Let's create a soft sci-fi setting Veeky Forums!

The Tsaumozar scourge civilized space with their constant raiding, looting, and pillaging. They evolved from a species of beetle on an extremely hostile jungle planet, as a result, their adaptability, ferocity, and endurance is renowned across the galaxy. The Tsaumozar are almost three times and strong as a Human, and much more resilient. They have an incredibly fast reaction time, and a nearly boundless stamina.
The Tsaumozar have no unified government, rather, they live under a sort of controlled anarchy, akin to the ancient Norse on earth. Their society is divided under thousands of feuding clans that each operate as their own family unit, tribe, and small military all at once. Their clans have spread to conquer and colonize tens of thousands of planets in the northern arm of the spiral galaxy. The Tsaumozar don't put much value on material wealth, but they deeply respect martial prowess.
The Tsaumozar reproduce sexually and lay eggs, though there is little difference between males and females. They have a lifespan of roughly sixty years. They have three social classes, Qyeht, their leadership, those who have proven themselves in battle and are fit to lead a clan. Qyrik, the free commoners, they follow the Qyeht in clans ,or work as freelance mercenaries. When a Qyrik has won enough battles, and pillaged enough wealth, they become a Qyeht, and can start their own clan. The Quht are all non-Tsaumozar, they are regarded as sub-sapient and enslaved Quht make up the vast majority of the Tsaumozar workforce. Quht cannot move up the social ladder, though occasionally they are set free by their masters after accomplishing something noteworthy.

(cont.)

Unlike most insectoid species, the Tsaumozar are highly individualistic, and mobility between clans and social classes is common. They refuse to follow a leader they could easily defeat in a fight. The Tsaumozar The majority of their Technology is stolen, or manufactured by slaves. They are infamous for their inability to withstand the effects of alcohol, though many hard drugs don't faze them.
The Tsaumozar have very few ethics, and don't regard much as taboo. It is seen as blasphemous and unspeakable to betray one's clan, as they have placed their trust in their members. Murder against other Tsaumozar is frowned upon somewhat, but dismissed as long as there was a good reason. Dueling is a common practice among the Tsaumozar, and seen as a practical way to solve inter-clan disputes and financial arguments. They are somewhat libertarian in the sense that they believe that the right to own and armaments is a sacred right that they do nothing to regulate. Anyone of them could own nuclear weaponry capable of leveling a small city, and they wouldn't be monitored over it.
They aren't religious at all, viewing spirituality as irrelevant. The Tsaumozar are a major threat to civilized space, and if they were united into one empire, they'd have a fair chance at galactic domination. Fortunately, their society is fragmented, and likely will be as long as the species exists. Many clans hire themselves out for mercenary work, and some clans are involved in smuggling. Though more or less all clans are at least somewhat involved in raiding.

Pulse weaponry is extremely practical, cheap, and durable, if not the most up to date, damaging or accurate. They fill the same niche in the galaxy that Kalashnikov firearms fill in ours.

Pulse weaponry works by temporarily, (a thousanth of a second), opening a rift to Shift-space, unleashing a fluctatic kinetic energy blast, (a pulse), to propel a thin, sharpened rod forward at bullet speeds. Pulse weaponry can effectively work with anything that has mass, bullets, steel ball bearings, even pebbles, all work, sharpened rods are the most accurate, easily manufactured, and damaging ammunition.

*fluctuating*

We should do a vote up space opera or whateaver, like they did on gurps forum
forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=96772

The galaxy has a thriving criminal underbelly. The black market, drug cartels, and crime syndicates are all commonplace among the more urbanized worlds. Out on the frontier, pirates, mercenaries, and slavers make a killing. The galaxy is a big, big place and no one has the time or the resources to police it all, though some try.

>We should do a vote up space opera or whateaver, like they did on gurps forum
Everytime someone tries to do something that involves voting, no one vote and the thing fails.

The only thing ever made here by voting that I remember was an alien using gurps space

Encounter suits - that is, clothing designed to enable species of one biosphere to survive (briefly) in another are not ubiquitous, but not unseen either, as not all species can survive in similar situations, and complications can crop up within seemingly-harmless circumstances. Designs can vary; latex-with-bubblehelmet suits, large and heavy armored enclosures, and creepy facsimiles of the native sophont species have all been seen in use for varying periods. Some claim that encounter suits are used by those who wish not to be known by their own face, however.

Incidentally, there is a philosophically-driven movement of those who seek Truths hidden within others, for unknown reason. If you've ever had someone aggressively demand to know "Who are you?", you've met one of these Inquisitors.

Beings of pure thought engage in fourth-dimensional psychic warfare on the reg, struggling against their counterparts - the beings of impure thought.

