Having played around with the Seventh Sanctum Alien Race Name Generator, I decided to share with the 'Clave what I had produced and created around them -
Biosages Of The Flesh Space
Medically talented group, possibly religiously influenced, available for hire to any. Biology inconsistent – Magos Philen's research indicates that the origin is definitely Xenos. Known to utilise some form of biologically empowered warp travel [cf. Crotalid]. Widespread but rare. Known to be unwelcome on a variety of Craftworlds. Known to be hired by certain Xenophilic Governors [cf. The Teshar IV Rebellion, The Hundredth World Uprising, The Rebellion in Fourth Hive, The Unholy Court of Lord Kerat]. Known to have at least once rejected approaches from Tau Empire. Known to have assisted at least one hostile Xenos race [cf. Q'Orl]. Warning signs – Unusually long-lived individuals, especially in the absence of Mechanicus assistance, unusually low or high rates of mutation, especially in known risk mutation families [cf. The Noble Chebe], sudden miracle cures among the not sufficiently faithful [cf. The False Saint Grashof].
Coffin Beetles
Necrophageous scavenger found on a wide variety of worlds, possibly spread in Grox shipments [cf. Arken's World Stripbug]. Common on Selpucher Worlds. Roughly ½cm from head to tail, with four limbs and an assortment of manipulatory appendages at the head. Usually insignificant. Possible risks are 1) damage and destruction of holy relics and 2) the anomalous behaviour known as "puppetting". In puppetting, a coffin beetle swarm will massively increase its rate of reproduction, easily doubling in size every 2 days, and in at least once case, doubling in size every 3 hours [cf. The Dreg Infestation]. The newly grown swarm will then infest a recently dead creature, and animate it. The swarm will then direct their new animated host to attack around itself wildly. Newly killed creatures will then become suitable hosts for the rapidly reproducing Coffin Beetles.
"Electroghast"
Existence Rumoured – Possibly Mythical. Believed to be some form of Xenos being possessed of powerful electromagnetic field. Sometimes claimed to be a humanoid species with electromagnetic powers or technology [cf. Xenarch {?}, Stakis]. Sometimes claimed to be living, self-sustaining, possibly intelligent being formed of electromagnetic fields. Considered Xenos Horribilis Minoris by the Inquisition. Considered Xenos Horribilis Extremis by the Adeptus Mechanicus. Extremely dangerous to delicate and advanced technologies. [Note – Electroghast rumours also under investigation through the auspices of the Ordo Hereticus, Collegia Extremis and Ordo Malleus]
Heliosaurs
Primarily void-dwelling creatures. Ferro-chemical biology. Resemble the flying Saurian specimens found on certain worlds [cf. 'Maiden' Worlds]. Feed by consuming plasma, primarily by 'flying' through the upper layers of stars. Known to attack Imperial shipping seeking access to their plasma drives. Lifespans estimated at least 5 million years.
I'm definitely going to make an Electoghast - use wire to make a sort of bundle of lightning, similar to the Poltergeists and Electro Anomaly in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Here's the Poltergeist, in its lightning form (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/stalker/images/9/9e/Poltergeist.jpg)
I think all of these names came direct from that generator - which is here (http://www.seventhsanctum.com/generate.php?Genname=alienracename).
Cool. I can see why the AdMech don't like Electroghasts ;D
But my favourite would have to be the Coffin Beetles. Zombie-time!
EDIT: Just trying the generator now. Here's what I have so far.
Vortex Herders Of Pollux Two
Believed to be a chaos-tainted race, all are high-level psykers. They appear to feed off warp energy. Will work together in groups to open multiple warp rifts then 'herd' them together to form a rift far larger than any individual Vortex Herder could form. They then feed off the energy flowing from the rift. This inevitably leads to a daemonic incursion. Fortunately, they only need to feed once every millennium. Their lifespan is unknown and possibly infinite, depending on how much energy they take during a feeding session.
The generator also came up with the name "Pyrovore". GW has infiltrated the generator!
