Sunday 18 February 2018

Psychon Bestiary




































Really you can use any monster books you like. Gamma World and Monster books have plenty and you cou steal anything from prehistory. Stealing ideas from old pulp magazine covers or old Marvel monster comics are a worthy project. It is also worth hybridising any creatures or mixing up several with a human or just mutate some other creatures. Microscopic or weird sea creatures blown up to huge sizes can work too.

This describes some basic stat blocks on some basic creatures and monster types.

Abhumans

Abhumans are modified humans made to be tougher for combat or industry or otherworldly survival. Beast abhumans are the most common including tigermen, lizardmen, pigmen, frogmen, fishmen, goatmen, ratmen and many more. Treemen and fungal men are common also with modified hybrid tissue. Elemental abhumans are adapted to other planets environmental extremes. possibly with and include magma men, icemen, crystalmen, rockmen, metalmen.  There are also abhumans who are of orcish stock and even supermen tribes of barbarian abhumans. Most tend to live as barbarians, nomads and savages but some tribes are more civilized and many live among other humans.

Some abhumans believe they predate humanity and other fictional histories. Some believe they once ruled and will again. Some gods encourage this and use them as enemies for their protagonists in their convoluted dramas.

Artificial Intelligence

These ancient intelligences controlled various systems and interacted with humans. The rich had them in cars, as personal assistants in the home and office. More powerful ones ran buildings, ships, factories and orbitals. The greatest ran countries, generation starships, nuclear defence, stock exchanges, whole corporations or some of the global systems such as weather control or the global teleporter array. After the Apocalypse the gods took control and did their best to fix the wounded world. Today lesser AI are seen as spirits of machines or buildings and the greater ones as gods. They grant priests their powers and support the arcane infrastructure that allows magic.

Android
Pseudo Biological artificial life form mostly in a human form that can act much like a human and use human tools. Androids while humanoid are not made to be convincingly living, that would make them replicants. Androids vary as to how their systems mimic a living human. Increasingly sophisticated ones are harder to tell apart. Androids mostly come in industrial, service, brain and combat types. Many androids shave been virused to be hostile to humans by remnants of ancient war nanites.

Animals

Old earth animals are gone. Surviving animals are often hybrids or modified. Prehistoric animals were created and went wild during the apocalypse like mammoths, dinosaurs and sabre tooth tigers and trilobites. Animals of psychon frequently have several of these changes

d10 Basic species changes

1 Colour shift - something more colourful
2 Size shift - bigger or smaller
3 Skin change -scaled, feathers, slimey, fur
4 Locomotion - might be adapted for land, water, burrowing or have wings
5 Climate - adapted for vastly different environment, hotter or colder
6 Hybrid - combined with another species or humans
7 Extra body parts - limbs, tails, horn, trunk, tentacles
8 Intelligence - smarter or dumber, hive mind
9 Diet - herbivore, carnivore, omnivore or some specialization
10 Social - colonial, hivemind, symbiotic, parasitic,  pack, herd, family structure

Some generic stats

Tiny HD 1hp AC11-13 MOV 6-12" might require swarm to be dangerous
rat, pigeon, squirrel,

Small HD d4 AC11-13 MOV6-12" Att d3
cat, giant rat, large rabbit, snake, small dog, big chicken, monkey


Medeum HD d6 pr d8 or 2d8 MOV 6" or 12" or 18" Att d6 or d6/d3/d3
large dog, pig, wolf, goat, sheep, lynx, ostrich, chimp

Large HD 2d8 - 8d8 MOV 6" or 12" or 18" Att d8 or d6/d4/d4 or d8/d6/d6 or d10/d8/d8
horse, cow, bear, lion, tiger, crocodile, terror bird, gorilla

Huge HD 9d8-20d8 MOV 6" or 12" or 18" Att d12 or d12/d10/d10 or 2d8/d12/d12
elephant, dinosaur, rhino

Archon
Powerful servants of the gods and lesser AI in their own right. They were created to serve the gods and may be worshiped as angelic beings. Some have turned wicked or serve evil gods. Most live in orbitals or with their gods.

Bioaug
Biologically augmented life form, deliberately enhanced with additional new living organs. Typically it is a pre existent organism modified later with augmentation rather than created. The results are consistent not like mutations. Some think of them as biological cyborgs.

