Daedo, the companions you didnt know you wanted.

[GlitterGuts]

Foreword

I fully understand that no race will be removed for this, in order to be implemented, but I feel this is something nice for the community to have in mind, and possibly made canon, although not playable (yet). I would put this in lore canonization but the rules state that new races should go here. I wrote this in the hope that this could be used eventually as a part of aurora or as an event creature, much like warforms.

---

Summary

Spoiler

Heres a little drawing of the bastards ;3c

Daedo are a race of small, avian creatures. Dispite their size, they are incredibly ambitious and whimsical. Their sheer innocence makes them ideal to be kept as both companions or research subjects, but never equals. Their ability to act in an efficent leadership capacity is hampered by the fact that they have no caste or rank system among their cultures. They are incredibly impressionable, picking up habbits of those around them, such as cursing, nervous ticks, slang and mannerisms, although its more mimicry than genuine. They are fairly primitive in terms of technological advancement, having no concept of electricity, making most machinery seem like a living creature to them. They come from a small pseudo planet, located in a dim red dwarf system some 7 light years away from Tau Ceti. The planet is a result of two large asteroids colliding and forming a squashed looking sphere, which was pocked with comets that both cooled, and gave life to the rock. So far, the planet remains unnamed, simply refered to by its star designation IZU-C12. The planet itself is almost entirely aquatic, with the exception of a small strip of islands along the equator, due to the shape of the celestial body, forming a patchy ring of islands. The days are long, lasting roughly 182 earth hours. This makes the surface during the day unbearably hot, and the nights extremely cold. Its atmosphere contains an extraordinary amount of hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, making the use of torches, flashlights, and exposed electrical equipment strictly forbidden. IPCs are not allowed on the surface for fear of a catastrophic ignition due to sparking. All light sources are replaced with luminescent algae found on the coasts, contained in a simple glass tube of nutrients.

Upon discovery by NanoTrasen research team, they began soil and ore scanning, ignoring the Daedo as benign fauna. Mining operations started as soon as a high yield of minerals and reactive compounds were found in the stone beneath the sea floor. Temperature sealed living quarters were erected to protect from the radical temperature shifts, allowing people to stay planetside during the day and night, then going out to mine during dawn and dusk. Biologists took a while to take a specimen into captivity, having taken some of the aqua-fauna in first due to their sheer numbers and availability. Intellect trials such as puzzles and games were used to determine that Daedo were in fact sentient and intelligent, although contact with them had unintended side effects. These creatures have never discovered anti-microbials, soap, or medicine in general. This led to severe rashes, cysts, and rapid necrosis to anyone that touched them with bare skin. Penicillin made them sickly and weak, causing them to molt and lose weight rapidly. A large portion of the Daedo were taken into custody for a series of medical experiments, not to find a medication, but to use this bacteria as a potent bio weapon. Attempts to cultivate it failed as the research team became polarized, split between the weapons testing, and cure development. Fighting escalated and the Daedo were caught in the middle with no say. To be honest, they didn't know what was going on. They didn't yet speak basic, and were preoccupied with the modern technology that they had brought. With command fed up with the teams antics, they sent an ERT to quiet both sides, worrying that news of this unsolicited testing on sentient creatures would leak, they launched a coverup campaign to hide the original teams actions, as a new one was sent to continue mining operations.

They were still kept in small numbers for motor skill and memory testing, to gauge their competence. They excelled in tool based testing, but failed miserably in anything with electronics or a chemical basis. Eventually, with the advent of Spaceacillin, they were able to treat the infectious rash with relative ease, and subjects were shipped to various research stations for an attempt to integrate them with crew and teach them modern tasks. Medication must be administered at regular intervals as a cure has not yet been found. Testing is ongoing, but it shows that they seem to lack the capabilities of most species, but promise nonetheless. They are only known on a select few stations, as their breeding habits in captivity are severely hampered.

---

Mechanics

x2 Brute Modifier

x1.4 Burn Modifier

Weak pecking attack or claw attack. No punches or kicks.

Half the blood amount of humans.

Very fast walking speed

Low stamina

Can move over/under tables freely

Can be held by human sized creatures (similar to monkeys)

Cold resist

Can float over gaps and move through z levels at the expense of huge stamina drain.

---

 

Job Restrictions -

Cannot be Sec, Head of staff, Engineering, Research or Mining. Can only be nurse in medical, Most civilian jobs are open to them.

