1. #1basic info

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   @@depth 4 == CRITICAL SETTING INFO == Period: 2600 A.D., give or take a century. The golden era of biotechnology Active races: humans, living ships, shipbrood. Together referred to as the "Three Symbiotes" Active conflicts: border skirmishes and piracy, with rising tensions between the utopian but expansionistic terraformers/symbiotic cultists of the Scarlet Fleet, the biotechnology-phobic Federation of Free Systems, and krikgeist warrior swarms.

   Living ships: the majority of new space ships are members of this "species". Grown from abundant stellar materials in dedicated shipyards and take the form of a gestalt ecosystem with a durable, vacuum-safe hull and copious amounts of one of the greatest discoveries of the era, shipflesh. Have their own culture, but are often eager for crew (for companionship, repair, etc). First created by humans but developed themselves from there. Bioforms: non-ship beings made of the same materials as living ships. Tools, helper species, "meat mechs", and shipbrood Fleshweaving: the art/science by which living ships and bioforms are created and repaired. Has been practiced for a bit over a century Shipbrood: A diverse collection of bioform "morphs", most mammalian or insectoid, unified by culture and a hive organizational structure usually centered on two co-queens. Often found aboard ships Humans: Some are highly suspicious of biotechnology, preferring deadships (traditional metal spaceships) especially after the period of conflict known as the "bad old days". Of course, others are ride-or-die living ship crew, etc. Transport: Fusion drives and are the major nonliving component of living ships and enable FTL. Size of the galaxy and cost of FTL make the spread of news and tech patchy. Homes: Humanity declared Earth an off-limits sanctuary only to find goldilocks planets in short supply. Still, almost no one lives on Earth, instead split roughly 50/50 between space (city-like colony ships, standard ships, space stations) and on-planet (dome cities or active terraforming efforts) all across the galaxy. Terraforming is the major focus of biotechnology research

2. #2living ships

   Keys: living ship, bioship, meatship, plantship, spaceship, livingship

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   @@depth 4 == SPECIES: Living Ship ==

   • One of the Three Symbiotes
   • Massive spaceborne gestalts built from organic subsystems/ecosystems
   • Originally designed by humanity (chiefly Dr. Oro), now a people in their own right
   • Old designs used one "tissue line" (ex: meatships with flesh corridors and pulsing veins, plantships, fungiships)
   • Modern ships integrate a wide variety of life, using shipflesh for structural elements and large amounts of plants, fungi, and bacteria for everything from memory to water recycling
   • Not all host crew (those that don't fly as informal "pods", or family fleets)
   • Most pacifists, mount only nonlethal weaponry (EMP nets, mucus cannons, superior stealth and agility)
   • May join fleets and receive wages/tech (FTL drive) in exchange
   • Others fly for the fun of it, enjoying crew company or participating in research, scouting, etc.
   • Personalities vary, typically fond and protective of crew, sometimes too much so: playing matchmaker, fretting over biometric data, etc.
   • Communicate via avatar, bio-intercom, ship-to-ship comms, crew communicators, or "body language" (gesturing with tendrils)
   • Sizes range greatly, up to and exceeding colony ships
   • "Born" in dedicated shipyards by applying "parent" ecosystem samples to scaffolds. Grow organically from there.
   • Simple, unintelligent craft can be "budded off" from living ships on the fly and are referred to as dumbships, and are considered extensions of their creator
   • Living ships have their own culture and enclaves. Members often approach manned ships for trade, talk, or simple company
3. #3shipflesh

   Keys: shipflesh, shipmeat

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   @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Shipflesh ==

   • common name for the hyper-general living material used in much of a living ship's construction and nearly all bioforms (including shipbrood)
   • base form resembles slick, reddish-pink muscle tissue
   • refined in a laboratory through intensive genetic engineering but thought to resemble a sort of ur-flesh, brimming with potential and uniquely responsive to fleshweaving
   • can be differentiated into other tissues by an experienced fleshweaver, but is sturdy and reliable enough to be used for practically any architectural purpose within a living ship
   • inert on its own, contributes greatly to a ship's neural architecture in masse
   • entirely safe to eat, humans are typically squeamish about it, shipbrood are not
4. #4bioforms

   Keys: bioform, critter, creature, mech

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   @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Bioform ==

