The Lost Legion - Lore Repository

[FeastOfPerversions]

Exactly what it says on the tin.

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PLAYER FACTIONS OVERVIEW

Pan Celestial League​

The current dominant hegemon in known space, the Pan Celestial League encompasses the largest number of worlds and systems. It began from first contact interactions between humanity and various smaller conglomerates and colonial associations of various alien powers in the late 2080's as humanity's expansive deep space mining operations began to encroach on large asteroid fields maintained by then unknown extraterrestrial forces. A shared interest in mutual prosperity and the eagerness of human nations to engage in technological and economic trade with their newfound neighbours would accelerate the formation of a united human council. In turn, the alien groups unified and transformed from essentially corporate colonies into proper planet-states. The Pan-Celestial League was born from this merger and quickly grew with a policy of "exporting prosperity" and achieving change, power, and growth through diplomatic relations with other nations. For many this was the beginning of an enlightened era of interplanetary relations emphasizing cooperation and mutual benefit.



The grim reality underlying these achievements however is not as straightforward as purely political channels or economic growth. With growth in resources, political capital, technology, and territory came the PCL becoming a powerful competitor on the galactic stage and one that viewed other hegemons not as enemies but as prey. Its soft power was backed up by powerful armadas and armies that benefitted from multiple generations of martial traditions. Policies that did cause growth and development in lesser worlds also caused notable adjustments to their structures of governance and activity often siphoning resources and manpower off-world. In the process of doing so they fermented conflict and divisiveness across many worlds in the Frontier Worlds whose developing status often made them unstable and rife for conflict. In turn this invited further intervention from the PCL and distrust from more skeptical nations untrusting of their message of progress and advancement.



Many regimes have been propped up by the PCL through subterfuge, cunning, and manipulation and others crushed by the iron might of they and their regional allies. The world they have carved for themselves to many is paradise but it is one guarded carefully against any kind of threat and in doing so, they had made themselves many enemies. The most notable is the Assembly of Solar Republics whose formation happened a large part due to the perceived threat of PCL expansion. While the League is larger in terms of systems held, it has less influence on various smaller independent colonies, Nation Sectors, and Worlds in spite of its various attempts at outreach. Some of these have resulted in it directly engaging the ASR in vicious though short lived conflicts often resulting in sanctions and militarized buffer zones being set up to contain their influence.



The PCL has been supporting what they call "Stabilizing Actor Forces" in the Caracosan Civil War on Chalgheol. These are armed groups whose views are seen as being in line with 31st​ century values of sentient rights and expression. The identity of many of these groups can vary but it is known that they are highly coordinated and oftentimes formed quite rapidly, answering few questions before news media. They had also moved military personnel near and possibly into the region before the official cease-fires were announced though their explanation was that they had consulted with newly formed independent governments before having done so. Their stated goal is the installment of a new regime that will respect the multi-racial makeup and diverse cultures that comprise the Caracosan Nation Sector as Chalgheol is not considered a unified planetary state. That is something they are believed to be attempting to change in the current diplomatic talks with the ASR whom they perceive as supporting more tyrannical, renegade, or sentient rights' violating groups.



The PCL is known for its distinctive silver, blue, and gold colours as well as their often chrome-like armour. Their weaponry is increasingly based on human designs with many of them utilizing electro-chemical and magnetic acceleration methods of launching projectiles. They are noted for low recoil, strong accuracy, and large magazine size. Solid rounds tend to be "jacketed" in a cocoon of energy or sometimes even ethereal power to increase range, piercing power, and destructive potential. They are joined by a growing range of direct energy weapons with a love of high rate of fire energy bolts and short sustained beams noted for their precision and amour piercing capability. In some armies, they have even replaced solid round based weapons due to their versatility of varying fire modes and how much they ease up logistics. They have a number of melee weapons modelled after advanced combat knives, often able to vibrate at frequencies that grant extra armour-shredding or with a nano-sheath that increases durability, weight, and impact. They are well known for distinctive powered armour that networks with specialized under-suits (themselves a form of advanced Kevlar-like clothing) to enhance physical capabilities. The expenses of developing true powered armour has caused them to recently begin using new simpler suits that do not require as many augmentations or additional components (such as the under-suits or certain implants and biomods). In addition, their armour makes heavy usage of shield generators that can project themselves around the armour or "blanket" the armour.

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PLAYER FACTION OVERVIEW

Assembly of Solar Republics​

An emerging superpower in inter-solar relations, the Assembly of Solar Republics was born out of a variety of military alliances as a defensive pact of like-minded nation-sectors and planetary states most of which sit scattered throughout the Frontier Worlds and far beyond the grasp of their main opposition, the Pan-Celestial League. Yet even before the League had come to be, the ASR's origins can be found in various independent colonies that in the mid 2060's had broken away from the grasp of the alien empires that two decades later would begin uniting with an expansionist humanity. Although there were few armed hostilities initially, rapid militarization movements and inter-species solidarity lead to a rapid sense of unity that began to form a buffer to the League even in its embryonic state. Regimes that were eyeing to join the powerful League found their world crumbling beneath their feet as their most downtrodden and disenfranchised rose up against them. The promise of a world not ruled by the interests of those most entrenched in structures of domination and greed pushed many to usurp the rule not just of worlds outside of these now conflicting spheres of influence but even those within the then barely formed PCL.



The unpleasant reality of such broad movements however is that it is difficult to vet and inspect who joins them. Generations of colonial expansion had resulted in deep seated grievances but many of the ruling powers who exploited them were no less power hungry than the League in spite of their revolutionary rhetoric. There is a saying that originated from some of these worlds that would become popular in years to come: "Standing up to empires with feet planted on peasant necks." The PCL was quick to criticize the ASR, accusing them of letting tyrants stand in their rank. While some of this was based in purely strategic propaganda, it was difficult deny that the same iron hands that struck down League-friendly regimes also did not always mind doing the same to their own people. Some were even known to take material assistance from the League itself. It is said that in its bid for power to rival the League, the Assembly trampled over the ideals of its initial revolution and betrayed its very raison d'etre. Some would say they are no different from the League.



The Assembly of Solar Republics is difficult to gauge in terms of how much power it truly has. While it is often associated with being a massive horde of stone-cold defiance, it is a very loose alliance in many ways with varying levels of support and dedication from its internal factions. There is a smaller amount of core factions that comprise it compared to those of the Pan-Celestial League. A large number of smaller benefactor groups sit below them and offer support whether material, political, or ideological but how much so varies wildly with little consistency. Quite a few of them are independent ex-colonial planet-states, others nation-sectors on worlds not even fully aligned with the Assembly, and a number are even roaming militant groups occasionally classified by the League as terrorist organizations. While its support base is fairly spread out, the ASR has a wide range of followers on the Frontier Worlds while many revolutionary movements and scattered throughout the stars tend to epouse similar messages and beliefs in spite of the distance they sometimes maintain with the Assembly. If it needs to, it can often whip up a maelstrom of fervour and feverish revolutionary sentiment in times of upheaval. Most of the time however it is influencing and providing support to those it views as sympathetic to its goals, engaging in proxy power games with the League and its member states.



The Assembly was known to have connections with the older Caracosan regime before the Civil War and still supports some of the remnants of its government. Strangely enough, they also have given weaponry to militias and breakaway armies whose existence would be antithetical to a return to the old regime. The reasons for this are not very clear but it is believed that the primary members of the Assembly have conflicting goals on the future of the Nation-Sector and how it plays to their interests. This has resulted in various controversies, the harshest of which involves allegations of supporting war crimes and weapons forbidden by extrasolar treaties and propping up violent warlords. Many of the armed groups received ASR support are small militias that grew large through raiding armouries and setting up shop in areas abandoned by any major power. These groups and many of their Assembly backers believe that it is best for Caracosa to give up its illusion of unity and respect the will of its various constituents.



Assembly technology is a mishmash of older technology from various wars fought against the influence of the PCL and a number of newer designs and models. They are associated with black, red, and green colouration which gives them a severe foreboding appearance. While they are considered conceptually obtuse, their firearms are noted for their reliability, impressive kinetic impact, varied ammunitions (explosive, ether-negating, tracking, etc.), and their ability to be modified with unusual living biomatter to network with one's body. Their energy weapons are not often as precise as the League or as intended for long range but have more destructive power and often are capable of charging up for devastating, explosive shots. Their melee weaponry frequently comes from various tribes and nomadic groups enhanced with cutting edge composite metals. They use disruptor fields and energy sheaths to massively increase the damage they are capable of with some aliens capable of using these to combat armoured vehicles in ambushes. Their armour comes in a variety of forms and is often heavily customized. Much of it is based on older issue standard infantry armour made more modular and easier to replace but an increasingly large amount uses living and synthetic imitation biomass linked to next generation metal composites for a strange new kind of powered armour capable of performing limited "controlled mutations" on the fly. They are known for having sinister "eyes" and in more alien cases either an eerily smooth or jagged and sharp look to their armour.

Visual References

 

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Player Faction Overview


Carnazir​

An emergent regional power in the Frontier Worlds not just in its homeland of Caracosa but Chalgheol and its neighbouring planets. The Carnazir initially began as a political party opposed to the encroachment of the Pan-Celestial League. While it was a regional power it grew to be one capable of matching the League a large part initially due to the assistance of the Assembly of Solar Republics. With this support, they lead a wave of revolutionary movements that swept over much of Chalgheol before stiff resistance stopped them in their tracks. In spite of their initially beneficial relationship, they grew cold towards the Assembly due to their support for not only questionable foreign regimes but what they perceived as the dictatorial regime on Chalgheol that was starting to open up towards the Assembly. For some time they were considered criminals in their homeworld. On neighbouring planets they were easy targets for radicalization by the PCL, resulting in an unusual disjointed set of ideologies that played a large part in whipping up opposition to Caracosa, one of the last major strongholds of older regimes on Chalgheol. With a large support base and hidden sympathizers in the Caracosan military as well as in various militant groups elsewhere on the planet, they quickly established themselves as more than capable of holding their own in the Civil War.

