Deltoids

Planet Deltoi is something of a paradox. It is a harsh environment, the kind of place where only the hardiest of life could survive, but it also is a planet teeming with life. Any life that was strong enough to live here also had to be strong enough to survive all the other life that was strong enough. By the time this life evolved into the Deltoids, it had become some of the hardiest life forms in the entire universe. Deltoid society is based entirely on rewarding strength and toughness and now even the average citizen of this world can defy physics by sheer force of will. The ruler of the Deltoi is the incredible Muscle King Grotorr, of course, since nobody else could be tough enough. Grotorr is a just ruler, and in many ways is the only thing keeping the Deltoids from becoming a great destructive force in the universe.

The galaxy that planet Deltoi is in has no other inhabited planets. If there ever were any, they’ve gotten the heck out of there.

Bonto is not one of the strongest Deltoids by a long shot. Still, being tough isn’t only about brute strength. Bonto may seem like comic relief when he hangs around with his tougher friends, but he has also designed a special martial art that allows him to focus his energies in all sorts of ways. He can deflect projectiles before they come near him, he can send opponents flying away with invisible force waves, and he can focus his energy into a beam that can carve through solid steel like light through air. This sort of energy manipulation does require that Bonto take in a lot of food, though, so his appetite is enormous.

Murdericus is a Deltoid who relishes killing enemies more than anything else in life. No day goes by without Murdericus fighting one of the planet’s aggressive beasts in a fight to the death, and he hasn’t lost yet. But this kind of fighting only sates Murdericus’s bloodlust slightly, and what he really loves is killing other Deltoids, since they’re the worthiest of opponents. Grotorr’s more peaceable policies have minimized the amount of lethal challenging that Deltoids can do to one another, so Murdericus only gets to feel the thrill of the kill on rare occasions, and that isn’t going to be enough forever. It’s pure coincidence that his name includes the English word “murder”, though. In Deltoidese, his name means “Enjoyer of Sunny Days”.

Captain Kurdax is a leader in the Deltoid army, the toughest of the tough. She is fiercely loyal to the traditions that say the strongest must rule, and so she is loyal to Grotorr. If she ever saw a moment of weakness in the Muscleking, Kurdax would not hesitate to challenge and overthrow him, not because she is disloyal, but because she honestly thinks that only the strongest should be allowed to rule. That said, she has never had any reason to doubt Grotorr’s might.

A Fact About Deltoids: Deltoids are powerful enough to escape their planet’s gravity just by jumping into outer space, and they can survive out there for a very long time with no ill effects. It is entirely possible for a Deltoid to leap to some other planet. They still haven’t set up colonies on other worlds, though, because no other planets have ever had challenges enough to keep them entertained.

Universe: Bronze

Vidnizx

The Vidnizx are a species of small, six-legged shelled creatures that live in a cave system on a moon orbitting a gas giant. The atmosphere of this moon world does not reach the surface, so the Vidnizx have never seen the sky and don’t know of any reality beyond the interior of their caves. Although their moon is almost half the size of the planet Earth, the cave systems are not very large, so there is not a lot of living space for the Vidnizx and the other species native there. The entire population of the Vindizx species has never reached more than a million individuals. They do have exceptionally long lifespans, though, excepting when killed by predators. Even this is rare, though, as Vindnizx are, by far, the smartest beings in the caves.

Vindizx and a large portion of the lifeforms in the caves have eyes, though the only source of light is the luminescence given off by the most primitive lifeforms that exist, such as moss-like and worm-like beings that are the bottom of the food chain. Though most Vindizx have never though to question the setup, Cliak has been pondering the nature of light and has even begun experiments in breeding brighter worms. Though, to what end, even she does not know.