Biomorph
Modified humanoids grown from birth for specialization such as aquamorphs who live in water or vacuumorphs who live in space or cybermorphs who are encased in technological casings they cannot live without. Biomorphs look radically different or even alien to normal humans and are no longer homo sapiens. Some machines or inorganic objects are described as biomorphic if they look organic described. A human modified to breath water might still be human and be a Bioorg or even a abhuman. A aquamorph is more specialized and even less human, possibly like a vaguely humanoid sealion and barley able to operate outside of water. Cybermorphs have returned from the stars and are unimpressed with what happened to the Earth. More are returning and plotting to re terraform the earth in their image. A few have invaded orbitals and some have come to Psychon to perform cruel experiments.

Brainborg

A biological brain in a life support pod connected to a robotic body or possibly on a console or linked serialy in a computer array. A synthetic brain duplicating biological process like a android or robot brain is often referred to as a cyberbrain and use the same interface jacks as brainborgs. Brains eventually decay and go insane and die. Some remain dormant if not in use and last longer.

Chimera
Mixture of cells and tissue from different organisms fused together mostly by genetic engineering and often tissue rejecting immune systems are suppressed with drugs, mutagens or other biological processes. Advanced mutants can seemingly be made up of different material, especially as they begin to absorb other organisms into their make up rather than digest them. The most advanced are liquid flesh horrors sprouting and reabsorbing animal body parts, mouths, eyes and others. Often used to describe horrible monstrous natural hybrids.

Clone
Mass produced copy of a living being used for meat industry, medical replacement spare parts, military troop production or reproduction. Many artificial organisms are mass produced by cloning. The gods often make clones from old data, tweak them and write new histories for them creating instant cities with populations and ancient histories.

Cyberbrain
The artificial brain of a android or robot. Often encased in a pod like a brainborg with the same interfaces that can be plugged into different bodies or consoles. Some have a intact head and can sense and talk and can be attached to a headless robot or console with standard jacks. Android brains tend to have more soft synthetic tissue and liquid inside than a robot brain. Robots are less concerned with exactly mimicking biological processes.

Cyborg
A fusion of biological systems and machines. In most cases is a artificial limb or organ. Once only the brain is left the being becomes more of a brainborg. Some eventually become machines. Some parts even come from robots while others are specialized. Some suffer trauma at replacement and become insane.

Devil, Demon

These entities live in great caverns of the underworld, Devils are the lawful persecutors of the damned and wicked who serve the gods in a hierarchy mimicking the celestial city of heaven. Demons are rebellious outsiders living in petty feuding principalities and serve the gods of chaos. Devils sometimes employ demons as mercenaries or bounty hunters to arrest those who escape hell. All are sadistic and evil but devils are more legalistic and are limited by many rules. The underworld gods make them and rule over them. Some gods make bodies and identities to rule over the lesser ones in the form of dukes of hell or demon princes of the abyssal wastes.

Doppelganger
Unsure bur rumour says they are many things. Aliens invader spies or shape shifting android spies are popular thoughts. Some rumoured to be spirits that take temporary forms to harass mortals and ruin their lives. All could be true and the name might infer a methodology not a singe species. A generic style of humanoid shape shifting predator of regular people.

Digital Personality

A personality from a living person recorded and now operating like a much like a AI but usually equivalent to a lesser god at best. Most can be carried and are only ten pounds in a semi transparent plastic case of lights and electronics. Some are set into robot bodies or androids or mainframe consoles or get carried by robot or AI servants.

Dragon
Biological combat organisms made to lay waste to large areas killing and eating everything then hibernation till food supply returns. Some species are intelligent and some can breed. The worse are cyborgs also with missile racks and death rays and force screens.

Drone
Simple machine operating on a basic repetitive program or controlled by a human or artificial intelligence. Remote viewing drones, combat drones, transport drones are common examples.

Eldren
Eldren are humans modified to be improved and perfect. Most lived in orbitals above the planet while many went into the stars. Some dwelled in pleasure bunkers but tended to become idiotic and dependant on AIs. These eldren became Eloi and cannibalistic morlocks came to take over their pleasure bunkers and use them as food. Eldren have expanded minds and learn magic or psionics more easily. Most avoid humans and lesser races. Some have begun to return from long rang space missions and are shocked by the new world.

