48 With unclear origins and no home world to call their own, astrazoans have dispersed throughout the Pact Worlds and beyond to join the galaxy’s cosmopolitan tapestry. However, astrazoans only rarely show their true forms to non-astrazoans. Instead, most live their lives as humans, lashuntas, vesk, and other creatures of the Pact Worlds, preferring a semblance of anonymity and not wanting to shock their neighbors’ humanoid sensibilities with astrazoans’ peculiar appearances. After centuries of Drift travel and trade, most humanoids are accustomed to extremely varied life-forms, yet the astrazoan tradition of polite secrecy persists. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION When an astrazoan lies flat on their belly, they resemble a radially symmetrical starfish with seven limbs, weighing up to 180 pounds and having a diameter of 9 feet from the tip of one limb to the tip of an opposing limb. In practice, an astrazoan usually walks upright on five limbs, standing about 6 feet tall, with the remaining two limbs reserved to hold and manipulate objects. Natural skin color varies, typically being some variant of dun, orange, or umber. To the touch, an astrazoan’s skin is rough like sandpaper due to its thousands of dermal papillae that the astrazoan can control to replicate a wide range of surface textures and colors. Each arm has a large eye embedded about halfway down its length along the astrazoan’s backside. Individually, an eye provides limited visual data, and an astrazoan must orient at least four eyes in the same direction to form a clear image. The only other distinct feature on an astrazoan’s natural body is its mouth, located at the center of their underside. The mouth has a small, retractable beak able to tear apart tougher foods; however, much digestion occurs externally, with an astrazoan expelling their stomach to envelop their food and secrete powerful enzymes into the partly chewed meal. Afterward, they retract the stomach along with the softened food. Like their stomach, an astrazoan’s other organs are also quite mobile, able to be shunted around the body as needed. In fact, nearly all of an astrazoan’s body can shift, contort, and invert as needed. The skeleton is cartilaginous and able to disarticulate temporarily, providing some structure and considerable flexibility. Their jellylike flesh is comprised of long muscle fibers that can dislocate, flow, and realign into new configurations as needed, allowing them to squeeze through narrow openings and close wounds with ease. Along with their dermal papillae and countless chromatophores, an astrazoan can transform into a variety of functional shapes with extraordinary precision. Once locked into a new form, involuntary muscles help maintain the shape, even if an astrazoan become unconscious. This transformation is rapid, accompanied by audible pops and cracks as body parts internally detach and reconfigure themselves. Like an invigorating stretch, the process causes mild discomfort, often followed by a rush of adrenaline or endorphins—a side effect that develops into a psychological coping mechanism or mild addiction for some. The sensation is most pronounced when an astrazoan has held a form for a long time, and they often feel the need to briefly reconfigure themselves at least a few times a year. However, astrazoan transformation has limits. Unfamiliar limbs usually aren’t fully functional. Thus, an astrazoan taking a kasatha shape has limited control of their extra arms, just as taking a strix shape results in flappable wings that aren’t strong enough for actual flight. Shapeshifting also doesn’t change the astrazoan’s interior organs, which resemble blue-gray sacks. Organs merely relocate and are contorted as the new shape requires, but they otherwise retain their forms. As a result, medical scans can reveal an astrazoan’s unique anatomy. Finally, upon death, an astrazoan’s muscles relax, causing the body to slowly shift back into its natural, seven-armed form. Life Cycle Astrazoan reproduction exhibits extreme flexibility. Each creature is able to grow male or female reproductive organs as needed. When in their natural form, an astrazoan parent lays an egg that hatches after about five months. However, the process reflexively adjusts to the astrazoan’s assumed form, allowing them to lay an egg or carry the developing embryo internally, all while as much as halving or doubling the gestation or incubation time to better help the parent conform to their assumed form’s reproductive physiology. Young astrazoans are precocious shapeshifters who transform often as a form of play. Although youths master the basics quickly, each astrazoan has one or more features that they struggle to replicate for the first decade of life, such as being unable to form convincing noses or feet. However, each newborn reflexively knows how to take on a birth shape based on their parent’s assumed shape while the egg formed, helping infants instinctively blend into a society. Astrazoans reach physical maturity around 16 years old. HOME WORLD Astrazoans either don’t know or refuse to divulge where they evolved, leaving the matter in the realms of science and speculation. They likely originated on the barren world Apostae, evidenced by genetic similarities between astrazoans and an extinct species known as the ilee, which once lived in Apostae’s tunnels. According to pre-Gap records, each ilee had a completely unique physique and appearance—variation that ASTRAZOAN Home World: None (significant populations on Absalom Station, Castrovel, and Verces) Astrazoans resemble seven-limbed starfish whose bodies readily compress and heal, though they rarely take this form. Instead, these shapeshifters eagerly disguise themselves and blend in among other societies, driven by curiosity and a desire to belong.
49 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES DRIFT IN CRISIS might mean astrazoans’ shapeshifting abilities are an extreme mutation of this natural diversity, allowing them to change shapes at will rather than just at birth. It’s possible that ilee even created astrazoans as a living time capsule, sequestering ilee biology to survive some forgotten threat. Actually proving this theory is difficult. In modern times, the ilee appear to be extinct, so few samples remain for rigorous comparison. What’s more, Apostae fell into drow hands during the Gap, and they restrict access to much of the planet, inhibiting further study and leaving astrazoans with no home world of their own. Instead, astrazoans live scattered across the Pact Worlds, existing on every habitable world in the system but strongly favoring places where it’s easier to blend in. The greatest density of astrazoans lives on Absalom Station, where they easily disappear amid the diverse populace and thrive in the cosmopolitan, open-minded society. There, some astrazoans proudly display their native seven-limbed form, though most prefer to live as humans, androids, lashuntas, and myriad other species. Thanks to the station’s miles of twisting corridors and maintenance shafts, astrazoans often work as engineers and tunnel runners by squeezing through tight spaces. Other astrazoans thrive as negotiators, information brokers, and sleuths using their shape changing ability to evade notice or set clients at ease. There are also rumors of sinister astrazoans who have infiltrated Absalom Station’s upper echelons, killing wealthy people and stealing their fortunes and identities in a slow, calculated takeover. Many astrazoans have made their home on Castrovel, particularly in the spaceport city Qabarat. Because the majority of the planet’s inhabitants are telepathic, many astrazoans living there purposefully develop psychic techniques to better blend in among their host cultures. Rumors tell of astrazoans recruited by elven extremists in Sovyrian, training the former to spy on Apostae’s drow. Meanwhile, several astrazoans live on Verces, where the skin-shifting verthanis often welcome them as honored guests. Astrazoans tend to avoid airless or otherwise hostile environments, where they would have to rely on magic or technology just to stay alive. Although airless and toxic worlds—such as the radioactive Eox or the water world Kalo-Mahoi— feature spaces for air-breathing visitors, the idea of being corralled into areas specifically designed for outsiders discomforts most astrazoans. SOCIETY Due to their scattered communities, astrazoans have little shared culture, and that which exists is often passed from parent to child for lack of other teachers. The most common lesson is caution, taught through a plethora of fables that each have a hundred variations. These tales convey that many beings associate shapeshifting with duplicity, that they would be shocked by astrazoans’ natural forms, and that it’s best to share one’s true nature only with close confidantes. In reality, space travel has made most societies quite accommodating of unfamiliar aliens with strange powers. Nonetheless, this philosophy of concealing identities stubbornly persists among astrazoans, perhaps because secrecy saved them from some forgotten peril in the past. As a result, astrazoans primarily adopt and adapt their host societies’ behaviors, customs, languages, and norms. This mimicry often drives astrazoans to develop parallel talents to better blend in, much as how those living among shirrens and lashuntas often master basic psychic abilities of their own. Likewise, astrazoans often delight in biotech augmentations that let them replicate their neighbors’ innate capabilities. That said, not all astrazoans fit into their host cultures seamlessly or even want to do so. Some of them simply struggle to maintain their forms and assumed identities, bouncing from community to community to avoid extended scrutiny. A small number become cynical about staying hidden, seeing their host cultures as adversaries rather than as neighbors and therefore using their shapeshifting for personal gain as con artists, spies, or assassins. Others embrace their natural forms and live openly, often with fulfilling results. As this last group experiences more EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
50 and more success in cosmopolitan societies, they’ve inspired other astrazoans to shed their disguises in a cultural shift that might dramatically change the species’ role in the galaxy in coming generations. In the meantime, sharing one’s natural form is usually a gesture indicating trust or grim determination. Among friends, assuming their seven-limbed body conveys that an astrazoan feels truly safe among their companions or that they’re utterly resolved to overcome whatever challenge lies ahead. To enemies, though, dropping their disguise conveys that an astrazoan is done playing games or, worse, that they’re confident nobody witnessing the act will survive the encounter to spread the word. Although widespread, astrazoans aren’t especially numerous. As a result, they exercise considerable caution in protecting one another to preserve their species. Except in extreme circumstances, astrazoans avoid killing each other, even when on opposing sides of a conflict. Astrazoans are expected to assist one another, providing resources or aid on request so long as it won’t seriously compromise the donor’s cover. In communities with numerous astrazoans at risk of being uncovered and endangered, individuals sometimes practice ritual exile known as the Eighth Arm Break. Like a lizard amputating its tail to distract a predator, one astrazoan lures investigators away from the community, allows their cover to be blown, and then flees, ideally convincing the community that the perceived threat is no more. ASTRAZOAN IDENTITY Changing shape comes easily to an astrazoan, and their psychology seems adapted to switching and learning from their assumed guises to create a complex patchwork of identities. Understanding how an astrazoan defines their true self requires exploring how they view their transformed bodies and personas. Astrazoans refer to a borrowed shape as a “skin” when it serves only a superficial purpose, such as for a short-term disguise. Assuming a skin has little lasting effect on an astrazoan’s physiology and psychology. However, the more time an astrazoan spends in a skin, the more they develop an accompanying identity, name, set of mannerisms, and values. Especially familiar guises are instead considered “selves,” and most astrazoans can compartmentalize up to seven selves (one stored in each arm’s neural network) they trade between with little issue. Astrazoans who develop and retain even more selves—or who become especially dependent upon a self—can experience identity blending, where the various selves begin blurring together, some of the selves manifest simultaneously, or a favored self suppresses all others. In most cases, astrazoans consider this blending disruptive, yet some delight in the dramatic transformations. The same kind of plurality that defines astrazoans’ personalities and sense of selves also extends to gender identity and gender expression. Astrazoans are split between those who favor a specific gender identity from their host culture, often assuming skins of that gender, and those who are more gender fluid. NAMES Just like their identities, astrazoan naming patterns are complex. Most astrazoans choose a true name for themselves, which they use in their native form, and a different name for each of their various identities. However, it isn’t unheard of for an astrazoan to go by the same name in each of their identities. Some astrazoans reserve their true name for internal monologue or when talking to trusted friends or others of their kind. Those who embrace their astrazoan identity more openly might reveal their true name to everyone they meet. An astrazoan’s true name usually includes three or four syllables, with the first syllable or two often functioning as a nickname. Since astrazoans don’t have a language of their own, the origin of these names is unclear, but linguists have noticed some similarities between them and the ancient names of the ilee recovered from pre-Gap records. Names chosen for their other identities, on the other hand, follow the naming patterns of the host culture. Sample Names Aavadesai, Ailurizai, Ciribaan, Eileewan, Farahan, Kishlinem, Leileeka, Lumivalo, Miyleean, Sunikai, Tsilakar, Xenelei, and Zanilee. FEATS Although astrazoans are iconic practitioners of these feats, these are popular with shapechangers, actors, and spies across the galaxy. 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 isn't modified as a result of altering major features or if they disguise themself as an aberration or 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.
51 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Flashmorph You can change your appearance in an instant even while moving. Prerequisites: Change form species trait, change shape universal monster rule, quick disguise operative exploit, or similar ability at the GM’s discretion. Benefit: You can use change form, change shape, or the quick disguise operative exploit as a move action, instead of as a standard action. In addition, you can also use one of these abilities as part of a move action to move up to your speed, or as part of the full action to use the trick attack class feature. Once you do so, you can’t change your shape in this way while moving or performing a trick attack until you rest for 10 minutes to regain Stamina Points. Normal: Using the change form species trait, change shape universal monster rule, or quick disguise operative exploit is a standard action. Masterful Imitation Your mastery of disguises allows you to pass for creatures wildly different from your own species. Prerequisites: Change form species trait or Disguise 7 ranks. Benefit: Choose a creature type other than your own (such as undead if you’re a humanoid). You can disguise your species and creature type without increasing the DC of your Disguise check, provided that your assumed form’s creature type is either your own or the type you selected with this feat. Any other limitations to your assumed form still apply: for example, you can’t change your apparent creature type with disguise self, and an astrazoan must change into a Medium creature with their change form species trait. Normal: The DC for Disguise checks is adjusted by +2 to +5 if you alter major features, by +2 to +8 if you disguise yourself as a different species of the same creature type, and by +10 if you disguise yourself as a different creature type. Special: An astrazoan can use this feat to assume forms of the chosen creature type in addition to taking aberration and humanoid forms when using the change form species trait. You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you take the feat, it applies to another creature type you choose. Morphing Feint (Combat) Your sudden change of appearance creates an opening for an attack. Prerequisites: Bluff 1 rank, Disguise 1 rank Benefit: Whenever you use an item, spell, or ability that allows you to disguise yourself as a standard action (such as disguise self, holoskin, the change form species trait, or the quick disguise operative exploit), you can feint as part of the action. When you do so, you attempt a Disguise check in place of a Bluff check to determine the results of your feint; this doesn’t include any additional bonuses the disguise ability grants, such as the +10 bonus to Disguise checks when casting disguise self. Once a creature observes you using Morphing Feint (whether or not your feint is successful), that creature is immune to further uses of your Morphing Feint for 1 hour unless you also spend 1 Resolve Point when using Morphing Feint against it. Special: If you also have the Improved Feint and Flashmorph feats, you can combine the effects of Morphing Feint with any effect that allows you to disguise yourself as part of a move or full action (such as from the Flashmorph feat). If you do so while performing a trick attack, you attempt a Disguise check with a +4 bonus to resolve the trick attack instead of using any other skill. If you have these two feats as well as the clever feint or clever attack envoy improvisations, once per minute when you use either improvisation, you can also disguise yourself as part of that action with an item, spell, or ability you could use as a standard action. Shifter’s Eye Your mastery of disguises has made you adept at spotting impostors. Prerequisites: Change form species trait or Disguise 5 ranks. Benefit: When you attempt a Perception check to pierce a creature’s disguise, you reduce any bonus it gains from any special ability it used to disguise itself (such as the +10 bonus to Disguise checks granted by disguise self or the change shape ability) by 5 or by an amount equal to your ranks in Disguise, whichever is greater. This can’t reduce the bonus granted by any of these abilities to less than 0. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
52 Astriapis are an arthropodan species who awoke from the Gap to find themselves the inheritors of a planet-spanning megalopolis, full of amazing feats of technomancy and bioengineering. Led by the descendants of warrior-priest revolutionaries, astriapi society is heavily regimented with each astriapi assigned a role in the study and maintenance of an immensely complex planet-spanning system whose surface of understanding the species has only scratched. As space travel carried astriapis far beyond the bustle of Colveare, some individuals find themselves subverting the roles they’ve been assigned and more broadly questioning the wisdom of their Hierarch leaders. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Astriapis are bipedal arthropods with tough, chitinous exoskeletons, wide-spanning insectile wings, and large mandibles. Their natural coloration varies between individuals, and vanity re-coloration is a popular trend among those with the resources for custom gene editing. Some astriapis carve intricate patterns, pictures, or phrases into their exoskeletons as a method of conveying their individual passions and interests; the astriapis of Colveare prefer religious and spiritual poetic prose and geometric patterns, but astriapis living away from Colveare display carvings as varied as any spacer’s tattoos. Astriapi exoskeleton scrimshaw is displayed as a wearable work of art as well as a symbol of an astriapi’s identity, societal role, and personal goals. Astriapis produce honey as a natural waste byproduct that they excrete out of their mouths in a process that other species might find off-putting. In astriapi culture, this honey is shared during religious rituals or sampled to express affection between friends. Other species sometimes covet astriapi honey for its restorative properties, but consumable safety laws render the sale of the honey commercially unviable in most food markets outside Colveare, regardless of any potential health benefits. While the healing compounds within astriapi honey remain poorly understood by other species, the substance has played a role in astriapi evolution and society since before recorded history. While omnivorous by nature, many astriapis prefer to consume fresh fruits and vegetables to improve the flavor and potency of the honey they produce. Though they have larger frames, often standing nearly 6 feet tall, the average astriapi weighs between 120 and 150 pounds. Their biology prioritizes efficient, lightweight structure over muscular mass, allowing the species to fly and granting them greater mobility. Their notable mandibles are particularly dexterous due to twin hinged joints, granting a broad range of movement and gross motor precision. An astriapi picking something up typically grips the object between their mandibles to examine it with the powerful olfactory antennae around their mouth. ASTRIAPI Home World: Colveare (Near Space) Astriapis are insectile engineers with an innate grasp of systems both magical and mechanical. They have powerful jaws, waspish wings capable of flight, and the ability to secrete restorative honey. HOME WORLD Colveare is the name of the astriapi home world, referring both to the planet’s singular encircling land mass and its all-encompassing megalopolis. Many astriapis don’t distinguish these areas from one another, perceiving them as a conceptual whole. Complex technological engineering and infrastructure supports Colveare’s natural cycles, seamlessly incorporated into the world by the forgotten skills of generations past. Geomagnetic bullet trains curve around the planet’s core; decentralized atmosphere-harvesting operations glide throughout the mega-forests of planetary arboretums; city-sized solar-powered speedliners skim Colveare’s artificial oceans, carrying passengers and goods to other districts. Beneath the soil, a vast network of computer banks infused with powerful magic harvest and redirect geothermal energy through colossal vents made according to specified designs researched from the Plane of Fire. These ever-churning engines generate heat and power for the impressive engineering works of Colveare. Since before the Gap, nature, technology, and astriapis have worked together to sustain Colveare as though part of an inexhaustible machine. Rooftop groves provide canopy shelter for migratory birds and arboreal fauna, automated stations carefully monitor artificial reefs for the benefit of their piscine inhabitants, and immense public zoos house the biodiversity that would be too dangerous or chaotic to exist unmonitored. Sprawling arboretums are managed by small armies of rangers, researchers, and foragers who gather fruits and seeds while carefully checking the trees for signs of sickness or malnutrition. Deep beneath the ground, large pest control systems use sonic barriers and other nonlethal methods of discouraging vermin from intruding into the tunnels and boiler rooms of the city-planet’s inner workings, while professional delvers introduce trained predators into the planet’s bowels to eradicate unwanted infestations. Colveare’s engineering marvels are both its greatest strength and most profound weakness. Sadly, the decades of technological development and striving that created these marvels largely occurred during the Gap. Without their people’s lost knowledge, astriapis are now locked in a race against time to rediscover and reverse-engineer their planet’s intricate workings before those ultra-complex systems begin to catastrophically degrade and fail. Astriapis and offworld adventurers often work together to explore, decipher, and document the ancient technologies that have maintained Colveare’s careful ecological balance for centuries. Despite their efforts, it’s only a matter of time before a spell unravels or a machine fails in a way that plunges part, or even all, of Colveare’s districts into a disaster from which it can’t recover. SOCIETY Astriapi society is a carefully regimented theological bureaucracy devoted to the ideals of the planet’s preservation, led by the
53 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES reclusive Hierarchs. The Hierarchs historically derive their power from the magical honey created from the pollen of the zhufera flower, an endangered species with the final extant specimens preserved in an undisclosed location by the Hierarchs and their security forces. According to Colveare legend, the original Hierarchs were pre-industrial astriapi explorers who discovered that honey made from zhufera pollen granted its imbibers prophetic powers, showing all the astriapi who ate the honey the same vision of ecological disaster and societal collapse—then a second vision of cooperation and mutual aid. The first Hierarchs founded a society of warrior-priests dedicated to spreading the visions of the zhufera flower and unifying the planet under the banner of survival. Thus, the ancient Hierarchs organized all astriapis across Colveare in creating the planet-spanning megalopolis and its engineering marvels. When the Gap ended, astriapi society went through surprisingly little upheaval for such a densely populated planet. While the initial days of panic were tense, the Hierarchs moved swiftly to establish order using the immense communications infrastructure they found at their disposal, reestablishing contact over the planet in just a matter of days. As quickly as the general populace began supporting the Hierarchs’ mission, reacquiring the complete knowledge of Colveare has been more difficult and a much slower process. Reports from the planet’s furthest reaches describe newly rediscovered facilities in various stages of degradation, sometimes even containing the remains of astriapis who were stranded there at some point during the Gap. Not all these forgotten souls rest easily. Astriapis on Colveare are raised from the moment of their hatching in huge broods with hundreds of siblings, cousins, and neighbors. They spend their larval years being carefully monitored for proficiencies and tendencies by an army of educational instructors and medical professionals. In the final days before their pupation, each larval astriapi is presented with the evaluation of their development and the recommendations for advised career paths on Colveare, split between Dedication to the City (encompassing engineering, agriculture, and the natural sciences) and Dedication to the People (including civil service, education, and medicine). After the year-long pupation, tradition dictates a new adult astriapi announces their intentions to serve Colveare, receiving complimentary lodging, food, and a commensurate salary based on market analysis for as long as they serve in a role dedicated to the city-planet’s functions. Much more rarely, an astriapi instead declares they’ll be a member of the Unworking, the caste of all those who don’t choose a traditional occupation. Unworking communities are largely ignored by the Hierarch’s security forces as long as they don’t damage the city or cause disruption, leaving plenty of space for artists and innovators to try to earn their living on their merits; however, those with a surplus of money and power also offer immoral or illegal opportunities for profit to those who are unable to successfully make an independent living outside of the requirements of the Hierarch’s rules. For the average astriapi, life is an urban idyll. Energy, sustenance, and lodging are all plentiful thanks to the titanic infrastructure that dominates the planet, leaving those who work in service to Colveare with plenty of additional income to pursue their own projects and interests. Arts and entertainment are typically produced within Unworking communities. Many astriapis travel around their planet as part of their official duties in service to the Hierarchs, the better to comprehend their individual tasks by seeing a variety of solutions to similar problems and observing the planet as an interconnected whole. While urbane visitors to Colveare might be surprised by the uniformity of astriapi architecture, local gardens of indigenous plants and carefully tracked populations of native animals provide each region distinctive characteristics to naturalists. Astriapis often give local directions based on scents, to the chagrin of species that lack their own powerful olfactory senses. The Hierarchs reside in the Central Beacon, an immense cathedral-like structure on the planet’s equator that extends deep into Colveare. The Central Beacon is a labyrinthine tangle EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
54 of labs, workshops, meeting halls, and meditation chambers. Here, the massive bureaucracy of Colveare busily interprets the dreams of the Hierarchs, converting the recounted zhufera visions into the blueprints, work orders, and dictums from which the rest of the planet take their direction. The Tetulatai, a secretive order of inquisitors, serve as security and law enforcement for the Hierarchs, often assigned to tasks of a more political nature; many astriapis who are brought to the Central Beacon by the Tetulatai under suspicion of crimes return drastically changed in their thoughts and demeanor, if they return at all. Rumors of psychological conditioning, brainwashing, and zhufera-based drugs follow the Tetulatai like a shadow, but the order keeps their secrets well hidden. All entrances into the Central Beacon are heavily fortified, though persistent rumors of unwatched tunnels deep below the planets’ surface circulate, luring those interested in access to the resources and mysteries of the Hierarchs. The largest Unworking community, the Dreamer’s Redoubt, exists entirely outside the Hierarch’s plans and goals. This artists’ community is built into a massive living tree rooted into the walls of a sinkhole, with tents dangling from branches above and the exposed roots below. All domiciles within Dreamer’s Redoubt are magically shaped into the still-living heartwood of the tree’s trunk. A robust mutual aid system, where residents share gardens and a rotating schedule of tasks, maintains the independence of the inhabitants from the demands of the Hierarchs. The Redoubt’s tree-borough is the most popular spot on the planet for astriapis seeking to unwind by taking in a live show, gambling on illegal tunnel races, or discussing fashionably controversial politics in underground nectar speakeasies that migrate through the caves below the sinkhole. The Creative Host is a union of poets, musicians, actors, and artists that serves as the community’s leadership, collectively bargaining on behalf of their members and funding the continued independence of the Redoubt. Jitik, Chief Executive Officer Of The Creative Host (astriapi envoy 9) recently called for a ban on members of the Rising (see Other Religions On Colveare, below) from proselytizing within the Dreamer’s Redoubt. Many of the community’s other residents have criticized Jitik for bowing to the will of the Hierarchs, but Jitik sees the increasing violence between the Hierarchs and the Rising as an existential threat to the Dreamer’s Redoubt that can only be avoided by staying out of the middle of the inevitable conflict. Astriapis are physically capable of moving quickly, but their species’ mainstream culture values deliberation as a virtue. They take reverent pride in accomplishing even simple tasks, particularly when they serve a greater good or purpose, and often have strong feelings about using specific tools or specialized processes to accomplish tasks rather than choosing the most expedient or efficient method. Astriapis who serve Colveare are polite and industrious, and expressing anything other than courtesy when working in a professional capacity is considered extremely rude. These astriapis are highly social and gravitate toward a communal understanding of the world and society, which is reflected in their lifestyles, laws, and mainstream culture. They maintain rigid familial hierarchies and politely observe occupational caste systems at work. Astriapis who don’t serve Colveare, whether living in the ranks of the Unworking or traveling the stars elsewhere, are as individualistic as any other species, though many of them share a desire to find a purpose greater than themselves to stand in for the meaning and structure they abandoned by rejecting the will of the Hierarchs. OTHER RELIGIONS ON COLVEARE While the Hierarchs’ doctrine of duty to the planet’s ecosystem and collective society dominates religious thought on Colveare, traces of other religions still linger among individual astriapi beliefs. Though the Hierarchs have never formally supported the idea, a popular belief among some astriapis is that the zhufera visions are a gift from Yarasea, providing divine knowledge that helps them preserve the planet. Others see the visions as a gift from multiple gods working together to preserve Colveare for some sort of divine purpose, but no consensus has been reached as to which gods or what purpose that might be. Others practice animistic religions that don’t venerate any specific deities but see the processes of living as sacred communion. Counter to these philosophies, a small minority church of Oras has long worried about the attempts by the Hierarchs to create a system that curtails change. Fueled by this line of thinking, a secretive group calling themselves the Rising have begun to organize among the Unworking, spreading a message that the Hierarch’s overreach is setting the planet up for another ecological catastrophe, but this time it will be an event of astriapis’ own making. The Rising claim to have access to their own dream visions without the use of zhufera pollen, a heretical claim that has led the Hierarchs to ban the group from meeting or proselytizing about their teachings. Despite the religious crackdown, rumors of the group’s apocalyptic SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Wis, –2 Str Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Astriapis are Medium monstrous humanoids. Astriapi Movement: Astriapis have a land speed of 30 feet and an extraordinary fly speed of 30 feet with average maneuverability. Astriapi Senses: Astriapis have blindsense (scent) with a range of 30 feet and darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Honey Production: Once per day, an astriapi can spend 10 minutes to produce a vial of magical honey. This honey functions as a mk 1 serum of healing. At 5th level, the honey functions as a mk 2 serum of healing, and at 9th level, it functions as a mk 3 serum of healing. Regardless of its level, the honey can’t be sold, and its magical properties expire after 24 hours, when it turns into mundane foodstuff. Natural Weapons (P): Astriapis have the natural weapons universal creature rule. Scholars of Colveare: Astriapis gain a +2 species bonus to Engineering and Mysticism checks.
