Alien Race ideas??

[keithcurtis]

As I have done before, I humbly submit the T'Katran race from my Solar Colonies campaign:

For an image, click on the Solar Colonies link in my Sig, and click the T'Katrans link.

 

The System

The Alpha Centauri system is comprised of three stars. Two are very close to Sol in character, though B is a bit dimmer and more orange. Proxima Centauri is a distant companion, and although it has two small rocky planets of its own, is unsuitable for life due to its variable nature (frequent flare-ups can double the surface temperature in minutes).

A. Centuria A has four planets, none of which support life.

B. Centauri is the home system of the T’Katarans. It has two planets, the second of which is inhabited.

 

The Planet

Alpha Centauri B IV is a small world about seven/eighths the mass of Earth. Its surface gravity is about .75 and its surface pressure is about a third of Earth’s. It is an old world, about 5.5b years. It has lost almost all of its vulacnism, though there is evidense that it was much more active in the past.

 

The planet is tilted about 45° from the vertical, leading to a great variation in seasons. Although not as hot as the hottest areas of earth, it can get a quite a bit colder than an antarctic winter near the poles. Water comprises about 1/8th the surface area. The seas are very shallow, since frequent glaciation has caused a scouring, “levelling†effect on the surface. At no point is the water more than a mile deep, and in most places it is less than 300 feet. It is surmised through archaelogical investigation that the seas once covered nearly twice their current extent. Much of the planet’s water is contained within the “world-tree†(see below).

 

When life first arose, it took hold near the equator, the only place with liquid water. Some life became nomadic, following the warmer climes, while other forms developed hibernation techniques, enabling them to survive during extended cold periods.

 

About thirty million years ago, a phenomenally successful organism developed. Mostly analagous to earthly plant life, it resembled the baobob tree of Africa in that it was a single organism with vast networks of offshoots that allowed it to cover a significant area. The later-arisen sapient species called it the “World-Treeâ€, or in their tongue, the S’akkat.

 

The World tree has three main parts: canopy, pump and root.

The canopy looks much like an earthly forest in that it is covered with shoots of photosynthetic leaves. These leaves vary from season to season, according to the available sunlight. The shoots (analagous to tree trunks) are rarely taller then five meters. The roots perform much the same function as plant roots, absorbing water and nutrients form the soil. The roots can go down as far as 200 meters. It is the pump area that has no earth-plant counterpart.

 

The pump is similar to the circulatory system of an earth animal, but instead of blood, it transports liquid water. The pump is a tremendous web of organic conduits ranging from capillary size to diameters of several meters. Its thickness varies from ten to forty meters, although it is sometimes much thicker around a good water source.

 

The water is kept liquid by the biologcal waste-heat of a symbiotic micro-organism. This symbiont lives in the cisterns and tubes of the pump area. The tissue of the pump system is also an insulater of great efficiency. By keeping the water liquid, the world tree has liberated most of the surface of the planet from the tyranny of the seasons.

 

There are four main kingdoms of life. The most obvious is of course the S’akkat, which could arguably classified as a single organism. It is roughly analagous to a plant, though the pump tube possess a rudimentary musculature system and something akin to a nervous system.

The second kingdom is biotic bacteria. Performing much the same function as earthly bacteria, the most significant form is the symbiotic form that dwells within the world-tree.

The third kingdom can loosely be described as water-parasites. These are life forms that are directly dependant on the action of the world-tree. Resembling earthly fungi, without the nutrient laden water of the pump, they would die.

The fourth kingdom is a higher order of the third. Also dependent on the world tree, they are more complex and adaptable. Some are ambulatory, and the highest order are very similar to earth animals.

 

The T'Kataran race belong to the fourth Kingdom. They could survive a short time without the bacterial soup of the S’akkat pump, but they ultimately need it for continued health.

 

 

 

THE T'KATARANS

 

 

The T'Katarans are a race of six-limbed sentients from a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri B. They are relatively technologically backward. Their tech level is about equivalent to post-industrial earth of the turn of the twentieth century. They have been at this level for about a thousand years. Their history goes back 40,000 (earth) years.

