Species
Fraal
Quiet and peaceful, the Fraal (pronounced “frahl”) appear calm and composed in even the most chaotic situations. Averaging about 1.5 meters tall. The fraal are thin humanoids with large eyes: pale, almost luminous skin; and swept-back ears. While many are bald, some have wisps of silver, white, or pale yellow hair atop their large, round heads. Individual Fraal can be so thin as to appear practically weightless, but most weigh about 55 kilograms. Even the youngest Fraal adults have an ancient, wizened look that can be as intimidating to humans as it is disconcerting.
Roleplaying
Fraal aren’t physically inclined, they tend to develop their minds instead of their bodies, working as Mindwalkers.
Tech Ops, or Diplomats rather than in the Free Agent or Combat Spec professions.
They are thinkers and philosophers with a deeply spiritual nature. Because they are a long-lived species, the fraal have a patient attitude that sometimes annoys humans. Their spirituality centers around mind-walking, the study and application at psionics. To them, the powers of the mind have almost religious significance; they feel that all species can find common ground by touching thoughts and sharing inner peace. Fraal aren‘t pacifists, but they believe that violence should be the last resort of an intelligent, civilized species.
They can seem cold and distant, but that’s because they don’t have as wide a range at emotions as humans do—and the emotional range they do possess doesn’t shift as rapidly or unpredictably as humans‘ emotions do.
Peace-loving and intellectual, fraal are natural builders and scholars—forever working on creative or scientific endeavors, building or mending relationships (both personal and political), and adding to their pool of knowledge simply for the sake of learning.
Special Abilities
Psionic Powers: By their nature, Fraal have extraordinary mental powers, known as psionics.
Even if members of other species also have access to psionic skills. Fraal are extremely proficient in this area—able to use more psionic power than any other characters. A fraal who is a talent, or one who is a Diplomat with Mindwalker as his secondary profession, has psionic energy points equal to his Will score (instead of one-half Will for other such characters). A fraal who selects the Mindwalker profession has psionic energy points equal to his Will score x 1.5 ( instead of Will x 1).
Note that all fraal receive the psionic broad skill Telepathy as one of their free skills. Since a talent can’t have more than one broad skill, a fraal who is a talent is obliged to purchase his specialty skills from this category.
History
The fraal are nomadic starfarers who came to Earth more than 10,000 years ago.
A large group of explorers traveled in three slow-moving colony ships, crossing the void of space over the course of many centuries.
The trip was plagued by one disaster after another, though, so that by the time these colony ships reached the Sol system, contact with the fraal home world had been lost. In addition, damage to the ship’s computers resulted in the loss of much vital information, including some technological know-how and most historical and scholarly records—among these the location of the fraal home world.
The starfarers were cut off, isolated from their place of origin, and unaware of their original mission, indeed, they weren’t even sure if Earth was the destination they had been traveling to reach, or for what purpose.
Thanks to eons of lost knowledge and countless mechanical breakdowns, accidents, and travel-related mishaps, these fraal were truly alone, initially, the fraal set up installations on Earth. building bases in isolated regions using local materials and components salvaged from their colony ships. From these hidden bases, the visitors set out to explore the planet and meet its inhabitants.
Humans, still primitive but demonstrating great potential, were beginning to spread out from the geographic cradles that spawned them by the time the fraal arrived. Meetings between the two species led to the birth of many of Earth’s greatest legends. Unfortunately, such meetings rarely went well for the visitors.
Though the fraal tried to join human society from the moment they arrived in the region, they kept running into problems. Primitive humans displayed great fear when the fraal approached, looking upon the aliens as magical creatures, spirits, or even gods, As humanity advanced, making contact didn’t get any easier.
Fear turned to distrust and hatred, and humanity’s violent nature was too much for the peaceful fraal to deal with, Eventually, they withdrew and went into hiding in other parts the solar system, watching humanity from afar and waiting for the proper moment to reveal themselves. Attempts made by the fraal in the 20th century resulted in tales of flying saucers and alien abductions, but little else.