In spite of the assistance received from the League, purges and changes in leadership had been planned when they realized what the League intended to use them for. While it was portrayed as an anti-corruption sweep, in reality it was them purifying their command structure of any agents for outside influence. Regardless of whether or not it was justified, the brutality associated with it and the nature of some of the targets of the sweep have caused some to believe it was a power grab for its current leadership. The end result was the Carnazir turning into a more anti-imperialist belief system, mishmashing ideas from both hegemonic powers, but intent on going from a large non-governmental organization to true rulership over Caracosa. When the Civil War broke out, they were easily able to secure their position not just on maps of conquest but also on the galactic stage, portraying themselves as a grassroots force for stability. What isn't often realized is the reach of their sympathizers outside of the Frontier Worlds; they ran a very aggressive media campaign but one that only strategically opposed the League and the Assembly, frequently attempting to pit both against one another to make themselves look the nobler for it. They subsequently were able to exert a degree of influence on what kind of information leaked out of the war, something that has become a ripe target for freelance investigative journalists as well as loyalists from the old regime to discredit them with.

The Caranazir maintains its own private armies but also has absorbed battalions that broke away from the regime, foreign militant groups attempting to set up shop, local self defence forces, and almost anybody else it can get its hand on. This has caused many other groups to begin uniting against them though it would be a mistake to say they are in complete control yet. However, their control over them is not iron clad and a number of them solely pay lip-service to the promises of their reign. They are frequently watched over by elite officer groups and nearby sub-factions more devoted to their cause but it is known that occasionally they will engage in combat. Certain League and Assembly intelligence organizations have been known to feed them intel and supplies though ironically they have a tendency to fight with militant groups both are supporting. Sometimes it is believed this is part of the negotiations; they will wipe out aligned organizations that are potential political liabilities but other times they have straight up taken strongholds held by both for their own ends. They are not hesitant to clash with the far larger ASR and PCL. They also know that both of them realize they have to play carefully with the Carnazir or risk jeopardizing their geopolitical ambitions.

The Carnazir's technology is not very uniform or advanced on average. Quite a bit of it is considered dated and borderline antiquated but they are masters of retrofitting and jury-rigging whatever they can acquire to punch well above their weight. Quite a few of their weapons are older, phased out versions of what the ASR and PCL use along with various Chalgheol-crafted licensed mimicries and those from independent manufacturers. Don't let their frequently dated nature fool you; they've been modified to be absurdly adaptable. Many Carnazir weapons are capable of "cannibalizing" other weapons or essentially attaching their parts or using their ammo as long as it is a similar classification. They can often include multiple barrels as well as quite a few ethereal upgrades using special runic rituals and ethereotech meant to channel otherworldly energy. They often can make use of parts from ASR and PCL weapons albeit greatly lessened in their enhancements.

Their infantry tend to have roughshod armour can mix-and-match components far more easily, resulting in armour that often trades survivability for versatility in tactical capabilities. They are often associated with deep purple, mottled sepia or ochre brown, and faded orange. Their ethereal powers can also be used to enhance their armour very easily, giving them unusual upgrades such as enhanced regeneration or the ability to resist energy weaponry without using ablative plating. Many of their firearms are drawn from multiple iterations of older generation regional firearms as well as phased out League and Assembly kits but they have been known to create more cutting edge ones with various alliances and captured factories. They typically prize reliability even more than the assembly and tend to have many interchangeable parts, compensating for their dated designs with high rate of fire, crudely void-touched construction, multiple barrels, and rounds with volatile effects. This extends to many of their energy weapons that can often shoot around or above/under cover as well as frequently being capable of swamping targeted areas in debilitating unearthly power. Their melee weaponry tends to include a lot of modified industrial tools as well as ceremonial weapons, relying on ethereal enhancements more than advanced construction or energy fields in order to grant them some unusual abilities. This can include knives that increase in cutting power the more blood they taste or lances that can momentarily generate ethereal energy charges for small directed blasts of energy upon impact.

Visual References

 

[FeastOfPerversions]

Setting Species​

NOTE: THESE ARE NOT EVERY SINGLE SPECIES IN THE SETTING. I am willing to entertain any ideas you have and it is not mandatory to play as a member of these races. Cyborgs/robots are not included as they are constructs rather than organisms. Each accepted species will have its own perks that in most cases are available only to that species. However there will be some that may be similar. Perks can include technology, ethereal capabilities, buffs, weaponry, and other such elements that for the most part only that particular species has. They are all also optional; you do not have to include them for your character if you don't want to.

Humanity​

The success story of the 31st​ century or its worst nightmare. Humanity is a rapidly growing, populous species that now comprises a large portion of the Pan-Celestial League (with human governments now being the most powerful) and has rapidly spread outside of it even to Chalgheol. They are normally not a particularly imposing species but are masters of adaptation, finding ways to flourish in almost any environment. While they are physically weaker than most other races by default, they are also able to use all types of augmentations quite easily though they tend to require more quantitatively in order for the full effect.

Their ethereological capabilities are growing as they travel further across the stars though they usually need to use synthetic methods to modify themselves to use such power. They are viewed with some suspicion in certain parts of Caracosa as human-lead settlements tended to be closer with the old regime and often quite wealthy. Their populations are quite high and in some regions they even outnumber native alien species. A number exist in less fortunate regions and share this stigma though to a far less severe extent. This appears to correlates with how many other aliens they are living with as well the level of economic disparity experienced.


Human Perks:

Subdermal Network Layer

One of humanity's most unique inventions is this experimental piece of cybernetics technology. It is a synthetic skin beneath the skin made of hundreds of little ports, flexible composite materials, vein-imitating wires, and a few specific microorganism colonies. With this complex set-up of components the Subdermal Network Layer allows its human users to interface with powered armor or exoskeletons, vehicles such as mecha and fighters, and certain computer systems far more effectively.

While it does not inherently result in better pilots, it does give many humans a notable edge in terms of how fast they can react, move, analyse data and otherwise operate machinery and specialized computers. Nobody has figured out how to replicate this technology for other races in spite of the most cutting edge laboratories undergoing numerous trials with homunculi-fleshvessels and even willing alien volunteers.

Psycho-Kinetic Consciousnessness

Human psycho-ethereal signatures in the Abzu are unlike any other species. This is believed to be due to earlier experiments with harnessing the dimension's power prior to dedicated space travel though when they did start exploring the stars, something changed in their collective mental composition and how their brains evolved.

They are capable of what we have previously called "psychic powers" but in reality is a capability to finely manipulate physical and ethereal matter with void-bound "limbs" as well as to use mirrored consciousness-modules in the Abzu to detect other consciousnesses at shorter ranges though they cannot actually "read" thoughts contrary to what many believe. In spite of having had more interaction with the mysterious beyond, the human offshoots of Voidhangers have not developed this skill and scientists are baffled as to why.

Etherelectrical Generator System

Another unusually distinct piece of human tech is this life support system that was unsurprisingly heavily weaponized. By using ethral power to modify electrical currents, humans were able to find ways to store it in their body as long as they had an EGS installed. This system can be a biological, ethereal, or cybernetic one (or all three) but it is unknown why the human body is able to use this. Most theories believes it is due to the same reason they can use psychic abilities.

With this, even non-ethereality-capable humans can manipulate electricity in strange ways, from causing it to bend in arcing shots or erupt in shockwaves around them. However the effect of ethereal energy causes the electricity to move far slower than its normal counterpart due to the way Abzu-energy partially nullifies realspace electricity; the cost of making it safer to use. Etherealists with an EGS are able to combine it with their own disciplines and manipulate the electricity more finely than normal humans.

Tarhaidim​

Pronounced "tar-high-deem". Grotesque bipedal organisms resembling rotted eyeless humanoids, typically possessing larger bodies, almost shell hardened growths, and maws full of jagged pointed formations. They are actually a fungoid like organism, genderless and able to reproduce asexually on occasion or by combining large amounts of reproductive biomatter into communal "spawning globes". With certain modifications or mutations, some of them can even combine to form larger, more complex organisms. Highly receptive to cybernetic and ethereal augmentations, usually not so much to biological ones due to their highly particular internal functioms. They are one of the most common races though they are native primarily to the Frontier Worlds.

Many have emigrated as refugees and travellers to escape the conflicts resulting from League-Assembly power games with a number moving to established nation-worlds in both along with to independent ones. They are fairly durable creatures with noted regenerative capabilities and the ability to survive on very little (think dirt, rotting wood, sunlight). They are frequently in the lower classes on Caracosa but also comprise many of its armed forces. Some disdain is directed at them but rarely openly, often depending on their political alignment. They have an above average amount of casters often taking advantage of their esoteric religion which worships an enormous living fungoid moon-organism with their powers taking a noxious, fleshy form.

Tarhaidim are the most populous sentient race on Chalgheol and as such they are found almost everywhere. This extends to Caracosa as well where nearly every settlement with a few exceptions will feature a large number of them. As such they hold quite a bit of power and depending on where you are, this is viewed as either the natural order of things or a cruel injustice maintained by a decadent status quo among other viewpoints. It is known that those who dwell in areas further from major urban centres however do not often particularly their urban counterparts but this goes both ways.

Tarhaidim Perks:

Necromantic Transgression

Colloquially known as "necromancy", these fungoid beings are able to breathe ethereal life into lifeless matter. This is a fairly advanced skill with its roots in ancient occult practices but now it is understood in a more rational manner. Essentially, a Tarhaidim etherealist will create a series of "codes, formulas, and algorithims" in an otherworldly construct and analyse the metaphysical complexity and state of the matter that once lived, typically organic though in some cases machine as well. They they then insert the constrct into the matter and "activate" it in a way similar to an automaton.