 

STRUCTURE

Anatomy

Adult - Female

The T'Katarans at first glace resemble large furry spiders. The have six locomotive limbs arranged in a radial symmetry from their massive thorax. Each limb terminates in a double claw with a third opposable claw, capable of simple grasping, but no fine manipualtion. Fine motor skills are are proveided by the maniples. The maniples are tiny, four-fingered limbs that are mounted on the skull.

The front of the thorax is protected by a flexible bony plate (DEF 5, 9- ACT). The ears are mounted on the thorax. Respiration is carried out by large spiracules, three to a side, located on the anterior of the thorax.

The "neck" is actually a specialized limb with a joint at thorax, skull and midway between. At rest, the neck folds back atop the thorax and the head rests atop the bony plate. There is a pulmonary located in the neck to assist in blood flow.

The head is wide, flat and triangular. Huge compound eyes are set at left and right extremities, the maniples are mounted below and slightly inward. The eyes are somewhat near-sighted, though their ability to distinguish detail is somewhat superior to humans. The mouth is a hard, leathery, beak-like affair with one retractable tooth. The tongue is thick grey and rope-like. A small air-bladder allows the mouth to make sound. T'Kataran speech sounds to human ears to be mostly consonants and glottal stops. Careful listening can make five vowel sounds plus a true glottal stop. T'Katarans have no history of music, though they are capable of hearing pitch.

The body is entirely covered with hair with the exception of claws, mouth, maniple digits, and plate. Part of the underbelly may be hairless in advanced age. Coloration tends to be black with yellow, orange or red stripes. In some individuals, this may be reversed.

All adults are female.

 

Juvenile-Male

The juvenile form of the T'Kataran is basically a pupal stage. At this point in their development all are male. The male T'Kataran resembles a large termite, and is somewhat repulsive to human eyes. Their are fat, hairless and have rudimentary limbs. They are incapable of caring for themselves. Their eyes are single-faceted, and the the neck-limb is very short but flexible, lacking the middle joint. The maniples and beak are similar to the adult form.

 

Egg

The T'Kataran egg is about the size of a softball.It will grow to about the size of a soccer-ball before hatching. It is grey and leathery, similar in texture to the T'Kataran mouth.

 

BIOLOGY

T'Katarans are warm-blooded, carbon-based life forms with similar amino acid structure to humans. They can eat many of the same foods a human would eat, but they are primarily vegetarian. They are adapted for a colder climate than humans and are capable of hibernating for decades at a time. Such hibernation is extremely stressful for a T'Kataran and they will go to great lengths to avoid it. Most modern T'Katarans have never hibernated. They have an endoskeletal structure for locomotion and an exoskelatal carapace under the fur for protection. (DEF 1) The front part of the carapace is extra-thick concealing the brain (DEF 4)

 

SENSES

Sight: T'Kataran's are near-sighted and see best in the longer wavelengths. They do NOT have infravision, but they are more likely to detect a heat source or luminous object than humans. (-3 range, +3 luminous or hot objects)

Hearing: T'Kataran atmosphere is very thin (about twice Mars) and the T'Katarans have developed good hearing to compensate. The hairs of the carapace pick out sound (Telescopic hearing and +3 hearing perception.

Smell: T'Katarans have no taste of smell.

Taste: T'Kataran taste is far superior to human, and taste organs are to be found in the beak and the maniples. The T'Kataran environment is bacteria-rich and parasite-rich and they have developed the ability to test for the safety of what they eat before they actual place it in their mouths. (+3 taste perception, detect poison)

Touch: The maniples of of a T'Kataran are slightly less sensitive than human hands (-3 touch Perception)

 

REPRODUCTION

A T'Kataran will mate twice in its life. When it is hatched as a pupal male form, it will require the same care and training as a human child for about ten years. At this point it will become sexually mature. When conditions are right, it will mate with as many females as possible for a period of about a month. Then hormonal changes will allow it to spin a coccoon. It will ie in this chrysalis for 6 months, slowly changing sex and gaining adult characteristics. What emerges is a young female, ready to be trained for her life's task (see Culture and Behavior). A female decides when to sexually mature. When she is ready, she will mate. If the first male does not result in pregnancy, she will try different males until fertilized. Three months later she will lay a clutch of 5-10 eggs. These will be tended in a communal nursery. Racial clues allow a parent to know which children are hers, but all children are the responsibility of the warren and those females who have devoted their life to the Nursery. After reproducing, the female becomes sterile, but retains her female characteristics. T'Katarans live for about 70 earth years, not including any time spent in hibernation.