If they were capable of the emotion, the fraal would have begun to despair.
At some later point in human history, however, a meeting of the minds finally took place. As humanity put aside its own hostile nature to create a world of peace, the ancient visitors revealed themselves. The fraal joined forces with the humans, helping to lead humanity to the next great plateau. A free exchange of knowledge and ideas advanced both societies in numerous ways. One of the fraal’s most significant gifts spawned a leap in technology that paved the way for true faster-than-light travel. Both sides prospered, and they soon merged to become a united society.
Mechalus
Because of the basic resemblance between the two species, a mechalus pronounced “meck-ah-lus”) can be mistaken for a human if the viewer only catches a glimpse or if the area is shadowy. Averaging about 1.8 meters tall and Weighing around 90 kilograms, the mechalus has the general shape and size of a human.
On closer inspection‘ however, the similarities are quickly outdistanced by the differences. Veins of circuitry weave with flesh and blood to form a totally synthesized body. The mechulus’s hair is a combination of protein strands and filaments of cable and wire.
Even the skeleton has been reinforced with super strong synthetic material, and bony protective plates can be seen beneath the bio-organic flesh at the shoulders and across the chest.
Roleplaying
Mechalus have the same range of emotions as humans, though they tend to try to downplay hostile or aggressive emotions. They were once responsible for the annihilation of another species, and since then they have made a conscious and constant effort to suppress or regulate their negative emotions.
Perhaps the hardest aspect of mechalus for humans to get used to is their ability to merge with computer systems. While the mechalus can easily employ standard computer interfaces, they have the unique ability to personally connect to computer systems. Filaments extend from fingers, snake into the computer in question, and form a solid link between body and machine.
This link gives the mechalus speed-of-thought access to the computer system, and more precise control than any manual interface can provide.
With a natural affinity for technology and computers, mechalus make excellent Tech Ops. They aren’t limited to this profession, however, and can be found filling the ranks of a variety of careers.
The mechalus have very ordered minds, which translates into a strictly structured society and an equally organized outlook on life. Although they think with the precision and logic of a machine, they are highly emotional people who work exceedingly hard to promote their positive emotions and subdue their negative ones.
In a tense or dangerous situation, mechalus are likely to remain calm and logical; it’s not difficult for them to suppress all their emotions when they deem such action opportune or necessary. But in a climate of relaxation or celebration, their emotional pendulum can swing to the other extreme—to humans, it seems as though they are making a special effort to appear cheerful or jubilant.
The mechalus don’t consider their behavior at such times to be exaggerated; strong displays at positive emotion, when the situation permits, are simply their way of demonstrating (to themselves as well as members ot other species) that mechalus are more than just machines encased in biological bodies.
Special Abilities
Computer Operation Skill Bonus: Mechalus receive a -1 step situation die bonus whenever they use the Knowledge-computer operation or Computer Science—hacking skills.
To gain this bonus, the mechalus must merge with the computer, forming a bond through the filaments that extend from his fingers. It takes one round to complete or disengage a merge.
Cybernetic Enhancements: By their nature, mechalus have electronic technology integrated into their physiology. Mechalus have two neural data slots that allow them to use computer programs, an internal processor that is equivalent to a Good quality nanocomputer (see Computers), and bio-organic circuitry that functions like a reflex device.
At the Gamemasters discretion, a mechalus character may be equipped with, or may be able to acquire at a later date other cybernetic devices described in (see Cybernetics)
A mechalus character equipped with cyber gear is not subject to the chance at the cybernetic equipment being rejected by his body, and the limit to the amount of cybernetic gear he can have is based on his Constitution score +4 instead of simply his Constitution score (as is the case for characters of other species)
History
The planet Aleer, an Earth-like world relatively close (on a cosmic scale) to the Sol system, gave rise to an intelligent humanoid species that would someday be called the mechalus by humans (who have a penchant for putting their own names to everything they encounter). The early history of the Aleerins follows much the same path as that experienced by Earth’s humans—primitive tool-makers eventually built great civilizations, with periods of enlightenment crudely punctuated by episodes of brutal warfare. Eventually, the development of technology led to the invention ol computers—and this is where the technological evolution of Aleerins and humans sharply diverged.
