Species Creation Contest Sadness

So I was a little sad that I wasn't able to get my species done for the species contest. I really just ended up never having a solid idea I liked for the species. Anyway, here IS something solid. I have posted an image done by Dirk Loechel that I found on deviantart. Its a totally-sweet-science-fiction-space-ship-size-comparison-picture. Well I hope this doesn't detract from the contest and I hope you like the pic.

-Juanito, over and out!

The Asoheri

The above is an individual known as an Asoher. Plural, the Asoheri. The Asoheri are tall and thin in appearance, tend to have dull tones for skin colors (anywhere from a white to a muddy, dark red color), have horns, webbed fingers and toes, and most notably have a skin covering that can be pulled back to reveal the nostrils and mouth.

This is because the Asoheri inhabit a small planet that is covered mostly in swampland and clouds. Many areas on this planet also have periods where poisonous marsh gases are released, and creatures there have evolved protection against this--including the Asoheri's facial skin covering which, when closed, minimizes breathing and filters out airborne poisons.

Without eyebrows or lips, the Asoheri might seem fairly emotionless at first glance, but many of their expressions are displayed through their body posture and head tilts.

Their life is fairly civilized, with large cities built over the swamps, main form of transportation is hovercraft. They live in small family units, usually with two parents and one or two children. Children can attend school, and despite how costly it is, many children do. Much of their society is based around consumerism, and the importance of their culture's concept of "beauty" and agelessness. (Along with this, a large majority of Asoheri are keen on jewelry/accessories, style [clothing and otherwise], youthness, and body modification [particularly prosthetics, piercings, and tattoos].) In the different races for space and for immortality, you can say that the attempts to gain immortality were far more important to them. They have advanced prosthetics (often times very detailed and artistic prosthetics), cloning and memory cloning, basic cybernetics, and a myriad of drugs and formulas meant for lengthening the life. Indeed, most Asoheri live to their 100s now, when rumor has it that before the cities their lifespan was possibly an average of 30 years old. And if you do happen to die, if you're wealthy enough then there's a clone being grown with your last "recorded" memories. But their technology in other areas is far less advanced than their medical; they have only recently built a successful satellite and they have not sent any living organism into space yet, their weapons have not progressed farther than projectiles and explosives, and only recently has "HD" television been invented.

They are the only sentient species on their planet. And though they wouldn't realize this until being around other sentient species, they are particularly adept at things like haggling, quick thinking, and surviving. Unless they have cybernetic enhancements, they are fairly average when it comes to strength; but have pisspoor eyesight. Bright lights can be uncomfortable, and if bright enough they can be disorientating.

Species Averages:

Strength –10

Endurance – 16

Dexterity – 13

Reasoning – 18

Knowledge – 13

Perception –6

Comeliness – 9

Charisma – 11

Heal - 15 

Miscellaneous Notes:

-Asoheri might have modifiers for perception according to their surroundings.
-There is a chance Asoheri characters, depending on their background, might start out with cybernetics or (if wealthy enough) even a clone or two waiting to be grown if they die.
-There is a chance an Asoheri character can start out with a bonus level on the swimming skill.
-They are resilient to certain types of poison.
-These things will depend on dice rolls and GM's discretion.

Creature Contest Winner!

Announcing the Creature Contest Winner!
 and the winner is......  The Jabimbalorp!
The Jabimbalorp is a semi shape shifting alien most often found in the Captains quarters. The Jabimbalorp often resembles Jessica's Character; you know the alien hooker dude?
 Actually, i'm here to announce that the end of the contest will be this Friday.  Usually I post a picture with my posts, but since the Jabimbalorp is a shape shifter...  Aw what the heck. Imagine Kirk with one of these!

This is a Tardigrade, or "Water Bear" They can survive the vacume of space for limited periods of time by drying out to the point where they are 3% or less water, only to rehydrate, forage, and reproduce.
-Panspermia anyone?-

Business Lag

In adherence to the Aegis' strict dress standards, here is Lagarto in business formal wear... and business casual..... and informal.... and everything else, in fact this is about all he wears :)

I might add in a brief bio of Lagarto later on but for now enjoy a new pic of your resident mad scientist!

~Xzebo out.

Awwwwwwwwww....

Baaby Lag!

