Ethereals
| Ethereal | |
 Ethereal |
Genus: Dura Cellus Homeworld: Electria Central Authority: Scattered collectives Restricted Job Roles: Command Roles Guides: No external guides Spoken Languages: Not defined |
Ethereals are organic humanoid beings with a blood that has strange luminiscent and electrical properties. Ethereals are barred from most authority roles on Nanotrasen stations and are not protected by the AI's default Asimov laws.
Their naming convention is a celestial body followed by two capitalized letters. E.g. "Andromeda XV" or "Jupiter EP".
History
After 2550, when Nanotrasen signed the species equality act, they began space exploration missions to find new species. A lot of these explorations failed and wasted valuable time. However, one exploration in 2557 succeeded in finding a new species. They were the ethereals. The planet they were living in was quite strange as everything gave out small electrical shocks. It didn't bring instant death to humans but it was quite uncomfortable and unhealthy. On the planet etherals were living eerily close to how humans lived, as one of the explorers wrote in his diary, they are on the early stages of modern civilization. They built a bunch of small cities but there was mostly rural land. On the rural land, there were small tribes that spoke differently than the ones in the city. The planet's fruit and the meat gave out high electrical shocks much like the processed high-energy bar we see on stations today. Said explorer brought an ethereal onto the ship and he was surprised because in their home planet etherals do not glow. Not one researcher seemed to care and so nobody found an explanation to it yet. The ship went back to Nanotrasen with the live subject and they were satisfied, mainly because ethereals closely resembled humans and unlike them, they can be easily fed with electricity thus making them more efficient workers. Nowadays etherals can be seen on stations, they don't get targeted to racism as much as other races because of their resemblance to humans but if you see one make sure to call them a dirty glowstick.
Gameplay
Ethereals are a optional playable race. When you create an Ethereal character, you can customize the color of your glow.
When attacking with their hands, Ethereals deal burn instead of brute damage. Instead of nutrition, they have to keep an eye on their electrical charge - if it gets too low, their glow fades, they become even more vulnerable to brute damage and will start dying. 75-100 is the ideal power charge to have. From 100-125 you will begin to take minor toxin damage. Above 125, you take more toxin damage, and there is a 10% chance each tick for you to begin a discharge process, shooting arcs of electricity. There is a 10% chance to get a heart attack during a discharge. The shock is weak.
Their nutrition/charge can be recharged with Cyborg rechargers, by touching lightbulbs, touching energy cells, or by consuming special food like High-power energy bars and empowered burgers. You can also charge through APC's. Touch an APC on harm intent to drain its energy, or on grab intent to give it your own energy.
Ethereals that get struck by electric shocks take a little less damage and gain charge.
