Sci-Fi Worldbuilding: Foronese Colonies

Sci-Fi Worldbuilding: Foronese Colonies

Once again, I let the dice roll and my eyes look at the tables in GURPS Space. This peculiar species is the result. Will be incorporated in my sci-fi setting.

Foronese Colonies

Capital World: Fatul III.

Major Species: Forons.

Languages: Foronese.

Culture Groups: Foronese.

TL: 10 (TL 11 bio-tech).

Fatul III is a garden world with a high hydrographic coverage. Orbiting a main sequence star, it become a home for a dense biosphere. Because of higher gravity, the life forms were small relative to humans, and the forons, being huge compared to other animals, became the dominant life form on the planet. These hijacking carnivores stalked other carnivores, scared them away from their kills, and devoured the stolen prey.

It is hypothesized that the species was uplifted, but regardless of the cause, the forons have developed a civilization that resided in half-submerged floating cities. Their totalitarian regime managed to achieve many scientific breakthroughs, but led to slow cultural deterioration. Eventually, when the forons developed technologies to reach the stars and sent first colony ships, a large-scale revolution brought down the existing regime and proclaimed the dissolution of the state. All forons became sovereign beings governed by no one, but able to cooperate with each other when it is beneficial.

In the current times, the Foronese Colonies have no centralized government of any kind. They have spread across the galaxy, settling in any places where their personal freedoms are not restricted, bartering goods (including typically illegal ones) with alien races, performing any kinds of jobs. Typically, the arrival of a Foronese space caravan bring not only fortune, but also unrest. Some forons have renounced their anarchic way of living and integrated into other races’ societies. For example, they can be found cohabitating with humans, basans, or sto, where unoccupied oceans are available.

FORON [3] Attribute Modifiers: ST+1 [10]. Advantages: Acute Hearing 2 [4]; DR 4 (Tough Skin, -40%) [12]; Doesn’t Breathe (Oxygen Storage, 100x, -30%) [14]; Injury Tolerance (No Neck) [5]; Metabolism Control 2 [10]; Pressure Support 1 [5]; Sharp Teeth [1]; Sonar (Reduced Range, x1/2, -10%) [18]. Disadvantages: Bad Sight (Low Resolution) [-25]; Colorblindness [-10]; Extra Sleep 2 [-4]; One Arm [-20]; Restricted Diet (Carnivore) [-10]; Short Arm [-5]. Quirks: Broad-Minded [-1]. Features: Born Biter 1 [0]; No Legs (Aquatic) [0]; Ultrasonic Speech [0]. Natural Comfort Zone: -10°C - 21°C (15°F - 70°F), 1 atm., 1.3g, oxygen atmosphere. Forons superficially resemble dolphins of Earth with the addition of a single short arm on the underside. The arm has three fingers, making Foronese tools and weapons very uncomfortable to use for other races. They have thick skin and large jaws filled with sharp teeth. While their sight is impaired, their hearing is very acute, allowing them to hear ultrasonic frequencies they use for communication. As they are unable to speak using normal frequencies, their speech might be annoying for other races. When inspecting underwater environments, the forons employ their innate sonar. Forons are warm-blooded air-breathing creatures with a degree of control over their metabolisms. Forons are hermpahrodites with temporary pair bond. Forons value personal freedom above anything else. Every foron has a heightened sense of private property and might be reluctant to share his possessions with comrades. Such disadvantages as Greed and Selfish are common among the forons, but some have them on quirk levels. Typically, they get along with other races very well, if their personal freedom is not restricted. Their sense of freedom extends even to their bodies. Their so-called “morphological freedom” caused them to advance biotechnology, especially grafting, transplanting, and biomodding. Every foron feels that he is free to modify his body in any way, and because of that, one can encounter vastly different forons. Some add more arms, some add legs to walk on land, some modify internal organs, graft xenotransplants, or adapt themselves to different environments – possibilities are endless. Forons are a very superstitious people, and their sovereign nature caused an uprising of many religious teachings. Quite often, a particular foron can be the only practitioner of a religion he himself has invented. Nonetheless, one superstition is particularly common among the forons – the belief that the hyperspace (the forons call it the Spirit World) is the place of residence of divine spirits and souls of the dead. Objects cannot stay long in hyperspace and cannot travel slower than light because the mortals are not welcome there. Thus, foron navigators usually perform long rituals and prepare gifts for the spirits (often attached to the outer hull of the ship) before jumping into hyperspace. This might call for a quirk and, occasionally, Phobia (Unconsecrated Hyperspace Travel) [-5*]. Sample Universal Names: Sittilik, Tassti, Nuukillik, Vistrissi.