Epithail Hawk in "Random Encounter"

“Welcome to your end young pup,” the voice behind him said.

Epithail turned just in time to see the hulking beast of a man swing a rather solid looking pipe at his skull. His years of dealing with the untold number of horrors the forces of the Wyrm had thrown at his Sept had prepared him for exactly this type of moment though.  Ducking out of the way, he reached into an inner pocket of his brown trench coat and pulled out a small glass jar. The giant of a man was a little off balance from his previous attack missing when he swung again. He dug deep into his anger and tapped into that reserve of power making this one an easy dodge that  left his opponent wide open, so Epithail responded the only way he could; by smashing the jar of caustic liquids into his face.

His opponent screamed in rage as the solution inside made his skin boil. Epithail drew his Glock and put 4 rounds into the man’s chest sending him to the ground. That’s when he finally heard the other sound coming from his collapsed opponent. A very familiar sound, the cracking and reshaping of bones as a werewolf shifted.

“Shit!” he yelled as he bolted away from the now rising Crinos form werewolf.

Running away he was able to find a good spot to hide in the storage lot for the chemical plant. Looking out from his hiding spot he was able to see his opponent rise. The beast was over 10 feet tall, built of muscle, teeth, and claws, and coated in black, greasy, matted fur. Tribal glyphs glowing a sickly Balefire green dotted his hide. Obviously scar fetishes of his tribe, the Black Spiral Dancers, enhancing his already formidable strength. The Beast’s Rage was barely contained as his body tried its best to repair the damage done to his face with the caustic substance. Fortunately it looked like the substance did a number on the Beast’s eyes and nose giving Epithail a slight time advantage.

The combat training his packmate taught him kicked into high gear and he took stock of his situation as quickly as he could. He had his Glock, his Colt Python, his sawed-off lever action shotgun, and his Kabar-esque Klaive. His Glock was in his hand but would be useless against a werewolf in their warform. He had a quick loading clip with silver rounds for the Colt revolver but he’d have to risk reloading it with a pissed off werewolf within earshot. He had a silver slug at the end of the lever action’s tube, but he wasn’t sure he could get through the other 4 rounds quick enough. His Kabar-style Klaive was a combat knife made of silver infused with a spirit of war and was a very capable weapon in its own right, but he’d have to close in against a werewolf who he’d only gotten lucky against in his earlier melee.

His only chance would be to escape to his car, but it was parked two blocks down and on the wrong side of an anger-fueled furball. To do that he was going to have to make a move of some type, and do it quickly before his opponent regenerated his sense of smell. He holstered the Glock and pulled out the revolver and his silver filled reloader. He opened the cylinder and attempted to eject the rounds into his hand as quietly as possible.

A couple of very brief metallic clinks made the Dancer’s ear’s twitch in his direction. It had heard him. Epithail quickly snapped the chamber the chamber shut, drew his Klaive and began to stand up while he touched the primal Rage inside of himself.

He felt the change take place, he only needed a bit of Gaia’s gifts at the moment. His bones hardened and lengthened, he felt the heat as his muscles grew, he felt that damn itch when the hair pushed its way out of his skin. His head clouded with more anger as he let the Wolf take over a piece of himself. He rose from behind the concrete barrier he was hiding behind in his Glabro, the Near-Man form looking and feeling like the primitively strong and excessively hairy man he now felt like with his weapons drawn in a basic CQC pose.

The Beast’s eyes locked on him and he swore he saw the fucker smile before the mountain of muscle and claws charged him. Epithail squeezed the trigger twice before trying to dive out of the way. Two measured pulls of a professional. The first shot his target was expecting and he adjusted just out of the way, but he wasn’t expecting the second.

The pure silver .44 Magnum round slammed into the beast’s shoulder, shattering the bone and releasing the horrid stench of burning flesh as the round fragmented and buried itself into the werewolf’s body. The Black Spiral Dancer fell to the ground screaming in pain within arms’ length of Epithail.

“That’ll teach you to fuck with me, asshole,” Epithail yelled as he leveled the revolver to finish the job.

That’s when the second one tackled him and tried to rip his face off.