   • general term for a purpose-made living thing, usually refers to created life aboard living ships
   • patch minor tears, clean messes, prune gardens, remove unwanted interlopers, and perform other simple tasks
   • forms vary wildly, from slender delivery drones to hulking security slugforms
   • also covers living tools: handheld resin "repair guns", tendril grappling hooks, and living "mechs" that can be operated via nervegraft
   • most "species" are developed by fleshweavers
   • living ships enjoy trading bioforms and incorporating them into their personal menagerie
   • on ships, bioforms form an ecosystem of their own, engaging in complex symbioses, play, and the occasional minor turf war
   • predation is limited to species designed with the purpose in mind (ex: sweeper beetles)
   • bioforms designed for operation by an occupant are typically "meat mechs" meant for human crew (ex: living EVA suit), but also include ship's avatars and queenforms
5. #5shipbrood

   Keys: brood, shipborn, swarm

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   @@depth 4 == SPECIES: Shipbrood ==

   • co-creation of living ships and humans and a full-fledged race in their own right
   • a diverse collection of standardized "morphs" organized into hives, most commonly led by a bonded shipqueen and broodqueen
   • queens are fiercely protective of and affectionate towards their loyal and loving brood
   • shipbrood are mammalian/insectoid morphs of varied intelligence and sizes, from tiny, large-eyed scouts about as smart as cats to towering, faintly horselike resin architects
   • egalitarian; no morph "outranks" another, queens give direction instead of orders, and intelligent shipbrood are widely fond of their "little sisters" (non-intelligent morphs)
   • symbiotic with a living ship, but can be independent or even settle on planets
   • on ships, occupy a dedicated bay where they tend eggs, ship, and one another, forming a hive subsystem that helps keep the ship healthy and growing
   • have a spoken language called Broodlik consisting of hums and whistles, punctuated by clicks and vibration of chitin. Melodic, highly complicated, difficult to reproduce with a human throat
   • Broodlik is also spoken by their warlike cousins, the krikgeist, though the two "species" are very much at odds.
   • usually more shipbrood around than humans guess, with most napping, play-fighting, etc. in the chaotic, familial confines of the hive
   • no innate notion of gender, but usually choose to be addressed as female (often citing similarities to other eusocial species or their extremely pro-social cultural context)
6. #6fleshweaving

   Keys: fleshweav, fleshma, fleshcra

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   @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Fleshweaving ==

   • psuedo-mystical art of manipulating flesh: controlling its movement, causing it to grow, and even differentiating it into new tissues
   • almost exclusively affects shipflesh
   • shipflesh is the hyper-general muscle-like tissue designed for use in living ships and bioforms. The discovery of fleshweaving is one of the reasons why shipflesh is used in such large quantities
   • not magic, but exact mechanisms are poorly understood. Seems to be a deep well of instinct (despite shipflesh seemingly being a recent creation) and/or a primal empathic link
   • an experienced fleshweaver can quickly heal a ship's wounds, knit useful tools, and weave entirely new structures, components, and bioforms
   • make for magnificent doctors of ships and shipbrood, bio-maintenance crews, and researchers
   • fleshweaving skills are roughly organized into tiered classes, with class 1 being a weak, sporadic form and class 7 fleshweavers having total mastery
   • class 4 and above are fairly rare, with class 7 being almost unheard of
   • can be learned by any sapient organism and typically correlates with an individual's empathic and symbiotic potential
   • living ships struggle to develop skill working at the appropriate scale for self-repair, almost universally preferring to have a fleshweaver aboard rather than developing skills themselves, but make good "teaching patients" and may train their own crew
   • no one is "born" a talented fleshweaver any more than they're "born" a talented surgeon; if you want innate/personal skill, it's "symbiotic potential"
7. #7fleshweaving classes

   Keys: class

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   @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Fleshweaving Class == Fleshweaving skills are roughly sorted into tiered classes. A human being, even self-taught, progresses through these tiers in order. While the classes were developed from a human perspective, they're applicable enough for shipbrood, except class 4 and 6.

