Alternian - They See Me Trollin', They Hatin'
Nov 16, 2018 20:52:40 GMT -6
Post by Amanojyaku on Nov 16, 2018 20:52:40 GMT -6
Born on a violent and dark planet named Alternia in a relatively unknown crystal sphere, this chaotic and rambunctious race is known for its fierce and deceitful nature, along with its aggressive military tactics and biotech industries. Alternians are an overly evolved race of insect-like humanoids with a high potential for warp sensitivity and psychic powers. They are naturally jovial, but have a dark and aggressive side to them that they usually make efforts to conceal.
In the current era, Alternia's fuchsia-blooded ruler has vanished, leaving Alternia to govern itself. Despite plenty of internal conflict planetside, it has been considered the most peaceful and profitable era of Alternia's history. After the race's new introduction to the Great Wheel at large, most elder Alternians have abandoned the planet to leave the stragglers and wildlife to raise the young. Of course, with all the automated biotech in place, young Alternian grubs have monstrous beasts named Lusii to raise them and teach them the ways of combat, drinking, and typical Alternian social habits.
Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 1.0-1.8m
Average Weight: 60-100kg
Languages: Trade, Alternian
Common Personality Traits: Contrary, playful, vice-ridden, treacherous, vindictive
Common Physical Traits: Grey skin, pronounced fangs, horns, vibrant hair and eye colors, jaundiced eyes
Example Names: Karkat, Mariko, Porrim, Kijin, Hakan
Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to Constitution or Charisma
Skill Bonus: +1 to Athletics and Deceive
Power: Psionics: Alternians are natural psychics. Choose either Command or Invisible Hand. You can cast the chosen spell using Level + Charisma instead of the normal magic test.
Size: 4
Racial Feats
Blood Caste [Alternian]
You were born into a special Alternian blood caste, and gain ability from it. Choose one of the following blood colors, and gain its benefit. This feat may only be taken during character creation.
Dark Carnival Sage [Alternian]
You jive with the chucklevoodoos and roll with the Dark Carnival. Gain Peer (Cult of Rakdos), Speak Language (Spirits), and add your Level as a bonus to Mental Defense.
Emphatic Command [Alternian]
You've got it easy when it comes to telling other people what to do, the pressure of your mind easily impressing your intent. Your Command, Demand, Geas, and Suggestion spells no longer have the Language-Dependent keyword.
Fuchsia Blood [Alternian, Paragon]
You have the rarest blood type, the brilliant pink shade of a born ruler. You can cast the Demand spell on other Alternians only, using Excellence + Charisma instead of the normal magic test. In addition, you no longer need to eat, drink, or breathe (though you can, if you like), and are immune to disease as well as any normal environmental effects (such as radiation, pressure or lack thereof, extremes of heat and cold, etc).
Vectors [Alternian]
You have fully developed mental vectors, channeled through your mind and horns. Your Invisible Hand spell lasts for the scene with no concentration required, and may be used to make attacks as if using your own hands. Use your Charisma and Wisdom in place of the Invisible Hand's Strength and Dexterity, respectively.
Physical Qualities
Except in regards to a special blood caste, most Alternians have some shade of red or brown blood and slate grey skin, with orange horns. This is considered to be the common caste for Alternians, and make up about half the population. Eye color usually gives away blood color at adulthood, so many Alternians take to covering their eyes and dressing in grey clothing to be blood neutral if they are a mutant outside of the blood castes.
Genetically advanced, they are still quite an unstable race and mutations are common enough that things like blood pigmentation and skin color can vary drastically from parent to child. Dark grey insect-like skin in one parent, and soft cream-colored skin in the child isn't unheard of at all. But there are a few constants in all Alternians, such as pronounced canines and vestigial horns. Things like hair and skin color can change, but the eyes usually start out a dark black, and then fill in with blood color as they age.
Each Alternian has a sign, usually worn on their clothing, which is assigned from an alphabet for each caste; should mutation place an Alternian outside the caste system they will usually lack a sign. Certain crimes could include stripping an Alternian of their sign as part of the punishment. The sign is usually in a pigment color close to their own blood, and is seen as a sort of social identifying mark. Alternians who do not have a sign may take up a sign to represent something later in life, or someone that they wish to emulate.