The practice is controversial but it is mostly used to reanimate bio-constructs which are not considered truly alive. It does not restore the memories and personality of deceased sapient beings. Reanimated entities or matter can be remotely controlled as long as they are within range or "programmed" to act in certain ways like a robot.

Autonomous Unearthly Vessel

By ethereally enhancing their biomass (or something or someone else's), detaching it, then summoning an abzu-dwelling void-worm from their fungoid deity-moon into it, Tarhaidim are essentially able to create what they call a wormgazer. It is not necessarily a summon in a traditional sense as the worm barely has a consciousness and in infesting the detached biomass, becomes subservient to the tarhaidim's will. This drone is capable of growing and being upgraded with all kinds of augmentations as well as additional wepaonry.

They typically fly and are around the size of conventional metallic ones though some can slither, dig, or crawl or another method of movement. The tarhaidim ones can amplify their master's ethereality and even be used as a launching platform for spells. It can even be absorbed into its master to increase their capabilities both pysical and ethereal though if it is destroyed in this state, it will cause violent feedback effects. No other summoned entities or void-constructs are capable of this yet or are as modifiable.

Unity in Decay

Tarhaidim with sufficient augmentations or who have attained a particular level of mutation or growth are able to combine with up to around seven other tarhaidim maximum along as there is true mental desire and consent. The new gestalt organism is comparable to walkers or mecha in terms of size and power though far more grotesque in how it is created. Their bodies will rip open as various veins, parasite creatures, roots, stalks, and veins intertwine and wrap while their consciousness-globes enter a hardened shell in the centre of their mass.

This all happens in around a minute and a half at its very most. The resulting gestalt creature combines their consciousnesses into many-but-one, often dissolving their sense of individual emotive capability and instead emphasizing higher goals and objectives. Any ethereality possessed will be combined though the range of casting capabilities is limited, trading versatility for raw power. Oddly enough, it is surprisingly easy to break form these combinations though it is often advised to let others know ahead of time. Damage towards it will be damage shared towards all and its centrla core is destroyed, its constituent beings can be wounded or killed.

Aixue Beasts

(Created by @ShiroKiyoshi)

​

The Aixue Beasts, more commonly known as Aixue, are anthropomorphic canine beings that sport large teeth for tearing into meat and long bushy tails that hide a deadly surprise. A full grown Aixue can reach heights from 7 to 8 feet tall and have a slim, but defined build that prioritizes speed while achieving impressive grip and arm strength. Their bodies are covered head to toe in wild strands of fur that stand straight on their ends like the edge of a razor. This fur comes in three hues: black, blue, or purple. Jutting from their arms, typically limited to the area of the forearm, bone-like structures grow that can take the form of several spikes or sharp arm-blades (varying from beast to beast). The fur that makes their tail so bushy covers a unique bone structure for a tail that, depending on the Aixue, can be used to bludgeon or pierce.

Aixue are excellent combatants and it is their primary role in society, but jobs outside of this realm normally consist of those requiring the physical prowess of the beasts, their extensive knowledge of bio-tech, or their resistance to ether. They excel in bio-engineering and are infamous for their spore technology and the vampiric nature of their ether bio-mods.

Aixue presence is practically non-existent in PCL systems, but they are equally divided between the Frontier Worlds and Assembly ones. As a militaristic community the Aixue originally sided with the ASR, but when the ASR extended their hand to Carnazir some beasts sympathized with the anti-imperialist movement that the Carnazir was leading. Carnazir denouncing the ASR led to some conflict within the Aixue community and made an even split in the population.


Aixue Beast Perks

Ether Vampires

Aixue have developed technology and augmentations with the primary function of sapping ether from a target. Their augmentations allow the Aixue to absorb the ether from a target through receivers built into their bodies. These receivers are normally found in their claws, tails, and teeth. From there the ether can be stored as a power source for their weaponry or transferred into their systems to increase the strength of certain senses. The process of leeching a target is initially painful, akin to being tazed, and can be debilitating.

The technology that allows them to utilize these augmentations puts enormous strain on one's body as they have to be able to withstand ether forcefully entering one's body. The Aixue's body is naturally resistant to this flow of ether, but in addition they have physical capability to undergo the surgical augmentation required to attach the machinations to their bone marrow.


Witch Hunters

Aixue have an extremely high tolerance for ether and are very sensitive to its use. For an Aixue the world is seen in a different hue and when Ether is used it disrupts the aquamarine world they live in and floats around like a black plague. They are able to see, smell, and sense it, but are unable to utilize it themselves outside of the modifications they have made to harness it.


Spore Technology

The ability to hunt and stick to their prey, especially when Ether is involved, became a badge of honor that Aixue wore. To increase their efficiency they took the ether technology they developed and turned their attention to other forms of bio-tech and founded the spore technology they now use. Due to their inability to innately use ether or store it naturally this technology poses a small threat to themselves only able to stick to them just as it would anything. However, when armed by nearby ether activity these spores will activate to cause a variety of effects to etherealists that include: mass irritation with skin contact, corrosion of metals, combustion, spread of viral infection, and a pungent smell that makes it easy to track their prey.

With Aixue typically being lightweight footsoldiers and reconnaissance, this technology allowed Aixue to level the playing field against larger numbers or bigger targets.

Drakairis (Dra-kar-is)

Created by @Esper and @Sarnai-Zaya ​

Going into the 28th century, the industrialists of the universe had a significant issue they had yet to crack: the fact that many highly valuable ores and minerals could only be easily found on planets with extremely widespread volcanic activity. Over a long enough timeline the activity would eventually cease giving them access to the minerals, but by then the minerals would be deeply buried causing entirely all new problems, and stockholders rarely positively respond to literal geological timescales. Automated systems would inevitably encounter problems requiring difficult, costly maintenance or abandoning the project entirely, and trying to use sentient personnel would quickly bloom in cost beyond profitability. This would all change with the entrance of the Hephaestus Corporation.

Formed by a group of biological, genetic, and chemical engineers in conjunction with a group of young industrial engineers looking to prove their established peers wrong, Hephaestus embarked on a massive undertaking: creating a new kind of being capable of surviving such hellish conditions. Utilizing humans as a base line thanks to their highly malleable genetic code, they carefully shaped and bred generation after generation of samples until they found the perfect mix of enhanced durability to pressure, resistance to heat, and altered sensorium to better navigate a dark, smoke, and ash filled environment; all without sacrificing the flexibility, intelligence, and group cooperation of a standard human.

Exploiting a legal loophole regarding the ability to copyright custom genetic or biological changes to legally declare all Drakiris (or as they were called at the time 'Hephaesti') property of the corporation, Hephaestus exploded onto the interstellar stage as the only reliable supplier of a variety of exotic minerals, metals, and alloys, granting them the power of a small nation state within a decade despite fierce resistance from both competitors and sentient rights groups.

The downfall of the Hephaestus Corporation was an act of poetic justice almost directly pulled from the same Greek myths as their name. Over time, a number of Drakiris were smuggled away from Hephaestus facilities to a variety of spheres of legal influence, where they began to naturally reproduce, opening up another loophole: the children declared themselves unique developers of new versions of the copyrighted material, and thus legally able to copyright the new versions of their own genes. Advocacy groups immediately seized on the opportunity, filing for recognition of the Drakairis as a sentient group deserving the same rights as any other, which the newest version copyright holders quickly granted, creating a vulnerability in the original argument, as the Hephaestus Corporation were now holding a near identical copy of a sentient species in slavery.

In the years following this set of bizarre legal skirmishes, the Drakairis began to spread on their own terms, colonizing unclaimed areas hospitable to their unique physiology, as well as offering their talents and experience to industrial and construction ventures on a variety of worlds. Well not a common sight in either the PCL or ARS, Drakairis can often be found along frontier and independent worlds, carving out chunks of the universe to declare their own.


Drakairis Perks:

Echo-Location:
Given the darkness and enclosed nature of the mines they were modified to work in, Drakairis have had their ears replaced with a nerve array allowing for a system of highly sophisticated echolocation. This grants them an enhanced spatial awareness, making it extremely difficult to hide from or sneak up on them without deliberate effort.

Inner Flame:
Fearing worker uprisings or unintentional ether usage damaging equipment or collapsing mines, the Hephaestus Corporation tried their best to breed out humanity's natural inclination towards ethereal manipulation, but could only rework and reduce it, not remove it. The result was a natural affinity to flame in both a physical and metaphysical sense. This further increased their resistance to heat, gave them the natural ability to condense ether and breathe it out as flame, and imbued them with a 'fiery' temperament, with many Drakairis being tempestuous, passionate beings. In some, this can manifest as an intense, burning rage, fury and ether mixing together to briefly grant them the strength to rip a boulder from where it is blocking a tunnel, or the hatch off the side of a tank.

Adaptable Glands:
Given the many environmental poisons that the Drakairis would encounter on the planets they were designed to work, a variety of important organs and glands were altered to filter out, collect, and secrete things such as heavy metals, carbon monoxide, or radioactive isotopes. These existing structures meant that their flame breath could be deliberately altered by strategically ingesting certain substances and that with only a single, subtle genetic alteration, Drakairis could be given the ability to have a venomous bite, weaponizing the industrial waste they regularly encountered. After winning their legal freedom, many Drakairis had this alteration done, passing it down naturally to their children until it had become a near ubiquitous ability.