Ooh, I like this idea.
If you don't mind, I'm going to let my mind run a little wild for this one.
~~~~~
Gravitic Bugs
One of the few species capable of surviving the ultra-high and constantly changing gravity in the Ynir system, Gravitic Bugs are exceptionally tough creatures around the size of a human fist.
Their primary food source is the dense and otherwise rare metallic elements the system is rich in.
It is unusual to see Gravitic Bugs outside the Ynir system, but a Mechanicus expedition in M.35 removed a number of colonies for examination. The escape of the creatures has plagued the planet Leudis IX since, as they have proven impossible to eradicate, and are frequently encountered devouring materiel.
Astral Medusae
Energy beings with a highly negative psychic presence, far beyond any human untouchable. Although legend would have it that staring at an Astral Medusa is enough to strip one's soul, the reality is that simply being within a given radius of a Medusae is often enough to prove lethal, particularly to psychically sensitive individuals.
It is reported that some parts of the Inquisition have developed the technologies to contain an Astral Medusa enough to not prove immediately fatal to nearby beings (although prolonged proximity may still cause memory loss, dramatically reduced brainpower, or insanity). It is believed that they have used some of these Medusae as a weapon against highly psychic enemies of the Imperium by simply setting them free in the vicinity.
Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
A terminally stupid creature that is the best way to annoy a Vogon... wait, this wasn't from the generator.
Psychochameleons
Similar in appearance to the avian Jan'kan. While technically visible to the eye, this species casts a strong psychic field that dissuades any attention or interest in them.
Although almost never noticed by humans except at extreme distances, they are most often spotted long after the event in pict-captures.
Very little else is known about the creatures. It is largely hoped that they have little interest in humans, for fighting them would be near impossible.
~~~~~
... well, that was fun. Absolute nonsense, but fun. Might play with the Medusae idea down the line somewhere.
QuoteRavenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal
Ah, Marco, you make me laugh. It may not be utter nonsense though. I vote we all do a few of these and then anyone looking for an alien character to use in a game can use one of these descriptions as a starting point. Just look through the descriptions and pick the one you like best.
For example, an Arbites team attempting to cleanse a morgue infected with Coffin Beetles would make for an interesting scenario.
What do you guys think?
I say do it!
Yeah, Coffin Beetles would make a great "slightly different" zombie thing - as killing the living to avoid them being infected doesn't work (just tell me that the Imperium wouldn't try that)...
The Biosages might be good as a big bad in a Xenos themed campaign - and the advantage is they can look like ANYTHING. Got a Carnifex? Biosage. Got a human? Biosage. Anything...
Some of these might be better as DH enemies though
Ok, I've got a couple more descriptions for aliens produced by the generator.
Flux Assassins
Flux Assassins, commonly known simply as the Flux, are a mercenary race that survives by selling trained killers to the highest bidder. They are unique in that they do not move normally with the flow of time. Believed to have evolved as a defence mechanism, whenever a Flux is in mortal peril it is transported forwards or backwards in time. Usually these time-jumps do not cover more than a few hours, but constant training can extend the jumps to the point where they can cover decades, if not centuries. A Flux Assassin will undergo extensive subconscious conditioning to allow it to make a jump without the stimulus of being in danger, allowing them to catch their target unawares. The Flux cause much trouble whenever a member of the Inquisition attempts to study them, for they may appear in the holding cells years before the Inquisitor even learns of their existence, or jump forward to when another specimen is being examined, long after the Flux was believed to have escaped.
Dire Weasels
Resembling nothing more than giant weasels armed with advanced weaponry, Dire Weasels are a xenos race with a level of technology similar to that of the Imperium. They build cities underneath the surface of a planet, and then create engines powered by the planet's core. The planet is then used as a space-craft. Anything living on the planet's surface is usually killed to prevent any damage to the planet-ship's engines, which are the only things Dire Weasels ever build on the surface.
Dire Weasel... Isn't that an old D&D monster? I like the Flux Assassin - rules would be tricky though...