Biology and Habits

Daedo are small bipedal, digigrade avians. They lay eggs that are fertilized externally by the male, and carried in a pouch on the fathers belly. Daedo typically mate for life, but due to their planets weather systems and surface temperatures they typically don't have time to preform their rituals. On average, they tend to live between 30 - 50 years, and reaching sexual maturity withing months of hatching. Their first flight being a sign of them becoming an adult.

They don't typically fly using their own strength, using active heat vents that bubble up near the coast to gain airtime from its gusts, gliding long distances. This is used to stay in perpetual dawn or dusk on the planet. It's believed that they can even sleep whilst flying though its never been confirmed. This nomadic process has developed two separate types of Daedo. ones that chase the sunset, and the ones that run from the dawn. Although similar, they differ visually, with dusk Daedo sporting cool colors, and the dawn with warm colors. It appears that before NT intervention, they never knew that their counterparts existed, interacting with each other in a unique way. The dawn form would hunt fish, diving beneath the water and surfacing with fresh food, although they dont eat the fish themselves. They skewer the fish on wooden racks made from twigs and sticks, letting the encroaching daylight would roast and dry the fish, and the dusk would find this food and assume it was a gift from the spirits as thanks for their gifts. In return, they would leave more gifts of dried moss, seeds and small tart fruits that they gather by grazing trees with their claws as they glide. This cycle is how they stay alive as both have developed an intolerance to fruits and meats respectively, trading that what they cannot eat.

Mentally speaking, they are gullible and impressionable, but not malicious. Very easily entertained or impressed. They have a disposition towards sharing and gifting people shiny rocks or pretty bugs. Not having any natural predators they don't fear many things. They are extremely playful, which is good for morale, but impedes productivity if there is no responsible person to curtail their enthusiastic behavior.

As far as language goes, their own is not very developed. They don't have names for most things in the modern era and speak in chirps and sqwaks. Before NT intervention. they didn't have names for themselves, and quickly adopted nicknames given to them by the scientists. Through exposure, they slowly began to pick up basic, having trouble with "s" sounds. (i.e. red boxs would be Riid bocktzez". Some can speak it better than others, but not all are so fortunate.

---

As it stands now.

As of this moment, several xeno-life rights organizations are campaigning to afford them proper rights and education to help them mesh with the new world that has opened up to them. Previously unclothed, they have taken a liking to modern clothing, making their own rudimentary cloaks and bags using fibrous moss to weave clothes, which were then refined and advanced upon by the researchers using synthcloth and cotton. Some of the ones kept in more formal, corporate environments, lose some of their whimsy and imagination when confined to an office setting. Some executives are considering selling them as assistants, or something similar to a servicer for the blind, mental health companion, or simple morale boosters. Adoption programs are in the works to help give them proper homes outside of the labs.

---

If you have any questions or want to know more about them, just let me know. Im sure I missed something.

Edit: Updated the picture to have a male of the species as well.

Edited June 25, 2019 by GlitterGuts

[GlitterGuts]

Clarification: When I say they don't know electronics well, they can operate simple things with menus like PDA, Vending machines and most but not all consoles. Things like NTSL+ and R&D level things are out of their understanding. The most complex computer they would use would probably be the cargo control console. Also re-worded OP to make them seem less like toddlers, was not intended.

Edited June 25, 2019 by GlitterGuts

[Coalf]

Let me split this into two parts.

The Objective:

Lore: The idea is interesting. I am not a fan of species that have no internal conflict or differing sides as characters that come out of those tend to be samey, but the interaction between the Dawn and Dusk DD's remedies that somewhat. However, their integration into the modern world seems to be handled in a very hamfisted way, as I understand it NanoTrasen had no real incentive to introduce this species to the universe as they would be at absolutely no loss if they kept them on their planet and prodded/researched them, there. There doesn't seem to be an actual drive or reason as to why NT would let them integrate into society or even say they discovered a sentient species if that species can be considered at cavemen level, wouldn't it be just easier to hide their consciousness and make them "freedom impaired"? NT certainly isn't above those tactics, we are dealing with an Amazon-like Megacorporation.
Further, the diseased part is kinda glossed over after that? Don't get me wrong it was an original and creative idea but after it gets used as an explanation on why NT would care about the bird people, it gets forgotten.
Is it a natural part of their biology, like humans have special bacteria inside their stomach or saliva? Did the crew that picked up the DD's clean and scrub them all down before shipping them out into the wide space? Won't they die like instantly when exposed to modern environments due to the amount of Unathi/Human/Tajara/Whatever bacteria that might be floating around?
If you focus on a specific part of their biology, you should carry on with it until the end, otherwise, don't start using it at all.

