Plasmaman

PLASMAMEN
Plasmamen	Genus: Sapien Finalis Homeworld: Unknown/Indeterminate Central Authority: Scattered collectives Restricted Job Roles: N/A Guides: No external guides

Not to be confused with the men of plasma.

Plasmamen are sentient non-humans hired by Nanotrasen to fill in gaps in their Human workforce. Plasmamen are not protected by Asimov's laws of robotics.

Plasmamen are often referred to as a 'hard mode race' for Space Station 13: they move at a slower speed than other races; they must wear a special jumpsuit and helmet in order to avoid burning; they must breathe plasma instead of oxygen, forcing them to carry a plasma tank at all times. Additionally, plasmamen take increased damage from fire and lasers, making them especially fragile. Under normal circumstances they can not survive cloning or surgical procedures.

History

Plasmamen (formal name 'Phoronized Humanoids', scientific name 'Sapien Finalis') were only recently discovered by Nanotrasen explorers. They are primarily plasma-based creatures, lacking any significant internal anatomy. They breathe plasma gas in a way that appears similar to how humans breathe oxygen. They bear striking similarities to the human skeleton, which lends credence to the claim that there may be a common link between the races.

Their clan-like colonies are fairly isolated, deep within the otherwise hazardous atmosphere of Gas Giants. Despite (Or perhaps due to) being a secluded species, they are quite inquisitive, and were eager to engage in a cultural exchange program with Nanotrasen. Personality-wise, they vary almost as much humans, although they tend towards being peaceful, ordered and non-aggressive. They are an industrious and scientific race, preferring to rely on technology rather than their form, especially in the "hazardous" environments that support human life.

Plasmamen, before Nanotrasen intervention, existed in complex societal structures, grouped into clans of convoluted hierarchies near-impossible for most humans to understand or care about. These clans appear to have co-existed peacefully for as long as most Plasmamen can remember, through continuous negotiations around fair resource allocation both between and within their clans. Some elder specimens interviewed do recall brutal conflict in the distant past, but the destructive nature of violent death caused far too much collateral damage to continue.

Eventually, physical intervention was replaced by complicated hierarchical structures intended to prevent as much conflict and offence as possible. These attitudes towards careful respect remain evident in the majority of Plasmamen crew will encounter on station.

Xenoecology Entry: Plasmamen - Phoronized Humanoids

Written by Elise Garnier

ConceptionFormationBiologyDiscoveryAncients

Plasmamen (or phoronized humanoids) are the newest species to ever come about naturally so to speak. By all technicality and definition, Plasmamen’s home planet is surprisingly the Earth’s moon. Through long term exposure to Phoron particulates, humanoids of all kinds have found themselves slowly but surely mutating and adapting to not only resist the harmful effects of Phoron but even live and thrive off of it. Such a process shouldn’t be happening over the course of only a single lifetime, in fact it just about defies any natural process of evolution and mutation known to the current understanding of biology.

General exposure to Phoron leads to tissue and liver damage. It acts as a toxic material in any organic lifeform’s body and can easily kill an individual in low quantities. However, a currently unknown quality that some humanoids share causes some form of chain reaction, dubbed “Phoronization”, amidst their biological process that turns them into what is now called a Plasmaman. Phoronization is only triggered by prolonged exposure to Phoron over the course of years, if not decades, and in extremely small quantities due to its highly volatile and poisonous nature. This causes the skin, muscle, sinew, tendons, and internal organs to break down and reform into an incredibly hot organo-Phoron compound that then covers the entirety of the skeleton, which, surprisingly, remains intact. This hot “organic” Phoron fits all the criteria to be considered a living organism, complete with sentience and self awareness.