 

CULTURE AND BEHAVIOR

T'Katarans are caste-oriented. These castes are divided along professional, rather than biological lines. The male pupal period of education helps the T'Kataran discover his aptitudes. While in the chrysalis, it will develop the physical, mental and emotional attributes necessary to perform its life's function. T'Katarans are remarkably well-adjusted because of this. Warfare is uncommon to T'Katarans and social inequity is a concept they don't understand.

 

 

CHARACTER BITS FOR ROLE PLAYING

Emotion is shown by the color of the eyes:

Red Anger/Fear

Blue Calm/Sleepy

Gold Humor/Pleasure

Green Curiosity/Concentration

 

 

 

T'KATARAN LANGUAGE

 

CONSONANTS

B P D T G K L M N R S Z Ch Kh Cr Pr Pt @ ! *

 

B as in English, but unvoiced

P very similar to “B†but softer

D as in English, but unvoiced

T very similar to “D†but softer

G Hard G as in English, but unvoiced

K very similar to “G†but softer

L pronounced with a short inhaling sound

M pronounced with a sharp kissing noise

S pronounced with a long inhaling sound

G really “@â€, but used when it is more pronounceable by humans

Z pronounced “ts†as in “Tsarâ€

R always voiceless and rolled

Kh pronunced as ch in the hebrew word “Lechiemâ€

CH pronunced as ch in the word “churchâ€

 

Tr, Pr, Cr, etc. a consonant followed by “râ€

is a long, rolled voiceless “râ€. “Tr†is similar to whispering

the word “tree†(not “chreeâ€)

 

@ is made clicking the back of the tongue

Frequently used for an intial sound unpronounceable by T’Kataran tongues or

a final “ingâ€

! is made by clacking the tongue away form the hard pallet

frequently used for “loâ€

* is a sharp snap of the tongue

frequently used for a final “n†or “da†or “ta†or “ningâ€

 

Consonants that have voiced and aspirated forms (i.e. B/P, D/T) are all aspirated. The difference between the two is vanishingly subtle to human ears, but distinct to T’kataran listeners.

All double consonants represent diphthongs. (i.e. the double-n sound in the English word “pen-knifeâ€). So, “S’akkat†is pronounced “Sssahk-kahtâ€, not “Sssahkatâ€

 

 

VOWELS

All vowel sounds are very faint, almost indistinguishable from a glottal stop. Careful listening can pick out differences.

 

A f A alter

E f E y

I k I lt

O r O ll

U b U tton

‘ peculiar stop or joining of two words or consonants

 

ree is a long, rolled voiceless “r†simalar to whispering “tree†(not “chreeâ€)

 

 

MORE PRONUNCIATION GUIDES

T’Kataran’s have no voice box. Therefore, a human speaker should never use their vocal chords, but should use a “stage whisper†for proper effect.

Grammar is far beyond the scope of this paper. A particular word can have different meaning depending on the words preceding and following it, and its position in the sentence. Word meaning relies heavily on context. A direct translation of the language would be very difficult to interpret.

 

 

Katara The World

T’katra Sister of the world (Adults)

S’akkat The World-Tree

S’arka (name) a communicator/ambassador

Brakha (name) a life-path finder

Dobra Pupa (male)

Ek Egg (one of the few homophones!)

 

 

Keith "Long-winded" Curtis

[Hermit]

Probably needs work but... Here come the Sploog

 

The Sploog

One of the first races the Perseid brought into the empire, the "Sploog" are more properly named the "S'pelleeum Un'quim"; but the abbreviated name the Dorvalians first gave them has stuck, and seems more approrpiate in the eyes of the other races. They consider themselves the valuable advisors and assitants to the Dorvalians, and try to fufill those roles.

 

 

Sploog Biology

The Sploog resemble large earthworms, and evolved from an annelid species very similar to it. Their vermillion bodies are roughly 3 feet long, segmented, and exude a light oil. Along their body are exagerated bristle like growths which they can use to manipulate objects.

