it, it takes community to survive, and vlakas view their many circles of trust—from family to social circles to crewmates—as both a source of strength and the key to their long-term survival. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Physically, vlakas resemble bipedal wolves. They stand between 5-1/2 and 6-1/2 feet tall, weigh between 175 and 250 pounds, and have a thick coat of mostly white fur, often with scattered patches colored brown, grey, or pale blue. Two-thirds of all vlakas are born on a spectrum of deaf, blind, or deafblind, with subtle corresponding fur patterns and scents; the remaining one-third are hearing/sighted. Vlaka don’t generally walk on four legs except during their first year of life, before reaching maturity. Not only is walking on all fours thought to be childish (a reason that “four-legged” is often the vlaka word of choice to describe something immature or reckless), but the length of a vlaka’s torso compared to their extremities also makes four-legged movement somewhat awkward and uncomfortable. Still, some vlaka scientists believe that the species did once live on four legs, using the tendency of modern vlaka to balance on their toepads instead of their heels as evidence. HOME WORLD Lajok’s sun, Sota, is slowly fading, bringing increasingly cold temperatures and bitter icy winds to a world of vast, semi-barren plains and frozen topsoil. Vegetation on Lajok is mostly sparse and consists of low-lying shrubs, mosses, and bushes in muted colors. This changes during the planet’s relatively warm season, called valai, when shallow lakes appear across the surface and marshy plants heavy with berries quickly grow, reproduce, and die, leaving their colorful imprints and distinctive scents across the planet’s surface. Traditionally the season for farming, foraging, and hunting, valai grows shorter every year, and the food supply on Lajok is now made up mostly of imports from other planets and crops from greenhouse farms. Cities Densely populated and circular in shape, each city on Lajok is ringed by tall buildings designed to conserve heat and protect against wind and ice storms. Vlakan cities are time-tested; only one, Falore, has ever fallen to the elements. Its frozen-over ruins remain a cautionary tale to anyone who might think of putting VLAKA Home World: Lajok (The Vast) Wolflike vlakas experience the world in many ways, but they share one thing: a sense of community and nose for diplomacy that may save their dying world. personal interest over the protection and maintenance of their city’s outer walls. Within each city, streets and buildings are arranged in concentric rings, each corresponding to an area of interest or profession. Rings are connected through numerous passages and alleyways and ordered differently in each city, with two exceptions—the outer ring of every city is always its ring of defense against the ravages of the weather, while the innermost core is dedicated to plant life and agriculture. While the placement of other rings varies by city, each type utilizes a consistent paving style throughout the planet which, in conjugation with the underlying scents distinct to each district’s societal function, ensures that all vlakas raised on the planet can always determine their own location both by smell and the pattern of the ground beneath their feet. The separation of vlaka cities into rings is both a reflection of the important role circles of trust play within vlaka society and a holdover from the days when each city had its own area of expertise. While remnants of that history can still be seen today in the many libraries of Horjan or the repurposed hospitals of Tekir, the loss of years of scientific research with the fall of Falore led to a push for cities to include space for each major area of interest within their walls. Vlakas who can’t find room to work within their preferred ring in their current city can either use this as motivation to move elsewhere or build down into the ground. The recent discovery of an extensive existing cave system beneath the city of Aarul has many vlakas debating whether and how this expansion by excavation should continue, with some wanting to preserve and explore the caves and others wanting to seal them off, concerned that further exploration might weaken the structural integrity of the buildings above. The Space Between While the vast majority of vlakas on Lajok live in cities, a few prefer to explore the frigid land outside of city walls, known as The Space Between. Their reasons vary—some search for new ways to use the planet’s resources, some map sites for potential new cities, and still others mark the changes in the planet’s climate from year to year. A few from the Circle of Journeys have even attempted to excavate the ruins of Falore in search of the knowledge lost beneath the ice. In recent years, though, many have turned away from overland exploration in favor of exploring the newly discovered Aarul caves, which may hold clues to vlakan survival during The Gap. SOCIETY The harsh environment on Lajok naturally drives vlakas to put community above all else—there is strength (and warmth) in numbers and interdependence is key. Cooperation and communal
