Shakrin
Member
From: http://meghan1337.tumblr.com/post/74116251444/geo-vel-myr-myr-myr-i-just-got-goosebumps
- Name: Mendroxians
- Designation: Sentient
- Homeworld: Nrogu
- Language: Mendro
- Average height of adults: 1.5m in flesh state, 1m in metal state
- Skin color: Black, Silver, Gold, Bronze
- Hair color: None
- Breathes: They don't breathe in the sense that it draws air into its lungs. Air is sucked in, filtered, and utilized. As long as Oxygen is present in the air they can breathe fine.
- Strengths: There are a host of strengths that can be listed here, not least of which is the fact that in their metal bodies they can withstand conditions that most cannot. They are able to withstand vacuum for a short period of time (about half an hour), they do not need to eat, and they do not need to rest, though they often go dormant when they have nothing important to be doing. They are made of a duralium-lanthanide alloy, making them extremely durable. Their small size makes it easy for them to move about without being completely obvious, and allows them to get into small places that most others could not. They live long lives, and are very intelligent, but they have been lying dormant on Nrogu for ages now, and much of the outside world is a mystery to them. Their bodies are extremely versatile and limber, making them excellent in hand to hand combat tactics as well as close quarters weaponry. They can survive a beheading, but will be unable to do anything but lie where they are.
- Weaknesses: For starters they have become so accustomed to their metal frames that they have all forgotten they were once flesh and bone. They do not know how to interact peaceably, in a physical sense, with flesh and blood beings. Their isolation has left them in the dark on the state of affairs in the galaxy. Their numbers are limited due to the fact that they no longer have the capability to reproduce in the traditional sense, and given that they don't have access to cloning technology on Nrogu, they don't have the capability to make more of themselves. They are largely machine, and as such they are very susceptible to weapons meant to take down droids and other machines (ion weapons for example). They are incapable of using the Force, though they do exist within it. They do not have starship capability. Despite being largely machine, they are still a living being and exhibit the base desires of one, meaning that they can be swayed, manipulated, and controlled just as much as any other living species can.
- Distinctions: Once they were a humanoid species that resided on the moon of Nrogu. They were diminutive in nature, barely ever standing taller than 1.5m. They were technologically curious, and their experimentation led to the discovery that if they transplanted their brains into specialized machines, they could survive for as long as the power cells survived. No Mendroxian currently exists in a fleshy state, long since destroyed by their own, metal minded kind. All are now children of metal and flesh.
- Average Lifespan: 50 in flesh-like state, the oldest living one is 462 years old in metal state. None have died since they all became metal state and thus there is no baseline for them yet.
- Races: They don't have any distinctive races, they were all previously relatively the same. Now they are divided by the metal states in which they inhabit.
- Diet: They do not need to eat to sustain themselves. Their frames feed on nutrients from the air to support the mental function of their brains.
- Communication: Communication via subspace frequencies, though they also have vocal circuitry in their metal state bodies.
- Culture: Ancestrally they were led by the Myana, a council of their elders who taught them of the past through stories, and carried on their knowledge of droids and festivals. Festivals were important. They weren't a religious people, but they believed that if they didn't perform in some fashion at a festival, which was a grand gala event centered around either farming or crafting, then their family would suffer. Either their harvest would go bad or their crafting ability would wane. Very few of them were chosen to become machinists because very few of them had the mentality for it. In fact there was a single family, pas Noma, which developed all of the droids and machinery that their people used.
They were divided into four distinct houses:
pas: The house that worked on machines.
nom: The house that was in charge of agricultural exploits.
ra: The house in charge of constructing buildings or tearing them down, also in charge of mining.
fen: The house in charge of crafting.
It was those of pas Noma that made the discovery that led to the shift to metal state. All agriculture became forgotten. All four houses were thrown into chaos and of them only one survived in tact, and that was pas. The other three disintegrated, as did the Myana. With the change to metal state, pas Noma remained in charge of creating machines, but other houses developed.
New Houses:
pax: Formed from pas, these are the new leaders, the elder being the highest in command, and all other houses defer to this one. Even a pax youngling has more power than the eldest in any other house.
pas: Still in charge of machinery, though now largely in charge of advancing their new bodies.
mer: Warriors. When they became metal state, warriors became necessary for subjugation.
rata: Miners. Their bodies are especially equipped for it.
They now exist in a state of Empiricism. All serve the pax in order to serve the Mendroxians. They do not celebrate festivals. They are intent only on turning others into the ascended state: metal state.
- Technology level: They're at the stage where they can construct advanced robotics, as evidenced by their current metal state bodies, however they have never developed the technology to create starships. In the distant past they allowed themselves to remain largely hidden, getting very little contact with the people outside of their world. They had no need or desire to leave their world prior to the discovery of their evolution, and they never sought the capability of creating a way to leave. Instead, they sought ways to advance their ability to grow as a species. They were largely an agricultural focused people, and so was their technology prior to their advanced robotics discovery. Even their weaponry is largely primitive, a simple metal staff which performs the same function as a stun baton. When they discovered their ability to prolong their life, they split into two people's. One group was bent on advancing their body functions, and the other was intent on remaining focused on the past, simply living in an agricultural society. They do not possess beam weapons, and they do not possess starships, but they once had an abundance of worker droids (now all scrap metal), and continue to perfect their own bodies deep beneath the ground on Nrogu.