55 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES warnings continue to spread, as do whispers of astriapi pilgrims journeying to an undisclosed location within the Temperate Forest Biome Sanctuary District 3 to meet with a hidden Oracle of Oras. NAMES Astriapis’ traditional names consist of their broodname, given to them as larva, followed by the designation of their function, like Primary Bioengineer of the Eighth Maritime District or Apprentice Vehicle Technician Seeking Employment. Astriapis thus place great importance on accumulating more precise and descriptive job titles as they grow more experienced, trusted, and valued within their fields of expertise. Astriapis living off Colveare might or might not retain these naming conventions, depending on their relationship with traditional astriapi values. Sample Names Some sample astriapi broodnames include Ainkli, Dewik, Eenti, Hrikli, Litchki, Nectaca, Oobreet, Pruneep, Qini, Slysstro, Undrigi, Vitvi, Wixeek, Xritrik, and Zrangki. WEAPONS Astriapis developed the following widely available weapons. Panic Grenade When an early attempt at creating synthetic zhufera honey went awry, the resulting hallucinogen was aerosolized and weaponized by the Rising as a method of causing mass chaos in a short period of time. These hybrid grenades assault those in the blast radius with terrifying illusions of disastrous cataclysms, ravenous beasts, and other nightmarish hallucinations, causing those who succumb to the visions to fight, flee, or freeze. Those caught in the blast radius of a panic grenade must succeed at a Will save or gain the confused condition for a duration according to the grenade’s type. Mk 1 (level 6): 1 round Mk 2 (level 10): 2 rounds Mk 3 (level 14): 3 rounds Mk 4 (level 18): 4 rounds Vivara Rifle Named for the astriapi engineer who developed the first prototype, these modular railguns are designed to be quickly disassembled and concealed. Vivara components are subtle yet versatile in design, making them a hit with collectors and mercenaries. The most popular method of disguising Vivara rifle components among astriapi dissidents is to pack the parts into an engineer’s or electrician’s tool kit, camouflaged as spare hardware or esoteric tools. These weapons have been used by violent cells of the Rising in guerrilla attacks and covert operations, so being caught in possession of a Vivara rifle is a serious offense on many parts of Colveare, punishable by exile or even death. Singing Stinger These weapons look and function like ordinary musical instruments when broken down, with a clip holding varying lengths of piping into the shape of an oboe. However, surreptitious rifling and threading in the pipes allows the instrument to function as a blowgun that fires darts when fully assembled. TABLE 2–8: VIVARA RIFLES TWO-HANDED WEAPONS LEVEL PRICE DAMAGE RANGE CRITICAL CAPACITY USAGE BULK SPECIAL PROJECTILE WEAPONS Vivara rifle, low-flux 4 2,100 1d8 P 50 ft. — 6 1 1 BreakdownAR Vivara rifle, mid-flux 8 7,500 2d8 P 60 ft. — 6 1 1 BreakdownAR Vivara rifle, high-flux 12 27,600 4d8 P 70 ft. — 6 1 1 BreakdownAR TABLE 2–9: SINGING STINGER ONE-HANDED WEAPONS LEVEL PRICE DAMAGE RANGE CRITICAL CAPACITY USAGE BULK SPECIAL UNCATEGORIZED Singing stinger 1 200 — 20 ft. Injection +2 1 dart 1 L Analog, breakdownAR, injection, professional (musician)AR, subtleAR TABLE 2–10: PANIC GRENADES NAME LEVEL PRICE RANGE CAPACITY BULK SPECIAL Panic grenade, mk 1 6 1,400 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (5 ft.; see text) Panic grenade, mk 2 10 5,600 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (10 ft.; see text) Panic grenade, mk 3 14 22,400 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (15 ft.; see text) Panic grenade, mk 4 18 89,600 20 ft. Drawn L Explode (20 ft.; see text) EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
56 In 1 AG, Pact Worlds scientists emerging from the Gap discovered a data file detailing a bizarre species that swam in methane but had a plantlike physiology, which kept living symbiotes but built homes out of the bodies of their own dead, and communicated solely through bioluminescence. Scholars assumed cephalumes were a thought experiment, the result of a brainstorming session by creative xenobiologists imagining what might be possible. Then came the Signal, and soon after, the first cephalume explorers arrived at Absalom Station in one of their own starships, modified to travel through the Drift. Cephalumes were real after all. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION From the outside, cephalume biology doesn’t seem particularly unusual. A cephalume’s body is cylindrical, thick, and muscular, with a head decorated by a fan-like frill, two flexible tentacles, and a powerful foot that ends in 6–12 short tentacular toes. Cephalumes are covered in elaborate bioluminescent patterns unique to each individual; by the age of 5, a cephalume has mastered control of the light given off by these patterns, which is key to communicating in Lumos, their native language. The cephalume’s surface resemblance to squids is misleading; in fact, cephalumes have an internal physiology more like that of plants, and their tentacles are more akin to vines than the limbs of a cephalopod. Similarly, a cephalume’s brain and other vital organs take the shape of long fibrous stems that run the length of their body. Cephalumes, like most plants, are monoecious— each individual has both male and female structures—and any cephalume can fertilize any other cephalume. Traditionally, they’ve relied on the methane current of their home world for this fertilization, but for as long as cephalume history has recorded, there have been romantic examples of cephalumes who chose to fertilize each other in defiance of random chance. Cephalumes reach physical maturity by the age of 12 and typically live to their 80s. Cephalumes metabolize energy through their skin. Deep in the methane layer of Luminar, there’s no sunlight for photosynthesis, and despite the incredible pressure at the center, the planet is cold; remarkably, cephalumes have evolved to live off low-level background radiation, though they remain just as vulnerable to high doses of radiation as other species. Krikiks For as long as cephalume history records, the species has enjoyed a symbiotic relationship with krikiks, a hard-shelled species of arthropods. It isn’t clear how krikiks—who have no method of propulsion in Luminar’s methane layer and depend almost exclusively on cephalumes to survive—could’ve evolved on Luminar. The most-held theory is that krikiks are, CEPHALUME Home World: Luminar (Near Space) Cephalumes swim in the methane seas of their gas giant home world, where they bond with barnacle-like symbiotes called krikiks and cultivate exploration and curiosity. in fact, from another world altogether but were stranded or somehow introduced to Luminar and cephalume society in prehistory. The quest to find the original home of the krikik species contributed to cephalume exploration of the stars and remains a priority for cephalume explorers even now, three centuries after the Signal. The typical krikik is 2–3 feet in diameter, though the species displays remarkable physical variation, sometimes including air bladders, heat-sensitive eyes, or a prehensile tentacle. They live for several centuries, reproduce very rarely, and are passed down through cephalume families. The most common method of symbiosis is for a krikik to surround the cephalume’s upper body, but it isn’t unheard of for cephalumes of great age and social status to bond with more than one krikik and have the symbiote’s hard shell protecting their head, foot, or tentacular arms. They communicate with their hosts through bioelectric pulses that mimic the semaphoric code of Lumos, but their intelligence isn’t well understood, even by cephalumes. Krikiks can experience pleasure and pain, and they have preferences and desires, but they have no culture of their own and seem content to cooperate with cephalumes who befriend them and treat them well. It’s rare for a krikik to refuse to bond with a cephalume host, but it can happen, and cephalumes consider good care of their krikik symbiotes to be a sign of positive health, akin to good personal hygiene. HOME WORLD Luminar is an unusual gas giant orbiting a red dwarf in Near Space. None of the other worlds in the Luminar system—mostly cold and rocky planets—have intelligent life of any kind, though they do provide valuable minerals that cephalumes have mined since inventing space travel at some point during the Gap. Luminar has three layers. The outermost layer, what cephalumes refer to as the planet’s sky, is a vast region of glowing-hot hydrogen and helium gas colored by trace elements. The middle layer, dominated by methane kept in a liquid state by intense pressure, is where cephalumes evolved and where their society is based. Finally, Luminar’s core is an inhospitable ball of frozen methane and other chemicals, with a temperature below –300 degrees. Contrary to all expectations of physics, Luminar grows colder the more intense its internal pressure becomes. Scientists have never explained it, but the so-called Luminar Phenomenon has been detected in a small number of gas giants elsewhere in the galaxy. The methane layer of Luminar isn’t entirely uniform; rocks of iron, lead, and other minerals float in this sea, providing valuable resources that cephalumes began to mine early in their history. However, the lack of oxygen in the environment— and methane’s flammable nature—meant that cephalume
57 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES society evolved without the use of fire. Indeed, cephalume society remained at a stable pre-industrial level for hundreds of thousands of years. Many of the things simple technology would normally be used for—such as the creation of light or cooking of food—were simply unnecessary to cephalume biology. When cephalumes encountered an engineering obstacle they couldn’t solve, they either went without or found a way around the problem with magic. There are now dozens of large cities inside Luminar, but the planet’s hot hydrogen and helium layer poses a challenge to visiting starships. At some point during the Gap, cephalume interplanetary explorers reached one of Luminar’s moons, where they mined industrial resources and constructed Metal City. Metal City remains the primary starport for Luminar; merchants, tourists, and diplomatic visitors land here in safety, leaving penetration of the gas giant’s hot outermost layer to those starships designed for such environments. SOCIETY Cephalume culture is rich and complex, filled with references to their long pre-industrial history and placing an emphasis on honoring one’s ancestors and traditions. Before the Gap, cephalumes developed a culture that prized curiosity, visual art, physical aptitude, rhetoric, and etiquette. A cultured cephalume was a poet-athlete and warrior-artist capable of posing philosophical questions on the nature of life or entertaining friends with the deeds of a dozen distinguished ancestors. With little in the way of material resources, cephalume culture placed an emphasis on a few possessions of great value— typically handed down through generations. Until they arrived at Absalom Station, they’d never used money, though the idea did exist as a theoretical concept. Instead, cephalume society was a complicated web of patronage, political alliances, and familial ties. Sometime during the Gap, cephalumes advanced to an industrial state and developed space travel. Their first starships were made of the same construction material used for their architecture, but to survive the trip to space, cephalume corpses had to be magically petrified and preserved. Most cephalume starships are still made in this manner, for although cephalumes have brought many technological advances from other species back to Luminar, the idea of traveling so far without the company of ancestors unsettles most cephalumes. LUMOS Sound travels poorly through liquid methane, and cephalumes have no sound-producing organ. Instead, they developed language based on their bioluminescence. This language, known as Lumos, begins with a single dot of light somewhere on a cephalume’s skin, representing a single sound. Each cephalume boasts hundreds of lights on their body, has remarkable control of each light’s intensity and color, and can flash each light on or off many times in a single second. As a result, cephalumes communicating solely among themselves can transmit and understand an astonishing amount of information in a very short time, flashing pages worth of words at each other in moments. A visual language does have its challenges. Most notably, it’s dependent on light and visibility. Cephalumes can see clearly in darkness out to about 60 feet, but in the methane seas of Luminar, they can’t see the color of another cephalume’s bioluminescence beyond about 20 feet. Lumos reserves color for private conversations that others aren’t expected to overhear or to add a color inference visible only to those nearby. For example, a cephalume safety officer might loudly broadcast a warning that everyone should evacuate the area while simultaneously using color to tell those standing near the officer that they’re safe and should remain at their current location. Lumos is practically unintelligible beyond 60 feet— it’s impossible to shout in Lumos. In large public gatherings featuring a single speaker, members of the audience relay the primary speaker’s message with their own bioluminescence. Written Lumos uses short, multicolored arcs of varying length, EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
58 but it isn’t held in high regard in cephalume culture; cephalume society is overwhelmingly “oral,” in the sense that it’s transmitted from person to person rather than written down. Since the development of Drift technology and the creation of an interstellar culture, cephalumes have started to learn Common, a language they find laboriously slow—albeit better understood at long distance. Pact Worlds researchers who have learned Lumos typically speak it with a handheld sign that flashes light and color, but those who dwell inside Luminar on a long-term basis often acquire a bioluminescent skin augmentation (page 59), allowing them to, after often lengthy study and practice, perfectly replicate Lumos as cephalumes speak it. NAMES Cephalume names are best communicated by light and sometimes have a color that only those physically close can see. They’re often filled with alternating glyphs that visually appear as a kind of strobe effect. Because cephalumes can flash an extraordinary amount of information to each other in a very short time, a name can be exceptionally long. All this makes cephalume names very difficult to translate. Many cephalumes adopt a Common nickname that simulates some small aspect of their name, typically a repeating series of glyphs. Sample Names Atatat, Boribori, Eenu-Eenu, Geechee, Iyo-Iyo, Kekemomo, Meenee, Oxox, Ronto-Ronta, So-Ro-Sa, Tunu-Sunu, Umi-Umi. BIOTECH AUGMENTATIONS No krikik has ever successfully bonded with a non-cephalume, and, indeed, most seem unwilling to even try. This hasn’t stopped bioscientists from duplicating the benefits of krikik symbiosis using other means. Other augmentations provided here allow non-aquatic species to participate in aquatic societies without the need for armor or other gear, or are otherwise designed to take advantage of aquatic environments. These augmentations use the rules presented on page 208 of the Core Rulebook. AIRJET SYSTEM Lungs PRICE 4,000 LEVEL 6 This organ takes in atmospheric gases, concentrates them, and expels them behind you as a kind of jet, granting a 10-foot enhancement bonus to your land and swim speeds. Once per day as a swift action, you can double your land or swim speed for one round. This augmentation doesn’t function in a vacuum. AQUA-EMPATHIC LOBE SYSTEM Brain PRICE 2,000 LEVEL 4 Your brain has been modified with an additional lobe that grants you a limited form of telepathic communication with aquatic creatures. You can communicate with animals, magical beasts, plants, and vermin that don’t have a language and are native to aquatic biomes; this includes such creatures with the aquatic subtype and might also include other creatures at the GM’s discretion. This ability doesn’t make these creatures friendly. The range of this ability is 30 feet or the range of your SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Str, +2 Wis, –2 Con Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Cephalumes are Medium aberrations with the plantlike subtype. Beguiling Glow: As a standard action (as long as their bioluminescence isn’t suppressed), a cephalume can create flickering patterns in the light emanating from their skin. Each sighted creature within 20 feet must succeed at a Will saving throw (10 + half the cephalume’s character level + the cephalume’s Wisdom modifier) or be fascinated for as long as the cephalume continues this presentation (a standard action each round). Creatures who understand Lumos are unaffected. This is a sense-dependent effect. A cephalume can’t use this ability again until they’ve taken a 10-minute rest to recover Stamina Points. Bioluminescence: A cephalume increases the light level by one step out to a radius of 20 feet. A cephalume can suppress or reactivate this light as a move action, and they receive a +4 species bonus to Stealth checks when their light is suppressed. A cephalume also uses this light to communicate with others. Cephalume Movement: Cephalumes have a land speed of 10 feet and a swim speed of 30 feet. Cold Resistance: Cephalumes have resistance 5 to cold. Darkvision: Cephalumes have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Depth Inured: A cephalume is immune to the dangers of extreme depths (Core Rulebook 366). Plantlike: A cephalume has the plantlike Universal Creature Rule. Symbiote Adaption: Cephalumes form symbiotic unions with krikiks, a living biological augmentation unique to their species. Most cephalumes have one of the following krikik symbiotes. Airjet Krikik: An air bladder in the krikik increases the cephalume’s land and swim speeds by 10 feet. Once per day as a swift action, the cephalume can double their movement speed for that round. Electrostatic Krikik: The krikik is covered in thin, electrically charged spines that allow the cephalume to cause any weapon they wield to deal half its damage as electricity damage, becoming lethal and non-archaic if it isn’t already. If the weapon already deals two damage types, this effect replaces one with electricity. In addition, this allows the cephalume to grant any weapon they wield the staggered critical hit effect. Sharprock Krikik: The krikik’s hard crust grants the cephalume a +1 species bonus to AC. Siltsight Krikik: The krikik has heat-sensitive eyes that allow the cephalume to double the range of their darkvision and see through non-magical fog, mist, and clouds without penalty, ignoring any cover or concealment bonuses from those effects. Tentacle Krikik: The krikik has a prehensile tentacle that increases the cephalume’s natural reach by 5 feet.
59 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES telepathy or limited telepathy, whichever is larger. You can use language-dependent effects on these creatures, attempt Intimidate checks to bully them, and attempt Diplomacy checks to change their attitude. BIOLUMINESCENT SKIN SYSTEM Skin PRICE 250 LEVEL 1 Your skin is covered with elaborate bioluminescent patterns. You have precise control over your bioluminescence, including its color and brightness. You increase the light level by one step out to a radius of 20 feet (to a maximum of normal light). You can suppress or reactivate your bioluminescence by taking a move action. If you know Lumos, the cephalume language, you can use your bioluminescence to communicate in it. ELECTROSTATIC SPINES SYSTEM Skin PRICE 18,000 LEVEL 10 These long, thin spines store and channel electrical energy generated by your own body, directing that electricity into objects in your hands. Any melee weapon you wield deals half its damage as electricity damage. This doesn’t change the Armor Class the weapon targets. In addition, any melee weapon you wield gains the staggered critical hit effect. INK GLAND SYSTEM Throat PRICE 2,000 LEVEL 4 You produce and store organic ink in your throat that you can deploy as a defensive measure. When you’re in an aquatic environment, you can take a standard action to vomit ink, creating darkness in a 20-foot radius. Darkvision can’t see through this darkness, but effects capable of seeing through fog, mist, or clouds—such as thermal-sensitive eyes (below)—can. After you use this ability, you can’t use it again until you take a 10-minute rest to recover Stamina. PRESSURE FILTER SYSTEM Lungs PRICE 150 LEVEL 1 Your body has been redesigned to function at any depth, allowing you to ignore differences in pressure that lead to decompression sickness. You gain the depth inured species trait (page 58). SONIC VOCALIZER SYSTEM Throat PRICE VARIES LEVEL VARIES Your throat has been modified, allowing you to create powerful sonic waves by screaming. This augmentation is especially popular among aquatic adventurers because sound waves travel well in water. Your sonic vocalizer functions like a dirge pistol (Armory 16, 50) of the same type, but you don’t need a hand to wield it, it can’t be disarmed, and it has the underwater weapon special property. Your sonic vocalizer is powered by your body and doesn’t need ammunition. MODEL LEVEL PRICE Harmonic 2 750 Resonant 7 6,250 Anharmonic 11 24,500 Parametric 16 162,000 Radial 20 810,000 THERMAL-SENSITIVE EYES SYSTEM Eyes PRICE 6,500 LEVEL 7 Your eyes become especially sensitive to relatively slight fluctuations in temperature. You can see through non-magical fog, mist, and clouds without penalty, ignoring any cover or concealment bonuses those effects would provide to other creatures. In addition, if you have darkvision, the range of your darkvision is doubled. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
60 Famously intelligent, contemplatives resemble an immense brain with a tiny, four-armed body dangling below. For millennia, contemplatives have methodically unraveled esoteric secrets from the safety of isolated, insulated homes on Akiton. Since the advent of Drift travel, more and more contemplatives witness the galaxy’s wonders firsthand, serving as exemplary doctors, scientists, investigators, mystical consultants, and supernatural warriors. Yet, contemplatives rarely act alone. Even loners often refer to themselves as “we,” not “I,” either reinforcing their collective mindset or referencing some otherworldly presence unknown to even close contacts. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Countless generations of evolution have developed the superspecialized contemplatives’ bodies, each one designed to prioritize thought over all but the most essential biological functions. A typical contemplative weighs about 100 pounds, with their massive brains representing roughly 70 of those pounds. The rest consists of a spindly humanoid body hanging from the brain by a thick “neck” of tough ligaments, neural pathways, and blood vessels. These lower features are diminutive nearly to the point of uselessness. A host of flexible shoulder spines indicate areas once dedicated to heavy muscle attachment, now wholly vestigial. Two legs, with any semblance of feet having disappeared ages ago, can barely support the creature’s weight for more than a few seconds. Contemplatives occasionally sway their legs reflexively as if walking in mid-air, reliving distant ancestors’ motor memory. More often, though, the legs serve to stabilize a disoriented contemplative, helping them brace or push off from walls when flying in stressful conditions. Only two of the upper limbs serve as traditional hands, typically terminating in a few fragile fingers that are as dexterous as a human’s. However, with such a gracile build contemplatives struggle with physical labor, relying on telekinetic powers to manipulate larger tools—made all the more awkward by their arms’ meager length, which requires a contemplative to incline their brain or pitch upward just to get close enough to reach larger surfaces. The other two limbs aren’t arms at all but antennae, serving as a contemplative’s primary sense organs for smell and touch. Like the rest of the lower body, these arms are a shadow of their former capabilities, and xenoanthropologists speculate that ancient contemplatives boasted extremely precise scent abilities before evolving to favor psychic senses. A contemplative often orients themself above any object of interest, softly tapping the surface while they examine it with a wide range of sensory input, including from their eyes, which project a short distance from the bottom of their brain. CONTEMPLATIVE Home World: Akiton (Pact Worlds) Resembling immense floating brains, contemplatives are mysterious psychics, scholars, and philosophers whose powerful minds grant them telepathic and telekinetic powers of communication, flight, and supernatural insight. Contemplative brains are supernaturally sophisticated. With a staggering brain-to-body ratio, a contemplative can retain a wealth of information and learn sophisticated skills quickly. Their brains are segmented into distinct quadrants rather than hemispheres, with redundant lobes enabling intense mental multitasking. What’s more, the intense cerebral activity creates a constant aura of telekinetic and telepathic force, much in the way a mammal emits body heat. On its own, this force tends to sweep up lightweight objects to orbit the contemplative’s body and pester nearby minds with mental static. Fortunately, contemplatives have an extensive adolescence of play, and meditation helps optimize their thoughts and control these energies, redirecting them into sustained telekinetic flight, precise communication, and more. These skills aren’t just a matter of convenience. Without mastering personal telekinesis, an adult contemplative’s brain is too heavy to move unaided. When truly unconscious, a contemplative is at a low risk of suffocation or organ damage as their unsupported mass compresses delicate innards and restricts airways. True sleep is a rare treat enjoyed using specialized hammocks or unique fluid baths that support the upper body. Instead, most contemplatives rest by logging, much as many aquatic mammals do, allowing part of their brain to sleep while the other part maintains buoyancy and some awareness. HOME WORLD Contemplatives evolved on Akiton (Pact Worlds 48) over countless generations, thriving on the fourth planet from the sun. Periodically, ruins surface from staggeringly ancient eras, the walls scoured by the elements such that only rare glimpses of the contemplatives’ distant past survive. These art fragments suggest Akiton once boasted verdant savannas and hardy woodlands where the contemplatives’ ancestors thrived. However, Akiton today is a dusty desert world. Its cooling core and dimming geomagnetic sphere have caused the planet to slowly lose atmosphere, becoming colder, drier, and more hostile to life. Those species that survived adapted. For contemplatives, adaptation relied less on physiological changes and more on habitat manipulation, with most settlements burrowing into mountains or digging deep underground in telekinetically excavated enclaves. There, contemplatives shielded themselves from the increasingly frequent dust storms and frigid nights, emerging periodically to psychically herd and incapacitate prey, or trade for food. From ikeshtis and Hylki humans to shobhad giants and ysoki, many of Akiton’s residents became tough, resourceful opportunists. Even so, few since the historical periods dared tangle with contemplatives, who developed a reputation for eerie neutrality in peace and devastating psychic retaliation when attacked.