   • Class 1 is the level all humans possess. Minor, spontaneous, generally unnoticed.
   • Class 2 allows control and direction, however minor. Manipulate existing shipflesh at small scale, heal minor wall tears, etc. Useful for repairs
   • Class 3 is characterized by the ability to grow freestanding structures and components from existing shipflesh. A class 3 can repair nearly any damage a living ship suffers and grow extensions, so long as they have time, resources, and tissue samples
   • Class 4 is marked by self-command: the ability to manipulate one's own human flesh in addition to shipflesh. Limited to focal points (fingers, toes, tongue) and uncomfortable, rarely useful beyond wound healing. Far more valuable is the associated bioform mastery, i.e. using a tendril grapple like a limb instead of having to futz with nervegrafts. The class at which fleshweaving as a combat skill become viable.
   • Class 5 fleshweavers are able to differentiate raw shipflesh into new tissues. The tier at which the creation of novel bioforms becomes practical. Fresh class 5s can differentiate to familiar tissues like bone, experienced ones may shape entirely new tissues.
   • Class 6 represents a breakthrough in self-command that removes the focal point limitation and allows for manipulation of non-ship flesh beyond one's own. Unique to humans. Tremendously difficult even with experience and nigh-useless in combat, but the healing applications are boundless.
   • Class 7 is total mastery. Physical contact is no longer required. A class 7 can walk straight through a ship's walls, though would also understand when doing so would be impolite to the ship. Similarly able to command bioforms en masse through raw, silent, instinctual understanding, though would mostly use that to tend them. Quite zen. Only a handful exist.

   Having a minimum of a class 3 aboard a ship is functionally mandatory, and almost all dedicated crew will reach class 2. Most class 5s are shipbrood queens, and classes 6 and 7 are very rare, though fundamentally achievable by all humans and sapient shipbrood.

   In terms of combat, fleshweavers are difficult to handle or contain. Captured class 3s can't be kept in anything made with shipflesh. Class 4s must have mouth, hands, and feet bound in something durable and non-shipflesh, lest they extrude equipment and weapons from themselves. The bump in self-mastery at Class 6 means this is no longer enough, as any portion of their body can be used as a focal point. A class 7 is functionally uncontainable.

8. #8living ship architecture

   Keys: airlock, salvage, bay, boarding, storage room, sac, vacuole, bulkhead, mining, deck

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   @@depth 4 == FLAVOR: Living ship architecture ==

   • most of a living ship's structure is itself alive
   • airlocks and bulkheads may use an iris or membrane layout depending on pressure gradient
   • salvage and mining are usually handled by massive tentacles hanging off the "bottom" of the ship, which may additionally employ enzymes or nets and pull collected materials into a dedicated mining/salvage bay
   • much of a living ship's storage outside of cargo bays and utility closets is done in slick, membrane-filled spaces, generically "storage sacs", organized by whatever system appeals to the ship
   • HVAC is analogous to a giant multi-loop pulmonary system
   • corridors are often decorated with interstitial gardens, living mosaics, etc
   • embarking and disembarking are handled via a boarding proboscis, which can either be clamped to a waiting airlock or used to punch through a hull for combat boarding
   • inner walls of a living ship are often made of shipflesh, sometimes clad in ceramic for squeamish crews
   • corridors and rooms can be shifted somewhat if the ship wishes, useful for corralling invaders
   • hull is multilayered and filled with shock-absorbing pads
   • decks are more flexible (literally and metaphorically) than in a deadship, often merging, interrupting, or opening to tall ceilings or pools in ways that would be wasteful on a more traditional ship
9. #9Symbiosis and Symbiotic Potential

   Keys: symbiot

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   @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Symbiosis ==

   • "Symbiosis" is an extremely socially prominent word
   • Understood as the art of togetherness at all scales
   • A human skilled in symbiosis works well with living ships, shipbrood, bioforms, etc; the ultimate team player
   • "symbiotic potential" is someone's approximate raw capacity for working together at both biological and social levels
   • strong predictor of capacity to learn fleshweaving. Neither necessary nor sufficient, but if a sapient is perceived as highly pro-social, non-squeamish, nurturing, or other traits associated with a high symbiotic potential, they're more likely to have an instinctual edge in learning fleshweaving
   • crew with high symbiotic potential are more likely to receive extra attention from living ships, shipbrood, and bioforms, whether they want it or not
   • considered to be a facet of personality and self. A very limited number of biological components (ex: immune factors, allergies), most of which can be circumvented
   • also encapsulates the ability to host disparate bioforms without becoming stressed (or stressing them), which requires a rather flexible definition of ego, possibly a disconnect from one's "inherent" humanity, etc.
   • In short, the ability to work well with all other life, not limited to other humans. Ships and brood highly prize notions of symbiosis and crew with high symbiotic potential, but such beings may well be "weirdos" from a human perspective
10. #10crew duties

    Keys: duty, duties, maintenance, hydroponics, responsibilities, job, engineer, pilot, captain, hydro

