Vimh Down Below Station

jedion357's picture
jedion357
February 4, 2012 - 8:27pm
Idle thought here spurs this question

In SFman #5 page 37 we find the vimh (rodent PC race)

They dont know where they come from, they reproduce rapidly, have little culture of their own besides what the borrow from the surrounding culture, not well educated, pretty much scavengers, with huge appetites. they are written as an under class exisiting at the edge of society and scavenging. They dont maintain technology of their own but borrow what they need.

1. one implication is that they are not a proper space faring race.

2. a another implication is they live a rat like existence on the edge of civilization.

So my question is What would their first contact with the Frontier look like?

I've been imagining that they would first stow away on a ship and reach the Frontier that way. Then get aboard a station and hide out in the guts of the station. Eventually they would infest the whole Frontier.

So in thinking about how this would happen and how to incorporate it into a game it seems that the first station that they got aboard would experience some problems: food disappearing, things being stolen, stuff along those lines. Someone would begin to take notice and investigate. That would be where the PCs would come in.

The vimh would be a little fearful and seeking to protect themselves. How would you could set up some Alien (the movie) style bug hunt and first contact with the vimh?
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!
Comments:

rattraveller's picture
rattraveller
October 11, 2012 - 2:48pm
Try Necormunda for some equipment bitz
Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go?

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 25, 2015 - 8:05am
Ok new thoughts triggered by another thread on lost colonies: Down Below Station would be an adventure involving capture of or first contact with a vimh or vihm that arrived in a ship returning to the frontier from uncharted space. It promptly escaped into the bowels of the station when the ship docked. Part 2 is a journey of discovery to the lost outpost which was a secret lab where the vimh were engineered. Why were they created, why was the lab destroyed or abandoned, who is behind this? Part 3 Vengeance of the Vimh: Day of Reconning for who is responsible the vimh want answers and will extract them at knife point but they need a little help
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

rattraveller's picture
rattraveller
December 25, 2015 - 8:50am
OKAY so in part one the party has to track down a stow away and they find out it is a Vimh. Then in part two they play INS agents and decide to take the Vimh back to where it came from and then in part three secrets must be kept so the party must go.

Sounds interesting.
Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go?

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 25, 2015 - 10:19am

Well assuming Vhim are actually Terran type rodent bioforms that where genetically altered (Rat DNA + other DNA) the question of why?

Rats are used for specific medical testing as some things about them correspond to humans well medically. So that could be a reason for the Vhim. To have a better medical lab rat, closer to humans or yazirians for testing drugs, foods, weapons and chemicals on? To create a slave/pet/labor creature like the Sape? 

Rat fun facts:

Males called Bucks
Females called Does
Infants called pups or kittens
A group is called a "mischief"

Most rat species are Nocturnal however the Norway/Brown Rat (the one we know also as domestic) is active during the day as well. (Maybe there is a military application for the Vhim being over looked.)

Rat family groups are also called "packs", packs are formed when a male & female leave to start their own family. Brown Rat Packs are led usually by the largest strongest male. (Other species may be female or male and sometimes multiple leaders... based on this confusing pack info I sense a much more complex Pack Structure then what is being presented probably exists). Once an Alpha male is established rats generally get along fine, they will even bring food to sick cage mates. It is recommended rats in captivity live in groups of three (apparently a very social animal) and the pack starts when you have 3 or more rats.

Rat Females can produce up to 2000 young a year. Rat life expectancy is 2 to 3 years (I can attest to that I had a pet Rat once). 91 to 97% die within the first year of life. (If you wanted a population to test on, shoot at, use as troops and so on a decent reproduction replacement turn around would be useful... I think it should not be rat high though).

Front teeth grow 11 to 14 cm a year (rats need lots of chew toys to keep their teeth healthy and ground down). I would think Vhim would have chew needs, even high tech gizmos to keep teeth healthy.

Fancy Rats & Lab Rats:

The Domestic Rat was developed out of the blood sport of pitting rat hunting dog breeds against rats (18th-19th century) many dog breeds where developed as rat hunters so naturally people wanted to know whose dog was the best, thus people who caught rats started selling and breeding them for the sport of "rat baiting" (proved which dogs where best for breeding but also gambling was involved) and they saved the unusual looking rats. Also the rat-baiters started breeding them as well. 2 men one catcher, and one baiter are attributed with the domestication of the rat... "taming" them, developing strains and marketing them as pets. Domestic rats are actually physiologically & psychologically different from their wild relatives, they do not carry the same diseases for instance and have different health risks in captivity. They are also bred for various traits including temperament.