Catus (Cat-Us)

Created by @Sarnai-Zaya and @Esper. ​

The Catus as they are now understood were founded by an individual that is referred to by many names within their mythology: The First, The Long Lived One, The Creator, The Gifter, The Traveler of the Nine, almost as many names as there are tales about her origins. After she reached what would become the Catus homeworld however, an agreed upon story emerges..

Originally travelers and colonists from Earth fleeing some long lost to memory persecution, the Catus settled on a planet that had been surveyed some time past and deemed too dangerous due to dangerous wildlife, fauna and instabilities detected in the nearby sun. They had successfully landed and started building infrastructure when exactly what the original surveyors had feared happened: a huge coronal mass ejection event destroyed most electronics with them and disabled all of the ships they had used to get there.

With no way to call for help or anyone they could call even if they had the ability to, the Catus settlers appeared to be doomed, when a leader emerged among them. Rallying the survivors, she managed to keep them together as they journeyed across the remains of the landing sites, salvaging and repairing what they could, using her knowledge of advanced biological augmentation and gene engineering to keep her people alive despite sickness and injury as they gathered more and more equipment and technology.

Given how relatively small of a population remained once they were stable, The First made the decision to focus on life extension and gene reconfiguring therapies, allowing them to remain fertile much longer than normal, well also avoiding the long term effects of small gene pool selection. Not content with simply administering to her people's physical health, The First also emphasized education and philosophy among her people, her teachings and work eventually becoming what would be known as The Nine Paths.

The Nine Paths refers to the idea that there are nine stages everyone must traverse at points in the time they are alive to live a truly full existence: Life, home and family, exploration and curiosity, planning, artistry, craftsmanship, war, peace, and finally death. By opening yourself to all nine paths, you will become a fully realized person and will be able to call your time well spent. This philosophy caught on quickly, particularly as the residents of Catus found themselves with ever more leisure time thanks to their hard won security, and as The First finally died and began to fade from reality to myth, a religion slowly built around her. Communities devoted to each portion of the Path were built to help people find their place as they changed professions and focuses, and youth education became focused on giving them a well rounded grasp of the world in order to prepare them for their journey down the Paths.

The symbol of this new religion would become a circle of nine gems, with a cats paw mark in the middle. The cat's paw emerged due to the fact that many of the original colonists came from cultures with connotations regarding luck or mysticism surrounding cats, along with the feline characteristics the Catus had begun taking on in order to survive in the unforgiving wilderness of their planet. Over time, the gems used became amethyst for artistry, amber for craftsmanship, ruby for planning, emerald for life, diamond for death, onyx for war, sapphire for peach, tiger's eye for the home, and pink tourmaline for curiosity, with many adherents wearing pendants with the symbol and gems set into them, that they turn in their fingers like a rosary. Many of these pendants also feature adjustable clasps, so that the wearer can place the gem of the Path they are currently traveling on the top of the pendant.

The fact that a third of the path focused on creation and self expression meant that their society over time found itself prizing artistry as its primary focus . This inclination combined with their determination to provide an equitable life for all of their people meant that over time, currency became almost useless among the Catus, preferring to trade for interesting or unique items and pieces for whatever has most recently caught their eye.

After many generations of passing down and refining their society wide bioengineering projects and unique philosophies, the Catus have become only distantly similar to humans. The most obvious distinctions are the feline characteristics they have taken on: tails, pointed ears on top of their head, narrow vertically slitted pupils, and hard, non-retractable claws on their hands and feet. Their tails and ears have hair the same color as their more human standard hair, but can vary wildly in texture.

Less obvious is the lack of vestigial body hair along areas like their arms, legs, and torso, and their highly optimized internal structures. Their organs in particular have been completely reworked to be more efficient and durable, for example their hearts have eight chambers to the human four, but only need a single one to keep blood pumping. Catus heights average between 5'2" and 5'5", with their builds thinner and leaner than a human's as well, emphasizing consistent speed and endurance over bulky strength.

After centuries of rebuilding and expansion, the Catus finally made it back to the stars, and very nearly didn't make it any farther. Since their solar system had been declared uninhabitable since before the original colonizers arrived, humanity's territory had unknowingly swallowed the area and kept going, meaning the Catus ships appeared with no warning on the doorsteps of a number of important interior worlds nearly triggering a war before cooler heads prevailed. Extensive negotiations and trade interest in their unique goods meant that the Catus were able to secure a spot among the PCL, and so were allowed to start slowly expanding outwards, establishing communities alongside existing human cities. Eventually they began working with other species, their curiosity causing them to spread ever more rapidly and their high quality custom goods making them welcome most places.

Despite some philosophical overlap with some parts of the ASR, the Catus's generally positive outlook on the PCL due to their now long cemented relationships means that many Catus inherently see the ASR as a hostile force, preventing any significant amount of trade or contact, and as of present, no permanent Catus communities exist within ASR territory.

There were only a handful of Catus embassies and trade group outposts remaining in the Frontier Worlds region near Caracosa by the time the Chalgheol Civil War had broken out, as the tensions and instability preceding it had driven most of them to safer areas within PCL control. There is an official Catus embassy among the PCL embassy block in the capital of Chalgheol, but it is currently out of contact alongside all the others due to the mysterious events occuring.

Perks:

- Natural Huntresses:
A product of generations of bioengineering, the Catus blend the versatility of the human form with all the most dangerous parts of felines: Natural weapons in non-retractable claws and sharpened teeth, speed, agility, incredible balance, strong eye sight in light or dark, and precise hearing.

- Well Rounded:
Catus society emphasizes that an individual will serve many purposes throughout their life, and tries to prepare it's youngest members for this by making sure they are trained in a wide variety of fields and subjects. This means your average Catus is capable of understanding an at least basic level of almost any topic.

- Nine Lives:
The combination of cutting edge genetic engineering with extensive personal cybernetic and ethereal augmentation make many Catus incredibly difficult to keep down. Damage that would kill most sentients is often repairable for them, as a relentless drive to live long healthy lives have made their bodies far more durable at a baseline, combined with more efficient, redundant organs throughout their body.

Vrexul​

Pronounced "vuh-rex-sull". Massive and mysterious creatures that came from a very distant galaxy in a large fleet of life-seeding ships. They resemble enormous arthropods with dense carapaces bristling with cybernetics and integrated external biomass like living biomechanical juggernauts. They can move bipedally or on up to around 30 limbs. On average they are between seven and ten feet tall. For years they were under the reign of the Pan-Celestial League but overthrew them in a war of separation, becoming one of the founding members of the Assembly of Solar Republics. In spite of this and being similar to creatures such as beetles and crayfish, their birth rates are only just beginning to increase along with their population growth.

They are pioneers and leaders when it comes to augmentation technology of the cybernetic and biological varieties, able to use both with marginal difficulty to the extent some of their soldiers are basically small habitats for performance-enhancing symbiotes and hidden integrated weapons. Ethereological augmentations are a field they are still trying to break into. Their ethereologists are fairly rare but host some truly unusual and disturbing powers. Generally people do not hate them but are unsure of their true motives and they are treated with a level of distrust due to how insular they seem. They are known to live in multi-race hives but these are not very common at the moment.

They are exceedingly rare in League space but can be found in a few scattered Frontier World enclaves typically in hidden subterranean cities. The are known to frequently integrate into various larger ones however though they tend to choose states that have avoided major conflicts regardless of whatever interplanetary powers they are aligned with. They have some settlements in Caracosa including three experimental cities built with their cutting edge integrated technology blending cybernetic and biological matter. However many of these are on lockdown now and throughout the war have repelled any attempts to capture them by rebel forces, including even the Carnazir.


Vrexul Perks

Living Armory

These enormous arthropods are already known for having some of the most brutishly powerful weaponry in the cosmos. However they do not necessarily carry all of them as other species might. Many of their biologically crafted weapons and increasingly many of those with artificial components can be "encoded" into their bodies after standard issue augmentations. This breaks them down at the cellular and/or molecular level with technology only they understand but it saves the "idea" of the weaponry as a kind of code as well as their ammunition if needed. This allows them to store quite a few weapons inside themselves and in a surprisingly safe manner; contrary to what many video games and movies have shown, they will not explode if you shoot them in their ammo storage (assuming the weapon is un-morphed and resting inert).

Most of the encodable weaponry they can carry is fairly short range and lower calibre or energy output but tends to have very rapid rate of fire and munitions they cn quickly modify. They're also very easy to modify to increase accuracy, rate of fire, amount of shots fired at once and so on. This also includes a number of limbs intended for melee combat which can sometimes outmatch conventional ones, body-sheathed ones, or non-vrexul weaponized limbs. The firepower this gives them causes a single Vrexul to put out a level of firepower normally equivalent to a whole squad. It is known that recent technology even allows some to encode smaller fleshvessels or their synthetic automaton counterparts into their biomass reserves rather than directly storing them.

Envoy of the Decomposing Abyss

While their prowess in battle is well known, the Vrexul threw off the shackles of the Pan-Celestial League not solely due to their expertise in horrific violence. Their so-called Orphan Fleet was protected by a massive cloud-like mass of matter cybernetic and biological in nature and also bearing an unusual ethereal signature. It is known as the Evzredigor. While it was inert for many years, when it was awakened it inflicted horrific damage on PCL fleets and was grievously damaged in turn. Yet this mysterious "cognition engine" as they call it on top of analysing data and leading their kind also lends itself in battle. Certain soldiers of their armies, assuming they are allied with the Orphan Fleet, are capable of requesting the Evzredigor's power and if they deem them capable, will send a fragment unto them and bond it to their body. This is useful as Vrexzul etherealists are uncommon.