Not surprisingly, the latter are more popular among mortals.

there is a universe right beside that of the settings'; every once in a while, grad wormholes will open up and strange merchant ships will spew forth, looking to trade their strange wares for things from the "base" universe.
The traders in the shis are incredibly strange, with species ranging from a beast that "hides within" the folds of a floating hypercube, or 2D squares that move through the air by replicating and deleting pieces of themselves. Despite their mind-bending forms, they're actually quite amicable and always try their best to be understanding and hospitable to cultures that are just as mindboggling to them as they would be to us.

there are a lot of bomb ass space swords

And they look like this.

Except they normally an edge, that pic is of a training sword. Space Swords work by using the energy orb's power to temporarily project a hot, sharp plasma blade capable of cutting through steel like it's hardened, crusty cheese. Don't ask how the science behind them works, it just does. The recipe for fabricating Space Swords came from an alternate universe trader who resembled a many-tongued living shadow formed of swirling black rainbows, and costed nearly 4937 vanilla-flavored pancake batter mixes to purchase. Afterward, the recipe was copied, and after a few centuries, Space Swords became about as commonplace as jetskis, a fairly rare novelty, and somewhat expensive, but relatively easy to find given proper contacts, or make, given a reasonable amount of technological know-how. Though, the wisdom of bringing a fucking Sword to a futuristic gunfight is questionable at best.

Space Axes and Space Hammers also exist but are extremely difficult to fabricate and aren't much more effective than Space Swords, so they're much less common and more expensive.

A manipulative, clever species of frog-like amphibians calling themselves the Peped have formed a powerful, sophisticated empire. Many of them worship a deity of chaos called E'Kek and believe that he speaks to them in repeating numerals, through mystical images called Meems.

The Peped have one of the galaxy's strongest military forces, and have the third most powerful fleet. They are masters of diplomacy and economics, they are allies with many species, and using their Di-Bit-Coins currency. have grown extremely wealthy. Much of their culture is similar to the ancient roman empire, though it has many odd, nonsensical quirks.

I feel like this user is on to something.

Psionic space foxes seems like a solid.

Third user, I like this idea, but it should be !notPsionic Fox-Humans, not actual Psionic Fox-Humans, since Humans don't exist in the setting. Also, I feel that they should be a minor species, not a major, empire Race... Maybe mercenaries/assassins?

If these foxes are mercenaries, how much loyalty do they have?

>Muh fellow homo sapiens of dense melanin!

The Peped feel emotions much more intensely than most other species, and are far more empathetic than many other species. They rarely however, show their true emotions, retaining a smug facial expression. When extremely depressed, or ecstatic in the presence of other Peped or bro-tier Xenos, Peped can be very vocal about it.

Peped can become furious over seemingly small things, though they usually funnel their frustrations onto anonymous Peped network message boards, often with Meems attempting to appease or summon E'Kek. Occasionally though, a Peped will go into a Rage, and they are a sight to behold.

They grow much larger, and become unnaturally swift, regenerating from mortal wounds in moments. Enraged Peped see nothing but the object of their Rage and will do all they can to destroy every vestige of it until calmed down. With the strength to crush boulders in their screeching madness, and a long regenerative venomous tongue capable of melting high-grade iron like butter, they are nigh unstoppable without artillery and/or massive suppressive fire and incendiary explosives.

A few times, the RNG High Priests of E'Kek have called the Peped onto a Flame War to purge a certain species or heretics. Whole star systems were consumed and shattered by their holy fury. Though the Peped Navy is often defeated in space battles, the Peped Armies are rarely defeated when opposing an equal number of enemies.

I'd say they'd be loyal to a reasonable extent. They wouldn't betray a contractor unless they'd received a much better offer from the other side or feel the risk isn't worth the reward, taking the upfront pay and running off. What's more important, where did the Fox mercenaries originate? And what is the source and the extent of their Psychic powers?

Perhaps these hired guns could wield pyrokinesis, like a more literal version of foxfire. They can start fires and make flames rise.

Their base forms are more humanoid as it allows them to more easily interact with client species who would otherwise be put off by their true forms.

When on missions they may opt to use their True form, lengthening their limbs and legs into digitrade form and their faces extending into snouts with powerful fangs and lithe but powerful muscles able to tear into most forms of armor.

They are able to accomplish this transformation thanks in part to nanomachine technology introduced to them (or stolen).

bump

The Servonhoxi is a bipedal molluscoid race that hail from the tropical planet Se'Merxo in the Southern quadrant of the galaxy.
Their early space travel was faced with much difficulty due to their weak and frail bodies. This in turn lead them to create sturdy suits of strong alloys to be used to counter the extreme G forces.
But their time in space and off world has forced them to wear these suits almost non stop, and in turn makes their true appearance a mystery to other aliens.

Im not the greatest person for comming up with stuff, but I hope this species can fit in this soft sci fi setting?

