[hider=The Primes - Species] [b][u]Name:[/u][/b] The Primes (The Primes do not name themselves other than as "the empire", as such, this is a colloquial name) [b][u]Status to Humans:[/u][/b] Neutral. Humans are valuable to trade with, but internally are seen as a waste of valuable resources. [b][u]Life expectancy:[/u][/b] Ranges wildly, "regular" Primes range between 150 and 250, but super-intelligent Primes cannot die unless killed by external means. [b][u]Genders:[/u][/b] None [b][u]Full Description:[/u][/b] [img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/761807902784618536/917667744747495434/Craver-battle.jpg[/img] [center][sup]Reference image for the design language of The Primes, showing their brutality in combat. Art is of the Cravers, from Endless Space.[/sup][/center] Not much is known about the Primes, though plenty is known to describe what they are. The Primes are a series of bioengineered cyborgs, and all traces of what they were originally are gone or impossible to find. The Primes all work together, there seems to be no end goal for them other than to expand their production, as led by what's known as the super-intelligent Primes, also called SI-Primes. The super-intelligent Primes function somewhat like a leadership, deciding what next is to be built or what next should be researched. While all Primes have intelligence comparable to that of a human (albeit unable to comprehend concepts too far outside of its tasks), SI-Primes are effectively several geniuses rolled into one being, and are manufactured just like every other Prime. SI-Primes are capable of easily comprehending even the toughest sciences and math, and can process complex structures with ease. Primes primarily reside in what normally would be considered unexplored, uninhabited, or uninhabitable zones. It is fairly infrequent to see Primes visit more populated space, when they do they usually run off when approached, unless they wish to trade. When they do trade, they almost never ask for money, they usually ask for rare materials or other useful knowledge or items, in return they manufacture whatever the trader requires, or supplements them with knowledge. Prime ships usually fall into three categories. Warship, miner/colonization, and Trade. Warships are brutally efficient in combat, and show one of the Prime's many capabilities, killing people when the situation demands it. Thankfully, no major conflict has occurred yet between the Primes and other groups, but some believe it is inevitable. Miner vessels do what they say, mine asteroids or salvage wrecks. They also provide all the needed materials and services for the Primes to colonize yet another celestial body. Last but not least, Trade. Trade ships are flying refinery and manufacturing platforms, and are the most common type of Prime ship spotted. They're relatively large compared to most ships, packing as many useful things into as small of an area as possible. Prime vessels also follow a theme of brutalist efficiency, with snaking paths and unnatural corridors only a Prime could cleanly scale and navigate. It is not recommended for a human to attempt navigation of a Prime vessel, as a lack of safety protocols can cause human death. Primes seem to utilize every single material they get their cyborg hands on, and reuse whatever is no longer useful. They even recycle dead Primes into new Primes, absolutely nothing goes to waste, and they will find a way to use everything they find. Primes range wildly in their appearance, but follow an overall scheme. Large, buff, and directly integrated into an exoskeleton of some kind. They range between eight and seventeen feet tall, towering over other humanoid species. Despite their large size, they have no problems navigating through more human sized vessels, and are terrifying to counter in them. Additionally, they usually have four arms, sometimes even more depending on what that Prime was made for, this allows for a Prime to, for say, carry a machine gun in two arms, and pistols in the others. Primes are rapidly manufactured (in comparison to other species), on complex production plants, Primes usually take about a few days to produce, taking a week or two on small plants, though more complex Primes, like SI-Primes, can take many weeks to even months to manufacture by complex production plants. Standard Primes are almost universally multirole, a worker can make practically anything given they know how and have the needed tools and materials, but also pick up a gun and be a talented soldier. Construction biases are a thing, though, as Primes intended to be warriors usually have superior armoring compared to their brethren, but still can build or dismantle something when required. The fleshy bits of Primes usually are rapidly grown in a biomass lab, from the source materials needed to actually assemble flesh. Primes, however, can recycle other carbon-based fleshy lifeforms, breaking down their bodies into pre-made materials reassembled into Prime physiology. This can drastically speed up assembly, though hasn't been done and can be problematic at times if the recycled carbon-based lifeform has cybernetic