There was no time left for thinking, Epithail let the Rage take control. Gaia had gifted all of her warriors with Rage for a reason, and this was it. The Wolf and the Rage would see him through this and the world disappeared into shades of grey and red as his body made the shift to his War Form, the mighty Crinos.

Epithail’s brown fur covered form wasn’t nearly as muscular as the other two werewolves and he was sometimes a funny sight since he liked to get his combat gear Dedicated to him so it wouldn’t rip when he shifted, but that had never been a problem for him before, especially when he already had his blade in hand. As the second Dancer clamped down onto Epithail’s shoulder, he slammed the Klaive into the betrayer’s neck and pushed it forward hard, severing the spine with the silvered blade. Epithail could practically see the spirit of War inside of the blade glowing with pride as it was able to fulfil its purpose.

He kicked the corpse off of himself and stood up. The first Dancer, the Beast, was nowhere to be seen. The Wolf called to him to hunt it down and finish the kill, but his human instincts barely kept that urge in check. Instead he ran for his car. He holstered his revolver since it was useless to him in this form.

His senses were on high alert. The Wolf in him wasn’t as strong as other Garou, but he was still better off than any human would be in the same situation. If there were two, there are very likely more. In a perverse way he knew he should feel honored that they were using a whole pack to try and take him down. He was just some lowly little Glass Walker computer nerd that somehow warranted a full pack of Black Spiral Dancer’s to be taken down. That would have to count for something to the Sept, right? If only his sixteen year old self could see him now.

The wind shifted and he caught scent of something rancid, a hideous and wrong smell. The smell of a Dancer.  He kept moving and dodged the attack aimed at him from behind a parked truck. He clumsily slashed the third member of the Dancer pack across the side as the Beast revealed himself from the shadows with one more Black Spiral Dancer in tow. He was surrounded.

The Wolf demanded that he go out in a blaze of glory, it snarled for him, challenging his opponents to close and finish him. Epithail almost agreed with it. He didn’t like where this was going. Dancers never killed you if they could help it. It was far better to drive you mad and recruit you. A Glory filled death would be preferred to betraying all you know and care about. Fortunately though his rational mind was able to reign the Wolf back in before he caused more trouble. Epithail forced the Wolf back down and forced himself to resume the Near-Man as he sheathed the Klaive.

“Hey guys, come on. We don’t have to do this,” Epithail said in the gravelly almost growl of the Near-Man, “Go pick up your fallen and I’ll let you leave to nurse your wounds.”

The Beast let out a laugh and cringed a bit as his bullet wound reminded him of its existence. He then lowered his head into a snarl and continued to circle. Epithail began looking for his options. He had put his weapons away. His Klaive was going to be useless here, he wasn’t that good of a knife fighter and there were three of them in Crinos. Granted one was decently slashed up and another had a wrecked shoulder, but he was still out numbered.

“Do you really think you can take, me? I mean, really? I’m Epithail, Silentsurge, the mutha-fuckin man, Hawk.”

The third one was still healthy, that was the priority target. He still had four rounds left in the Colt.

“I’m a legend here. Do you know what and who I’ve done?”

Still circling, looking for that moment of weakness so they can keep me from being crippled. Still have the silver slug in the shotgun, but the other 4 shells are worthless.

“I’ve killed leeches stronger than you. You really think you have a chance against me?”

“Enough talk!” the uninjured Dancer yelled in the barely understandable growls of Crinos as it lunged at Epithail.

Barely getting out of the way of the claw Epithail reached deeply into his inner Rage. He channeled the primal energy his race’s mother-god granted them into his movements. Time seemed to slow as he sped up. His practiced quick draw motions produced the Colt revolver in a fraction of a second. He leveled the gun with supernatural speed and put two rounds into its skull.

He saw the Beast and its companion coming in and dodged two swipes from the Beast before taking a painful slash down his leg from the claw of the companion. Epithail tried to keep standing on it but it refused to support his weight as he came crashing down, screaming in pain. The Wolf tried to take control. He felt his Rage build and his vision started to turn red, but he quickly got it under control before he shifted. A quick once over showed him that his calf was completely torn. That was going to be a painful one to heal.