The Trii-gal are a race of highly religious insectoids from the jungle planet Awl. They appear humanoid from the waist up, but they have four legs which jut from the bottom of their bodies.

The Trii-gal believe in multiversal reincarnation, believing that all souls are on a journey that inevitably ends in godhood and that souls leave a universe when they die moving onto the next, to be reborn in a different form that is closer to that of the gods. Trii-gal society is split between two factions: the Linear Church, who believe that the path of all souls is the same also that there is an origin point of all souls and an end point of all souls, and the Church of Chaos, who view that the path of souls is determined individually, not collectively. The two factions do not war with one another, they simply disprove of each other.

Trii-gal technology is mostly organic, with their ships being gigantic, genetically modified organisms, their clothing and tools either being symbiotic organisms or the results of genetic modification of their own bodies.

It is a good start, and it can be expanded upon further

Agreed, it's a nice concept, but it needs some fleshing out. Who are the Servonhoxi beyond mysterious, frail exo-suited molluscoids? How do they survive in the galaxy overall? What kind of government do they live under? What can they do well? What do they do poorly? What are they known for across the galaxy? When you're worldbuilding, asking yourself questions like these helps flesh out and detail ideas.

The society of the Trii-gal is akin to a democracy. The twin churches offer their members as Hierarch candidates and the people decide which will rule them, however this is only done if the previous Hierarch did not select a successor before their death.

The Trii-gal have very little trade with any mammalian races as they view that their forms are far less like that of the gods than the form of the Trii-gal or even the Tsaumozar who are greatly respected by the Twin churches as they are seen to be many creatures on their path to divinity (By killing them obviously)

The Twin Churches don't agree on much so the fact that they both respect the Tsaumozar is a big one. The only other things they agree on are the base ideas of the religion (that souls get reincarnated in a different reality after death) and that committing suicide will actually have you reborn in a less godly form.

Also pic is what I imagine the Trii-gal look like

I am writing a book; So my nation is the United Terran Commonwealth. We are Humanities final product. We believe that xenos should be treated equally. All citizens have to do 4 years of service for the right to become leaders/vote. It can be military, or for more pacifistic species, govt. service. Their space combat doctrine is capital ships, which large amounts of starfighters or drones to support. Their FTL travel is a version of the alcubierre drive.

Our govt. Is a military republic, where military service (or govt. serivce) is the only way to gain the right to vote or become a leader. Humanity is largely Atheistic, and the government is very secular

Gay rights are widely accepted and xenos are given the same rights. So far, we are at war with the holy gaa covenant. A fascist theocracy hell-bent on purging all life from the galaxy. We are allied with the Serene Monarchy of Praetor, and the Maskin confederation

The Trii-gal aren't very influential on a galactic scale. They are very peaceful and content to inhabit only a few worlds, but their Church Evangelists can be found preaching the Path of Soul across the galaxy. Many Xenos have come to believe in the Trii-gal teachings for the hope that it brings, but very few give up their lives and possessions to become monastic preachers. The Trii-gal are one of the galaxy's most talented species when it comes to genetic engineering, and many freelance Trii-gal bio-engineers hire their services out across the galaxy. They are especially adept at blending different Alien species to create a Hybrid, and several of their more adaptable experiments have gone on to achieve sapience and become a successful species.

The Trii-gal view the Peped as haughty and strange, and dislike them as a whole, though they are willing to do business together. The Linear Church views the Peped as pagan and idolatrous, and they are constantly attempting to convert them away from E'Kek. The Church of Chaos views the Peped as shortsighted, believing that the Peped misinterpret the nature of god and of the universe, though they agree on some dogma. Often, the Priests of the Church of Chaos and the Meem Lords of E'Kek come together to discuss and debate theology.

The Peped view the Trii-gal as preachy and annoying, but very useful and worthy of respect. However, many Cult-Bug Meems have been made and spread across the Peped anonymous message boards. Fortunately, the Trii-gal have little to do with electronics, let alone niche anonymous message boards, and they haven't yet uncovered the scandalous Meems.

These posts are all mine. We have conquered two species, the Chinorik, Molluscoid specie whom are massive shipyards. their planet surface only consists of 15% land and 85% water. The other is a humanoid species which can interbreed with humans called the Noma. Humanity uses Gauss, Railguns/Mass drivers, Particle Beam technologyu, and Sometimes plasma.

Humanity is a sprawling empire consisting of 75 worlds, with ongoing colonization efforts in the second sphere of expansion.

Sounds like you've got a decent book going, but this is a Veeky Forums setting creation thread, and it's derailing the thread somewhat. The Veeky Forumserature board would probably enjoy discussing it with you.

Yes, But, Then again, I need some help with creating my world! I thought that this could be a nice thread to discuss my worldbuilding and Veeky Forums can critique it. Sorry if you feel I'm derailing it.

