Sunday, February 20, 2011

TGTIWLTP: Race

Each race needs a normal default:
physiology
Philosophy
preferred class
preferred skill
preferred home
unique active
passive

SLSS
seven legged shit spitter
consumes anything inorganic, its metabolism is to radioactively decay the elements until lead is reached. The molten lead then dribbles out of its mouth and can be spat out. they are somewhat crablike and regenerate lost limbs, except the seventh leg. Their body is coated with organometallic coordination complexes. The side legs can be harvested for their colours. Each SLSS is a different colour and they can be bread together to get new colours. The tail-leg is bigger and worth more but does not regenerate and is used for breading.

Hamtaro
Small cute furry critters that like to play with small children and are adored by them. Their race specific gimmick is that they continuously struggle to control the beast within themselves. When the beast takes over they lose all inhibition and usually go on a destructive rampage. When they are happy relaxed and do good deeds the beast cannot surface. When they are sad/angry, stressed and evil the beast is relaxed. The beast is a bit like a bear, but with bigger claws. They have somewhat a split personality or guardian angles as it were. Based loosely on the concept or original sin, except that they can stay on the good side without too much effort. They are usually jovial and are kept as pets by the other races, they are very loyal to their owners. An evil overlord may keep some chained up and throw water on them to keep them unhappy, thus good guards.

Army (some other name? Tsung Tsu?)
What happens if your society exists solely to fight wars and there are generations of mercenaries before you? How could this be sustainable?
If they are purely destructive, eventually everybody else would want to wipe them out. (pre-emptive strikes)
If they are the ones leading conquest then they would need to administer the conquered territories and thus are nol onger warriors. (like the roman generals in Asterix)
If they are driven by a higher authority why would they submit to it. (mutinies would be easy)
A police force could function like this, they can follow their own moral compass and submit to an authorities that are weaker than them.
Since the goal is to succeed in combat anything that is not a threat can be passed over. (Appa from Kenichi was able to play with children even though he fought with murderous intent)
They seek a glorious death through honourable combat. and are the elite combat artists and tacticians.
They do not have separate towns, but other than that the hierarchy and function is similar to the system in Naruto.
But what do they look like?
Their indoctrination process means that any other race may be a part of theirs.

Nihilist
Usually have a nihilist belief. A bug like humanoid covered in a natural armour of black chitin. Looks like a space marine / Navy seal. They generally seek to destroy everything and make more nothing. The only things they are likely to create is explosions.

???
Trolls are supposed to have self-regenerative properties, if it has leprosy as well how can it function. Pain and consequences will no longer have meaning.
Since Trolls are normally dumb this race should be intelligent and clinical. Give them the third person past tense of scientific journals. Let them be a bit like the scientists of Hitler’s third Reich who experimented on the Jews. They are not mean or brutal they may be amoral though. If they get caught in a trap they would stick their foot in it again to see what happens. Tell one “Don’t touch that, its hot” the first thing they will do is pick it up to see how hot it is.

Photonic Cooperation
Based on the "Super intelligent shade of the colour Blue" from HHGTTG. An entity comprised of photons, usually of one energy level (colour) but any photon can join. They live together in a communistic habitat and create a hive mind. needs a critical mass of photons to act, photons of a different energy are rarely incorporated into the community but ones of the same energy usually are. Once a critical mas is reached the entity will split in two, halving its energy in the process. By unanimous agreement can convert mass into energy or vise-versa.
Thus each entity is a democracy, but entities themselves do not like each other. (i should describe it like the story of Clipsal, or ABB or Hoover. They all start off small, the succeed, engorge themselves on other smaller companies. Then eventually become to large to control and subdivide, selling of assets. Then remain at a reasonable size until they are consumed by the next big brand name.)


Squid
-from my short story
empaths
they can sense other creatures pain, the closer something is to death the more they know about it. living health creatures cannot be detected unless they are in line of sight. they are driven to comfort and heal all other features and will occasionally sacrifice their own life to save another. they are the reason that the oceans are full of life.

Gangly fellow
-Imp from my short story
a rigidly controlled society that regulates all consumption. pleasure is sacrificed for function. gruel is eaten because it is nutritious. A communistic society where the state owns all resources including people. Citizens are allowed free choice in what they would like to do. they are governed by an emperor and one of his children is expected to take over the throne from him, so the emperor will continue having children until one desires the throne. individuals are driven to succeed and overlap their  teachers. They run the Olympics and keep score of everything.

Vivid imagination
orks in warhammer 40K.
These are the summoners, they can summon any of the other creatures but the summons will die when they are no longer being maintained by the vivid imagination. they summon their equipment and clothes as well as minions.
To other people it looks like a pattern, a psychedelic pattern.