 

Sploog are hermaphrodites with both male and female reproductive organs. During the moist Spring seasons of their planet, they arise for a mass mating ritual. Sploog find this pleasant, but the resulting fertilized eggs are put in a mass "nursery vault" and Sploog consider parenting a species wide duty.

 

Unlike true worms of their family, they do not breathe through their skin; the unique oils they excrete interfere with this. Fortunately for them, unlike some annelid lifeforms, this production of their own moisture keeps them from drying out too easily. It also allows them an odd defense mechanism, they can excrete it as a noxious deterrent about them.

 

A'quim, the Sploog homeworld

A predominantly temporate planet that originally had natural heavy canopy, A'quim is still heavily forested even in modern times. A bit larger than Earth, it has a slightly greater gravity as well, and no moons. Roughly half of it is covered in oceans, and there are eight major continents. One of these, renamed "Doradeem" is actually predominantly Perseid in it's population. The Sploog gladly surrendered it as an offering of peace and cooperation when the Dorvalians first came.

 

The Sploog themselves have few cities, or at least what would be considered cities by more urban above ground species. This doesn't prevent them from enjoying the cities the Perseid have set up though.

 

The ecosystem of A'quim has taken a direct hit in that many of the natural predators have been deliberately wiped out. Given that some of these predators fed on the Sploog themselves, the Sploog seem unapologetic.

 

Sploog Society and Culture

Sploog are known by some as the most "obsequiously unpleasant beings in the galaxy." They have made an artform of being subservient, and skill in obsequiousness is admired among Sploog society. Perhaps it is because they're descended from a prey species. To get in good with authority, to have the protection with none of the risk is a Sploog utopia. Naturally, when the Perseid arrived, they were seen as a dream come true. The Sploog welcomed the newcomers with open bristles, and, without the Dorvalians even insisting on it, surrendered their world immediately.

It is to the Perseids' credit that they didn't give into temptation and just enslave the population, surely the Acakalians or Thorgons would have done so. Instead, they tried to help the Sploog improve conditions, and the Sploog complied immediately. In fact, they even suggested a few areas where the Perseids could help, if they'd be so kind? In the end, the Perseid Monarchy found itself spending a great deal more for improvements of the Sploog species than their original budget allowed.

 

The Sploog went from ATRI 7 to ATRI 9 almost overnight.

 

Sensing that their new masters might be bit...irked, by some of the troubles bearing the crown brought, the Sploog got to work. They offered their services as bueracrats, managers, and aide-de-camps to the Dorlavians, not merely on their home world, but abroad. They ended up being quite good at it, and soon established their niche as the "affirmative beings" that Dorlavian leaders could rely on for support. Of course, the beings who control access to the ones in charge gain no small measure of power themselves.

The Sploog soon earned full membership in the Empire, and a favored place among the other subject species. Naturally, many of the non-Perseid races of the empire loathe or at least resent the Sploog. The Sploog don't care. As long as they have Perseid superiors to run to, they are emboldened (well, as emboldened as Sploog get).

 

While they've sacrificed much of their heritage in exchange for their compliance, the Sploog still alter Dorvalian customs and creeds to their own liking. They have to, given the vast differences. One example is the adoption of the Perseid religion Sal Garath Sal; In addition to the Six Gods the Dorvalians worship, the Sploog have added their own mythological figure named "S'sploo Teth". S'sploo Teth is praised as a wily trickster and lickspittle who often cons the various six gods by putting them against each other in minor ways. Often he overreachs himself, but he always comes out victorious in the end.

 

When honest, the other races of the Perseid empire have to at least admit the Sploog are cunning, devious, and adaptable.

 

And some Nan swear Sploog are exquisite with droog sauce.

 

SPLOOG PACKAGE DEAL

Ability

+2 INT 2

Ambidexterity 3

Bristles: Extra Limbs 5

Defense Mechanism: Smell/Taste group Flash 6d6, Explosion (+1/2), Personal Immunity (+1/4), 3 Charges (-1 and 1/4), No Range (-1/2) 12

Oily Excretions: +2 DCV, only against grabs, and certain entangles (-1) 5

Burrowing: Tunneling 2" through 2 DEF material, Limited medium (Soil and Rock only; -1/2) 7

 

Disadvantages

-3 PRE -3

-1 BODY -2

Short lived: Life span half normal -1

Physical Limitation: Character is always three feet long (all the time, slightly Impairing) -15

Total Cost of Package: 13

[BobGreenwade]

Cool and interesting ideas there, Hermit.