61 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES In the modern era, contemplatives control two major Akitonian sites: the Ashok crater and the Halls of Reason. Ashok itself is nearly uninhabited, for the crater functions as a psychic amplifier that allows the communities around its perimeter to broadcast their communiques over immense distances and listen for replies even from other, impossibly distant galaxies. This research creates mental radiation that seems inaudible or even comforting to the contemplatives, but other creatures avoid the region as this energy inspires terrifying dreams, cerebral hemorrhaging, or even spontaneous transformation for anyone traversing the area without proper protection. The Halls of Reason are less intrinsically hazardous but more remote. A vast network of windowless towers and miles-long tunnels host numerous telepathically connected contemplative communities that thrive in the calm, cool subterranean rooms. The greater the silence and distance from the surface, the greater the contemplatives’ concentration, and they regularly commission laborers to dig ever-deeper chambers. What young contemplatives gain in mental focus by growing up here is challenged by their relative naivete should they later explore Akiton, and many young adults are drawn to travel or the adventuring life when first confronted by the overwhelming bustle. Thanks to spaceflight, contemplative cohorts have spread to far parts of the galaxy, forming small, tight-knit communities within existing settlements. Laboratories, universities, hospitals, research stations, and similar institutions eagerly recruit contemplatives to live and work nearby, yet with slow reproduction, the contemplative population outside the Pact Worlds remains small. SOCIETY A contemplative’s existence often revolves around isolation. Quiet halls enable deep thoughts, and remote outposts deter casual visitors who might interrupt complex calculations. Silent vistas eliminate distractions, allowing for the reception of distant psychic signatures. In solitude, a contemplative can achieve great things that are objectively their own triumphs, validating their existence to the cosmos. Yet contemplative culture also includes a strong sense of community. Other species provide security and strength, enabling contemplatives to accomplish together what would be impossible alone. Peers offer intellectual engagement to challenge theories, build upon discoveries, and encourage progress. For millennia before ubiquitous space travel, contemplatives established tight-knit telepathic neighborhoods awash with half-conscious chatter and mental intimacy. Even as contemplatives travel to other worlds in the modern era, they physiologically crave the feeling of others’ thoughts, and extensive periods of true solitude often trigger anxiety. Contemplative society steadily juggles these competing extremes of separation and unity. Into the modern age, contemplatives maintained this balance by living in enclaves apart from other species, creating communities that manifested group consciousnesses without becoming true hive minds. Nonetheless, contemplatives’ speech reflects generations of external isolation and internal communion, as even individuals refer to themselves with the first-person plural “we” rather than with the singular “I” around other creatures—sometimes even when the closest other contemplative is light-years away. In the absence of kin, contemplatives find comfort in establishing new communities with loose hierarchies, enabling them to be part of something greater, like a starship crew or adventuring party. When such close associations aren’t possible, contemplatives sometimes invent fictitious personalities, each expressed and controlled by different brain quadrants to emulate a functional community. Extended psychic networks connected communities on the home world of Akiton for untold generations, so despite having existed for millennia and lived across the planet, contemplatives and their culture evolved as one, remaining relatively homogeneous into the post-Gap era. Even over the past few centuries, contemplatives’ long lifespans, lengthy adolescence, and communal parenting have sustained shared cultural values that survive when individuals emigrate elsewhere and integrate into dramatically different societies. Newer Divisions Pervasive personal augmentation technology has challenged age-old traditions in contemplatives’ evolution, training, and upbringing. Of Akiton’s contemplatives, two fringe philosophies EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
62 have emerged. To the traditionalists known as the Pristine Muse, personal augmentations are tools that beget mental laziness, threatening the species’ ongoing evolution into increasingly intellectual powerhouses. A movement called the Transcendent Cortex pushes back, insisting that contemplatives have neared the limits of what flesh alone can achieve and that cybernetic enhancement or even complete digitization would enable their society to achieve unimaginable success. Most contemplatives embrace neither philosophy fully, instead dabbling in augmentations as they see fit. Psychic Titans No matter their philosophies and idiosyncrasies, contemplatives are intelligent, and they know it. However, mainstream contemplative society doesn’t encourage exploiting or lording their education and wit over others; instead, their self-awareness carries a sense of self-restraint. By a contemplative’s estimation, their staggering psychic prowess and intelligence are like a deafening roar to vulnerable minds, thus it’s only polite to “whisper.” Savvy onlookers recognize this perspective for the accidental paternalism it is. The more it’s exposed to other cultures, the more contemplative society has gradually acknowledged other species’ mental resilience and adopted less benignly demeaning behavior. ASHOK Central to Pact Worlds contemplatives’ identity and thought is Ashok, an esoteric term with unclear origins that references a place, a philosophy, a founder, a state of being, or more depending on who’s asked. No matter the definition, the term commands respect and conveys reverence. Most intuitively, Ashok refers to a massive crater on the contemplatives’ home world of Akiton. This feature might have once been the region where contemplatives evolved into their famously cerebral forms. The crater amplifies local telepathy and other psychic energies, allowing the contemplatives who inhabit the area to communicate with impossibly distant and otherwise unknown beings. Others insist Ashok was an ancient trailblazer and iconoclast who guided the contemplatives’ ancestors ages ago, diverging from some unknowable stem species. No doubt this hypothetical Ashok attained only a fraction of the physical and mental transformation now embodied by their descendants. Nonetheless, the mythical figure commands a saint-like reverence among those who even believe Ashok ever lived. Some contemplatives scoff at Ashok as a past or present concept, instead insisting it’s a distant objective yet to be obtained. This target might be psychic transcendence, abandoning physical bodies to exist as immortal thought— potentially interwoven into the multiverse alongside powerful monitors like aeons. Others scoff at this definition, instead insisting that attaining a state of Ashok relies on retaining a physical body that exists in defiance of the aligned quintessence that comprises the Outer Planes, in turn becoming a living being who transcends morality and immortal pollution. Yet another school believes the Ashok endpoint is perfect unification of thought, attaining a state of mental communion so perfect that mere hive minds would seem clumsy by comparison. The Unified Ashok Hypothesis might be the truest expression, though: Ashok is all of the above, and were it not one of the above, it would be none of the above. Only by acceptance and understanding of all of Ashok’s facets does one stand to experience Ashok. Whatever the case, defining Ashok is a matter of personal devotion for a contemplative—a definition by which they understand their place in the multiverse and affirm their identity within a collective. Only a few honored non-contemplatives are ever invited to explore the nature of Ashok with a contemplative community, and any non-contemplative who claims to understand it merely outs themselves as a presumptuous fool. NAMES Young contemplatives receive a simple childhood name of a few syllables shortly after birth, reflecting the adolescent’s limited maturity and worldliness. Those exceptional youths who display uncharacteristic insights or accomplish some other feat sometimes earn additional syllables to honor their progress. However, contemplatives eagerly discard their childhood names upon reaching adulthood in favor of an appellation they choose for themselves. Traditionally, these names reference or incorporate favorite quotes, intellectual heroes, or scientific theorems that helped shape the young contemplative’s growth and perspective, often incorporating an additional component to the name to distinguish themselves from the original source. These names (which frequently include abridged reference numbers like a crucial text’s publication year) communicate the adult’s values to well-read colleagues who catch the references. While some contemplatives are sticklers for always being addressed by their full name, most adopt shortened versions as nicknames. Sample Adult Names Some sample contemplative names include 47 Solkrasti, Autochthonous 6:17, Ebek All-Itinerant-Souls, Eistor’s Third Constant, Jatembe-Jekeb, Kallion in Theory of Relativity, Pharasman Paradox 13, Saal Radial-Procession, Xarstonax’s Fifth Sonata. SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +4 Int, +2 Cha, –2 Str, –2 Con Hit Points: 2 Size and Type: Contemplatives are Medium monstrous humanoids. Applied Knowledge: See page 28. Atrophied: See page 28. Limited Telepathy: Contemplatives have limited telepathy with a range of 30 feet. Psychic Flight: Contemplatives fly supernaturally at a speed of 30 feet with average maneuverability, but their land speed is only 5 feet. Psychic Senses: Contemplatives have blindsense (thought) out to 30 feet and darkvision to a range of 60 feet.
63 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES SPELLS Contemplatives often learn the following spells, which are now known by spellcasters across the galaxy. MENTAL MUSCLE MYSTIC 2 PRECOG 2 TECHNOMANCER 2 WITCHWARPER 2 School transmutation Casting Time 1 swift action Range personal Duration 1 round You channel your mental mastery as magic that directly reinforces your body, allowing you to perform brief physical feats as acts of willpower. You gain one of the following three benefits of your choice. Smart Strength: You apply your Intelligence modifier in place of your Strength modifier for melee or thrown weapon attack rolls, melee damage rolls, ability checks, and skill checks. Insightful Agility: You apply your Wisdom modifier in place of your Dexterity modifier for attack rolls, Reflex saving throws, initiative checks, and calculating your Armor Class. Your armor’s maximum Dex bonus instead limits how much of your Wisdom modifier you can apply to AC. Confident Endurance: You apply your Charisma modifier in place of your Constitution modifier for Fortitude saving throws. You gain temporary Hit Points equal to your Charisma modifier × half your caster level. When you perform a full action, you can cast this spell as part of that action (and apply the spell’s effects to that action) rather than casting it as a swift action. MENTAL MUSCLE, GREATER MYSTIC 4 PRECOG 4 TECHNOMANCER 4 WITCHWARPER 4 School transmutation Casting Time 1 standard action Range personal Duration 1 round/2 levels This spell functions as mental muscle, except as noted above. Casting this spell takes intense focus and requires you to spend 1 Resolve Point. PSYCHIC SONAR MYSTIC 1-6 School divination (mind-affecting) Casting Time 1 standard action Range varies by spell level Area cone-shaped burst Duration instantaneous, plus 1 round Saving Throw Will partial; Spell Resistance yes You project a sonar-like blast of psychic energy that rebounds a moment later. Creatures in the spell’s area each attempt a Will save. Those who fail take the full damage, and until the end of your next turn, you can sense those creatures as though you had blindsense (thought) with a range equal to the spell’s range. Those who succeed take half damage and can’t be detected with the spell’s blindsense effect. During your next turn, you can repeat this spell’s effect once without spending an action; however, the cone instead must originate from one of the creatures you can sense with the spell’s blindsense effect (and doesn’t include that creature in the spell’s area). You’re immune to your own psychic sonar, and this spell has no effect on creatures without an Intelligence score. 1st: When you cast psychic sonar as a 1st-level spell, it deals 1d8 damage in a 15-foot cone. 2nd: When you cast psychic sonar as a 2nd-level spell, it deals 2d8 damage in a 15-foot cone. 3rd: When you cast psychic sonar as a 3rd-level spell, it deals 3d8 damage in a 20-foot cone. 4th: When you cast psychic sonar as a 4th-level spell, it deals 5d8 damage in a 30-foot cone. 5th: When you cast psychic sonar as a 5th-level spell, it deals 5d10 damage in a 30-foot cone. 6th: When you cast psychic sonar as a 6th-level spell, it deals 7d10 damage in a 60-foot cone. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
64 Dragonkin are native to the sixth planet in the Pact World system, Triaxus, a tumultuous world of grueling seasons and dangerous environs. Most live bonded to a non-dragonkin partner, using a traditional ritual that creates nigh-unbreakable personal ties that last a lifetime. This connection manifests as reciprocal telepathy, complimentary movements, and other tactical advantages. With the ability to fly and breathe a cone of energy, dragonkin can be quite intimidating to their enemies. Allies know them to be fiercely loyal, empathetic, and adaptable. Like their true dragon cousins, they have the strength and intelligence to face nearly any task, and dragonkin enjoy a variety of occupations throughout the Pact Worlds. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION While dragonkin are smaller than true dragons, they tower over most humanoids. When standing on two legs, their heights range from 8 to 20 feet. Some dragonkin tinker with their own genetics to achieve a compact size, while others take pride in their formidable statures. Terrestrial dragonkin tend to be larger and have wings, while spacefaring dragonkin often prefer to modify their bodies to be smaller, leaner, and sometimes wingless. Though dragonkin have four muscular limbs, they’re bipedal, with their strong tails providing stabilization. Dragonkin can learn to maintain their posture if they lose or have underdeveloped tails, and some choose to utilize prosthetics or wheelchairs as mobility aids or to embrace quadrupedal mobility with or without the assistance of such devices. It’s considered stylish for dragonkin to paint their claws and horns with various colors and patterns. Holographic polish is quite common among fans of Ning’s battleflowers, who proclaim their allegiance to favorite fighters by choosing flashy colors to match the gladiators’ costume choices. The hues of a dragonkin’s scales naturally occur in a spectrum of colors. Scale color has nothing to do with a dragonkin’s alignment or ancestry, though some unusual colors tend to appear in certain families without a known explanation. While most dragonkin are monochromatic, it isn’t uncommon for their scales to display two or three tones, most often in a gradient or speckled pattern. Spanning the spectrum of genders, dragonkin are best identified by asking them. Dragonkin don’t have sexual morphism, and their personal gender identity most impacts their physical presentation. In all things, the majority of dragonkin eagerly embrace magic and science to modify their bodies to suit individual preferences. HOME WORLD Hailing from the Pact Worlds system, dragonkin can be found in the highest concentration on Triaxus, where they’ve lived alongside ryphorians and dragons for eons. Triaxus has an exaggerated elliptical orbit that causes very long winters and summers as well as a volcanically active surface. DRAGONKIN Home World: Triaxus (Pact Worlds) Dragonkin are humanoid dragons who form lifelong bonds with a single partner, granting them deep mutual empathy and shared telepathy. Their striking draconic features, such as their wings, colorful scales, and deadly breath, set them apart from other species. Dragonkin live everywhere on Triaxus, from the frozen reaches of the Encroach Glacier to the southwestern merchant-empire of Ning. The largest population can be found in the Allied Territories living alongside partners and neighbors of many species, though a significant population also exists in the Drakelands, where many dragonkin still work for true dragons inside their complex corporate structures. In the distant past, dragons devised a way to create a different type of offspring, one that could forge inroads into humanoid societies or serve as proxies and pawns. Using strange magic and enduring willpower, they created dragonkin to fulfill this purpose. The original dragonkin were sometimes a product of intense love for an individual humanoid or their community, though sadly, many were born to act as vectors for an evil dragon’s short-term plans. Generations of dragonkin reproduced, both with one another and with other humanoids, and today the species is entirely disconnected from any living dragons. As part of their magical heritage, dragonkin always have had the ability to form a bond with a single creature, granting shared senses and telepathy. The bond itself isn’t truly magical in nature but is a sacred connection with both physical and metaphysical components. The first generation of dragonkin almost exclusively bonded with their dragon creators, but quickly they realized their ability to share their gift with friends and lovers of other species. They found that ryphorians, who were also native to Triaxus and commonly enslaved and exploited by the ruling dragons, were very receptive to their bond. Together, dragonkins and ryphorians forged connections and fought to free their peoples from the iron claws of tyrants. The first bonded pairs founded the Skyfire Mandate, based on the land bridge spanning the Drakelands and Allied Territories. The force that protected this new nation then and now is the Skyfire Legion. Once fighters for independence, today the Legion is a mercenary group who generally prefer to fight tyranny, bolster political underdogs, save refugees, and take on missions that fit with their organization’s code. Many generations ago, the pairs went into battle with the ryphorian partner as dragonrider, but today most prefer to swap out this archaic practice for a co-pilot dynamic. SOCIETY The core of dragonkin society revolves around the partner bond they form with humanoids, most commonly ryphorians. Everything from architecture and infrastructure to media reflects the importance of the bond. While a majority of dragonkin bond to a partner in their lifetime, not all do. As a conscious choice made by both parties to form this bond is necessary, those who decide to remain bondless face scrutiny from more conservative community members; however, a
65 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES majority of dragonkin are supportive of this choice. Bondless dragonkin live fully integrated into their local society, with traditionalist Aylok dragonkin being the largest exception to tolerance. Outside of Aylok, bondless dragonkin are just as likely to be supported as a similar bonded candidate. Dragonkin who don’t bond during their lifetime might still find mates and create families, or not, and work in vocational fields with just as much success. Whether or not these dragonkin form romantic relationships, they still typically prefer communal homes with roommates, as complete solitude is atypical for dragonkin. For those who haven’t yet formed a partner bond but one day wish to do so, bondless meet-ups on the infosphere and in most communities can help. A yet-unbonded dragonkin who enlists in the Skyfire Legion has plentiful chances to meet potential partners in training, recruit mixers, and assigned partner trials. Bonds are unique to individual pairs and often deeply personal. Though most bonded partnerships aren’t romantic, the bond is roughly equivalent to marriage in many cultures, granting legal rights and responsibilities and insuring a mutual living situation. Some bonds result from adolescent friendships, with a duo choosing to formalize their bond soon after reaching maturity. A few communities practice arranged bonds, meaning a dragonkin might not meet a potential partner until shortly before they bond. The Skyfire Legion facilitates such arrangements for cadets who desire it. Even in such cases, both parties must wholeheartedly agree to form a bond, and attempts to force two individuals to enter an arrangement always fails. Bonding with blood relatives is rare but does sometimes occur, usually between cousins or siblings of similar ages. Most dragonkin only have one bonded partner during their lifetimes, but thanks to their longer lifespans, more than half of their lives can be spent bondless. If their partner dies, a dragonkin might decide to form a relationship with another partner, but a substantial number choose not to. From grief to family structures grown larger and more intricate with age, there are many reasons to abstain from subsequent partner bonds. As partner bonds are largely aromantic, dragonkin and their humanoid partners forming romantic relationships outside of the pair impacts day-to-day living. While a dragonkin partner bond is exclusive to two individuals, the partners can choose to have as many romantic partners as they would like, if any, but all of them must respect the connection between the bonded pair, as the mystical effects of the bond make both partners each half of one whole, moving in synchronicity and often needing one another’s presence to remain healthy and happy. Effective communication is a necessity within dragonkins’ created communities. Majoritarian systems are common in the daily life of many dragonkin. The blend of relationships, and the size of dragonkin, have led to larger-scale housing requirements. Most dragonkin live in small apartment complexes or suites with their extended family, or in networks with multiple families. Bondless dragonkin and other outlying community members are often invited to live in neighboring flats, allowing them easy access to community. Courtyards and rooftop spaces are built to accommodate group meals, games, and recreational activities that can be enjoyed together. Large families make for rowdy gatherings, and whole neighborhoods sometimes come together to celebrate occasions such as birthdays, bondings, and weddings. Traveling to the neighboring mountains to enjoy outdoor activities, especially winter sports, is common. Along the coast, beachside bonfires beneath the full moon range from intimate affairs (with less than 10 individuals in attendance) to raucous carnivals where hundreds gather for games, rides, fried foods, and fortune telling. Dragonkin know that moonlight causes luminescent reflections in their scales that are considered quite attractive, and many find new romantic partners or flings at these gatherings. For young dragonkin approaching the age of maturity, invitations to full moon parties are highly coveted. Dressed to impress with scales polished to a sheen, youthful EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
66 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +4 Str, –2 Dex Hit Points: 6 Size and Type: Dragonkin are Large dragons with a space and reach of 10 feet. Breath Weapon: As a standard action, a dragonkin can breathe a 30-foot cone of flame that deals 1d6 fire damage. At 3rd level, a dragonkin adds 1-1/2 × their character level to the damage. A creature in the cone can attempt a Reflex save for half damage (DC = 10 + half the dragonkin’s character level + their Constitution modified). A dragonkin can’t use this ability again until they’ve taken a 10-minute rest to recover Stamina Points. Draconic Immunities: Dragonkin are immune to sleep effects and gain a +2 species bonus to saving throws against effects that cause paralysis. Draconic Vision: Dragonkin gain darkvision with a range of 60 feet and low-light vision, meaning they can see in dim light as if it were normal light. Flight: A dragonkin gains an extraordinary flight speed of 30 feet with average maneuverability. Until a dragonkin is 5th level, they must end their movement on the ground at the end of each turn or fall. Partner Bond: A dragonkin can form a permanent bond with one willing non-dragonkin creature. Once this bond is made, a dragonkin can’t form another partner bond unless their current partner dies. A dragonkin and their partner can communicate with each other as if they both had telepathy with a range of 100 feet. In combat, when a dragonkin is within 30 feet of their partner, both creatures roll initiative checks separately and treat the higher result as the result for both of them. dragonkin flit from one party to the next, seeking new friends and love connections. A dragonkin in love might take their date to the thermal springs or to enjoy holographic movies. It’s normal for romantic partners to meet one another’s family very early in a relationship. BONDING RITUAL Dragonkin reach maturity at different rates, but the average age is around 25 years old. Traditionally, a party is planned by the second-oldest member of the family. In addition to their household’s members, extended family and close friends are invited. Some Quarter Day parties are treated as festivals, shutting down city blocks to make room for pavilions, live music, refreshments, and hundreds of guests. For larger events, the price of entry is free, but bringing a small gift or good wishes is customary. Today, it’s considered trendy to opt out of formal parties in favor of spending time with one’s own social circle. A dragonkin choosing a more modern celebration might take a trip to mountain distilleries, enjoy a spa day at a hot springs-fed sauna, or seek the thrills of virtual reality arcade games and holovids. No matter what form these parties take, many Quarter Day parties end the same way. Dragonkin remove the largest scale of their mature hide, which often comes from a spot near their shoulder blades—historically the place a rider might lean into for balance or to fit a saddle. Removing the scale leaves a small vulnerable spot on the dragonkin’s hide, which their bonded partner will be trusted to protect. If a dragonkin has already chosen a bonded partner, this scale is used in the ritual to bind them together for a lifetime. If not, the dragonkin places their scale in a box for safekeeping, perfectly preserved until they find the right partner. The empty space on the dragonkin’s hide appears dull, and is a subtle reminder to all that they’re yet incomplete. Today, younger generations of dragonkin sometimes forego this practice, preferring to remain intact until they’re ready to think about choosing a partner. Since some dragonkin never bond, they might never remove the scale, or they might keep it preserved forever, a monument to their self-possession and solitude. Before any binding ritual can take place, dragonkin treat their removed scale with a mixture of herbs and mountain spring water. The process petrifies the scale, turning it opalescent and hard as a gemstone. This new scale is called dolek (pronounced doe-wek). Once an individual finds a suitable partner, and both parties agree to form the bond, the dragonkin chooses or crafts a piece of jewelry to set their dolek into. Partners sometimes discuss the jewelry beforehand, while others enjoy the element of surprise. Most commonly doleks are set into necklaces, rings, bracelets, and brooches, but can be made into earrings or various other body jewelry dependent upon the humanoid partner’s culture and preference. A few partners choose a more extreme display of devotion by having the dolek surgically embedded into their own skin in a place of high visibility, such as a hand or forehead. Bonding rituals are another chance to celebrate family and community in a dragonkin’s life. Always held outside, with whichever family and friends the partners wish to include, bonding rituals are one of the most sacred ceremonies in their culture. Weapons can’t be carried into the sacred space of a bonding ritual, though historically armed guards form a wide perimeter around the festivities. Talk of business and politics are strictly forbidden, and any unbonded dragonkin in attendance who has already created a dolek but hasn’t yet given it to their partner must cover the indentation left by the missing scale with clothing. Each individual pair creates their own bonding ritual, often writing partner vows or performing a dance or musical duet together. Sometimes the partners’ friends prepare a performance or speeches, but always with the seriousness of the occasion in mind. Practical jokes and other shenanigans are frowned upon. Sometimes a priest leads the ritual; this practitioner can be of any faith. A respected community member might preside over the ceremony, or the new pair might buck tradition entirely and direct their own bonding. At the end, the two partners always exchange gifts. Along with their dolek, the dragonkin presents a piece of art they created for their partner, like poetry, paintings, musical compositions, or any other form of art. The dragonkin’s partner always chooses or crafts jewelry, symbolizing the saddle Skyfire Legion dragonriders once used in battle. This jewelry also varies based on personal taste and finances, but gifting an actual saddle is extremely rare and considered outdated by dragonkin culture at large. After the presentation, the ritual is all but complete as the partners seal the strength of their bond. Immediately at the conclusion of the ritual, the dragonkin partner initiates the telepathic link, communicating a phrase only uttered at the