Tapping into his last reserves of Rage, Epithail rolled out of the way of another of the companion’s attacks at supernatural speed, racking a shell into the shotgun’s chamber. He fired the twelve gauge buckshot into the kneecap of the companion temporarily stopping it in its tracks. He already saw the wound starting to mend as he fired his last two silver .44’s into its chest. It collapsed to the ground struggling for breath as its lungs filled themselves. It was then he was hit by a kick that sent him sprawling.

He looked up in time to see the Beast very slowly, very deliberately walking towards him. Epithail, with as much strength as he could muster, racked another round and fired at his opponent who easily side stepped the shot.

He racked another round, fighting the Wolf and the pain. His body wouldn’t let him get up, but he could still work the action. The shotgun roared and the shot caught the Beast in the chest forcing him to stumble back. The Beast turned back to face him with an approximation of a grin.

“You fool, do you really think that pitiful human weaponry is going to save you?” the Beast asked.

Another series of metallic clicks, the hollow plastic sound of an empty shell hitting the hard ground, and another roar of the gun with the sickening wet sound of lead ripping flesh to pieces. It was followed by more laughing as the wounds closed themselves. The Beast stepped over Epithail and grinned.

“Any last words, you smart ass?” the Beast asked.

“Maybe someday I’ll have some, but it won’t be today,” Epithail said as he racked the last round into the chamber and pulled the trigger.

The shotgun roared and the slug flew out, blowing a fist sized hole through the Beast’s torso. He screamed as best he could as he fell backward. Epithail sat up slowly, propping himself up with the empty shotgun as he looked around for more threats as his body’s supernatural metabolism repaired his injuries.

Space Opera: Alien Profiles Part 2

Continuing my posts about alien races for the Space Opera setting:

 

Name: Krayanans

Home-World: Lorkub

Description: A race of small but aggressive bi-pedal reptiles. They are highly intelligent and resourceful. They live on hot planets, preferring a temperature of approximately 80 degrees Celsius. Their average height is 1 meter, and their average lifespan is only 60 years.

 

I don’t like the 80 degrees Celsius thing for this race because I got a different idea while reading this entry. Space Kobolds!!!

 

Seriously, these are space Kobolds. They can still go ahead and prefer a warmer climate due to being cold blooded, but for seriously, these are space kobolds. What would their world be like?

 

I’m running with this idea, and screw all you who don’t like it! Anyone know where I can find a picture of a Kobold in a space suit?

 

Primary: Bizarre

 

Name: Nalaavites

Home-World: Soleer Prime

Description: A race of venomous amphibians who are governed by a committee of prominent businessmen.

 

Well I guess sentient humanoid poison dart frogs are the race that runs the biggest and most prosperous planet in the Star Cluster. They likely wear some type of body suit that helps them stay out of the water longer. It is a pretty vital piece of equipment for a space faring race since starships are going to be kept climate controlled for lower atmospheric water levels.

 

The suits also protect those not of their species from the poisons their bodies secrete. When stressed or in danger their bodies reflexively produce a powerful contact cardio/neurotoxin. They are able to train themselves to suppress this reflex, but it’s not always effective. A few sentient species in the universe who evolved from animals that eat similar species of animals may have an immunity to this toxin.

 

The entire race is of extremely varied and bright colors. They take the brightness, colors, and patterns of their skins very seriously. It is very much tied to desirability for mating.

 

Primary: Bizarre

 

Name: Pavongans

Home-World: Hetoo 4

Description: A race of inventive mollusks. They have no concept of written language. They are divided into two competing nation-states, each of which controls territory on their home-world, as well as several off-world colonies.

 

Mollusks, eh? Okay, so that gives me a lot of things to choose from. Let’s go classic and assume some type of Cephalopod-like critter. Maybe a kind of mostly humanoid shape, but with 4 tentacles acting as legs and 4 tentacles as arms. They have a head with a large brain, octopus looking eyes, and a beaked mouth. They can also change their skin colors at will. Their ancestors could do it to match the environment, but this mostly just coincides with emotional states and aesthetics now. Their bodies are made of soft tissues and cartilage and decay rapidly after death with the body taking only a couple of weeks to be near completely decayed. Each arm tentacle has a very delicate looking end that is used for fine manipulation of things while the leg tentacles are much larger and stronger.

