The Zero-Template Challenge: The Herne, the Forest-Walkers

Rumors and whispers had long swirled through the colonist population of Arcadius that the world was inhabited. Finally, when Sovereign fell, the Herne revealed themselves and spoke in flawless Galactic Common: "Our season has come." They sought and gained a seat on the Alliance Senate and the recognition of the Viscontess of Arcadius.  Now, their hunters serve as rangers and footman in her forces, and they've even begun to travel the stars.

The Herne tower over most humans at 7' to 9', but with no more mass, giving them a long, stretched-out appearance.  Their long arms end with three-fingered hands, and their lean, digitigrade legs end in slender hooves. A long, thin tail sways sinuously behind them.  They have long faces with flat nose that ends in a triangular, moist rhinarium and have narrow mouths which, combined, give them the appearance of a very flat muzzle.  Their large eyes take in everything with a patient gaze, and their ears are long and end in square tips. The Herne, like humans, are mostly covered in skin, but all Herne have a tuft of fur on the tip of their tail, and many males have shaggy hair on the bottom of their legs and their forearms and a thick ruff over their head and completely covering their neck, like a great mane. Females have less hair, with just enough atop their head to resemble a short, cute "pixie" cut of hair.

Herne coloration varies with the seasons.  In summer, their hair takes on a rich, golden hue similar to the color of Arcadian foliage, and their skin deepens to a rich and dappled mohagony. A Herne in the grip of its summer colors is sometimes called a Goldback Herne.  By winter, as the snows begin to fall, their hair turns silver and their skin fades to a dappled ivory. A Herne in the grip of its summer colors is sometimes called a Silverback Herne. The specifics vary from Herne to Herne: some grow darker in summer or lighter in winter, and the nature of their dappling and patterns vary, but the seasonal nature remains a constant, and their seasonality is deeply tied to the conditions on Arcadius.

The seasons of Arcadius change more than just the coloration of the Herne.  Their personalities change with it.  By summer, they grow congenial and gather together in great groups.  For them, summer is a time of merriment and holiday, and the celebrate the abundance of Arcadius.  As cold of winter chills their world, though, they grow taciturn, territorial and isolationist, scattering out over their world.  Many Herne are naturally psychic as well, and this seasonality affects their powers.  By summer, their powers benefit one another, while by winter, they become nightmarish warriors and dangerous hunters.

The Herne have become an unremarkable sight on Arcadius, but they remain novel in the Alliance.  The arrival of the Arcadian Viscontess with her lanky, alien bodyguard causes quite a stir every year at Atrium still. But their hunters have begun to spread and participate in the wars of the Alliance.  The first Herne recently fell in battle against the Empire.  Exactly why they chose this time to reveal themselves is unknown, but the truth likely lies in their religion and its connections to Arcadius.

Herne

1 point

Secondary Characteristics: SM +1 [0]

Perks: Limited Camouflage (Woodland) [1]; Hooves [1] (note that in Psi-Wars, hooves have a reduced point value); 

Features: Digitigrade [0]; Tail [0];

Quirks: External Mood Influencer (Arcadian Seasons; Congenial in summer; Territorial in Winter) [-1]

Herne Traits

SM +1 has no cost.  It's a good way to represent a very tall and lanky creature, at least if you don't back it up with any ST.  The rest, I think, is pretty self-explanatory.

For additional traits, we might give the males horns or antlers as an optional trait, and the possibility of a prehensile tail might be nice.  Higher Basic Move is also realistic, or Enhanced Move (Ground).

The Herne should be allowed to buy seasonal abilities, especially psionic abilities. 

• Tactile TK 4 (Winter Only) [16]; Aspect 5 (Summer Only;alternate ability) [3]

• Sensory Control 1 (Winter Only) [28]; Visions (Full; Summer Only;

  Alternative Ability) [3]

• Cure 2 (Summer Only) [21]; Steal Life 1 (Winter Only, Alternative Ability) [4];

 

These are purchased with  Accessibility, only during Arcadian (Season) -20%, and the second, cheaper trait should be taken as an alternative ability to the first.