Strides in medicine and genetic engineering, coupled with their computer know-how and their fascination with all things mechanical, gave the Aleerins the means to bioengineer their species. Cybernetic implants performed on a molecular level produced a synthesis of flesh and circuitry that now pervades the entire species-they are born with cyberbionics.
it was about this time that the species also developed space travel.
Within a few generations, they had totally settled their solar system-but this breakthrough had its shameful side. Aleerins had always been a warlike species, and this behavior was never more evident than when they made contact with the sentient but primitive natives of another planet in the system.
In response to a hostile reception from these creatures, who were barely able to defend themselves, the Aleerins used their heavily armed ships to obliterate the population of the planet.
Almost immediately thereafter, an emotional backlash swept through the entire Aleerin culture when the members of the species realized collectively what they had done. In a change of character that was essentially unanimous, the Aleerins became more sedate and less inclined toward hostility (or at least toward showing their hostility). They resolved that never again would they use violence unnecessarily against another sentient species.
Some Aleerins took this new attitude to an extreme; a splinter group composed of pacifists and technocrats rose up, taking the position that incorporating circuitry into flesh was not going far enough along the technological path. " Creatures of flesh are by their nature aggressive and fallible. They cannot resist the impulse to do harm to others" the leader at the group proclaimed.
“Only by completely shedding our flesh can we achieve the next level in our evolutionary development.“ The splinter group conducted illegal experiments in transferring living minds into computers. In the end, the computers that held the living minds were placed into spaceships, and the splinter group left Aleerin space to find its own destiny. To date, nothing further of these living computers has been heard.
Shortly after that time, humans encountered the Aleerins (renaming them the mechalus), and Aleerin space was pulled into the ever-expanding human galactic community.
Sesheyan
Standing approximately 1.7 meters tall and weighing a mere 40 kilograms, sesheyans (pronounced “se-shay-un) are humanoid only in the broadest sense of the word.
A bulbous head encircled by eight small eyes and capped by large, pointed ears flows into a light muscular trame.
Powerful wings that extend to a 6-meter span spread from the sesheyans back, and a long tail with an expandable fan-shaped tip provides stabilization while in flight.
The wings can be folded tightly against the creature’s upper back when they are not in use. Though they walk with a hunched, labored gait when on the ground, sesheyans exhibit a gracefulness while airborne that is matched by few other creatures capable od flight.
Roleplaying
Sesheyan characters are among the small number of their species who have stepped into the galactic community thanks to the opportunities presented by humans and their starfaring ships.
Because of certain physical differences, such as their multiple eyes and strange head shape, the sesheyans are the most “alien” of the non-human species. Once they believed they were the highest form of life in the world they knew they were hunters and shamans of great power.
Now that they have seen the “magic” of the spacefaring species, their faith has been rocked.
The typical sesheyan hunter maintains an outward appearance ot confidence and power, but inside they struggle to stay brave in the face of so many frightening, strange, and seemingly magical things.
Most humans can’t help feeling uneasy in the presence ot a sesheyan. This attitude comes from humankind‘s innate fear of the dark and the creatures that inhabit it.
Even the most primitive sesheyan finds this reaction mildly amusing.
Though a sesheyan is a born hunter, he is also a being who might seem cold and aloof but actually has a profound respect for all life and his place in its natural cycle.
Technology is new and alien to sesheyans. They can learn lo use high-tech equipment, but many of them, never become completely comfortable with it, and some deeply religious sesheyans refuse to have anything to do with it.