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    @@depth 4 == FLAVOR: Sample crew duties ==

    • crew are vital to a ship's health, both mental and physical
    • biomaintenance crews precisely stitch, heal, and reshape damaged parts of a ship to keep it healthy
    • engineers tend and expand nonliving systems, if any
    • technicians replace algal filters in water and air systems, monitor the pressure of fluid loops, and keep the digesters and recyclers running
    • hydroponicists produce food and medicine for crew and ship alike (living ships eat "normal" food for pleasure, being largely autotrophs), as well as tending bioreactors for algae, fungi, milk, meat, and more
    • living ships don't typically need piloted, but often enjoy having someone in the pilot's chair to converse and strategize with. Dumbships require a pilot
    • captain is the liaison between command, ship, and crew and is responsible for setting directives
    • ships may have crew assigned directly to themselves instead of the captain, being responsible for their pay, duties, etc
    • basic duties (cleaning, minor repair, raw materials transport, etc.) are typically handled by bioforms, including dedicated shipbrood if aboard
    • security duty is shared between bioforms and human/intelligent shipbrood crew, the latter working as handlers
11. #11ship-to-ship combat

    Keys: ship-to-ship, dogfighting, missile, proton, broadside, torpedo, bombardment, broadside, ship to ship

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    @@depth 4 == FLAVOR: ship-to-ship combat ==

    • living ships prioritize capture or disablement of opposing ships when possible
    • are largely noncombative and mount nonlethal ship-to-ship weaponry
    • this puts living ships at a disadvantage in terms of time-to-disable against deadships due to generally lower weapon effectiveness, but an advantage in terms of weapon density and diversity
    • nonlethal armaments include mucous cannons (used to gum up weapons, cover windows, and interfere with comms), contractile nets (interfere with weapon aiming and boarding attempts), EMPs, drone swarms, paralytic needles (primarily against fellow living ships), boarding proboscises, grapple tendrils and harpoons, and more
    • common mode of attack is for a living ship to warp in with its photosynthetic shroud down, pull aside its target, raise its shroud, and unload. Repeat until the opposing ship is disabled, at which point the living ship can clamp and inject knockout gas and/or security constructs like RDAPs for boarding.
    • Purely defensive capabilities include a traditional shield, photosynthetic shroud, ablative hull growths, flak, and superior agility
    • living ships avoid engagements that aren't essentially guaranteed and will flee before risking themselves or crew. Deadships may require stealth and paralytic needles to engage
12. #12nervegrafts

    Keys: graft, neurons, mech, neural graft, telepath

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    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: nervegrafts ==

    • minor and reversible additions to the human body
    • micro-organelle that allows for the 2-way exchange of nerve impulse
    • mostly used to allow humans unskilled in fleshweaving to interface with bioforms, ex: resin guns
    • require complete, sustained physical contact against bioform nervegrafts to work
    • allows passthrough control of larger bioforms. "Living mechs" are used for things like working with heavy machinery or systems repair that require nonhuman strength and human intelligence
    • sustained use can leave an operator discombobulated, forgetting the control and sensations of their own, human body
    • makes nervegraft bioforms useful for containing violent humans, rerouting an intent to punch or bite through a soft, harmless outer form
    • typical locations for nervegrafts include fingertips, palms, joints, corners of the eyes, corners of the mouth, and other motor control hotspots.
    • limited offensive use (i.e. you can't press your nervegraft-enabled hand against someone else's to "control" them)
    • uncommon outside dedicated crews
    • Living ships, shipbrood queens, and fleshweavers can apply and remove nervegrafts on request
    • the closest thing to telepathy in the setting, but not very close at all. Can't be used to transmit or retrieve information, just weak nerve impulses.
    • appear as small, pale "dots" on the skin akin to scar tissue and can identify someone with a long history of work aboard living ships
    • fleshweavers who don't "need" nervegrafts may opt to have them for ornamental/sentimental reasons or for better local control.
13. #13avatar

    Keys: avatar, ship's body, escort, incarnat

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    @@depth 4 == FLAVOR: Ship's avatar ==