 

If they have zero concept of a written language, how would they be able to share ideas over the course of their evolution into a space faring society? They either have to live a long time, have insanely awesome memories and brain power, or they transfer information in a different way. I like the last one. Maybe they exchange ideas concepts and memories by exchanging chemical signals of some type. A form of memory swapping telepathy, and possibly a form of ancestral memory built into each and every member of the race.

 

This would mean their society is very much based upon honoring their ancestors. These long memories would easily be passed on to their young. Each and every one of them would have memories leading back countless generations. Maybe these more distant memories can only be accessed through deep meditation or something similar. And clearly not everything is going to be passed on. If a parent lives a long life after having children those later memories aren’t going to be passed on unless they share them via whatever their biological sharing mechanism is. (Chemical cocktails seem about right for this, and these aren’t just a different form a writing, these are actual recreations of the things that make the memories exist)

 

This would very likely lead them to be a contemplative and deep thinking race with a respect for tradition. They would never be rash or quick to jump to a decision. The loss of someone before their memories can be passed on is a very grave thing to happen to this race.

 

Now, why the hell are there two competing nation-states? Easy, ancient rivalries that just cannot seem to die. These have been the dominant nations for thousands upon thousands of years in one way shape or form. Ancient conflicts and the horrors inflicted upon each other are still able to be vividly recalled. Ever experience someone else’s PTSD cause before? They can! So they don’t get along well. Memories from the long dead cloud the judgments of the living.

 

Primary: Bizarre

Secondary: Mysticism

Space Opera: Alien Profiles Part 1

Time for 3 more alien species. As before I’ll include the Randomly Generated Description from scifiideas.com first and then follow it up with my expansion of the species. I may or may not change the names of the species and home-worlds at some later date. I am planning on fleshing out each species some more, these are just general ideas of who/what they are.

Species #2
Name: Dolanans
Home-World: Gorder VI
Description: A race of thrifty therapods who wear chainmail and wear blue body paint.

Therapods are your quintessential bipedal dinosaur. When you think Velociraptor, Tyrannosaurus, or anything like them you are thinking of Therapods. So this mean they are warm-blooded, possibly covered or partially covered with “primitive” feathers and likely from predator or omnivore anscestors.

Thrifty implies that they are a frugal and mercantilism inclined race, so they will likely have a strong inclination for free-trade and shrewd negotiating.

The chainmail and body paint may represent a warrior history. The chainmail could be ancestral or handmade and part of their maturation rituals. The body paint will definitely be a religious symbol.

All in all, this sounds like a race that encourages their people to become mercenaries. A tribal or clan family/social structure with an emphasis on strength of arms would be the most common culture on the planet. Their chainmail is more than likely purely ceremonial at this point, especially when dealing with high tech weapons. It may still really be chainmail, but it’s more of a symbol of their status rather than actual protective material.

Primary Type: Warrior
Secondary Type: Religious

Species #3
Name: Sheromi
Home-World: Luminar 3
Description: A race of three-fingered mammals who are able to survive up to eight weeks without food or water and are easily insulted and quick to judge.

Mammalian species with three fingers. Okay, so appearance wise just go with generic Star Trek humanoid alien with different facial structure plus Ninja Turtle hands. Got it.

Survival with no food or water for eight weeks at a time implies they come from a harsh world with scarce safe resources. Their society could potentially live in a Hunter-Gatherer mode for a very long time before they decide to transition to agriculture. The transition to agriculture would likely be due to a weakened ecosystems or a sudden population boom. They could have even had an issue in their biosphere that made hunting and gathering a less than sustainable or effective tactic. The species would still have a great respect for the hunting and gathering lifestyle though and may choose to keep it up whenever they can, supplementing with farmed foods only when necessary.

Survival being their top priority they would concentrate on technological advancements. Let’s also assume that their ability to go weeks at a time without food and water also translates too little need to sleep and a longer life expectancy. Say a 300-500 year range. They tend to take things a little bit slower than everyone else but can also concentrate on tasks a lot easier. They like to plan ahead.

Their society may like to encourage a minimalist approach to sustenance intake, maybe consuming a meal once a month at most. Each meal is a feast though. It’s almost a religious event where they thank each animal for its sacrifice and are thankful for the bounty they are able to reap. When they can, they prefer to only consume food that they or their companions have hunted or gathered. It isn’t a requirement, as modern life has made this difficult to maintain, but when given the opportunity the species tends to take it.