67 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES beginning of this type of companionship and kept secret to all individuals that aren’t part of a matched pair. For a dragonkin whose partner dies but who later chooses to form a second bond, the second ritual is nearly the same as the first. A second scale must be removed from their body and transformed into a dolek. Most often, a dragonkin with a deceased partner takes the scale from a symmetrical location on the other side of their body. Dragonkin and their partners keep the others’ gifts for life, even if one passes on and they form a new bond. Customarily, all dragonkin’s partners are buried with their dolek when they die. Triaxians know the importance of burying or burning doleks with the dead. A dolek being lost or separated from the dead is cause for grief. Expeditions to recover the relics of dead partners are common subjects of literary tragedies. NAMES Dragonkin naming conventions are influenced by the humanoid cultures that they bond with, often naming children after bonded partners or ancestors. Sometimes these names are modified by hardening the consonants. Dragonkin and ryphorians share some common names. Dragonkin names typically have 2-4 syllables, begin with consonants, and duplicate letters. Sample Names Some sample dragonkin names include Gavvixen, Sozrynn, Estrikkon, Dragattsuu, Raskkurenn, Kaaviztzel, Xazzyrra, Tyykendrin, Dyssydanth, Selrikk, Axiennex, and Jittsuuhnix. DRAGONKIN ALTERNATE SPECIES TRAITS Like any species, dragonkin have traveled far from their native Triaxus and can be found everywhere across the galaxy. Through genetic manipulation, magic, and technology, modern dragonkin often choose to modify their bodies. These changes might be reflected in body type, scale color, or the plumes of energy released by their natural breath weapons. Their innate characteristics are just as variable as their cultures and beliefs. Some dragonkin tower to great heights while others are small by comparison. Some are completely wingless, while others display unusual scale colors that match their temperaments and the energy unleashed by their breath weapons. The following options are appropriate for dragonkin PCs but might be available to other characters at the GM’s discretion. Variant Breath Weapon Prerequisite: breath weapon species trait Benefit: At character creation, choose one of the following damage types: acid, bludgeoning, cold, electricity, fire, piercing, slashing, or sonic. Your breath weapon always deals that type of damage. Compact Form Prerequisite: flight species trait Benefit: Some dragonkin genetically modify themselves to have smaller, wingless bodies capable of maneuvering through narrow starship corridors. You gain the Tight Fit feat (Character Operations Manual 119). This replaces flight. FEATS Though their people have a complicated history with their larger cousins, for some dragonkin, their ancient connection to the fearsome true dragons of Triaxus is a source of personal pride. These individuals have pioneered new ways to mimic or unleash their draconic heritage, whether through natural talents or clever applications of magic and technology. Double Trouble You and an ally become a double threat. Benefit: Once per day after you and an ally strike the same target using the same type of weapon within the same round, automatically apply the critical hit effect of the second weapon to hit to the target and increase any associated save DCs by 2. If the ally who struck the target is your bonded partner, in addition to being subject to the critical hit effects, the target is flat-footed until the end of your next turn. Draconic Shot You channel your breath weapon into a ranged attack. Prerequisite: breath weapon species trait Benefit: Once per day, you can channel your natural breath weapon through a ranged weapon as a swift action. As part of a full round attack, add your breath weapon’s damage and energy type to a weapon you’re wielding. You can energize a willing ally’s ranged weapon using your breath weapon as a standard action. The weapon deals this additional damage on its next attack. A weapon affected by Draconic Shot gains the unwieldy property until fired, and it must be fired within 1 minute or the breath weapon’s energy dissipates and is lost. Draconic Senses You can detect even very slight movements nearby. Prerequisites: darkvision and low-light vision Benefit: You’ve enhanced your senses beyond the ability to see your surroundings. You gain blindsense (vibration) 15 feet. If you have the draconic vision species trait, you instead gain blindsense (vibration) 30 feet. Hurl Ally You use your innate strength to launch a smaller ally into the thick of battle. Prerequisites: size Large, Strength 17 Benefit: As a standard action, you can pick up and hurl a willing ally who’s one size category smaller than you up to 30 feet, or up to 60 feet if they’re two size categories smaller than you. You can hurl the ally an additional 5 feet if the ally is your bonded partner. Terrifying Presence Your use of your breath weapon strikes fear into the hearts of your enemies . Prerequisites: breath weapon species trait Benefit: Whenever you deal damage with your breath weapon, all enemies that can perceive you must succeed at a Will save with a DC equal to 15 + your Charisma modifier or gain the frightened condition for 1 round. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
68 The unification of the formian species and the formation of the Colonies transformed their society from a collection of warring hives into an ever-advancing industrial collective with complex social hierarchies. Despite a strict caste system that endures to this day, a great deal of value is placed on the health and wellbeing of individuals. Other species often have difficulty parsing the nuanced social behavior of formians due to the prevalence of high-context nonverbal cues, such as the release of pheromones and the display of colors in the ultraviolet spectrum. This confusion is compounded by formians’ penchant for telepathic communication. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Formians superficially resemble giant ants, albeit with distinct physiology. Each has a segmented body with six limbs, using the rear four for stability and locomotion. In contrast, their upper body and front limbs are oriented vertically in a way that’s reminiscent of other humanoids. These front limbs end in several clawlike digits and grant formians fine motor control comparable to that of most humanoids. A heavy, chitinous carapace protects their entire bodies. This natural armor varies significantly in form and color, and formians with differing geographic and maternal ancestries often exhibit unique features. Formian carapaces most often occur in shades of black, brown, red, or yellow. Still, selective transparency and iridescence in some subspecies create complex patterns that most species perceive as green, blue, or even purple. Formians also sport spiky, chitinous growths on their carapaces, most often along the shoulders, elbows, and other joints to serve as defensive weapons. These protrusions’ arrangements are as individual as fingerprints and can be used to identify individuals. Although their two compound eyes are the most prominent, formians have five eyes. The three additional eyes are arranged in a triangle high on the forehead, functioning primarily to sense light and assist formians with navigation. While ancient formians typically had side-facing compound eyes that granted nearly 360-degree vision, modern formian’s compound eyes face forward, providing exceptional depth perception and focus from hundreds of tiny lenses. Formians can also see specific colors on the ultraviolet spectrum, although this feature is primarily used in a social context. Like their eyes, formian mouths have also evolved considerably over time. Their once-powerful insectile mandibles have developed into a more gracile form barely stronger than human jaws. Ringing the mouth are fine, fingerlike sensory appendages that help filter particles, maneuver food, and taste. Collectively, these features facilitate speech, albeit often with a percussive quality including clicking consonants that most species struggle to recreate. Coin-sized ultraviolet FORMIAN Home World: Castrovel (Pact Worlds) Formians are a eusocial species of ant-like humanoids who inhabit a region of Castrovel known as the Colonies. Even during peacetime, they’re remembered as capable and relentless warriors. patches faintly glow to either side of a formian’s mouth, and while these patches don’t meaningfully provide illumination, they do help formians spot each other in low-light conditions while conveying mood and health. This feature is even more prominent in subspecies deep below the Nestwall Mountains on Castrovel, where formians have ultraviolet lines that span their whole bodies, which can be consciously controlled for basic visual communication. Formians hatch from ovoid eggs about the size of a large melon. These translucent, legless larvae feed and grow rapidly over several months, after which they envelop themselves in silken cocoons to pupate over several weeks. The form of the young adult who emerges depends considerably on their diet and environment early in life, which a typical hive carefully controls to create the desired ratio of formians designed to be workers, soldiers, myrmarchs, and more. Youths then receive intensive education and training for most of a year before graduating and participating directly in the community’s success. As mature adults, formians molt infrequently and irregularly, most often corresponding to signals that they need to grow and acquire new traits to better serve the hive. HOME WORLD Formians evolved on the green planet known as Castrovel, second from the Pact Worlds sun. Their ancestors evaded the surface jungles’ immense predators by sheltering deep underground and emerging at night to forage and mate. In their subterranean hives, formians harnessed tools and steadily developed more advanced technology that allowed them to defend newly acquired surface territories. Formian hives are most concentrated across the southwestern continent known simply as “The Colonies,” although in truth, they can be found across the planet. Even following their political unification, these hives maintain unique cultural identities. Such aspects include the original symbols that represented each of the hives, their traditions, and their ancestral stories. A queen rules each major settlement, sometimes in turn reporting to a higher-ranking queen who rules an entire hive. Cities are vast, extending for miles in all directions and occasionally connecting as their trajectories intersect. The chambers within these structures tend to be utilitarian, utilizing efficient spaces designed to be quickly closed off or quarantined. This design gives them a tendency toward dense, vertical structuring, causing the floor plans of formian hives to resemble an unfathomable and ever-growing expanse of inverted skyscrapers connected by tunnels. Most non-formians have never witnessed such places firsthand, as the largest formian hubs where outside traffic usually occurs are designed to cater to commerce, tourism, and less structured aesthetics.
69 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES Despite these architectural tendencies, formian cities are far from uniform. Their specific architecture varies regionally, a testament to their histories. Those cities and boroughs that grow beneath the jungle floor often include vast underground gardens, where plants are cultivated hydroponically. Coastal hives around the continent’s inland gulf often incorporate structures that extend into the water, accessible by formians who have evolved to hold their breath and survive for great distances beneath the waves. There are even rumored to be hives with mind-boggling architecture secured deep within the trunks of Castrovel’s oldest trees. The majority of formian cities are commonly identified by a pair of numerals. The first numeral is based on their originating hive— assigned in the order in which the hives swore their service to the “Overqueen,” a metaphorical stand-in for the formians as a unified species—while the second numeral serves as the unique identifier for the city. The systems for assigning these numerals vary, but they’re most often based on their distance from their hive’s queen rather than the order in which they were constructed. There’s one hive in the Colonies that bears no number and is known by many ominous names: the ruined hive, the broken hive, the fallen hive, and more. The hive’s destruction long ago prompted a gathering remembered as the Meeting of Queens that unified formian society, and the site has become a sacred memorial—a place for reflection and a monument to their failures. It’s remote, reachable on foot only via a days-long journey from the nearest port, cutting through the desert. The hive is a ruin of broken architecture surrounding a vast, quiet sinkhole. In many parts of the Colonies, it’s a rite of passage to make the pilgrimage and see it firsthand. SOCIETY Formian society revolves around a hierarchy of castes: queens, myrmarchs, taskmasters, warriors, and workers. This structure has led many other species across the Pact Worlds to describe them as authoritarian, but these descriptions are overly simplistic in the modern era. In practice, most formians enjoy a high level of self-determination in their pursuit of contributing meaningfully to their society. While queens, and to a lesser extent myrmarchs and taskmasters, possess abilities that can control or coerce warriors and workers, doing so is considered appropriate only in emergency situations. In addition, an overall focus on the quality of life in the colonies has led to a thriving collective. As a species, formians tend to follow results, and it’s widely acknowledged that individual contributions are more significant and efficient when workers are afforded autonomy and respect. Should a young formian intended for one role demonstrate unexpected aptitude for a different one, the hive often redirects them into a position where they’ll best thrive and contribute. As workers age out of the labor force, they’re often functionally reemployed as taskmasters due to their expertise in the most detailed aspects of production. In general, formians tend not to enjoy idle entertainment on its own. Instead, a formian instinctively relaxes through productive hobbies and personal projects like building models or learning new skills. Especially over the past 30 years, since achieving peace on Castrovel, formians increasingly enjoy creating art as a meditative exploration of themselves. Given most formians are non-reproductive, their society de-emphasizes sexual identity or reframes it in ways that make sense in their specific culture. Matters of gender tend to be reinterpreted as other questions of identity. A favorite example involved an offworld visitor asking about a formian’s gender, and the latter replied simply, “I am a historian.” That said, gender disinterest is largely cultural. Formians who spend substantial time among other societies periodically develop a sense of gender and choose one that they enjoy socially, independent of their physical sex. Others prefer to embrace fluidity or nonbinary genders. When it comes to personal expression, little can measure up to the time-honored art of carapace engraving. This art form seems to have developed ages ago for thoroughly practical purposes, as scratching parts of the exoskeleton makes EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
70 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Str, +2 Con, –2 Wis Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Formians are Medium monstrous humanoids. Formian Senses: Formians have darkvision with a range of 60 feet, and they have blindsense (scent) with a range of 30 feet. Limited Telepathy: Formians can communicate telepathically with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language. Natural Weapons (P): Formians have the natural weapons universal creature rule. Sonic Resistance: Thanks to the chitinous plates that cover them, formians have sonic resistance 5. it better at absorbing, retaining, and wafting pheromone signatures, enhancing formians’ ability to identify each other and communicate. Over time, the practice evolved into a tattoo-like tradition for warriors to denote their ranks and accomplishments, and it has since expanded into dozens of largely aesthetic military and civilian styles. Originally performed using the engraver’s own claws, it’s now more common for a professional engraver to employ a ritual chisel to incise the shallow grooves. These grooves are usually left open, and some formians increasingly experiment with special inlays like metals or ultraviolet lacquers. A few have even begun piercing their exoskeletons and filling the holes with clear resin to create even more dramatic designs. The actual shapes depicted tend to be traditional and complexly geometric, varying widely by hive and personal taste. Those versed in this heraldry can glean information about a formian from their designs, such as their ancestry, where they’ve lived, or their personal aspirations. Formians who live in other cultures often adopt local designs into their carapaces. An adult formian’s infrequent molting provides a blank slate, and many take it as an opportunity to explore and reinvent their visual identity with all-new designs. Rarely, proven friends of a hive who aren’t formians themselves receive special dispensation to tattoo their bodies with that hive’s special patterns, marking the recipient as someone the hive treats as one of their own. Formians don’t have a structured language of their own, as their ancestors shifted directly from a pheromone-based language to a telepathic one. That said, spoken languages are quite widespread to the point that many formians rely on syntax and symbolic logic from languages like Common or Castrovelian to frame their telepathic missives. Pheromones remain a commonplace secondary form of communication, used to signal one’s mood, health, and nearby dangers. These scents often convey little additional information beyond an instinctual aversion or attraction and tend to be utilized for broad warnings. Nonetheless, formians occasionally develop the ability to manipulate the composition of their pheromone trails to such a fine degree that they can effectively write olfactory sentences. Such skills are highly valued for covert operations, especially amongst non-formians who are unable to decipher their nuanced meanings. Formians also convey information to each other using the ultraviolet spots at the corners of their mouths. The hue and intensity vary based on the formian’s emotional state, though with considerable practice, a formian can consciously control these spots. It’s uncouth to comment directly on these spots and their messages, yet their cues are an important component of formians’ expectation of clear communication. Other species’ lack of similar spots often disorients formians socially, encouraging the latter to overshare or act more bluntly to compensate. THE CALL Some formians experience an unmistakable psychic phenomenon known as “the call that demands an answer”
71 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES or simply “the Call.” This phenomenon comes in many forms but is characterized by an intense and inexorable longing to travel beyond their hive. The feeling usually doesn’t communicate what the formian should do after departing, so some travel to form new colonies, while others feel called to conduct further research or serve as emissaries among other species. Experiencing the Call is an auspicious and respected event. No individual has the right to deny another’s call, no matter their role in the hive. In preparation for upcoming ordeals, the called individual undertakes a series of ritual acts according to their hive’s traditions. First is an act of cleansing. Second, they relinquish their birth name, the numeric designation that they were first assigned, to then be given a new one—a zero number that identifies their place among the called. In some parts of the Colonies, the carapace of their abdomen is then engraved with elaborate and complex geometric patterns denoting the long-form history of their hive. These patterns serve as a historical record; no matter how far they go, in this way, they’ll always take their people with them and remember where they came from. NAMES A formian receives a name at birth that’s conveyed through pheromonal and telepathic signatures, and which is often translated into a numerical shorthand when written or used by non-formians. These names consist of 14 numerals in the format “XX-XXXX-XXXXXXXX,” where the sequence of numbers represents their hive, city, clutch, and individual designation. Often, formians neither need nor seek any other name. However, formians who interact with other cultures often create a name. These names are most often adopted or adapted from other languages like Castrovelian or Common. Some formians, however, create their own names, often including a mandible click, tsk, or other self-styled punctuation. Sample Names Arkichi, Chakik, Gruuk, Kachigig, Krik, Trrikit’t, and Urkai. FORMIAN ALTERNATE SPECIES TRAIT Some formians develop functional wings that are segmented and partly fold into grooves in the carapace between the shoulders when not in use. Known as alates, these winged individuals are often reproductive formians who travel widely to establish new colonies. After mating, these formians typically lose their wings and become queens, retiring from their adventures for the good of their burgeoning hive. For a variety of reasons, though, alates might retain their wings permanently. Although adept fliers, these formians’ carapaces are notably softer than average and lack most of the typical defensive protrusions. Formian alates have an extraordinary fly speed of 30 feet with average maneuverability. This replaces natural weapons and sonic resistance. FEATS Formians have mastered numerous chemical and industrial abilities; other cultures and species have also developed similar feats independently. Chemical Trail You can imprint and interpret scent-related messages. Prerequisites: Blindsense (scent), blindsight (scent), or Survival 5 ranks Benefit: As a full action, you can mark a 5-foot square with specialized pheromones that encode a message you devise and, at your option, a direction. The message has a maximum number of words equal to your Charisma modifier or half your level, whichever is higher, and it can’t contain proper nouns. For example, you could convey “danger this way” with a direction, but not “Ask for Luwazi Elsebo.” To notice your pheromone markings, a creature within 15 feet must succeed at a Perception check with a DC equal to 20 + your level, and a creature interprets the message only if they exceed the check DC by 10 or more. A creature with blindsense (scent) or blindsight (scent) gains a +10 or +20 circumstance bonus respectively to detect and interpret your pheromone markings and can do so within the range of their sense if it’s greater than 15 feet. Efficient Engineering Your experience and industriousness enable you to dramatically streamline your crafting projects. Prerequisites: Int 15, Engineering 5 ranks Benefit: When you craft two or more of a specific item at a time, you must expend only 90% the normal number of UPBs when creating all subsequent copies of that item (or 80% if your number of ranks in the appropriate skill to craft the item exceeds that item’s level by 5 or more). This discount when crafting subsequent copies of the item persist until you either go 24 hours without making another of that item or until you make any other type of item. Toxic Strike Your body naturally generates venom that you can deliver with your natural armaments. Prerequisites: Con 13, natural weapons species trait Benefit: When you deal damage with an unarmed strike that deals piercing or slashing damage, as a reaction, you can expose the target to your biotoxin. Once you’ve used your venom, you can’t do so again until you rest for 10 minutes to regain Stamina Points, with a maximum number of daily uses equal to your Constitution modifier. When you select this feat, you choose which ability score track your poison uses, using the following progression for which the final state is the end state. Strength: Healthy—Weakened—Impaired—Staggered Dexterity: Healthy—Sluggish—Stiffened—Staggered Constitution: Healthy—Weakened—Impaired—Debilitated Intelligence: Healthy—Weakened—Impaired—Animalistic Wisdom: Healthy—Weakened—Impaired—Confused Charisma: Healthy—Weakened—Impaired—Pliable PERSONAL BIOTOXIN Type poison (injury); Save Fortitude DC 10 + half your level + your Constitution modifier Track Special; Onset 1 round; Frequency 1/round for 6 rounds Cure 1 save. All effects end 1 hour after cure. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
72 Hadrogaans are renowned for their efficiency with processing information, making optimal decisions, and reacting. Their talents are only possible because they’re a symbiotic people: long ago, hadrogaans began implanting living, telepathic crystals into their bodies to survive a natural disaster that ruined their home world, Hadrogess. They’ve resided on its moons ever since, but they’re often found lending their intellect and muscle to allies among the worlds of the Vast. Even a solitary hadrogaan can be a tremendous asset to a crew, as each hadrogaan carries within them a living neural network. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Much of hadrogaan history has been lost, but a leading theory holds that ancient hadrogaans were once a physiologically uniform species, many of whose characteristics survive in the two types of hadrogaans who now exist. Like their ancestors, hadrogaans are about 8 feet tall, and they have three-fingered hands and two legs that culminate in elongated cloven hooves. Their heads are broad and set with four eyes, with one pair halfway up the face and a second, larger pair of eyes set higher and further across the brow. Their overall complexion ranges from bright red to light purple, whereas the skin along their palms, throat, chin, inner sides of their limbs, and so on typically ranges from forest green to pale cyan. Unlike their predecessors, modern hadrogaans are born with numerous irregular hollows in their body, typically several inches across, but sometimes longer and shallower when located along a limb. These hollows are specially adapted to accommodate the crystalline symbiotes known as kallestrine. In addition, hadrogaans are now a dimorphic species—likely a change catalyzed by the species’ longtime crystalline symbiosis— with each child born as either a luma or doluma. Hadrogaan dimorphism is strictly a physiological difference, not a genetic one. Not only are doluma and luma hadrogaans able to reproduce together without any issue, but also the parents’ identities don’t seem to affect whether their offspring are doluma or luma. Lumas average slightly taller than dolumas, with narrow bodies that are heavy-set with kallestrine. Lumas tend to have about a dozen individual kallestrine settings throughout their bodies. While most are set along limbs, the chest, and the spine, every luma has one cluster of kallestrine in less commonly occurring locations, such as along the throat, between the eyes, on the knuckles, or around the knees. While the increased amount of kallestrine facilitates rapid thought and action, their quantity often leaves clear vulnerabilities in the hadrogaan’s body as well as causes pain later in life since kallestrine placements grind against tendon and bone. HADROGAAN Home World: Hadrogess (The Vast) With one consciousness born of a brain and another born of crystalline symbiotes set in their bodies, hadrogaans are adaptable humanoids who survived their home world’s demise and are prepared to explore the stars. Dolumas tend to be slightly shorter with comparably shorter limbs and stouter statures. Dolumas have broader shoulders, thicker hips, and bulkier legs to support their frame. Their bodies tend to have about half as many kallestrine settings as do luma bodies, and these settings are often shallow and protect vital areas, such as the lower back, along the underarm, or over the solar plexus. With fewer symbiotes drawing on their energy and displacing musculature, dolumas are typically strong and tough by comparison, though they have less robust neural networks compared to lumas. Kallestrine augments taxes a hadrogaan’s physiology in numerous ways. This symbiote and its effects are detailed further on page 74. HOME WORLD Hadrogaans originate from Hadrogess, a planet that’s currently uninhabitable. Based off what little of hadrogaan history that survives, Hadrogess was once a habitable planet, though never a verdant one. At some point in the planet’s history, a disaster stripped it of its atmosphere. Though the details of this cataclysm are lost to time, accounts of the years that followed indicate that the disaster was incremental, not sudden. Whether the planet’s molten core cooled to the point that its magnetic field faded, industrialization triggered irreversible ecological damage, warfare devastated the landscape, or some other misfortune, hadrogaans banded together in two key ways: symbiosis and evacuation. Miners on Hadrogess accidentally encountered kallestrine early in this disaster, and the magically adept hadrogaans sensed and contacted these crystalline beings buried deep underground. Both had detected the impending crisis and hoped to survive the fallout, and together they experimented with merging their minds and bodies to best develop ways to avoid extinction. The details are largely lost to ancient history and the Gap, but what’s apparent isn’t just that the kallestrine transformed the hadrogaans, with each new generation becoming better adapted to integrate and cooperate with kallestrine symbiotes implanted in their bodies shortly after birth, but also that, together, the now-symbiotic species traveled to, terraformed, and colonized Hadrogess’s three moons: Ghanzid, Urorohss, and Hadhi. Modern Hadrogess is a nearly lifeless world with a toxic atmosphere, upwellings of radioactivity, and a handful of tenacious (and often aggressive) organisms that narrowly adapted to the dying world. Ghanzid: As the first of the moons to be colonized, when hadrogaan terraforming techniques were still limited, Ghanzid’s populated areas are largely subterranean. Underground, they could more easily craft stable microhabitats. As hadrogaans continued excavating, these microhabitats expanded into
73 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES districts and later into a complex network of subway tunnels, industrial elevators, and settlements. With numerous shops, artisans, and syndicates that have histories dating back centuries, Ghanzid is an anthropological jewel that preserves many of hadrogaans’ oldest traditions. Ghanzid’s infrastructure and mineral deposits make it the most industrial of the three moons, yet a healthy fraction of the profits fuels a vibrant arts scene. For each new tunnel or depository that’s built, another gets vacated, leaving space for gatherings, celebrations, and spontaneous performances. Ghanzid’s food culture, on the other hand, is widely considered inferior to that of the other two moons. Its limited biodiversity shaped a bland diet meant more for survival than pleasure, though contemporary chefs have begun both importing offworld ingredients and innovating exciting ways to spice up old recipes. Urorohss: Only settled after terraforming technology improved, Urorohss was the first moon where hadrogaans produced a fully breathable atmosphere. Urorohss is heavily forested, and its parks rival its cities in size. With so much space, nature, and biodiversity, universities have mostly relocated to new facilities on Urorohss. This idyllic world has fueled a growing philosophy: that the traditional methods of self-restraint when a young hadrogaan is acclimating to kallestrine are backward and that only by indulging and experiencing strong emotions can the two organisms form a proper bond. The moon’s inhabitants often poll as being the happiest of the three and exhibit powerful neural networks, yet they also suffer the greatest rates of kallestrine decoupling, where the two beings’ consciousnesses snap apart when under extreme stress. Hadhi: Hadrogaans settled the third moon only after encountering other spacefaring people. From its inception, Hadhi was designed as a sprawling military base, artillery platform, and shipyard to ward off what hadrogaans saw as a largely hostile galaxy. Although this perspective has softened considerably over time, Hadhi remains a sparsely populated and heavily surveilled world of mountains, river-carved gorges, and broad valleys carpeted with grass. Its inhabitants experience high rates of effacement, a process in which one’s kallestrine gradually subsumes the hadrogaan’s consciousness, inadvertently suppressing skills, memories, and idiosyncrasies. The process is reversible with time and care, yet the moon’s stark social and natural environment provide little room to heal. The old syndicates of Ghanzid have begun to raise the alarm about conditions on Hadhi but have faced resistance from Hadhi’s recently instated military hierarchy. SOCIETY Hadrogaan society changed rapidly after their unification with kallestrine and egress to Ghanzid. The moon’s limited resources, their planet’s final gasps of life, and no known interstellar neighbors to trade with fueled a culture driven by scarcity, survival, and cooperation. Even as living conditions improved over generations and revolutionaries challenged the austere measures their forebears had embraced, the culture that emerged emphasized unity: just as kallestrine crystal interlaced their bodies, so too was each hadrogaan part of a larger, sacred network like one glorious organism. After a series of conferences attended by each of the major hadrogaan industries and institutions, the First Hadrogaan Federation (FHF) was born. By building a society around workers’ syndicates, the FHF expunged entrenched bureaucrats and owners of industry, as both siphoned and wasted wealth at the expense of workers. In the beginning, they easily eliminated most of these hierarchies because with such a small population, few luxuries, and the shared labor required to transform Ghanzid into a stable home, there were few ways for moguls to hide. Yet, as prosperity returned, interstellar visitors introduced new ideas, and hadrogaans colonized the other moons, hadrogaan society increasingly diverged from the FHF’s overarching designs. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