Purists
Untainted humans who specifically set out to preserve things as they used to be. They will not use any enhancements to their food or bodies. Other than that they use extremely advanced tech and medicine. This is the default race but cannot be played and you only ever hear rumors of their existence. Finding traces of them at archaeological digs.

Bones
Animated skeletons, magically held together by force of will. they may or may not be covered in flesh. Even they wont know about it until their flesh dies. They function entirely as though they still had their flesh on them and still require the same sustenance, but only out of habit not necessity. Generally Bones are exiled from their community and if they survive collect in multiracial communities of their own. Because of this they are generally very accepting and empathic to the downtrodden.
They cannot comprehend the passing of time, this is partially a defensive reflex to help them cope with a suddenly extended lifespan. As such they cannot plan for the future, they never borrow or lend items or money. they are very spontaneous. When travelling between places they only pack for a stroll, even if the destination is weeks away. If they meat somebody as a child then again as an adult they do not remember the child. their memory cannot be detailed it only remember the feelings and intents. So when changing levels in a dungeon the map is all forgotten when they leave it.

Metaphysical
Ordinarily inanimate objects that exist by themselves and are self sustaining or act with no outside input. They instantly recognise in each other what is wrong and will seek to help. The entities can range from a suit of armor to a printing press.
Generally they act in a similar pattern to the equipment that they appear to be. but they will avoid suicidal acts and will try to protect their operators. A little like ego items. When the playable race they do not use a host as such.
although I suppose if you were a sword you could form a symbiotic relationship with a trinitarian. then if she gets killed by a cyborg the cyborg would be the new host for the symbiotic relationship.

Interdimensional
Travels from A to C but never passes through B. Do not ever exist entirely in this plane. So things occasionally pass through them But they are extremely dense. If they relocate to the same location as another object and it is more dense than them the will be hurt and bounce back to where they were. If the port to something less dense than them it shifts out of the way as if they had just walked to it (like I walk through tall grass). They have no other means of movement, due to their weight but can interact with things that are within reach. If they did fully materialise their weight would send them to the center of the planet, crushing anything beneath them.
Octopus like creature?

Apolo / Primes
The first alien race to be discovered (according to every other race). a Compendium was created to record all the different alien lifeforms encountered by the human race (every race at one point thought that they were the true humans, nowadays nobody calls themselves that). Some time later though the Primes revealed that they were originally bread by humans who had sought isolation from the rest of humanity, in order to pursue tabo knowledge. From then on all alien life forms are considered to be of human origin.
They are 12 handed spider like crabs, hypothesized to originally been bred to perform maintenance on spacecraft. Each appendage ends in a crab claw. the main body is armoured to protect from extreme vacuum and cold. inside of the legs a symbiotic mould grows, providing energy from the sun for the host. The abdomen is of a rubbery consistency and expands/ shrinks depending on the external pressures.
They build metallic sky cities but small settlements can be found at the depth of the ocean too. They are the technicians and can repair any of the mechanical type races.
They have total control over things like warp gates, molecular printers and anti gravity. And are the only ones who do not see these things as ruins of an ancient race.

Buddhists - need a non religious name
they have expanded their mind enough to inherently sense other sentient beings. have a hive mind and are often hermits living in extreme environments, contemplating things. cross between a yeti and Koala, all have a big white beard.

Skink like geckos
Multi coloured rubbery gecko humanoids. they have no bones only cartilage. are spear fishers on the rocky cliffs of ocean  worlds. They can take a lot or punishment being constantly crushed between the surf and the cliff face. and can hold onto anything. Clothing is taboo because it usually results in drowning. Live a sustenance lifestyle of feast/famine. and are nomadic shifting the settlement along the coast whenever it looks like a settlement.

Scouts
Follow the motto "Be Prepared" Autonomatrons that use interchangeable parts to adapt to any situation. Overall format is humanoid. They have access to lots of ranged abilities and generally know all about their surroundings. They shun civilization though and are solitary creatures. Always hunting for new experiences to see if they are indeed properly prepared.

Victor
Creates mulch from vegetable matter. a simple creature. a scavenger, seeks out high concentrations of anything, weather it be a discarded sword of a felled tree and breaks down the object to a molecular level. they have 4 wheels but are organic, have a hard shell like a tortoise and a pair of spinning blades underneath. they can be captured and used an a source of power.

Cyborgs
Military type personal that are technologically grafted into their armor suits. Reproductive, life support and central processing is done by organic organs. They have close ties to the scouts.
They are the Evangelists of technology. the technophiles of this fantasy world. they also run the black market organ trade. and are good medics. they are even able to successfully perform brain transplants.

Dwarf Fortress Cats
Look like normal cats but can live in any environment. Preys on any other pests that survive. They can summon small children, spinsters or witches, who then do their bidding.