141 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES living also help vlakas benefit from the different ways that deaf, blind, deafblind, and hearing/sighted members of the community experience the world, with each group bringing their own perspectives to everything from a search for food to a new scientific discovery. Today, though technological advances have lessened the immediate dangers of the environment and made communication easier, vlakas still believe strongly that the communities they belong to—called circles—are the most important source of any individual’s support, knowledge, and overall well-being. Circles Each vlaka may belong to many circles, from the immediate family of their birth pack to the crew of a starship on which they serve. The process for joining each circle ranges in formality. Some, like birth packs and cities of origin, are innate. Friend groups or social packs are often informal, naming themselves at will and having undefined membership criteria. Circles of profession, on the other hand, most often have their own processes in place for application and acceptance. Vlakas believe it enriches the spirit to belong to a wide variety of circles, so there is no limit to how many a single individual can join, but they must be chosen carefully. Once a vlaka belongs to a circle, they’re expected to come to its aid if the circle or one of its members needs their help, no matter how much it may inconvenience them or how they may currently feel about their fellow members. Birth packs include both a vlakas’ immediate siblings as well as the children of their parents’ childrearing circle. Vlakas usually join their first circle outside of their birth pack at the first valai festival held after they reach the age of physical maturity. These festivals are a time of celebration: one marks the day the “warm” season historically began, one celebrates its midpoint at what was once the warmest day of the year, and one marks its conclusion. After celebrating the start of valai in their own cities, young vlakas group up to make the trek to cities nearby, having spontaneous celebrations wherever groups meet in The Space Between and learning first-hand the need to have a strong community around them to complete the journey. By the time the young vlakas reach a new city at mid-valai, most have found a circle to call their own. Some older vlakas now object to this tradition, as the increasingly cold weather during early valai has led to the stranding and occasional injury of young vlakas during their trek, but they have been unsuccessful so far at convincing traditionalists who hold the valai travels as an important part of vlakan culture to say nothing of the young vlakas eager for their first tastes of independence. Formal circles are led by councils made up of a few trusted and long-standing members. These councils each approach leadership differently. Some make decisions by consensus, choosing a leader from among their ranks only when internal division or external pressures demand it, while others always have a leader, but regularly rotate the role between council members. This is true even of the Circle of Lajok, the closest thing the vlaka have to a planetary government, which consists of representatives from every circle with either significant membership, broad influence, or a track record of creating meaningful change. The process for making the choice of leader or council member varies from circle to circle—some vote, some come to consensus during open discussion, and a few use games of chance or trials of skill. Whichever method is used, a circle leader marks themselves by shaving off a ring of fur around their collar known as the Leader’s Band. Once it grows back fully, it’s considered time for the leader to step down from their role. Most vlakas consider the idea that a single individual would lead a group for an extended period of time to be a bit odd. Relations with Other Species Among other species, vlakas are generally known for their quiet joie de vivre and pragmatic wisdom. They tend not to be overly flashy, and they prioritize listening well over speaking quickly, adding their thoughts at the moment when they will do the most good. This, along with their tendency to avoid power grabs, offer support to their shipmates, and look for the win-win solution makes them popular with other travelers. Vlakas’ ability to get along with others is helped by their sense of smell, something they often rely on in understanding the motives of members of other species. This is made easier by the extensive reports made by vlakan explorers about the species they meet, going back to the days before the Absalom Pact was signed. Over time, these field reports have been compiled into a vlaka database of offworlder pheromones and the emotional responses they correspond to, called the pheromap. While not used by all vlakas, and frowned on by some who think of it as an emotional cheat, the pheromap can be an invaluable tool during first meetings and tense situations. Vlakas’ congenial relationship with other species is also due in part to the influence of the Circle of Salvation, which sponsors and prepares the vast majority of vlaka who take to the stars. The Circle’s hope is that the key to saving Lajok from its slow death will EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