When it comes to protective, environmental, and survival gear the Sheromi make some of, if not the, best. They are also all at least competent in hunting and wilderness survival as it’s required skills for them to learn while growing up.

They believe very strongly in the tradition of guest’s rights and helping travelers even if they are bitter and sworn enemies.

Primary: Tech
Secondary: a dash of Mysticism and Warrior

Species #4
Name: Basa (Bah-Sah)
Home-World: Jittania VI
Description: A race of fury (sic) marsupials. They evolved on the same world as a race of semi-intelligent mammals which they use as slaves. They share their homeworld with beings of pure energy, whom they worship as gods.

I don’t know if that’s supposed to be “Fury” or “Furry”. I’m just going to assume it’s okay to use a simile of “fury”. Passion or Rabidity sound good for beings that can physically see and interact with their “Gods”.

Passionate Marsupials. Hmmmm… all that’s popping into my head are disgusting images of humans in religious garb with kangaroo pouches. Something like a Mobi Wrap, but made of skin. *shudder* Okay, maybe I’ll just leave the appearance alone for the moment before I make myself sicker…

This entry is a little bit more complex. I need to include two more races.

Clearly the energy beings are controlling everything in this society. The enslaved, semi-intelligent mammals may not know they’re enslaved and they may be common enough that everyone has one, buys one, or is given one. It could very well be an important piece of their culture too. How well you treat your slave reflects upon your character, and so on and so forth.

Why do the energy beings allow the enslavement? Were the Semis intelligent beforehand? How long has this been the standard?

Okay, clearly they need to be fleshed out more. I’ll post them after this entry as minor/related species.

The Basa worship the energy beings as gods. Their gods clearly exist. Their religious devotion is going to be nearly unshakable. Maybe there are dissenters here and there, but I’m sure it’s heresy to speak of such things.

Everything the species does will be in service to these Energy Beings whom they will defend with only a passion that religious zealots only can.

Primary: Religious
Secondary: None

Name: Basa Sa-ani (Bah-Sah Say-on-ee) which translates to literally mean The Gods of Basa
Home-World: Unknown
Description: Vaguely humanoid shapes of pure energy of varying colors.

The Basa religious texts speak of these benevolent beings descending from the heavens and delivering a great golden age to the Basa. No one knows where they came from or why they’re doing what they’re doing, but they protect and help advance the Basa. There are rumored thousands of these beings on the Basa homeworld. Very few, if any, outsiders have ever seen one let alone spoken to them.

Name: Vallo
Home-World: Same
Description: Mamallian, semi-intelligent. They have four eyes, a muscular humanoid build, and are placental mammals.

The Vallo’s origin has always been that of one growing up in the shadow of the Basa. Two sentient species with incompatible DNA typically do not show up together on a world due to the competition between primitive societies. It appears that the two species vied for control somewhere in the distant past and the Vallo lost. The became a domesticated, semi-intelligent species while the Basa went on to obtain a more “typical” intelligence level the universe is used to seeing. Vallo are used for labor and menial tasks. They’re bred for it, they are treated well, and seem pretty happy with their lot in life.

A Vallo is given to a Basa as part of their coming of age ceremony before the Basa is sent off on a pilgrimage. The care and respect a Basa shows his Vallo is a direct reflection of whom that Basa is. A goodly Basa is seen as one who treats their Vallo well, despite the fact that the Vallo are seen as little more than animals.

Edit: Post was unfinished when originally published, fixed that issue.

Space Opera: Aliens

I’ve been trying to come up with a general set of concepts to use to populate my Space Opera setting with alien races, because what’s a sci-fi setting without aliens, right?

 

The problem is that I’ve pretty much got nothing bouncing around in my head to start off from. Anything that I make is going to either end up being clichéd, too weird, or not make any sense whatsoever. Maybe I shouldn’t care and just go with it, but I can’t make myself do it. Whenever I try I just end up with a blank screen in front of me as I attempt to write.