Try here friend
That thread might be more helpfull.

The mode of FTL travel is the Alcubieere drive, Inertial dampeners are used to make sure the crew doesn't die, unlike poor captain neimeier. Heat dissipation are used to stop hawkings radiation from affectign the crew radiation. Warp travel takes a while, and also, after leaving warp, tehre is a warp wind down, which may last from a couple of hours, to a week. There are also wormholes which people can cross ( but there are only tow stable wormholes in the galaxy.). The tachyon sail was used by some precursor civilizations. Moss-Jurgat drives are in use by the old prithin confederation.

shit, i posted my reply, sorry. Very well then. good bye

I kek with you friend

OP here. There's nothing stopping you from starting your own novel world-building discussion thread on Veeky Forums and I'm sure the neckbeards around here would be happy to post judgement on it, but posting details of your own world, in a thread about posting the details of another setting entirely is derailing the thread. I don't mean to be rude, but this isn't the place to discuss it, and another thread would be easier for everyone involved.

OP here again, just verifying that these posts are noncanonical to this thread's setting. I'm an author myself, and wish you the best of luck with your novel. Hang in there, and it'll turn out great.

an interesting trait of the freelance Trii-gal Bio-engineers is that they don't view their work as science but as art, which is much of the reason why they are freelancers. within the territory of the Twin Churches, Bio-tech is extremely controlled, with there being an insane number of regulations regarding what can be made (eg: no sapient life, no viruses engineered from Trii-gal genetics ETC) and new creations being tested rigorously before they're allowed in the vague vicinity of the public.

Meanwhile such controls are less extensive outside the Churches jurisdiction, so those geneticists who feel stifled often offer their services for this very reason. This simultaneously means that most biotech they produce has a very personal spin on it. This can be good (for one thing it makes hunting down bio terrorists far easier) or absolutely awful (such as in the case of the products of Bludie-Stoopique-Junsun who is famous both for always using the genetics of his clientele and for always cocking up magnificently, such as the time he used Peped DNA to produce a fungal super computer, which can only feel one emotion, Rage. It's rage caused it send badly worded death threats to half the races in the sector and nearly start three wars. suffice to say that colony never asked for Junsun's help again), but these minor issue are accepted so long as bad-ass living rifle that shoot explosive faecal matter are produced

Repeating numerals! E'Kek has spoken! Praise E'Kek!

The Cult-Bug-Meems might be more scandalous than you think, for the initial reaction of most Trii-gal to seeing one of them would probably be to assume that the Peped had found out about their races most shameful secret - the Cult of Synth.

To understand the Synth one must first understand two of the most basic Steps of The Path. One: that the body reflects the soul and Two: seeking to accelerate ones passage down the path for the sake of ascension is unadvisable. then one must also understand that while the Synths accepted the first they rejected the second.

The Synths attempted to use technology to grant themselves immortality, believing that, by changing what the reflection of the soul was they could change their soul and accelerate their path to divinity. of course, the warring Churches were unhappy with this idea and attempted to exterminate these heretics. Suffice to say this war is the reason why the Churches tolerate one another, the Trii-gal use biotech and why the Trii-gal aren't that confrontational.

The war against the Synths was a bloody one. The synths turned the technology of the churches against them, slaying many, soldiers and civilians alike. The Churches would likely have fallen on Awl if it were not for their discovery of a Exyri Lab on Awl that had been experimenting with genetic modification. The church took the few surviving prototypes, reverse engineered the Gene moding tech and turned the war against the Synths.

They did not succeed in wiping the Synths out. some few escaped Awl in a primitive space craft and others hid within the newly reformed society. When the Churches looked upon what they had done in the name of The Path they were disgusted with themselves and vowed that A: they would never start a war like this again and B: all record of the Synths would be kept hidden from any Xenos they met, but not from their own people, who deserved the truth.

we gonna be praising for a while then

In many primitive desert worlds that haven't developed space flight, ice and water are extremely valuable. Some crafty merchants have taken advantage of this, harvesting comet and asteroid ice to sell to the primitive at many hundred times to price of harvesting, in whatI'm still a bargain to the primitives. Many slavers and smugglers use this method to acquire cargo, though most Merchant Syndicates frown on this, as it causes market inflation.

Typed on a smartphone. Please excuse the errors.

your dubs please E'Kek.

There is no need to apology

Curiously enough, many of these worlds hold almost the exact same system of beliefs that one day a savior will descend from the stars to drive out the ruthless slavers and turn their world into a paradise.

Shift-space drives are generally inefficient. The amount of energy required to push something into shift-space grows exponentially with the size of the object. Only Exyri ships have managed it so far. The most common drive currently is a variation on the Alcubierre drive, focusing the ambient non-baryonic matter in the universe in front of the ship to "ride" the wave of gravity. To facilitate this, certain "lanes" between different planets have been saturated with a unique form of self-repelling non-baryonic matter, which is focused into a "wave" by the drive before expanding outwards. It's possible to engage the drive outside of the lanes, but it's inefficient and slow. Shift-space is much faster, but the non-baryonic lanes are much cheaper and easier to build.