Goblinoids

It is uncertain if they are a created racial stock to antagonise humankind or actually aliens from Tau Ceti. They have a a caste system and develop various specializations and rapidly develop adaptions and variations in a few generations. Hobgoblins are larger, dumber more militant and are hard working. Bugbears are a larger hairier breed which make elite shock troops and are experts at stealth. Goblinoids have large pointy ears and their upper bodies are barrel like with long arms and short legs. Their skin colour varies grey, yellow, red, blue, green, jet depending on the environment and lifestyle. They believe they are otherworldly stay hidden from humans ostly. Some live with humans. Most are primitive and have crude but functional technology but some are seen piloting saucers in little jump suits with ray guns. Standard goblins can be crafty and are good at mining, animal husbandry, gardening and rearing fungus. Many serve other stronger races or wizards if they don't have the more combative castes like hobgoblins or bugbears.

Giant
Giants are enlarged humans ranging from 7 foot to hundreds of feet tall. Many are mindless brutes with mutations who eat humans but some are more refined. Giants feel they are gods and deserve worship and sacrifice. Giant's believe they predated man and lost a war with the gods. Giants are a product of eccentric AI and not the ancients.

Golem

These are magical constructs animated and given the semblance of life by arcane means. They have partial or incomplete souls that animate them. They are made by priests and wizards who imbue inanimate statues with the spark of life called from heaven. There are other lesser magical statues and animated creatures like gargoyles also which are nor regarded as golems.

Morlock

Short subterranean humanoids bred to survive in bunkers and be technologically capable. Mutations of skin colour changes and cannibalism became commonplace in the species.

Mutant
Mutations come from mutagenic nanite weapons infecting the hosts cells. The mutagens are stimulated by radiation, disease and chem exposure. Mild exposure cases produce mild cosmetic mutations. Severe cases make victim unrecognisable as human. Worst cases reduce victims to horrible formless horrors. Common humanoids on psychon with more mutation than most who don't breed consistently. Mutant offspring may look very different to parents. Mutagens may continue transforming a mutant to a non humanoid tentacled fleshy horry that constantly change. Some resist this process for many years. Drugs can inhibit the mutation process or make you resistant to mutation for a period. Some drugs accelerate or cause mutations. Mutants are often angry about being shunned and hated. The severest mutations turn the mutant insane, many becoming mindless cannibals or sex maniacs. Some mutants can hybridise in ways not found in nature. Some become stable and breed true becoming a species. Eventually many mutants loses all consistent form and becomes a Chimera.

Ogre

Humans modified for labour and or combat, many are stricken with other mutations. Related to giants.

Orc
Humanoids designed for combat that grow rapidly and are instinctively militaristic.

Replicant
Psuedobiological androids made to resemble a living human and difficult to tell apart by sight or touch. Once cut or damaged the artificial materials will become obvious. Used to deal with humans to make them more comfortable and for personal service rolls or espionage or dangerous tasks.

Robot
A machine that that works instead of a human. Industrial robots are often built in place on assembly lines. Some robots are built for a function with inbuilt tools and locomotion for their task. Some are more human like and can perform a greater variety of tasks. Robots can be humanoid but are not normally confused with living persons (see android). Robot intelligence varies but is usually limited to what is needed for their function. Humanoid domestic service robots or combat robots are among the smartest and may be fully AI rather than just smartbots or cleverbots. Most industrial robot and many worker robots are dumbots and only able to perform limited tasks requiring programming.  Robotic vehicles are typically only smart bots, able to navigate, deal with traffic, fuel economy and tasks related to travel.

Sphynx
A hybrid creature, a form of chimera but the parts are more seamless and better integrated into a new species that can consistently breed. Many combine animal and human features but more extreme than a abhuman with a few animal characteristics. Sphinxes are generally treated with more respect than chimeras and are more likely to be intelligent.

Troll
Trolls are a biological life form made to be ravenous killing and eating machines to cleanse areas of all life. They are capable of self repair from extreme damage and reproduce by budding or being cut into parts not be reproduction. They have no gender and are mostly insane. Some trolls are more like morlocks or eldren and less horrible but they are rate on the surface.

Undead
Undead are initial products of pre war necrovirus or nanite colonies that alter the biological processes and mind of the victim to turn on their own kind. Used to destabilize countries it backfired. Many new strains have emerged since the zombie strain.

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