I spent too much time on this...
Officer
Name: Araneae
Homeworld: Arachnis, a planet that, at first glance, looks barren in it's grey tint. Upon further inspection, one would find that it's absolutely filled with precious minerals, as well as the inhabitants of the world. The plant-life seem to constantly struggle to survive against the dirty sky, trying to absorb what sun-light they can. The first set of explorers to land on the planet were a small human ship, coming to see what they could do with the world. The crew was quickly made into tasty meals by the planet's inhabitants.
Similar non-intelligent lifeforms: Spiders... Just spiders.
Appearance: Araneae can vary in both size and colour. The sizes of Araneae can vary from as small as medium sized dogs to about as large as elephants. Their appearance is extremely akin to, some say identical, earth based creatures called spiders. Some have long, skinny legs and a small body; others have strong, thick legs with a heavily armoured body. Some are very hairy, some fuzzy and others slick to the touch. They all have the following; 8 Legs, an abdomen and a thorax. Araneae can have up to 8 eyes but a minimum of 0 eyes, only ever having their eyes in pairs. Female araneae are larger then their male counter-parts, this also varies depending on the type of araneae.
Biological traits: If a Araneae happen to have hair of any type, they have individual muscles for every hair on their body, this allows them to be able to climb surfaces, operate machinery or small objects. These hairs also help in their body-language. All Araneae have from 3-5 different venom glands within their thorax, these venoms can be mixed to make a variety of different venoms that the fangs can inject into their prey. These venoms can have different effects, from a drug-like high, to painful instant death. Most Araneae have one main venom gland, while the others are simply add-ons to make chemical differences to the main gland. Araneae exoskeletons can vary in thickness; as a result they have different weights and toughness. Some can be as tough as a tank, the drawback being their slow, while most tend to be only capable of blocking blunt weaponry, usually making the specific araneae fast and nimble. Their exoskeletons, however, take a long time to fully heal when damaged, usually taking up to a couple of months to fully heal a puncture wound. Araneae webbing is one of the strongest materials in the known universe, being as strong as steel but as flexible as rope. Some araneae rely on their webbing to trap their prey, usually resulting in said araneae to overproduce the substance, while other araneae simply use it to preserve their prey and to make their den/home more homely. This webbing has been known to be used by araneae who have taken over a vessel or station to plug up holes within said vessel or station, to deal with the vacuum created by the void of space. Some araneae can detect vibrations in the ground, helping them locate and target prey if they can't see in the dark very well. Araneae have no sense of smell.
Cultural traits: Araneae aren’t considered to have much of a sophisticated society, the average araneae isn't exactly self-aware. The creatures avoid general contact with others with the exception of the need to survive, usually resulting in either breeding or cannibalism. Breeding within the species tends to be a dangerous game. Males, if they initiate the courting, try to please their desired female by one of two ways, meals if the male simply wants to 'get busy and die quickly' or by lovingly engage in various romantic forms (usually sweet-talk). Those that usually want to live try the latter option, those that give up on life usually chose the former. The reason for this is because 85% of the time the female will, after being impregnated, overpower and preserve her 'partner' and reserve him as a meal for their eventual children. The eggs of the pair will be laid in a web-sac, either carried by a nomadic/brooding female araneae or kept within the female's den, which are then placed by a prepared meal for when they hatch, usually the father of the eggs. When they hatch, this can take from 9-12 weeks, they can number from 20-100 in number. This quick breeding process is the primary reason why the araneae are the only living creatures on their planet, apart from plants and some underground based animals. While the chance of death upon breeding is high, only 30% of the male population go down the road of breeding, but the reason for this is dependent on the individual araneae.
Breeding in space, however, is a slightly different story. While Arachnis is highly biologically diverse, there are araneae have been known to stow-away on ships trying to mine the world's valuable resources. If said araneae had a partner come with them, or two different araneae boarded the ship without knowing about each other, they can quickly overwhelm and over populate any space station within a matter of years, if they actually try to breed or they are not exterminated. Many a horror story of a ghost station or ship flutters around the galaxy, infested with araneae that no longer have the bio-diversity of their planet to work with, so they're all inbred. These araneae controlled vessels or stations are simply used as a new home for a 'spider queen' or 'brood mother' and her children. While most araneae won't use technology, as they as a race are quite simple in their life-style, others pick it up with curiosity, which has led to some stations being invaded by araneae controlled vessels. Most inbred araneae, normally after about 5-6 generations, tend to be no more than wild animals, only obeying their brood mother.
Due to this threat, many races have extreme restrictions on araneae, normally upon their breeding. Some races straight up purge araneae, purely out of fear or hatred of the race itself. However, if an araneae is able to control its more primal, animalistic tendencies, it can add a lot to the galaxy it has accepted itself in. This has led to many araneae, who control their breeding habits, to try to make their race a united one, in realisation that there's more to life than simply 'living'. These araneae are self-aware, showing that this race is on the verge of becoming fully self-aware, a trait needed for a race to push itself to do greater things. This, however, isn't common knowledge among the other races, who usually treat all araneae as a 'stupid' or 'retarded' race.
