RACES OF SPACE:1889 IN GURPS TERMS (Version 1.0) Copyright (c) 1996 by Christopher Beiting (beiting@vax.ox.ac.uk) Space: 1889 is a copyright of Game Designer's Workshop and Frank Chadwick. GURPS is a copyright of Steve Jackson Games. This work is no way intended to infringe upon those copyrights. Within those limitations, this work is copyright by the author, April, 1996. Users are free to make copies of this work and disseminate it for personal use only. OVERVIEW: --------- A word about Tech Levels. The highest sustainable tech level in the Space:1889 universe is 5, on the developed nations of Earth. The Primitive disadvantage for the races below is calibrated against this tech level, since I assume that the majority of players will have Human characters from Europe or the Americas. On Mars, I make an exception; I assume that the dominant culture is that of the Canal Martians rather than that of the Humans, so the Primitive and Social Stigma disadvantages are calibrated against their tech level of 4. Players dealing wholly in Human terms should re-calibrate the Martian races against the dominant Human TL of 5. CANAL MARTIANS (+6) Attributes: ---------- ST -1 (-10) HT +1 (+10) Advantages: ----------- Acute Hearing +1 (+2) Appearance (Attractive) (+5) Quirks: ------- Love Spicy Foods (-1) Tech Level: ----------- 4. Canal Martians belong to a culture which has regressed seriously to a level not much greater than that of the eighteenth century. Gunpowder weapons are common. Occasional higher tech level artifacts from their past are occasionally discovered, but can usually no longer be repaired, let alone copied. Description: ------------ Canal Martians are the dominant race on Mars. Their ancestors constructed the huge cities and vast network of canals which keeps Mars alive. In form they are upright human bipeds usually seven feet or more tall. They are slender in build with massive chests, caused by the thin air of Mars. They have an attractive appearance, with fine hair and a pale ochre skin. Their hands have only three fingers on them, and their three-toed feet have a vestigial "thumb" on them. Their large pointed ears give them slightly keener hearing than that of a Human. They rarely have a ST of greater than 11. Default: Literate. HILL MARTIANS (-12) Attributes: ----------- ST -1 (-10) HT +1 (+10) Advantages: ----------- Acute Hearing +2 (+4) Need Less Food (+5) Disadvantages: -------------- Intolerance (Weakness) (-5) Primitive (-5) Social Stigma (Uncouth Primitives) (-10) Quirks: ------- Love Spicy Food (-1) Tech Level: ----------- 3. Hill Martian tribes vary in their sophistication, but the most advanced are capable of producing surprisingly good steel. They usually do not manufacture gunpowder weapons, but will use them if they can get them from Canal Martians or Humans. Description: ------------ Hill Martians are the frontiersmen of Mars. They inhabit the steppes and deserts beyond the reaches of the city-states of the Canal Martians, although some live nearby the cities and have occasional dealings with the Canal Martians. In form they resemble a rougher version of their city-dwelling cousins: they are humanoid bipeds usually six feet or more tall. They are stockier in build, but still more slender than a Human. Their skin is a deeper ochre colour, tending towards the golden brown, and their hair is darker, usually brown or red (occasionally black). This hair grows over more of their bodies, particularly their shoulders. They have three fingers and three toes, and their pedal "thumb" is larger and more pronounced than that of the Canal Martians. Their ears are larger than those of the Canal Martians and slightly ridged, which gives them keener hearing. Their most unusual feature is a slight fatty mound of "hump" on their backs which helps to store water. It does not detract from their appearance, making them only look more stocky around the torso, but it helps them to need roughly half the supplies that Humans do. Their harsh nomadic lives give them an automatic negative reaction to any show of weakness, and their women often have an equal role in society that proper Victorian Humans find shocking. Nevertheless, they rarely have a ST of greater than 11. Default: Illiterate HIGH MARTIANS (+26) -------------- Attributes: ----------- IQ -1 (-10) HT +1 (+10) Advantages: ----------- Acute Hearing +3 (+6) Extra Pair of Arms (Legs may be used as arms) (+20) Flight (+30) Disadvantages: -------------- Appearance (Unattractive) (-5) Primitive (-10) Social Stigma (Bestial Barbarians) (-15) Skills: ------- Flight at DX Tech Level: ----------- 2 (And I'm being generous...). High Martians are capable of working iron, if they deign to lower themselves to do "slaves' work". What technology they do have is almost completely the result of plunder or the work of enslaved Canal or Hill Martians. Description: ------------ High Martians are the barbaric ancestors from whom the Canal and Hill Martians descended. They live in huge fortresses called kraags in the mountain ranges where the rare Martian liftwood trees grow, and they dominate all trade in this valuable resource. In form they are shorter than Hill Martians and stooped in posture. They have an unattractive appearance, with almost uniformly black hair on their heads, backs, and shoulders, and dark ochre skin. They have the largest ears of any of the Martian races, and thus the keenest hearing. Their hands have three fingers on them, and their feet have opposable "thumbs" and are fully useable as hands. They retain the gland which allows flight, and guide this flight with the wing membranes on their back and arms. Their customs are appalling and bestial, they are slavers and pirates, and they have _no_ redeeming social value. Default: Illiterate. LIZARD