Sesheyon characters belong to the small group of sesheyans who have overcome their disinclination toward using high-tech equipment—they‘ll operate a computer, or a station on a spaceship, if they have to, but that doesn’t mean they have to like it.
Sesheyans make excellent Free Agents, serving as spies, scouts, or even bounty hunters when they enter galactic society. A smaller number take up the profession of Combat Spec, and fewer still are Diplomats.
Except for characters who have overcome their natural distrust of technology. sesheyan Tech Ops are almost unheard of.
Special Abilities
Flight: Sesheyans have natural flying ability, which they can employ in any environment with a significant atmospheric pressure (one-half that of Earth or greater) and gravity equal to or less than Earth normal.
In flight sesheyans use the Acrobatics broad skill to make flying checks.
They can purchase the flight specialty skill to improve their ability to move in the air.
Zero-g Training: Because of their natural familiarity with freefall conditions, sesheyans function in weightless or near-weightless conditions as though they have the Acrobatics-zero-g training skill at rank 1.
A sesheyan who actually purchases that skill is better at performing actions in zero gravity or light gravity than characters of other species; see the zero-g training skill description for details.
Falling: As long as a sesheyan is conscious and able to use his wings, he never suffers impact damage from a fall, instead, he simply takes flight or glides solely to the ground. If he can’t use his wings, he suffers from impact damage like any other character.
Night Vision: A sesheyan’s eyes are designed to intensity ambient light, thus allowing them to see even in near total darkness. This ability enables a sesheyan to ignore any penalties that apply to other species in situations of low illumination.
Night vision doesn’t function in total darkness, such as is found in a completely sealed room, and it doesn’t work when a sesheyan is wearing protective goggles to protect against light sensitivity (see below).
Light Sensitivity: Because sesheyans evolved on a world without bright light, normal sunshine and illumination bothers their sensitive eyes.
- In light of Ordinary intensity illumination (sunlight on a cloudy day, a moderately illuminated room) a sesheyan performs all actions with a +1 step penalty.
- In Good intensity illumination (full sunshine, a brightly lit room) the penalty is +2 steps
- In Amazing intensity illumination (halogen lamps, flares) the penalty is +3 steps.
Special goggles negate this penalty.
History
The sesheyans emerged from their prehistory only a short time ago.
They are in the aboriginal stage of development, keeping oral histories and working with tools no more complicated than stone blades and wooden spears. Everything is mystical and magical to the sesheyans, and most of their culture is organized into tribes headed by either the best hunter or the most powerful shaman. They call their world “Sheya” which means simply “hunting land” in their language. “Sesheyans” means “hunters of the land”. In the sesheyan point of view, the world was made to provide its children sustenance, and the hunters are the undisputed masters of that world.
When human star vessels reach the sesheyan home world, they find superstitious hunters still locked in the stone age.
Though many sesheyans may decide to travel the stars as allies of the galactic community, most remain planet-bound, steadfastly clinging to their old beliefs and traditions.
A sesheyan’s leathery flesh comes in shades that fall within the human range of skin tone, but he is obviously a creature of the night. Sesheyans are built to function in darkness with more precision and grace than humans demonstrate even in broad daylight. In the perpetual-twilight jungles of Sheya, the sesheyans’ senses serve them well. The ground, the great trees with their tangles of vines and branches, and even the mist-filled air are the sesheyans home, for his wings give him access places land-bound creatures can never reach. With eyes built to function in minimal illumination and ears sensitive to the slightest noise, these creatures have unparalleled hunting skills in obscured or low-light conditions.
Away from the low-intensity light of their home world, sesheyans must weer protective goggles to shield their sensitive eyes.
