Post by vargr1105 on May 3, 2012 17:56:02 GMT -6
My armor article is chugging along and getting too long. I'm considering posting it in parts. Meanwhile here's a double feature:
Bestial Bereavements & Bestiaries of Humanspace - VIII - "Ettinyáni"
Ettinyáni (primitive) - "The Bicephaloid Barbarians"
Frequency: Uncommon (found only on primitive planets)
No. Enc.: 1d12 (5d8)
Alignment: Hostile
Intelligence: Low to Medium (6-12)
Size: Medium
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 8 (primitive skins) or by Super-scientific armor
Hit Dice: 2+1
Attacks: 2 (2 clubs) or 1 (bow)
Damage: 1d8+1/1d6+1 or 1d6
Special: resistance to mind affecting psychic powers, missile bonus
Save: M2
Morale: 9, 10 for tribal chief and his warriors
Hoard Class: XIX
Experience: 100, 200 for chiefs and his warriors
Ettinyáni are a stable strain of double-headed human mutants. They are descendantsants from the crew of a lost generation starship from over 50,000 years ago.
The exact story was never ascertained, but it seems some accident aboard the vessel led to an alteration in the flight path and the demise of most or all of the pilots and commanding ranks. Bereft of leadership, and without the knowledge required to correct their course, the inhabitants of the ship lived within their huge space arcology for millenia, eventually descending into tribal barbarism.
Somewhere along the voyage the inhabitants of the ship began to manifest mutations, probably due to exposure to cosmic radiation. Some of these were viable, the Ettinyáni where one of them. Their oral lore tells of a time of great fights against other groups, both mutant and human, aboard the ship; by the time the Ettinyáni were rescued from their never-ending journey they were the only sophonts aboard it.
The rescue came in the form of the Pe Choi. In the latter millenia of League of Worlds Era the insectoids detected a large object entering their space traveling at several fractions of C; well below what a Three Light Drive equipped vessel could attain. The object was too regular in shape to be an astral body and obviously of artificial origin. An expedition was mounted and eventually a Pe Choi exploration vessel locked vectors with the generation ship and managed to access the interior. At first the visitors where taken by the Ettinyáni to be the former enemies of their tales returned, but when they manifested their Super-scientific abilities the insectoids were worshiped as gods.
For a few generations the Ettinyáni lived on a Pe Choi garden world and were brought into modernity. Then they were admitted to Humanspace as full members of humanity.
Here the story takes a sad turn. Despite the dictates of politicians
the mutants were victims of strong xenophobia by pure strain humans who found it hard to interact with two-headed persons. Several groups scattered among the stars and were mostly relegated into 2nd-class roles, becoming eventually extinct on most places they settled.
During the First Terran Empire most of the Ettinyáni still remaining volunteered for the mass-colonization projects of primitive worlds in what was then the border region of Humanspace. With one exception, all the groups of colonists devolved into barbarism like their ancestors aboard the generation ship had done before. Today most members of the species live as primitive savage tribes on the worlds they arrived as colonists.
Primitive Ettinyáni
These atavistic mutants are among the most brutal savages found within Humanspace. They wear tattered skins (sometimes of human origin) and use wicked weapons, such as barbed clubs and serrated primitive bows. They are stronger than the average human and cause +1 point of damage on melee attacks.
Each of their heads controls one arm. The right side is slightly dominant and can cause more damage in melee than the left. Ettinyáni are seldom surprised (1 on 1d6) because one head or the other is usually alert. They get a +1 bonus to hit with missile weapons because their two pairs of eyes give them superior targeting ability.
Two brains make them harder to affect psychically. To resist a mind-affecting power a Ettinyáni rolls twice and picks the better result. They are also notoriously difficult to stun or render unconscious with blows to the head, unless both are hit at the same time. Despite this, when an Ettinyáni enters his sleep cycle both heads will fall asleep.
Any Super-scientific weapons or armor in a tribe will be treated with religious devotion and used solely by the chief and his band of personal warriors. Both chief and warriors have 4+2 HD and fight like 5th level monsters.
They speak a degraded language that barely resembles standard Sunuz and sometimes requires using both heads for simultaneous speech.
Civilized Ettinyáni
The only civilized Ettinyáni are space nomads living aboard half-a-dozen huge vessels that cross the space lanes as traders. They are the descendents of the sole successful group of colonists during the First Terran Empire, who eventually pooled their entire resources to live in a fashion similar to their forefathers on the generation-ship.
