Dawn Sector: The Hippaflicks

By Brian Pichelman

The Hippaflicks are the pacifist fish-people of Flicker. They are very cumbersome on land, but not in the water. They move up to 100 meters/minute (3mph) on land, and 360 meters/minute in water (20mph). They also speak Bladish, and many also speak English.

Appearance and Biology  

Hippaflicks are usually 5' long and have huge flat palms with almost immoveable fingers, which they use for paddling. Their feet are short and flat, because their hands reach to the ground. They have 2 antennae with glowing pink bulbs at the end. the glow is equal  to a flashlight. Their gills are at their sides. They are very streamlined.

Hippaflicks have lungs, but they also have gills, and spend most of their lives underwater.

Unusual Biologic Abilities

Hippaflicks have an armor class of 7 due to their thick skin and cannot wear armor due to their physical oddities. Hippaflicks have a minimum Strength requirement of 14 and minimum Intelligence requirement of 12.

They are the most intelligent race on Flicker, having invented antimatter drives and the theoretical concepts that lead to the development of the wormholes.

They have two glowing pink bulbs on stalks coming from their heads. This provides 10 meters of illumination in all directions. These bulbs can be turned “on” or “off” at will.

History

The Hippaflicks are the newest intelligent race to emerge on Flicker. They stayed “hidden” from the semi-aquatic Bladish for many centuries because Hippaflicks lived in the trenches, a place not many Bladish dare to go. They live in cooperation with the Bladish, on account of the fact the Hippaflicks cannot make tools on their own. They are the only race that spends the majority of their life in the water.

 They travel off-world less often than the Bladish. Most Hippaflicks are Psychics; they developed their mental powers to overcome their physical limitations.. They live in the deep oceans, and so the Bladish are not concerned with their powers. Their Psychics emerged around one hundred years before human contact, so while Flicker was never hit by the Scream, the Hippaflicks haven't gotten much of a chance to develop their powers (about postech level Psychics).

 They are the smartest race on Flicker, but they require the Irons to manufacture their technology. Hippaflicks gain a +1 DM to their Intelligence characteristic.

Psychology

Hippaflicks are a pacifist race, and their religion reflects that. The Gilled God represents the peace that must be, no matter what (many non-Hippaflick historians believe this to be because of their complete hopelessness in a fight). The Shark is the opposite, being like a... shark.

 Other Notes

NPC Hippaflicks with have 8 h.p. and a AC of 7. Randomly encountered Hippaflicks have a 50% chance of being a Psychic, a 35% chance of being a Expert, and only a 15% chance of being a Warrior.

Hippaflicks are of  fish decent; i.e. they are more closely related to lungfish than to a dolphin. 

Hippaflicks live a mostly hermitic existence in relation to other races. Their cities are ruled by singular leaders, considered some of the smartest beings in the known universe. Each City-Leader is part of the Council of Flicker. (There are 13 cities).

Hippaflick as Player Characters

Due to their bulkiness and inability to function well outside of water, I would not recommend them as viable PC.

Dawn Sector: The Bladish

By Brian Pichelman

The Bladish are large lobster-like men with a taste for war. They are tough, strong, and did I mention tough?

Bladish speak Bladish. Most Bladish do not understand English.

Appearance and Biology

Bladish are usually 7' tall, with large crab claws reaching to the ground instead of hands. They use their 3 clawed toes as hands, which actually works. Their claws will inflict 1-8 h.p. of damage if used as a weapon. They are considered proficient with their own claws.

They have a tail. Males have a cone shaped tail, fat at the beginning, thin at the end, with 4 smaller legs at the end (2 on each side, each about 10 centimeters long). Males have 2 large ridge-like horns on their head. Females have a fat lobster-like tail and 2 long antennae, each stopping at the waist. Female Bladish can swim backwards at their normal swimming rate.

