Celonian
+2 INT +2 WIS -2 CON HP 4
Known as Grey in Human lore, Big Eyes for the Pravii, Smooth Heads by Niterians, and so many other names by the primitives species they preyed upon, celonians are a decadent species of gene engineered psychics who were once among the most advanced species in the Galaxy, and now struggle to survive among the rabble.
Size and Type
Celonians are Medium humanoids with the celonian subtype.
Celonian Powers
Celonians gain the following spell-like abilities depending on their subspecies:
Grey
At will: Psychokinetic Hand, Telekinetic Projectile
1/day: Reflecting Armor
Red
At will: Fatigue, Stabilize
1/day: Keen Senses
White
At will: Daze, Ghost Sound
1/day: Lesser Confusion
Limited Telepathy
Celonians can mentally communicate with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language. Conversing telepathically with multiple creatures simultaneously is just as difficult as listening to multiple people speaking.
Ancient Species
Celonians remember their roots, and they receive a +2 racial bonus to any tests related to Second Generation technology or Galactic history.
Hard to Read
Due to their excess use of telepathy to communicate, celonians hardly ever express their feelings by body language or facial expressions. Non-celonians suffer a -2 penalty to Sense Motive checks against them.
Society
They are real. And they have been real for far longer than humans (or most of the primitive species of the Free March) would believe.
Celonians are Second Generation species, an original member of the League of Worlds and, now, a member of the Free March like so many others.
Details about their past are sketchy, but once upon a time celonians were among the most advanced species on this side of the Galaxy. Long ago they abandoned the concept of nation, religion or family in exchange for a pragmatic, scientific outlook of life and the universe. New life was generated in breeding tanks picking from a Codex - a collection of matching genes, the closest thing to a celonian family -, and assigned roles based on their genetic predisposition.
Then, something happened. To most celonians it was an unexpected error somewhere down the Codex matrices. Outsiders just say every society is bound to decay at some point. Whatever the reason, during the last several thousands of years celonians have led rogue expeditions into the Free March to abduct and experiment with primitive species, going against the League of Worlds rules of non-intervention. To those caught in the act the reasoning was simple: sometime in the distant past someone else did the same to celonians, and made them what they are today. Now it is their time to become the gods who uplifted the Third Generation.
Two hundred years ago the Coregency of Celon was expelled from the League of Worlds, which led to a civil war, the destruction of their homeworld and the loss of billions of lives. The destruction of Celon Prime caused not only the collapse of their society, but also took with it knowledge celonians had entrusted computers to handle.
Celonians are now split between a dozen diminutive star governments and corporations, forced to live with the fact that they do not hold the influence and power they used to, and armed with ultra advanced technology they don’t remember how to replicate or fix.
Physical Description
Celonians are split into three subspecies based on what primary Codex they were born from. Greys are short and thin with characteristic grey skins, large black eyes and large bald heads. Reds are slightly shorter than humans and have reddish brown skins, large dark red eyes and three bone protrusions on their heads. Whites are very tall and thin, with long bony arms, legs and fingers, milky white skins and large metallic eyes.
Despite their apparent physical weakness, celonian muscles and bones are dense and extremely resistant, the result of hundreds of generations of genetic engineering.
Celonians live hundreds of years and age very little after coming out of the breeding vat already adults. They have no gender or sexual organs and find both concepts archaic and meaningless.
Relations
The vast majority of celonians hate having to deal with other species, especially members of the Third Generation Species, which they see as little more than vermin or at best likable pets. Even the most wellmeant individual will make their feelings known by what they say or by the emotion they emanate. Some celonians see their fall from grace as a warning to change their ways, and the means to, maybe, redeem themselves by helping Third Generation species uplift. To others, though, other species are just tools to be used, then discarded.
Adventurers
The fall of the Coregency of Celon has split the celonian species in thousands of groups small and large. While most members of the species gather around the few surviving organizations like the Ho-Tai-Py Triumvirate and the Poqard Barony, thousands have spread throughout the galaxy as mercenaries, troubleshooters and even criminals. Many have become smugglers of their own technology - considered very advanced in the Free March -, while others venture to ancient battlegrounds in search of clues to their past and the scraps of technology that might give them an edge.
Celonian don’t tend to be of any specific class, though subspecies are more easily assigned such archetypes based on their genetic programming. Greys are often Technomancers and Mechanics, Reds are Operatives and Soldiers, and Whites are often Envoys. Celonians Mystics are rare as they are born with psychic powers and rarely want to focus so fully in it, but legends speak of powerful celonian Empaths who once ruled the Coregency, and of celonian Solarians who operated as an elite force against the invading Meridath.
Names
Celonian society is fully dependent on their natural psychic abilities, and names are no different.
Each celonian has a unique psychic signature that can be sent or sensed to identify individuals. Due to the inability of the majority of other species in the Galaxy to understand them, celonians choose verbal and written names to communicate with lesser species. Far from creative, these names are most akin to serial codes, composed of two to four short names representing their original Codex, homeworld or government and their number in the gestation batch. Examples include Go-i Ty, Kon Gu Ji, Go-u Poq, and Xi e Jo-n Ji.