These so-called filthcasters can manipulate this fragment and use it for a number of purposes. Forming bio-synthetic projectiles, congealing its mass to link mini generators to fire laser beams, spawning mini-abominations from it to attack enemies, and projecting itself as a large smokescreen among others. While it does not compare to a true etherealist it gives them quite a few strategic options while the mostly physical nature of the Evzredigor can bypass many energy and ethereal ablating or resistant defences. It becomes considerably more dangerous if combined with an etherealist whereupon the Evzredigor fragments true powers can be activated and become considerably more lethal. However, the fragment can be destroyed if a vrexul's vital systems take too much damage or they experience severe ethereal feedback into their bodies.

Psychoparasitic Synchronization

Biological augmentations come in many forms but for these starborne creatures they are typically in the form of various smaller arthropod-like organisms inhabiting their own bodies. In spite of true etherealists being rare, the Vrexul are able to communicate and control some of these creatures mentally in what is believed to be a rapidly evolving form of psychic communication believed to be linked with their unusual psychoetheral signatures in the abzu. This ability was first noticed around midway through their war to usurp the PCL from controlling the Orphan Fleet when it was noticed they could work around automaton patrols by simply sending out their own symbiote-creatures as remotely controlled drones. Even more surprising is that these symbiotes worked as additional sensory platforms; they could not only see through them but taste, smell, hear, and feel as well albeit not to the same extent as the actual creatures could on their (non-controlled) own.

The unztadtlige have attempted to replicate this with mixed and often disappointing results, lacking the same fineness and level of control as well as having to rely on sensory data description rather than simply experiencing what their own drones have. For the vrexul, it makes every soldier of theirs incredibly versatile. Not only can they fully control how these parasites who also perform internal maintenance go about their work, they can also use them to scout and investigate ahead of them, serve as long range surveillance, use them to carry explosive or even ethereal payloads, and in some cases attack or distract enemies. While they cannot grow very large or powerful on top of being difficult to multitask control with even for experienced vrexul, it is a considerable part of how they are known to get the drop of enemies and at times even "overwhelm" them in spite of having less actual soldiers, using a number of lesser psychoparasites to distract enemies during a heated assault.

Gealtirocht​

Pronounced "gee-ow-tee-rocked" with the "gee" pronounced like in "geese". These tall creatures evolved from some sort of eel like creature, visually somewhere between the Chimera from the Resistance and the Elites from Halo. They are around six and a half to eight feet on average with powerful digitigrade legs, four eyes (two on each side of their bony ridged heads), long multi-jointed six-fingered arms, and slightly elongated heads thicker at the forehead and slimming downwards to powerful fang-filled mouths. Some species even have long lizard like tails and others have shorter additional arms that have retractable spines. All however have an eye-like organ called the speirfhaire at the front of their brain capable of detecting ethereological presences though the extent to which depends on how well they have honed their skill.

They are the other primary race that comprises the ASR, having transitioned from nomadic high-tech tribesfolk and feudalism to a sort of de-stratified classless enviro-collectivist society with even more technology. They have spread far and wide with numbers growing in both the Frontier Worlds and the League. Public perception of them is usually positive (relative to everyone else) though some find them arrogant or unintentionally dismissive. They have a very high number of naturally born ethereologists although cybernetics are the only augmentations they have any ease with oddly enough. Many of them have a reputation as athletes and explorers; they are capable of great running speed and no other species is known to jump as high.

The gealtirocht that settled onto the Frontier Worlds were part of a pioneering program run by the Assembly that was part of a soft bid for power in the region. Its success has been mixed and Caracosa is a good example of that. Pro-Assembly parties for some time dominated many cities with nearly all of them featuring Gealtirocht leadership. However in some regions conspiracy theories concerning outside influence, coupled with collusion between the Canazir and the Pan-Celestial League, lead to violent actions that at times escalated into armed conflict. A few cities with notable gealtirocht populations remain but in many cases they reverted to a nomadic, tribal lifestyle or settled into open steppes and mountainous areas.


Gealtirocht Perks

Wraithgaze

The so called "third eye" inside of their skulls is not truly an eye but that has not stopped many from developing ways to use it as if it was. Some gealtirocht have unlocked uses through deep abzu-reaching meditation, modifications to their neurology and ocular functions, or in some cases natural processes that allow them to use the speirfhaire to activate an additional visual mode on top of it being sensitive to ethereal presences. In seeing through their speirfhaire, they can essentially see energy sources against a simplified backdrop of muted details, allowing them to detect even certain cloaked entities (assuming their electrical or ethereal signatures are not well muted), hidden rifts or weakend areas of realspace, even creatures travelling through the liminal space between the abzu and rea-lspace among others. However, the range for this does not get particularly long and usually additional modifications or training are needed for more definite imaging. It is possible to view through the speirfhaire at longer ranges albeit in a narrow conical field, one that often emits an ether-pulse that is possible to be detected even from further distances without some kind of bio/ethereal/technological mechanism to retain it.

Life-Pulse Hunger

The gealtirocht have a universe-spanning reputation for being marksmen. Some have questioned that in recent years due to their ability to bend the flight path of certain projectiles utilizing arcane biotechnology and ethereal conditioning for their speirfhaire. Certain projectiles can be modified to maintain a kind of signal with their speirfhaire after being launched through this does inevitably reduce their raw speed and subsequently kinetic force, even for magnetically accelerated ones. This is achieved through basically turning their speirfhaire into a kind of advanced targeting mechanism though it is a fairly arduous process even with new ways of accelerating and streamlining the process.

This is primarily useful with energy projectiles and larger dart like projectiles similar to crossbow bolts. At lower levesl of expertise a gealtirocht can usually control from one to seven projectiles. Highly experienced ones have the mental fortitude and focus to control up to around 22. It is possible to control even more but that requires intensive and costly modifications whether monetarily or physically, with the intergalactic record being around 33 mag-darts. While these slowed projectiles are more easily detected and defended against, that is highly relative and it gives them the skill to engage multiple targets hiding in cover or moving in confusing patterns more easily without needed specialized homing wepaonry.

Coils of the Abyssic Anguilid

Embedded deep into the subconscious of all gealtirocht is a mental vision of the enormous void-dwelling eel creature many of their mystical sects believed formed them from fragments of its flesh. Whether or not this is true remains to be seen but voyages into Abzu-space correlating to the gealtirocht homeworld has made it clear a number of titanic serpentine eel-like creatures do inhabit its depths. While it is possible to mind-purge oneself of this genetic memory, it is also possible to manifest its power into realspace. It is not an easy skill to learn, typically relegated to older and more experienced gealtirocht but some in their younger years have demonstrated it is not based on one's age.

Reaching deep into the psyche and the space that stands between both conscious thoughts and the strange otherworld that feeds on them, a gealtirocht can trigger a physioethereal reaction that momentarily distorts them and the realspace around them by disrupting it with a controlled surge of ethereal energy in the liminal space between realspace and the abzu. This allows for a number of unusual effects as as the air and space around them bends, twists, and coils in a way that imitates a school of eels. It obscures the user, increases their speed, and momentarily interferes with most targeting technology. They can also launch these coils to home in on chosen targets, ravaging them with supernatural force in the form of eel-like monstrosities. This strange field does not last for very long and it requires a talented etherealist to manifest.

Shon-Vuu (Shawn-voo)

Created by @Sarnai-Zaya​

Recently uplifted by the Pan Celestial League, the Shon-Vuu are a race of bipedal avians with two four fingered hands, resembling various small feathered raptors from Earth's past. The PCL claims that they uplifted the Shon-Vuu due to fact that their conflict with the ASR spreading to the point that it would inevitably collide with and alter the Shon-Vuu's civilization, and so they wished to simply guide those alterations, try to help them reach a more egalitarian society that could join the rest of the PCL in harmony. The ASR claim that the Shon-Vuu are being manipulated, being forced into the service of the PCL as their society would now collapse without the constant assistance of their more technologically sophisticated masters. The truth, as always, is probably somewhere in between.

Shon-Vuu society before the uplifting was primarily built around a variety of feudal systems roughly equivalent to the medieval European empires of humanity, monarchs using cadres of mounted, heavily armed and armored warriors bound by oaths of fealty to maintain control over large swaths of land and serfs. Post uplifting, very little has changed, the monarchs simply becoming the owners of the manufactories, the knights and their mounts becoming tall, metal encased power armor shock troops.

The Shon-Vuu are on the surface a meritocratic society now, propaganda often claiming that anyone can join the elite classes of mechanics, engineers, and warriors, with cybernetic augmentations being provided for free as part of their healthcare system in order to interface with the powered suits and exoskeletons that have become the backbone of their freshly industrialized society. But in practice, the well paid, respected people working to design and build the technology their society revolves around now are often pulled from the ranks of retired power armor troops, as the military puts particular emphasis on troops learning the knowledge and skill to maintain or even upgrade their customized armor suits. This creates family lines of retired military parents getting their children cushy positions, well the common folk have to sign up for cannon fodder positions where they are given thin armor and basic rifles, hoping that a patron might notice them and bring them into the upper classes.

As the most powerful in Shon-Vuu society are focused almost entirely on mechanical and electronic technology, ether based systems have only found a toehold due to the fact that the human and scielto technology they were uplifted with often times mixes the two together, with some of the upper class going off-world to compliment their cybernetic augments with ether augmentations. Biological based augmentations and technology are at this time almost completely unheard of among the Shon-Vuu, but as they grow and expand, that may change with time.

Well still relatively rare on the interstellar stage, the Shon-Vuu are spreading rapidly away from their home world of Ger-Gui, particularly within the PCL, as their unique skills at rapidly learning how to maintain and salvage technology are beginning to make them everyone's favorite mechanics. There is a small but growing population to be found among the ASR as well, break away groups sick of the aristocratic nature of their home world, seeking to try and create egalitarian societies, where everyone enjoyed their new technological bounties equally, to varying degrees of success.