Wild rats will flee a lost battle, domestic rats actually box for prolonged periods. Vhim might make great boxers! 

Domestic rats can start breeding sooner and longer (over life span) then wild.

Domestic Rats are not afraid of humans, seek their owners out often (when roaming) and are less sensitive to sound, crowding, light and changes in diet. Supposably rats are one of the easiest animals to train. Vhim high IQ could have been encouraged because they where usually malleable (easy to train) until the Vhim realized they where in danger.

Domestic Rats usually live longer as well. Wild rats though don't live as long (no health care or good food supply or protection from predators) have larger brains, hearts, livers, kidneys, and adrenal glands then their domestic cousins. Escaped or released Vhim may have realized their creators were not all good... and they began to develop the concept of free will & freedom. If some of the people who created them, tried to help the Vhim and died in the process the Vhim might have a bone to pick. Not to mention if the Vhim that are free where young Vhim, not experimented on yet they might not know what was really done to their ancestors.
 
Besides many coat colors & markings & eye color, there are hairless rats, rexes (curly coated), patchworked, ones with ears in a lower position, and tailless ones. Vhim could have races...

Lab Rats are usually all the same breed in an experiment and have excellent pedigrees, many scientists types do not kill these rats when they are done (non physical medical type experiments where they do not need to kill) and either re-home them or break the rules and release them... there are apparently a lot of wild rats in some areas with some real fancy breeding in their ancestry because the lab folks (usually college folks) just couldn't bring themselves to kill healthy friendly animals so oops they escaped. Maybe a scientists did the same for the Vhim? 

Adult rats 10-12" can squeeze through a hole as small as a quarter... Vhim should be able to do something surprising equivalent to their size ratio. I know rats are excellent at walking on wires (seen it) can leap well and are pretty good little problem solvers. Vhim might make good miners? Tight rope & gymnastics?

In looking at the rat and thinking on sci-fi, Vhim could have started as a purposeful experiment, or an investigation into an accident mutation (Gamma Dawn/World type oops) that then scientists tinkered with till the Vhim where in their final form. 

The lab facility or what's left of it could be a horrifying place, jarred specimens, preserved bodies (think that waxed human body slide exhibit), skeletons, holovids of sickening experiments, giant mazes of death, torture and psychological testing. The lab could be very deadly for PCs if they get stuck in a testing area meant to see how intelligent beings problem solve in life & death scenarios, meant to test if addicted people will eat or choose to starve to death, you know things like push the food/water lever and sometimes you get that or sometimes you get electric shocks with or without the goodies... A giant potentially deadly lab rat testing place. There would be nurseries for the young Vhim, medical dissecting rooms morgue, vet-med labs, rooms with deadly chemicals, diseases, radiation delivering device rooms meant to irradiate Vhim for study of radiation sickness, training rooms not deadly but could include devices for compliance, cell/cage housing areas, breeding areas and more.

Just some thoughts.


 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

rattraveller's picture
rattraveller
December 25, 2015 - 10:41am
Rats are the number two killer of people in the world because of disease spreading and damage to food sources. Could be interesting.
Sounds like a great job but where did you say we had to go?

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 28, 2015 - 4:08am
The lab has a robotic brain still running it and it has not fulfilled its scheduled tests. Since high enough robotic brains can, by the book, begin to rewrite their own programing this one (lets say a level 5) reinterprets its experiment schedule to include the PCs. And let the games begin.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 28, 2015 - 4:14am
@ Tchklinxa nice eval of real world rats and compare contrast to the vimh. Another rethink of the Vimh might be in order (Vimh 2.0 ?) I like the implications for social organization suggested. It directly impacts the game: minimum groups of three 1) the alpha- aggressive 2) the beta - peace keeper/ keeper of the tribal wisdom 3) he that slinks in the shadows. PCs engage with alpha who is supported by the bags but the third almost magically is behind them.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 28, 2015 - 7:02am
@ rattraveler you have a good point, yes wild rats in the RW can be disease vectors (which is why wild ones often only live 1 year) also in the RW humans can be the disease vectors for domestic rats (we give captive rats diseases they do not normally die from in the wild) but because care is often better Rats can live up to 3 years in captivity. Also some strains of domestic are genetically weaker or more likely to get x or y medical issue/disease. Vimh might face very unfair belief that they spread diseases more so than the other races when it is really not so. Fleas the real spreader of the old black plague would be something they would not want anymore than a Yazirian or Humans want (yes humans can spread fleas, and various other parasites). But Core 4 bigotry might actually create situations where they do not receive medical care that would have prevented out breaks.