...

Another interesting thing about the Trii-gal is their language. Their spoken language is pretty simple save for the fact that Trii-gal have large crests upon their heads, filled with bio-luminescent bacteria that change colour dependant on emotions, Red for happiness, green for fear, that sort of thing. This translates into their written language, giving them a language that not only can be written in crayon but must be if you want it to be legible .

The written language itself is hieroglyphic. Symbols embody Ideas rather than sounds and can be placed in a tense by placing them within a shape, triangle for past, square for present, circle for future. making the Hieroglyphs different colours will signify emotion, which makes it a bugger to write as there is no colour that is not connected to an emotion. Even black is used to denote something (sarcasm).

The use of colour is a more recent development apparently dating back to the Trii-gal's Atomic age, but the language itself is several thousand years old apart from that.

The Bone Singers from Sarvoodak is a highly spiritual race of Arthropods that have have at some point in their evolutionary history managed to "grow" tools and other useful items and materials from their own body. And with careful vocal tuning an item such as a knife could be grown in minutes. This has made their civilization to be dependent on specialized singers that produce everything from large quantities of building materials to advanced space ship parts.
They are lead by an elected council that is a part of a very advanced bureaucratic system that few outsiders can understand fully.

...

lotta bugs in this galaxy, It's like a starship trooper's worst nightmare

Pyrokineticist Fox People sounds quite tubular, but somewhat limited, I feel. What if there were multiple kinds of energy the foxes could manipulate, with different types of energy manipulation tied to different related ethnicities, and different specialties lying in different ethnic bloodlines?

For example, blonde foxes can manipulate kinetic energy, but blue eyed blonde foxes are able to control momentum to manipulate the speed of objects, while green eyed blonde foxes are able to control momentum to apply waves of bone shattering force, while brown eyed blonde foxes are able to apply a much less powerful but far more precise form of momentum control to achieve limited telekinises. While red haired foxes have abilities tied to heat control, and so on. Perhaps the difference is genetic and they can't be told apart until they use their abilities?

I like the idea of were-foxes, but what if it there were separate strains of fox? Some foxes would be closer to a human appearance, and others would be more bestial, with a few closer to an even balance between the two forms, and that would tie into which form they feel most natural in. Human-like foxes prefer to remain nonbestial, more Bestial foxes prefer to stay in beast-form whenever possible, while balanced foxes prefer to remain at a split?

Hm... What if the foxes were better able to use their abilities in Human-like-form due to having a clearer mind, while in Bestial-form, the foxes are more powerful physically, but less psionically adept, as they're more driven by instinct?

...

Shit, quoted the wrong posts. Oh well.

Here's an origin idea. In the days of the Exyri, there was a species of hairless, humanoid bipedal primitives, and the Exyri were involved in a conflict among themselves, with no end in sight. So the Exyri developed a kind of impossibly intricate nano-machine that would directly interface with the humanoid species's DNA, and modify it over the course of generations. The humanoids rapidly evolved to become better fighters, more intelligent and agile, over time they began to become a hybrid species, part-fox, part humanod.

They developed a complex gland in their brains, allowing them to interface with the nanomachines in their bloodstream, causing them to briefly open an infinitesimal rift in the universe to the eldritch side universe, allowing them to temporarily alter the laws of physics in certain, reprogrammed ways, causing seemingly magical Psionics. The Bestial form is an enhanced combat mode, when a fox shifts into beast-mode the nanomachines take direct control over the fox's body, morphing it into a more ideal form for combative use.

Upon completion, the foxes were deployed as spec ops saboteurs and assaissians to fight in the Exyri war. As the Exyri had godlike technology, the foxes quickly proved to be less efficient and cost effective than hyper-advanced programmed kill droids. The Exyri Scientists that engineered the foxes were somewhat sentimentally attached to them, and were also responsible for coding and building the hyper-advanced kill droids that made them obsolete.

To reward the scientists for their successful progress, the foxes weren't disintegrated into their composite atoms and recycled into something more useful. Instead, the fox populatin was scattered across the galaxy, and placed onto roughly four hundred strategically unimportant planets that proved to be optimal for their survival. They were then promptly forgotten by their Exyri creators.
(cont.)

A few millenia afterwards, the Exyri realized the futility of war and peacefully resolved their differences, rather than waste the lives of the countless millions of genetically engineered warbeasts and sapient machines that fought for the Exyri. A few million cycles later, the Exyri left the galaxy on their Great Exodus.