MEN (+140) Attributes: ----------- DX +4 (+45) HT +3 (+30) Advantages: ----------- Amphibious (+10) Breath Holding +5 (+10) Claws, +2 damage (+15) Discriminating Smell (+15) Nictating Membrane (+10) Peripheral Vision (+15) Sharp Teeth (+10) Sonar Vision (+25) Toughness, DR 1 (+10) Disadvantages: -------------- Appearance (Ugly) (-10) Gigantism (-10) Primitive (-25) Stuttering (Lisp) (-10) Tech Level: ----------- 0. Lizard Men are strictly a stone-age people, largely due to the corrosive effects the magnetic field of Venus has on technological items. They do not even use fire, although they make a wide variety of stone-age weapons and craft items. Description: ------------ Lizard Men are the dominant race on Venus. In form they are very large upright saurian bipeds with a long tail which they use for balance when standing or propulsion when swimming. Their hide is thick and dark green or grey-brown in color, shading to a lighter (and unique) color and pattern on the belly. Their arms are spindly but strong, with four-fingered digits terminating in claws. They are capable of walking upright, crawling on all fours, or sliding on their bellies like otters. Their heads are the most reptilian part of them, with sharp teeth and large eyes protected by a nictating membrane that give them the benefits of peripheral vision. Their nostrils are large and sensitive, and can be closed by sphincters while swimming; they have a keen sense of smell. Male Lizard Men have a horn on their snouts which they do not use except in mating duels. They can respire partially through their bellies while underwater, allowing them to stay submerged for as long as an hour. They can navigate underwater by smell or a primitive form of sonar. When they speak Human languages, it is with a hissing list. Default: Illiterate Moon Men (-45) --------- Attributes: ----------- ST -2 (-20) DX +1 (+10) IQ +1 (+10) HT -1 (-10) Advantages: ----------- Night Vision (+10) Disadvantages: -------------- Albinism (-10) Appearance (Ugly) (-10) G-Intolerance (-10) Primitive (-15) Tech Level: ----------- 2. Moon Men, like Canal Martians, are the product of a culture that has regressed seriously, to the point where as a whole they can only work iron. Gunpowder weapons are not used. Note that there are a few pockets of higher technology such as the City of Light and Science, where some relic technologies as high as TL8 are in use and maintained, although they cannot be duplicated. Description: ------------ Moon Men are the dominant race within the Moon. They are descended from the members of scientific teams from the now-destroyed fourth planet Vulcan. In from they are humanoid bipeds about Human-sized or a little taller, although they appear shorter because of their stooped posture. Their shins and forearms are longer than their upper arms and thighs, which gives them an odd, ungainly appearance. They have three digits on each hand and two toes. They are completely bald, and have large jaws and huge eye ridges, which are offset by large, intelligent eyes capable of seeing well in the dim Lunar light. Their skin is thick and scaly and faintly bluish--beneath it one can see veins and arteries. They appear very ugly to Humans, but are highly intelligent. Default: Literate. SELENITES: Attributes: ----------- Drone (-151) Custodian (-131) Specialist (-90) ST -2 (-20) ST -2 (-20) ST -2 (-20) DX -1 (-10 HT -1 (-10) IQ +1 (+10) IQ -2 (-20) Advantages: ----------- Doesn't Sleep (+20) Extra Pair of Legs (+5) Night Vision (+10) Peripheral Vision (+15) Disadvantages: -------------- Accelerated Ageing +3 (-60) Appearance (Hideous) (-20) G-Intolerance (-10) Primitive (-50) Stuttering (-10) Quirk: ------ Hermaphrodite (-1) Tech Level: ----------- 0. Selenites do not make tools, and they do not know how to use fire. Under Human influence they have begun mining, and have been introduced to firearms. Description: ------------ Selenites are one of the two intelligent species living within the Moon, and the only one native to it. In form they are giant insects five feet long, standing about three feet tall. They have six limbs, with three joints each and three fingers on each foot/hand. Their eyes are large and multifaceted, giving them peripheral vision and the ability to see in the low light of the Lunar caverns. Their bodies are covered in a translucent, milky-white exoskeleton. Very few speak any human language, and when they do so it is with considerable difficulty and a clicking speech impediment. They have a lifespan of about ten years, which is somewhat offset by the fact that they do not sleep. All Selenites look alike--and hideous--to Humans. They are hermaphroditic, and are divided into three castes. Drones are the basic workers, and are in charge of growing and collecting the fungi that the Selenites use for food. They are not very strong or bright. Custodians take care of the young. They guard the caves where eggs are deposited during the three weeks of incubation, and nurture the young Selenites during the three weeks it takes them to grow to adulthood. Their bodies secrete nourishment to supplement the diets of the young Selenites. Specialists are very rare, and there may be only one in a community at a time. They are the keepers of knowledge, and as such are highly intelligent. They exist according to type, such as hive builder or keepers of knowledge. If one should die without passing its lore on to a young Specialist, that knowledge is lost, and the community must begin the struggle up from barbarism all over again. There seem to be no actual leaders in any Selenite community, although there is no actual hive mind either; decisions just seem to be made by all members of the community. Selenites have no social levels or any concept of them. Default: Illiterate.