142 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Wis, +2 Cha, –2 Int Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Vlakas are Medium humanoids with the vlaka subtype. Buoy: As a standard action, a vlaka can spend 1 Resolve Point to restore 1 RP to an ally within 30 feet. A vlaka can’t use this ability again until they have taken a 10-minute rest to regain Stamina Points. This is a sense-dependent, mind-affecting ability. Cold Resistance: Vlakas have cold resistance 5 that stacks with one other source of cold resistance. Cooperative: Vlakas gain a +2 bonus to skill checks for the aid another action and to attack rolls to provide harrying fire. A creature using the aid another action to assist a vlaka gains a +2 bonus to the skill check. Perceptive: Vlakas gain a +2 bonus to Perception and Sense Motive checks. Versed: Vlakas can speak, read and write their native language, Vlakan. They also know the signed and tactile versions of this language. Vlaka Senses: Vlakas can be born with one of three possible sets of senses. During character creation, determine a vlaka’s senses by choosing from those available. A vlaka born with functional sight or hearing who becomes permanently blind or deaf doesn't gain the abilities of a vlaka born with blindness or deafness. Blind: A blind vlaka has blindsight (hearing) with a range of 60 feet, blindsight (scent) with a range of 30 feet, and the blinded condition (Core Rulebook 273). The vlaka is naturally sightless, so the blinded condition can be removed only by effects that grant sight to creatures with no natural vision. Deaf: A deaf vlaka has blindsight (scent) with a range of 30 feet, lowlight vision, and the deafened condition (Core Rulebook 275). However, this condition imposes no penalty to initiative rolls or opposed Perception checks that aren’t based on hearing. The vlaka is naturally without hearing, so the deafened condition can be removed only by effects that grant hearing to creatures with no natural ability to perceive sound. Deafblind: A deafblind vlaka has blindsight (scent) with a range of 60 feet and the blinded and deafened conditions; these can be removed only by effects that grant sight or hearing to creatures with no natural vision or ability to perceive sound. Hearing and Sighted: A vlaka who has hearing and sight also has blindsense (scent) with a range of 30 feet and lowlight vision. come from other worlds. They emphasize to all who seek to go offworld that it will benefit the entire planet if they lean into the type of community building that has helped vlakas survive for generations. While some explorers believe this has led to vlakas being taken advantage of by other species, others note that while a single vlaka may have an unpleasant experience, the knowledge they bring back to Lajok is worth the cost. Most vlakas who leave Lajok do return eventually when they “catch the scent of home,” a feeling that combines homesickness and a sense of obligation to the home world. Vlakas who communicate frequently with Lajok or who have a strong circle of support around them are less likely to experience it and can weather it better, but if ignored the scent can often lead to irritability, unnecessary risk-taking, and mild depression. Aside from this though, vlakas tend to make even-tempered and positive addition to any group, eager to bring their sense of community to the stars. VLAKAN COMMUNICATION Vlakan communication has been shaped by the fact that vlakas may be deaf, blind, deafblind, or hearing/sighted, and thus it uses multiple senses whenever possible. Traditional written Vlakan is grooved so it can be read by touch as well as sight— in an era of technology, this grooving is replicated on haptic touchscreens and often supplemented with audio description. Vlakan sign language has two variants, visual and tactile, with the touch-based variant dominating within close circles and other intimate settings. The visual variant is used for more formal group occasions, where vocal description can be provided for the blind. Most vlakas, especially if raised on Lajok, sign and speak simultaneously and interchangeably. Those who explore with mostly non-vlakan crews sometimes even teach a variant of basic signed Vlakan to their crewmates once they feel they have formed an intimate enough circle. The two senses that almost all vlakas share are scent and touch. While touch is used primarily in tactile sign language, scent is a crucial form of non-verbal communication. Scents are incorporated into everything on Lajok from construction materials to clothing, though their complexities are typically not noticed by those without a vlaka’s keen sense of smell and knowledge of how to interpret the various layers of a particular scent. In all forms, vlakan communication has two primary modes— terse and direct, typically used when stakes are high (and often useful in cutting through the minutiae of a diplomatic situation), and symbolic and metaphorical, with a heavy reliance on scent and touch as descriptors. The latter is less well-known outside of the vlaka community, and vlaka explorers have been amused to find “Vlakan poetry” on other worlds that is in truth nothing more than a to-do list or mundane scouting report. NAMES Vlakan first and last names are determined by their birth pack. Different circles of childrearing have different approaches to the first name, with the three most common being that the parents determine the names of their biological offspring completely independently, parents