Mechanics: As a previous Taj deputy I have quite some experience in dealing with people who consider some mechanics more OP than others, (thanks Geeves), and let me tell you that walking speed is not a factor to be casually given or taken away. "Very fast" is vague, too vague and I'd like you to define that. If I went off of what we already have, i.e M'sai Tajara I can safely say that these birds would be busted with ranged weapons.
Sure their x2 and 1x4 modifiers are brutal, but if you can't get hit, you won't be having to soak that damage but that is the least of their issues.
Sidenote, having half as much blood isn't actually that big of an issue. People don't die from running out of blood, people die from not having enough blood to keep their body oxygenated if someone has 500 blood, they need 250 blood to keep alive. If a bird has 300 blood, they need 150 blood to keep their supply running. Technically they will start choking slightly faster, but the way blood regeneration works in SS13 it also means they'll have to eat a nice steak and they'll be perfectly okay in less time than it took them to bleed out.
Lastly, hiding under the tables is BROKEN. Seriously try to kill a mouse that hides under tables, it's near impossible because you can't see them under the tables, meaning you can't click on their sprite, meaning they can't be hit if they're even a single tile away. These birds would essentially become invincible if anyone made a 3x3 table.
Other mechanics are fine or meh.

Server Overall: They don't seem to fit anything. While it would be nice to have a species for the xenobiotic to take apart, this wouldn't make it very fun for the player of that bird. As traders, they're unviable due to their very low tech IQ. As crewmembers, they essentially do what Vaurca drones do, except they're not actually obedient. As an event species, well they don't seem like a species that can just appear in an event but as a species that you need to tailor an event around which is not easy to do with such a fresh addition. As raiders? Not really, they're too weak in an open field but way too strong inside the station, namely tablets and again, tech unsavvy.

Summary

Objectively judged it's an overall misguided idea. It's original and I like the approach to it, the concept of the species is original and creative and it feels actually alien without making them so alien that a person wouldn't be able to empathize or sympathize with them.
But in all other fields, they're just, redundant. The mechanics haven't been thought over much and seem to have been made mostly to fit the species without really thinking about the gameplay loop of the station itself. The integration into crew feels hamfisted and badly done which is contrasted against the relatively good and original stuff you wrote and they just seem to not fit into the universe, station or crew at all.


Purely subjective and feeling based:
 

Spoiler

I don't like this species. They feel like another "Cute" race that's designed with a certain kind of player in mind, the kind of player that will go "ooh" and "awww" over something like this.
Someone had previously suggested a similarly fragile race of bat people, Avali fit into this category, I believe at some point someone suggested that nymphs should be like this. This isn't something new and I am still not fan of it and I don't believe it fits this universe AT ALL. This feels more like the universe is experiencing your species, not that the species is experiencing the universe.

Further, their lack of awareness and child-like behavior makes them a character akin to Scrappy-Doo.
You see in a round everyone can consider themselves an actor in a story and in plenty of stories there is a comic relief character. The issue is most stories go the lazy route and make the comic relief unaware of the danger he is in, this is supposed to be funny and often times it works, however, if done in the wrong situation it completely ruins the scene.
This is why the movie "Baby's Day Out" is considered a comedy and not a horror thriller because it lacks the awareness to grasp the danger it is in, making us believe it is in not in danger. Same with Scrappy who completely ruined any tension Scooby-Doo had as there were already two comedic reliefs that were done well because they were aware and even enunciated the fear of those ghosts.
These characters would be like mini Jar-Jar's, completely destroying any semblance of tension in the game and taking the players out of the round.

Note comedic relief is important, however, it should be done AFTER a tense scene or the comedic relief should be aware of the danger they're in and what they're performing.
Ron from Kim Possible, Scooby and Shaggy from Scooby Doo, Doggie Door scene in SCREAM again character is aware of the danger they just fail hilariously at escaping it. Hell even the unicorn from the Dungeons and Dragons movies raises the tension because it is aware of the danger it is in and we are worried for it because it is scared, so we empathize with it.
The way these creatures are setup and writen they'd feel like a species that isn't intended to die, and even if they're in danger like they're supposed to be unaware of it and keep acting in a childish manner. We already have enough people who do this and I believe an entire species of them woud harm the game in the short and long run.

Lastly I understand having a cute species, but having a cute species who ALSO HAPPENS to play into their cute stereotype is just unoriginal.

In short, make them feel like actual animals that only recently got uplifted and less like space children. Make them more aware of their situation, again a cute character that is aware they might die and is actively freaked the fuck out can be impactful and find a niche for them to actually fill.