Quote from: Swarbie on January 01, 2010, 03:42:33 AMFlux Assassins
I may have to steal this idea (what for, I don't yet know.)
However, I would note that the only reason that there's no real scientific association between "Flux" and travelling through time - that's pretty much the work of the Back to the Future films.
But it works for me anyway.
~~~~~
As far as rules, I might suggest an ability to enter or exit play at will - possibly even some kind of teleportation (jump a few hours either way, walk to wherever you need to be, jump back to the appropriate time), although that would call for some risk.
I might also make it so that the model is automatically removed from the table if it horrifically flunks a Nv test or takes too much damage - perhaps system shock failure and/or if it reaches Acute injury on any location.
I think the failed Nv test or too much damage idea would work well. Then you could roll a D6 to see how many hours it travels and a D2 to see if it travels backwards or forwards.
QuoteHowever, I would note that the only reason that there's no real scientific association between "Flux" and travelling through time - that's pretty much the work of the Back to the Future films.
Yeah, but it sounds like it should work, and a more confusing, scientifically-correct common name would have to be explained every time someone new ran into one. It's much more likely that the Ordo Xenos don't really care what names are applied to the xenos they catalogue and fight, as they probably use a specie's scientific name for universal reference between members of the Ordo.
Quote from: Swarbie on January 02, 2010, 12:24:24 AMYeah, but it sounds like it should work...
I don't blame you. It was the first thing I thought of when Flux came up as part of a species name, and it took a couple of seconds for the scientific side of my brain to cut in and go "...wait a minute."
QuoteI think the failed Nv test or too much damage idea would work well.
If it's simply a failed Nv test, they'll need a damn high Nv, or you'll easily end up with your scenario screwed up because of a lucky stubber shot.
Sorry, should have clarified. I meant your idea of the horribly failed Nv test, not just any failed Nv test.
Despite some of the odd suggestions it throws up (Artificial Dogs anyone?) it's quote fun to play with so here are my offerings:
Nanovores
Native to the agri-worlds in the Kaluki Cluster these creatures are among the smallest known multi-cellular beings in the galaxy. Even a large swarm of these creatures is largely invisible to the human eye and yet they are capable of consuming an entire grox in a matter of seconds. The consumed material is then converted into highly toxic fumes the smell of which is often the only indication of the creatures' presence.
Illusion Burners of Gallina
The Gallina system is home to a race of highly psychic xenos life forms who ensnare they're prey by creating in their minds an illusion of their greatest desires. Once the victim is totally immersed in this illusion it begins to burn and the victim finds itself engulfed in raging warp fires. The Illusion Burners also use their powers to distort the viewer's perception of them so their true form is unknown but they often appear as floating balls of warp fire or burning humanoid figures.
Grave Gremlins
Small pale green creatures in many ways similar to the small Orkoid creatures know as 'Gretchin' or 'Grots' but even smaller being barely knee high. They are found throughout the tomb worlds of the Quedel Sector and increasingly in other areas where it is customary to bury the dead in stone or metal coffins. Considered a minor threat. Inquisitor Aidan Toua has put forward the theory that they are in fact off shots of the Orkoid species whose growth has been stunted by the lack of space and nutrients found inside the coffins. If his theory is correct then these creatures could pose a much larger problem than first thought as they could spread Orkoid spores to planets thought to be safe from the Greenskin threat.
I like the idea of coffin beetles... And I actually have a few failed 54mm sculpts that could quite easily be worked into becoming such creatures...