74 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Int, +2 Wis, –2 Con (Luma) or +2 Str, +2 Wis, –2 Int (Doluma) Hit Points: 4 Size and Type: Hadrogaans are Medium humanoids with the hadrogaan subtype. Dual Nervous Systems: Hadrogaans have both an organic brain and a crystalline nervous system. A hadrogaan can install an additional brain augmentation. Hadrogaan Dimorphism: All hadrogaans gain +2 Wisdom at character creation. Luma hadrogaans have acute intellects (+2 Intelligence at character creation) at the expense of physical health (–2 Constitution at character creation). Doluma hadrogaans are muscular (+2 Strength at character creation) and slower to process information (–2 Intelligence at character creation). Hadrogaan Senses: The crystals in a hadrogaan’s body can sense subtle vibrations in the environment. A hadrogaan has blindsense (vibration) with a range of 30 feet. Ghanzid’s communities still uphold a less restrictive version of the FHF’s vision, whereas the people of Urorohss and Hadhi have incorporated many different (and in some cases, imported) mentalities. Recent generations dissolved the FHF, restructuring and reuniting as the Hadrogaan Moons Coalition (HMC), which focuses on galactic policy, diplomacy, and helping organize its constituents to compete in the interstellar economy. With limited raw materials, the HMC has focused instead on developing hadrogaan service and manufacturing industries— anything from education, construction, and military consulting to medicine, arcane services, and thinktank contributions. To this end, it coordinates large labor contingents contracted for a period of months or years, ensuring the workers have their passage, housing, and other basic needs covered in addition to good pay. Nobody is drafted or compelled to participate, and hadrogaans instead sign up for the fair compensation and opportunity to see (and sometimes stay in) the many worlds beyond their own. Of all the beings they’ve encountered thus far, hadrogaans have developed a mutual fondness for dwarves. In addition to their shared expertise in mining and appreciation for ordered societies, hadrogaans especially appreciate the dwarves’ Quest for Sky, which parallels their own ancient call to action and journey into space. KALLESTRINE Kallestrine are crystalline organisms native to Hadrogess’s crust, typically growing several hundred feet below the surface. Historically, kallestrine developed vast spindle grids that interlaced the bedrock like a mycelial network, which they use to exchange minerals and ideas as they slowly grew and pondered their lightless existence. Thanks to this network, the kallestrine community sensed its planet’s gradual demise. Thus, when hadrogaan miners unexpectedly unearthed several shards, these accidental ambassadors were happy to explain their plight and coordinate the two species’ union. A kallestrine’s psychology has little sense of self, more or less treating themself as a single being despite being comprised of many fragments with different minds. When merged with a hadrogaan, the various kallestrine fragments form new connections throughout the body, allowing the fragments to act with one mind in parallel with the hadrogaan’s. This unification usually involves fitting smaller kallestrine shards into a youth’s body and then giving them several weeks in which the shards grow to fill their allotted space, during which time the two entities develop and test their lifelong bond. Rarely, this process ends in rejection as the crystals detach and fall free in an emotionally traumatic separation. Assuming the process works, the two become literally inseparable; tearing kallestrine free causes intense psychological harm and can even erase some of a hadrogaan’s essential life functions. Likewise, kallestrine can fracture like a bone and can heal in a similar way, though the damage can impede concentration or even cause memory loss. As a result, despite their kallestrine often reinforcing their bodies’ weak points, hadrogaans usually don’t employ their crystalline components as defensive tools. A hadrogaan benefits from the arrangement thanks to their kallestrine’s intellectual discourse, providing another perspective in analyzing any problem and a degree of neurological redundancy. In addition, a kallestrine lacks visual senses but does perceive their surroundings through touch, sensing their environment without the need for eyes and empathically sharing this information with their partner. In return, the hadrogaan provides a home and nourishment for their crystals, which draw on some of the body’s heat and require a steady diet of sundry minerals. This symbiosis often triggers surprising food cravings for hadrogaans, leading them to chase after some magnesiumrich vegetable or sprinkle aluminum-fortified salts on their meals. Once a hadrogaan has bonded to kallestrine, it’s extremely difficult for new fragments to be transplanted without triggering rejection, as the various unfamiliar psyches fight with each other. The more closely aligned a donor is with the recipient, the better the odds of acceptance, though previously unbonded kallestrine often clash with their previously bonded body. Thus, it’s rare for anyone but family, dear friends, and lovers to share symbiotic material. That said, hadrogaans occasionally chip off a small piece of their kallestrine to give to a true friend, who’s expected to incorporate the offered kallestrine into their body. This quantity isn’t enough to trigger mental distress and instead is a symbolic gesture of entrusting part of one’s own self to another. NAMES Hadrogaan names often provide context for an individual’s life. Full names include a personal name and family name but might also include a name related to their syndicate (Tenth-District Engineering, shortened to “Tenth”), the place they were raised (Urorohss-blossom, shortened to “Blossom”), rare placement of kallestrine in their body (Ankle-set, Ear-hollowed), and so on. Hadrogaans savor these unique aspects of someone’s personal history, family history, or background, which all enrich the
75 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES greater social organism hadrogaans see themselves as being part of. In general, a hadrogaan’s kallestrine symbiotes don’t volunteer or even require a name, though occasionally a network develops an acute sense of self, creates a name, and adds that to their hadrogaan host’s own. Sample Names Akhig, Caalriu, Fermoul, Khiri, Metenck, Rhouu, Soriuss, Sutaadh, Tephys, Umepht, and Yorrit. AUGMENTATIONS Hadrogaans developed the following magitech augmentations, though these technologies have gradually proliferated the galaxy and might be available to other PCs. DECEPTION NODE SYSTEM Brain PRICE 9,500 LEVEL 8 When activated as a swift action, this artificial organ translates your subconscious thoughts into inane chatter that you hardly notice but that psychic intruders find jarring. While the system is active, you gain a +2 resistance bonus to saving throws against effects that read your thoughts (such as detect thoughts). Also, any creature contacting you with telepathy or reading your thoughts must succeed at a Will save (DC = 10 + 1/2 your level + your Charisma modifier) or become dazzled and unable to communicate with their telepathy for 1d4 rounds; if they’re concentrating on a spell that reads your thoughts, they lose concentration, potentially ending the spell. You can deactivate the node as a swift action. Once a creature successfully saves against your deception node, they’re immune to it for 1 hour. If you have two deception nodes installed, they provide you greater control over your mental chatter, and you can activate or deactivate both as a swift action. While both are active, the resistance bonus to saving throws increases to +3, and the DC to resist the nodes’ effect increases by 1. If a creature reading your thoughts fails the saving throw, rather than dazzling them and interrupting their concentration, you can instead provide false thoughts to the creature. Doing so functions as telling a lie using the Bluff skill, though you reduce any DC modifier from the creature’s attitude by 5 if they’re unfriendly or hostile. PSYCHIC STRIKE NODE SYSTEM Brain MODEL LEVEL PRICE DAMAGE BASIC 4 2,100 2D8 STANDARD 9 13,500 5D8 ADVANCED 14 73,000 9D8 ELITE 19 557,000 14D8 A psychic strike node gradually accumulates your stray thoughts and releases them in an offensive burst of mental energy when activated as a standard action. The burst is a mind-affecting effect that affects all other creatures within 10 feet of you, dealing an amount of untyped damage based on the model. Affected creatures who succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + half your level + your choice of your Constitution modifier, Intelligence modifier, Wisdom modifier, or Charisma modifier, chosen when you install this augmentation) take half damage and negate any additional effects from the burst (below). Once you’ve activated the node, you can’t do so again until you’ve rested for 10 minutes to regain Stamina Points, though you can spend 1 Resolve Point to recharge it immediately. If you have two psychic strike nodes of the same model (which requires having the ability to install two augmentations in your brain system), the second node doesn’t grant additional uses of the mental burst. Instead, you activate the nodes as a pair, augmenting the mental burst in one of the following ways, chosen each time you activate the augmentations: you increase the damage dice to d10s, the burst affects all creatures within 20 feet of you, you can exclude up to three creatures in the burst’s area to not affect, or you cause any creature who fails their Will saving throw to also become sickened for 1d3 rounds. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
76 Hanakans shun technology, instead utilizing magic for their societal and personal needs. A symbiosis with an adaptive bacteria helped these raptor-like beings expand across their dangerously volcanic home planet and throughout their star system. Their peaceful society places great value on personal enrichment, individual accomplishment, and peaceful settlement of disagreements through debate, proxy champions, and subterfuge. They carry mystical stones, called ssenavars, that hold symbolic religious significance and are sometimes magical in their own right. Supported by their innate magical abilities, their instinctive curiosity and culture of non-violent competition make them savvy spacefarers and shrewd sorcerers. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Hanakans are reptilian bipeds with lithe bodies, flexible necks, and whiplike tails that speak to their roots as opportunistic scavengers and hunters of small game. Each hanakan grows uniquely colored feathers on their arms, tails, and heads, which serve as both personal identifiers and as the vehicle for the species’ complex and nuanced somatic language. These feathers also have a remarkably high ignition temperature, helping shield hanakans from embers on their volcanic home world. Although perhaps once razor sharp, a modern hanakan’s claws and talons have evolved to better manipulate tools and scrabble up cliffs, rather than to tear prey. Omnivorous by nature, hanakans magically operate farms where they produce a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and nuts, while subterranean ranchers rear cattle-sized, herbivorous spiders called vanshas that serve as agile beasts of burden and a source of meat. The average hanakan stands 30 inches tall at the shoulder, measures 4 feet from nose to tail, and weighs around 25 pounds. The adaptive symbiotic bacteria in hanakan lungs allows them to breathe in a broade range of environments, an advantage that not only allowed them to survive the volcanic surface of their home world Ssets’Akana, but also allowed early hanakan to explore their solar system via teleportation magic. Like hanakan and most other species found on Ssets’Akana, the symbiotic bacteria possess latent magical qualities. Though xenobiologists can successfully recreate the bacteria’s adaptive properties, they’ve yet to detect any traces of magic in their lab-grown specimens, further deepening the unanswered question of what precisely the bacteria’s magic does. Hanakans generate magic of their own, independent of their microbiome. Hatchlings often flare with harmless sparks or uncontrollably change color before learning to control their powers, usually by the end of their first year. Even without further training, a typical hanakan can smell magical auras and perform minor arcane feats. Those who do develop their magic thrive thanks to their intuitive understanding of eldritch forces. HANAKAN Home World: Ssets’Akana (The Vast) Hanakan are small, feathered saurians with magical abilities. Their clever minds are adept at magic and medicine, and their claws make them agile climbers and runners. HOME WORLD Hanakans originate from the volcanically volatile planet of Ssets’Akana, the second planet from the Ash’Akan system’s sun. The tectonic activity stems partly from a vast connection to the Plane of Earth deep in the planet’s core. The planet’s extreme volcanic activities mean that elaborate magical protections are required for the handful of hanakan cities that dot the ashen landscape. Buildings of hardened light, flying globes, and other surreal magical architecture stand in stark contrast to the steaming rock and swirling ash of the environs. These cities define themselves in part by the role a particular school of magic played there in hanakan history. This quality drives scholarship as well as a mostly friendly planetwide rivalry. Hsst’Hyssasha occupies a collapsed stratovolcano cone, and it was there that hanakan abjurers and evokers defeated ancient enemies made of electricity, likely seeding hanakan dislike for electricity and technology later. The twinned cities Hsst’Vaka and Hsst’Pliva are built within and atop a mesa respectively, serving as the intellectual seat of philosophy and civics. Hsst’Vaka’s necromancers call upon ghosts as eyewitnesses and maintain records alongside skeletal archivists, while Hsst’Pliva’s vibrant politics exist alongside its colleges of ethics and enchantments. Illusion thrives in Hsst’Panayka through art and displays of prowess, most famously during the Trials of Power combat tournament held there every four years. With its factories fueled by extraplanar fonts and conjured materials, Hsst’Kul provides finished goods across the Ash’Akan system. It also hosts the Starleap Sanctum, a teleportation-focused school whose best disciples can transport travelers between the stars for the right price. Having foreseen its future of being swallowed by the sea, the diviners of Hsst’Anan magically levitated their whole island, which now wanders the planet while serving as part spaceport, part cruise liner, and part taxi. Smaller settlements survive beyond the magically protected zones. Though most shelter in narrow valleys or are built into lava tube networks, others turn to taboo means of preservation, such as infernal pacts, sinister rituals, or even technological solutions. Some just relocate every few centuries. After all, most of Ssets’Akana’s volcanic hotspots wander slowly, and verdant forest might become a pyroclastic wasteland after a few generations. This process has buried countless metropolises in ash, sealing away lost magics that await archaeologists. Dense jungles spring up in the wake of volcanic eruptions within days, and hanakan legends speak of immense plant-like guardians that accelerate the growth. These verdant pockets attract technologists using the forest to hide their forbidden artifice. Tales of these dangerous outcasts and magical monsters feature heavily in hanakan bedtime stories.
77 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES SOCIETY Ancient hanakans traveled in packs for mutual protection and group hunting strategies, with groups fracturing or uniting as needed to exploit new opportunities or evade danger. That pack mentality still influences modern society despite the many changes that followed the discovery of soulstones. Hanakans often form overlapping social circles of about 5 to 40 members—often including some blood relatives—that satiate their instinctive pack mentality. Fewer companions than this tend to trigger feelings of anxiety and vulnerability that most hanakans conceal with bravado. Vast packs, on the other hand, start becoming socially cumbersome, and these groups amicably split into smaller units. These outlooks don’t discourage hanakans from city living. Instead, metropolises just mean thousands of intersecting packs and networks that savvy hanakans can navigate to procure just about any service or favor. One hanakan could easily be part of a family-oriented pack, a guild-like pack of likeminded professionals, a pack of recreational pilots, and a pack of diehard magical sports fans, each with a complex hierarchy. Religious hanakans often worship deities of learning, community, and magic, such as Eloritu, Talavet, or Yaraesa. Hylax has a small but passionate following due to hanakans’ general preference for nonviolent conflict resolution. Beyond cultural outcasts and curious iconoclasts, Triune’s worship is practically unknown. Contests Warfare is rare among hanakans, who much prefer resolving conflicts through minimally violent means. Most often, this resolution takes the form of wordplay, usually debate. While there are formal formats for debate, any form of informed argument will do. Hanakans are keenly appreciative of minute details, whether in magical theories, written works, or physical craftsmanship, and this attention features in Ssets’Akanan spoken conflicts—as the saying goes, “The distance between a life and a death is as narrow as a misspoken word.” Sometimes, debating facts is too subtle. Either as sport or as a formal means of embarrassing someone in retaliation for a slight, many hanakans practice vrukulaa, a contest of ritualized boasting, insult, and dance. A participant extols their own virtues in front of a gathered crowd before twisting their brags into a verbal attack against their opponent, who must answer with virtues and attacks of their own. Truth and debate style impact the contest somewhat, but it’s just as important to construct poetically exciting lines, flare one’s feathers at key moments, perform complex dance steps while orating, and deliver everything with flair—often with one’s pack punctuating wild claims with supportive cheers and jeers from the sidelines. A vrukulaa typically lasts only a few rounds before there’s a clear victor, though the contest can extend indefinitely, with a few legendary bouts having gone for days. Just as some cultures lionize the moment when two beings achieve perfect harmony and understanding of one another, hanakan society revels in pyh’huz, the rare moment when two evenly matched and opposing sides achieve a perfect stalemate—a revelation typically punctuated by both parties incoherently screeching, kicking up dust, and hopping about in a moment of shared emotional release, after which it’s customary to end the contest as a draw. Despite being a departure from hanakans’ usual eloquence, these uncommon, socially acceptable tantrums represent a mutual frustration with and respect between the competitors. Magic Magic doesn’t just flow through hanakans’ veins; it also suffuses their societies. Advanced technologies experienced little development with magic serving as the primary problem-solving tool in the hanakan arsenal—especially because an ancient, barely remembered enemy made of electricity nearly destroyed hanakans ages ago, instilling a distrust of electronics. Minor magical and hybrid devices are ubiquitous, activated either with a touch or by coaxing the magic to activate with a nudge of token spell, which hanakans can cast intuitively. Many of the larger settlements on Ssets’Akan champion a particular type of magic, and individuals from these regions EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
78 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Con, +2 Cha, –2 Int Hit Points: 2 Size and Type: Hanakans are Small magical beasts. Atmospheric Adaptation: Hanakans’ exposure to a variety of atmospheres has made them immune to inhaled poisons and acclimated to thin and thick atmospheres. Hanakan Magic: Hanakans gain the following spell-like abilities. The caster level for these effects is equal to the hanakan’s character level. 1/day—wisp ally At will—detect magic, token spell Hanakan Senses: Hanakans have darkvision with a range of 60 feet and low-light vision. Scramble: A hanakan has a land speed of 40 feet and a climb speed of 20 feet. Studied: Hanakans gain a +2 species bonus to Medicine and Mysticism checks. commonly adopt that arcane preference like a civilian might develop loyalty to a sports team. Schools of spellcasting spark debates, rivalries, and even formal competitions, but not outright conflict. In fact, the more that hanakans travel the galaxy and study other societies’ magical traditions, the more these old school lines have blurred. That said, these divisions still debate and espouse key ethical concerns tied to their respective arts: whom can a necromancer reanimate, what is the minimum safe distance for bystanders when conjuring elementals, and so on. In particular, enchantment magic remains strictly overseen and taught, treated in many ways like a martial art reserved for selfdefense. Magically controlling another being is deeply taboo, and conspiracy theories of enchanted politicians and the like periodically cause a stir. Language The hanakan feather sign language is extremely nuanced, as both their naturally keen predator eyesight and their highly agile musculature grant them the ability to subtly convey a precise emotion or concept with a flick of their feathers. This linguistic advantage helped the species to become one of the most well-versed in practical thaumaturgical theory, and many other magicians use illusion magic to create a facsimile of the language for themselves, the better to take advantage of hanakan arcane insight. The range of emotion that the language can express also makes hanakan poetry particularly poignant, and hanakan satire especially effective at cutting an individual down to size. SOULSTONES According to hanakan legend, their ancestors discovered the first ssenavars (or soulstones) deep in a cave, where the walls sang to them, and these explorers sang back. Infused with elemental energies absorbed from deeper in the planet’s core, these stones augmented hanakan magic and spurred a whirlwind of cultural development and urbanization. To commemorate this discovery, they constructed Hsst’Zaska, a holy city that still stands within the magically expanded and reinforced caverns. However, there’s an ideological divide in interpreting this crucial moment: did the soulstones uplift these proto-hanakans, or did the ssenavars simply provide a valuable tool to an already intelligent species? Most hanakans favor the latter hypothesis for the way it preserves their agency as a society. Whatever their ancient origin, naturally infused soulstones are rarely uncovered on Ssets’Akana. Instead, modern hanakans typically create their own or attune to an inherited ssenavar, mingling their spirit with the echoes of previous bearers. Some hanakan pass their soulstones to promising young family
79 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES members or mentees on their passing, while others encourage their families to sell or donate their ssenavars in hopes of finding a potential soulmatch in the world. Bold or adventurous hanakan undertake grand quests to rediscover famous lost ssenavars, though many of these would-be heroes vanish to magical beasts or worse. However a hanakan receives a soulstone, there’s no guarantee of a particular ssenavar responding favorably to that hanakan’s bonding attempt. Imperfectly matched ssenavars simply don’t respond. Rarely, a truly mismatched or arrogantly commandeered stone will lash out with energy to reprimand an unwanted partner. Assuming the ssenavar is properly made or, for an inherited stone, properly matched, it shares its true name with its hanakan partner. This spiritually unites bearer and ssenavar into one, with the former contributing the “child soul” and the latter the “high soul” to comprise a dualistic being. This connection is faintly perceptible to the hanakan, allowing them to track their stone when within at least a few paces of it. Likewise, this connection can be detected and even deciphered by talented ssenavar’ishi, mystical lineage scholars who specialize in the study of soulstone energies. Other than to these few observers, a ssenavar typically doesn’t detect as magical while near its hanakan partner, as the stone is an extension of the living being. However, when separated by a substantial distance, a soulstone develops a faint aura. Losing one’s ssenavar is culturally disastrous for a hanakan, effectively removing any authority or agency that the stoneless hanakan once had. Soulstone hunters thus receive a high place in hanakan society, whether helping forgetful hanakan find misplaced stones, braving dangerous areas to reclaim stones from the dead, or hunting soulstone-stealing criminal rings smuggling ssenavars offworld for the magical black market. Some soulstone hunters have been known to hunt a particular ssenavar for years, implacable and deadly in their magical pursuit. Even after acquiring a ssenavar and adopting its true name, a hanakan typically continues using their eggname for most purposes. A true name has power, especially when woven into powerful rituals to affect the named target. Thus, sharing a true name is a matter of vulnerability, intimacy, and ultimate trust among hanakans. TABLE 2–11: SOLARIAN WEAPON CRYSTALS SOLARIAN WEAPON CRYSTALS LEVEL PRICE DAMAGE CRITICAL BULK SPECIAL Iceflame crystal, shard 2 780 +1 C frostbite 1 — auroraAR Pyrespike crystal, shard 3 1,400 +1 F sickenAR Iceflame crystal, least 5 3,100 +1d3 C frostbite 1d4 — auroraAR Pyrespike crystal, least 6 4,255 +1d3 F sickenAR Iceflame crystal, minor 8 9,600 +1d6 C frostbite 1d6 — auroraAR Pyrespike crystal, minor 9 13,280 +1d6 F sickenAR Iceflame crystal, lesser 11 25,200 +2d6 C frostbite 1d6 — auroraAR Pyrespike crystal, lesser 12 35,500 +2d6 F sickenAR Iceflame crystal, standard 14 75,000 +3d6 C frostbite 2d6 — auroraAR Pyrespike crystal, standard 15 109,000 +3d6 F sickenAR Iceflame crystal, greater 17 255,000 +4d6 C frostbite 3d6 — auroraAR Pyrespike crystal, greater 18 369,000 +4d6 F sickenAR Iceflame crystal, true 20 825,000 +6d6 C frostbite 4d6 — auroraAR Pyrespike crystal, true 20 856,000 +6d6 F sickenAR NAMES Hanakan eggnames can be tricky for other species to properly pronounce, as the sibilant hisses, hard glottal sounds, and somatic components are difficult to master. Hanakan eggnames traditionally incorporate elements from multiple family names and serve as a wish and a prayer for the newborn hanakan to reflect aspects of their ancestors’ spirits. Sample Names Some sample hanakan names include Ant’sswa, Bee’sstric, Cra’sstu, Glai’sstri, Hyss’ha, Isst’jaka, Jeess’hrana, Lass’traima, Nyss’traya, Plak’ssyni, Qui’sslyka, Sset’rini, Tak’ssainka, Vix’ssyna, Wyss’traika, Xiss’lyma, Yee’ssayna, and Zi’sshaka. SOLARIAN WEAPON CRYSTALS Hanakans sometimes enchant their soulstones, which then also function as aeon stones or solarian weapon crystals. The following solarian weapon crystals were developed by hanakan artificers and are now found throughout the galaxy. ICEFLAME CRYSTALS Creating an eternal, endothermic flame is a classic test for hanakan spellcasters. When applied to a solarian weapon crystal, this magic creates a relentlessly heat-leeching gem that often causes its imbued weapon to glow with azure flames. Iceflame crystals have the frostbite weapon critical hit effect. Frostbite: The weapon rimes the target, draining their heat and causing frostbite damage equal to the amount listed. This functions as the burning condition but deals cold damage rather than fire damage. PYRESPIKE CRYSTALS Often made from multihued obsidian, a pyrespike crystal softly thrums like a tiny volcano straining to explode. This weapon crystal functions normally with most solar weapons, but when applied to a solar flareCOM, the crystal grants the solar flare the automatic weapon special property, affecting up to 6 targets. Afterward, the solar flare can’t be used in automatic mode again until you’ve rested for 10 minutes to regain Stamina Points. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
80 Kalos resemble humans covered in tiny scales with bulbous glowing eyes and large fins running down their flanks to connect their arms and legs. They evolved close to the seafloor of the icy Brethedan moon Kalo-Mahoi, clustering around the moon’s life-giving geothermal vents. Since the adaptation of Drift travel, kalos have built their cities into fabulous spectacles as a way of welcoming other species to their home. Those kalos who travel abroad often thrive as artists or as mercenaries specialized in underwater and zero-g combat. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Kalos evolved for life in the deep ocean where sunlight doesn’t reach. They can’t naturally breathe air, so they require breathing apparatus or body augmentation to explore outside of water. Only small pockets of water closest to Kalo-Mahoi’s glowing seafloor vents are warm, so kalos developed a hardy resistance to the prevalent, near-freezing water that comprise most of their habitat to travel from geothermal oasis to oasis. Away from the vents and surface, there’s also no light, forcing kalos to rely on their innate sonar to hunt and navigate, which is roughly as sharp as a human’s sight out to several dozen feet. Kalo scales tend toward shades of blue or green, though pale pink coloration can also appear. The long, winglike fins that connect kalos’ arms and legs are thin enough to be translucent, and their undulating movement helps kalos glide silently through the water while hunting. Kalo eyes are large and able to move and focus independently to sense predators and prey alike. Each eye also possesses a faint and independently controlled form of bioluminescence that kalos use to visually signal each other. The lower half of a kalo’s face is covered by sensory tendrils, and they have large mouths full of small, needlelike teeth. These tendrils might resemble beards in the eyes of hair-growing species, but having long and healthy tendrils is generally an attractive quality for kalos of any gender. Each kalo also has a unique array of decorative spines, which are generally viewed as a human might view hair, running from their forehead down the center ridge of their skull. Kalos on average range from five to six feet tall and generally weigh less than humans of the same size, averaging around 100 pounds. This stems in part from kalos’ mostly cartilaginous skeletons and relatively lean frames. Their physiology makes kalos slightly frailer than humans, and they tend to tire quickly on land, where their fins—developed for gliding on deep ocean currents to conserve energy—don’t assist mobility. Water isn’t just important for support and locomotion; their gills can’t breathe air, so kalos typically wear fluid-filled helmets, respirators, or environment suits. What’s more, kalo scales require periodic immersion in water, and they gradually dry out and flake painfully if not doused. KALO Home World Kalo-Mahoi (Pact Worlds) Said to resemble bats because of their innate sonar and ability to glide quickly and gracefully through frigid oceans, the aquatic kalos of Kalo-Mahoi foster the Pact Worlds’ art scene in their vibrant, underwater bubble cities. HOME WORLD Kalos are the only intelligent humanoid species to evolve on Kalo-Mahoi, one of the planet Bretheda’s many moons. KaloMahoi lacks any terrestrial landmasses and is instead covered in a thick ice crust. The seemingly lifeless surface conceals a vibrant ocean teeming with life. The flora and fauna are so diverse, in fact, that scholars theorize much of it originated in the First World of the fey and traveled to the Material Plane through one of the many naturally occurring First World portals—called blooms—that open and close at random all over Kalo-Mahoi. The noteworthy number of linnorms (primordial, serpentine dragons) supports this theory, with linnorms living either in ice caves within the crust or deep within ocean trenches. The linnorms claim an unbroken lineage to Ragadahn the Water Lord, one the fey Eldest. Worship of the self-proclaimed Father of Dragons has featured in kalo society for all recorded history, and ruined cities concealed in the deepest ocean trenches bear his spiral iconography and don’t seem to have kalo origins. It’s possible that kalos migrated to this moon from the First World’s infinite oceans ages ago, carrying with them some ancient obedience to Ragadahn. As a chaotic evil demigod, Ragadahn mostly appeals as a being to be appeased to avert disaster, not as a patron with their worshipper’s best interests in mind. His worship is considered edgy yet acceptable, usually framing him as an embodiment of primal power and aquatic mastery. Kalo-Mahoi tends to be divided into three distinct but interrelated ecosystems: the crust, the photic zone, and the aphotic zone. While life on the moon began in the water, some creatures evolved to live partially or wholly on or in the ice crust to escape marine predators and access light, eventually establishing an entire ecosystem. Compared to the oceans, though, the crust is nutrient poor. Today, various points in the crust support starship landing pads and maintain perpetually open holes in the ice to bridge the oceans and galaxy beyond. The oceans’ photic zone is where light from the Pact Worlds’ sun extends, shining most brightly near the equator where the crust is relatively thin. It’s characterized by free-floating kelp forests, rolling undersea hills covered in vibrantly blooming seagrasses, and city-sized coral reefs. While the most plentiful in terms of resources, this zone has historically been dominated by massive, sharklike apex predators and lightning-fast, pack-hunting mantas, though the balance of power shifted as kalo society industrialized and developed the technology necessary to settle this zone. Kalo society originated in the ocean’s aphotic zone, where no light from above penetrates, though that isn’t to say there’s no light at all. Almost every creature that lives in this zone possesses some sort of bioluminescence, from snakelike predators communicating with one another through shifting patterns along their backs to fields of predatory grasses glowing