 

I'd be interested to know if any of the HPTB (Hero Powers That Be) are following this thread, and what they think of what we've all come up with.

[Hermit]

Originally posted by BobGreenwade

Cool and interesting ideas there, Hermit.

 

Thanks, I think of all the empires, the Perseid seem to be lacking the most detail on it's subject races so I put them there. Besides, every system needs a varation of the "Spineless Bueraucrat"

 

I'd be interested to know if any of the HPTB (Hero Powers That Be) are following this thread, and what they think of what we've all come up with.

 

Depends how many of them are Lawyers, Bueracrats, and raiders I bet

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by Hermit

Depends how many of them are Lawyers, Bueracrats, and raiders I bet

At least one.

[Hierax]

Re: Alien Race ideas??

 

It's been a while... bump

 

Any more Alien Race ideas?

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Blub blub blub

 

And how about something kind of equivalent to intelligent space whales. Gigantic and peaceful? creatures who roam space in large and majestic pods. Utter ludicrous from a what-do-they-eat perspective' date=' but still I kind of dig the image.[/quote']

 

Leviathans. Snag 'em from Farscape. I snagged mine years ago, from one of the rare comic books I've read. I think it was X-men. Was there an X-men with a bunch of giant space critters that had little dome cities built on them? This would have been maybe twenty years ago or so.....

 

At any rate, I dumped the dome cities and went for a more internalized construction, claiming specific genetic modifications for habitation by non-spaceworthy critters like humans. I was delightfully suprised when Farscape premiered, and used a very similar idea. In a fit of gleeful validation, I even scarfed the name "Leviathan" from Farscape. It sounded so much better than 'space whale.' I know; close, but a tiny bit makes a huge difference!

 

I understand there's a Farscape game, so finding enough data to make a direct port should be fairly easy, actually.

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Alien Race ideas??

 

It's been a while... bump

 

Any more Alien Race ideas?

 

Nothing I coudl share, other than as concept. None of our campaigns are 5E compatible, and most likely never will be.

 

But if you're hunting concepts, I may have one or two I'd be willing to share (there are a lot of surprises as yet unfound in our Space campaign, so I can't tell a lot).

[Hierax]

Re: Alien Race ideas??

 

Concepts are what is important. Thanks!

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Alien Race ideas??

 

Tell you what, H---

I'll try to put someting up tomorrow night. I've been a very busy little Duke in another thread tonight.....

[Duke Bushido]

Re: Alien Race ideas??

 

And here we go--

 

briefly, as I'm not feeling too sporty, and think I'll retire earlier than normal. Got a big day tomorrow anyway.

 

Tiny bit of background:

 

our longest-running Star HERO campaign began as a shared universe, were all seven then-members of the group took turns running different campaigns in the same universe. Thus, it's a big place, and there are a lot of influences as well as inspirations. Some of it was 'borrowed' originally to wean players from other sci-fi games, some of it was just too cool to pass up, and some of it was truly inspired. Some of it was done for convenience, and some for impediment or as experimentation. In short, it's about as varied as anything I've found in print.

 

So here's a general theme for aliens, and the justification:

 

borrowed from a now-defunct (but then locally popular) game, the earliest days of deep-space exploration required a lot of specialization, as it was found that enough support for humans to adapt was not possible. So genetically-altered beings sharing animal and human traits were shipped to colonize the stars. (For the record, I really hated this, and it wasn't my idea.) Most failed, but today there are now six 'alien' races based on terrestrial animal stock: two big cats, bears, frogs, dogs, porpoises, and I'd have to check my notes for the other.

 

They are easy to make: run through a bestiary or fantasy race list, you'll most likely find a 'perfect' example for any of these, particularly cats and dogs.