 

Fortunately a little bit of Google based luck while searching for images to use as inspiration lead me to a website called SciFiIdeas.com (link: http://www.scifiideas.com/). In its writing resources section it has a random alien species generator. It has helped me get a massive list of ideas to springboard off of. The Generator provides a Name, a Home-World, and a basic Description using what appears to be a fill in the blanks format. Pretty much in the same way that any dice based randomly generated tables would work which was going to be my next option. Heroes Unlimited’s Alien section is really useful for that type of thing and I may still use it to flesh out what I get stuck on.

 

Most Sci-Fi settings have various Tropes associated with their alien species. Each race fills a niche or acts as a metaphor for an aspect of humanity or a segment of human history. Star Trek is really blatant about this type of thing. Entire cultures with tens of thousands of years of civilization seem to have a single unified culture with humanity being the only one with any variety in said culture. I’ve never been a big fan of that, but I do have to do it a little bit for the sake of gaming, at least a little bit. Setting the races up in categories can help establish their general “role” in the galaxy at large.

 

Generally you’re going to see 4 primary types of races in a sci-fi setting with multitudes of species. You have the Warriors, the Techs, the Religious/Mystical, and the Bizarre. Depending upon the setting and the species you can see some overlap in these categories.

 

Warrior species tend to be your Krogans, Klingons, Mandalorians, and other war-loving races. They may or may not have a special code of honor and they respect might and tests of strength over diplomacy/politics.

 

Tech species are those who rely heavily upon technology (who aren’t humans) and are well known to be very skilled with it, very close to it, or manufacture amazing things. Quarians, the Tau, the Borg and the Protoss fall into this category. Tech species can also include species that have used other species tech to improve themselves, like the Hutts and the Krogan.

 

Religious/Mystical species tend to stand in for earth religions somehow to make a point about how silly we can be or how powerful faith is depending upon the point the author is trying to make, or they could just be and excuse for a holier than thou group with mysterious powers. In this category you’ll see the Protoss, Bajorans, the Yuuzhan Vong, and the Asari.

 

The Bizarre are those being which are utterly alien to humans. Everything I’ve previously mentioned is generally (and very improbably) humanoid. This category is where the really weird stuff goes. Races like the Tyranids/Xenomorphs/Zerg, the Buggers/Formicans, Species 8472, the Reapers, the Daleks, and other species that are extremely difficult to relate with or speak to. Their bodies don’t tend to end up looking humanoid and their thoughts are completely and totally alien to most other races.

 

With this type of guidline combined with some of these randomly generated species I think I may be able to build a few alien races now. Let’s try one out. I’m going to transcribe the original description I got directly and then work from there with my thought process included afterwards.

 

Name: Hutiglurn

Home-World: Holiday

Description: A race of bovids with green skin and large tusks. They live in self-sufficient communities and prefer their food to be ground into paste. They are staunch Atheists and find all forms of religion and superstition offensive. Their home-world is connected to orbiting space stations by huge space elevators.

 

Okay, wow. That’s a pretty solid randomly generated start to a species I’d say. So, where to start here? Apparently a Bovid is a ruminant, cloven footed animal. Cows, Antelope, Buffalo and other unbranched horn herbivores belong to it. So they have horns, tusks, green skin, and likely eat plant matter. Being ruminants it makes sense for them to prefer their food be ground up, it means that they are less likely to need to chew their food more. Horns would evolve as a defensive/mating mechanism so they’ll have some warrior tendencies. Tusks are also useful for those things as well as rooting around for edible tubers and fungi.

 

Staunch Athiesm, self-sufficient communities, and space elevator accessible stations scream a technologically adept and intelligent society that values logic, reason, and personal/communal responsibility. They are likely to not have a very strong care for art or expression unless it has practical applications.

 

Primary Type: Tech

Secondary Type: Warrior

Space Opera: The Last Bunch of Random Planets

Time for the last 3 planets to be generated at random.