Having been thinking about this again, I made three more -
Unsearchers
A highly peculiar race, the Unsearchers developed a near unique defence mechanism. Utilising low-level psychic abilities, an Unsearcher can cause things to become lost, shifting things around them in a motion described by Savant Tullian as "artificial entropic increase". Not dangerous in themselves, they can be a serious risk during combat, due to the tendency of ammunition and equipment to go missing, and also should be immediately destroyed if found in any archival facility [cf. The "Lost Memo" Massacre of Illimia 9]
Cryorulers
One of the many threats found on the ice world of Beta Mortulu, the Cryoruler is a predatory creature. Its own body is roughly half a meter at the shoulder, and 2.5 meters long, with 6 limbs, but the Cryoruler is able to lower the temperature around it so as to create icy armour, increasing its size to an average of 3 meters tall and 6 meters long, with a recorded maximum of 5 meters by 9. The creature utilises this ability to create 'ice horns' as weapons, most often seen in a cluster surround its head, known to Mortuluites as a Cryocrown.
Spherovores
A vermin species native to Delina, the Spherovore has much in common with Terran Beetles. What marks it out is the fact that it is capable only of eating things that have been formed into spheres, its mandibles unable to deal with anything else. Towards this, it has a variety of intricate cutters and shapers sprouting around its mouthparts. In the dome-cities of Delina, Spherovores are used to create various objects, including wooden balls used as bearings in the large 'Holydoors' that separate the domes.
Quote from: DapperAnarchist on April 25, 2010, 08:41:03 PM
What marks it out is the fact that it is capable only of eating things that have been formed into spheres, its mandibles unable to deal with anything else.
This made me laugh as it reminded me of the bread-and-butterfly that lives on weak tea with cream in it...
"Supposing it couldn't find any?"
"Then it would die, of course."
"But that must happen very often," Alice remarked thoughtfully.
"It always happens," said the Gnat.
Interplanetary Spawn
Every planet has an influence on the warp; each planet leaving its own unique trace. When enough of these warp-imprints of planets exist in the same area, the warp presence of the planets themselves amass to become the Interplanetary Spawn. These small planetoids seemingly jump in and out of Realspace, and as far as can be told from experience, they are sentient and self-aware. In one unfortunate case, an imperial spacecraft saw one of these creatures and landed on it, curious about the seemingly undiscovered xenos world. The craft didn't return, but fragments of a messege were received. This message seemed to detail the planet itself killing the crew, through formation of deadly geographical sturctures (parts of the message received included chasms opening below men and acid rain clouds seemingly spontaneously appearing, raining highly corrosive acid on those unfortunate to be beneath them).
Fungus Ophidians
A relation of the Ork xenos species, Fungus Ophidians are giant bright green serpents with what appears to be a highly advanced intellect (compared to regular seprents). These fungus ophidians have a forked tail and can use the alternate ends of the tail as crude 'arms'. They use this tail to form armour from any and all available material. On one occasion, a Fungus Ophidian was found on a planet upon which a space marine force had fallen to the Orks and it seemed to have created a strange form of 'power-armour' (similar to the 'Mega-Armour worn by Ork leaders). They also forge ranged weaponry constructed and fit to their own heads, fired by a movement of the tongue. Fungus Ophidians are occasionally used as mounts by more powerful Orks, who coerce the Ophidians into allowing them by offering bribes of materials (scraps of armour/weaponary/etc...).
Neural Knights
The 'Neural Knights' are a xenos race that seemingly have no 'body'. From what experience the Imperium has had of these creatures, they all seem to be animated suits of armour with nothing inside. The only way to 'kill' neural knight is to separate all their component pieces, and even then, if enough are brought into close proximity, they begin to reform into their original shape. However, if enough of the Knight's components are destroyed, the remain pieces will lose their animacy (we cannot be certain whether the Neural Knight is 'dead' or 'alive' as we have no way of knowing whether the armour IS the creature, or if the creature is a highly psychic species 'living inside' the armour). An experiment was once conducted wherein a guardsman was put into a captured suit of 'Neural Knight' armour. There was a loud scream, and then the armour was seemingly empty. Following this experiment, the armour seemed to gain terrible psychic powers, and it fled the facility, using its new found powers to destroy any guards attempting to prevent its escape.