Like most Vindizx, Josik is a solitary individual, meeting with others only for protection or to breed. But unlike most, Josik actually suffers from an allergy of sorts that makes her feel ill in the presence of her own kind. Essentially a hermit, Josik dwells in a small cave protected from predators by its proximity to more populated caves, but sufficiently distant that she does not suffer constantly. It can get lonely, but is better than any alternative Josik can think of.

Bucoto is in one of the most dangerous lines of work for the species. She explores the oceans of the Deep Flooded Caves. It is the belief of Bucoto that there could be other cave systems that can only be reached by going through the Deep Flooded Caves and emerging into tunnels that don’t connect anywhere above the water line. There is a known president in written history of caves being cut off from travel by natural disasters. Bucoto has a semi-spiritual belief in a paradise society in some hidden cave that could benefit the rest of the world if found.

A Fact About Vidnizx: When a Vindizx retracts their head into their shell, their mouth will open to expose their sharp teeth, so that any predator that may try to reach inside will get cut up.

Universe: Grey

The Crent

The Crent are a species with ten limbs, five used for locomotion that grow out of their back and five that grow out of their head and are used for manipulation of things. They have one large eyeball, which they can protect by closing up the “fist” around their head. Their diet consists entirely of plants and they have to be eating most of the time to get sufficient nutrition. The technological level of their society has only progressed to a level we would compare to our Bronze Age, though it has remained at that level longer than our Bronze Age did, and it is starting to seem like they have hit a ceiling on their technological development. There is not a lot of climatic variation on the Crent homeworld, so they’ve never needed to invent any sort of clothing to protect themselves from extreme temperatures or anything like that, but they have developed a technique of dipping the tips of their five manipulating appendages into wax so that it is coated and therefore less likely to be cut or burned when they do things with them.

Byardean is a farm worker working in the fertile plains of the planet’s north. Farms in this region are owned by councils of thinkers who try to devise knew and better ways to produce plants and ship them around the world. Most farm workers swear to work for a thinker who is in some way related to them, but Byardean has sworn loyalty to a thinker who was once a rival to Byardean’s family. Strife between Byardean and siblings, coupled with an honest belief that the rival thinker’s operation is better, have made it the obvious choice to go against family history.

Clarbio is a big city type, living in the largest city on the planet. Simply residing in that location, Clarbio’s lifestyle is better than a lot of the rural locations. Only here could Clarbio make a living as an art critic. Perhaps the first person on the planet ever to be employed as such, Clarbio has made a study of all the various art styles that come through the city, which trades with regions all over the world, and has somehow convinced others to pay to hear Clarbios opinion.

Dorneyz is a soldier in the largest army on the planet. In the planet’s southern hemisphere, a warlord has assembled this massive fighting force and conquered larger territory than any other ruler the planet has seen. Dorneyz is proud to be a part of this gathering of warriors and is, in spare moments, writing a “rules of engagement” style document that will be studied by historians for generations to come.

A Fact About The Crent: The fact that the species has stagnated at their Bronze Age-equivalent level should not be much of a problem for them, but for one thing: an alien spacecraft, manned by dozens of a technologically advanced species, has crashed onto an island not far from the largest continent’s northern shores. Though these aliens are in suspended animation now, who can say what accident may awaken them to be released on this unprepared world.

Universe: Narsidon

Vurjileods

Vurjileod, an ocean-filled planet whose dominant species calls itself by that same name, is a place of high magic. This is the world that gave birth to the Universe Wizards, an event that caused the species to nearly drive itself to extinction. While Goolo is travelling the cosmos in a noble quest, most of the once-scattered Vurjileod population is now trying to reconvene at the world of their origin to rebuild their numbers, and find a way to repair the damage their magic-abusing ancestors have caused. The occupants of the world try to keep its location hidden, because many other species were also damaged by the Universe Wizards and some of them want revenge.

Vippor is a young Vurjileod who believes that the best way to right the species’s wrongs is to abandon anything that might be considered “magic” ways. Vippor now lives only in the oceans, essentially trying to return to an animal state of being. While most see this as a ridiculous overreaction, the numbers of those who believe in this lifestyle is growing.