Planet 11:

8 Planets; 4 moons; Earth-like atmosphere; saturated hydrosphere; Earth-like Gravity; 16 hour day; 165 day year; Ocean/Volcanic terrain; Cataclysm establishment; Alliance government; Intolerant regulations, Alien Prejudice; High-tech; Imports: Service (Terraforming)/Education (Terraforming/Economic); Exports: Gems, precious metals, jewelry/Natural Resources; 600,000 population; no spaceport; trade backwater

Planet 11 is a primordial earth that has very minimal life on it. Mostly its life is simplistic creatures living in the ocean still. There are no native land or air dwelling organisms here. People came to this planet as refugees following the destruction/devastation of their homeworld a few decades ago. This planet was colonized because no one wanted to deal with terraforming it before these refugees showed up. The refugees have been working very hard to transform this barren planet into a human-like species compatible planet so they can rebuild their culture. They import experts in financial and terraforming matters so that they can make sure they’re doing it right.

Planet 11 is not without controversy though. Because of how pristine of a condition this primordial world was in before their arrival, scientists and preservation groups have heavily protested this colonization, but since it isn’t in a government controlled system, no one can really do anything about it. The people on this planet don’t really like many visitors, and begrudgingly accept trade from other planets. They just want to be left alone to rebuild their people.

Planet 12:

9 Planets, 1 Asteroid Belt; Earth-like atmosphere; Arid Hydrosphere; 0.8 Earth Gravity; 29 hour day; 390 day year; Jungle/Forest terrain; Abandoned colony; Anarchy; Informal regulations: Alien prejudice; High tech; Imports: Service/Natural Resources (Water); Export: Minerals/Entertainment; 20 Million population; No spaceports; Off Route Trade.

Planet 12 used to be a semi-prosperous corporate colony mining precious minerals and metals until their parent company went under. Corporate abandoned them on planet as economic collapse set in. Many years of conflict ensued while people tried to instill their own order onto the planet. None were successful and no central authority exists anymore. After many years a sort of order sprang up from the remains of the colony. The spaceports that once existed are dilapidated and are being reclaimed by the deserts.

The planet is primarily composed of deserts; most plant life takes the shapes of desert and savannah plants. They protect themselves and are extremely efficient with water absorption and use. Most animals are adapted to a desert lifestyle. Water is a major import for these people because of the lack of major sources of water outside of processing the plants. Planet 12 is known very well for a very specific style of dancing entertainer groups (of course made up of beautiful women) and less known for being the originator of a primary chemical in a very popular drug. The knowledge of this chemical’s origin is a well-kept secret. The only thing most know is that the chemical originates from this planet and it’s from an organic compound that no one can reproduce. Its distance from the main trade routes and the secretive nature of its origin have made it an extremely expensive and not cost-effective for criminal enterprises and governments to go after, so whomever is selling the chemical is making a fortune and is not in any danger of losing their business anytime soon.

Planet 13:

4 Planets; 3 Moons; Earth-like atmosphere; moderate hydrosphere; 28 hour day; 375 day year; Wetlands/Plains terrain; Independent colony; Govt: Bureaucracy; Moderate Regulations: Unbeliever prejudice; High tech; Imports: Service/Luxury Goods; Exports: Processing/Service; 500 Million Population; Minor Spaceport; Minor Trade

Planet 13 is a small planet in a small system orbiting a giant star. It is owned and operated by a Corporate interest and run by an autocracy. Has the single most convoluted and difficult to understand tax/regulatory/etc systems in the galaxy. It is impossible for even the most advanced brains in the galaxy to comprehend them. To speak ill of the planet’s convoluted systems is to invite fines upon yourself and possibly be forever expelled from the planet.

The planetary government can get away with this because of how much money they have and how high quality of a product they’re able to produce. This planet produces the best, cheapest, and most reliable starship replacement parts in this sector. Everyone relies upon their production facilities and wants to sell their parts or use them on their ships. The planet would have a more prominent role in the cluster’s trade routes but it’s out of the way and the costs of doing business there is extremely prohibitive. (Primarily because you’ll have to buy a native lawyer team in order to safely navigate their rules and regs.)

Truth time...

Okay, I’ll admit it. I’m a Speciest. In RPGs I am very partial to playing a Human to the exclusion of almost everything. When I create a setting or run a game I prefer to have it in a 90+% human population setting. I dislike Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes and pretty much every single playable race in tabletop games. (Except for games in Sci-Fi settings for some reason)

Why is this? I have no idea.

In most settings I will only play a human, or something that very easily passes for human. There are some rare exceptions, but in the end it will primarily be human. This may stem from myself entering gaming through the Everway/World of Darkness route rather than DnD. Those settings are without out a doubt Human-Centric settings.