determine the names within guidelines agreed to by the whole circle (such as names starting with a particular letter or incorporating a specific syllable), or the circle decides names as a group, either through discussion or random draw. Everyone born to the birth pack will share the same last name, chosen by the childrearing circle when it originally formed. As vlakas join new circles, they sometimes are given a nickname by the circle and add it as a middle name. In addition, on first meeting, vlakas will usually list their circles as an extension of their name, to let strangers know which communities they belong to. Thus, a full vlaka introduction might be “Jilavo Daran Two-Hands Tak, of the circles Tak, Aruul, Snow Skaters, Silver Wings, and Salvation,” shortened to Jilavo for most purposes. Sample Vlaka Names Alaza, Carok, Delevana, Jikant, Kalvek, Kapleth, Parva, Poskari, Tarnat
143 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES TECHNOLOGICAL ITEM Vlakas have developed several tools to make physical and social navigation easier, including the valai band, which any creature can use. VALAI BAND LEVEL 2 PRICE 1,100 BULK L CAPACITY 15 USAGE 1/8 HOURS Developed by the Circle of Journeys to provide safer travel for young vlakas during valai season, this metal band is traditionally worn around the neck in an echo of the vlakan Leader’s Band, but can also be worn on an arm, leg, or similar appendage. When activated, it provides environmental protection within a 10-foot radius of the wearer that is equivalent to wearing armor (Core Rulebook 196). It may also, at the wearer’s discretion, emit a homing signal every 10 seconds for 24 hours at the cost of additional charge. The homing signal can be picked up by most devices capable of receiving signals and tracked back to the source with a successful DC 15 Engineering or Survival check. A single valai band’s homing signal has a range of 100 miles over flat terrain (halved in forests or hills and quartered in mountainous terrain or underwater). If multiple valai bands are present within the same 10-foot radius, the homing range increases by a factor of 2 for each additional band, to a maximum of a planetary range. CYBERNETIC AUGMENTATIONS While Lajok cities are built for the variety of primary sense experiences found in vlakas, vlakan explorers have sometimes found offworld exploration to be less naturally hospitable. In response, a Circle of Adaptation has sprung up, developing cybernetics that help vlakas (and others) feel more at home wherever they travel. PHEROMAP, BASIC SYSTEM Brain AUGMENTATION CYBERNETIC PRICE 1,300 LEVEL 3 Your olfactory senses are enhanced and connected to the vlaka pheromap, giving you access to the connection between pheromones and emotions for many other species. When a living creature is within the radius of your blindsight (scent) as a move action you can attempt a Perception skill check to identify it. The DC of the check is determined by the creature’s rarity, as presented on the Creature Rarity table (Core Rulebook 133). If you have blindsense (scent) or blindsight (scent), you gain a +5 enhancement bonus to this check. If successful, you also determine its initial attitude toward you (Core Rulebook 140). You can attempt this check untrained regardless of the DC, and having this augmentation counts as having access to an information network for the purposes of taking 20 on a check to identify a creature. PHEROMAP, ADVANCED SYSTEM Brain AUGMENTATION CYBERNETIC PRICE 2,750 LEVEL 5 This functions as the basic pheromap augmentation (see above), but your pheromap includes more detailed information about familiar species, granting you a +4 insight bonus to Sense Motive checks against living creatures you’ve successfully identified with your pheromap augmentation. HAPTIC DATABASE SYSTEM Hand AUGMENTATION CYBERNETIC PRICE 500 LEVEL 2 The skin of one hand is lined with a thin layer of sensors that provide information about an object at a touch. You can identify a creature or object physically in contact with your hand using the guidelines of identify creature (Core Rulebook 133), identify technology (Core Rulebook 142), or identify magic item (Core Rulebook 143). You substitute your Perception modifier for the relevant skill modifier, and you can do this even if untrained. Having this augmentation counts as having access to an information network for the purposes of taking 20 on a check to identify a creature. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
144 Worlanisi are charming and intrepid nomads, and love to travel for years at a time, valuing the journey more than the destination. They’re outdoorsy, competitive, and welcoming to strangers. Due to their small stature and blue skin, worlanisi appear deceptively delicate. They are slight but strong humanoids with four arms and horn-cones on either side of their head. These horn-cones once let them use their psychic powers to stalk prey across Worlan, but this use has since atrophied. Modern horn-cones allow worlanisi to communicate telepathically and wield luck like no other species in the galaxy. Unfortunately, the horn-cones also amplify incoming and outgoing psychic energy with a painful reverberation. