Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Space Nazis - N-Space Beastiary: Sharkmen and Porchinians


Often when you create a universe your players will step in with filler. This happened when Trevor Croft, creator of Maptool, decided to play a character from my Space Nazis campaign. Trevor's busy schedule precluded studying the rules long enough to develop a character for my setting so, from a chat conversation, I developed a Sharkman from Venus.
Trevor's requested  character was a shark with a frekkin' laser beam on its head. When I asked if he wanted anything else he said a side of ham. So I added Sharkmen to my universe along with a diminutive pig race named Porchinians. I presented the characters to Trevor who then created the racial history below.
During the game Sharshar was viscious and Sharkbait was the luckiest pig in the Solar System. I've included their character sheets below in case anyone else wishes to build upon Trevor's creation. I've also included the vast (2 paragraph) material Trevor had to work with; a planet description and a character sheet. What follows afterwards is his write-up for Sharsharharkisharhar Sharharsharkashar SharkSharkarkishark-Arr the Sharkman and his constant companion Sharkbait.

 

 Venus


The jungle planet of Venus is a warm wet world of many seas and swamps. Perpetual clouds cover a planet inhabited by a variety of large reptiles resembling the dinosaurs of Earth's past.

A race of tall, beautiful warrior females who call themselves Amazonians rule the planet served by the smaller males of their race. The warlike beauties struggle against the vicious and primitive dinosaurian Tyrano men, the small, pig-like Porchinians and the aquatic Sharkmen. The primitive Tyrano men make the swamp areas difficult to traverse while the Sharkmen jealously guard the small seas of Venus against all intruders. The Porchinians are a non-violent race of scientist, poets, and healers who just try to stay out of the other races' way.  Oddly, the Porchinians have better relations with the Sharkmen than any other race on Venus.

Sharsharharkisharhar Sharharsharkashar SharkSharkarkishark-Arr

Or Sharshar to those not of Shark descent

Attributes: Agility 6, Smarts 6, Spirit 6, Strength 10, Vigor 10
Skills: Fighting 10, Guts 6, Intimidation 8, Notice 6, Shooting 8, Stealth 4, Streetwise 4, Survival 6, Swimming 12, Throwing 6, Bolt 8
Languages: Common, English, German, Venusian
Derived: Pace 6, Parry 7, Charisma 0, Toughness 9(2),  Power Points (for Frekkin' Laser Beam): 5
Hindrances: Major: CodeOfHonor, Heroic Minor: BadEyes, Mean
Edges: Cyber Gear (Frekkin' Laser Beam) , Sweep, IronJaw, Slugger, SuckerPunch
Gear: Rocket Pistol Round HE x5, Rocket Pistol Round Smoke, Rocket Belt, Rocket Pistol, Rocket Pistol Round AP x5, Ray Gun Pistol, Knife, Bubble Helmet, Spacesuit, Vibro Sword
Powers: Bolt

Sharkbait

Attributes: Agility 8, Smarts 8, Spirit 8, Strength 6, Vigor 6
Skills: Fighting 4, Guts 6, Healing 8, Investigation 8, Lockpicking 6, Notice 8, Piloting 6, Repair 8, Shooting 4, Streetwise 8, Throwing 4
Languages: Common, Venusian
Derived: Pace 4, Parry 5, Charisma 0, Toughness 7(2)
Hindrances: Major: Lame (cuz you can't eat a good pig like that all at once), Small Minor: Cautious, Loyal
Edges: Common Bond, Danger Sense, Dodge, Level Headed, I Have One
Gear: Tangle gun round x4, Vibro Knife, Sonic Pistol, Rocket Belt, Tangle Gun, Thermal Goggles, First Aid Kit, Bubble Helmet, Spacesuit



Sharsharharkisharhar Sharharsharkashar SharkSharkarkishark-Arr (or Sharshar to those not of Shark descent) and his Porchinian sidekick SharkBait.

The sharkmen are a fairly rare race, and live long lives sometimes spanning centuries. Their names are a derivative of their lineage and place of birth, which also indicate their class standing.

Sharshar is an Eatall (which is equivalent to upper class: the higher your class the broader your culinary rights are).

Generally the Sharkmen stay secluded in their oceans and beaches, but have a healthy trade arrangement with the other races, primarily the Porchinians. There is a fear/respect relation between them. The Porchinians fear the Sharkmen as predator, but look to them as protectors from the other races on the planet. The Sharkmen respect those that fear them, so feel a compelling need to protect the Porchinians. Which is ironic as pork is considered a delicacy of the Sharkmen.

It is common for a Sharkman of middle to high standing to have one or more Porchinian servants. Not slaves, since the Porchinians designate the position themselves, aligning themselves to a Sharkman they feel is particularly able to protect them, sometimes to the consternation of the Sharkman. It is also not uncommon to have a Porchinian servant "vanish" if it becomes whiny, talks back, or the Sharkman gets hungry. These instances are acknowledged by both races, but are culturally accepted by both and never openly discussed.

Sharkmen are essentially blind when out of water so have developed a frikkin laser beam system that is grafted into their bodies that provide a radar-like sight. This allows the Sharkmen to see in the dark, but tend to lose detail when in very bright areas. The laser can be used as a pulse weapon, but the downside is that the Sharkman cannot use the laser for sight for several seconds while it recalibrates and so is effectively blind during that time.

Sharkmen has a natural blood lust, but consider it a social disease, a lowly animalistic trait not worthy of their great race. But whenever they smell blood, it is a struggle to keep their nature from taking over and going ballistic, attacking anything not a shark with extreme strength and ferocity.

Knowing what something tastes like is the central focus of the Sharkman culture (which is why Sharkmen with a broader food right have a higher class). Thus culinary experience is regarded higher than currency.

Sharshar had become bored with the food selection of his area, and being and Eatall wanted to explore new lands to see what delights he could find. He felt the SARF was a good way to do that, and signed up. Sharkbait faithfully trailed after him, despite the protestations from Sharshar.

When Sharshar joined the service, his career path became part of his name and is now referred to as SarfShar by his people when operating in an official capacity. He prefers to be called Sharshar by anyone not a Sharkman, but demands Sharkbait to refer to him as SarfShar, which is a bit of sick amusement to Sharshar as the Porchinians have trouble pronouncing the "f" sound.

Sadly, Sharshar never knew his father.

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