Difference between revisions of "Luminoth"

Revision as of 12:49, 3 December 2014

The native aloof heteroceraform guardians and students of a cosmic oddity of a planet called Aether: a crux point of dimensionality. Attuned to duality and possessed of natural flight and fine frames, Luminoth prefer functions that afford them liberty and make use of their perspicacity.

Physical Characteristics

Average Height: 159 - 180 cm
Average Mass: 24 - 32 kg

Ability Scores: +1 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom Size: Small Speed: 6 squares Skill Bonuses: +2 Perception, +2 Persuasion

Level 1 Species Power: Slight of Frame—You may occupy friendly squares. You can't wield heavy weapons. You take no penalty to movement while squeezing. Level 6 Species Power: Natural Flight—Luminoth are very light and can move with average flight.

Play a luminoth if you want...

• to be a lithe mothlike humanoid.
• to be well sighted and well informed.
• to fly.
• to favor the leader and controller roles.

Being small

• Any heavy weapon you wield uses the untrained weapon profile, even if you are trained in its use.

Luminoth are humanoid moths. They stand about as tall as humans and are half as massive at their largest. They have a thin chitin-like gray skin that enfolds their frail bodies drum-tight and gathers in places to form a lattice structure in lieu of having bones. Their heads are oblong and dominated by baleful, orblike dark eyes and wispy, functional antennae. Each hand and foot bears three thin digits, two opposing one. Their shoulders and upper back sport wings they habitually flutter, even when landed, which only partially serve as the mechanism of their flight.

Their exoskin takes shades of gray, white, tan and cream and pricks up into small, fuzzy false hairs around the face, antennae, and joints, as well as in a fanciful ruff around the upper back, chest, and shoulders. The false hairs take on a darker appearance than the rest of the exoskin, with tips that take on a lighter appearance.

Luminoth voices have a hooting, woodwind quality to them, and their native language has a similar sound and cadence to the wind blowing through hollow reeds.

Luminoth joies are ruddy, flightless slugs that grow to 30 cm in length before forming a chrysalis at the age of a few months, from which they hang and metamorphose into the second year of their lives. They emerge with small adult-proportioned bodies, though they reach an age of majority on par with other galactic society species.

Playing a Luminoth

The Luminoth are every centimeter the product and legacy of their mysterious home planet of Aether. Itself a kind of galactic nexus, rife with signals and information that bombard it from all sectors, and a dualform material that persists with a matching double in the Archonosphere. Luminoth are thus attuned to the many ways the universe presents them with signals. Their society straddles the boundary between realms, and they tend to gather in places that—like their home planet—have but a thin veil between the material plane and the Archonosphere.

Luminoth take a broad view of the galaxy for this reason, and always consider the dual consequences of any act, keenly aware of how this world might affect the other. Not naive enough to try retreating to aloofness, they too keenly felt the threats that might come from either realm, or both at once, as was once the planet-spanning disaster that befell Aether.

In the recovery of that event—the death of the Ing emperor—Luminoth expanded their quarters to be greater participants in wider galactic society. They adopted a modification to an age-old aphorism of theirs, which used to go "observe closely at a distance;" adding "observe at a distance closely."

Luminoth are master information architects and information technologists. They appreciate puzzles and wordplay. Most write poetry simply out-of-hand, almost as second nature to plain speech.

But no less are the Luminoth fearsome warriors, having devised specialized powered armor that allows them to make use of their natural flight, every Luminoth trooper is a rocketeer: highly maneuverable on the battlefield, capable of employing tactics difficult to approach by other grounded foes.

Luminoth characteristics: Longsighted, canny, brave, understanding, rueful, otherworldly, perceptive, graceful, poetic.

Pronouncing Luminoth Names:

Luminoth names take on the form of one letter followed by three letters in a group, separated by a hyphen. Luminoth glyphs adhere strictly to this form, which is occasionally represented in other ways by other languages. You may either pronounce the letters as they appear, or sound them out by announcing each letter. For example, the Luminoth name "J-ngo" may be pronounced "jango" or "jay-engeeoh."

Example Names: Ch-gyh, R-stl, P-hsm, E-mos, W-fpi.