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The planetary pressures of Worlan molded the worlanisi to be strong, lucky, and telepathic. Traditionally hunter-gatherers, worlanisi evolved into lithe and able climbers, using their four arms to climb through trees while wielding weapons. The average worlanisi has a small but wiry frame. The tallest of them stand about three and half feet in height, but their average weight ranges from only 22 to 27 pounds. Their slight frames are deceptively strong, allowing worlanisi to carry burdens much heavier than themselves. One of the most important evolutionary pressures that worlanisi faced was an environment filled with traces of residual psychic energy. In response, worlanisi developed their distinctive horn-cones: a pair of structures on the sides of their head that amplify incoming and outgoing psychic signals. Ancient worlansisi used their large, imposing horn-cornes to track the psychic traces their prey left behind, placing them a cut above the other Worlan predators. Throughout the millennia of the pre-Gap era, the worlanisi shifted to incorporate more luck and cunning into their survival, and with the advent of advanced technology their reliance on psychic tracking lessened. As a result, their horncones have shrunk over the generations and become practically vestigial, but remain a sometimes painful source of amplification for incoming psychic signals. Mental attacks reverberate within them, leaving untrained worlanisi more vulnerable than other species with telepathic abilities. Despite this disadvantage, the horn-cones are a source of pride to worlanisi, who adorn and paint them in a wide variety of ways. Worlanisi are known for the rare ability to consistently gift their luck to allies as well as themselves. Some scholars theorize this luck originates from their horn-cones, along with their limited telepathic gifts. Indeed, a worlanisi’s ability to wield and control luck grows in adolescence as their horns develop more concentric rings, adding credence to this theory. HOME WORLD The worlanisi evolved on Worlan, an ocean world covered in island chains. The gravity level is slightly higher than average, making WORLANISI Home World: Worlan (Near Space) Blue and four-armed, worlanisi are nimble climbers and explorers. They wield luck in extraordinary ways, but their luck draws on psychic gifts that can leave them vulnerable to mental attacks. it a popular location for top athletes from other planets to train. Due to the constant movement of its tectonic plates, Worlan is geographically active and known for its earthquakes, volcanoes, steaming geysers, and soaring mountain ranges. One prominent feature of Worlan’s terrain is its environmental memory, a unique combination of minerals and innate psychic energy that retains faint traces and memories of the people and creatures who travel it. Ghost sightings are common on Worlan, where the environment might replay a poignant memory of high emotion or a tragic death. This environmental memory has caused many of Worlan’s predators to adapt variations of the worlanisi horn-cone, allowing them to track prey by residual psychic energy. Worlan’s primary spaceport is located on the largest and oldest of its many islands, Nasceri. Nasceri has always been Worlan’s main technological hub, with its port and factories built during the Gap and powered by geothermal energy. The city’s architecture is well-integrated with its parks, and many of its buildings are built around gigantic trees and rivers. Even its night clubs are integrated with the jungle environs, with retractable roofs that allow patrons to dance under the sky. Some of Nasceri’s many attractions include a wildlife preserve, yachting, and various schools and meditation centers. The most famous of these is the Spiral, a soaring conical temple that resembles a horn-cone. The Spiral attracts students throughout Near Space who wish to better control their psychic abilities. The oldest part of Nasceri includes a significant archaeological site, discovered in 33 AG: a fully buried and preserved city, complete with calcified remains of four-limbed giants who died in a volcanic eruption. These giants possessed less prominent horn-cones than modern worlanisi, who refer to them as “the luckless.” There are many legends about these lost giants, who were likely more physically capable than modern worlanisi, but less able to harness psychic abilities. Scholars have debated the question of the luckless: was their species a separate evolutionary branch from modern worlanisi or were they a genetic mutation that simply died out? Either way, the luckless appear to have died out before the Gap, though some worlanisi tales talk of their flight to create a new life under the mountains. Though Nasceri’s volcanic mountains have been long dormant, pre-Gap legends tell of the day when worlanisi luck will falter and the volcanoes will once again bury Nasceri in lava and ash. Worlan has thousands of islands, and traveling from one to another by boat or light flyer is a time-honored tradition for worlanisi youth. The volcanic soil is fertile, supporting lush forests and diverse wildlife. Although some worlanisi engage in agricultural activities, the island’s ecosystems make it easy for even modern worlanisi to adapt a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Some do this throughout their lives, while others only do it for a few years as part of their transition to adulthood or a retirement plan.