Which ability is active actually has to do with complex biological rhythms and hormonal levels; these can be affected by specific drugs or with the Body Control skill.  A character who has Body Control or access to the proper meds can attempt to rebalance his system towards the right seasonal polarity.  This is impossible at the "height" of the season, but during the "autumn" or "spring" it's relatively easy to do.  The GM can assign penalties based on how "far" away from the other season the character currently is, with +0 for the midpoint of seasons and -10 at as far into the season as the GM is willing to allow the change; if I worked out a specific calendar, I could give more exact modifiers.  Once the change has happened, all related chances come with it (for example, a Summer Herne who shifts to Winter becomes territorial, and gains access to all his Winter powers, but loses all Summer powers).  This change takes about thirty minutes to enact, and lasts for a day before it reverts to the closest season.

Herne may also take seasonal disadvantages; these have a -80% limitation on them; this is not the same as Split Personality; they're more like two sides of the same person, and will not suddenly flip in times of stress.

A Woodlands Commentary

Sorry about the lack of art.  I can see them so clearly in my head and I went looking for them, but I couldn't find what I wanted.

This one was quite a journey! I had a pretty good idea up front for what I wanted for the Vithani and the Karkadann.  For the third one, I wanted to play with how weird I could get the physiology.  Of course, the reality is most weird physiology has traits necessarily associated with them.  Go look at the Template Toolkits Morphology page to see what I mean!  There are some things you can do, if you stretch, but at some point, you need funny traits.

I didn't really hit on a theme until I found the External Mood Influencer and it cited seasons as one such example, and I thought "Hey, an animal that changes its fur, and personality, with the seasons!"  The rest flowed from there, and what resulted was a strange... skin-deer... thing.  I had originally wanted something for the Sylvan Spiral, but this feels more at home on Arcadius, with its golden forests and strange, magical landscapes.  I always wanted Arcadius to have strangely intelligent life, but I pictured something more like a sapient, psychic deer than a humanoid that happened to look somewhat inspired by deer. 

 

I also want it sternly noted that I'm making up a lot of this lore as I go.  I've noticed people taking what I've written as fully realized races. These are rough drafts.  Seriously, before they ended up as posts, they were little outlines of traits and some two word notes on appearance and a couple of pictures I found on pinterest. So if people say "I think this would fit better somewhere here," that's fine. This one in particular is, in my opinion, rough around the edges.

If I made them official, they'd need things like Parabolic Hearing and Discriminatory (or at least Acute) Smell, higher Basic Move (or maybe just Enhanced Ground Speed), possibly higher HT, and maybe a bit more ST, though they'd need some disads to balance that out (Hidebound?).

Should I make them official? I'm not sure.  The core mechanical twist of "your capabilities change with the seasons" is neat, but I'm not sure people would enjoy the play quite so much.  Because you're talking months, you're going to be locked into a single mode for most of a particular arc.  If the plot to assassinate Nova Sabine happen in Arcadian Summer, then you're cheerful and happy and you've got nice, cleric powers, and that's it. The rest of your points are wasted.  If the next arc about delving into the labyrinth to uncover the Labyrinthine cult that arranged the assassination attempt happens to fall in Arcadian Winter, then you're a warlock and that's just how it is.  The ability to swap in and out makes it a bit more interesting and a bit more controlled, but there are limits. This does give the GM some tools, allowing the player flexibility in one arc, and limiting them more tightly in the next, but I'm not sure it'll give a pleasing counterplay.  I rather think a Day/Night cycle would be more interesting, as you can just wait a few hours to shift to the mode you want, and your enemies might try to ambush you in the wrong mode (in the same way that they might ambush people when they're asleep). But I dunno, what do you think, would you want to play as one?