Like that ship of old, Ettinyáni hulks are massive self-sustained arcologies. They trade with Humanspace systems to acquire replacement parts or equipment they cannot make themselves.
The oral tales of the Ettinyáni, and the inherent ecological limit aboard each ship have greatly affected the shaping their society. Aboard the ships captains, pilots and maintenance technicians are casts granted near-religious reverence by the rest of the people. Population control is strictly enforced. All Ettinyáni vessels are overcrowded and near the safety limits for life-support. The solution for this is The Lottery.
Each standard-year the names of all non-essential people aboard the ship (except elders and infants) are fed into a computer and a number equal to last year's births are randomly selected. The unlucky chosen ones are cast out in permanent exile at the next system the ship visits. Any non-primitive Ettinyáni found living outside one of their ships will be an exile.
They speak standard and commercial Sunuz and have a language of their own that requires two pairs of vocal cords to speak properly.
Rules & Regulamentations III - Ettinyáni as Player-Characters
All Ettinyáni PCs will be adult exiles from one of the ships and abide by the rulings below:
* Must have STR 12 or higher and is limited to a CHA of 9. He gets to roll INT and PSY twice each and takes the best result.
* Automatically has the Super-Scientific Background Tech Level.
* More than half of Background Skills the character starts with must be ones that could be used inside an arcology ship. For example: Hunter, Archaeologist and Air Pilot are not valid for this purpose but Medic or Electrician would be.
* Knows one of the four dialects of Sunuz and the secret language of the Ettinyáni people. Extra languages can be gained from high INT as usual.
* Warrior or Adventurer are the only available classes. Pilots from the ships never enter The Lottery and the Plastic Actualizer does not work for a being with two heads. Ettinyáni with the Adventurer class will be unable to select Super-scientific powers.
* Gets two attacks per round in melee with no modifiers and a +1 bonus on attack rolls with missile weapons. If each hand holds a pistol he can make two missile attacks per round without the bonus modifiers. Both missile attacks can be directed at the same target or two different ones.
* Roll twice on Saving Throws to resist mind affecting powers and takes the best result.
* Any armor(s) the character starts with is adapted to his bicephalous nature, but new armor acquired during the game must be modified to fit him at a 50% increase in cost. when wearing armor that includes a helmet both heads must wear one otherwise AC worsens by 1.
Bestial Bereavements & Bestiaries of Humanspace - VIII - "Ettinyáni"
Ettinyáni (primitive) - "The Bicephaloid Barbarians"
Frequency: Uncommon (found only on primitive planets)
No. Enc.: 1d12 (5d8)
Alignment: Hostile
Intelligence: Low to Medium (6-12)
Size: Medium
Movement: 120' (40')
Armor Class: 8 (primitive skins) or by Super-scientific armor
Hit Dice: 2+1
Attacks: 2 (2 clubs) or 1 (bow)
Damage: 1d8+1/1d6+1 or 1d6
Special: resistance to mind affecting psychic powers, missile bonus
Save: M2
Morale: 9, 10 for tribal chief and his warriors
Hoard Class: XIX
Experience: 100, 200 for chiefs and his warriors
Ettinyáni are a stable strain of double-headed human mutants. They are descendantsants from the crew of a lost generation starship from over 50,000 years ago.
The exact story was never ascertained, but it seems some accident aboard the vessel led to an alteration in the flight path and the demise of most or all of the pilots and commanding ranks. Bereft of leadership, and without the knowledge required to correct their course, the inhabitants of the ship lived within their huge space arcology for millenia, eventually descending into tribal barbarism.
Somewhere along the voyage the inhabitants of the ship began to manifest mutations, probably due to exposure to cosmic radiation. Some of these were viable, the Ettinyáni where one of them. Their oral lore tells of a time of great fights against other groups, both mutant and human, aboard the ship; by the time the Ettinyáni were rescued from their never-ending journey they were the only sophonts aboard it.
The rescue came in the form of the Pe Choi. In the latter millenia of League of Worlds Era the insectoids detected a large object entering their space traveling at several fractions of C; well below what a Three Light Drive equipped vessel could attain. The object was too regular in shape to be an astral body and obviously of artificial origin. An expedition was mounted and eventually a Pe Choi exploration vessel locked vectors with the generation ship and managed to access the interior. At first the visitors where taken by the Ettinyáni to be the former enemies of their tales returned, but when they manifested their Super-scientific abilities the insectoids were worshiped as gods.