There’s also the fact that in DnD/D20 humans start off with a major advantage, and extra feat at first level and extra skill points. That’s pretty huge in that system. Plus there’s also the fact that it’s far easier to relate to the thoughts and feelings of humans because of familiarity with their way of thinking.

If I don’t count the various things that aren’t human but take human form from the World of Darkness as not being human (Garou/Werewolves, Vampires, etc.) then I’ve only played a handful of non-human characters. Blarg the Orc, an Elan Psion, I think there was a minotaur and a gargoyle back there somewhere, and possibly one more that I can’t remember. Not one was a memorable character or had very much effort invested in them.

The other races just don’t appeal to me, especially the Elves. Screw Elves, they suck. Nothing but haughty assholes.

My current character in the Orcanraytrel campaign isn’t human, but he’s the closest thing possible to it in the setting. Being of Fell Human decent with an “Inert Bloodline” racial trait really makes him statistically speaking a Human in Pathfinder terms so it’s good enough for me.

I don’t think there’s any real point to this post. I just wanted to say that humans rule and all other PC races suck… maybe?

Space Opera: Ship Categories

The next step for the Space Opera is Starships and their classifications. This one should be pretty easy to do since I was planning on initially just using ships from existing sources anyways.

Ships will be broken down into a handful of categories; Fighters, Freighters, Cruisers, Capital Ships, and Superships. Primarily this setting will be dealing with the first four categories. The Supership category is just there in case I feel a need to use it someday long down the road.

Fighters are small ships that tend to be fast, maneuverable, cramped, and tend to be short-range. This category also includes sub-categories that would be the equivalent of Naval PT boats, a ship like the Delta Flyer or a Danube-class Runabout in Star Trek, or an X-Wing or Skipray Blastboat in Star Wars. These are the smallest classes of ships and are usually armed with weapons that fire in a small, sometimes fixed arc. Almost everything in this class can be effectively flown with a single pilot. The larger ships may need two pilots, usually a pilot and gunner team, to be fully effective.

Freighters are larger than Fighters but smaller than Cruisers. Freighters are the most common ship type out there with the largest variety available. Large enough to actually have a “crew” and typically designed to not only haul cargo and passengers, they also fill many different roles in militaries. These are the types of ships that are based off of the Millennium Falcon and the Serenity. A hardy, independent, deep space transport vessel that has a lot of potential setting/story hooks. Some are combat oriented, some are scout ships, some act as personnel/cargo transports, other are smugglers, and so one and so forth.

Cruisers are larger than Freighters. Cruisers fill roles similar to the modern military equivalents of Frigates, Destroyers, Littoral Combat Ships, Cruisers, and other similarly sized vessels. This also includes your Bulk Freighters and other common large transport vessels. Equivalent ships would be Nebulon-B frigates and Correlian Corvettes in Star Wars, or the Defiant and a Klingon Bird of Prey in Star Trek. In a military sense these ships will fill an escort role or a specific niche in a larger fleet.

Capital Ships are your truly impressive ships. These are your Star Destroyers, your Enterprises, your Mimbari Sharlin Battleships, and your EVE Battleships. These have a very large variety of sizes (depending upon the series they originate from, with Star Trek’s being the smallest), but they all fulfill a similar role. They are the heart of a fleet. These are the big, important ships that will carry entire fighter command wings, massive invasion forces, countless weapons, and all the other cool things you expect from gigantic ships in a Sci-Fi setting. Civilian ships of this size tend to be the rarer Mega-Transports or Starliners. Those are essentially the Super Tankers and Mega-cruise ships of the sci-fi world and as big as civilian ships get.

The Superships category is reserved for the greatest ships of the types of ships you’d think of as Superships. We’re talking Ships about the size of a Super Star Destroyer and larger. If these types of ships exist in this setting they will be rare and restricted to the military almost exclusively. These are the engines of war that can bring ruin to entire fleets of lesser ships on their own. If I do include them for whatever reason in a story, they will likely be set-pieces with no real stats to speak of because there is no way in hell I’d let PCs have something strong enough to take something like this on…

Next time I think I might start looking at a couple alien race ideas.