I forgot to consider Vimh that might be transparent (a creepy thought) so the scientists could observe something or other clearly. 

@ jedion357 Like the computer brain idea of using the PCs for getting all the tests back on schedule. The more I thought about why breed rat people the more a mad house lab geared at all the crazy things we do to rats on a large scale seemed like anything from humorous annoying to a real death trap potential. Putting a computer in charge to finish various tests, everything from classic find the food/water mazes that get harder or more dangerous each time a PC is being tested to being forcibly injected with something or implanted with devices or heck maybe there is an organ growing project... are all the things nightmares are made of. Tests can be sensory deprivation, being gassed/sprayed with various substances (short term exposer, or long term exposer tests), sound and light sleep deprivation inducing tests and pretty much anything we like to do to lab animals. 

Project X movie used chimps as the lab critters but the idea in that movie that scientists would train an animal to fly a simulation plane and then irradiate the test subject with a lethal dose to see how long the chimp would keep flying to try and determine how long a real pilot would keep going could be the sort of experiments the UPF military was interested in for fighter pilots. In the RW UCDavis (in the nuclear free zone city of Davis) was doing experiments with radiation exposure (irony) on beagles, so they put the poor doomed puppies in a regular old metal shed and shot a radiation beam at the puppies in the shed... then puppies would get radiation sickness so a bunch of college students could study them dying, some sick grant. Really nasty experiment that, what made the experiment really bad was past the regular old metal shed was a farm the University did not own & in direct line of fire was a mobile-home where the farmer lived... they irradiated their farmer neighbor's house and him, he died horribly of radiation sickness. Why in the hell they did not put lead on one side I don't know, people playing around with radioactive materials with degrees and working on degrees should know it keeps going, even I know that and I don't have a degree in nuclear science! Stupidity that murders and contaminates everything in one direction aside there is bound to be this sort of thing being tested as well. Effects of weapons, exposer tests meant to study the damage and will power of the doomed, maybe for trying new medical technics or medicines out on the subjects... for trauma tests, they have to traumatize your body parts and then try and fix you with new surgery gizmos or stop bleeding with new med being tested and so on. Maybe they want to kill a subject to bring them back to life even (poisons & antidotes for instance, new restoration of brainwave techniques, maybe they have a new life support machine they are testing, etc.) The Lab has such nasty potential, could be a bit of a good old fashion crawl too if the facility has underground areas.

One point besides the Vimh there where probably other test animals. These could be normal little critters, non GMOed animals large & small or maybe life forms that might not be as intelligent as the Vimh but GMOed too for the purpose of getting data for Vrusk and Dralasites without using actually Dralasites or Vrusk in the testing. There are a couple old D&D critters that might work for test creatures or GMO attempts they could be housed in other areas deeper down, some might be semi-intelligent others just "monsters" no one wants to meet in the dark abandoned areas of the lab. Just a thought on what could be in a large facility gone amok.

As to society and potential of the Vimh, I think they defiantly have great potential as NPCs & PCs past scavengers & outcasts. I keep thinking master tinkerers, if someone can jerry rig something to work I bet they can, junk yard owners who can make anything work, masters at getting into and out of impossible places, spaces and circumventing security (this could actually make them criminals or valued acquirers of things for a party or really good at security as they have a knack for finding the holes in security "takes a rat to know or catch a rat" they might make surprisingly good law officers or detective types too), and the boxing thing means they might actually do well in sports such as boxing & martial arts and have some level of acceptance & fans in those sport professions. The abilities of Rats are impressive. Vimh defiantly enter into being a race in the UPF with the disadvantage of having to learn from the sidelines but they are capable of organizing, working together, have unique abilities, and are intelligent beings that can pretty much over come. They are problem solvers by nature. All this means is the other races are not seeing the whole Vimh, just what they want to see (scavengers) and the Vimh let them see just that. So if push came to shove the Vimh probably could surprise the heck out of Sathar or the Core 4. 