81 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES a soft blue to entice prey. For much of their history, kalos lived in the deeps to avoid the larger predators above. The largest light sources in the aphotic zone are geothermal vents, which give off pale light as well as heat. Even though the aphotic zone doesn’t receive sunlight, it still averages around the same temperature as the photic zone because of the water heated by the moon’s core coming from the vents. These vents serve as oases for life in this zone. Aquatic forests of filter-feeding fronds spring up around vents and provide homes for even stranger creatures. Over millennia, kalo civilization developed from nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes to an industrialized, unified society. Many vents now support large cities, many of which have large “bubbles” filled with air for terrestrial creatures to reside in. Even though the moon is highly industrialized, pollution isn’t a serious concern. Kalo-Mahoi’s vents serve as a natural energy source and kalo infrastructure places a large amount of emphasis on waste recycling to keep the oceans clean. Several areas moon-wide are marked off as national parks to maintain the moon’s biodiversity, but some activists argue that such efforts aren’t enough and petition to scale down some of the moon’s industry. The large numbers of fey and water elementals who either can’t or won’t live by the laws of organized society complicate relations as well. Kalo society does its best to devote certain parts of the moon to their neighbors, but conflicts still arise. SOCIETY In ancient times, kalos lived in small groups near the ocean floor and relied on stealth to evade predators, the greatest of which were mighty linnorms. Many communities swore allegiance to a linnorm and offered it tribute in food, art, and other treasures in exchange for protection. In this way, Ragadahn’s faith spread amongst the kalos as they prayed jointly for protection and mercy from him and his fearsome children. A years-long conflict marked the point that kalos mounted a war against the linnorms to claim the moon’s oceans for themselves, pushing the dragons to deep trenches or the ice crust. What followed was relative peace and a long period of invention, growth, and rapid industrialization. Kalo artists and innovators could dedicate their talents for the community rather than linnorm overlords, and they used that freedom to create elaborate architectural testaments to kalo civilization—full of colorful, shining spires and winding streets that were bright beacons against the sunless oceans. This was a message: the kalos weren’t afraid to make themselves known. Kalo cities are massive art installations, built with the philosophy that beauty is always just as important as functionality in design. A design is a failure if it can’t excel at its function while being aesthetically pleasing. Today, most kalos live in large cities built near geothermal vents dimly illuminated by phosphorescent life. A smaller portion of the population lives in small towns and villages closer to the water’s surface. Many of these towns are industrial installations built to manage a particular factory or trade, not host visitors, so they usually lack widespread air-breathing infrastructure. Kalos that live offworld often find it difficult to integrate with other species unless that species is also aquatic, and they most often form their own watery, close-knit enclaves. Kalos often view their distant history with a mixture of pain and pride, and they preserve many cultural touchstones of their more warlike past. Many contemporary positions take their titles from archaic roles, such as the sharkhunters and mantariders—today names of elite military units. However, actual Mahoi mantas have long since been replaced by technological vehicles, and mantas themselves have been relegated to pets and beloved cultural icons. Deepspeakers, who once served as fearsome spellcasters and liaisons for their communities’ patron linnorms, now function primarily as historians, advisors, and curators of cultural artifacts. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
82 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Wis, –2 Con Hit Points: 2 Size and Type: Kalos are Medium monstrous humanoids with the aquatic subtype, meaning they require water to breathe. Cold Resistance: Kalos are used to swimming in icy water and have cold resistance 5. Kalo Movement: Kalos have a base speed of 20 feet and a swim speed of 30 feet. Kalo Vision: Kalos’ innate sonar gives them blindsight (sound) with a range of 60 feet, while their specialized eyes grant them low-light vision. Stealthy Swimmers: Kalos gain a +4 bonus to Stealth checks when in water. Water Breathing: Kalos have the water breathing universal creature rule. While Kalo-Mahoi is generally peaceful and welcoming to offworlders, schisms gradually widen concerning where kalo society is or should be headed. The Deep Resurgence is a fringe political faction of neo-traditionalists and led by a radical deepspeaker who preaches that Ragadahn will return to punish their civilization for bringing “land” into his domain (a poetic reference to retrofitting cities to accommodate air-breathing species). The Deep Resurgence pushes for the removal of air domes, for air breathers to be the ones to adjust by using personal breathing apparatuses, and that the offworlder tourism industry is nothing but a form of colonization. So far, the conflicts remain in infosphere comments and debate halls and haven’t yet turned to violence or sabotage. KALOS AND ART Since antiquity, art has had a place of reverence in kalo society. Traditionally, clothing, sculpture, carving, and mosaics were the most common mediums, but ever since kalo cities began maintaining air-filled spaces, kalos have practiced painting and other mediums unfit for underwater life. Artists are by far Kalo-Mahoi’s most popular celebrities; the infosphere has allowed artists far greater reach than before. Vidcasts of prominent artists doing their work or reality shows featuring contestants competing to create the best art are popular show genres on the moon. Creative pursuits are a required part of adolescent kalos’ education, and it’s a well-maintained tradition to give handmade gifts to friends and family for special occasions, though with the rise in consumerism, it has become more common to purchase adequately artful gifts instead. Some traditionalist kalos worry that the ease with which goods can be mass-produced and purchased pollutes the very concepts of art and creativity. In pre-industrial times, most kalos owned relatively few possessions, so they prioritized objects that expressed their individual identities and tastes. A kalo’s treasured possessions often incorporated rare materials, displayed artistic flair, and were designed to last for years, if not lifetimes. Post-Gap Kalo-Mahoi maintains this adoration of personalized, artful goods with a startling variety of kalo-designed equipment that’s mechanically identical but available in as many designs as one can imagine. Anyone seeking maximum personal clout sports such custom commissions, and the price for these kalo-made products usually reflects the artisanal premium. Kalo artists often look to other societies to study their artistic traditions as well. Many kalo adventurers got their start by leaving Kalo-Mahoi to explore new ways of creating. In antiquity, the most renowned kalo warriors were known as much for their prowess in battle as for their artistic genius, such as Huur-Shaala the Spearsinger, whose poems extolling Kalo-Mahoi’s natural beauty are still culturally beloved today. A popular practice for kalo adventurers since the adoption of Drift travel is to learn from other cultures and hybridize their art with kalo art. A currently popular trend with origins on a different planet is the variety of vibrant colors inspired by lashunta traditions, where formerly kalo art was more texture-based, given the species’ reliance on sonar rather than sight for perception. NAMES Kalo names are often derived from history and culture. Parents are likely to name their child after historical figures, artists, fictional characters in media they enjoy, among other sources. It’s also common for parents to alter existing names in some way, such as changing the spelling but keeping the sound the same, as an exercise in creativity and to ensure their child has a name that will stand out. Traditional kalo names don’t often have hard consonant sounds. They favor soft consonants and long vowel sounds. However, with the amount of exposure to other cultures Kalo-Mahoi has, it isn’t uncommon to encounter kalos with names following the conventions of other Pact Worlds societies. Sample Names Some sample kalo names include Ashaal-Vash, Vhaalith, Gothuul, Huur-Shaala, Suulha, Dhaavan, Zaasha, Insuul, Mahaluu, Ollonha, Divhuul-Huur, Saamvhi, Ullaamoth, Thuvhaash, Ruugoth, Vhellhu, Elluveth, Yashuul, Falhuur, Luuvhath. CREATURE COMPANIONS Kalos have a long history of living alongside Kalo-Mahoi’s wildlife. While mounts and hunting companions are lessas pervasive now, some kalos still opt to keep aquatic companions. Linnormling Despite their size, linnormlings claim to be descendants of the Eldest Ragadahn. They’re willful creatures yet offer their expertise with curses to anyone offering them proper tribute. LINNORMLING LEVELS 6-20 Tiny fey (aquatic) Senses darkvision 60 ft.; low-light vision Good Save Will; Poor Saves Fort, Ref Speed fly 30 ft. (Su, perfect); swim 30 ft. Melee Attack bite (P) Ranged Attack zap (E) Space 2-1/2 ft.; Reach 0 ft. Ability Modifiers Dex, Cha
83 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES SPECIAL ABILITIES Spiteful Curse (Su; 10th level) When the linnormling takes damage from a creature’s spell or attack, they cast bestow curse on that creature as a reaction with a range of 30 feet without having to touch the target (Will negates). The curse lasts until the end of that creature’s next turn. If the spell or attack reduced the linnormling to 0 Hit Points, the curse instead lasts a number of rounds equal to the linnormling’s Charisma modifier. Once they use this ability, they can’t do so again for 1d4 rounds. Zap (Ex) A linnormling has a ranged attack that deals electricity damage and has a range of 60 feet. Localized Water Elemental Water elementals are common on Kalo-Mahoi, and the longer they remain on the Material Plane, the more they tend to adapt, taking on a semipermanent shape. While this diminishes some of the elemental’s resistances, it also drives them to imprint on and work with other creatures, such as kalos. LOCALIZED WATER ELEMENTAL LEVELS 1-11 Small or Medium outsider (elemental, water) Senses darkvision 60 ft. Good Save Fort; Poor Saves Ref, Will Speed 20 ft.; swim 40 ft. Melee Attack slam (B) Ability Modifiers Str, Dex SPECIAL ABILITIES Demi-Elemental (Su) A localized water elemental lacks elemental immunities. Instead, it gains a +2 bonus to saving throws against bleed, critical hit, paralysis, poison, sleep effects, and stunning effects. A localized elemental can be flanked. Jet (Ex) While in water, a localized water elemental can charge as a standard action without the normal charge penalties. When it deals damage at the end of a charge in this way, it deals additional damage equal to its level. Water Manipulation (Su; 5th level) A localized water elemental can attempt grapple or reposition combat maneuvers with a +2 circumstance bonus at a range of 30 feet so long as both the elemental and its target are in contact with the same body of water. Mahoi Manta Resembling a five-eyed manta ray, a Mahoi manta is the traditional kalo mount and beast of burden. Mahoi mantas forge strong bonds with their favorite riders and range in color from pale greys and blues to black, with a rare few being pale pink or purple. MAHOI MANTA LEVELS 1-20 Large animal (aquatic) Senses blindsight (scent) 60 ft, low-light vision Good Save Ref; Poor Saves Fort, Will Speed 5 ft.; swim 50 ft. Melee Attack stinger (P) Space 10 ft.; Reach 5 ft. Ability Modifiers Str, Dex SPECIAL ABILITIES Pack Hunter (Ex) At the start of your turn, you can designate one creature as your prey. You and your mahoi manta are considered to be flanking your prey so long as both you and your manta are threatening that creature. Manta Venom(Ex; 5th level) A mahoi manta’s sting stores a single dose of manta venom that it can choose to inject whenever it successfully hits a target with its sting attack. When you rest for 10 minutes to recover Stamina Points, your mahoi manta regains its dose of venom. MANTA VENOM Type poison (injury) Save Fortitude Track Dexterity (special); Frequency 1/round for 4 rounds Effect progression track is Sluggish–Stiffened–Staggered– Immobile; immobile functions as an end state. Cure 2 saves EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
84 The kobolds known to the Pact Worlds are a witchwarped species. Following the Gap, kobolds seemed notably absent from the Pact Worlds and surrounding systems, and many assumed their departure tied to Golarion’s disappearance in some way. However, first-century witchwarping rituals designed to access alternate reality technologies didn’t just conjure obscure devices (most of which couldn’t function in this multiverse); they also gated in hundreds of reptilian beings who, by all appearances and self-identification, appear to be kobolds. The creatures confidently dispersed throughout the Pact Worlds, taking up residence in empty and previously unknown apartments, clocking into work with unregistered keycards that noted the kobolds’ longtime (yet previously unnoticed) employment at various agencies, and otherwise just fitting into niches that mysteriously manifested seamlessly in response to the kobolds’ need. Although newer generations of kobolds seem more bound by conventional logic, this first wave’s uncanny integration into this reality has stumped historians, scientists, and magical researchers. To this day, kobolds have an innate affinity for witchwarping, calling upon magic and matter that presumably originates from their alternate home world. This transformative, aspirational magic also lends itself to the kobolds’ unabashed self-confidence and beliefs that they’re heritors of draconic majesty, with the most powerful witchwarpers sometimes spontaneously transforming into extraplanar wyrms, as if unlocking some hidden aspect of their cosmic genealogy. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Resembling an anthropomorphic lizard, a typical kobold stands about 3 feet tall, measuring about 4 feet long from snout to the tip of their tail. Kobolds display a wide range of scale colors that often reflect draconic palettes, with red, blue, green, black, white, and various metals being especially common. Most kobolds develop natural countershading with a lighter underbelly. However, scale color can change over time. As a kobold ages, their scales often accumulate a patina-like outline, develop a natural gradation in their color, become faintly iridescent, or are augmented in some other way that seems roughly analogous to a human’s hair turning gray. Whatever their coloration, a kobold’s scales are thickest along their head and upper arms, providing some protection. Their draconic features don’t stop at scales. Each kobold has a set of horns that vary slightly in size, shape, and number. Most common is a pair of short, backward-pointing horns, though kobolds might have as many as eight smaller horns or none at all. However, adult kobolds almost never have nose horns; each kobold hatches with the help of an “egg horn” that grows from their snout, which they shed within a few months of birth. KOBOLD Home World: None Although resembling an ancient species of reptilian humanoid, modern kobolds are variants conjured from another reality. They’re canny problem-solvers with a predilection for transformational magic and inborn draconic power that’s desperate to manifest. Kobold horns crown a head that’s massive compared to the their body, each sporting an armory of tough teeth designed for chewing and shredding in support of their omnivorous diet. In fact, kobolds can consume an impressive array of foods and other materials, with some priding themselves on consuming precious metals and gems. Due to their head’s size, a kobold would be at risk of tipping over were it not for their slender tail, whose primary role is serving as a counterbalance. For all their fierce armaments— heavy nails, teeth, horns, and tails—none of a kobold’s anatomy is especially suited for lethal self-defense. Due to their unintimidating physiques, kobolds frequently develop and deploy traps and other technological means of evening the odds against larger foes. Due to kobolds’ otherworldly origins, their anatomy experiences subtle idiosyncrasies in this reality. A kobold’s flesh generates negligible magical background radiation that seems to anchor them to this reality’s physics, reflexively intervening to course correct when one multiverse’s math doesn’t quite click with the other’s; this sometimes shorts out pathogens like a magical immune system, transforming cells’ receptors to evade these invaders. Other times, it’s less to a kobold’s benefit, triggering bouts of vertigo, food poisoning, or cramps even when performing familiar tasks or eating favorite foods. When stressed, a kobold’s magical nature can lash out, triggering bursts of unpredictable and uncontrolled arcana. Innocuous events might briefly cause lights to flicker, chill a room, or create bursts of color. Serious incidents, though, can trigger explosions, cause the kobold to become briefly incorporeal, open extraplanar gateways, or worse. The latter rarely occur more than a few times in a kobold’s lifetime, and many kobolds use some combination of meditation and magical pharmaceuticals to manage potential outbursts. Others embrace their innate magical spark, which with training can fuel intense witchwarping spells. Reproduction Kobolds are oviparous, laying a single large egg at a time. Parents alternate between personally incubating the eggs (or having close family do so), leaving them uncovered, and burying them in specific materials like snow, smoldering charcoal, or acidic peat. If done properly, this exposure doesn’t hurt the developing embryo but instead steers its development, making it more likely the child will have a specific scale color or elemental resistances. If desired, kobold parents might delay incubating one or more eggs so several of their children hatch at once. However, newborn kobolds exhibit instinctive territoriality and food anxiety for their first few weeks, and the young might traumatize, kill, or even eat each other if not carefully monitored. Hatching at different times also staggers adolescents’ puberty, when their magic is at its most unstable. After all, when one youngster’s uncontrolled
85 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES eldritch outburst could set off a stress-based chain reaction in their siblings, it pays to have staggered their birthdays. Kobolds reach maturity at about 10 years old. They commonly live to ages of 80 or older, and a sizable fraction can reach 140 years. A rare few, most of whom have achieved some level of draconic awakening, are older still with a handful of kobolds who first appeared a few centuries ago seemingly ageless and immortal. HOME WORLD Given their sudden appearance in the galaxy, kobolds don’t have a traditional home world. Instead, their residences tend to fall into two main categories: the first places where kobolds appeared in this reality and the worlds with draconic or magical significance where kobolds have since congregated. Absalom Station, Verces, and Aucturn all host notable kobold populations, each world adapting in to accommodate the mysterious new arrivals. On Absalom Station, small stretches of infrastructure apparently transformed in the blink of an eye, stretching streets and creating apartments to include the station’s kobold populace. The kobolds there frequently serve as magical tutors, mechanics, and technicians for the station’s Starstone-fueled energy grid, having happily adapted to this new reality. On Verces, whole kobold enclaves manifested across the Ring of Nations. Although many kobolds have since left these neighborhoods to explore the galaxy and its opportunities, most of these communities remain intact. Most famous is the Rezaz District, a township on the Fullbright edge of Athalo and built around a previously unknown spring. Although best known to the Pact Worlds for its kobold-brewed Rezascale whiskeys that mature deep underground, the region is popular with kobolds exploring their personal draconic transformation. Three different monasteries train kobold aspirants, purifying their bodies and spirits to metamorphose into mighty dragons. These students periodically voyage deep into Fullbright to burn away the impurities of this reality, and many don’t return. No doubt some perish in the sun, yet increasingly common sightings of desert wyrms imply that a few kobolds have succeeded in this esoteric ritual. Whereas the rest of the Pact Worlds shifted abruptly to accommodate their new arrivals, Aucturn’s community developed over several weeks, incubating within rapidly swelling pustules that then burst to spill out several hundred traumatized kobolds. They now dwell within a smoky valley called Ensap’s Shadow, which stretches east of the Gnashing Range. There, kobolds subsist on chemosynthesizing plants, have carved out a soft-tunneled subterranean town, and worship Aucturn itself. To this Cult of the Flesh Dragon, Aucturn is like the kobolds: an aberrant being brought into a wrong reality, but fated to hatch and return to its once and future home. Few kobolds initially appeared on Triaxus. However, that planet’s powerful draconic associations and inhabitants acted like a beacon for kobolds everywhere, driving immigration to the Allied Territories and Drakelands for decades afterward. There they’ve thrived in the shadows of dragons, dragonkin, and ryphorians. Especially of the dragonkin, whom kobolds view with conflicting admiration, envy, and projected kinship—how can another creature be so magnificently dragon-like yet so clearly fail at being a true dragon, all while being more visibly draconic than kobolds? The death of the green dragon Eskterphelon a decade ago left a power vacuum the Tashal clan of kobolds quickly filled, despite three other dragon upstarts competing for the territory. Tashal Zik Akralsk led the clan in executing schemes years in the making, including financially ruining one dragon, destabilizing the second’s petty fiefdom to the point that rivals absorbed it, and outright assassinating the third. The Tashals have thus alarmed and irritated many other dragon powerbrokers, yet the clan has so far played their enemies’ fears off one another, and no single dragon is willing to quash these kobolds lest that leave them vulnerable elsewhere. SOCIETY Ambition drives kobolds. Even generations after their arrival in this reality, kobolds’ perception and inner logic don’t entirely sync with this multiverse, and they often sense not what is but instead unlikely versions of what could be. This intuition helps make kobolds natural innovators who challenge old norms and often make unlikely leaps in engineering, science, and art. One kobold might long to start a business that eventually becomes a commercial empire. Another obsesses over some technological challenge and works tirelessly to develop a solution. Those who awaken their inner magic might even endeavor to transform their flesh, becoming some other creature entirely. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
86 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Dex, +2 Cha,–2 Con Hit Points: 2 Size and Type: Kobolds are Small humanoids with the kobold subtype. Armored Scales: Kobolds gain a +1 species bonus to AC. Crafty: Kobolds gain a +2 species bonus to Engineering, Perception, and Physical Science checks. Darkvision: Kobolds have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Dragon-Scaled: Kobolds gain energy resistance based on the color of their scales and the dragons they resemble. Black-scaled kobolds, copper-scaled kobolds, and green-scaled kobolds gain acid resistance 5. Blue-scaled kobolds and bronze-scaled kobolds gain electricity resistance 5. Red-scaled kobolds, brass-scaled kobolds, and gold-scaled kobolds gain fire resistance 5. White-scaled kobolds and silver-scaled kobolds gain cold resistance 5. A kobold can stack this natural resistance with one other form of energy resistance. This ambition stems from latent draconic instinct that a kobold might struggle to control. Among socially powerful kobolds, narcissism, sadism, and even outright solipsism are infamously prevalent (and rarely celebrated). Those kobolds who have yet to achieve greatness instead regularly wrestle with anxiety and depression driven by a haunting certainty that they deserved something better. Understandably, therapy and psychiatric medication aren’t just socially acceptable among kobolds but are also encouraged. Nonetheless, forming groups and hierarchies feels natural to kobolds, giving them an unfair reputation for serving as kowtowing underlings. Among kobolds, this relationship is one of service and patronage, with lower-ranked members providing resources and enthusiastic moral support to a powerful kobold in return for the latter’s protection, advocacy, and influence. In a healthier relationship, the lower-ranked kobolds benefit from the opportunities their patron secures for them, even thriving to the point that they break off and form their own patron groups. Unfortunately, kobolds are vulnerable to being swept up in unreciprocated (or even unacknowledged) social relationships in which they might experience success by association: cults, sports fandoms, scams, and even servitude to a true dragon. Thus, a typical kobold struggles between respecting social order and wanting to challenge that order to establish dominance, which spur kobolds to subtly posture and test each other’s authority. Disagreements often involve flared nostrils and huffing, as if the kobolds were fire-breathing monsters blowing smoke at each other. A kobold analogue of arm-wrestling involves contestants locking their heavily scaled foreheads and trying to knock each other over with neck muscles and taunts. Perhaps the greatest power move is hoard-surfing, where a kobold lies atop a resource (money, metal scrap, food, etc.) as a way of projecting draconic dominance. Although these displays cause occasional squabbles, they’re performed with pragmatic respect that doesn’t always translate to other cultures. Many leaders have misinterpreted a kobold companion’s promise of “If you die, I’ll replace you” as insubordination, when in fact it’s an affirmation that the kobold recognizes the other’s authority—at least for the time being. DRACONIC LEGACY Whether it’s passed down through stories or just a nagging, wordless certainty, kobolds know that they should be dragons— that they are dragons. In their origin reality, kobolds supposedly soared the skies as titanic dragons, and the ritual that brought them here crammed them into meager bodies a fraction of their true size. Witchwarping magic might just be a kobold’s essence straining to pull them back to their home dimension, but if so, this reality doesn’t know how to process the instinctive arcana. There’s little disagreement that all of this is an injustice. However, kobolds vary widely in what they feel should be done about it. Three primary approaches have emerged. Those termed Aspirers believe that it’s possible for a kobold to transform into a dragon (a process called apodrakosis) but that the process requires intense focus and patience. Some of these transformations might take generations. Others might be possible through extraordinary magic. Others still realize apodrakosis through mystical awakening at a kobold monastery. However, Aspirers deduce that the original draconic form might not be possible in this reality, thus an acceptable final form might not mirror their lost draconic ideal. Reclaimers agree that draconic transformation is possible, but the similarities end there. To a Reclaimer, kobolds’ rightful forms—and by extension, their ancestral wealth and influence— were stolen by the ritual, and it’s their imperative to regain what was lost. These claims often accompany aggression if not violence, for Reclaimers seldom settle for victories by analogy; it’s rarely enough to gain wings, for example, but instead those wings must be like those kobolds had in their home reality. While many Reclaimers work through fully legal means, the philosophy has inspired numerous kobold criminal groups. Finally, Exodists either believe that the ancient ritual is a convenient legend that misleads other kobolds or that it’s better to adapt to this new reality rather than fret over lost causes. NAMES Kobolds typically receive a short name at birth. As they age, achieve great deeds, and earn respect, a kobold adds syllables to their name to commemorate their accomplishments, mimicking a widespread tradition in draconic nomenclature. Having a name that exceeds six syllables conveys arrogance that only the most self-important kobolds care to invite. Most instead begin replacing rather than adding syllables for longer names, typically preserving their birth syllables over time. Rather than model name growth off accomplishments, Aspirers typically receive a full draconic name at birth but are only allowed to use a small part of it. The further the kobold progresses in their personal quest for draconic transformation, the more of these syllables they reintroduce into their name. Sample Names Some sample kobold names include Akmaz, Aulteen, Brehak, Framhat, Galq, Iji, Jozol, Pultok, Tibb, Uitul, Ypol, Zgaz.