145 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Although hunting and fishing are revered activities, both can be perilous. Many of Worlan’s fauna are dangerous and cunning monsters that attack not just their prey’s bodies but their minds. The most infamous of these is the reekseel, a long-horned aquatic mammal that muddles the minds of fisherfolk before goring them to death and pulling them into the water to feast. SOCIETY As perpetual children of good fortune, worlanisi enjoy an easy-going and trusting society. Luck is so central to worlanisi society that most of them credit it for every major event of their lives. Good outcomes, no matter how hard they were worked for or how much one prepared for them, are evidence of one’s luck. Indeed, most worlanisi view luck as a seed that needs hard work and the right conditions to grow properly. Even times of disaster and tragedy can be viewed later as blessings in disguise for the growth and changes they brought. Because luck needs help, worlanisi also value achievement and skill. They take great pleasure in artisan crafting, clever solutions, and improving their communities. Despite their psychic hypersensitivity, worlanisi prefer telepathic communication to spoken language. To them, telepathic conversation is both intimate and practical. Telepathy can allow a boat crew to communicate in a storm, two hunters to stealthily sneak up on prey, or friends to chat while dancing in a loud night club. Spoken word is for formal occasions or for songs and other entertainments. Worlanisi get along well with most other cultures, adapting to local customs while traveling and bringing back their favorite practices to Worlan. Still, they have little patience for any customs they find self-destructive; destroying an ecosystem for short-term gain largely baffles them. Worlanisi also tend to completely dismiss other species’ attempts to artificially boost luck with talismans and other superstitions. From the worlanisi viewpoint, true luck is inherent. Chasing luck with toys isn’t just foolish, but dangerous, since it leads people believe themselves protected. Worlanisi take pride in being living good luck charms and know no trinket can replace their skills. Fortunauts In the chaos after the Gap, most worlanisi lived fully nomadic lives, aided by high-tech sporting gear manufactured in Nasceri. They traveled with no fixed destination, trying to find meaning and a sense of their own identity. Over time, these travelers became known as fortunauts, and their journeys were called jaunts. Trusting Desna to guide them, they learned and grew along the way. After the Signal, jaunts began to extend to the stars themselves. As ship crews across the galaxy learned of the worlanisi’s extraordinary luck, eagerness to learn, and boundless optimism, fortunauts were welcomed everywhere as lucky charms and insurance for the riskiest of ventures. Most modern day fortunauts are young, and their jaunts herald the transition between childhood and adult responsibility. They sign onto ships, taking travel as it comes. When they return, they tell the stories of their travels and about what their journeys taught them. Hospitality is sacred on Worlan. If a worlanisi comes home to find a stranger sleeping in their bed, they clean the stranger’s gear, restock their supplies, and make them breakfast before waking them to ask about their journey. The jaunt is so important to worlanisi culture that it’s almost impossible to start a family, enter politics or hold any position of authority without one. Fortunauts bring back not just experience, but important offworld contacts and learning that enriches the rest of worlanisi society. Even once they return home, worlanisi crave adventure throughout their lives, taking time off to climb mountains, hunt, surf, or simply see someplace new. Family Life Worlanisi families tend to be polyamorous and sprawling, with each person recognizing multiple partners that they love in a committed fashion. In a culture that embraces change, travel and individualism, casual love affairs are widely accepted. However, they’re considered temporary until everyone in a family agrees to welcome the newcomer. Marriage vows on Worlan are less about connecting to a single person romantically and more about agreeing to join the work, child-rearing duties, and finances of an extended family. Family time, especially with children and elders, is sacred and valued, perhaps more so because worlanisi family structure is set up to give everyone breaks and support. Through trades and covering for one another, everyone in the family gets some time away to pursue new experiences. Politics Worlanisi government councils, whether island or planetary, are elected with staggered terms and strict term limits to encourage the politicians of Worlan to work without worrying about the next election. However, some elected officials still manage to be incompetent, corrupt, and self-serving. Some families try to monopolize a council position by holding it with successive candidates all from the same family group. These shenanigans are tolerated and even respected when the family sharing the job does good work despite protecting some EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