I think the social structure you outlined sums them up in how they are dealing with the other races: all three personality types also equal tactics being employed. Alpha strength/aggression = expansion into the Frontier & Sathar space, Beta Peace Keeper = avoiding war as means to an end, and finally Gamma slinker in the shadows = what exactly they are doing, staying mostly hidden, on the edges of society or only in specific areas of society, but what they are doing that neither Sathar or UPF know is their own secret business. I would argue the various Packs of Vimh are studying, and learning from as many races as they can, they have their survival to worry about, as intelligent beings no doubt want a better life for themselves and their people, they are probably more organized than the UPF understands or the Sathar. They would definitely make good smugglers and organized crime NPCs. I sort of see them as a neutral but chaotic factor, they are not good or bad per say but defiantly have their own agendas as groups and individuals. I would apply the idea of them viewing other races as a source of "renewable resources" aka what ever they want,  and they really enjoy punking, polling the wool over the other races eyes, fun scoundrels. Vimh values? They have them, they just might be one set for Vimh and one set for outsiders. However once the Vimh declare a person part of their Pack that would change dynamics. Vimh like trying to pull a fast one, the con job, circumvent the law (they enjoy the challenge), but they have values or ethical lines they will not cross... what those are might be individual or cultural ideals. Example Vimh might be naturally good family people. Vimh might keep really clean homes, something the other races would never suspect. Vimh might steal but are not known for being cold blooded killers. Vimh might smuggle anything/anyone for a price but are not known for slavery or taking hostages as a way of making credits.

Observing several Vimh families debark a shuttle.
"It is a Mischief of Vimhs." said the Vrusk security officer to himself. 

One Vimh male paused made eye contact with the Vrusk and said to himself in Vimh "Let the games begin."








 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 28, 2015 - 6:49pm
Alright, we're talking about a new way of looking at the vimh that is 1 part a cultural anthropology but also some aspects are physical anthropology. Xeno Anthropology of the Vimh? That might make a good title for an article. As a second article some encounter groups for referees with analysis and explanation of the three roles: 1) a pack or family group of smugglers, 2) a vimh law enforcement officer (perhaps someone who is a militia officer on a station or the obvious- star law) 3) criminals bent on a specific crime. Call it "Enter the Vimh"
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 29, 2015 - 9:59am
Yes this seems like probably 2 articles.
 
 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 29, 2015 - 6:55pm
This could easily be set at Clarion station. Wonder if you could set players in some opposition to each other: PC 1 is a Royal Marine , PC 2 is an investigative reporter , PC3 is a corporate trouble shooter, etc first one to discover the truth about the mysterious creature that slipped off a ship and into the bowels of Clarion station wins a exp bonus. You'd need an extensive table of rumors and another of evidence. Players can work together and split the bonus or separate. 
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 29, 2015 - 7:09pm
The lab where the vimh were developed need a name. The name doesn't link directly to a corp as the company running the lab will of a necessity be a front and a cut out with good fire wall protection for the mega corp behind the program. 

TERA Lab LLC: Terran Exobiological Research & Application 

If PCs dig they may just discover clues leading to a mega corp or an individual with mega corp ties
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 29, 2015 - 7:49pm
@ tchklinxa: re: other test animals good idea but this also begs the question concerning loca environment. Is there a thriving ecosystem with native plants and animals? Intersections between escaped test subjects and native species and so on. No doubt the surviving escaped vimh have been resourceful about managing resources to ensure their continued existence.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 30, 2015 - 8:46am
@ jedion357 well I was thinking the lab it's self is probably a pretty big place even if it is just a Vimh testing facility, and more than likely such a huge place has other critters. The Vimh themselves would need some sort of eco-system and if the Vimh where developed to use for a variety of testing applications then some test areas would be different environments. It is possible the lab complex/facility falls into the "lost city/colony" scenario... especially if the parent company had abandoned the site for some reason, they simply have never come back, perhaps they believe the site uninhabitable and/or destroyed or wanted it kept secret because of what ever caused them to abandon the facility. The above ground areas of the lab facility/colony could in fact be heavily damaged or a spooky mini ghost town (think like the way military bases are micro cities). Depending on when the destruction/abandonment first occurred the site could have even been rebuilt on... so lurking under a new colony unbeknownst to 99% of the new colonists is a facility, the parent company could know, and the new colony is a front for a handful of people to regain access to the lab. Just a few ideas. The Lab could thus have many difficult to get to areas, areas in semi-isolation either because of bio-hazard protocols being enacted or damage (cave ins and so on)... thus the place could be sort of revealed in sections. Just thinking on the possibilities. 