Playing an Alternian
Alternians love to have a good time above all else, their planet built around a chaotic sense of loose order, a society of paradoxes and aggression. Children's role playing games being to the death are common, and an Alternian who hasn't murdered at least in self defense is seen as an oddity. Alternians love to lie and deceive others, seeing it as a challenge to test if people are worthy to be aligned with them. Riddles and double speak are common party games, and other such deceptive word games. Alternians will use whatever tool they have on hand, not above dirty tactics in combat. Alternians are also fiercely proud of their bloodline, tracing yourself back through Alternian history to your most genetically similar relative and claiming them as your ancestor is common.
Alternians generally do not raise their own young, though some do in isolation or off world. After they pupate, the young Alternian with their newfound limbs undergoes a series of dangerous trials. If they survive, they are chosen by a member of the diverse and terrifying subterranean monster population native to Alternia, frightening beasts known as lusus naturae. This creature becomes the Alternian's custodian, behaving as a lifelong bodyguard, caretaker, and visceral sort of mentor, while the young Alternian must learn to function as a sort of zookeeper. Together, they surface and choose a location to build a hive, the Alternian equivalent of a house. The building process is facilitated by carpenter droids left on the planet to cater to the young for building.
Alternian lifestyle usually falls into two paths in adult life. An Alternian either enlists in the military and planetary defense force, doing whatever the current Fuchsia ruler demands of them. The other is a life of space piracy, joining the rogue bands of soldiers that used to serve Fuchsia rulers of the past, still marauding around. On the planet, Alternian culture is an oddly social yet chaotic affair. Alternian social interactions are broken into four quadrants that encompass rivalry, friendships, uneasy alliances, and love. Alternian youths build their own home as soon as they're able and live until they reach maturity, and end up leaving Alternia or entering into service.
Alternian Heroes
The Masked Rider known as Kishin is a scourge on both sides of the Blood War, styling himself as a reaper who specializes in bringing down both Aasimar and Tiefling commanders with his black scythes. Exactly who lies behind the mismatched red and blue lenses is a mystery, for only his victims have seen him use the beltgrub to transform.
Irnak is spoken of in hushed tones among Alternians, a sadistic outcaste whose sole purpose is sowing terror among his own people. It's said the current empress fled to the moon to escape his reach, though that seems unlikely when there have been reports of his appearance on different worlds on opposite ends of the Wheel, instilling friend and foe alike with the terror of his legend.
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In the current era, Alternia's fuchsia-blooded ruler has vanished, leaving Alternia to govern itself. Despite plenty of internal conflict planetside, it has been considered the most peaceful and profitable era of Alternia's history. After the race's new introduction to the Great Wheel at large, most elder Alternians have abandoned the planet to leave the stragglers and wildlife to raise the young. Of course, with all the automated biotech in place, young Alternian grubs have monstrous beasts named Lusii to raise them and teach them the ways of combat, drinking, and typical Alternian social habits.
Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 1.0-1.8m
Average Weight: 60-100kg
Languages: Trade, Alternian
Common Personality Traits: Contrary, playful, vice-ridden, treacherous, vindictive
Common Physical Traits: Grey skin, pronounced fangs, horns, vibrant hair and eye colors, jaundiced eyes
Example Names: Karkat, Mariko, Porrim, Kijin, Hakan
Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to Constitution or Charisma
Skill Bonus: +1 to Athletics and Deceive
Power: Psionics: Alternians are natural psychics. Choose either Command or Invisible Hand. You can cast the chosen spell using Level + Charisma instead of the normal magic test.
Size: 4
Racial Feats
Blood Caste [Alternian]
You were born into a special Alternian blood caste, and gain ability from it. Choose one of the following blood colors, and gain its benefit. This feat may only be taken during character creation.
- Orange: Gain Minor Magic (Necromancy), and +1k0 to the Focus Power test when casting Necromancy spells.
- Gold: Gain Minor Magic (Evocation), and +1k0 to the Focus Power test when casting Evocation spells.
- Green: Gain Minor Magic (Healing), and +1k0 to the Focus Power test when casting Healing spells.
- Blue: Gain Minor Magic (Enchantment), and +1k0 to the Focus Power test when casting Enchantment spells.
- Indigo: Gain Minor Magic (Divination), and +1k0 to the Focus Power test when casting Divination spells.
- Violet: Gain Minor Magic (Transmutation), and +1k0 to the Focus Power test when casting Transmutation spells.
Dark Carnival Sage [Alternian]
You jive with the chucklevoodoos and roll with the Dark Carnival. Gain Peer (Cult of Rakdos), Speak Language (Spirits), and add your Level as a bonus to Mental Defense.