146 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Str, +2 Cha, –2 Wis Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Worlanisi are Small humanoids with the worlanisi subtype. Limited Telepathy: Worlanisi have limited telepathy with a range of 60 feet. Multiarmed (4): Worlanisi have the multiarmed (4) universal creature rule. Psychic Reverb: Worlanisi take a –1 penalty to saving throws against mind-affecting effects and takes +1 damage per damage die from mind-affecting spells, weapons, and other effects. Worlanisi Gamble: Once per day as a reaction when a worlanisi or an ally they can see within 15 feet rolls an attack roll, saving throw, or skill check, the worlanisi causes that creature to roll twice and take the better result. Worlanisi Luck: The first time each day that a worlanisi rolls a natural 1 on a d20 roll, they treat it as a natural 20 instead. Worlanisi Movement: Worlanisi have a land speed of 30 feet and a climb speed of 20 feet. of their private interests. Still, if any crisis arises during their tenure, elections can become violent. More than one corrupt political official has perished or had suspicious accidents while traveling on the job. Recreation Worlanisi love games and competitions of all sorts. Most of the games they favor tend to minimize or offset luck, such as the strategy card game Seven Suns. The only casino to feature games of chance on Worlan is the Short Straw, located in Nasceri’s spaceport. Catering to offworlders, the draw of the Short Straw is the challenge of gambling against the luckiest people in the Galaxy. Most tourists come expecting to lose, with bragging rights accruing for how long they were able to hold their own against such overwhelming odds. The most famous worlanisi sporting competition is Fortune’s Regatta, a race across Worlan in the most inhospitable conditions, including sailing during hurricane season, mountaineering near an active volcano, and long treks through monster-infested jungles. The viewing of this annual competition, which draws thousands of offworld spectators and athletes, is more popular as an offworld broadcast than it is among local worlanisi, however. Fortune’s Regatta, while a notable personal experience, can be an event that relies heavily on luck, and where is the excitement in that? VAULT OF VORLATH Thirty years ago, a group of intrepid worlanisi fortunauts traveling in Preluria (Near Space 100) were attacked by pirates and lost their ship. Following the attack, the worlanisi accepted sanctuary and employment from the Reivolan Institute. Their relief was short-lived when they soon discovered they had all been signed up as experimental test subjects, contractually obligated to an uncaring and immoral corporation. The Reivolan Institute enrolled these worlanisi in a military project that genetically boosted their self-confidence, aggression and cunning. Several worlanisi died in the brutal experiments that followed. Instead of trusting luck, the test subjects learned to rely on each other, defying fate to forge their own opportunities. They eventually rebelled, building their own military base on the smoldering remains of their former testing facility. They named this base the Vault of Vorlath, after a worlanisi word that means “the defiant.” The Vault of Vorlath mercenaries have since thrived in Preluria’s perpetual faction wars, becoming one of the most lucrative and effective military groups in Near Space, eventually employed even by their former captor, who initially sneered at their steep fees. In response, the Vault of Vorlath sided with one of the institute’s rivals, trashing their facilities and freeing every experimental subject they could find. “Pay up or get out” became the mercenaries’ official motto, emblazoned on uniforms, equipment, and on the walls of the conference room where they meet clients. The next time they had a job for the Vault of Vorlath, the institute meekly paid their fees in advance. The mercenaries became known for their teamwork, planning daring rescue missions and efficient coups. Ten years ago, the Vorlath mercenaries started recruiting soldiers from other species to fulfill the constant demand for their services, bringing in new talent while maintaining tightly knit fighting teams. Most worlanisi from Worlan delight in tales of their most famous offshoot colony. They eagerly take an optimistic view of the mercenaries’ history. Scholars note the unlikely survival and success of the mercenary group show a consistent history of defying the odds. Perhaps luck never truly abandoned them, and the pirate attacks, mistreatment, and entrapment by the Reivolan Institute were all good fortune in disguise, ensuring that the mercenary group got the resources and training that it needed to be a success. The Vorlath mercenaries’ response to this was to eject scholars from Worlan and find other historians