Vimh combat idea: in kick boxing there is that wrap your hands in glass shards thing, maybe in extreme caged Vimh boxing they do the same but also wrap their tail. The tail would be pretty powerful if used as an extra way to strike out (spin & sweep with it for example). They might have special armor/weapons they wear on the tail. 


 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 30, 2015 - 11:14am
Actually, I've converted some warhammer skaven characters to be SF vimh. One "bit" I bought specifically  was a collection of arm with improvised throwing stars and one of those looked like a spocket gear off of a bicycle. So I had intended for a vimh character to cannablize some gears and sharpen the teeth of the gear to points to be used as thrown weapons. Like the idea of thtail attack.

I think SF races should have 3 abilities. One the can use all the time or any time they choose like yazirian gliging, vrusk ambidexterity, or dralasite extra limbs. One that has a low percentage chance of success but can be improved with EXP like battle rage, lie detection and comprehension. And one other that may or may not come into play vrusk limb regeneration, yazirian life enemy, etc.

So building off the tail attack: in place of a melee or hand to hand attack a vimh can make a tail sweep attack to knock an opponent prone (note prone opponents are easier to hit) opponent gets a RS check tovsave against being knocked prone. Vimh can even be "fighting on the defensive for the +20 and still employ this attack the switch immediately to offensive in next round if they've knocked the opponent prone. Classic 3 vimh tactics is to surround an opponent bracketing him for a melee bonus employ tail sweeps and pile on pummelling him into submission or to death as situation warrents. 

The humma have a thicker more muscular tsil that is semi prehensile and can strike like a rifle butt IIRC. I wouldn't want to duplicate this in the vimh. But giving them a whip like tail that they've perfected into a combat asset I think works if they don't have martial arts skill they make the attack as if they are a 0 level martial artist (no -20 for unskilled use of a skill)

Off hand I can't remember what the original article gave them for racial abilities. 
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 30, 2015 - 2:12pm
I checked the vimh ability iron Constitution is a 5% improvable ability. My problem with this is that I don't see anyone investing exp to improve it. And a base 5% chance doesn't seem like an iron Constitution to me, "Damn Darling, you keep getting sick. I thought your kind was suppose to have an iron Constitution?" 
I'd rather see iron Constitution be a +20 bonus to resist infections and etc. 

Superior olfactory sense is listed as a racial ability but not given a tangible way to impact the game. I would make this superior olfactory ability gives the vimh a 5% scent tracking skill that with training and experience can be improved . I believe environmental skill (AD skills) and appropriate skill choices in fan skill systems allow for tracking the scent ability should be a bonus to this and while the normal tracking skill would not work on the deck plating of a space station the scent tracking ability would. 

Toss is the tail slash suggested above and I can see the vimh be coming desirable character species selection even an archetype suggests itself to me: vimh bounty hunter; his racial abilities are well suited to tracking down and capturing a target. And the bounty hunter as scum image Dove tails with their overall image as well
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 30, 2015 - 4:04pm
Those are all good suggestions... and bounty hunter would be perfect.

These guys I think with the suggested updating could easily run the gambit from junk dealers/salvage specialists, spies, bounty hunters and more. Scandals & roughs. Serious & humorous. 

I love the throwing star idea. 

Hairless & Transparent Vimh: These creepy guys need a job in Vimh society, they would wear the most clothing. Probably every inch of them is covered.