5

Overall the spark is there, I can see that it's something people would like. But it just isn't something to be considered for Aurora lore.
You should, however, keep writing, keep improving but accept that ultimately if you are adding something the addition should change around the feel/lore of the setting, not that the setting should just adjust to whatever is being added.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[GlitterGuts]

15 minutes ago, Coalf said:

However, their integration into the modern world seems to be handled in a very hamfisted way, as I understand it NanoTrasen had no real incentive to introduce this species to the universe as they would be at absolutely no loss if they kept them on their planet and prodded/researched them, there

You may be right. Im not a writer, so it may not be written as best as it could be. This could be fixed if I had other writers to help develop and flesh them out. But I think NT shipping them out can be explained away as taking them to more advanced facilities on a station, considering their work on the planet is mostly made of hab-domes and mobile facilities. By taking them off planet for this testing, they would likley catch PR flak for testing on intelligent/sentient creatures against their will would look very bad, so they tried to make it seem more like a rehabilitation process rather than an illicit bio weapon scheme.

26 minutes ago, Coalf said:

Further, the diseased part is kinda glossed over after that? Don't get me wrong it was an original and creative idea but after it gets used as an explanation on why NT would care about the bird people, it gets forgotten.
Is it a natural part of their biology, like humans have special bacteria inside their stomach or saliva? Did the crew that picked up the DD's clean and scrub them all down before shipping them out into the wide space? Won't they die like instantly when exposed to modern environments due to the amount of Unathi/Human/Tajara/Whatever bacteria that might be floating around?

I was thinking of it as a more volitile form of our avian influenza. As with any first contact between any of the existing races, im sure steps were taken considering each planet likley had its own unique bacteria. This could either work two ways, (1) completely devastating the host as the host has no relevant antibodies. (2) The bacteria is harmless to the alien, as the bacteria does not know how to attack the new alien physiology. I feel the latter is normally what people run with as it reduces complications. The bacteria is something they produce internally, that acts how it does in human stomachs. An external medication stops it from being contagious and suppresses symptoms in those who have already contracted it. Im sure spaceacillin helps quell this inter-species bacteria swap somewhat.

As far as living on more terran style environments, they are birds after all. Flying as high as they do when they glide, they are accustomed to shifts in air pressure, lower amounts of oxygen at higher altitudes. Their planet is smaller than earth, so gravity impeedes them much more on a station, which is why flying is so difficult and strenuous for them outside of their native area.

34 minutes ago, Coalf said:

"Very fast" is vague, too vague and I'd like you to define that. If I went off of what we already have, i.e M'sai Tajara I can safely say that these birds would be busted with ranged weapons.

I would say a little slower than Msai. Their "sprint" would be kind of like unathi where its a quick burst of speed by they go into pain crit almost right away. Biologically speaking, lizards and birds have the worst stamina because they cannot sweat to cool themselves down (which is why humans have the best stamina regeneration of any animal irl). In nature, birds need to have a massive energy intake to maintain their speed (ie. humming bird).

37 minutes ago, Coalf said:

Lastly, hiding under the tables is BROKEN. Seriously try to kill a mouse that hides under tables, it's near impossible because you can't see them under the tables, meaning you can't click on their sprite, meaning they can't be hit if they're even a single tile away

Ok, I see your point and I agree. I even thought of adding that they could crawl in vents like monkeys too but that would be abused way too much. Maybe they shouldnt be able to hide under tables, but I think free movement over them wouldnt be too bad, as they can just hop/flap up onto it instead of having to climb.

41 minutes ago, Coalf said:

The integration into crew feels hamfisted and badly done which is contrasted against the relatively good and original stuff you wrote and they just seem to not fit into the universe, station or crew at all

I totally see where you are coming from and agree with you. I could have written it better, and I think with some help, it could become something special.

[Kaed]

We already had small bird creatures once, called resomi or something, they were removed because they were stupid and meme bait.  They sat unused as deadcode for years until we recently purged them from code altogether, I think?  Anyway, we also have vox, which are a sorta birdy, non-crew only race that are piles of walking braindead memes themselves. They even have several subspecies, I think like 3? Less than vaurca or IPC but still too many.

We don't need a new race that is birdy.  We're swimming in bird races, and none of them are good.  On the topic of races, every time someone brings up an idea for a new race, the same answer is given: We aren't adding more races.  We are swimming in race options right now.  Scalies, furries, frogs, robots, bugs, plant people, not to mention all the races that you can spawn as outside of basic crew.  The closest we got to a new race was jackboot's mole people, which dead-threaded months ago, despite a lot of work for spriting being presented and lots of interest being given.  And I don't see what a talking alien pet bird brings to the game that isn't going to devolve into them skittering around and being irritating.