Holocaust Cockroaches
Beginning enemy. can be found anywhere of varying size.
Apparently they could survive a nuclear holocaust. build something around that fact.

Gulumps
sound they make when walking. mostly mussel, large, built like a brick outhouse. Head is recessed into body. the healer race. Uses magic a lot, so that they don't realise they are physically stronger than others. Their majic is in the from of nanobots. they get most of their sustenance from dirt, and meat.
These can be the pacifist race, they are incredibly powerful and have extreme healing arts but do not use their strength (except for carry capacity). they usually intimidate others into not fighting with them. although for the Gulumps this is accidental.

Jitter
to stop moving is to die. Radioactive beings, spindly. fast movements. Wasp wings but cannot fly, uses wings to cool down fusion reactions. the nuke DPS race.
But how is the default society formed?
What do they do for fun?

Shadows darkness
chronically shy. the quiet sneaky race that is scared of everything. they may make excellent thieves assassins or spies if you can catch one and convince it to work for you. they are obsessed with gems glass and other shiny things, making there homes within them. They are as large as the Gulumps, but skinny, and adrenaline can make them as strong. generally they make a living as the postmen/ milkman/ tooth faries/ santa clause. swiftly delivering parcels during the night.
They reside underground in small encampments, usually near cities.

Herbologists
based on the Chinese ancestor worship. they have access to all their dead family and the collective wisdom. as a reaction to this they are always rebellious teenagers. They have an intimate knowledge of plants and how to propagate them.
all their equipment is made from plants. houses/ clothes / tools. They are very agriculturally inclined, thus there is a severe conflict of interests when dealing with the symbiotic Apollo Primes. They want to help the moss but despise everything else about them.

*creeper
a mushroom that can move it approaches a living creatures that move through its territory and then explodes, releasing all of its spores. does not intentionally seek to kill. but this is how they breed. as they grow up though they are very social and search out other communities. they are very magical creatures and their body parts are sold on the black market as magical aides and cure-alls. they are the elite shamans and cast lots of buff/debuff spells. they will usually buff their comrades before exploding so that they do not die. or the spores do not get to travel around then there would be no point in releasing them.
If death is irrelevant then what in life is important?
Do all cultures have taboos? What happens if wearing clothes is more unseemly than being naked? How then could you protect yourself?

Trinitarians
form Fission/fusion communities. the only stable group size is 3. One is asleep while one stands guard and the last acts. Generally a third of the day is spent asleep. They have no concept of ownership and no word for mine. if something is not being guarded or used then it is free for anybody. they are very suspicious of everything, but can easily accept somebody from another race into their trinity. I suppose the government style would be communist.
Has no central nervous system thus it has several autonomous brains. acts based in instinct. highly impulsive. 3 bones instead on one in each appendage that act hydraulically to move. its flesh is tasty and highly nutritious, thus others can become addicted to eating them. Other races see them us uncivilised and barbaric. They are the elite fighters, and can be found gladiatorial arenas. they can be excellent sportsman and show really good teamwork. they are paranoid that they will be eaten by the other races, this is a valid fear.
These can be the starting race, initially it was two races then I realised one was a social group and the other was a physiology. So they were combined together then turned into a simple to play race.
Warm blooded, white meat, triceratops head with 3 horns and a beak, vegetarians, third eye than can see in the dark, furry, chaotic good. Passive abilities, high dodge, dying hardly effects performance. can actively meditate to increase regeneration and dodge while decreasing energy usage (food/water).
They do not get ill or age, thus the starting family remains constant, only with more graves for each avatar that dies in their forest.

Internet
Large destructive beings that have nearly been hunted to extinction. they love to feel powerful and terrorise small settlements. modeled on dragons but use the description of a leviathan from the bible. They are the schoolyard bullies of the world and want whatever everybody else wants. but they cannot use anything themselves and so they hoard it instead. They amass huge junk piles and are sometimes referred to as the garbage collectors.
This is supposed to be the unbalanced race, they will nearly always win.


Check again the meaning of life and create a race that defies each of those rules.

Most creatures have 5 senses (maybe more) what happens if one or more of these is missing?
Cannot smell / taste
No way to measure the intensity of the electromagnetic spectrum
Deaf as a post
Unfeeling (got this covered with the neo nazi troll scientists)

Need yet a race that epitomizes each of the primary class archetypes.
rouge - trinitarians
thief - internet dragons
fighter - Tsung
monk - geckos
paladin
healer - cuttlefish
caster - *creeper
technician - scout, Apollo Prime
tank - interdimensional
DPS - Jitter, they need rest afterwords
ranged - scouts
melee - cyborg, victor
Summoner - vivid imagination
pacifist - Gulump
farmer - herbologists

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