Atlas Drake
the new colossus
- Intent: To create an atypical, complex species with motivations fundamentally mysterious to most PCs.
- Image Credit: Star Trek Online Concept Art
- Canon: /
- Permissions: /
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- Name: Iosian
- Designation: Sentient
- Origins: Ios
- Average Lifespan:
- Physical: 6-8 months
- Conscious: 300+ (at the end of each natural lifespan, an Iosian 'uploads' their consciousness to the next generation as long as they are within range of a telepathic relay)
- Estimated Population: Inter-Planetary
- Description: A crystalline, quadruped species with an outer carapace through which murky fluid can be seen circulating. They possess mantis-like heads with two triangular eyes. Direct contact with an Iosian without the use of an environmental suit is extremely rare, as their internal body temperature is considerably higher than the average humanoid's by several hundred degrees.
- Breathes: Type IV (anaerobic respiration with a methane-chlorine mixture)
- Average Height of Adults: 1.8 meters
- Average Length of Adults: 1.5 meters
- Skin Color: Each one unique
- Hair Color: None
- Distinctions: Unisex, extremely difficult to differentiate for other species without training/education. Though they possess seemingly infinite nuance in their carapace color schemes, there is also a certain degree of uniformity seemingly based on both societal caste and castemoot.
- Races: While it is unclear if Iosians possess true racial offshoots in the way many humanoid species do, there are marked differences in Iosians based on their caste system, which is seemingly biologically determined.
- Force Sensitivity: All
- Diet: The Iosians' native atmosphere provides them with their nutritional needs although the precise method of action remains unknown.
- Communication: The Iosian language is, in some ways, not a true language at all. It is a system the species developed composed of a series of high-pitched squeaks and clicks distinct enough to be translatable into words and phrases by carbon based life, and is not used internally though it is contained in each Iosian's instinctual memory. Among themselves, the primary method of communication is through the Castemoot, partitioned segments of Iosian society based on caste, geographic location, and perhaps other less comprehensible criteria. These castemoots serve as a form of lobbying body within the Lattice, each given proportional sway based on caste status (with the political caste holding the most power) and perhaps also proximity to Ios.
- Technology Level: Advanced spacefaring, slightly better than the galactic average but often through an independent development process. Most Iosian technology is incompatible with those of other species without significant modification.
- Religion/Beliefs: Like many species throughout the galaxy, Iosian spirituality is closely tied to the Force. And yet, religion is perhaps not the most accurate term, as across the species there is a certainty that seems to go beyond mere faith. While a non literal translation is also possible, the Iosians claim to be able to 'see' or somehow literally perceive the Force, and indeed have proven to be acutely perceptive when in the presence of Force users. Not only that, but the species believes also that the energy field plays some critical role in maintaining the Lattice that sustains their telepathic networks. Although independent study has yet to determine the veracity of these claims, the concept is so core to their culture that the species will actually move colony populations to account for astronomical phenomenon and shifting star systems, which they claim causes changes in the positions of the lines of power where this beneficial effect is apparently the strongest.
- General Behavior: The uncommon nature of the species and their evolutionary origins leads to behavioral characteristics across the race that borders on the incomprehensible. With a significantly shorter physical span than most other higher life forms, an Iosian spends a large portion of their lifetime immersed in the Lattice. Due to their physiology and the lack of ease of mobility on their homeworld, the species is not known for excessive movement, conserving physical energy for only the most important of occasions.
Iosian culture relies heavily on a rigid caste system, although these distinctions are much more physiological than most humanoid parallels. Individual Iosians are bred for specific societal functions, and there is some speculation that they modify their young at birth to perform more specialized duties upon reaching adulthood. The known Iosian castes are Ruling, Political, Warrior, Worker, and Science. There have also been accounts of what seems to be an Iosian Religious/Spiritual caste which plays some role in maintaining intercaste harmony and the species' latent Force sensitivity.
STRENGTHS
- Telepathic Network: The Iosians possess a form of networked intelligence in addition to their sentience as individuals. Not a true hive mind, each Iosian is capable of choosing with whom they wish to share their memories, communicating across a number of telepathically linked networks known as Castemoots.
- The Lattice: The Iosian term for a telepathic field that connects each member of their species, it is a kind of shared memory archive that contains general species specific knowledge and history. Operating on an instinctual level each Iosian is born into a given caste based on the specific needs of their society.
- Susceptible Physiology: Not only do the Iosians require extremely high environmental temperatures to maintain their equilibrium, but their crystalline carapace is somewhat more vulnerable than the average carbon based exoskeleton. If an Iosian's environmental suit were to be pierced by blaster fire, or one were modified to be fired in Iosian atmosphere, a single shot or two would likely be enough to fatally wound, the fluid medium contained within their outer structure critical to maintaining their metabolic processes.
- Alien Psychology: Operating at times on an entirely different level of consciousness than the average humanoid, any interaction with an Iosian is bound to be fundamentally unpredictable. As one of the few silicon based higher lifeforms to emerge as space faring entities in the galaxy, differences in the way the species thinks often leave them prone to misunderstanding. Because of this history, most Iosians can be aggressive towards carbon life if they perceive that they are in some way threatened.
A reclusive and mysterious race, the Iosian Assembly is a small interplanetary hermit empire that controls a remote star cluster at the tip of the galaxy's southernmost spiral arm. Contact between Iosians and civilized space has been extremely rare and for the most part unproductive. Dozens of first contact missions have ended in abject failure, some resulting in the deaths of entire expeditions at the hands of Iosian warships.
It is only recently with the help of the OPA's Council of the Living Force have psychically trained diplomats gained insight into the role of Iosian castemoots and developed a crude means of verbal communication with these strange alien creatures. Even now, misunderstandings are commonplace, and many scientists believe that the Iosian mind simply operates based on different fundamental principles.
Their sense of morality seems to be nebulous, for while the Assembly is not wantonly aggressive it has been known to wage war seemingly without cause, displacing or enslaving the populations of entire star systems and even beginning the long process of terraforming several worlds to sustain silicon based life. Limited dialogue with the Assembly over the past few centuries seems to suggest that these are considered to be holy crusades, based entirely on what the Iosians describe as the shifting lattice of their empire.
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