 

Edited June 25, 2019 by Kaed

[GlitterGuts]

20 minutes ago, Kaed said:

And I don't see what a talking alien pet bird brings to the game that isn't going to devolve into them skittering around and being irritating.

Thats why we have whitelists, or restrict them to a special/event role.

20 minutes ago, Kaed said:

We already had small bird creatures once, called resomi or something, they were removed because they were stupid and meme bait.  They sat unused as deadcode for years until we recently purged them from code altogether, I think?  Anyway, we also have vox, which are a sorta birdy, non-crew only race that are piles of walking braindead memes themselves.

Sure, they may be birds but that doesn't make them intrinsically bad. Nobody said we shouldn't have tajara because we already have mammals. They are culturally, biologically, and mechanically different from resomi, and are only comparable because theyre small and have beaks. 

20 minutes ago, Kaed said:

We are swimming in race options right now.  Scalies, furries, frogs, robots, bugs, plant people, not to mention all the races that you can spawn as outside of basic crew.  The closest we got to a new race was jackboot's mole people, which dead-threaded months ago, despite a lot of work for spriting being presented and lots of interest being given.

Sure, but just because something else didn't pan out doesn't mean I should just give up on it. That's quitter talk. Your feedback is appreciated though.

 

Edited June 25, 2019 by GlitterGuts

[Alberyk]

Just as a note: resomi was never a playable species on this server.

[Guest Menown]

On 26/06/2019 at 09:03, Alberyk said:

Just as a note: resomi was never a playable species on this server.

Semantics. Crew-race, no. Playable, yes, especially with staff of change.

[Kaed]

On 25/06/2019 at 17:42, GlitterGuts said:

Thats why we have whitelists, or restrict them to a special/event role.

Sure, they may be birds but that doesn't make them intrinsically bad. Nobody said we shouldn't have tajara because we already have mammals. They are culturally, biologically, and mechanically different from resomi, and are only comparable because theyre small and have beaks. 

Sure, but just because something else didn't pan out doesn't mean I should just give up on it. That's quitter talk. Your feedback is appreciated though.

 

I wouldn't consider it quitter talk so much as me just not thinking as me not thinking it's really worth adding.

Sorry, we already have a sort of pet in the game in pAIs, and a lot of people hate them a whole bunch, because they're often used to play irritating pest characters who has no responsibility to anyone except their owner. The only tenuous counteracting force to them being pests is that anyone can delete them with no consequences.

You bring in living pets that can talk, and you'll have people being charged with animal abuse for killing them because they were annoying.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Kaed

[GlitterGuts]

On 27/06/2019 at 14:10, Kaed said:

You bring in living pets that can talk, and you'll have people being charged with animal abuse for killing them because they were annoying.

I dont understand your pAI comparison. they're not pets, and would be charged the same as assaulting anyone else. They are fully sentient and just not acclimated to modern technologies or customs. If the adoption line made you think they were pets, it was more in the line of orphans, than stray animals. They still show manners and courtesy, so I don't think it would come to that as long as people voiced that they're doing something they don't like. I feel like the only instance where they would continue to be annoying is if they are played by an annoying player, hence a whitelist to put a floodgate on it and weed out some of the lrp players.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I dont know if this would fall into the expectation that wed have to remove a s species to add this one or if it would stand on its own as a minor species. Id need that answer before continuing.

 

@Skull132

[GlitterGuts]

20 hours ago, Senpai Jackboot said:

I dont know if this would fall into the expectation that wed have to remove a s species to add this one or if it would stand on its own as a minor species. Id need that answer before continuing.

 

@Skull132

To be honest, considering their mechanic as a half-sprite (nearly all standard bodywear wouldnt fit them, and would have their own xenowear to replace it, or have their clothes glued on like punpun), I think they would function better as a special spawn like borg. Maybe they spawn in Xenobio or their own area similar to merchant or borg. Perhaps they could be received from cargo and taken out of a mini cryo-pod and it would summon a ghost (similar to dionae nymphs, pAI, positronics?)

[Butterrobber202]

not gonna lie chief, a new alien race isn’t going to be added anytime soon.

[KingOfThePing]

We saw the addition of two sub-species not too long ago (Off-Worlders and Aut'akh) so even while it seems interesting (though, not groundbreaking) I don't think it's getting added. Sorry, you probably put some time into thinking this out.