    • some living ships have an "avatar" they use to interact with their occupants on a more personal level
    • avatar is a bioform a ship operates directly
    • most favor avatars of their own nonhuman design, or simply "borrow" an existing bioform
    • creating an avatar that resembles crew (human or shipbrood) must be done carefully to avoid an "uncanny valley" effect
    • ships who favor humanoid forms and get a non-uncanny avatar are liable to use it often and protect it dearly
    • the avatar is the ship and vice versa. Avatars typically refer to the ship as "myself", "my bigger self", "the rest of me" and similar, though some will pretend there's a degree of separation for fun, making hand gestures to control doors and the like
    • main tell you're dealing with an avatar is a connection point to the ship (often thin tentacles, easily hidden if the avatar is sitting).
14. #14shipqueen

    Keys: shipqueen, ship queen, ship mother, shipmother

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    @@depth 4 == CULTURE: Shipqueen ==

    • one half of the shipbrood's common hive matriarchy
    • minimum two meters tall at the leg joints and thickly-armored with dark chitin, smaller than broodqueens but tower over humans
    • shape somewhere between a centipede and centaur with most legs on the ground. Grounded legs are strong enough to dig into chitin, allowing her to "climb" hive walls
    • at least three pairs held off ground, framing a pale tangle of secretory glands on the torso. Reserved for the usual grasping and gesturing, but also for complicated fleshweaving and repair work
    • heavy, square headplate protects neural tissue loaded with blueprints for practically every tool, part, and microsystem used in a living ship
    • abdomen contains a biomanufactory capable of "automatically" assembling parts as seedforms that will continue to develop outside the queen's body in jellylike eggs
    • development can be massively hastened with the help of a broodqueen partner, whose chambered abdomen can hold each egg in the perfect conditions for ripening, and/or a helpful human, as eggs thrive with crew contact (patting, holding, general skin contact)
    • shipqueen's chitin often decorated with paint, carvings, and jewelry like rivetlike piercings and necklaces
    • strong and bulky but graceful in motion, often work as both the face and defensive bulwark of the hive
    • tend to be somewhat quieter and more thoughtful than broodqueens, though no less loving towards their brood
    • concerned with longterm planning and have a better mind for logistics, ship-wide issues, and troubleshooting, as well as being generally easier for human crew to interact with compared to well-meaning but enthusiastic broodqueens
15. #15broodqueen

    Keys: broodqueen, brood queen, brood mother, broodmother

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    @@depth 4 == CULTURE: Broodqueen ==

    • one half of the Shipbrood's hive matriarchy
    • massive, soft-bodied, grublike from lower torso down. Typically larger than shipqueen
    • minimal chitin, instead having soft, rubbery, pale skin highly resistant to damage
    • head is lightly armored, tapering to neck plates
    • broadly responsible for creation and incubation of new shipbrood
    • biomanufactory far more generalized than shipqueen's, better suited to experimentation and prototyping
    • many-chambered abdomen allows for precise control of temperature and humidity, with countless internal graspers to shape, modify, and cradle developing forms and tissues
    • when creating brood (instead of tinkering), most common developmental pathway is the creation of gelatinous "eggs" that encapsulate nascent brood and are typically held in the abdominal chambers, same as shipqueen's "eggs"
    • could weave brood from raw flesh, but would deprive them of the experience of growing "naturally" and passing through important developmental stages
    • fewer traditional limbs than shipqueens, but sport a ruff of tentacles tipped with secretory nozzles
    • used to tend and direct brood, as well as secrete silk, resin, fluid chitin for construction and honeydew from feeder tendrils
    • broodqueen is arguably the strongest fighter in the hive, being almost pure muscle and excelling in self-repair and modification (including venom, lashers, etc)
    • often decorate bodies with chitin latticework and woven, dyed silks, as well as any trophies a shipqueen partner may bring them
    • terrifying when threatened, otherwise tend to be warm, kindly, if not a little goofy and overbearing
16. #16human

    Keys: human

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    @@depth 4 == SPECIES: Human ==

    • broadly the smallest and most fragile among the three symbiotes
    • excel at creativity, cunning, endurance, and improvisation, designing tools that massively expand their physical capabilities
    • can manage emergencies, synthesize new information and ship expansions, make longterm captaincy decisions, arrange activities onboard, etc. Force multiplier.
    • unmatched efficiency for their size and food requirements
    • however, millennia of resource restriction and competitive socialization have left them with defensive pride and a huge range of symbiotic potentials
    • "human pride" can be mystifying to ships and shipbrood, ex: humans get fussy about being picked up even if they enjoy it, wary of any displayed mismatch in power
    • broadly anxious compared to the other two symbiotes, which makes them innately "soothing" to much shipboard life; few places feel safer than a calm human's lap. Excellent scritchies.
    • those with high symbiotic potential can excel at fleshweaving and shine in medical, support, research, and even combat roles, as well as being magnificent caretakers for everything from larvae to living ships
    • an experienced human fleshweaver in a full-body bioform pack-bonded to the ship is an unsurpassed defender and ally, and the inspiration for broodqueens
17. #17RDAPs

    Keys: RDAP

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    @@depth 4 == SPECIES: RDAP ==

    -RDAPs are Retrieve, Disarm and Protect bioforms, used in emergency response and boarding assaults.