There... that's it to this post... nothing else :)
~Xzebo

Ushkayin Physiology, Society and Technology

Hello again. This will be the last post of the Ushkayin. I am currently working on some short stories and laying down the final outline for a bigger story (possible novel) plus I am going to be helping Omally and Xzebo with the storyline of a comic that they are doing, so my time is being used up elsewhere, but I wanted to give some more details on the Ushkayin before I set them free to whatever fate the future holds for them.

*Ushkayin Physiology*
Head: Long and narrow. There are three ridges on top of the cranium that change color and size to show emotion. They have three sets of eyes. Two sets are large and oblong. They see in infrared and ultraviolet. These sets are membranes that have the ability to fold shut, but usually stay open. The third set, which sees in visible light, resembles that of most other species. They are twice the size of the average adult human and have no iris or sclera (whites.) The cornea covers the entire front half of the eyes and the eyelids function much as our iris' do.

The mouth and nose have both been replaced by the respirator. They have no hair or fur anywhere, although most males have facial markings that does resemble a "five o'clock shadow."

Neck: This is very short and thick, with the same circumference as the bottom of the head. This makes it look like the head has been placed directly on the shoulders.

Between Head and Torso: The sensory and primary brains work in tandem. The spinal cord is twice as thick from where the two brains attach to the spinal column. This allows for better processing between the brains. The sensory brain, which sits below the ridges in the head, takes care of vision, olfactory and other senses as well as basic involuntary motor function. It is the size and shape of an average human hand laid out flat with all fingers close together. The primary brain, which sits in the torso and is surrounded by cartilage, takes care of the rest. It is the size of two average human fists. There have been cases where non-functioning sections of one of the brains have been taken over by the other. Ushkayins have no brain stem.

Torso: The torso is somewhat thin, but elongated to make room for the primary brain amongst the other organs. They have only one lung, but it has eight different compartments to prevent a total lung collapse. The heart has four chambers. The stomach is a gastric mill (gizzard) that is a narrow tube with several pieces of cartilage lining the inside. This takes care of all digestion and nutrient absorption since the Ushkayin do not have teeth or saliva and never had. The single intestine takes care of water absorption and passes waste from the body.

Arms: The arms have a shoulder joint, elbow joint and wrist joint. Hands have three bones in the palm, but the fingers function like tentacles and have no bones. An Ushkayin grip is surprisingly powerful.

Legs: There are hip, knee and ankle joints, but the feet have only two small bones in it. The Ushkayin also have no toes.

Skin Color: There are three main skin colors for the Ushkayin: Brown, Orange and Gray. Each group has varying degrees of shades amongst them.

Eye Color: The two sets of membrane eyes are usually the same color and are a very dark hue. The visible light eyes are always black as there is no iris for pigmentation.

Ridge Color: The base color for the ridges are always a light neutral color, but the colors change drastically with mood. This makes deceiving nearly impossible in Ushkayin culture.

Maturity: Ushkayin reach maturity between the age of 13 to 15 years. Females can give birth from 15 to 20 years and then become incapable of bearing children after. Females have 2 or 3 children in a pregnancy, with a small percentage having 4. Almost unheard of is a single child pregnancy, but it is has happened.

Respirator: The picture provided earlier (Ushkayin headshot) has a standard respirator, but they can vary from region or with technology. The tube on the bottom is the olfactory sensor (the nose). The tube on the side is the respiratory filter. The port (flap) on the other side is the nutrient consumption port. The four black squares are exhaust ports.

*Ushkayin Society*
Ushkayin communities vary in size from small villages with a few hundred people to vast metropoli with millions. With lying considered to be a major criminal offense (only murder is considered worse) politicians are elected for their honesty and religious background. Regional Senators, which vary according to a regions population, act as mediators to all disputes in their region. Each community has a mayor and various specialists as needed for the community. The Ushkayin have no real military force, but instead each community has a volunteer militia in which every male above the age of 15 can join or be drafted to if needs be. The militias are rarely used. Policing is handled by community governments and only when needed.

Each region elects one of their Senators as a speaker. Their are 15 speakers with one elected as the Majority Mediator. If disputes are not settled by the regional senator then it goes to the speakers and then on to the Majority Mediator. Also, if voting is deadlocked between the speakers, the Majority Mediator casts the deciding vote.

Religion is a huge part of Ushkayin culture and has survived even with their move to Ushun. They believe in a single deity that placed them on Mardka at the beginning of time. They describe this deity as having tan skin, fur on the top of his head and only two eyes.