87 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES FEATS Kobolds have a talent for transformation and a unique connection to dragons, both of which they combine into specialized transmutation techniques. The following are available to any characters who meet their prerequisites. Major Draconic Form Your inner shapeshifting potential allows you to attain increasingly powerful draconic forms. Prerequisites: 7th level, Cha 15, Minor Draconic Form Benefit: The polymorph spell-like ability granted by Minor Draconic Form now functions as a 3rd-level spell. At 11th level, the spell-like ability instead functions as a 4th-level spell. Each time the level of the spell-like ability increases, you create a new predetermined polymorph form that has the dragon type for this spell-like ability; this replaces any other predetermined form you’ve learned for the spell-like ability. Minor Draconic Form You have a natural talent for assuming draconic form. Prerequisites: Cha 13; dragon type, dragon-scaled species ability, or dragonblood theme Benefit: When you select polymorph (Alien Archive 2 145) as a spell known, you add dragon to the list of creature types you can select when designing polymorphed forms. Changing a target that isn’t a dragon into a dragon form grants them a +2 enhancement bonus to saving throws against paralysis and sleep effects. In addition, you can cast polymorph on yourself once per day as a 1st-level spell-like ability, using your character level as your caster level. However, you can only use this spell-like ability to assume one predetermined form that has the dragon type. Special: At the GM’s discretion, other dragonthemed abilities or rewards might allow you to qualify for this feat as if you were a dragon. Perpetual Polymorph By assuming the form of a less powerful creature, you can dramatically extend the duration of your transformations. Prerequisites: You know the polymorph spell as a 2nd-level spell or higher. Benefit: When you cast polymorph on yourself and choose to transform into a predetermined polymorph form from a lower-level list of forms you know, you increase the spell’s duration. If you transform into a form that’s from a list one level lower, the duration increases to 5 minutes/ level (D). If you transform into a form that’s from a list two levels lower, the duration increases to 1 hour/level (D). If you transform into a form that’s from a list three levels lower, the spell’s duration lasts until the next time you regain spell slots. Polymorphic Titan You can transform into utterly enormous creatures. Prerequisites: 17th level, you know the polymorph spell as a 6th-level spell, and you have at least one Huge predetermined polymorph form. Benefit: When you cast polymorph on yourself as a 6th-level spell to transform into a Huge predetermined form, you can spend 1 RP to transform into a Gargantuan version of that form instead. The Gargantuan form grants a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength-based ability checks and skill checks. Alternatively, you can spend 2 RP to instead transform into a Colossal version of that form with a space of 30 feet, granting you a +5 enhancement bonus to Strength-based ability checks and skill checks. True Dragon Form You can transform into a truly awe-inspiring dragon. Prerequisites: 15th level, Cha 17, Major Draconic Form Benefit: The polymorph spell-like ability granted by Minor Draconic Form now functions as a 5th-level spell. At 17th level, the spell-like ability instead functions as a 6th-level spell. Each time the level of the spell-like ability increases, you create a new predetermined polymorph form that has the dragon type for this spell-like ability; this replaces any other predetermined form you’ve learned for the spell-like ability. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
88 Native to Marata, one of Bretheda’s moons, maraquoi traditionally based their societies around a semi-nomadic, hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Unlike many species common to the Pact Worlds, their genders are centered on a septenary system with all seven participants playing a different role in reproduction. Maraquoi culture therefore developed amid a complex web of kinship and tribal affiliations, which defused violence and drove a deep respect for life in all its forms. However, outside philosophies, technologies, and commercial interests have challenged maraquoi identity and lifestyles, with Marata’s denizens recently wrestling with pronounced isolationist sentiment. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Maraquoi are bipedal humanoids, covered from head to toe in silky fur, generally in shades of gray, brown, or silver. Most maraquoi grow their fur longer at the top of their heads to form into hairstyles. Their fur coats function like thousands of small antennae, transmitting sound to their sensitive skin and allowing them to navigate even in absolute darkness. A maraquoi exerts some control over the follicles, such as making hairs erect to capture faint sounds or flattening fur to partly dampen cacophonies; fur arrangement also conveys a maraquoi’s mood. Though they do have ears similar to humans, these parts are largely vestigial and overshadowed by their skin’s sensitivity. Their compound eyes are set forward in their heads and protrude slightly outward, giving a wider range of vision than most humanoids and enabling them to see in even small amounts of light. Their simian, prehensile tails can manipulate objects, and most maraquoi use these as an “off-hand” for spare items and weaponry as well as for balance. They have short, sturdy claws on their hands and feet to aid in climbing, and they can secrete a sticky film from their fingers, enabling them to ascend even smooth surfaces with relative ease. On average, an adult maraquoi stands about 6-1/2 feet tall. Though the seven sexes are associated with minor physiological differences, they’re typically not pronounced enough to be recognizable to non-maraquoi. On average, klshas (“bearers”) and meshas (“cradles”) have shorter and stouter builds than the others, while zyshas (“facilitators”) tend toward taller, willowy builds, sometimes reaching heights of almost eight feet. Uishas (“sharers”) typically have shorter tails, and the fur of ilshas (“earth-sires”), qshas (“sky-sires”), and sushas (“water-sires”) tends to have a dappled appearance with distinctive patterns for each. HOME WORLD Maraquoi’s ancestral home is Marata, a moon orbiting the gas giant Bretheda. Currently, its official status is a protectorate of the Pact Worlds, much the same as many of Bretheda’s and Liavara’s inhabited moons. However, many maraquoi balk at not MARAQUOI Home World: Marata (Pact Worlds) Maraquoi are accomplished hunters, mystics, and environmental engineers. Deeply rooted in family, tradition, and a respect for life, maraquoi culture rapidly evolves the more it integrates into Pact Worlds societies. being afforded the full political rights as the system’s planets, and a progressive, expansionist faction has been lobbying the Pact Council for full membership like their sister moon, Kalo-Mahoi. Marata is the largest of Bretheda’s moons, with an arid, temperate climate. Scattered forests of gnarled, enormous trees (called kvash) dot Marata’s lands. Maraquoi folklore holds that these forests were where their people first originated, and they prize all parts of the kvash for use as building materials, food, or medicine. The largest of these forests, Ste Xinnith, recently came to prominence after researchers discovered healing properties in some of its flora, attracting the attention of offworld pharmaceutical companies, though maraquoi traditionalists are attempting to block any further external involvement in the site. Marata’s land is split between two primary continents, Taksha and Rhesa, which are connected by land bridges at the poles. The oceans between them are relatively shallow and extremely salinized, making them unsuitable as drinking water. Most life on the moon has evolved to require minimal water as a result, acquiring what they need from Marata’s cactus-like plants, few freshwater rivers, and seasonal cloudburst storms. Much of the terrain beyond the kvash forests is scrubland, covered mainly by short grasses and shrubs. Traditional maraquoi society built few large settlements, preferring to subtly modify the landscape to fit their nomadic lifestyles without creating sprawling cities that transform local ecosystems. Ouat Vali, referred to as the Shining City for its iridescent stone buildings, is the largest pre-Gap city on Marata, located in the northwest steppes of Taksha. In ancient times, it served as a meeting place for intertribal negotiations and festivals, though it maintained a small permanent population as well. In the modern era, Ouat Vali is a bastion of maraquoi traditionalists who maintain it as a vital part of maraquoi culture and bar offworld visitors from entering. The city’s sacred hot springs purportedly augment the powers of anyone bathing there, spurring a black market trade in vials of “Vali water” that Pact World authorities and local maraquoi partners combat. However, in nearly all cases, the fluids’ origins are dubious at best. Ha Quoia Founded about a century ago, Ha Quoia is Marata’s eminent city and spaceport, located along the eastern coast of Rhesa. The city’s high polycarbon walls shield it from the region’s predictably recurring high winds as well as from the voracious scrubland predators known as temnaks, massive vulpine creatures with a paralytic venom. Within the walls, tall skyscrapers built from offworld alloys house a hub of diplomacy and commerce, most notably serving as the seat of an intertribal government formed to represent Marata’s interests to the Pact Worlds.
89 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES However, Ha Quoia’s status as the center of government and a symbol of offworld contact has made it a hotbed of tension between Marata’s more outspoken traditionalist and expansionist factions (see Society below). More extreme traditionalist factions have successfully blocked many efforts to open Marata to the galaxy at large, to the point that even in Ha Quoia most trade and travel are highly restricted. The factions largely battle each other through peaceful protests, demonstrations, and passive-aggressive smuggling, but it’s only a matter of time before clashes escalate to violence. SOCIETY Maraquoi culture developed around hunter-gatherer and pastoralist lifestyles which encouraged maraquoi to form semi-nomadic tribes that each traveled yearlong circuits to harvest seasonal resources. Inland populations often relied on reptilian ungulates known as shevkriks, either hunting wild populations or herding domesticated variants to secure meat, hides, tool-quality horn, and a fatty substance analogous to milk. Coastal groups tracked seasonal upwellings that drove fish spawning, supplementing diets with abundant shellfish whose shells were repurposed into mortar to create sparkling seaside villages. Wherever maraquoi traveled, they also modified the landscape in innovative ways: deep cisterns collected infrequent rain over the course of a year to create oases along a route, mile-long coastal weirs created artificial habitats for marine life which made harvesting easier, and travelers seeded semiwild orchards and grains to abandon, revisit, and then reap only when the cultivars ripened. Until recently, maraquoi were the only developed culture living on Marata. While the popular-yet-false narrative is that maraquoi were isolated and uncivilized, their seclusion was largely their own choice. Stories from multiple societies preserve how various alien species—most notably verthanis, witchwyrds, and barathus—all contacted Marata in pre-Gap times, each time being politely turned away by maraquoi ambassadors and kept at arm’s length. Only in the post-Gap era have maraquoi begun accepting offworlders. Even then, maraquoi don’t agree on what’s best for their planet, people, and culture. Many maraquoi (sometimes called expansionists) have embraced the galaxy, travel, and new technologies, including welcoming offworld development of Marata. Of the opposite view are traditionalists, who consider maraquoi’s rapid transition from early metalworking to space age technologies as a serious threat to time-honored traditions. The most hardline traditionalists push for heavy restrictions on offworld visitors and innovations, if not an outright return to isolation. In practice, most maraquoi embrace a moderate view, but extreme voices dominate the conversation. Maraquoi society is highly communal. While individuals have personal possessions and tribes maintain territories, the idea of personal property in a broader sense was uncommon until recently. Resources exist for the well-being of all on Marata, and gathering comes with an expectation of restoring disturbed landscapes, such as conscientiously backfilling, replanting, and ecologically monitoring expired mines. It’s less cost-effective than the several offworld mining operations that have finagled mineral leases in limited areas, driving contention with most maraquoi communities. These differing approaches further fuel expansionist and traditionalist conflicts, with the former insisting that participating in the galactic economy is key to becoming a true Pact World and the latter interpreting foreign operations as plundering Marata’s resources. Due to their complex reproductive and familial system, respect for life is integral to maraquoi culture, as the loss of even a few people could prevent a tribe’s continuation. As a result, highly ritualistic forms of nonlethal combat evolved to settle disputes and intertribal conflicts, relying on a strict, complex honor code emphasizing respect for one’s foe. So deeply ingrained is this tradition that most maraquoi who go offworld still carry out rituals post-combat to honor fallen foes or friends. Though most maraquoi view killing other EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
90 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Con, +2 Wis, –2 Dex Hit Points: 5 Size and Type: Maraquoi are Medium humanoids with the maraquoi subtype. Blindsense: Maraquoi sense sound through their skin rather than with ears, gaining blindsense (sound) with a range of 30 feet. Climber: Maraquoi have a climb speed of 20 feet. Low-Light Vision: Maraquoi have low-light vision. Natural Hunter: Maraquoi receive a +2 species bonus to Survival checks. Prehensile Tail: A maraquoi’s tail is as effective as a hand at manipulating objects, which allows them to wield and hold up to three hands’ worth of weapons and equipment. This doesn’t increase the number of attacks they can make during combat.. maraquoi as abhorrent, the numerous dangerous predators on Marata ensure they’re well-versed in lethal combat as well, and some take up mercenary work on other planets. This practice is divisive; some maraquoi believe it’s acceptable as long as they don’t kill their own people, while others view it as a corruption of their honor system and combat skills on behalf of outsiders. Maratan Government Maratan society was traditionally organized into tribes large enough to ensure protection against natural threats and small enough to thrive on the resources that a particular territory provided. Contact between tribes was frequent, and upon reaching adulthood a maraquoi would often leave the tribe of their birth to form their family in another. In practice, this system formed a web of trade, information exchange, and extended familial ties that spread global cultural touchstones while enabling many regional variations. Due to maraquoi’s respect for life and extensive kinship networks, formal treaties were rarely necessary and most deals needed only last a few months before two groups went their separate ways. After the Gap, many tribes decided a more centralized government was necessary to represent Marata to the galaxy and protect their planet from outside exploitation. The result was an intertribal council headquartered in Ha Quoia. Each tribe can choose to provide a representative, and of Marata’s 275 known tribes, 247 have representatives on the council. Twentyeight traditionalist or isolationist tribes have declined seats, preferring to remain apart from galactic society altogether. The Maratan Council has little involvement in the day-to-day affairs, focusing instead on interplanetary policy. Maraquoi Faith Traditional maraquoi religion has no formal name, and focuses on ancestor reverence over worshipping a specific divine entity. After death and before moving to the afterlife, each maraquoi is said to contribute a portion of their essence to an ancestral wellspring that exists between the stars. With proper ritual and conviction, a maraquoi can coax a forebear’s wisdom or raw magical power from this wellspring, with the latter feat rarely performed except by trained ritualists. Inclusion in this wellspring is an integral part of a maraquoi’s spiritual health, and thus one of the direst punishments involves cutting off a living maraquoi such that they’ll never contribute their undying knowledge to future generations. Since the Gap, some maraquoi have adopted other faiths, syncretizing them with their traditional beliefs. Yaraesa and Talavet increasingly feature as analogues or caretakers for the ancestral wellspring, encouraging maraquoi to learn from those who came before and discover new wonders. MARAQUOI GENDER AND FAMILIES Each of the seven sexes plays a role in maraquoi reproduction. The ilsha, qsha, and susha all contribute genetic material to the uisha, who then passes the unborn child to the klsha to gestate. After birth, the infant maraquoi is passed to the mesha, who nurses the child and carries them in a marsupial-style pouch for several months. The seventh sex, the zysha, plays no physical role in the process, but their psychic influence throughout is vital for a viable birth. The notion of monogamous marriage is bizarre to most maraquoi, who regard the concept with bemusement. Given the number of individuals involved, a maraquoi doesn’t necessarily have a romantic relationship with all the other parents of their offspring. In most cases, they’re romantically linked with some other parents and metamours with the rest; it’s rare for a maraquoi to decide to have children if they aren’t in a romantic relationship with at least one participant. Full polycules where all the participants are romantically involved with one another are uncommon, but not unheard of. After weaning and leaving the mesha’s pouch, maraquoi children are reared communally, though their parents collectively hold the most influence over their development. The Maraquoi language doesn’t divide pronouns by gender, instead using words that roughly translate to “this/that person.” When speaking Common, most maraquoi use “they,” with other pronouns used based on individual preference. Some maraquoi identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth or express a degree of gender fluidity. Such individuals are highly respected in maraquoi society, as they’re believed to be spiritually influenced by an ancestor of their identified gender(s). NAMES Maraquoi have a given name and a surname, often using mellifluous tones and combinations of consonants. A maraquoi’s surname is formed by taking the first phoneme from each of their parents’ given names, in the order of the reproduction process with the zysha first. For example, a maraquoi whose parents’ names were Tlana, Ensesha, Vaoliri, Nemnasha, Svarai, Qithieen, and Soklei would have the surname Tlenvanesvaqiso. Traditionally, many maraquoi also appended the name of their tribe when giving their names, though this practice is now considered somewhat old-fashioned. Sample Names Some sample maraquoi names include Aolisha, Bnevri, Dviathe, Esthithsa, Hxendei, Jqera, Klevsana, Llanai, Navrielle, Qivran, Srilaith, and Telvyi.