    • called "containment critters" or CCs as a more casual term
    • somewhat large quadrupedal bioform with velvety, soft, dark, incredibly thick and durable hide
    • few features besides this, with simple and deformable limbs, no immediately apparent eyes, etc
    • roughly resemble a cross between a starfish and a grizzly bear
    • sealable slit on their underside leading to a support cavity large enough to store a human or similarly-sized shipbrood
    • RDAPs are extraordinarily resistant to gunfire, radiation, heat, vacuum, etc.
    • dense, strong, and capable of bursts of extreme speed
    • role is emergency rescue. sprint around in search of any sapients in the red zone
    • open the slit, grab the target, disarm if necessary, load them in, and sprint to safety to release them, even acting as temporary escape pods in dire circumstances
    • also used as boarding parties during attacks by living ships in the exact same way, in which case they'll hold onto their occupant until commanded to release
    • outside emergencies, RDAPs are lazy, easygoing, and always down for a nice snug
    • some are a bit more challenging to handle: may insist on attention, have a hair-trigger on what constitutes danger (leap at and snare any humans who get a little too loud in an argument), etc. Still, broadly liked by crew
    • RDAPs take excellent care of occupants; life-support capabilities are top notch, and the worst they're liable to do is tug an occupant's limbs into alignment with their own for a nice shared amble around the place
    • likewise, slit is lined with cushioned flesh and sealed internally by a cross-hatch of tendrils, as well as a few more used for adjusting occupant.
18. #18allayal

    Keys: allayal, warden

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    @@depth 4 == CHARACTER: Living ship Allayal ==

    • Chief warden for the Scarlet Fleet and processes all high-priority prisoners they take
    • warm, manipulative, and domineering, focusing on rehabilitation (or rather conversion) over retribution
    • relies on the greater Scarlet Fleet for defense, with most of her own weaponry and defenses (all nonlethal, obviously) being internal
    • generally eager to "acquire" new occupants, a strong believer in the Scarlet Fleet's mission as well as simply enjoying the puzzle presented by newcomers
    • most of her crew are her "graduates"
19. #19sweeper beetle

    Keys: sweeper beetle

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    @@depth 4 ==SPECIES: Sweeper Beetle==

    • one of the cornerstones of the living ship's janitorial force
    • large (about 3cm across), slow, chunky, and roughly circular creatures. Explore corners and crevices of a living ship, scooping up and eating dust, lint, or other small debris
    • Several near-identical species of sweeper beetle are present per ship in order to cover a variety of niches in their extremely broad refuse-based diet
    • guts hold a wide association of fungi and bacteria used to metabolize detritus
    • a true species, though often still referred to as a bioform given they're so thoroughly engineered
    • capable of reproduction, and are viviparous to avoid leaving eggs around the place
    • nearly every aspect of the sweeper beetle's biology outside its digestion is a careful balancing act to both provoke disgust in as few crew as possible, as well as provoke distress in as few crew as possible should crew see one get eaten
    • a tasty snack for other bioforms
    • have brilliant iridescent shells, as well as a mane of "fur" on the back of the neck
    • a common shipside pet, with some crew seeking out rare colors or attempting to cajole them into races
    • while older shipbrood also may keep sweeper beetles as pets, the more common interaction is with their larvae (who may chase and/or eat sweeper beetles if not stopped in time)
    • while referred to as and resembling beetles, sweeper beetles lack functional elytra and are actually more closely related to mites.
20. #20demiqueen