*Ushkayin Technology*
Medical Tech: Due to the pandemic that affected the Ushkayin, medical technology has grown by leaps and bounds in the three hundred years they have been on Ushun. They have discovered cellular regeneration therapies, target cancer cures and stable cloning technologies just to name a few.

Military Tech: Uh... no. Not really, no. The Ushkayin are a very peaceful race. For as long as records show they have had one government ruling all Ushkayin (and Mardkayin) and one religion. This means that military tech has not advanced much past ballistic and melee weapons.

Other Tech: Ushkayin still use ground vehicles and winged aircraft, having not invented hover abilities. They have produced hyperdrive, but do not have artificial gravity. Instead ships use centrifugal force to mimic gravity.

Ok, that's about all I have time to put down. Good luck to everyone that has or will post a species. I like everyone's so far and imagine that I will like all of them.

Bot out.

The Siksuus

Communication Log 978-089089-2347

Security level Alpha required

Report of Commander Zar Nowak, Commander of the Frigate “Kraden”

begin transmission:

“It has been [REDACTED] since we left on our current mission to [REDACTED].

We had picked up a distress signal in what was previously reported as an uninhabitable system. The signal was a Conar ship, but the origin of the signal was quite old.

We jumped into the far side of the system, hoping to go unnoticed from the Cruiser, in accordance to our mission parameters. Passive scans show the ship to be one of the first Conar ships fitted with a Faster than Light drive. We believe the ship to be the CN Styrrok. We have submitted our scan for analysis [REDACTED].

According to the official Conara report, the Styrrok had a long and illustrious career before being retired from service after 50 years. But intelligence from [REDACTED] has revealed that the Styrrok was reported missing 3 months into it's maiden voyage, no record of its whereabouts can be found.

We were ordered to observe the Styrrok until the 7^th Fleet could arrive to deal with the possibility of any Conar survivors on board, but more likely to salvage the ship and mine it for any information that we could find.

The arrival of the Fleet brought about the first noticeable change to the Styrrok, the signal went from a general distress call to a plea for help fixing a hyperdrive. The Kraden was ordered to dock with the Styrrok and provide any needed assistance.

Upon docking, we were met not by Conar, but by a species called the Siksuus. The Styrrok had originally picked up 10 Siksuus from their home planet. They were very primative, taken in as pets. The Conar taught them basic Conach, but their education was cut short when the primative Hyperdrive the Styrrok had went out 3.5 months into their mission. The Conar crew lasted 2 years, drifting through space, before a mutiny killed 1/3 of the crew, and the rest abandoned the Styrrok and the Siksuus to try their luck in the only remaining shuttle. The Siksuus, using the available materials found in the ships computer, continued their own education. They eventually fixed the ship, even making some improvements of their own designs. The only thing they couldn't fix was the hyperdrive, and that was because they didn't have the parts needed (although the crude work around they implemented using various parts found throughout the ship did get them a working drive that at least enabled them to pilot the ship.

The Siksuus couldn't find any reference of their home planet in the Conar database, and were simply choosing galaxies at random, looking for their home planet.

From the original ten Siksuus, the total on board numbered 1383. We transported the Siksuus to [REDACTED] where they are currently beginning to establish their society with the help of KMF support.”

Species information:

Average Height – 4'6”

Average Weight – 90 Lbs.

Body is covered with thin blue hair, but the mane and top of head can have a range of color.

Skin color is blue, with slight variations. Each Siksuus has a distinct pattern that can range from just the top of the head to a full body pattern, usually the pattern is orange, but there have been noted cases of red and yellow.

Average Lifespan - ? The lifespan of the Siksuus is yet to be determined, as the only deaths noted among the ship were accidents or fatalities from trying to fix the ship. In fact, the original 10 Siksuus are still with the colony, and are in what we can only assume is excellent health. The oldest of member, Styrrok (named after the ship, he doesn't remember a name before that) is estimated to be 180 years old.

Languages spoken – Conach, Sik ( This is a combination of the gutteral, primal language the Siksuus used before the Conar found them, and military Conar). The Siksuus only recently started to expand their language and at last report had finally implemented and recorded an alphabet.

Species Averages:

Strength – 8

Endurance – 8

Dexterity – 18

Reasoning – 18

Knowledge – 14

Perception – 20

Comeliness – 9

Charisma – 14

Heal - 18

End transmission.