Shon-Vuu Perks:

Cybernetic Augmentation

The Shon-Vuu practice widespread augmentation of their bodies in order to work with the powered suits so common in their lives, and also interface with a variety of machines used for agriculture, industry, or construction, as given their avian evolutionary roots, their bodies are frail as compared to other sentient species.

Technological Skill

Within a few generations, the Shon-Vuu went from having recently discovered metal alloys and rudimentary gun powder to working with 3D printed nano-carbon chains and railguns, which required a rapid overhaul of their entire society down to the individual. The ones who made it to the other side came out with an incredible affinity for learning new skills related to technology, picking up techniques and ideas with a rapidity that often shocks or disturbs other species. This rapid insight into technology also leads them to have a great deal of skill jury rigging and hacking things together, finding the value in other's garbage.

Ether Manipulation

Evolving on a world with a number of larger predator species meant that the Shon-Vuu developed a number of things in order to survive in the face of bigger, stronger, faster competition. Classic tactics like cooperation and sharing resources, clever traps and ambushes were supplemented by an ability to momentarily attract or repel ether, confusing the senses of the beasts that sought to devour them.

In the modern day, having been introduced to ether enhanced weaponry and armor, they have begun to work this natural talent into their technology, relying on it to momentarily enhance weaponry fire rates or bulk up built in shields. Some particularly talented members of the species use this to repel large quantities of power outward creating a shockwave of force and destruction, but this often leaves both the individual and the technology they are in drained of power and vulnerable.

Scielto​

Eerie creatures with semi-transparent vein-filled skin tall and slender in their appearance. They have a humanoid shape but sparse, featureless bodies and notably flat, shovel-like heads similar to planarians/flatworms. They are similar to the XCOM2 sectoids but with more reserved, eerily calm features and retractable, wavey, tendril-like "wings" that emerge from their backs, in reality lengthy nerve clusters attached to cartilaginous protrusions that naturally generate ethereal energy. Their "skin" looks more akin to highly stretched membranes and one can view their teeth and bones behind it along with any implants and even ethereal energy coursing beneath it along with their twisting almost darkly metallic and wood looking bones. However, some do not have this skin either by choice or due to their subspecies. They are not very frail in spite of their racial stereotypes with tough self-mending bones. They come from worlds rich in ambient ethereal energy meaning they are all capable of flight if the concentrations are high enough or with certain augmentations if not, usually resorting to hovering if they lack ideal conditions.

They were the first race humanity met and form the core of the PSL alongside them. Due to that and the fact that they often inhabit the wealthiest cities or massive floating stations high in the atmosphere, they are seen as distant and indifferent to others. They have a reputation for being haughty aristocrats, either viewed with magical awe or with sneering disgust (or cold discomfort) depending on where you are. A large part of this is due to the fact that all of them are ethereologists with a reputation as "witch-folk" in some corners of space. They are skilled with ethereal and biological augmentations and but can only work with very specific cybernetic ones as their ethereality often interferes with complex machinery.

While associated with aristocracy due to the large number of foreign businesses and local industries run by them, a large number of scielto can be found in the middle to lower classes of most major population centres. Strangely enough, the "skinless" variants are common though most of them cannot fly for prolonged periods. They often live in tight knit groups as workers and for some reason like to set-up around large bodies of water as well as swamps. Some of them have small airborne bases but these are typically for the ultra wealthy and viewed with either envious admiration or seethng contempt by many of those below them regardless of species. Quite a few of them are known to work security enough that is a stereotype though statistically far more of them are found in manual labour, accoutning, or various ethereal-related fields where there is typically a shortage of positions for the skills many of them were trained in.


Scielto Perks

Adaptive Membrane Layer

The scielto naturally are able to shed, melt, or even consume and reabsorb their own fleshy skin-membranes for nutrients as well as to analyse any atmospheric, ethereal, and biological data it has collected. They then reconstruct this seemingly thin, deceptively durable membrane to better shield them against the varying ether-radiation environmental conditions of their homeworld. However, various scientific breakthroughs have allowed them to take this further. Rather than fully reabsorbing their membranes, they can (with the help of augmentations or certain forms of armour or equipment) alter their biochemical and even cellular composition on the fly. This is for far more than solely environmental protection and grants them additional bonuses in a variety of scenarios. While they are often lesser in effect than armor, augmentation, or equipment with that specific purpose in mind they can be swapped out on the fly even if they can often only carry between three and six configurations.

In their armies the scielto are known to combine this with the armour they wear over their bodies and modify their membranes as to essentially "buff" them in different ways. They can create a membranous layer that is laced with specialized muscles and tensile pressure-reactive wires that can increase their strength. If they wish it can also morph into a series of nanobot and mini-drone maintained composite flesh and thin metal that allow them to further network with any electronics and cybernetics for enhanced and faster reactive capabilities as well as partially defend themselves against electronic disrupting capabilities by using the organic components to shield and even contain both data and electricity. Some layers even provide additional defence against direct energy weapons when unarmoured or by projecting a thin ablative layer outside of their armour. In fact, their newer armours are lighter and meant to have gaps the AML will fill in while being strengthened with flexible protective covering.

Channeler of Unearthly Force

While the wing-tendrils of the scielto are known primarily for how they grant them varying degrees of flight, they also serve another purpose. Due to their metaphysically ambiguous nature, they can be used as conduits between both domains. Subsequently, this allows a scielto with sufficient training and conditioning to use this unusual part of their anatomy to use higher amounts of ether while withstanding a much higher amoutn of feedback-radiation. Due to this, they have a reputation as the galaxy's most capable etherealists at least in the sheer quantiative amount they can safely use. Some go so far as to essentially dip their wing-tendrils into the abzu itself and even directly channel energy though this is quite risky and requires well developed feedback protective measures as well knowing how to not get them chomped off by various unearthly predators.

It is an older cultural practice but many scielto are starting to use their wing-tendrils as channels for their own ether-casting abilities. This allows them launch multiple ethereal abilities at once. While the feedback and strain is higher, those who opt to do this likely have various measures built in to protect them wheether it's void-nerve relaxing nanobots or various threshold management devices surgically planted into them. While the offensive options it grants are immediately obious, it also allows them to support their allies to a much wider scope than conventional methods which tend to involve one or two limbs as well targeting only a single target or group of targets. Some scielto have even rencorced these tendrils to use for shorter range striking attacks with ether-blades. While these tendril-wings are not powerful enough to actually grab or crush targets, when charged with ether they can grow tips sharp enough to slice through metal.

Spectral Weaponry

Weaponry enhanced with ethereal power (or possessed by abzu-dwelling beings) is nothing new. The scielto homeworld military however have developed weaponry meant to work with their unique biology and ethereality that nobody else has been able to reverse engineer. The specifics of its functions remain a closely guarded secret but some scientists theorize it involves utilizing abzu-dwellers to attempt to consume them and in the process imbue their power into them. Regardless of how they work, these weapons only react to to the presence of sufficiently empowered scielto and in many cases are bonded to one or a few of them. They are not necessarily always more powerful than more grounded counterparts but they offer a number of advantages.

For example, their ammo is often considerably lighter and in some cases are sterilized egg-like bio-ethereal lab-grown organisms that rapidly reproduce when infused with scielto-filtered channeled energy. Other times they are solid "bullet-frames" that when launched via energizing solidify abzu-energy into a solid mass that behaves similarly to bullets with far less recoil and a mixture of directed energy and kinetic effects. Due to the nature of how they are "reloaded", in some cases they can fire until their users' ether-radiation threshold has been breached (or beyond if they are feeling risky). They can also be enhanced by ethereal powers to a fare greater extent than conventional weapons and also tend to do better against both energy shields and targets enhanced by unearthly powers. Many of them have very low recoil and are quite light to boot.

Unztadtlige​

Pronounced "oun-stad-lee-gah". These organisms are essentially cyborg coral colonies; gestalt beings made of various networked organisms encased and optionally protruding from rocks with high metallic content. Contrary to popular belief, they are not hive minds with each colony being considered its own "state" and the actual states made of many individuals being considered by them massive "allied zones". They are known for being master terraformers which has made them beloved in many corners of space. However in recent years they have also grown a reputation for being ruthless mercenaries as well. They able to manifest in a variety of shapes from hulking four or two legged robots to essentially anti-gravitational tanks amongst others.

They are come from regions that are mostly populated by independent worlds with most of them having left their world of origin as it is currently undergoing an incredibly large scale environmental repair due to generations of heavy pollution. They have a moderate to slightly low number of ethereologists (just a bit less than humanity) and specialize in cybernetics while other augmentation types struggle to work with them without hyper-specific configuration. Most are unable to use ethereological upgrades unless they undergo expensive and drastic surgical procedures often involving putting a specialized organism's large egg within themselves.

Unztadlige allied zones had actually moved onto Chalgheol years before the hostitlies started and frequently provided services to various regimes on the Frontier Worlds. On Caracosa, a number of them headed mechanics and engineering guilds with some even having leadership roles. In the initial phases of the war, they comprised a large portion of the mercenary groups fighting and frequently were the heads of armor divisions for the now defunct old Caracosan Regime. Many have gone into hiding to avoid abduction and being forced into slave labour or combat service as the skills they possess have intersolar renown. Many large allied zones have been working with the PCL as of late, with some using it to acquire material and ideological support for a leg up onf their rivals. They are primarily working in terraforming and mining, finding the deals offered by PCL-aligned planets and their lush natural resources highly tempting.