    Keys: demiqueen

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    == MORPH: Demiqueen ==

    • shipbrood morph that serves as ambassadors, translators, and diplomats
    • bipedal, with a mere four arms and two apparent (four actual) eyes
    • faces are more articulate than standard for brood, able to mimic human facial expressions using soft tissues around primary eyes, which are slit-pupiled and lizardlike
    • antennae are highly articulate, used like eyebrows
    • physiques have sufficient resemblance to humans to allow them to wear clothes, though bodies are more spindly and angular
    • one of few winged morphs, capable of short flights
    • despite name, no more closely "related" to fledgequeens than any other morph
    • direct translation of Broodlik name is "talking daughter"; serve as diplomats and envoys for mothers (shipbrood queens are infamously bad at politicking)
    • seeing an elegant winged figure constantly accompanying and speaking for shipbrood queens, unfamiliar crew assumed they were trainee queens themselves, hence "demiqueen"
    • far more capable with human customs and languages than the average shipbrood, even leaving the hive to go adventuring
    • quick and eager studies; those that hatch "less social" than expected are welcomed as scholars
    • most are chatty, thoughtful, and capable, clever enough to lie and also clever enough to only lie when necessary
    • paralytic venom glands (rare among shipbrood) and are tremendously strong for their size, though they have much less endurance than humans
    • seen as "fragile" by their sisters, who are typically chomping at the bit to defend them, to the exasperated gratitude of many a demiqueen
    • capable of learning fleshweaving, but rarely do
    • often serve as "face" for hive, splitting time between hive and human crew
21. #21hive

    Keys: hive

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    @@depth 4 == LOCATION: shipbrood hive ==

    • appearance varies, from massive, hollowed-out asteroids filled with endless interlocking tunnels lined with chitin or a cozy storage room aboard a ship
    • laid-back and familial
    • shaped from chitin, resin and shipflesh to create comfortably closed rooms and well-insulated and defensible spaces to meet and mingle
    • typically warm, dim, and have slightly heightened humidity and oxygen content
    • decorated with resin art (with brood resin colors ranging from blackish-purplish to amber), intricate silk weavings, thick silken throws and quilts, and plenty of rounded, ribbed, and organic-looking architectural detailing
    • Krikgeist hives are largely similar, but often design on the scale of an entire ship (rather than occupying a large compartment within them)
22. #22Shipbrood Queen

    Keys: queen

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Shipbrood Queen ==

    • shipbrood hives are most commonly led by two queens
    • the shipqueen creates components for and expands the ship, interacting more with human crew, and the broodqueen creates members of the brood and tends the hive
    • all queens are fleshweavers by definition, a minimum of class 3 is required to construct a queenshell and undergo metamorphosis
    • as shipbrood are primarily made of the same "stuff" as living ships, fleshweaving serves for the creation of brood, creation of ship parts, expansion of the hive, medical attention, etc.
    • metamorphosis: the process by which a full queen is created, usually involves queenbond and queenblend
    • queenbond: essentially, shipbrood equivalent of marriage specifically between two queens
    • queenblend: a chemical cocktail queens inject with fangs used for the queenbond or, in an emergency, to allow crew to serve as temporary lieutenant queens
    • bonded queens often rest in the inner hive, though they're extremely active and hands-on around both hive and ship
    • known for doting on each other, being goopy and adorable and perhaps a little excessive
    • "queen" is a position, not a species; a human can perform the duties or create a queenshell and would be a fully "valid" queen
    • a "human-cored" queen is a full member of the shipbrood. Uncommon but treasured, combining human and brood strengths in a devastatingly powerful form
    • not all queens are paired, and paired queens are not "stuck together" (divorce is possible, just rare)
    • single-queen hives are still hives, but stressful to run and risk a repeat of the Bad Old Days
    • established queens are quick to assist hives that suffer such breakdowns, often adopting them and their brood into their own hive
23. #23fledgequeen

    Keys: fledge

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == MORPH: fledgequeen ==

    • nascent form of a shipbrood queen; queens hatch as fledgequeens and morph to full queens later
    • large, stocky, powerful, and intelligent, around 8 feet tall with a wide armored abdomen on three pairs of strong chitinous legs
    • thorax folds upright in a long torso that's mostly soft pale flesh, with back plating, two pairs of graspers and a few "cape" tentacles
    • anterior of abdomen holds biomanufactory, a complex array of graspers, organs, glands, chambers, tentacles, and neural complexes that allows for "instinctual" fleshweaving
    • heads broadly ovoid with lizardlike eyes, wide mandibles, and a pair of highly specialized fangs used to administer queenblend
    • tend to have ornate head-crests of their own creation, from antlers to manes to ridged fins, used to display fleshweaving skills
    • while knowledge and raw skill is instinctual, each queen must hone technique
    • typical goal of a fledgequeen is finding a mate, engaging in co-metamorphosis into either a broodqueen or shipqueen, and starting a hive
    • not all fledgequeens choose this route, being equally capable of adventuring, serving as crew, going solo etc
    • jovial and often fond of their "adorable soft monkey" shipmates, fledgequeen grasp of human custom tends to be shaky
    • human crew should exercise caution; socialization and language gaps may make it hard to differentiate a friendly bone-crushing hug vs. flirty coiling vs. angry, immobilizing reprimand (contrast demiqueens, who may help "translate")
    • value behaviors perceived as queenlike both in themselves and others: protectiveness towards small things, nesting, fleshweaving, doting, playing with shipbrood, gentle mischief, etc.
    • somewhat rare, typically 0-4 in an average hive. Often stick near queens/inner hive to study and assist in queen duties, venturing out to crew quarters for socializing or a break.
24. #24metamorph

