Race: Generals

The Generals are heuristically and cognitively superior to the other Races. Although one would believe that this would make them vastly superior researchers, they are only marginally better than average. Where they are superior is in the art of warfare and gambling. Instinctively, they can formulate the probabilities that certain plans of action are likely to succeed, almost unconsciously. Given enough information, they are rarely wrong. They also have an uncanny ability to "read" people, even of other Races. The only ones exempt from that is the Admins, who they find generally unreadable. If you are going to play a game of chance with a General, it needs to be a game of pure chance, or the conclusion is nearly foregone. Most gambling establishments strictly forbid them to play for that very reason. They are like the card counter at the Blackjack table. Despite the fact that the house should win, they will lose. They are excellent traders with their ability to "read" people and know the odds that a certain item can bring a certain price with certain effort. There are two distinct subcategories among the Generals. The more numerous are the "passionate" Generals, who are gregarious and prone to great expressiveness. They are also the more likely to take offense to the slightest thing. The other group is known as the "ascetic" Generals, who are more reserved and less likely to be provoked unless they want to be. Many consider them to be the "pacifist" Generals, and do not give them the respect of their more warlike brethren, but that is a serious mistake. Of the two, they are even more deadly in combat, being less likely to be baited into a bad situation. The "passionate" ones tend to focus more on offense. The "ascetic" ones on defense. The truth is, genetically they are one and the same. The difference is in their philosophy and how it tends impact their intellectual development. The "passionate" Generals are more automatic and instinctual in their responses. The "ascetic" generals are more deliberate and controlled. Both tend to prefer hot dry planets with slightly lower than normal gravity and moderately thinner and purer atmospheres. They dislike crowding more than any other Race, and are likely to only sparsely populate a planet before their population growth tapers off. They also do not like to build large mega-cities, although each planet is likely to eventually have one such metropolis. They are above average in everything they do, but reproduce the slowest of all major Races. Standing slightly less than 2 Meters in height, and at less than 100 kilos, the typical General is not physically imposing, but they exude an air of self assurance that causes others to instinctively make way for them. In combat with all other Races other than the Admins, two sets of orders can be given at every level. If they are "passionate" Generals, there is a 50% chance that they will pick the orders that will yield the most damage to their opponent, 25% chance that they will choose the set that will cause them the least damage to themselves, and a 25% chance that they will choose the set that yields the best ratio of damage given to damage taken. The "ascetic" Generals will be 25%/50%/25%. Those who are of "mixed" philosophy will choose 25%/25%/50%. If there are Generals as Fleet Officers, their is a chance that another random set of orders may be issued, even if they are fighting the Admins. First the determination is made whether or not a set might be considered at each level based upon the ranking of the Fleet Officer and the effectiveness of their span of control. At a certain level, this is guaranteed. Then the random determination is made as to what the set of these orders might be. Based upon their skill set, these will be evaluated against the others only in the manner that fits their style. If this random set of orders is the best for their style of combat, it will be chosen. If not, it is discarded and not considered any further. In combat where Generals are on both sides, they cancel each other out to the level that they are present. If there is a specific average likelihood on one side that their Fleet Officers will come up with a random set of orders, and the other side has a higher average, then the one with the higher average will be the only one whose Fleet Officers will have this ability, reduced by the average of the opposing Fleet Officers. In this case, having less Fleet Officers of higher experience is desirable.

Race: Brainiacs

Brainiacs are the best researchers amoung all of the Races. That is pretty much their only advantage. They are mediocre in everything else, at best. They research with a passion that comes from their utter faith that they are the Overlords progenitors. They believe that when they attain sufficient knowledge that they too will become Overlords. There is reason enough that they believe this. They prefer the exact same environment that the Overlords do. The artificial bodies that the Overlords use generally appear to be very similar to the natural ones of the Brainiacs. The list goes on and on. They are egotistical about this, and treat all other Races with utter disdain. They treat the Admins, who were the ones that worked most closely with them, the worst of all. They are horrible diplomats. They are horrible traders, except when trading high tech gear, which they are mediocre at. The other Races generally consider that the faith of the Brainiacs is based upon artifices promoted by the Overlords, and that there is not a shred of proof that supports it concretely. The Brainiacs are horrible in combat. They are generally not hostile. For the most part, they don't have time for war. Some Races mistakenly believe that because of this, they are easy targets. Unfortunately for them, they find that despite their lack of skill in combat, their huge advantage in technology makes them a difficult adversary to deal with. Other than the Overlords, whom they revere, the Brainiacs are fearful of only one other Race, the Generals. Of all of the Races, they have the greatest control over their population. They can generally grow their population at a very rapid rate, and then stop it when they get to what they consider the ideal capacity. This is an advantage, but they have to expend additional resources to do this.

Race: Admins

Admins are technically artificial lifeforms, although there are ample indications that they were designed using the engrams of natural lifeforms. They also have individual idiosyncrasies like natural lifeforms, and they do not see themselves as any less "natural." Their administrative skills are their greatest strength, and they are second only to the Brainiacs in their ability to conduct research. They are the most tolerant of all Races to vastly different environments, being able to change their physical bodies to adapt. They are almost flawless in their execution of military actions, but are generally uninspired. (In Game Terms, that means that three rolls are made, and the high and low are discarded) In almost every endeavor, they are average. Their main idiosyncrasy is that despite their ability to adapt to environmental extremes, they focus on terraforming a planet to absolute average norms before procreating. They also suffer what is called "battle madness" and on the first fight that a ship has, there is a chance that they will just go mad, and attack everyone, friend and foe alike, if they take damage. They have no effect on calling the Scourge, and are immune to breaking into rout and fleeing a battle. Their ability to research is a compulsion. All planets must have a research station of some sort before population will increase. In research, they are uninspired, but very quick and methodical. Their breakthrough points are fairly low, but they also use the 3 roll rule to determine breakthroughs. They have been trying, with little success, to incorporate radical engrams of other Races into their procreation process. They want to break the mold of mediocrity and rid themselves of some of their obviously programmed and universal compulsions, which weaken them as a Race. Many of the other Races wonder why the Protectors decided to save these creatures, which many view with more than a small amount of distrust. Their administrative skills make them decent traders and they can control larger fleets with ease. They also suffer few, if any logistical problems.