 

 

Energy beings are neat for an encounter. Period. Your players may think it's neat to play one, but he and the party will most likely decide it's less cool after a few sessions. We've tried it more than once, as the encounters were always interesting, but it tends to flop (for us) as a player thing, or even too many encounters (YMMV).

 

There is one 'energy' being that's been popular through the years, though, even though playing one is impossible. (they are what our group calls 'wierds.') They are black. As in 'light is getting sucked into that' black. A few bright bands or blocks of red and green light float here and there just off their surface, almost like holographic adornments. They have a dorsal flare of this light effect that runs from their forehead to the small of their backs and it rises high above their heads. They are strikingly humanoid in shape, but the uniqueness of their surface-- if that's what it be-- makes it completely impossible to determine and details.

 

No one knows anything about them, except that they are more common near certain stars. There seems to be no common element among the stars, and these 'black phantoms' can appear anywhere. They are rare, but startiling. Often, a door will open and one (or even a family) will be there, looking around, and walk off-- often as not through a wall. They seem to take absolutely no notice of the world around them (and resist all attempts at getting their attention), but often appear to be studying or indicating something that is flatly not there. They do not register on any kind of detecting equipment other than video, and then only to normal sight, and are completely soundless. No IR, UV, or energy signatures of any kind. Maybe they'll turn out to be important, but maybe not.

 

I can't remember the name but one of the GMs adopted a dark-skinned man-with-a-snake-tail-instead-of-legs as an alien race. At first I thought it was a joke about one of my supers (who was the same thing), but it turns out that it was ported from a sci-fi comic book that was popular at the time.

 

There is a silicate based race. They are very big, very strong, and when they decide to think about something, they are pretty much useless until they've thought it through. They 'feed' by absorbing raw mineral from the ground, and like to spend a great deal of time laying about in the soil. They are rather slow (SPD 1 for the truly active). They live a very long time (several thousand years), but as they age ==== well, they 'start' life as 'toddlers' who are roughly five feet tall. They grow and live for the next two hundred years or so, getting to be up to twenty feet tall, and thinking more and more. As they grow, the become less active and more pensive. Eventually, they will cease to move at all, lost in thinking, and grow and grow until they are more or less sentient boulders. Groups of them grow together once they stop interacting with the rest of the universe. Like tree trunks, two that have 'settled' close together will intertwine.

 

Oddly, they are, as adults, perhaps the most knowledgeable beings in the universe. They will spend the rest of their lives growing (on a geologic scale) and thinking, adding their knowledge to the gestalt mind of all the joined adults in the same 'cluster' and when they die they are absorbed again as nutrients. The GM who created this race never gave a lot of thought as to where babies come from.....

 

There is no real way to communicate with an adult, and infants are really only interested in finding out 'what' and 'why' and don't really make good PCs. So far, most of what I've told you is GM-type info, as the rest of the universe knows this race only as the child-like 'infants.' But I can put it up here without too much concern, and the campaign has moved well beyond this race.

 

Of course, there is a wide variety of races-- most suitable for at least well-moderated PC use, but they are all more or less of 'typical' sci-fi fare, and so I didn't bother to bring them up. Should you get one hundred submissions, you might well run the range of what I have to offer, at least in essence.

 

There is one race that was a lot of fun when one of the players talked me into letting him use one as a PC........

 

 

Short version. Really, really short version, as I can't give you a book-legal 5E version if I wanted to.

 

On earth, it seems that every ancient culture had legends of a terrifying unknown. A thing that was never clearly defined, but always held to be an eater of flesh, an ambigous, shadowy, twisted version of mankind. Well it seems that these legends exist in the ancient cultures of every sentient race in the universe. And always, it is described as a vague representation of that race itself.

 

Turns out there's a good reason for this. The Grey Men (in the human tongue) are actually the second-oldest race in the universe. They are a highly-evolved parasite. A giant mult-cellular protoplasm, they feed by first carefully 'stinging' prey with a powerful neuro toxin that affects a staggering number of creatures, regardless of origin. Almost any carbon-based lifeform is affected. The poison will, within a few hours, render the victim unconscious. The Grey Men feed by engulfing the victim completely and slowly disolving them.

 

Neural tissues run into the nervous system of the prey and within hours the Grey Man will have control of the victim's body. As he dissolves the outer layers of his prey, he will mimic the outward appearance of that prey.