Most Bladish wear red pants and a sash with their name in Bladish. Females might wear only the  sash and no top (Female Bladish lack breasts) or they might wear a large red cloak and the sash. They look sort of like giant lobsters. Most Bladish dress the same (with exceptions for life-saving equipment such as space-suits) because of religious custom. They wear mostly red because it is the color they can perceive the best, and the sash comes from Bladish law for identification (this is no joke, as Bladish look mostly alike even to other Bladish). The sash is also part of a mindset, like shirts and pants for humans.

All Bladish have a solid face, and despite the fact that they have obvious cheekbones, they cannot move their mouth or blink. Their eyes have a shell that protects them. Their language excludes “b”,”p”, “v” and “m” sounds because of their face. Otherwise, it sounds like a very foreign human speech. When they speak in English, they sound like someone that speaks without lips and through clenched teeth.

Unusual Biological Abilities

When there is enough radiation, Bladish can employ X-ray vision. Around fusion engines, they can see  the inner parts and they can easily spot spaceships in hidden areas. Assuming there is enough radiation, A Bladish can see 5' through solid rock. When attacking and able to use their x-ray vision, they gain +1 damage because they can see weak spots in armor that cannot usually be seen, i.e. places that lack any hard bone or extra armor. 

 They are semi aquatic, being able to swim very well and breathe underwater. All Bladish are immune to any disease they have already had. 

Bladish naturally have a AC of 2.

All Bladish are unusually strong, this is because Flicker's gravity is 1.5 times more than Earth's. NPC Bladish have strength of 5-20 (3d6+2). All other scores are normal. 

Bladish regrow lost limbs in 1-10 months. Their regeneration is also on a smaller scale, healing 1 h.p. of damage in 1 turn, but damage taken by fire or acid will only heal normally.

All Bladish need radioactivity added to their food. This “extra topping” can be bought at most space faring markets for 4 credits for a day's worth of radiation. If they do not get their radiation, they grow weak,-1 strength every day until it reaches 0, and then they die.

They have a much higher tolerance to radiation than humans. They enjoy a bonus +3 to saving throws vs. radiation.

History

The Bladish are the second-oldest race on Flicker. They never fully left the ocean, and never developed on their own past the 19^th century (Tech Level 2). 

Despite their war-craze, they have never started a war with the Hippaflicks or the Irons (the former would refuse to give them wonderful technologies, and the latter would most certainly destroy the Bladish)

Bladish Psychics are shunned and banned from society. They have settled on other worlds. The Bladish are the most space faring, the Hippaflicks fearing space, and the Irons being terrified for perfectly legitimate reasons. More on the general history above.

The Bladish are ruled by a parliament, but they have 13 elected leaders instead of a singular Prime Minister. These leaders also serve on the Council of Flicker.

Psychology

The Bladish are war minded individuals.

Males and females in the Bladish culture are different, but nevertheless equal. Their social rules are about the same as humans.

Bladish hate the uneducated, and will go out of their way to educate others. This is because they view themselves as the least intelligent race on Flicker. Bladish hate being less-than-best at anything.

They view the world in black and white, good-and-evil. Their religion is focused around the all-good Clawed God, one who promotes the Bladish way of life, and representing the all-evil is the deity the Burned One, who is in all respects identical to the Clawed God in appearance, with the exception he promotes evil ways and has been burned all over.

Flicker is a very dangerous place, and when Bladish are surprised, there is a 75% chance that a male will immediately attack the nearest enemy. A female will react normally. 

Other Notes

NPC Bladish will have 2 HD., a AC of 2 and a randomly encountered Bladish NPC has a 60% chance of being a Warrior, a 20% chance of being a Expert, and a 20% of being a Psychic. On Flicker itself, there is a 39.9% chance of being a Expert and a 0.1% chance of being a Psychic.

All Bladish over the age of 8 carry a Lak-Haz. This is a ceremonial knife, +1 to hit and 1-8 damage. A Bladish will NEVER lend their Lak-Haz. They are automatically proficient in their Lak-Haz, but not necessarily proficient in other primitive weapons.

Bladish reproduce externally, i.e. they do not have sex. Prostitution is literally alien to them. The female egg is impregnated outside her body, and the young are raised in a strict fashion, taking a lot of school and physical activities (sports, weight training, etc.).

