So, step one is to create your species:
-Species Name: Amal
-Appearance: General form used for communication, but can change freely.[spoili]
[/spoili]
-Biological Description:
Amal are actually not human, nor did they evolve from humans. They are actually a distant relative of Amoeba-type slime moulds. An individual "Amal" is made up of millions of single-celled organisms, which work together to emulate the functions of complex animals. They actually show a greater intelligence and adaptability than an average human, thanks to the ability to designate any number of additional cells to function as brain cells. They can build skeletons and collagen networks to cling on to manually, but it's easier for them to use the skeleton of prey they've eaten. In order to take the form of any other species, at least one of the cells making up the complex structure needs to contain a copy of that species' DNA, to read the template from. This is obtained during feeding. Due to size restraints, any given cell can only store the DNA of one other species. They may construct without a skeleton at all, but doing so makes the complex form very fragile, so isn't done often. Amal cells can reproduce both sexually and asexually. During mating season, the winter period, each cell releases up to 100 spores. In this time, the areas in which they live are covered by a pale blue 'fog', which is actually a huge cloud of gametes. In a pinch, and at any time of year, Amal cells can clone themselves to proliferate rapidly. The Amal population has been ravished over the centuries by sex-linked diseases, and the entire species is now female (as in, has 2 X chromosomes). Fortunately, being a sporing species, this is actually an advantage. It does, however, mean no Amal cell knows how to read Y chromosomes, so when building complex forms of other species, they will build the female variant. Amal may communicate using chemical signals, however, this is limited to basic communications vital for survival.
-Civ's Name: Usually referred to as "The Amal Lands". The Amal themselves don't have a name for it.
-Civ Colors: Grey and black
-National Flag: The Amal have no flag - I mean, it's pretty obvious who they are - they all have transparent, grey flesh.
-National Anthem: None
-Capital City: Uen (oo-ehn)
-Type of Government: An outsider would probably think the Amal a dictatorship, however, in reality, every Amal cell has a direct say in decisions. This is because Complex Amal structures allow new Amal cells to join and leave the structure at will, so any cell may, if it choose, become part of The Queen.
-Other Policies: Amal may be considered a socialist society, in that every living Amal contributes or has the ability to contribute to the country. There is no class system etc. Wealth does not exist to the Amal, and food etc are shared equally among every cell of every structure. They tend to avoid war, preferring to focus on the pursuit of knowledge. A large number of Amal structures are channeled into the field of Psionic research, especially.
-Techs: The most prominent Amal technology is the Psion Accelerator. This collides Psions at speeds near the speed of light, generating colossal amounts of raw Psionic energy. Very strong magicians are necessary to utilise this machine, and each Accelerator actually contains up to three billion Amal cells in permanent residence. This technology allows Psions to function at 99.4% efficiency, as opposed to the output of the strongest Amal magician structure, which can only manage 40% efficiency. The other major technology of the Amal is the city of Uen itself, which is actually one giant machine. The machine does not have roads or houses. Instead, it has pipe-ways and huge storage tanks for individual cells. The majority of 'buildings' within Uen are Psion Accelerators and intensive farms, as well as magician structure training facilities. Uen is entirely underground. The above-surface city that outsiders believe to be Uen is actually a giant proxy, though the houses are sometimes occupied by Monoclonal Structures (Amal structures built entirely out of clones of a single cell).
-Resources: Amal is universally famous for it's phenomenal Psion manipulating abilities, but doesn't export much in the way of trade. They have a large abundance of food and water, though. They are currently researching a way to store the energy produced by Psion Accelerators.
-Descripton of lifestyle: See Other Policies for general gist. I might add some festivals etc later.
Step Four, make your leader:
Name: The Queen
Appearance: The Queen is a colossal amorphous structure, and essentially a giant brain.
Bio: The Queen lives in the central hall of the underground part of Uen. It has so many neural networks within it (known as sub-brains), that it can think about 500 different things at the same time before getting overloaded. This consumes a large quantity of energy though, so in normal use, it is limited to 100 systems running at any given time. It can split off small, human-sized parts of itself to act as envoys and faces, with a maximum of 4 of these at a time. They contain no brain structure and can take a variety of forms, and are controlled telepathically using Psionics. The maximum range of this Psionic communication is 500 miles, and communication becomes laggy after 50.
Step Five: Make two units for your civ. Here's the CS for a Unit:
Name: Psionic Artillery
Appearance: Varies, usually humanoid or canine.
Unit Type: Mage
Description: Psionic Artillery are the firepower of an Amal taskforce. They can cover large distances in wolf form, and have magical abilities beyond compare. A single shot of any unit's Psionic Beam is enough to tear through 10 or 20 soldiers, if positioned well. Their weapons completely ignore armour (though can be blocked by magic defenses). Unfortunately, they are relatively few in number. Due to their scarcity, they are usually positioned behind a protective wall of Barrier Mucus.
Name: Barrier Mucus
Appearance: Varies
Unit Type: Infantry
Description: Barrier Mucus is also a highly adaptable unit, but is much more abundant. They have two general forms - protective walls which can construct Psionic shields to defend more valuable units, and large, flat pancake structures which lie on the floor. When these pancakes are stepped on by a soldier, they spring up rapidly and ensnare the victim, taking them by surprise and suffocating them, before devouring their flesh. The trap Amal then construct a copy of the eaten soldier around its own skeleton and within its own clothes. This entire process takes around 30 minutes, so it's not particularly useful in short fights, but great in long ones.
