Aliens for BASH-SF - Knight-Marshal of the Commonwealth!

So in past posts for Knights-Marshal of the Commonwealth, I have provided you with Player Characters [specifically the ones from my campaign so far], and teased some of the other concepts out there in Commonspace, on the Edge, and beyond. Humans, drifts and some significant genetic modifications like the Wulfen or the Dire are possible, but PC Knights-Marshal can also be drawn from the Elohir [as you have seen], from any of the signatory species of the Commonwealth, and even from some of other species inside and outside of Commonspace.

Today, I want to provide you with the basic descriptions of the Signatory non-human species of the Commonwealth. Any of these are playable as Knights-marshal, and will bring some of their own ‘baggage’, racial, cultural and personal, to the Order and their understanding of it. I will do the same for Humanity in a future post, but for now I will just mention that there are two broad strains of humanity in the setting. Pembrokian Humanity is a Commonwealth Signatory. All others, who cannot trace their lineage back to Pembroke, are technically not citizens.

OK. On to the other Signatories:

Note: To play an alien that is defined by a ‘template’, the player must choose the Advantage: ‘Alien’ during character creation. This ‘purchases’ the appropriate template that describes that alien, including any advantages and disadvantages associated with it. There may also be a point cost, which may be paid out of the allotment for Abilities or Powers, at the player’s discretion. The player must also take a disadvantage to offset the ‘cost’ of the Alien Advantage, in the same way she would for any other advantage.

It is possible to play a ‘very human alien’, if a player wishes. If they have no significant powers, or such, when almost all of the things that distinguish that character’s race are cosmetic. In such a case, you need not take Alien advantage. IF, however, the player wants psionics or powers not available to humans, they must pay for those things as normal. The GM is the final arbiter as to whether a template, and an Advantage are required.

Shard -  Silica-based humanoids composed largely of amber or orange crystals of varying clarity, the Shard have developed a strange bio-technology that takes advantage of their innate energies. Among other things, it allows them to store and discharge energy through crystal arrays that look similar to their own faceted features. Enigmatic masters of the Spike Drive, the Shard bestowed that knowledge upon the first men to travel the Void, and struggle to maintain a monopoly on the technology even now. Naturally inquisitive, many Shard are scientists, researchers, historians and explorers. Although the shard have impressive technology, including the Spike Drive, the most efficient means to travel between the stars, they are neither warlike nor acquisitive as a rule. The practice of soldiery is often left up to mercenaries in their employ, or to a very able Exploratory Corps, once almost entirely composed of Obsidian Shard, but no longer.   

            The Obsidian Shard are nearly everything normal shard are not. A faction or sub-race of the Shard, named for the black silica of which they are composed, they were once rulers of the entirety of the Shard Continuum, but now are outlaw fanatics, wielders of dread ‘Sorcery’.

            More information on the Obsidian Shard, Obsidian Sorcery, and the Exploratory Corps will be forthcoming in future.

Shard Template

Advantages: Racial Bio-Tech, Tenacity,

Disadvantages: Racial Code, Racial Vulnerability – Sonic Damage.]

Note: Only Obsidian Shard can take the Power Obsidian Sorcery, which is its own Advantage and must be taken separately.

Sagati – Six-limbed alien-reptilians with horns and dorsal spines, they grow large with time, but most are within the range of Normal to Large. The foremost pair of Sagati limbs have evolved into manipulatory arms and hands, which fold close to the body in little recesses in the sides of the torso for protection when not in use. Eyes are glassy, opaque dark red orbs that perceive far into the infrared part of the spectrum.

            The Sagati have adopted the Shard Spike Drive as a more efficient means of propulsion, but had already expanded to a dozen star systems by means of the Jump Drive before encountering the Shard. There are still ships, in Sagati space and beyond that use the Jump Drive out of necessity or frugality. Most Sagati ships, however are now built with Shard technology [See Space and Travel, for the details of Spike and Jump Drives]. Sagati technology provides the basis of what is in use on the Commonwealth. Blasters, force fields, plasma blades, cyberware and Synth technology, are all Sagati in origin, though many species now use and produce them as well.