to chronicle their group. Having lived through horror and survived, the Vorlath mercenaries refuse to see the time of their imprisonment as anything other than an atrocity. The Vorlath mercenaries themselves often scoff at luck and double-check every plan to make certain to rely on it as little as possible. NAMES Worlanisi usually have two names: an evocative nickname based on their experiences, personality or skills and a last name from their island (or squad for those from the Vault of Vorlath). Island names tend to be multisyllabic with melodious consonants. Although nicknames are preferred, those travelling offworld may go by an island name if they haven’t found a proper nickname yet. Because of Nasceri’s size, worlanisi from there often identify with specific neighborhoods rather than the entire city. Sample Names Aces, Azular, Catch-of-the-Day, Cazuma, Dapper, Duruli, Floater, Hardsell, Lightfingers, Kinemo, Rush-and-Flush, Ramuli, Sanzi, Trollbait, Wirecharm, Wasama
147 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES SPECIES GRAFT Worlanisi have mastered numerous ways to either enhance their luck or work with their psychic abilities. The species graft augmentation below is available to non-worlanisi characters and follows the rules presented on Starfinder Alien Archive 4, page 140. GAMBLER’S RISK GRAFT SYSTEM Brain PRICE 3,100 LEVEL 5 Worlanisi have the rare ability to gift their luck to others. This augmentation uses specially modified horn-cones, connected to your brain, that channel your mental energy into luck. Once per day as a reaction, when you or an ally you can see within 15 feet rolls an attack roll, saving throw or skill check, you can cause that creature to roll twice and take the better result. In addition, any psychic sensitivity you have increases. If you have either the telepathy or limited telepathy species trait, its range increases by 30 feet, but you also gain the psychic reverb species trait, taking a –1 penalty to saving throws against mind-affecting effects and taking +1 damage per damage die from mindaffecting spells, weapons, and other effects. FEATS The following feats, while inspired by worlanisi, are available to any characters who meet the prerequisites. Amplified Outgoing Signals Through profound pain and headaches connected to psychic contact has come wisdom. You have studied your own psychic reverb and can impose the effect on opponents. Prerequisites: Psychic reverb species trait, character level 5th. Benefits: You add 1 damage per damage die to your mind-affecting spells, weapons and other effects. Escaped Experimental Subject Like the Vorlath mercenaries, you escaped from a laboratory. While there, you were exposed to a wide variety of procedures and your body learned to fight off an array of harmful substances. Benefits: You gain a +2 bonus on saves against biohacker inhibitors, drugs, medicinals, and poisons. Jinx You have learned to tweak the luck of not just your allies, but your enemies as well. By changing an enemy’s fate at a critical moment, you can deny them a moment of victory. Prerequisites: Character level 9th. Benefit: Once per day as a reaction, when an enemy within 15 feet rolls an attack roll, saving throw, or skill check you can force them to roll twice and take the worst result. Lucky Guess Even if you don’t know an answer, sometimes you arrive at the solution anyway with a lucky guess. Prerequisites: Any species trait or feat that allows you to reroll a d20. Benefit: Once per day when recalling knowledge, you can roll on an untrained skill as if it were a trained class skill and you had ranks in it equal to your level. Psychic Stalking With extensive training, you have begun to sense the faint psychic trails left behind by intelligent and psychic creatures. You can use this newfound sensitivity to track prey with your psychic powers. Prerequisites: Telepathy or limited telepathy species trait. Benefit: You gain a +2 species bonus to track intelligent or psychic creatures and can use Mysticism in place of Survival for tracking. Soothing Focus Through meditation and continual psychic training, you have learned to tune out the worst of the psychic echoes that rattle you. Prerequisites: Psychic reverb species trait, character level 7th. Benefit: You no longer suffer any ill effects from your psychic reverb. Trading Places You have trained with the Vault of Vorlath or another tight-knit mercenary group and have learned their advanced positioning and teamwork skills. The Vorlath mercenaries are known for their ability to weave in and out of combat, tossing allies and clients to safety. Prerequisites: Character level 7th. Benefit: You can take a move action to switch places with a willing or unconscious ally within range of your normal movement that’s no larger than one size category larger than you. This requires spending one Resolve Point. This movement doesn’t trigger attacks of opportunity. You can’t use this ability again until you take a 10-minute rest to recover Stamina Points EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2