They cannot move and fight at the same time, because the majority of their weapons are used by their feet-hands. Bladish weapons are usually made with the large forearms in mind though, and these can be used normally. They suffer no other issues with their feet-hands but this.

Bladish live for 700 Flicker years, or about 200 Earth years.

Bladish as Player Characters

PC Bladish need a minimum Strength of 14. If a player successfully rolls up Bladish stats, the GM should allow +1 to Strength. They cannot wear any TL 3 or lower armor because of their bulkiness. Their AC of 2 is classified as “primitive” armor. TL 4 or higher armor will cost 5/3rds as much due to the custom design needed for them. They are otherwise like a NPC Bladish.

Bladish take the h.p. of their class, not their race, even if it means losing h.p.

PC Bladish usually see opportunity in leaving. Some are curious about the outside universe, some want to conquer and rule a world of their own. Many are for-hire guards on other worlds. Many Bladish just want to leave Flicker. Having three different races inhabiting the same planet can get stressful. Some Psychic Bladish might leave because of persecution by their brethren.

Dawn Sector: The World of Flicker

By Brian Pichelman

This series of articles by Brian Pichelman will present the Dawn Sector, home to the Flickerians and Kendeleorians as well as several Human colonies, a complete sector in the Stars Without Number universe. This article details the world of Flicker.

Flicker is a planet so radioactive that is can be seen to glow at night. From this glowing land, three alien species rose to become some of the strangest and most powerful creatures the galaxy has ever seen.

Flicker is at a outer arm of the Milky Way galaxy, and the Scream never technically hit them. Because they emerged technologically later than humans, this does not make much of a difference.

Flicker has a mass that is 150% Earth's; gravity is 1.5 times stronger there than as compared to Earth-like planets. Flicker’s core and lower mantle has incredibly high concentrations of radioactive materials such as Uranium; trying to detoxify the planet is practically impossible. Scientists do not believe that the unusual core of Flicker is natural, but they have not been able to come up with an explanation for how it could have been created. Otherwise, Flicker's atmosphere and temperature are pretty much Earth-like.

In spite of the radiation, the planet flourishes with life, albeit evolution occurred much faster here than anywhere else (mutations, while impossible for the intelligent species to suffer from, occurs almost daily in animals). Because of the radiation, the biology cannot be consumed by humans unless it is given a through anti-radiation wash first. Surface radiation levels vary, roll 2d6*100 Rads per hour when necessary.

There are approximately 9 billion inhabitants on Flicker: about 5 billion Bladish, about 3 billion Hippaflicks, and around 1 billion Irons.

The main spaceport is Chek-Ni (which means “First Contact” in Bladish). It is located off the edge of the biggest continent. Chek-Ni is at the midpoint between the land cities and the underwater civilization.

With the exception of the Bladish's many land-based cities near the oceans, most of the land is devoid of civilization. There have even been rumors of illegal human colonies existing in the heart of the wilderness. The only known intelligent life in the wilderness areas is the Irons. Most Irons, though, live in the large mountains just north of Chek-Ni. All of Hippaflick civilization exist underwater, some of it even going down to the trenches. About 45% of Bladish call the ocean cities their home as well.

Cities

The underwater cities of the Hippaflicks rarely go above two stories in height, but they can cover thousands of square kilometers. Their houses accommodate their bulky bodies. Many psionic centers exist in their cities as well. Many a psychic have traveled to the Hippaflick's centers of psionic learning.

The Bladish underwater cities are typically carved out

of canyon walls, and their homes are air-filled. Defenses on Bladish cities are vast and unusual (some reports indicate continual use of antimatter as a weapon).

Bladish land cities are composed of small skyscrapers, smaller than Earth's mostly because of the higher gravity. They are structured much like a human city would.

Irons live in mines used for extracting iron ore, their primary food. As they do not need creature comforts, most Irons only posses a sleeping jar.