Specialization: Araneae don't have a single specialization as they vary in size and capabilities. Some hire themselves out as assassins, sneaking into location and killing their target(s). Some are more fit for front-line duty, usually accepting pay by consuming the corpses of their fallen enemies. With their understanding of their own venom mixes, they can make good bar-owners (if anyone was gutsy enough to higher one) or other sciences.
Tech: Other than making very interesting works of art or traps with their webbing, not much personal understanding (as a race) of technology.
^ In case you wish to simply skip the wall of text, here's a quick summery.
Name: Araneae
Homeworld: Arachnis
Similar non-intelligent lifeforms: Spiders
Appearance: Big spiders, little spiders, tall spiders, short spiders, etc. Females bigger than males. Can be as small as a medium sized dog to the size of an elephant (depending on araneae variant.
Biological traits: Steel strength webs, 3-5 different venom glands that can mix, can climb stuff, hairs can be used for body-language, can't smell, some can detect vibrations in the ground, Big spiders = tough, strong & slow, little spiders = durable, quick & nimble, etc. Slow recovery rate.
Cultural traits: 85% of males are fed to their kids after mating with female. Only 30% of males actually mate. Araneae reproduce like, if not more than, rabbits. Take over vessels in over population, essentially make horror movies a reality in some cases. Many races enforce heavy restrictions on them, others straight up kill them. Most aren't considered 'self-aware'.
Specialization: Either hiding in your shoes to bite you, like ninjas. Or, pick you up and throw you out of the shoe. All depends on Araneae variant.
Tech: Web-based traps & art.
Character Sheet:
Name: Quib
Age: 38
Species: Araneae
Appearance: Essentially a jumping spider.
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7040/6838120638_9db4487d68_z.jpg, here's the link for his specific colouring (mostly a tan-ish white with a brighter tint of orange at the tips of his legs & mandibles. Besides that, Quib is about 3' high normally, but if he extends himself on his 'tippy-toes' he can be about 4.5' in height. He's 6.9' in length and 5.2' in width.
Personality: Quib is quiet, simple minded at times and easily intimidated. He will try his best to not creep out those around him, to the point where he will wear a variety of hats so others feel more comfortable around him. His also 'wears' a white trench coat, to also help dispel tension; he doesn't always wear it as it hurts him slightly as it's (obviously) not designed for araneae in mind. While he can read English perfectly, he struggles to speak it and doesn't have a full grasp on things like sarcasm and sometimes takes human phrases too seriously. This often leads to the assumption that he's not very intelligent. Has never confirmed or denied consuming a human/drow/etc.
Skills overview: Medical understanding, knowledge on many races' biology, skilled jumper (about 15-20 metres) and 3 venom glands, allowing him to mix up to 7 different kinds of venoms.
For simplicity, I will be calling Quib's main venom gland yellow and his other two glands blue and red.
Yellow = When in contact with blood, swells and adds flavour to victim. Quib's primary consumption venom.
Red = Slightly Corrosive venom, can strait up kill an elephant in moderate doses.
Blue = Sedative venom, can straight up knockout an elephant in light doses
Yellow/Red = Used to make slightly intoxicating chemical, causing the victim to hallucinate or have a 'high'. Can be lethal if over used or too much is used at once.
Yellow/Blue = Similar to the effect of pain-killers, simply more effective. Can be lethal if too much is used at once.
Red/Blue = Mixes with blood, causing wounds to swell as they make contact with outside environment. Stops blood loss of victim
Yellow/Red/Blue = Dangerous chemical mixture. Causes victim to suffer a slow, painful death as they hallucinate and eventually rip open as their blood reacts negatively with
substance.
Position on crew: Chief Medical Officer
Years on crew: 0.51
Bio: Quib had first encountered Julius when he approached the man and his crew, requesting to join their crew in his crude English. He had been asking various ship crews for work, only to either be chased away with blaster fire or rudely declined. Julius, who was a little drunk at the time, questioned Quib about his 'skills'. Quib quickly explained he considered himself a medical practitioner, even though he had no credentials to account for it. While Julius probably would have said no under most circumstances, he had just lost his only medical crewmember due to a 'disagreement in pay', and Quib offered to work for simply enough salary to feed him and a budget to be used for medical equipment. Julius accepted him under two conditions; 1) No using his crew as 'emergency rations'. 2) No female araneae allowed on-board, no matter the circomstance. Quib agreed to these conditions and has abided by them for over six months. If asked why he was interested in working if he had no desire to make a profit, Quib would respond saying that he was more interested in increasing his medical knowledge and to observe the interesting lives of other races.
Jinxlynx said
I think that would be awesome! The drow have a subrace known as Driders, think of a centaur but a spider bottom half instead of a horse. I was about to submit a CS for a medical officer but now I do not have to!! YAH!
I've decided to go with something more spider-like. My original intention for the character was to essentially have a '
man-spider' who would be creepy and disgusting, where he would be flirting with the female crewmembers in an attempt to just be a general creeper, but I couldn't find a picture I liked and decided to go with something more 'natural'. That said, the thought crossed my mind that I could put funny hats on this newer version, so I just had to revise him to be creepy cute, or that's the hope anyway.