Emphatic Command [Alternian]
You've got it easy when it comes to telling other people what to do, the pressure of your mind easily impressing your intent. Your Command, Demand, Geas, and Suggestion spells no longer have the Language-Dependent keyword.
Fuchsia Blood [Alternian, Paragon]
You have the rarest blood type, the brilliant pink shade of a born ruler. You can cast the Demand spell on other Alternians only, using Excellence + Charisma instead of the normal magic test. In addition, you no longer need to eat, drink, or breathe (though you can, if you like), and are immune to disease as well as any normal environmental effects (such as radiation, pressure or lack thereof, extremes of heat and cold, etc).
Vectors [Alternian]
You have fully developed mental vectors, channeled through your mind and horns. Your Invisible Hand spell lasts for the scene with no concentration required, and may be used to make attacks as if using your own hands. Use your Charisma and Wisdom in place of the Invisible Hand's Strength and Dexterity, respectively.
Physical Qualities
Except in regards to a special blood caste, most Alternians have some shade of red or brown blood and slate grey skin, with orange horns. This is considered to be the common caste for Alternians, and make up about half the population. Eye color usually gives away blood color at adulthood, so many Alternians take to covering their eyes and dressing in grey clothing to be blood neutral if they are a mutant outside of the blood castes.
Genetically advanced, they are still quite an unstable race and mutations are common enough that things like blood pigmentation and skin color can vary drastically from parent to child. Dark grey insect-like skin in one parent, and soft cream-colored skin in the child isn't unheard of at all. But there are a few constants in all Alternians, such as pronounced canines and vestigial horns. Things like hair and skin color can change, but the eyes usually start out a dark black, and then fill in with blood color as they age.
Each Alternian has a sign, usually worn on their clothing, which is assigned from an alphabet for each caste; should mutation place an Alternian outside the caste system they will usually lack a sign. Certain crimes could include stripping an Alternian of their sign as part of the punishment. The sign is usually in a pigment color close to their own blood, and is seen as a sort of social identifying mark. Alternians who do not have a sign may take up a sign to represent something later in life, or someone that they wish to emulate.
Playing an Alternian
Alternians love to have a good time above all else, their planet built around a chaotic sense of loose order, a society of paradoxes and aggression. Children's role playing games being to the death are common, and an Alternian who hasn't murdered at least in self defense is seen as an oddity. Alternians love to lie and deceive others, seeing it as a challenge to test if people are worthy to be aligned with them. Riddles and double speak are common party games, and other such deceptive word games. Alternians will use whatever tool they have on hand, not above dirty tactics in combat. Alternians are also fiercely proud of their bloodline, tracing yourself back through Alternian history to your most genetically similar relative and claiming them as your ancestor is common.
Alternians generally do not raise their own young, though some do in isolation or off world. After they pupate, the young Alternian with their newfound limbs undergoes a series of dangerous trials. If they survive, they are chosen by a member of the diverse and terrifying subterranean monster population native to Alternia, frightening beasts known as lusus naturae. This creature becomes the Alternian's custodian, behaving as a lifelong bodyguard, caretaker, and visceral sort of mentor, while the young Alternian must learn to function as a sort of zookeeper. Together, they surface and choose a location to build a hive, the Alternian equivalent of a house. The building process is facilitated by carpenter droids left on the planet to cater to the young for building.
Alternian lifestyle usually falls into two paths in adult life. An Alternian either enlists in the military and planetary defense force, doing whatever the current Fuchsia ruler demands of them. The other is a life of space piracy, joining the rogue bands of soldiers that used to serve Fuchsia rulers of the past, still marauding around. On the planet, Alternian culture is an oddly social yet chaotic affair. Alternian social interactions are broken into four quadrants that encompass rivalry, friendships, uneasy alliances, and love. Alternian youths build their own home as soon as they're able and live until they reach maturity, and end up leaving Alternia or entering into service.
Alternian Heroes
The Masked Rider known as Kishin is a scourge on both sides of the Blood War, styling himself as a reaper who specializes in bringing down both Aasimar and Tiefling commanders with his black scythes. Exactly who lies behind the mismatched red and blue lenses is a mystery, for only his victims have seen him use the beltgrub to transform.
Irnak is spoken of in hushed tones among Alternians, a sadistic outcaste whose sole purpose is sowing terror among his own people. It's said the current empress fled to the moon to escape his reach, though that seems unlikely when there have been reports of his appearance on different worlds on opposite ends of the Wheel, instilling friend and foe alike with the terror of his legend.
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