Non-Player Character Race

The Brights of Corpco Type: Medium Omnivore (1.6 meters tall while standing, 1.1 meter tall with limbs retracted, 80 kilograms)

Number: 1-2 in the open; 5-50 in communities; rare 100-500

Move: Slow, 12/25 meters/turn; 2 movement limbs, 2 movement/manipulator limbs

IM/RS: +5/50

Stamina: 40

Physical Attack: 35% (20% youth, 43% elder)

PS: +2

Average Lifespan: 70 years

Average Statistics for an Adult: STR/STA 35/40, DEX/RS 50/50, LOG/INT 80/50, PER/LDR 35/35

Average Statistics for a Youth: (Age 0-17) STR/STA 25/25, DEX/RS 40/40, LOG/INT 70/40, PER/LDR 25/25

Average Statistics for an Elder: (Age 65+) STR/STA 30/35, DEX/RS 45/45, LOG/INT 100/50, PER/LDR 45/45

Special Attack: Electric shock with physical attack, causes 2d10 damage plus stun; Mentalist: Power Drain (see below)

Special Defense: Half damage from electrical attacks; Mentalist Disciplines (see below)

Native World: Unknown; on Corpco (New Streel) they can be encountered in practically any terrain (not just desolate areas as the tribal humans believe)

Description: A very alien species when compared to the Core Four, a bright is a silicone-based life form that can feed off of light energy, but it gets much more nourishment from absorbing the energy found in plants, animals and, of course, artificial sources such as batteries or power grids. 

Note: they probably should have a need to consume some kind of food physically.

The body of a bright is roughly spherical with translucent skin under which its glowing, gelatinous organs are visible. It has six retractable limbs, two of which to the sides are thin and stalk-like with the equivalent of three fingers at the end that can perform delicate work such as working control panels, holding a beam weapon, etc.

Two other limbs at the front can be either used for movement or carrying heavy objects. Its two rear limbs are normally used for walking movement like legs. In order to run, it must make use of its forward limbs.

Brights do not have traditional senses of smell, sight, taste or hearing. Their entire outer skin has receptors for detecting light (well into the infrared and ultraviolet frequencies); electricity; radio waves; electrical fields - including those of living organisms, machines and robots; sound waves; radiation; etc. In many ways, these senses are much more acute than the Core Four and most other species.

Its sense of touch is worse than many other species. They cannot detect odors or taste, however. When feeding, they give off a tell-tale ozone like smell. Its internal glow also brightens, shifting from orange to yellow to green and then to light blue as the bright goes from being hungry to satisfied.

Physical Attacks/Defenses: Brights can fashion and use tools and weapons, but during hand-to-hand combat, they are capable of unleashing an electrical charge that causes 2d10 damage, in addition to punching damage. Characters who are shocked and are not protected by an anti-shock (A-S) implant or a gauss screen would also need to perform a Stamina check to avoid being stunned for 1d10 turns.

Brights will only take half-damage from electrical attacks - including if another of its kind attacked them - but other weapons will affect them as normal unless protected by one of their various Mentalist powers (see Channeling: Energy Barrier, for example). To safeguard themselves, brights will often use their psionic abilities to misdirect or hide from potential enemies.

Communication Skills: Brights communicate with each other through bursts of short-range radio waves and light pulses. It can "shout" and be heard by other brights up to 3 kilometers away under ideal conditions. Normally its Channeling: Energy Barrier, Electrascreen, Infrascreen and Static powers are used for communicating with others of its kind.

Reproduction: Asexual - parthenogenesis. Brights are technically female, but they are only fertile generally between the ages of 16 to 20 years GST. They lay but one egg every one to two years. A few are infertile for one reason or another and cannot lay any eggs at all. They, thus, have a very slow population growth rate when compared to the Core Four races.

Laying an egg temporarily decreases the mother's Strength and Stamina scores by about half. They slowly recover at a rate of 1 point per day, but they can perform normal actions and use their psionic powers. If they are wounded, however, then they would need additional rest to recover from their wounds.

The bright embryo in the egg takes 13 weeks GST to mature before hatching. During this time, not only the mother but an entire community of brights will watch over and protect the eggs from harm. Some bright legends talk of fertile ancestors who received a promise from the Creator that their offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

From Youth to Elder When the egg hatches, the young bright is fully formed, but is rather weak. It has received a partial knowledge of what its mother knew up to the time its egg was laid. Youths still need training and instruction as they grow toward adulthood. Their psionic powers begin to blossom.

Power Drain is the first discipline to manifest itself because that is how the creature feeds. They reach sexual maturity about age 16, a year before most of their other Mentalist powers begin to manifest. Adults are considered those beings between the ages of 17 to about 64 years GST.

Elders are generally the wisest and most powerful of the brights and are the ones who tend to manifest more powerful disciplines such as Link, Link: Focal Point and a power that Frontier experts have later termed to be "Banishment." This last power was what was used to imprison the Scarlett Ghosts but at the cost of many lives. When a bright begins to die, others in its community will ceremonially feed off of its energies, which is supposed to impart some of the elder's power and wisdom to the rest of the species.