Race: Saurians

Large (averaging over 2 Meters and 150 Kilos), these were the miners and heavy construction workers. They are able to tolerate higher levels of radiation and the hard vacuum of space with minimal protection. They are obstinate and proud, which makes for difficulties in diplomatic negotiations and trade situations. Despite that, they are generally highly knowledgeable about ores, metals and their qualities. They understand their worth almost immediately and are fair traders in these commodities. They excel in macro construction. They favor larger ships. Their weapons have tremendous power and penetrating capabilities, although their abilities to selectively target these weapons are poor. Their automatic repair capabilities are poor, as are their sensors, scanners, ECM, ECCM, & computers. Their shielding is very good, and their armor is second to none. The efficiency with which their ships can utilize space to carry cargo is moderately below par. They are slightly below par on the ability to advance technologies, and they are horrible at terraforming. Technological options for them are very limited to begin with. They are fairly fecund and mature rapidly, so they experience rapid population growth. They are not terribly aggressive, but are fearless. In shipboard combat, they are excellent in defense, but poor in offense. In ground combat, they are excellent in both. Their preference is in larger planets, moderately dryer than the norm, and warmer. They have little difficulty with the taints that are usually in the atmospheres of large planets and can tolerate some pollution. They actually do better with a little taint in the air. Despite their preference of higher gravity planets, moderately low gravity does not handicap them in any way.

Races

If anyone reading this would like to suggest Racial Designs, please add your comments here. Consider this a "brain storming" thread, so no flaming anyone else's ideas, please. No idea is too strange, too dark, or too silly. I may not use it, but if you post the idea here, you are giving me permission to use your ideas (with credit given, of course) in the game without any monetary compensation. You retain all other copyright privileges, but I get to use the idea and modify it as I see fit.

Thanks in advance.

As a side note: I plan on using very generic names for the Races as I post them. If you think you have a good name for that race, post it as a comment, with or without support for why you think it would be a good name. Please do not suggest any copyrighted names unless you can give me the name of the person who owns the copyright and how to contact them to get permission to use that name. If you see someone who suggests a name that you know is copyrighted, don't assume that they knowingly put a copyrighted name up, just politely point out what you know about the name and potential copyright infringements.

Thanks Again,

;'{P

The Setting

It started with Civil War.

Various Overlords, as they were known, began fighting among themselves when the Galaxy was nearly filled with their colonies. There was little place to expand other than to take from one another, and they were greedy. The war ebbed hot and cold and eventually erupted into a full blown galactic war, with the conflagration of destruction covering the entire galaxy and leaving nothing untouched. At the height of it, the Scourge flew in, and things went from bad to worse.

They were attracted by all the negative psychic energy, it seems, and the evil of the warring Overlords, along with the fear, hatred and utter terror that the war bred, attracted them like a beacon. Everything crumbled, and every little planet was fighting on in isolation in a battle that seemed destined to end in the utter destruction of all intelligent life. The general consensus was that the Scourge were not alive and were death personified.

When all seemed hopelessly lost, the Protectors arrived. They were able to repulse the Scourge and to induce them into a state of hibernation. They collected up survivors, and brought them to central locations, setting up safe havens on wonderfully rebuilt planets hidden from the sleeping Scourge by shields that would keep their psychic energy from awakening them.

Years of peace went by, and then The Races became restless. They wanted to move out and expand again. Each of the Major Races had their own governing councils by then, and although they were separated from each other by vast distances, they knew of each other and still harbored racial anxieties and even hatreds from the past. These animosities had been bred and ingrained into them by the Overlords over many generations of being pitted against each other in order to control them. The Protectors reluctantly agreed to let them move out from under their protection, but set up a Confederation and basic rules that were to be adhered to.

Of course, they all agreed in word, if not in spirit, to comply. A Central Council was established, and rules of limitation were set up to ensure that the Scourge was not reawakened. The Central Worlds to each Race were put under the strict protection of the Confederation of Races, and beacons were placed that signaled that warships could not approach. The Races were all elevated to some extent by the Protectors in the technologies they had access to. Parity was established, and out they went. Some went out to establish empires. Later, Trade Corporations, backed by their various Racial Councils, followed. Some, of course, tried to reenter with fleets of warships, only to find the fleets were decimated and subdued by but a single ship of the vastly superior Protectors.

Wars were allowed between empires. Very little was done to establish order for those on the outside, and occasionally, wars of significant enough activity erupted to awaken the Scourge again, at least locally, which usually led to the complete annihilation of all sides involved in the conflict. The Protectors allowed this, for reasons of their own, and only enforced their protection in the areas under the control of the Confederation.

This is the current state of affairs. The Races are quickly finding out that some cooperation is needed to prosper their own race, but the conflicts were inevitable. Some Races were so very much at odds with each other that peace seemed impossible in those situations. This was especially so since either side could start a war without fear of utter annihilation. Empires grew and fell in "The Outside." Traders traded and Explorers explored. It is a time of great potential and great risk. Who knows where it will lead to?