91 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES HYBRID ITEMS With the influx of new technology, many maraquoi have added a high-tech spin to their traditional tools. Though usually in maraquoi hands, some of these hybrid items find their way off Marata to other societies. Maraquoi traditionalists resent these fusions, viewing them as a debasement of their cultural heritage. ANCESTOR DRONE LEVEL 7 PRICE 6,500 BULK 4 Stone statuettes representing ancestors feature regularly in traditional maraquoi spirituality, serving as a conduit for deceased family to commune with the living. Some maraquoi have put a new twist on this tradition by creating drones to represent the ancestors instead. An ancestor drone is a Tiny, maraquoi-shaped domestic drone (Armory 101) that functions as the hover drone of a 1st-level mechanic with no drone mods. The drone features a small display screen in its chest, typically showing a curated array of short videos and images of several ancestors. Once per day, you can ritually pose a question to the ancestor drone, which channels fragmented wisdom from your departed family to answer you; this functions as augury but doesn’t require spending Resolve Points. KVASHBARK CARTOGRAPHY KIT LEVEL 1 PRICE 30 BULK — This kit consists of an enchanted roll of kvashbark parchment and three pots of natural Maratan pigments augmented with nanites. The kit can be used to create a three-dimensional map of a space, using one paint to create the 2-D representation on the bark, another paint to suspend the 3-D elements above it, and the third paint to seal the illustration in place, limiting other modifications. Once sealed in this way and unrolled, the parchment projects the 3-D image depicted in glowing light— traditionally to chart a star system, though the kit is equally suited to creating less functional artwork. Using a kvashbark star chart or map of an area grants you a +1 circumstance bonus to Survival checks to orienteer or Piloting checks to navigate the depicted area. STARLIGHT FLUTE LEVEL 3 PRICE 1,400 BULK L A starlight flute is an elaborately carved ritual bone flute based on a traditional maraquoi design. The flute sheds dim light in a 30-foot area. Once per day, you can play the flute as a full action to create an illusory effect made of music and starlight, replicating the effect of ghost sound with a range of 30 feet. If you continue concentrating and playing as a standard action on following rounds, the illusion develops a visual aspect, instead functioning as holographic image as a 2nd-level spell with a range of 30 feet. The Will save DC to disbelieve either effect is 13 or 12 + half your ranks in Profession (musician), whichever is higher. The visual image the flute creates always has a luminous quality, and unless the image is one observers would expect to glow (such as a lantern, a cabin with lit windows, or a glowing celestial figure), an observer can automatically attempt a Will save to disbelieve the illusion without having to interact with it first. VALI WATER LEVEL 16 PRICE 30,000 BULK – The hot springs of Ouat Vali impart exceptional—potentially even permanent—vitality to bathers. Even water removed from its source and kept in carefully insulated vials provides some benefits, functioning in many ways like a magical serum. Drinking a vial of Vali water grants the imbiber a +1 insight bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws; their abilities’ and spells’ saving throw DCs increase by 1; and they gain 1 temporary Resolve Point. After 1 hour, these effects end, the Resolve Point (if not already spent) disappears, and the user becomes fatigued. Drinking more than one vial of Vali water in a 24-hour period is dangerous, dealing 10d10 damage and giving the imbiber the paralyzed condition for 6d10 minutes unless they succeed at a DC 25 Fortitude save. Genuine Vali water is exceedingly rare, as export is strictly prohibited by the Maratan government, and black markets are rife with counterfeits that range from merely useless to actively harmful. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
92 Nuars are one of the many species that trace their origin to Golarion, as they bear a close resemblance to the minotaurs known to have developed on that world. Despite beginning the era after the Gap with no home world and living only in the Pact Worlds, the desire of nuars to build a place for themselves, coupled with a natural aptitude for complex patterns and structures, has led them to spread far and wide as explorers, colonists, troops, and engineers. Nuars prove quick to adapt to local customs, and many spend much of their adulthood far from any other members of their species. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Nuars are generally described as being pale minotaurs, and this is a fair (if oversimplified) description. Short by minotaur standards, a typical nuar stands between 7 and 7-1/2 feet tall, and their sturdy frames and sizeable horns cause them to average between 260 and 350 lbs. They’re bipedal and hooved, with strong, nimble hands. Most nuars have tails, which range from short tufts to long, flexible ropes that nearly reach the ground, but this trait isn’t universal. Nuars are covered in short, thick hair, with longer, shaggier hair common at the crown of the head and sometimes along the spine and at the tail-tip, wrists, and ankles. Nuars of all gender grow between two to eight horns, with two or four being most common. These horns generally grow from the upper back of the skull and sweep out and then forward, allowing them to be used effectively in close combat. The horns begin growing shortly after birth and reach full length after roughly a decade of aging (often seen as a sign a nuar is an adult). Nuars with more than two horns generally have two of typical length, with the rest being shorter (and often curving in different directions). Nuars with three or five horns are rare, but not unknown, roughly as common as humans born with eyes of different colors. Among nuars with odd-numbered horns, roughly half have more on one side of their head than the other, and half have a central horn growing forward from their forehead. Nuar horns are made of dense keratin (the same material that makes up their hooves, nails, and hair) with honeycombed patterns of dentin and microscopic tunnels of enamel (the same material their teeth are made of), which also coat the outside of the horn. New enamel is produced at the root of the horn if the outer sheath is damaged, allowing horns to repair and regrow, though severe damage can be permanent. While nuars have nerve endings in the flesh around the base of their horns, they have no feeling within the horns themselves, which are dense and tough enough to survive exposure to vacuum. Indeed, many nuar armor suits leave their horns exposed to allow for easy use in combat without damaging the armor. Though nuars are generally described as white in coloration, this description is also a simplification. Most have typical arctic NUAR Home World: Absalom Station (Pact Worlds) Resembling pale, short minotaurs, nuars are one of the orphan species of lost Golarion. Their size, strength, and natural weapons cause them to often be seen as brutes, but nuar have a nuanced society and a natural ability to envision and expand on complex patterns. or desert coloration with white, light gray, cream, and tan most common, but some also have dark bellies, palms, and/or noses. Most nuars have pink or red eyes, with a much smaller number displaying bright blue, green, or yellow irises. Roughly 1 in 20,000 nuars have radically different coloration with red, blue, and even purple hair and skin. Nuar brains are particularly adept at visualizing complex patterns and can memorize twists, turns, and interlocking shapes more easily than lists of names, abstracted historic dates, or purely philosophical ideas. Many nuars use their aptitude for patterns to excel as engineers, artists, and navigators; others delve into more esoteric subjects by constructing “memory mazes” within their heads, envisioning an imaginary labyrinth and placing key ideas or facts in specific turns and twists of the metaphorical structure. HOME WORLD Most nuars consider Absalom Station to be their home world, as they believe their true planet of origin is lost Golarion, and there’s a fair amount of evidence supporting this idea. While pre-Gap records have very few references to nuars as a species, there are occasionally notes referring to the “legacy of Nuar,” or “Nuar the Minotaur Prince of Absalom” capitalized as a proper name, in some of the last histories written of Golarion prior to the first years of the Gap. While that alone is far from definitive, when the Gap ended, there were nuars only in the Pact Worlds, and the majority were on Absalom Station. Many of those on the station lived in quarters clearly designed for nuar physiology, and often with artifacts that can be traced to the Inner Sea Region of the missing planet. Combined with a total lack of signs of nuar-focused cities or settlements anywhere else, the theory that nuars are one of the scores of species that originated on Golarion remains the top contender among scholars of nuar origins. Of course, there are competing, less-well-supported theories on where nuars come from. Several fringe academics claim nuars more likely came from the worlds that were blown up to form the Diaspora, with the lack of evidence of such a beginning attributed to that very destruction. Though there’s little to nothing to suggest this is the case, rumors claim the existence of secret nuar strongholds at the center of vast maze fortresses within rocks in the Diaspora. Such stories are often popular with nuars themselves, as they suggest a place where original nuar culture and history might be preserved, even as the majority of nuars treat the stories as little more than wishful thinking. While a few nuars can be found in nearly any district of Absalom Station, with some even hanging onto family holdings in the otherwise humancentric Olensa region of the Ring, the largest congregation lives within the Spike neighborhood of Conduit,
93 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES more popularly known as Pipetown. The mazelike structures of coolant systems, filters, air pumps, and access ducts are less confusing for nuars, with their strong natural sense of direction and ability to visualize complex patterns, than for other species. It’s not so much that nuars feel drawn to living within the labyrinthine guts of the station, merely that it doesn’t impede them, so there’s much less competition for living space in and around Conduit. Nuars can gather in sections of Pipetown even other residents can’t easily find, either paying discount rates—like for air, water, power, and square footage—or directly accessing things they need from unclaimed infrastructure piping. SOCIETY When the Gap ended, nuars were aware of their names, careers, relationships with others, and little else. Cultures with long pre-Gap histories, such as humans, elves, lashuntas, and kasathas, could look back to records describing their ancient kingdoms, myths, gods, heroes, and wars; however, nuars had no such stretch of history to model their society on. Some sought to build their own paths and traditions from the clues found in their homes, while others quickly adopted the customs and behaviors of non-nuar neighbors. The relatively short history of nuars since the Gap has revolved around either discovering more of who they once were or building new frameworks upon which to build their way of life. First Steps At birth, nuars weigh roughly 15 pounds and stretch more than two feet long from hoof to crown of head. Though gangly and awkward at first, they can walk within a few hours, feed themselves within a few days, and can master as many as 50 words and even craft two-word sentences within a month. This relatively quick development allows nuars traveling with their family to have numerous children with them, as it isn’t necessary for a parent to dedicate their time caring for the young for a prolonged period. While many nuars are raised with their family’s customs and local traditions and language introduced in their day-today lives, some nuar communities prefer to restrict what their young are exposed to. One line of thought believes that the inherent nature of nuars can be found by the behavior of their newborns showing preferences for specific foods, colors, temperatures, or other basic elements from which more complex entertainments and traditions can be built. There’s considerable debate whether such efforts are effective, not the least because different groups of nuars consider different ideas neutral. One group might only use items that are black and white when decorating a newborn nuar’s room, while others might employ a spectrum of colors but avoid patterns and textures. While some groups claim to have discovered some “essential” element of nuar nature by observing the preferences of young ones, such trends are rarely duplicated by different groups trying the same methodology. Young nuars begin to show interest in various arts and careers by the age of two and often enter formal training at this point. A nuar reaches their full height by eight years but retains a gangly frame until they hit adulthood roughly four years later. Nuars that are adult height but not yet fully filled out are often called tallings, and they might help with their parents’ vocations, care for younger siblings, and try their hand at dozens of different life paths and potential career goals before settling on something they find fulfilling. The Maze of Life Once a nuar is an adult, they often seek a sense of connection to a broader community than that of their caregivers. A desire to wander and see what lies beyond familiar walls is commonplace and often results in a nomadic existence many nuars call the Maze of Life. Some nuar scholars feel this wanderlust is a result of nuar brains quickly grasping complex patterns and shapes, with everything they know as youth becoming too familiar EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
94 SPECIES TRAITS Ability Adjustments: +2 Str, +2 Int, –2 Dex Hit Points: 6 Size and Type: Nuars are Medium monstrous humanoids. Darkvision: Nuars have darkvision out to 60 feet. Gore: Nuars can charge without taking the normal charge penalties to the attack roll or their AC. If a nuar has another ability that allows them to charge without taking these penalties (such as the charge attack ability from the soldier’s blitz attack fighting style), the nuar also gains the ability to charge through difficult terrain. Maze Mind: Nuars have a naturally strong sense of direction and an instinctive understanding of complex patterns. As a result, they very rarely get lost. A nuar can attempt a special level-based Wisdom check (1d20 + CR or level + Wisdom bonus) instead of using their total bonus in the Piloting skill to navigate or their total bonus in the Survival skill for orienteering. In addition, a nuar with 1 or more ranks in Piloting or Survival also gains a +2 species bonus to checks with that skill. Natural Weapons (P): Nuars have the natural weapons universal creature rule. Swift: Nuars have a base speed of 40 feet. and simple to satisfy their desire for intricacy in adulthood. Others feel the tendency of adult nuars to leave home for long stretches indicates there’s some crucial cultural touchstone in their lives that’s missing, and, lacking an ancient history to guide in fulfilling it, many nuars become explorers in a subconscious desire to connect with a missing part of their culture. While not all nuars leave their homes as adults, the idea of the Maze of Life is a popular one. Growing originally from a personal legend (see Personal Legend below) more than a century ago, nuars often use it to refer to seeking a balance between what an individual wishes to do and what their circumstances require or allow them to do. Anyone dissatisfied with their job, or who wants to see sights on distant worlds, or struggles to create art they enjoy is often said to be wandering the Maze of Life, and this is considered a normal and acceptable part of being an adult. For many nuars, the Maze of Life results in finding some other culture or settlement that speaks to them. Many nuars enjoy the aesthetics and traditions of places with strong orc and half-orc influences, including Apostae and places within the Veskarium where orcs have settled over the generations since the Drift became accessible. PERSONAL LEGEND Nuars are a people with no gods to call their own, no ancient history, no pre-Gap history or sagas or poems, and at most one great ancient hero. While Nuar, the Minotaur Prince of Absalom, is generally accepted as being a historic figure connected (somehow) to the ancient past of the nuar species, little is known about him beyond notes of his existence shortly before the Gap destroyed or muddled all other records. In short, while nuars have a few centuries of post-Gap exploits and records to draw from, they lack deeper roots and, in some cases, feel a need to fill that void. While some nuars do so by adopting another culture’s traditions, history, and art, others build their own individual version of the ancient past known as a personal legend. A personal legend is a specific nuar’s version of what ancient nuar culture looked like. It may include lists of nuar gods, great moments in nuar culture that sparked nuar-specific traditions, nuar folk music styles, and long, written chains of nuar settlements becoming cities, then nations, only to collapse or be conquered and rise again centuries alter. Rather than being based on any scholarly evidence that such things happened, each nuar’s personal legend is simply how they imagine things to have gone. A nuar might well borrow elements from other planet’s histories and settlements’ customs, adding them however desired to the nuar’s own record of what might have been. While outsiders often refer to nuar personal legends as fake or imaginary, such labels miss the point as far as the nuars who craft them are concerned. Most nuars see personal legends as more akin to poetry than history—a crafted story that exists to teach lessons, espouse ideas, and give context to holidays and memorials. It doesn’t matter to a nuar if their personal legend is factual, as long as it feels like an authentic expression. The idea that those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it reverberates with many nuars, who simply lack any records of their pre-Gap history to learn from. By creating a series of folk tales to teach their children and explain their opinions to friends and allies, many nuars hope to build a strong foundation for future generations to build upon. It’s common for a given group of nuars to share a personal legend, at least in broad strokes, as a linchpin for community engagement. Some nuar personal legends have become so popular they’re now more than a century old, with nuars on a dozen worlds all referring to them while being aware they were crafted by a post-Gap member of their species. Some of the most popular personal legends have names that create cultural movements, such as the creation myth How the Minotaurs Were Bleached, which combines a great deal of gnomish First World lore with orc mythology to tell an entirely apocryphal story of the First Twelve Nuar, and how each gave up one color to help build a new world for their kind. While Twelvists all know none of the details of that legend are true, it does nothing to quench the delight of their children when they receive a gift of a specific color on the twelfth night of each month. NAMES There’s a comparatively short list of “authentic” nuar names that represent every name held by a nuar when the Gap ended, and a few names consistently show up in reference to nuars in the muddled, scrambled records from the Gap. As with so much of nuar culture, their naming conventions seem to have developed during the Gap and thus are nearly entirely lost to that galactic knowledge blank. Some scholastic work has attempted to reclaim names drawn from minotaur culture, applying rules evolved from existing nuar names and how linguistic drift might have changed minotaur
95 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES terms into nuar names. Nuars also often take names from orc and half-orc sources, and many borrow names from friends of the family or local persons of note. Since most “official” nuar names tend to be two syllables long and begin and end with consonants, names that match that pattern are more often adopted by nuar communities— though few nuars feel constrained by this general trend. Nuars make no distinction between names based on gender, and sometimes take a name from another society that’s associated with a different gender than their own. Young nuars often select a name for themselves upon leaving the safety and control of their parent’s home, and nuar settlements consider using the old name an insult since that rejects the nuar’s right to self-identify. Sample Names Some sample nuar names include Durnat, Fernin, Garendor, Gorak, Hallen, Jodat, Kallar, Kantol, Lurjok, Lonorok, Maoa, Mothor, Narfendol, Nuaz, Purken, Quar, Rarken, Roguff, Sakkar, Trag, Tykin, Ulgar, Vurok, and Zarnen. SPELLS Nuars’ relatively high number of explorers and researchers, along with their natural grasp of complex patterns, has produced numerous advances in magic and technology that, while originating with nuars, have become far more widespread. While the best known of these innovations is maze-core technology, nuars have also developed a spell that evolved from their grasp of patterns. PHANTASMAL MAZE MYSTIC 3 WITCHWARPER 3 School illusion Casting Time 1 standard action Range medium (100 ft. +10 ft/level) Area 15-ft.-radius burst Duration 1 minute/level Saving Throw Will partial (special; see text); Spell Resistance yes You create an illusion of a complex maze that creatures in the area perceive. The maze matches the terrain and decor of the area it’s cast in. Those within it perceive walls, doors, barriers, twists, turns, and constant, confusing obstructions. The maze prevents creatures from perceiving any creature farther than 10 feet away from them, and makes it impossible for them to move except by taking guarded steps. If an affected creature is in a complex, mazelike area when this spell is cast, they can’t attempt a saving throw against it until they have some reason to believe they aren’t in a normal maze (normally requiring interacting with the maze in some way, such as trying to map it out or use sensors to find a way through it). Creatures that succeed at a Will save against the spell realize the maze is illusory but are still bombarded with false sensory data as they deal with the fake turns and twists around them. These targets choose at the beginning of their turn to be flat-footed or off-target, but they don’t suffer any other effects of the spell. At the end of each turn, characters affected by this spell can attempt a new Will save; if successful, they’re immune to this spell for 24 hours. Nuars are immune to the effects of this spell. PRESERVED PATH MYSTIC 1 PRECOG 1 School illusion Casting Time 1 move action Range personal Duration 10 minutes/level For the duration of the spell, moving causes you to leave behind a faint illusory string in the spaces you move through; the string follows the path of your center of gravity, emits dim light to a range of 5 feet, and lasts until the end of the spell. EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2
96 Pahtras are adapted to life on their home planet of Pulonis, a world wracked with magnetic storms and inhabited by titanic flora and wildlife. To rise to these challenges, pahtras took a different path from many galactic species: unconventional technology and ironclad traditions focused on combat. Their conquest by the vesk and subsequent exposure to the Pact Worlds has caused a social revolution of sorts, with younger pahtras rejecting the paths forced on them by pahtra elders. The legacy of the past still holds strong however, and the pahtras most people encounter are those soldiers who have access to the intense physical conditioning required to venture into a universe where everything weighs twice as much. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION Pahtras raised on Pulonis tend to be tall and lanky with wiry musculature that reads as too thin to many other species. A typical Pulonis pahtra stands six to seven feet tall and weighs 150 pounds. Their bodies and limbs are elongated, and many of their bones aren’t entirely fused, causing their joints to be looser than those of most creatures that reside on higher gravity worlds. This aspect of their anatomy gives them an extended range of motion and incredible flexibility but sharply limits how much force they can exert, as a pahtra who strains the limits of their strength finds their body distorting more readily than their environment does. As pahtras have expanded into the universe however, they’ve discovered their physiology is remarkably adaptable—a pahtra raised on a world with heavier gravity grows to a similar height but develops the stockier musculature of a large predatory cat. Like many felines, pahtra have meat-ripping teeth framed by prominent canines as well as retractable claws on their hands and feet. While useful for eating and climbing, these features make for unimpressive weapons. However, young pahtras sometimes train to deliver lethal blows, often losing some of their natural flexibility as they toughen their bodies. Pahtras are covered in a layer of short fur that ranges from tawny brown to gray with almost every individual possessing a unique, dark pattern of irregular blotches, stripes, and spots. Eyes can be almost any color of the visible spectrum, though hazel is the most common. As with many nocturnal predators, their eyes are highly sensitive to light, allowing them to see in dim and dark conditions. A pahtra’s pupil can contract into a slit to avoid this feature blinding them in bright light. Pahtras’ most extraordinary sense isn’t consistent across the species. Each pahtra has a cluster of subdermal sensory organs arrayed across their face, and the organs’ primary function varies by the individual with several common types. Harmonic sensitivity is the most common function, allowing the pahtra to feel sound and frequencies—often contributing to pahtras’ PAHTRA Home World: Pulonis/Vesk-6 (Near Space) Hailing from a jungle world with low gravity, pahtras are well versed in the arts of music, magic, and war. Astonishingly nimble and possessing keen senses, these humanoid felines are unorthodox and efficient combatants. perfect pitch and natural affinity for rhythm and harmony. In others, the organs anchor long whiskers that can register the presence of nearby creatures. While these whiskers are useful survival tools in the wilderness, their hypersensitivity tends to make them uncomfortable in high winds and crowded urban environments. A third group’s facial organs have specialized olfactory functions that sense when a familiar creature smells off, indicating an infection or illness. Finally, some pahtras are especially sensitive to magic, not just sensing local auras but also orienting in relation to trace magical energies in Pulonis’s powerful magnetosphere. Most pahtras exhibit one of these functions strongly, and their facial organs have reduced sensitivity to one or more additional stimuli. For example, many pahtras can’t sense ambient magic but do exhibit a response known as “the twitch” when exposed to enchantments, likening it to a jolt of sudden suspicion that helps them shake off mind-affecting effects. The exact sensory array seems to develop randomly in infancy regardless of the parents’ senses. The prevailing theory is that pahtras evolved to have a communal sensory array, with at least one member of each group able to sense an important stimulus and alert others to its presence. HOME WORLD Despite its considerable distance from its sun, Pulonis—better known to the Veskarium as Vesk-6—is a hot and humid jungle world with no ice or polar caps to speak of. Invasive planetary drilling from the vesk revealed this climate to be the result of Pulonis’s core being modified in the ancient past—it’s likely that without this mysterious alteration, the planet would’ve been a frozen rock incapable of supporting complex life. Whether as a result of these same modifications or due to the planet’s natural properties, Pulonis also has an incredibly strong magnetosphere, which renders most advanced technology completely useless on its surface. Due to its small size, Pulonis has a weak gravitational pull, allowing both its geography and biological life-forms to grow to titanic extremes. Mountain ranges jut up in precipitous spires that would be impossible on other worlds, while flora and fauna alike dwarf most species in the same way a vesk towers over a hamster. While many visitors struggle with an environment where they feel so small, pahtras often delight in the challenges their world presents, believing the greatest obstacles present the greatest opportunity for glory. Though the low gravity of Pulonis means many of its towering fauna are weaker than they appear, the technology-destroying storms and fields of the planet are more than enough to even the scales. In theory, pahtra nation-states control most of the planet with ultimate authority resting with the Veskarium. In practice, the
97 INTERSTELLAR SPECIES pahtra concept of control is far looser than that of their vesk overlords; pahtras keep their cities and living areas safe, otherwise letting the vast wilderness manage itself. Travel between pahtra nations tends to be either very slow or accomplished via risky yet swift flying ships powered by magnetic sails. For all its verdant splendor, Pulonis bears a nearly lifeless scar known as the Holy Lands. During its conquest of the planet, the Veskarium grew impatient dealing with pahtra guerilla defenders and bombarded the region from orbit, vitrifying the landscape. This indiscriminate, unstoppable show of force finally elicited a surrender, and the surrounding jungles have shown no signs of reclaiming the blasted area. It now serves as a sacred memorial to honor the pahtras who perished there. Although pahtras are the dominant sapient life-form on Pulonis, they aren’t alone in their intelligence. The mysterious ichthyoid oozes known as hymothoas also lurk on the planet’s surface, and they demonstrate hostility toward the Veskarium. Hymothoas have the disturbing ability to parasitize living creatures, slowly devouring and replacing the functions of internal organs, until at last they control the victim’s brain functions. Should the host body fail, the hymothoa can readily flee the dying husk and seek new prey. Pahtras seem to instinctively consider hymothoas enemies and feel the urge to kill them on sight; hymothoas are less visibly belligerent in turn but are more than happy to devour a pahtra in pursuit of their goals. SOCIETY On Pulonis, pahtra culture is nearly as competitive as the life-or-death struggles of the natural world around it. Pahtras are wellversed in cooperating to survive their extreme surroundings, but youths and seasoned veterans alike strive to excel in their chosen fields and distinguish themselves from their many peers. Pahtra nation-states recreate this rivalry on a grand scale, displaying their latest breakthroughs or triumphs in a relentless drive for prestige. Most pahtras consider this friendly opposition to bring out the best in each other, though the process burns out or outright kills numerous pahtras each year as they strive for recognition. Not every pahtra starts off on even footing either; tradition dictates that the patterns of a pahtra’s fur determine their character and potential, as interpreted by a pahtra mystic shortly after birth. Pahtra youths have begun to rebel against this predestination, even choosing to leave the planet just to escape the expectations thrust on them by others. Many pahtras still consider their ancestral traditions of the highest importance. They’re a subjugated people, no matter what autonomy their despots have granted them, and they’re keenly aware the vesk would prefer that pahtra culture quietly erode until it becomes indistinguishable from the rest of the Veskarium. Most pahtras also firmly believe it was their traditional warrior training that allowed them to challenge the technologically superior invasion forces of the vesk, a challenge that earned pahtras the Veskarium’s respect even in defeat. As such, many on Pulonis are determined not to see these traditions taken from them, and it’s little surprise that some see the rebellion of pahtra youths as an existential threat. Due to the magnetic fields and storms of Pulonis, pahtras weren’t a technologically advanced species before their conquest. With their exposure to a wider galaxy, they’ve been making up for lost time. Though they make use of shielded electronics imported from the wider Veskarium, they rightfully consider such gear to be one system failure away from disaster—instead, pahtra nation-states prefer to focus on advanced ceramics, bioengineering, and chemistry that are more reliable on their home world. Mysticism remains highly important on Pulonis as well since even the vagaries of magic prove more reliable than a metal piton or a simple radio. The majority of pahtras are asexual. They often form loving and lifelong relationships with a partner or small group, though they tend to balk at any bond that infringes on their individuality. A relatively small population of childbearing couples sustain the pahtra population with litters of six to eight kits at a time. Unsurprisingly, communal child-rearing is a necessity in most pahtra societies. Both biological parents and adults closely involved in children’s rearing are treated as parents, and although sexual attraction and reproduction are key to sustaining the population, a pahtra’s reproductive involvement earns enough polite respect to feel valued without feeling like an obligation to attain social status. Another consequence of this child rearing culture is most pahtra schools and training grounds are populated by several large sibling cohorts—a social dynamic that puts even more pressure on each pahtra to differentiate themselves from their relatives while still ensuring their family’s overall performance overshadows competing sibling clusters. Adolescence A pahtra’s youth tends to be a sheltered one, kept safe in cities where nothing can snatch up an unwary child as a snack. Infants begin life very small and EVOLUTIONIST NPC GALLERY CLASS OPTIONS INDEX SPECIES SPECIES BUILDER PLAYABLE SPECIES SPECIES PROFILES CLASSES OVERVIEW 2