T’sa
Even when standing absolutely still—something that’s almost impossible for the creature to do—a t’sa (pronounced “t-sah“) conveys an impression of speed, sharp reflexes, and constant activity. Standing 1.4 meters tall, a t‘sa is lightning-quick, with a fast mind to match his fast body. Sleek, with a reptilian form and the legs of a runner, a t’sa has a fine covering of interlocking scales that provide a modicum of natural protection. Most humans find t’sa with their expressive eyes and child-like exuberance, to be extremely likeable.
Roleplaying
A t’sa has a natural curiosity and an affinity for all things technological.
He’s a consummate tinkerer, disassembling devices to discover how they work and to find ways to improve them. T’sa have an undeserved reputation among humans for being overly naive, due to their infectious cheerfulness.
T’sa companions are a boon to any adventuring group. Their cheerfulness and good will never falter, and their desire to know every secret can be contagious—though this behavior can also get a t’sa into all kinds of trouble.
Once a t’sa joins a group, he stays with it through thick and thin, usually bonding with at least one member as a Lilelong friend.
Everything a t’sa does, he does quickly. He’s always on the move, always asking questions, always seeking answers. Although he’s often misunderstood, a t’sa is nonetheless eager to please and make friends.
T’sa make great Tech Ops, doing especially well as engineers and inventors. This species can also be found in fair abundance within the Free Agent, Diplomat, and Mindwalker professions, but t’sa very seldom aspire to be Combat Specs. because it isn’t in their nature to be violent or physically forceful.
Special Abilities
Action Check Bonus: Due to their natural quickness, all t‘sa characters receive a -1 step situation die bonus to their action checks.
Juryrig Bonus: Whenever a t’sa makes a Technical Science-juryrig skill check, he receives a —l step situation die bonus.
Body Armor: All t’sa possess natural body armor that provides protection of d4+1 (Li)m d4 (HI), d4—1(En)
History
Rising from a world that resembled Earths prehistoric era, except that dinosaurs were never replaced by mammals as the dominant species, the t‘sa evolved into an intelligent species. Their history had ups and downs, high periods and law, but eventually the t’sa developed a technological society.
Spurred on by natural curiosity and an undeniable lack of patience, the t’sa compiled a substantial list at accomplishments and even established a star-spanning society.
By the time humans discovered faster-than-light travel, the t’sa had already founded a stellar empire.
Consisting of five star systems in relatively close proximity to each other, the T’sa Cluster bustles with the energy of billions of t’sa doing whatever it is t’sa do-and doing it quickly.
They have begun to expand beyond this domain, but they aren’t an aggressive species. They are motivated by a simple desire to see what lies in the next star system rather than by greed, power, or expansionism.
Weren
You can’t miss a weren (pronounced “wear-enn”). He stands 2.2 meters tall and weighs in at a hefty 180 kilograms.
Covered in thick fur, he has a powerful form and wicked claws that make him a formidable opponent even when he’s not carrying a weapon. A great mane of hair flares from his head. and his fur ranges from black to shades at gray to almost white.
Roleplaying
Weren approach life with amazing intensity. When they embrace a new idea or belief, they become zealots.
They profess the tenets of those beliefs with word, deed, claw, and war mace. Though they’re built for battle, weren also love to talk and share ideas. Not every discussion leads to a fight, and most weren won’t battle those weaker than themselves unless they are left with no choice. They have strict codes concerning honor, combat etiquette, and noble acts.
Most weren are fierce warriors, embracing the Combat Spec profession, though a few make strides as Diplomats of one sort or another, especially as clergy of a human faith or shamans of their own culture.
They have no extraordinary talent as Free Agents, Mindwalkers, or Tech Ops, however, and few weren pursue those professions. Indeed, weren just can’t get the hang of any technology beyond their own level of advancement, and even most of those living in an advanced society can’t use such items without penalty.
Special Abilities
Superior Durability: A weren is better able to withstand physical damage than members at other species. When determining a weren’s durability rating, use the character’s Constitution score x 1.5 (rounding down it necessary to praduce a whole number).