- General behavior: In their flesh state, as described above, they were generally docile beings that lived largely simple lives. They were farmers and crafters, living a simplistic way, but with the advantages of droid technology. Their droids were largely simplistic, having only performed basic functions, but they often sought ways to improve them. They were, by all accounts, an easy going people with no intentions of ever harming anyone, and no desire to leave their world. They were happy with their lives and didn't have the desire to change that. Until, that is, one of them discovered that they could put their own brains into the body of a machine and preserve their lives at what they hoped was an indefinite level (it's not, but they don't know that). When they started implanting themselves into machines everything started to change. A rift formed amongst them. On one side were those that believed this ascension would better serve their people. On the other side were those that were perfectly happy being simple craftsmen. One side became angry, dark, feeding on the machine. They wiped out all of the flesh-state Mendroxians and forced them to become metal state. Now they lie largely dormant, only a few working to upgrade their bodies, slowly making new pieces and forming new ideas as they now live within Nrogu instead of upon it. They are very docile in nature when first glimpsed. Only when they perceive a threat do they really move a lot. They can stand still for an indefinite amount of time, and then suddenly come alive at the blink of an eye. All outsiders are now threats to their existence, but they will always first study and make the offer before they act. Each new people first sees them docile, then they see them move.
- History: Years ago a species came into existence on the moon of Nrogu. They were a polite, friendly, only semi-advanced species that prided themselves on living largely simple lives. Farmers and craftsmen, they didn't make much of themselves that wouldn't be considered simple and backwater by the rest of the galaxy. They were rather cute in their simplicity. They celebrated festivals, had a council of elders, and spent most of their time playing when they weren't working. By all accounts, they were the happiest people in all of the galaxy, and they were perfectly content to stay that way.
Everything changed for them when a strange thing from the heavens crashed upon their world. It was a ship, and people stumbled forth from it. They were strange people, tall and thin. The Mendroxians welcomed them with open arms and for a time these people lived with them as they were unable to leave or make contact with the outside galaxy. Only their subspace communications worked, and they weren't in a high population part of the galaxy. They were doomed to die on Nrogu, but these outsiders made the best of it. They had droids and they taught the Mendroxians how to mine and refine the ore before making machines from it. With their help, they advanced their capabilities in farming and crafting by creating their first droids.
It wasn't long after this that these outsiders died off. It saddened the Mendroxians that their strange friends were gone. A few among the pas house decided that they didn't want to lose friends ever again and began experimenting with their new droid technology. It was a futile game for years and years since they led short lives. Eventually they made a breakthrough using the brain of a freshly deceased member of their species. They were able to preserve it and it's functions. That was their first breakthrough in preservation, but it wasn't much, so they kept it to themselves.
Generations passed and the brain continued to survive until another pas member, from pas Noma, figured out that they could put the brain into a droid, connect wires to specific points in what was left of the cranial stem, and the brain could control electrical output, which in turn caused the droids limbs to move. They figured that they could give the brain a new body, and the Mendroxian would live again. They built a special droid for the purpose and the first metal state Mendroxian was created. They were so excited by this discovery that they spread the word to the Myana, who came to see it for themselves. They were thoroughly impressed and decided that they should bring it to the people.
There were a number of people who signed up to be put into droids immediately, especially those near the end of their lives. There were an equal number that thought this was an outrage and an affront to their long deceased outsider friends. Either way, there were enough people dedicated to the task that their numbers grew to the point where metal state Mendroxians outnumbered flesh state heavily. All of the pas house embraced the transition.
None of them fully understood the ramifications of a cold medal body, however, and it pervaded their mind. They could not reproduce. They could form bonds, but they would never now touch again. They believed they would live forever, and this power corrupted them into believing that all who did not embrace metal state were heretics and mentally deficient. They wiped out all of the flesh state Mendroxians and forced them to become metal state. Forced to embrace it, the people who once stood against the transition slowly embraced it, and all became one people again.
They moved beneath the planets surface and out of sight, finding somewhere to go dormant while a few mined materials and members of the pas house designed more modifications for them. A few of these split off and formed the pax house to lead them, though for the moment their only commands have been to remain dormant and not expend too much energy. They have survived for hundreds of years in this way, and will continue to do so.
- Notable Player-Characters: None Yet
- Intent: The intent here was to create a real galactic threat, something to make for an excellent story to unify allied forces, and further force the rift to widen between good and evil, or perhaps bring good and evil together in union. The end result of what this species can do is entirely up to those who choose to play them. The first purpose I had in developing the concept for this species was to create a force that was intent on conquering the galaxy to the extent of getting all species to embrace the technological realm and insert themselves into the machine. They are a violent species, and will create unique opportunities for people to write creatures that do not have the needs of normal living beings, but still have desires and the ability to think outside of the realm of the rationalized droid which is limited by mathematics and programming. There are a variety of sentient machine organisms in the galaxy, and cyborg's do exist, but I wanted to create a true cyborg species, someone that had truly embraced giving up their flesh self to become something more, something ascended. There is a further precedent for the transplant of a brain into a machine and that's the B'omarr Monks. It was partly their influence that led me to this.