For a few generations the Ettinyáni lived on a Pe Choi garden world and were brought into modernity. Then they were admitted to Humanspace as full members of humanity.
Here the story takes a sad turn. Despite the dictates of politicians
the mutants were victims of strong xenophobia by pure strain humans who found it hard to interact with two-headed persons. Several groups scattered among the stars and were mostly relegated into 2nd-class roles, becoming eventually extinct on most places they settled.
During the First Terran Empire most of the Ettinyáni still remaining volunteered for the mass-colonization projects of primitive worlds in what was then the border region of Humanspace. With one exception, all the groups of colonists devolved into barbarism like their ancestors aboard the generation ship had done before. Today most members of the species live as primitive savage tribes on the worlds they arrived as colonists.
Primitive Ettinyáni
These atavistic mutants are among the most brutal savages found within Humanspace. They wear tattered skins (sometimes of human origin) and use wicked weapons, such as barbed clubs and serrated primitive bows. They are stronger than the average human and cause +1 point of damage on melee attacks.
Each of their heads controls one arm. The right side is slightly dominant and can cause more damage in melee than the left. Ettinyáni are seldom surprised (1 on 1d6) because one head or the other is usually alert. They get a +1 bonus to hit with missile weapons because their two pairs of eyes give them superior targeting ability.
Two brains make them harder to affect psychically. To resist a mind-affecting power a Ettinyáni rolls twice and picks the better result. They are also notoriously difficult to stun or render unconscious with blows to the head, unless both are hit at the same time. Despite this, when an Ettinyáni enters his sleep cycle both heads will fall asleep.
Any Super-scientific weapons or armor in a tribe will be treated with religious devotion and used solely by the chief and his band of personal warriors. Both chief and warriors have 4+2 HD and fight like 5th level monsters.
They speak a degraded language that barely resembles standard Sunuz and sometimes requires using both heads for simultaneous speech.
Civilized Ettinyáni
The only civilized Ettinyáni are space nomads living aboard half-a-dozen huge vessels that cross the space lanes as traders. They are the descendents of the sole successful group of colonists during the First Terran Empire, who eventually pooled their entire resources to live in a fashion similar to their forefathers on the generation-ship.
Like that ship of old, Ettinyáni hulks are massive self-sustained arcologies. They trade with Humanspace systems to acquire replacement parts or equipment they cannot make themselves.
The oral tales of the Ettinyáni, and the inherent ecological limit aboard each ship have greatly affected the shaping their society. Aboard the ships captains, pilots and maintenance technicians are casts granted near-religious reverence by the rest of the people. Population control is strictly enforced. All Ettinyáni vessels are overcrowded and near the safety limits for life-support. The solution for this is The Lottery.
Each standard-year the names of all non-essential people aboard the ship (except elders and infants) are fed into a computer and a number equal to last year's births are randomly selected. The unlucky chosen ones are cast out in permanent exile at the next system the ship visits. Any non-primitive Ettinyáni found living outside one of their ships will be an exile.
They speak standard and commercial Sunuz and have a language of their own that requires two pairs of vocal cords to speak properly.
Rules & Regulamentations III - Ettinyáni as Player-Characters
All Ettinyáni PCs will be adult exiles from one of the ships and abide by the rulings below:
* Must have STR 12 or higher and is limited to a CHA of 9. He gets to roll INT and PSY twice each and takes the best result.
* Automatically has the Super-Scientific Background Tech Level.
* More than half of Background Skills the character starts with must be ones that could be used inside an arcology ship. For example: Hunter, Archaeologist and Air Pilot are not valid for this purpose but Medic or Electrician would be.
* Knows one of the four dialects of Sunuz and the secret language of the Ettinyáni people. Extra languages can be gained from high INT as usual.
* Warrior or Adventurer are the only available classes. Pilots from the ships never enter The Lottery and the Plastic Actualizer does not work for a being with two heads. Ettinyáni with the Adventurer class will be unable to select Super-scientific powers.
* Gets two attacks per round in melee with no modifiers and a +1 bonus on attack rolls with missile weapons. If each hand holds a pistol he can make two missile attacks per round without the bonus modifiers. Both missile attacks can be directed at the same target or two different ones.
* Roll twice on Saving Throws to resist mind affecting powers and takes the best result.
* Any armor(s) the character starts with is adapted to his bicephalous nature, but new armor acquired during the game must be modified to fit him at a 50% increase in cost. when wearing armor that includes a helmet both heads must wear one otherwise AC worsens by 1.