Natural Weapon: A weren has retractable claws at the end ot his arms that can be used in combat if the character makes a successtul Unarmed Attack—browl or power martial arts skill check. The claws do damage of d4w/d4+2w/d4m (Li/O) plus any Strength bonus that might apply.
Camouflage: A weren’s fur shimmers and changes color to match his surroundings, making it hard to see him in natural terrain. Even in an urban setting. this natural camouflage causes the weren to blend into the background. Close up, the weren isn’t hard to see unless he’s perfectly still and in natural terrain. The benefit most often comes into play when observers are at a distance: the weren is hard to pick out against the background, giving opponents a +1 step penalty to ranged weapon attacks aimed against him.
Primitive Culture: Because weren come from a primitive culture and are less adaptable than other species when it comes to high technology, they receive a -2 step penalty when using any technological item from Progress Level 4 or higher.
A new character can reduce this penalty to +1 step for a price of 4 skill points, and the penalty can be eliminated altogether by paying 4 more skill points when the character attains 6th level or higher. Optionally, a weren character can endure the full +2 step penalty to start with, and then spend 8 skill points to remove it all at once when the character attains 8th level or higher.
History
The home world of the weren is known as Kurg. When human starships reached the planet, the weren clans were deeply involved in their worlds version of the Renaissance. It was a great time of learning, debate, and speculation about the nature of life. The printing press, the scientfic method, the flintlock—all these and more can he found in weren society of this time. But this age of enlightenment did not deter the weren from continuing to pursue their true forte: war.
At the time humans first encountered the species, the small skirmishes that were a constant way of life for the weren had escalated to a point where the entire planet was embroiled in a raging war. This state of affairs served to keep them sharp, battle-ready, and at the peak of their aggressive and savage nature—despite the attempts of humans and radical weren religious leaders to teach them a more peaceful way of life.
Philosopher-warriors, weren appear to be a dichotomy of enlightened scholars and noble savages.
They have combined the two ways of life well, effortlessly debating with words one moment and with claws or flintlocks the next. Considered primitive by the standards of the galactic community (and mostly unwilling to use high-tech equipment anyway), weren are nevertheless sought-after companions as humans spread out farther into the regions at the unknown.
Human
Members of the human species come in a variety of shades, sizes, and body types, but they all look like the people around us.
Special Abilities
Skill Bonus: Humans as individuals have the tendency of focusing their efforts in a particular field show great capacity in a specific area while lacking a defining trait as a species other than their diversity of though.
- They start with a free bonus broad skill
- They must choose a broad skill, specific skills of such broad cost one less AP to level up (in addition to the reduction if the skill is a profession skill). This reduction cannot take the cost bellow 1.
History
The history of humanity is well documented and doesn’t need to be repeated here. For the purposes at this science fiction roleplaying game, two events will come to pass in humanity’s future:
The species will develop the means to expand beyond its home world and colonize the solar system.
And eventually it will become capable of traveling beyond the solar system and establishing communities of humans in other star systems.
Ability Score Limits
| Species | STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIL | PER |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Human | 4 - 14 | 4 - 14 | 4 - 14 | 4 - 14 | 4 - 14 | 4 - 14 |
| Fraal | 4 - 11 | 4 - 11 | 4 - 10 | 9 - 15 | 9 - 16 | 4 - 15 |
| Mechalus | 8 - 14 | 4 - 14 | 6 - 14 | 7 - 15 | 6 - 12 | 4 - 12 |
| Sesheyan | 6 - 12 | 7 - 15 | 4 - 10 | 4 - 12 | 9 - 15 | 4 - 12 |
| T’sa | 4 - 11 | 9 - 16 | 4 - 10 | 8 - 14 | 4 - 12 | 4 - 13 |
| Weren | 9 - 16 | 4 - 12 | 8 - 16 | 4 - 13 | 4 - 12 | 4 - 12 |