 

A man-sized victim will sustain a Grey Man for roughly a year, thrice that with very careful resource and energy management. During the digestion, the Grey Man imprints the DNA of the victim into his own, and can replicate it perfectly. The Grey Man will, as needed, slough off any 'unneeded' mass, retaining only a chemical pool that contains its own DNA and instincts. When the victim is disolved (skeleton last, as the Grey Men cannot replicate the mineral content of most skeletons in sufficient quantities to produce their own), it is still medically verifiable as a living member of that race-- even the original person, if DNA records are available, though he will show 'some kind of chemical anomoly, possibly exposure to something?' on a very close scrutiny.

 

Grey Men avoid each other at all costs, instinctively knowing the danger of 'over farming' and the investigations it will bring. But when they do encounter another of their own species, they are possesed of an overpowering urge to mate. The two flow together, share zygotes, and separate, leaving a small puddle of primordial ooze that will, if fortunate, become another Grey Man.

 

Each individual Grey Man must evolve its own sentience. When created, it is an instinct-driven creature, knowing only that it must feed. It is very common for them to feed on the young of a creature and replace that offspring, being cared for by the parents, until the skeleton is disolved and another form must be sought. It is the duplication of brain structure that leads to the development of intelligence in these creatures; the more complex the structure, the greater the chance of the creature developing sentience. Most do not make it, or rather, have not yet. The Grey Men are essentially immortal, and there is no way to know what will ultimately happen.

 

Their simple physiology, based more on chemistry than on organization of tissue, means that while they can be killed, there is little chance of them dying of natural causes. In fact, they can, when faced with starvation, encyst themselves in a much harder membrane that resists the most extreme or terrestrial temperatures, and even the voids of space. In this form, their nutritional needs are cut to 1/1,000 of what they are when the Grey Man is active. In this form, they develop additional sense that allow them to detect movement and chemical processes for a nearly continental range.

 

Because their form will perfectly mimic the form they are consuming, they will have senses that are, for practical purposes, identical to that form's own. They don't seem to mind the change in senses with varying forms, but this is possibly because they rely more an an active mindscan to percieve the world, an ability that they will retain in any form.

 

Regardless of their form, they are limited in their physical abilities. In their normal form, a roughly shapeless blob, they can create, maintain, and control up to eight pseudopods. They cannot in any form control more than eight limbs (though with a skeleton to build around, they can maintain the presence of them). They are also limited to Char Lim of 25 in any form, regardless of what the prey originally possesed. And if the prey had lower stats than the Grey Man, they will instinctively mimic this lower stat.

 

Grey Men retain the ability to assume any form that they have used in the past, but cannot assume 'new' forms without first digesting a DNA blueprint. This helps them to maintain an established identity for years, even though they may have to 'eat' many times throughout the course of their lives. They cannot assume any form for which they do not currently posses a skeleton. The skeleton need not be 'exact'-- it can be smaller, taller, or from a slightly different race, but it must be extremely close.

 

The race itself:

because of the way they are born and 'reared', a Grey Man may go his entire life without realizing what he is. In fact, the one time I allowed a player to use this race as a PC (and I am glad I did! This was the most gifted and enjoyable player I have ever had in any group. Same guy that didn't abuse MF, actually. I think he liked shape-shifters. Before him, the 'grey men' existed only as a campaign legend amongst aboriginals, and he did most of the work over the years on the 'real' story of the Grey Men)

 

anyway, the one PC I had as a Grey Man believed himself to be a normal human until the day he _didn't_ black out before a feeding. He spent the next ten years believing that he was some kind of horrible monster, and it was only from hearing the Grey Men legend during a first contact that he began to research the legend.

 

Now this really is the 'short' version. There are two hand-written spiral-bound notebooks in my game cabinet that detail this one race and, to a lesser extent, the one PC to come from that race. And during that character's tenure, none of the other PCs (or even players) ever suspected his 'secret.' They just noticed that this player changed characters more often than the rest of them....

 

He was a most interesting PC indeed, and while the race may be of no use, or possibly even no interest, to you, I thank you for the chance to share it and the memories it has brought.

 

And now for a quick peek around the board before going to bed.....