Ethereals
| Ethereal | |
 Ethereal |
Genus: Fulgur Sapien Homeworld: Moth Homeworld Central Authority: Scattered collectives Restricted Job Roles: N/A Guides: Guide to races |
Ethereals are organic humanoid beings with a blood that has strange luminescent and electrical properties.
Their naming convention is a celestial body followed by two capitalized letters. E.g. "Andromeda XV" or "Jupiter EP".
Xenoecology Entry
Ethereal - Fulgur Sapien
The exact origins of the Ethereals are widely unknown, a majority of this species’ history has been lost through the generations. It is thought that during the Mothpeople’s development, the Ethereals had come to sentience and joined them in their struggle against the homeworld hand in hand. Ethereals share their homeworld with the Mothpeople, where they lived in symbiosis in which the Mothpeople would provide the electricity and power needed for them to survive and the Ethereals would produce the light for Moths to follow.
Ethereals are encased in a firm, shell-like transparent carapace in the shape of a humanoid. A hot, solar-similar energetic fluid fills this carapace to the brim, giving it shape and structure all the while producing a large amount of visible light. By manipulating electromagnetic waves that surround its body it can produce movement much like a brain sending electrical signals throughout a nervous system. An ethereal sustains itself solely from electrical energy and can absorb it from specially tailored foods such as high power energy bars, engineering tools, or even from the electrical systems of stations and ships. The incredibly rare event in which an ethereal reproduces is often performed only on the Moth Homeworld, and rarely elsewhere. Whether this is due to culture or biology isn’t entirely known.
The process for Ethereal reproduction resembles that of single-celled organisms more than their humanoid or moth counterparts. An Ethereal will choose when it is time for them to reproduce at which point they will begin what can only be described as a fascinating and beautiful process. An Ethereal will first acquire a casing made from grown crystal, natively found on the Moth homeworld. Locally known as “Passing on the Torch”, an Ethereal’s rigid casing will begin to soften and their energetic fluid will fluctuate in brightness and warmth. Over the course of several hours, touching or “kissing” the forehead of the casing will transfer a large portion of the parent’s energetic fluid into the casing over time. This process is draining, and consumes much of the parent Ethereals energy. Once the process is complete, the newly born ethereal will very nearly resemble their parent, with the parent suffering genetic and structural damage to their body akin to aging. Most Ethereals can perform this process once or twice in their lifetime, record cases show somewhere around a dozen but such cases are incredibly rare. Each time the Torch is passed on, the resulting Ethereal will resemble but slightly differ from their parent genetically, proving to be an imperfect asexual reproducting which prevents genetic stagnation and disease from propagating through the species.
Ethereals have spread out to the deeper reaches of space and have slowly but certainly integrated themselves into society in a symbiotic relationship with other humanoids, much like their relationship with Mothpeople. In adopting the federation’s vast amount of cultures and ideologies, any single ethereal will still prove to be an altruist among others. Working alongside other organisms allows them easy access to the energy they need to survive, thrive, and ensure the continuation of their species and plenty of opportunity to help others. Nanotrasen is currently hiring ethereals en masse to subtly study them in all accounts.
Gameplay
Ethereals are a optional playable race. When you create an Ethereal character, you can customize the color of your glow.
When attacking with their hands, Ethereals deal burn instead of brute damage. Instead of nutrition, they have to keep an eye on their electrical charge - if it gets too low, their glow fades, they become even more vulnerable to brute damage and will start dying.
Their nutrition can be recharged with Cyborg rechargers, by touching lightbulbs, or by consuming special food like High-power energy bars and empowered burgers.
Ethereals that get struck by electric shocks take a little less damage and gain charge.