 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 30, 2015 - 4:35pm
Sun goggles and clothing just to function in sun light for the transparent skin hairless vimh. I dunno either two roles for them are possible: outcast/untouchables or elite status role- priest/shaman. Sacrificial lamb they are the most desirable test subjects do vimh were forced to sacrifice them to the clutches of the computer so that the computer would leave them alone for a time. The escspe e that got back to the frontier was one of these transparent hairless types that objected to being sacrificed for the good of the tribe. 
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

jedion357's picture
jedion357
December 31, 2015 - 12:12pm
Couple refinements: original article had a flat penalty for shooting beyond PB. I would propose S/M/L ranges are all treated as one greater: S=M, M=L, L=EX and targets at Extreme range can't be targeted. Point blank is as normal.

Speach is Pan Gal but pitched high and squeeky. However, if vimh are talking amongst themselves and fast (ie trying to exclude other listeners) then its difficult to understand them by any but a linguist. Non linguists must make a LOG check to follow what's being said. Given enough time the (a couple of centuries) the vimh are likely to evolve their own dialect of Pan Gal. 

The swimming rules are 1hr of swimming then loss of 5STA/30 minutes of swimming after that. All characters swim at 10m/turn or 1km/hour. Edit Kevin addressed long endurance in his original article: 4 hours till taking damage plus some changes in speed.

Leaping is 2m horizontally w/o a running start and 15m with run start of 15m . I would propose a flat +1 meter to all jumping or vaulting.

By way of balance possibly they lose 1 point from punch score due to poor hand structure - they just were n't designed for punching. Minimum punch score is 1. Tail may be used to bash (punch score) or for the previously suggested special attack of knocking an opponent prone.

Society & Customs as well as attitudes were well described in tchcklinxa's post. 
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
December 31, 2015 - 9:09pm
The computer preferring the transparent hairless ones for certain types of testing makes sense to me.

The tribe probably does not consider them out casts but the ones that must be sacrificed, the ones expected to stand and stay behind so the main pack can escape. They are no doubt taught extra survival skills and techniques meant to help throw the computer off the trail of the pack and have to past tests of courage. If they also escape excellent but their job would be distract, mislead, slow down, hinder and damage the computer (it's robot minions, surveillance & security systems) so the Pack can evade & escape.  In a tribal type culture they probably have their own religious/cultural society that is within all the tribal groups... a special type of last stand group. Being the most desirable hunted type of Vimh by the computer they have become hunters themselves... the hunter is the hunted & the hunted the hunter. In UPF society these are the guys that probably became bounty hunters first (because they probably would be most skilled) maybe setting a standard of people seeing Vimh Bounty Hunters dressed from head to toe and in goggles... people might not even know what Vimh look like under all the rags and stuff at first. 

If computers & robots have been chasing Vimh around the Vimh might not like Mechons believing AI that is sentient is dangerous and should be eradicated based on their racial history of dealing with a mad computer. They are puzzle solvers and tinkers by nature so I do not suggest making them anti-technology per say just convinced that sentient machines especially computers is wrong, dumb and no such machines should be trusted or allowed to exist too long. Vimh would be big believers in back up ways of shutting down computers just in case. A Vimh designed computer system would have lots of safe guards from preventing it becoming a danger to it's owner. Other races might find Vimh computer systems poorly integrated, requiring more work by the operator, limited to certain tasks and so on as a result non Vimh might think the Vimh do not understand computers & robots well, when in fact they do, they just have some trust issues.


 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
January 1, 2016 - 3:13am
The transparent skin vimh would prefer large cloaks with deep hoods that they could wrap around themselves and seek protection from harsh sunlight. I think the might derive a name from this: The Dark Cloaks, the Hooded Ones or something. 

Having transparent skin, while a liability for environmental protection would have the benefit of aiding medical diagnosis and surgery +20.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Tchklinxa's picture
Tchklinxa
January 1, 2016 - 8:41am
True being Transparent would give that bonus. 

Dark Cloaks, Hooded Ones, the Claoked are all good terms for them. 




 "Never fire a laser at a mirror."

jedion357's picture
jedion357
January 1, 2016 - 11:29am
All vimh would be likely to have Cloaks but these guys are likely to stay all mysterious and hidden under a deep hood so that even other vimh call them The Hooded Ones. However, I like the sound of The Cloaked.

Edit: an NPC seeing a transparent skinned vimh in the right or wrong light would describe what he saw as a ghoul. I can ghouls becoming a slang term.

Note: started a doc here: 
http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/8926
As a place to assemble and edit a document. Need to break down tchcklinxa's post on society, customs and attitudes 



I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!