I know the Neural Knight sounds a bit too daemonic to be Xenos, but I imagined that they were a xenos species that had little to no physical presence and yet existed in Realspace as sort of 'clouds of thought'. They constructed the 'Neural Armour' so that they could interact with other Realspace objects, and the source and material of the Neural Armour is some sort of weird alien element - the only element that can both interact with the Knights and Realspace (an element only found on their home planet). The Neural Knights begin with no connection to the warp, but if a creature with warp presence enters the same physical location as a knight (i.e. by wearing their armour), the Knight suddenly gains their warp presence (and they are shredded apart as the Knight unwittingly rips their Warp Presence from their body). It might be cool to explore what would happen to a Knight should he gain Warp Presence. I sort of imagined his incoporeal form would slowly dissipate into the warp until eventually both the knight and the creature who's presence it stole would become a new warp entity. The life span and abilities of such an entity however, would be a matter of debate. So essentially they are 'daemons who aren;t daemons yet'. This would be especially good if you wanted a character to become a daemon - he enters the neural armour to see what happens and suddenly he's an entity of the warp, now sharing existance with a weird xenos being...
Sorry, I saw the name generator and couldn't resist. It's a brilliant source of inspiration. My ideas for each of the three would be the first for use as a campaign tool ('the rogue trader/Inquisitor/Heretic's vessel lands on what seems to be a new and unseen to human planet. They soon find out why the planet is uninhabited....'), the second as a possible gribbly/villain/addition to an Ork band and the third as either an NPC or a PC.... Creating a Neural Knight would be rather cool!
OK, this has officially dragged me in to post on a board outside of my own little thread - soon this'll be on my homepage tabs and I'll never leave the house...
Anyway...
Comet Wisps
The Comet Wisps are a race of small spacefaring creatures that live exclusively on the fringes of solar systems. Highly psychic, the Wisps feed off the emotions of sentient races, and achieve the most powerful emotions possible by creating malfunctions in scanning equipment that show something vaulable/desirable near a dangerous stellar phenomenon (usually a masked asteroid field). If the crew of the ship decides to investigate, the ship will be savaged by the phenomenon and the Wisp can feed on the fear as the ship is destroyed. Comet Wisps have been known to "work" with Pirates of many different races as a bait to bring unwary vessels into a trap, but they are just as likely to turn on their "allies" to destroy them for another feeding session afterwards. It is not known how they breed, where they come from, or what kind of society (if any) they have - many Imperial Admirals don't even think they exist, serving rather as a cautionary tale throughout the Imperial Navy to not let greed get the better of you.
Ray Kin
Natives of Atraxis III, the Ray Kin are sustained by the radiation from the binary stars their planet orbits. While they aren't sentient as such, they have the ability to absorb solar rays and project them as a wave of pure heat from their mouths at will, and do so in a frighteningly intelligent manner. They are huge but roughly bipedal, standing roughly twelve feet at the shoulder, and walking on four massive arms, while using their smaller, less developed legs to "steer" by swinging them about underneath them and using the momentum to literally swing their bodies about - while this sounds ridiculous, the Ray Kin can use this to turn quickly, even at high speeds. Although they have the physical capacity to use tools with manipulators on the ends of their legs, they appear to lack the intelligence to do it.
Matrix Warpers
The Matrix Warpers are creatures of crystal, similar to the Wraithbone Spiders that live aboard the Eldar Craftworlds. They are found on a single planet that has a high concentration of what appears to be the raw crystalline substance they are made from, and will die and crumble to dust if they are removed from it's atmosphere. While they are on the planet, however, they can do nearly anything with the crystals, changing their form, colour and even chemical make up to make them denser or lighter. When the Imperium first landed on the world, the Explorators believed they had found the ruins of an ancient civilisation, due to the many bizarre and wonderful sculptures and ornate, disused buildings the Matrix Warpers had made.
As an extension of the crystals themselves, the Matrix Warpers can change their own forms at will, but can create holes to force air through as a form of speech, blades and shields, and even rudimentary guns, although they will frequently just trap aggressors in prisons made of crystal and carry on with their crafts.
Thi is fun :D