Plasmamen breathe pure gaseous Phoron, which serves as the main driving force behind their biological functions. As such Plasmamen do not need to consume food to sustain themselves. Although many have shown a propensity toward vegetables over fruit when given the opportunity to eat. Such an incredibly volatile organism has been proven without a doubt to be completely immune to diseases. Their body produces enough heat to sustain themselves in the complete absence of warmth. Plasmamen are unable to reproduce on their own or with one another and rely entirely on other humanoids undergoing the chain reaction to sustain their numbers. As agonizing of a process it is to become a Plasmaman, such a great sacrifice of suffering is rewarded with the only form of naturally occurring genetic immortality in sapient beings observed so far. Plasmamen do not age and are not affected by disease.

When Plasmamen were first discovered decades ago during the expansion, humanoid-kind wasn’t sure what to make of them. They did their best to accommodate these new people and be mindful of more showing up in the future. Plasmamen were not widely received with open arms but were certainly seen as useful by Nanotrasen as the perfect employees to harvest the Phoron shard in the moon during the Great Expansion.

In the furthest reaches of colonized space, humanoids were found in the depths of gas giants and drifting aboard carved asteroids that very much resembled the Plasmamen of Earth’s moon. Their integration into society was relatively smooth, having flocked to the Phoron shard, not many questions were asked. Although prying minds had soon discovered these Plasmamen had been around for much longer than they let on. Some predated humanity as a species let alone their adventures in the endless cosmos. None of these ancient Plasmamen have been able to recollect where their home planet is nor their history leading up to their journey to Sol. Plasmamen, both ancient and new, with no memory of its exact origin, have since made their home with the federation working on station and ship crew alike.

Roleplay

Plasmamen names are of the form "Name RomanNumeral", where the names should generally be something chemistry related. Names such as Halogen XVI, Ionium CVXI, Radon MXI, are generally good examples of the format.

In general, Plasmamen are steadfast, extremely polite and unreasonably concerned about the rank of themselves and others in the station hierarchy. They will often spend a great deal of effort ensuring they have the preferred honorific of those they address, appending it to the end of most sentences. Plasmamen respectfully use common honorifics such as Sir, Ma'am, Officer, Doctor, Captain for crew who request them. With each other, they may use any number of their own designations, with often unpronounceable consonant clusters based on their own clans and strange customs (Some recorded examples are: Kzzt, Krrn, Zrrn, Krkt, Tstfn and Qvlnl). Though sometimes slow and difficult to work with at first, once comfortable, Plasmamen tend to be among the most helpful crew on station, gladly assisting those of any rank above and below themselves, and always looking for opportunities to do so.

Plasmamen, despite their inclination to assist, are often extremely wary of physical intervention in violent events, except in self-defence or defence of the station. In their fragile suits, it is fairly expected that they wish to avoid physical confrontation, though if forced, some have been seen to demask, briefly igniting in a terrifying spectacle before rehooding as a form of threat. Whether this display is an ancient custom or newly acquired in the oxygen-rich environments of Nanotrasen stations is unknown, though it does seem to vary from clan to clan as many of their customs do. Do not be offended if a Plasmaman awaits the aftermath of a conflict before assisting those injured. They are merely preserving their own safety and that of others.

Gameplay

NOTE: Plasmamen start with their sealed clothing, a plasma tank in hand and a breath mask in addition to their job's equipment. Keep your internals on at all times, so that you don't suffocate from a lack of plasma.

Plasmamen are an optional playable race. You can make a plasmaman character in the character panel. They do not have unique aspects that can be customized.

Due to their Plasmic based biology, they spontaneously burst into flame in the presence of an oxidizer (oxygen). They have special sealed suits to prevent this, made up of an envirosuit (worn in the jumpsuit slot) and a spaceworthy helmet. A shower or the vacuum of space can prevent a naked plasmaman from burning, but the former only works temporarily when oxygen is present. Additionally, any atmos-sealed suit (either space suits or hardsuits) can protect them from the atmosphere. Fireproof clothing won't protect them from reacting with the atmosphere, although it will protect them from other sources of fire.