            Although they are among the least human in appearance, the Sagati share some of the same core tenets and desires. The need for security, acquisition, and dominance plays a major role in Sagati society, as does the sense of personal honor. The primary Sagati social model is the ‘Hold’, a group of related individuals that can number in the hundreds up to tens of thousands. Honor duels between Holds, or individuals, now ritualized and less lethal than in the past, are not infrequent occurrences, and it is not unheard of for a Sagati to call out a member of another species, if it can be assured of the creature’s essential honor.

            Gender plays almost no part on Sagati society, beyond the obvious and inescapable necessities of actual procreation. Males and females confer, and gain, honor equally from their ancestors and their progeny, and Sagati bloodlines and alliances, interrelationships, breeding rights and such are very complex.

Sagati Template:

Minimum Brawn 3, Minimum Agility 2;

Advantages: Tough Skin, Natural Weapons – Jaws, Infrared Vision

Disadvantages: Honor Bound, Unusual Sleep Cycle, Familial Responsibility

Sagati have access to the Advantage ‘Large’, either in character creation or during play.

Veet – Slight, stooped, carapaced humanoids with large spade shaped heads the Veet are generally peaceful, but acquisitive, focused around growing their resources. In the early years of contact with other species, the Veet did not understand that many races had a taboo about their remains being eaten. The Veet see no problem with this, but now generally abstain out of respect.

            The Veet arrived on the edges of Shard space some nine centuries ago, as a mass of colony ships after having traversed the entirety of The Reach, as space along the spiral arm away from the galactic core is known. Whether the Veet originated in another galaxy is an open question, even to most Veet, but the ships upon which they arrived showed signs of extended continuous habitation. What is known is that the Veet were fleeing a rapacious instellar race they referred to as Sithik, which Veet translate to something like ‘Devourers of All Things’.

            By the time the Veet colonies found the Shard, their circumstances were dire. Their star drives were all but fused, their environmental processors failing. The Shard directed them to several nearby worlds with primitive but compatible ecosystems, and lent them the means to survive. In a little more than 50 years, the Shard and the Sagati welcomed the Veet into their Alliance, renaming it the Commonwealth in recognition of the benefits of common purpose and security.

            Veet Terraformers are the finest in the Commonwealth, renowned for manufacturing functional, ecologically sound worlds that suit the purpose for which they were modified. 

Veet Template:

Maximum Brawn 4, Minimum Agility 3

Power: Clinging

Advantages: Tough Skin

Disadvantages: Small

Career: Scientist 0

Ran-Keld - Slender humanoids well over six feet in height, with gray, leathery skin, the people of the arid planet of Keld, the Ran-Keld [‘The Minds of Keld’] are recent migrants to the stars. Two centuries ago, the Ran-Keld developed a star drive capable of travelling at a significant percentage of lightspeed. Forty-eight Common Years ago, some of their early exploratory craft were encountered by Veet terraformers near Palissey. Before long, the Ran-Keld were trading for Shard Drives and colonizing other worlds. Two decades later they were made Signatory to the Commonwealth.

            The Ran-Keld are telepathic, but only in their ability to project thoughts. They cannot, for the most part, read the thoughts of others. Except within a brood, consisting of the young that were incubated together. Broods of 5 to 10 individuals are common, but larger and smaller ones are not unknown. Broodmates are fully telepathic within their group, and exhibit a pack mentality that creates a level of devotion to the brood as a whole, even over the lives of their parents, offspring or themselves.The word 'Ran' in the language of Keld translates best as 'Mind' but refers to the entirety of a brood rather than an individual.

Ran-Keld Template:

Advantages: Natural Psycher – Ran-Keld Telepathy, Water Efficient

Disadvantages: Pack Mentality - Brood,

As this is still a work in progress, I will add one more Signatory species, possibly two, but that is all I have for now. But by way of apology, below is a bit of a bonus, although the Ghwon template is found on page 2 of Rhoark, Zhar of Marauders too.

The Ghwon - Large hairless, rather horse-faced aliens, originally confined to a single low tech world. A significant number have been taken off world, often finding work as muscle or soldiers for others. The homeworld of the Ghwon is one of savage beasts, hostile environs, and background radiation that would kill many weaker species. Those adventurous Ghwon who escape it rarely return, but their atavistic urges tend to push them to the Edge, or to careers with plenty of action. A rare few have become Knights-Marshal.

[Maximum Mind 3, Minimum Brawn 3, Adv: Tough Skin, Resistance – Radiation, Large; Disadv: Color Blindness, Prejudicial Treatment, Primitive, Carnivorous Diet].