In the modern galaxy, the foxes serve their intended purpose for whichever faction pays the highest. The technology behind the fox's abilities is so advanced that it's almost impossible to begin to understand it with the galaxy's current scientific knowledge. Their origins are also shrouded in mystery. Scholars of all races have spent ages wondering how and why a species of seemingly magical supersoilder foxes evolved simultaneously and identically on hundreds of worlds across the galaxy, and odds are, they'll never know the truth.

>Here's a link to 100 deviant art pics that could make for some awesome inspiration for some aliens.
>onehundred-monsters.deviantart.com/gallery/

The Skol are a nomadic species of sapient corals that have been moving about the galaxy in giant flotillas for as long as anyone can remember. Their flotillas are generally made up of a half a dozen large vessels made out of dead Skol. You see a Skol's body is which accumulates additional mineral coverings as the Skol age. Eventually how ever the coral colony within the skeleton begins dying faster than it multiplies and the Skol dies, leaving behind an empty shell which is cannibalised to repair the ships of the flotilla.

Skol reproduce by detaching part of their colony, placing it within a mineral skeleton and then submerging the skeleton in a nutrient rich gel. This gel accelerates the multiplication process and allows the Skol to quickly form the interior and muscles of the Skeleton. After this they are removed from the Gel and left to develop a further exoskeleton on their own.

The Skol don't seem to have a government or any form of centralised leader ship, individual ships are simply commanded by captain and flotillas happen because multiple captains bump into one another and don't want to lose one another again. every flotilla is a nation of it's own and will engage with trade with any races they encounter during their sub-light pilgrimage, but they have no enthusiasm for it, they seem to do it simply to go through the motions and create some distraction from the monotony of everyday existence (and y'know ,the fact that they technically live inside the grave of their grandfather)

No one knows the origins of the Skol. They simply exist and do no more. They don't share their history, or even seem to not know it themselves, but where ever they come from, however they became what they are now, they are a sobering sight and meeting a flotilla is considered a bad omen among more suspicious captains.

I like this. Though I'm getting a definately orky vibe from them

Should be
>Skol's body is made out of a central hollow skeleton which accumulates additional mineral coverings as the Skol age
Not sure how that happened

What is soft? If there is soft, is there hard?

Not that user, but:
The main ships are light-sails made of reflective coral, half a meter thick and hundreds of kilometers across.
Most of the living space is at the center, where the hull-coral bubbles and swells to make an airtight dome around ten kilometers across.

These ships never decelerate or deviate from their set course, not for excursions into nearby systems. They have shift-capable auxiliary craft for that.

The captains know where they are going. It's urgent enough not to deviate from the Course, for any reason
- and to stamp out public sentiment to do so before it makes itself heard.

Hard science fiction emphasizes the Science. Not to say that you can't have a good Fiction part, but the emphasize is on the science. Soft sci fi is more willing to take liberties.
To put another way, hard scifi starts with the tech and makes the plot fit, and soft sci fi starts with the plot and makes the tech fit.

I wasn't sure if this was too bordering on the magical or too soft or however you want to put it, but here you go:

The Demiurgic Dancers

Confined to a single planet orbiting an otherwise unnoteworthy yellow star, there exists a class of beings that the more superstitiously-inclined of us might call Gods. Further investigation reveals that they are actually clusters of nanoscopic factories. Each individual nanofactory is near-inert on its own, only producing jets of noble gasses. Some scattered, clustered-together clouds of these nanomachines exist and have sentience. They hold complete sway over the planet, creating and modifying terrain and organisms. What they cannot seem to do is, however, get along. Numerous warlord “Demiurgic Dancers” (So-called because they act like mythological demiurges while at the same time never completely being still) use their engineered organisms to fight their conflicts over ever-shifting and dangerous terrain. None of their borders stay the same for long, so it cannot surprise a casual observer that not one of them has ever made it off the planet.

This is not for lack of trying, however. They merely cease to function upon trying to leave the upper atmosphere, as countless prospective Dancer-cosmonauts have found out the hard way. Attempts to send expeditions staffed entirely by beings of their own creation inevitably fail after they lose contact and never return to the surface.

I'm that user, and is that necceasarily a bad thing? Let's start brainstorming bloodlines and ethnicities.

Chi-Sha are a race of fungal humanoids that evolved on their homplanet Chi. Chi is filled with huge deposits of radioactive ore and has a fairly dense atmosphere, and fungus that used energy from the radiation rather than photosynthesizing plants became the basis of the ecosystem. A parasitic fungus that could draw energy from the radiation while also sapping nutrients from its host eventually latched on to an ancient insectoid. While the insect was an adept hunter, it had difficulty properly converting certain nutrients, severly limiting what the could eat. The parasitic fungus, however, removed these nutreants from the insects system, acting as a nutritional "filter" Since the parasite was capable of inserting parts of its own genetic code to its host's gametes in order to pass on from parent to child, the two creatures eventually evolved into one.