The jumpsuit contains a self-extinguisher with 5 charges, which activates when the plasmaman is wearing both the jumpsuit and helmet and is on fire. There is a cooldown between automatic extinguishes. Plasmamen helmets are flash-proof, so this lets the average plasmaman do welding without risking eye injury. The helmet obstructs eye and ear items from others, and only the plasmaman themself can take them off without removing their helmet. Neither jumpsuit nor helmet are fireproof.

Plasmamen may eat, but must take off their helmet and breath mask to do so. However they will not become hungry.

Plasmamen breathe plasma, and carry their own plasma tanks for internals. They are smaller than standard plasma tanks and they can be carried on the waist or in a pocket. These plasma tanks are not stocked on the station, but additional tanks (and plasmaman outfits) may be ordered in plasmaman supply kits from Cargo. You can also make empty belt tanks at a hacked autolathe.

Plasmamen are immune to cold, and as such cannot heal from cryo, but they'll also take far less damage in space, since only the lack of pressure will hurt them.

Plasmamen take 50% more damage from brute, fire and laser attacks. They have no blood to remove from them. Chemicals, including food and drinks, can be injected into their bodies through their jumpsuits. Plasmamen are not susceptible to most viruses or diseases, including appendicitis. One disease known to affect them is blight from a revenant.

There are fewer options for bringing a dead plasmaman back to life than most other species. Defibrillators don't work, because plasmamen do not have hearts. Blood cannot be drawn out of a plasmaman, so they cannot be turned into a Podman. Cloning a plasmaman will work, but care must be taken with completed or ejected clones, as their naked body needs to be brought to a shower and dressed with a plasma envirosuit to stop them from burning. Internals also need to be provided, though the suffocation damage can be treated in Medbay if a tank isn't available. Consider getting a plasmaman supply kit from Cargo so that you can dress clones who lose their equipment.

Due to their protective armor, plasmamen are somewhat safer from many antagonists than other crew members. They are particularly safe against xenos because their helmets protect against facehugging, and removing a plasmaman's helmet tends to result in everything being on fire.

Plasmaman organs (including dismembered limbs) don't burst into flames.

The AI does not consider plasmamen human and is not obligated to listen to them if on an Asimov lawset. But hey, flaming skeletons!

Lore

Plasmamen have evolved from a new type of Plasma based life, where Plasma substitutes for the Carbon in a normal human biology. This life developed in and on the surface of asteroids in the Centration belts, until eventually Plasmamen emerged. After spreading from rock to rock, Plasmamen did not form a unified society, and instead formed their own small clans of 10-100 people, living in carved out spaces inside the asteroids.

Occasionally they attach engines to convert their homes into ships. They excel in gas works, and have minor skill in cloaking technology (their love of cloaked helmets comes to mind, though Nanotrasen has banned this aboard ships and stations). However, the species has not created hyper-spatial travel, and operates on very outdated computer technology.

How to clone a plasmaman

A step by step guide

1. Put plasmaman into cloning scanner
2. Scan them, start the cloning process
3. Drag their dead body to cloning pod
4. Undress them and leave their clothes in a pile
5. Turn on shower near cloning pod
6. Once they pop out of cloner, put them under shower and wait for them to dress up

But what if there are no clothes / we only found their head

1. Have a blue ("Oxygen Deprivation") medkit nearby
2. Once they pop out of cloner, put them under shower and feed them a few blue pills (Salbutamol) from aforementioned medkit. Plasmamen suffocate if they don't have plasma to breathe!
3. No Salbutamol? Epinephrine and Perfluorodecalin work too.
4. Yell at cargo to order plasmaman supplies. In the meantime, bug Engineering/Atmos for a plasma tank.

Written by angry plasmaman who got tired of being cloned 3 times by clueless doctors before they gave up, put him in a body bag and hauled to morgue

Jobs on
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	Medical	Chief Medical Officer, Medical Doctor, Chemist, Geneticist, Virologist, Paramedic
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