Svoot was born on a world far across the universe, one of the farthest colonies of Vurjileods that ever was to exist. That planet, though, was attacked by an enemy species and only a small handful of survivors made it to the homeworld. Having seen the greatness that the Universe Wizard powers provided, Svoot could never think of giving up the access to the “magic” ways. Instead, like most of the population, Svoot is more interested in how to use the magic more responsibly and keep it out of the hands of those who would use it to damage others.

All Vurjileods are born with only their two lower limbs (we’d call them legs). The process of gaining their upper limbs is a painful one. First, a wound needs to be cut in the spot where the limb is to grow, and then an arduous healing process that lasts months and requires a relatively massive food intake occurs as the limb grows. Most Vurjileods are therefore happy with a mere two limbs, but some, like Petolk, think that more can be useful. The thing is, Petolk doesn’t even have an occupation in which having an extra limb is particularly useful. Mostly, the extra limb is a status symbol that shows either Petolk’s strength or foolishness, depending on who is judging.

A Fact About Vurjileods: There is actually a relatively large Vurjileod population located on a prison world ruled by the evil Universe Wizard Karradak, though those on the homeworld are entirely unaware of them.

Universe: Brown

What could be more appropriate for the Halloween season than a team of monster hunters? Well, here’s one of those:

Monsters and ghosts are not confined to the planet Earth by any means. Luckily, there is a team of aliens working together to fend them off:

Windwatcher

A member of the species known as the Rootfolk, Windwatcher is the leader of this team of monster hunters. Windwatcher was given their name after claiming to see spirits as a youth. While nobody ever believed Windwatcher’s claims, Windwatcher continued to see invisible things, but kept it a secret. After serving in the war against the Strondovarians and the Omnivoroids, Windwatcher noted an increase in the amount of angry ghosts causing problems for the living. After trying to convince the other Rootfolk of the problem, and again not being believed, Windwatcher went off alone into the cosmos to form a team that could do something about supernatural threats.

Kartiss

Being a Strondovarian, Kartiss would normally be an enemy of Rootfolk, but Kartiss has no loyalty to any species’s petty politics. Kartiss is only concerned with the destruction of monsters. Born and raised on a space station near the construction site of the artificial planet New Gurx, Kartiss was the sole survivor of an invasion of monstrous beings from beyond reality. Kartiss would have died when the space station self-destructed, but was saved by Windwatcher, who had arrived to investigate the mystical energies present. The two are now loyal friends devoted to supernatural investigation.

Josgann

Josgann is a mysterious being, the origin of which even its teammates do not know. What is known is that Josgann is extremely capable of detecting the supernatural. It is said that Josgann can detect a ghost manifesting on a planet light years away. The team suspects that Josgann may be a demonic entity similar to many of the monsters they fight, but aligned to their cause of destroying the bad ones. Josgann has offered nothing contrary to this, simply stating that it is here because it is needed.

Dooori

Dooori is the member of the team who facilitates communication between the species that make up the team, being able to communicate with any of the individual members, and relay messages to others. Dooori is also the team’s exorcist, capable of drawing on some higher power to expel evil spirits from the physical plane. Dooori’s also preaches a system of religious beliefs that none of the others are all that interested in, but they can’t deny the results.

Roger Lincoln

A member of a family of Earthlings that are hunted by demons and monsters and therefore have devoted themselves to the hunting of demons and monsters as a survival tactic, Roger was banished from his homeworld by a sorcerer. It was mostly dumb luck that helped Roger meet with this crew of monster hunters, but it has worked out well for all involved. Though Roger does think of returning to Earth, there’s no rush, because he’s doing good work hunting for monsters out in space and making monsters fear the Lincoln family on entirely new worlds.

(Roger is related to Natalie and Claire, and his brother Reg was killed in a SecGov storyline.)