Modern Chi-Sha are tall and slender, and coverd in pale chitinous plates. Their faces feature multiple sets black, beady eyes and an unfurling mouth that is almost completely imperceptible when closed. Their legs are reverse jointed and allow them to jump great heights, while they arms feature a second set of elbows and three claw-like fingers. Chi-Sha also have pair of small vestigial wings that are now used to communicate via vibration and spread a mixture of pheromones and spores during moments of high emotion. Compared to other species, the Chi-Sha require very little food, water, and oxygen, however the do require nuclear radiation to properly metabolize.

Chi-Sha society is focused on spiritual connections between individuals that transcend physical bodies. The word for the spiritual collective the share is "Sha". While Chi-Sha are born into this collective, any species willing to take part in their traditions can become a part of this as well. Those that do are called Zee-Sha, and slowly begin to exhibit abnormal behavior, pale skin, malnutrition, and a resistance to radiation. Zee-Sha are often tasked with manual labor, which leads many to believe that Chi-Sha are merely using religion to gain free labor. Their are rumors of Zee-Sha making pilgrimages to Chi, where they completely transform into Chi-Sha, however this has never been confirmed.

The Ban Shen Da, or the Bandits Guild is a profilic gang that opperates on frontier worlds, running a monopoly on robbery. Their most successful mission was also their most dangerous- The Heist of The Tomb Beeg Guui- a legendary figure in Peped lore.

(Small contribution, I know, but I'm not a skilled writer. If anyone else wants to expand on this or even declare it non-canon, be my guest)

The Ban Shen Da is renowned for their high mobility, and devastating hit and run tactics. Normally, they target frontier colonies, and the occasional merchant vessel. Rarely, they'll muster the firepower to assault a military base, to pillage their weaponry and vehicles. They have agents scattered across all aspects of society, and their hideouts lie in uncharted, perilous space. Their leader is Nrht Rhrzirk, a brutal Trhennik warrior. The Trhennik are massive, pig-like brutes, infamous for their brutality, savagery, and musculature. They are a minor species, holding only a handful of planets, but they are highly valued bodyguards for their unshakable loyalty.

The Tomb was constructed specifically to insure the ashes of Beegi Guui would never be disturbed till the heat death of the universe.

A kilometers long tether closely orbited a supermassive black hole, dangling the container of the Ashes to within meters of the event horizon. The location was chosen to maximize time dilation such that the Tomb and the Ashes would not decay away until the black hole has evaporated-the incredible difficulty of access this imposes is a nice bonus.

The Tomb was guarded by a permanent task force of the Peped Navy, drawn from the most veteran and trustworthy personal of all branches of the armed forces. The Tomb Guard is led by a veteran admiral vetted annually by a special congregation of the RNG high priests, who also served to vet and unite the disparage units into a fighting and security force equaled by only a few.

The theft of the Tomb is considered by the highest levels of the RNG High priests to be both an impossible deed an unforgivable transgression, for which the only possible response is to water their fields with the blood of the Ban Shen Da. The admiral of the Tomb Guard has made it his personal mission to carry this response out, as have the few surviving members of the Tomb Guard Congregation(many of whom committed suicide when they realized what had happened).

The remaining fifty-thousand or so Tomb Guard have been effectively banished from Peped society, and are reviled across the Empire for their blasphemous failure. As far as the Peped and they themselves are concerned, E'Kek has abandoned them. Only three small scout ships, and one medium sized, battered cruiser remain of their once great fleet. They are fanatically devoted to exterminating the Ban Shen Da, and slaying Nrht Rhrzirk for his sacrilage, they are unstoppable and undeniable in their sacred goal. To gain crucial supplies, the Tomb Guard has taken to raiding Xenk colonies for loot and slaves to trade, and smuggling some of the hardest drugs known to the galaxy, to trade with the shady Xenk cartels. Almost all Tomb Guard use intense drugs regularly, and depend on their calming effects to keep their holy rage from consuming them.

Though they are beyond desperate, they have never intentionally targeted Peped settlements or vessels. Rather, they avoid all contact with other Peped, as they view themselves unworthy of hazing upon the visage of E'Kek's people. Among Demos however, they have no mercy and will torture every man, woman, and child in an entire citadel if they believe it has the faintest chance of providing a lead to the Ban Shen Da.

These Peped revenants are known as "Tomb Raiders," and the name of their company is spoken only in the softest whispers, for fear of their atrocities. The Ban Shen Da have suffered many losses to the Tomb Raiders, a confrontation between the Peped Admiral and Nrht Rhrzirk is inevitable, though Nrht is delaying the battle as long as possible. To understand why the Tomb Raiders are so devoted to their cause, one must only know that Beeg Guui was the first Prophet of E'Kek, the founder of the Peped Empire, and above all, Creator of the first Meem. The Tomb Raiders try truly have nothing to lose and they will stop at nothing to have Nrht Rhrzirk's Head.