Animals

There are many dangerous animals on Flicker. All Flicker predators have compounded iron ore in their bodies that give off a magnetic trace, allowing them to be located with a compass. This is why the Bladish and Hippaflicks have magnetic sensing abilities.

The animals come in all shapes and sizes, so pretty much anything can be encountered.

History of Flicker

All the intelligent creatures on Flicker super-evolved until they finally became sentient and grew a resistance to the radiation (even pretech scientists were scratching their heads about why that was). Three species grew from that planet: The Bladish, The Hippaflicks, and The Irons. The Irons emerged about 1 million Earth years ago; the Bladish emerged about 50,000 years ago; and the Hippaflicks about 5,000 years ago.

The Bladish invented modern society on Flicker, but it was the Hippaflicks that perfected the technologies needed for travel beyond their world. The Irons were discovered in their equivalent of our 14^th century. The Irons were a boon to mining and medicine. Skilled Iron operators could worm their way through a patient’s body and knock out diseases, while not harming the patient. With the increase of public health and mining, the whole world quickly industrialized and prospered.

The Bladish built antimatter drives that took them to the stars. Antimatter was not suitable for galactic exploration, because of power requirements. Their system used a combination of throwing space dust at antimatter and aiming the explosion out the back end. This method was slower-than-light, so trying to go anywhere on a Bladish's 200 year lifespan was generally useless. so they built rudimentary wormholes. Wormholes were made by blowing a large hole in the universe, usually with antimatter. The wormholes only needed power at one end to maintain the opening, and could reach across galaxies.

These wormholes were large, but also inefficient; they took up a lot of space, and consumed a lot of power. A wormhole with a diameter of 1 kilometer would only allow one ship about 31 meters wide to pass safely; a frigate sized ship. None of the Flickerians invented spike drive technology and because the Bladish suppressed large-scale Psychic endeavors, they never made Jump Gates (In a few instances, Bladish military forces blew up space ships containing Psychics). Many historians conclude that sufficient technology existed, and even prototypes, but the Bladish suppressed all of it.

The Bladish did not have the energy to build multiple wormholes though, because they could not build a second supercollider. The Hippaflicks were freaked out about one supercollider, and so they simply refused to provide the technological support required to build a second supercollider. The Bladish made use of their one supercollider and connected to Earth (they read radio signals that suggested intelligent life) and made contact with humans.

The humans quickly made a Jump Gate to Flicker, and they traded. They had a issue at first because on Flicker humans could not handle the high amounts of radiation that occurred naturally. Nevertheless, humans managed to continue trading with the Flickerians. Most historians have concluded that the best radiation-proof suits were made to be used on Flicker. A unprotected human would die in a matter of minutes without protection.

Humans supplied them with enough power to build other wormholes, including one to Kendleoria (detailed later). When the Scream occurred, the Flickerians lost the human-supported power to run their wormholes.

The Flickerians had to close all other wormholes to keep just one working. They picked the Kendleorian wormhole, because the Kendleorian had Jump Gates near Flicker, but there was only one wormhole to Kendleoria. They closed the Earth wormhole after they learned of the collapse of mankind but before any human ships could cross over.

Flicker never suffered the devastating effects of the Scream, but their empire was severely cut down without mankind to supply power.

All antimatter spaceships were grounded after humans introduced the spike drive (because if even a single bit got loose, it would be a very large explosion), but many antimatter ships existed in museums. The sole reason for producing antimatter after the Scream was to power the Kendleorian wormhole.

Government

Each race on Flicker has their own government, but there is one unifying entity: The Council of Flicker. It is composed of 13 beings of each race, the exception being that the Irons only have 12. This council generally does not do much except extra-flicker-estrial (alien) relations, and to stop wars between the races.

The Flickerians control the immediate solar systems surrounding them, but they were never really concerned with expansion as much as exploration (i.e. just looking around, but going home for dinner).

The next articles in these series will discuss the three races of Flicker, and, later on, the neighboring world of Kendleoria and its inhabitants; finally, the xenomorphs native to Flicker and Kendleoria will be discussed.