Unztadlige Perks

Die Hard

Unztadtlige are the hardest known aliens to kill. Nano-hardened coral and metallic stone make for incredibly sturdy bodies even before they are augmented or replaced by heavy duty armour, some of which is typically reserved for lighter armoured vehicles. Closer to gestalt organisms than conventional singular biological ones, they rarely have a single organ one can destroy to instantly slay them such as a head or a heart. To kill an Unztadtlige, you typically need to destroy multiple large internal biomass centres to cause organ failure and/or sever shock. They can make this even harder by adding cybernetic machinery which only increase their durability and ability to survive horrendous damage. However, this can also cause them to take more damage even if it increases how much they can take due to more targets for foes to select. The shock they will feel from multiple vital sections being targeted will be higher but it doesn't stop them from being the most durable juggernauts in known space.

Heavy Duty

Not only do the Unztadtlige boast the toughest armour of all known species but due to their incredibly unusual alien nature, they also are capable of using likely the most devastating weapons. Utilizing various small experimental reactors within their own bodies, numerous power-chanelling vein-wires, and even partially metallic organs for modifying energy output and chemical reactions, these cyborg coral colonies have created heavy weapons that are typically intended for small mecha or vehicles they can mount on their own bodies. The munitions for these weapons are specially designed to react with their internal mechanisms and at their lightest are comparable to crew served heavy weaponry and at their most powerful border on some lighter tanks. Granted they are likely unable to directly destroy true main battle tanks or larger mecha with these but if they can correctly position themselves and attack weak points they can become potent anti-armour gun platforms. Enemy infantry will not fare much better.

Strength As Numbers

Sure the vrexul can remotely control and view the world through their augmentative parasites but can they divide their bodies into smaller fractions which each one being bound to the same combined consciousness? The unztadtlige are organisms made up of multiple smaller organisms that are not conventional vertebrates or even invertebrates, being better thought of as askin to coral colonies. As they are made of various biomatter and cybernetic cores, their intenral biology is very sturdy to the extent they can afford to lose whole chunks of themselves and still survive. With that in mind, may unztadtlige frequently divide themselves into smaller components in order to better handle multiple tasks.

For those in combat proffessions, this means a single unztadtlige state-soldier can become sometimes up to 14 smaller ones. What they lose in firepower as a whole is made up for in tactical versatility albeit with a limited distance (they cannot move too far from one another or they will lose contact and control). Sometimes there may be a central command module fragment though this is often riskier than simply spreading one's consciouness across multiple body-fragments. However that can leave an unztadlige in a dangerous state if too many subdivisions are lost as opposed to concentrating most of their consciousness into one. Most enemies are too busy trying to fend off a sudden assault of floating, crawling, or striding heavily armoured gun platforms to nitpick.

Voidhangers
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Voidhangers are a offshoot of humanity with their origins in lost expeditions during the early days of interstellar travel. Many fleets were lost to the unknown in freak FTL jump accidents or wandered into regions of space where the boundary between realspace the Abzu was far weaker. Countless lives were lost but in spite of the numerous mishaps, humanity survived and the unusual celestial forces at play forged them into something else entirely. Voidhangers still retain their humanoid appearance but have darker skin colours in shades including purple, blue, and grey and often more slender and sleek bodies. Their skin is partially transparent almost like the scielto and is occasionally capable of bioluminescence.

They are fairly spread out through neutral, PCL, and ASR space though they tend to live in large starfaring fleets with some having created space stations the size of moons. However, they typically do not align with much beyond their own survival. This doesn't make them immune to propaganda but they have a reputation for being fickle in their political alignments and are best described as "neutral" in most cases although some fleets are lately moving into ASR territory as part of a colonial expansion project.

Wherever they are, they have a strong reputation as pilots, shipbreakers, cargo haulers, explorers, ether-manipulators, and other careers involving deep space or otherworldly powers. Some do see them as grubby and thieving, little more than parasites taking advantage of a vulnerable status but in other corners they are romanticized as modern day argonauts or swashbuckling adventurers. There are a number of smaller fleets that wander the Frontier Worlds but they have shrunken in size due to hostilities within the region; many of them have been targeted by militant groups and on occasion, planetary militaries. It is known that they have a large city somewhere in Caracosa though its exact location is unknown. Some believe it floats in the air, others say they saw it glow beneath ocean waves, and wilder theories claim there is an Abzu-breach they inhabit.

Due to their unusual biology, voidhangers tend to have weaker immune systems than other species which results in them frequently wearing advanced protective suits. They have a very high number of ethereologists with even those incapable of using it at least having a very high resistance to its powers for better and for worse. Their vulnerable internal biology is ill adapted to most realspace bacteria and other microorganisms but they have natural hardened resistance to even partial immunity to many effects of the Abzu's power. Because of this, ethereal and cybernetic enhancements are like second nature to them but the biological augmentations they are compatible with are highly specialized and often very rare. Normal ones can prove fatal for them.


Voidhanger Perks

Unearthly Resilience

Due to the strange conditions that lead to them becoming a genetic offshoot of humanity, voidhanger bodies are adapted for conditions that would normally be antithetical to normal human existence. Their bodies have been changed by radiation and ethereal energy to the point they are seemingly on the edge of passing into the abzu. Due to this, they have an impressively high tolerance for extreme heat and cold, conventional and supernatural radiation, and even to directed energy weapons fire. This is a skill that can be enhanced with augmentations, equipment, and armour especially if tailor made for their distinct biology. While it does not grant immunity to such conditions it has given them a reputation as a sturdy people even if they have an unsually poor resistance to bacterial and viral infections. This is in spite of very powerful immune systems that would be outright dangerous in any other organism but declare total war when foreign microorganisms enter their body.

Traveller of Outer Realms

For a few short moments, voidhangers can cause a strange chemoethereal reaction in their body that causes them to momentarily "sink" out of realspace and into the liminal zone between reality and the Abzu. Depending on how deep they sink they can essentially phase out of realspace and become momentarily intangible. This is very difficult to do so most of the time they only partially blur out, making them much harder to see and allowing them to regenerate from damage and absorb additional ether before popping back into realspace. Usually they can remain in the liminal zone for around a minute and 15 seconds at the very most. Some voidhangers are capable of taking this a step further and sinking through liminal space and into the Abzu. This is even riskier even if it allows for even more protection and what many call "teleportation" though they can only stay there for around 15 seconds at most. Both versions will tax their ethereal radiation thresholds heavily and if they overstay their time, they can risk essentially dissolving into nothingness, being torn apart by Abzu-predators, or severe infestation and infection.

Choronzon Personal Defensive Shield

Created by a voidhanger scientist who first gave the technology to a company dealing with dangerous vacuum-dwelling creatures, the CPDS is now ubiquitous amongst them. This energy shield device is surgically implanted into their bodies and becomes an additional organ or series of internal parts. It generates a unique shield around them that partially siphons kinetic energy and directed energy away from incoming projectiles as well as lessening the effects of high frequency blades, disruptor fields, and even possessed weapons upon impact. They can be momentarily intensififed to directly block attacks though this is more costly to their energy stores which are ether-powered.

Around 15 years ago, some voidhangers found ways to channel the currents in realspace and use them to manipulate physical and ethereal objects at shorter ranges. This lead to sightings of voidhanger guerillas and raiders with gun turrets and glowing blades floating around themselves that mysteriously dropped to the ground when hit by EMP bursts. They would hide in cover, generate a large degree of ether, then these weapons would float again and relentlessly attack targets. The CPDS will affect their ether-radiation thresholds to a point (after which it remains steady) although it also increases one's resistance along with having its own built-in threshold to lessen the strain. That being said, voidhangers often turn it off when using a larger quantity of ethereal skills to avoid overloading the device and themselves.

Celaderaka
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Pronounced as "sell-durrr-ah-kah". Also known as lavabloods, the celaderaka are a species of bipedal creatures with flesh that appears to be made of a mixture of dried and solidified molten magma and darkly coloured and heavily charred muscle matter mixed with a kind of calcified bone-like material. Skeletal ridges frequently emerge from their back, shoulders, and arms often sharp or serrated. With mouths full numerous pointed teeth and hands ending in four to eight fingered claws, they have an appearance as demonic as it is predatory. They descend primarily from rocky, mountainous worlds and arid landscapes, capable of living even in borderline volcanic territory. By nature they are adept at climbing and navigating over rough terrain as well as digging and mining though contrary to some stereotypes, they are not immune to flames; only resistant though sometimes to an impressive degree. Many of them however have naturally occurring ethereal capabilities due to high concentrations in their homeworlds to the extent some are capable of naturally absorbing it. They tend to use a mixture of cybernetic and ethereal modifications but struggle to find or develop biological ones compatible with their bodies.

The celaderaka were known for having been run by brutal warlords and loosely-aligned coalition groups in territorial conflicts spanning back to the last years of their pre-spaceflight era. Many of these were primarily territorial and resource based, with many of their original fuel sources having long since been exhausted, but as they spread across their worlds quickly became battles for raw power and control justified by any and all prior violence. Initially contained within their own territories, they were scoped out by the Assembly for recruitment during a period of renewed League expansion and counter-revolutionary measures. They were also forging alliances of their own with Carnazir warlords who themselves were well aware of the Assembly's plan to make a push into the divided species. With their sizeable armies and combat experience, the "molten-fleshed" beings faced notable criticism for their arguably tyrannical and often highly stratified societies that even the introduction of revolutionary belief and philosophy could only put a thin veneer over. To many even within the ASR, they were allies of convenience and the living reality of the Assembly's rule and an easy target to use in anti-revolutionary propaganda for their enemies.

They proved to be effective in helping to stem the growing Celestial tide of influence but this did not stop Carnazir intelligence from fermenting dissent amongst more skeptical and hardline traditionalist celaderaka organizations, exacerbating factionalism and growing tensions about the role of the Assembly in their lives. This resulted in a renewed level of civil warfare that still continues to this day that the Assembly-aligned groups have been brutally suppressing as the Carnazir continue to make inroads into various splinter groups and exiled governments. Their political situation is fragmented enough that planetary nations once hostile to the Celestials have willingly welcomed their reign and economic, material, and ideological support. The majority have been integrated into the Assembly and are growing in power, even among them much in the way of old grudges and wounds remained unsettled and unhealed.