Yes, absolutely yes.

A small cabal of Priests are supplying the Tomb Raiders where they can, on the idea that the Raiders can be rehabilitated into Peped society once the vengeance is complete and the Ashes are secured.

They risk censure and banishment in doing so, but what else can they do for the fighting men laid so low by heathen treachery and rejection by the RNG to whom they swore their oaths?

...

No one is really certain how many flotillas there are as the Skol flotillas rarely enter the non-baryonic lanes making sightings of the flotillas a rare occurrence. Even if they did, the composition and appearance of the ships within each flotilla changes regularly so a flotilla that has been spotted before might be mistaken for an undocumented one and vice versa.

while Skol have no music or art or any real cultural artefacts they do have a legend. A legend that states that the Skol were once immortal, in the days when they knew their home world, but somehow their immortality was lost, it is said as punishment for some immense transgression. It is the only legend that they have and it has never been shared with an outsider.

That destination is the old Skol homeworld, contact with which was lost many millennia ago. Captains seek to discover the fate of the centre of their now long gone empire

At the center of the galaxy, around a cluster of stars that once belonged to the Exyri lives a species of both organics and machines. Their true name have not been revealed, but travelers around the are call them "the silent scourge".
Their origin is unknown, but some scholars and researchers think that they are a very distant cousin to the Exyri. Ancestors who didn't want to migrate and instead sought to improve themselves and stay hidden for the galaxy. But why they are active just now is unknown?

They do not inhabit planets in the traditional sense. They just silently drift in the void with a wierd mix of metal and flesh. Each individual is capable of drifting in space without the need for air or food.
But the reason for their name comes from their methods of resource extraction. Without warning the massive fleets of the silent scourge loom over a planet, they do not care if it is inhabited or not, they will strip it of resources anyway.

With the help of mystical graviton machines they crack the planet apart before working on the chuncks. Only leaving a field of debrie in their wake.

Fortunately for the rest of the galaxy the silent scourge doesn't use shift space for interstellar travel. Instead they use slightly faster than light drives to get from planet to planet

...

...

Can we get a summary of how this setting looks like so far?

had a couple of ideas for this.

The foxes (sometimes referred to collectively as the Vixenaga) are split between three types of subrace- Fennec, Kizune and Verran.

Fennecs are smaller and weaker than their kin, but have a greater skill in the manipulation of reality whilst Verran are large bestial creatures with incredible strength and endurance but with extremely limited Psionic potential. Kizune strike a balance between the two being neither immensely strong nor immensely skilled at Psionics. they are jacks of many trades, but masters of none.

I must stress that these are not specific sub-races but categories into which sub-races fall. there are dozens, possibly even hundreds, of Vixenaga sub-races which simply happen to fall into certain categories physically and mentally. for example there is a race of Kizune Vixenaga that have the ability to alter their physical appearance to be more Bestial or huminoid on a whim, developing enhanced abilities dependant on the form they take and a species of Fennecs that specialise in a form of Pyrokinesis that allows them to manipulate heat, meaning that they can freeze things as well as set them on fire

The silent scourge have an insidious and devastating weapon. In the event that they are attacked by a defending planet, or foolish vessel, or encounter another vessel in the void, they are capable of unleashing an extremely electromagnetic pulse, completely disabling any and all electronic machinery. They are apparently immune to the effects of the EMP and somewhat frighteningly, they don't show up on any kind of radar. They give off no heat signature, give off no magnetic field, there's simply nothing to detect. It's impossible to be prepared for the scourge ahead of time, as there's no way to know they're coming.

Fortunately, the scourge are just as likely to Harvest barren asteroids as they are living planets. They don't have concern for anything but the mineral content of a planet, and don't consider any amount of military firepower to be relevant.

There's simply no fighting the scourge, in all of recorded galactic history, the scourge have only been defeated once, by an Inter-Empire coalition force with access to almost a hundred Exyri Dreadnoughts and millions of minor battleships, outnumbering the scourge 30-1. Still, almost 80% of the coalition force was destroyed, and after one week of vicious warfare, only 50% of the scourge has been wounded, and a mere pittance actually destroyed. There is no rhyme or reason to their devastation. They're just as likely to Harvest a thriving metropolis as they are a dead rock. Attacks by the scourge are extremely rare, occurring once or twice a century at the most, but their frequency seems to be increasing.

This is awesome keep at it Anons!

I like this idea, it seems pretty balanced.

Nice post.

Underrated post. Truly top-tier handwavium, I applaud your commendable scientific knowledge good sir/madam.

Outside the galaxy, in the cold void between the stars, a being looms, watching, observing...waiting