augmentation. The production of flesh for Primes is also quite expensive material wise, as such, producing Primes is done based on need, rather than capability. Dedicating a plant to produce Primes will quickly lead to a lack of required materials to produce their flesh, brains, etc. For the most part, Primes all share the same personality. They see themselves as superior to others, and they all serve "the empire", which is what they refer to the entirety of all Primes as. Primes are incapable of rebellion, from years of optimizing their bioengineering, they see themselves as the empire, but not the voice of it. Despite their trade nature, it is not a good idea to piss off any Prime. Despite being rather neutral and willing to trade, they are born killing machines, and respond to aggression with their own form of aggression, potentially with force. It is unclear why the Primes are so docile regularly in comparison to their exploitation of resources and violent capacities, but most people don't want to stick around a Prime long enough to figure out why. Observation of Prime controlled planets turns interesting results, Primes convert planets and moons into giant factories, producing biomass, food, more Primes, and whatever else you think they could use, though almost all of them are nowhere near fully converted. Prime systems also all show signs of Dyson Sphere construction, though most are quite early in construction and are only in framework stages, with no further development having been spotted. One system, theorized to be a high resource system, has seen it's star slowly reduce in size over the years. This suggests Primes are incredibly power hungry, literally, and not even a star can sate their needs for long enough at peak. Other systems are noted to have active Dyson Spheres, but none match the aforementioned system. In total, Primes only have three active Dyson Spheres. Military conflict with Primes is not advised, as behavioral analysis shows Primes are incredibly likely to throw any concept of ethical combat out of the window, doing anything to defeat their foe, such as nuking them, rendering planets inhabitable to humans, or various other unethical combat forms. Thankfully, Primes are not large enough to be a large threat, yet, though their growth is slow and steady. It has been noted that a small collection of Primes exists separate from the empire. They were infected by an electro-chemical virus while exploring a planet potentially valuable for colonizing, the SI-Primes deemed them too much of a risk to recover. As such, they were disconnected from the empire and never accepted back, even though they had conquered said virus. ------------------------------------------- [b][u]Type of society:[/u][/b] Primes most closely resemble a type of hivemind, though they have little to no sense of individuality, and have no concept of political structures. [b][u]Technological advancement:[/u][/b] Primes are very technologically advanced, in the bioengineering and manufacturing aspects. They don't have the capability of manufacturing extremely high power weapons, resorting to more "primitive" and cheaper to produce weapons. They are capable of creating massive structures with ease, compared to other species. They also have not fully figured out FTL travel, and seek to further their understanding of FTL travel to match that of the Ascendancy. -------------------------------------------- [b][u]Miscellaneous:[/u][/b] Primes have only recently learned that magic is a thing, due to this, Prime activity has somewhat increased. They seem to seek out magical artifacts for study, however they have not yet discovered what they are looking for. Social contact with other species is uncommon, due to the Prime's lack of long range FTL capabilities, though due to higher activity, it may become slightly more common to encounter Primes in low regulation areas. [b][u]Preferred Trade Items:[/u][/b] Flesh of any kind, dead bodies, rare materials (like Perfected Electrum), hard to manufacture/unknown technologies, magical items. [b]Industrial capabilities:[/b] Powerhouse, adaptable. [b]Military:[/b] Average, technology is sub-par, infantry combat is specialized. [b]Political:[/b] Non-existent internally, SI-Primes handle relations with other factions. [b]Science:[/b] Average, sub-par to non-existent in tasks not useful to Primes. Bioengineering and similar related tasks are beyond most species, though. [b]Magic:[/b] Non-existent, as of present. [b]Exploration:[/b] Awful, Primes have not yet discovered long range FTL systems. Primes also only explore to find resources, trade, or catalog useful information. [b][u]Player specific information:[/u][/b] Players cannot play regular Primes, only the GMs and Senhara can. There exists a faction of disconnected Primes, though, that players can control. When creating a player Prime, do adhere to what a Prime would be, but you have full control over your character despite formerly existing in a hivemind. Your character will also have a sense of individuality and can understand concepts more esoteric to most Primes. If you need help, contact Senhara for assistance. [/hider]