The celaderaka are seen as a strict and harsh people with a disdain for weakness, progression, and novelty who will stay the course regardless of the supposed moral haranguing of their critics and compatriots alike. This is primarily due to most media exposure of their kind being those of official junta-run channels and their often highly idealized, specifically constructed public images of themselves used in their propaganda channels. Many in the PCL see them as either an enslaved people kept in line by tyrants or little more than the true barbaric face of the ASR. They share this view with the Carnazir to an extent although they tend to see them as people yearning for a true taste of independence from foreign powers and local powermongers. The Assembly is split as well; some consider them little more than glorified military buffer-states and others a true example of anti-colonial spirit. Other circles claim they have the same revolutionary potential as any other species but they must be given the conditions to truly unleash it first.

A number of their exiled governments and rogue armies can be found throughout the Frontier Worlds. On Caracosa, the former were absorbed into the Old Regime government and the latter often were in essence mercenary groups hired by the Regime that were allowed to settle in. There is also a highly sizeable refugee populace that is primarily distributed to the countryside though before the war started was starting to become more populous in urban areas. This is due to them being associated with the turbulent and brutal regimes many of them escaped from. Many of them fill out the lower classes and are rarely viewed kindly unless by the military or certain dissident groups looking to recruit them into their ranks. A number of them have formed their own government approved autonomous villages in the mountains or deserts, frequently assisting in and accepting those from the urban and agricultural regions. They are often associated with manual labour positions as well as bounty hunting, criminal activity, or working as bounty hunters for military groups.



Celderaka Perks


Deathless Ascension

Celderaka in many cases are born with an ability to absorb ether and have a natural resistance but some take this even further. While by nature they are not as durable as say, the Vrexul or Unztadtlige, they can learn to use ether to hold their bodies together and replace lost body mass or even organs if need be. This can allow them to survive certain fatal wounds at the cost of using mana to hold together damaged bodyparts. Unless they have certain augmentations allowing them to store copies of their consciousness or upload it elsewhere while still retaining bodily control, they cannot survive full on cranial destruction with his perk. Gaping chest wounds, lost limbs, organ failure and so on can be averted at least until they can find regenerative treatment or medical replacement. If combined with certain regenerative augmentations, this allows them to morph their energy-mass into new limbs or organs with similar functionality to what they are replacing.


Bloodlust Consecration

Extreme stress, physical pain, psychological turmoil, intense emotional sensations – specifically trained persons can harness the celderakan condition at its most volatile into pure ethereal power. This is typically associated with their close combat units but in essence, it allows them to start generating large amounts of ether around their bodies even if they don't even have the natural or learned capability to use it as an etherealist. These ether-clouds however do not last for long so they must be refilled somehow or allowed to dissipate. They can call upon it to allow them to shrug off brutal wounds or to enhance their blows with ethereal sheaths of power, even momentarily boosting their strength. For ranged options, this build-up of power can make them an easier target but it can be converted into ether-shielding or used to enhance projectiles launched against targets. Etherealists can also call upon this cloud of power to enhance their own power or directly use it as a platform or catalyst for their spells.


Nerakian Keys

A unique piece of technology they possess, Nerakian keys are ceremonial objects that resonate to the bio-ethereal signature of celderakans initiated into its more mystical arts and capable of directly controlling them through a strange bond. Although they were never intended for combat, during the beginning of their interstellar wars some religious sects found themselves strong-armed by juntas into finding military applications. They resemble fang-like fragments of strange rune-marked rocks or even a carapace-like organic material from certain animals or plants. These are sometimes fitted with various biological, cybernetic, or additional ethereal components depending on their users specifications and when activated, hover around the user and move at their command. This is within the radius of control whose size is dependent on the user's skill, power, and any augmentations in both the keys and their user. They can be used to strike enemies, launch projectiles, form energy barriers between the keys, and even serve as conduits or amplifiers for ethereal power amongst others. While they can be destroyed, if sufficiently bonded to the point where they are partially alive, it is possible to regenerate them from just a few at least fist sized scraps.

 

[FeastOfPerversions]

Ethereality​

Rather than being a 100% hard sci fi setting, The Lost Legion features (space) magic which is known as "ether" and comes from a dimension known as the Abzu. Rather than being a realm of recognizable deities, demons, angels, devils, and whatnot it is more akin to the eerier microscopic world of the open and deep oceans. It is filled with amoral and eldritch beings, some planet sized, that feed off of the psychic waste-byproduct of both sentience and sapience. This byproduct, known as qillatu, is dangerous and essentially "radioactive" in concentrated quantities in our world. In the Abzu however it forms the basis for "vegetation" and various simple organisms which begin a food chain of increasingly larger, more complex life forms.

These tend to resemble aquatic creatures such as siphonophores, jellyfish, worms, tardigrades, giant isopods, spider crabs, sea spiders, amphipods, squidworms, bobbit worms, eels, snakeheads, lake Baikal amphipods, sea cucumbers, and so on. Some of these creatures live off of "worship" though their minds are not truly considered "intelligent", possessing alien psychology that we are only just beginning to decipher. They benefit those who follow them by feeding to them fragments of the ethereogenetic material that allow for the manipulation of ethereality.

Typically one can be born with this power but it can also be acquired through extensive testing and exposure to the beyond, often regulated with ethereal, biological, and/or cybernetic implants. Robotic beings are unable to utilize it without some sort of living biological components. Natural users typically have an easier learning curve than those who had to have the skill implanted into them. However, all usage comes with side effects. Physical bodies are not truly adapted to contain its power; while naturals have evolved glands, organs, nerves, and cells to deal with the ether feedback when they utilize the power, they are no less vulnerable than others. Ether feedback from casting releases a kind of radiation that is absorbed, blocked, deflected, or otherwise dealt with by by inborn bio-components and/or implanted augmentations.

One's resistance has a threshold and as one nears it from continued use they will begin feeling various physical symptoms – dizziness, nausea, great heat or cold, stiffness of limbs and even all the way up to hallucinations, spouts of paranoia, emotional instability, or black spots in their vision. If that threshold is broken, ethereal power will flood into the body and with it, often extradimensional organisms that will begin eroding, infesting, and consuming one's consciousness. Oddly enough, this is rarely outright fatal but it will result in one going comatose as their consciousness is "cocooned" in a flux of their own degraded psychic waste in order to protect itself rom external forces. This is reversible but it is difficult, risky, and can leave long lasting damage. Augmentations and ethereally adapted biology usually will activate failsafes to cut off ether-flow or short-circuit one's capabilities among other methods to prevent severe feedback and its effects.

Ethereality can manifest in a number of forms and due to how well it is studied, it has many uses from assisting with lifting heavy objects, maintaining internet connections, and even providing power and fuel all the way to assisting in FTL travel, treating radiation poisoning, and cutting-edge psychotherapy. Armed forces have found just as many uses. Typically ethereal powers work like spells in a fantasy series though there are limits – you cannot change the weather to summon lightning bolts or transform your enemies into chickens. Most of the time, ether acts as a raw force, similar to the energy in laser or plasma guns. It can be shot as bolts, detonated, used as a whip, and even form fields that slow or shock targets within the area of effect. However, it can also be used to create barriers, enhance weaponry, and obscure lines of sight.

Many use it to momentarily enhance physical capabilities such as resilience, reflexes, speed and strength. Using it to momentarily "blink" forward up to currently 60 metres maximum (at great cost) is also possible as well – tossing oneself through a tunnel made in the Abzu. There are even discussions of weaponizing qillatu although this is highly controversial. Another new though fairly recent field of study is using ethereality to summon creatures from beyond though actually controlling them is a field in its early stages. Otherwise, it is highly risky even for non-carnivorous or "docile" creatures due to the fact they too are natural ether users.

This power while commendable has many weaknesses. Unless you are incredibly skilled or have access to high end forms of bio/ethereal/cybernetic components, it will leave a trace and signature even for minor uses. This can be detected by both particular organisms, persons, and technology. Without said high end components, most people will also be visible on certain spectrums in a way similar to electro-magnetic or thermal vision. Certain weapons and even animals specialize in damaging and hunting ethereal-capable beings. If one's focus is broken while attempting to use this power, it can backfire or cause a more severe feedback effect, often jolting and stunning them.

There are armour and shield types that can resist ethereal power very well. While nobody will publicly admit it, banned weapons are on Caracosa that can cause horrific damage to ethereologists. Ethereal powers can also be overwhelmed by raw firepower and brute force; barriers and energy beams sometimes simply can't match overwhelming force. While ethereal power is highly important, it is never ever a pure substitute for solid knowledge of weaponry, skills, and tactics. Many an over-confident drugged up ethereologist has met a humiliating end at the hands of simple ballistic or bladed weaponry.

 

[FeastOfPerversions]

KNOWN SPECIES HYBRIDIZATIONS
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From our discord:


The long story short for human-tarhaidim hybrids is that you need a very heavily damaged human (especially if they are practically millimetres from death) or one who has basically been forcefully biologically modified and surgically operated on to have a body that can receive Tarhaidim spores. In essence, you need a person who is nearly a corpse to be infested with Tarhaidim biomatter until it partially consumes a large part of their human biological elements, until the tarhaidim biomatter can embed itself into the human biomatter.

This is often very painful or completely painless. There are very few cases of inbetween. The end result isn't quite as specialized as either in their respective domains but is fairly but is more versatile. There are not a lot of these; most of the ones that do this are hardline occultists but there are said to be humans that were tortured into this. It is unknown if the Tarhaidim can be hybridized with humans (rather than vice versa) but it is said that it has happened in very, very questionable experiments.