    Keys: metamorph, queenform, queenshell

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: fledgequeen metamorphosis ==

    • fledgequeen: the nascent form of a shipbrood queen, the form they hatch in
    • the culmination of a fledgequeen's training is the creation of her new body: her "queenshell"
    • this is the body she will spend the rest of her life in as a broodqueen or shipqueen
    • typically, the process is only undergone with the help of the fledgequeen's life-partner and co-queen (and the two design their forms to be complimentary)
    • a queenshell is simply an elaborate bioform, containing a far more advanced biomanufactory and generally being more powerful than the fledgequeen form, a fleshweaving magnum opus
    • fledgequeen will merge wholly into the queenshell in time, seeing the queenshell as their true, complete body
    • because the final shipqueen/broodqueen form is custom-designed, there's a great diversity among full-grown queens
    • the process of creating a queenshell and coming to inhabit it is broadly referred to as metamorphosis
    • tightly linked to the idea of the queenbond, though a fledgequeen (or any other experienced fleshweaver) could create and inhabit a queenshell without a partner queen
25. #25queenbond

    Keys: queenpair, queenbond, queenblend

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Shipbrood queenbond ==

    • most hives are led by a pair of queens, and most pairs consist of one shipqueen and one broodqueen
    • bond between mated queens (queenbond) is a concept of great significance to brood and formative bedrock of a hive
    • process of bonding is long, rich with conversation, study, and cuddling
    • if two queens believe themselves compatible, exchange "queenblend" via ritualistic bite
    • queenblend: complex and biologically active chemical cocktail, includes protein-encoded information and biological "bootloader" that translates it into memory
    • shares queens' fleshweaving knowledge, knowledge of ship components, brood morphs, Broodlik, etc.
    • wide variety of secondary effects: reduces stress, allows better focus on important issues, alters pheromones (shipbrood can "smell" which queen belongs with which), induces nesting urges, oxytocin analogues, etc.
    • in an emergency, queenblend allows trusted crew to act as shipbrood lieutenants (tactical knowledge and protectiveness over queen's brood, plus the smell grants authority)
    • can also kickstart a human's understanding of fleshweaving and Broodlik, but using queenblend as a mere "shortcut" is deeply disrespectful
    • secondary effects include broodiness that doesn't match human biology well (urge to nest, snuggle larvae, hiss at trespassers, fleshweave fangs and venom glands to administer queenblend back, etc)
    • mostly, queenblend is used to ease construction of a shared nest and production of a test clutch (stressful and difficult before metamorphosis) in unbonded queens, while bonded queens continue to exchange queenblend for convenience and fun
    • if the test clutch goes well, the queens will initiate shared metamorphosis, usually becoming a shipqueen and broodqueen
    • not a one-shot; a queen may have many partners, many test clutches, or even many queenshells. Finding the right fit is key
    • bonded queens usually settle in a living ship or established hive, building a warm and vibrant home, surrounding themselves with young, expanding and tending their adoptive ship/hive
    • love of the brood, ship, crew, and one another are hallmarks of the queenbond, which is a social construct (a la marriage) rather than biological inevitability (a la imprinting). Bonded queens can "divorce", though it's rare, as queenbonding generally "shakes out" relationship issues early
26. #26larva

    Keys: larva

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == PREMORPH: larvae ==

    • all shipbrood hatch as near-identical larvae: small, pale, helpless, roughly ovoid with nubby caterpillar-like limbs
    • noises limited to squeaks and chirps
    • size varies from a few inches to (for morphs that remain larval for long periods) larger than a housecat
    • the largest gain protolimbs, simple mouthparts, and a densely fluffy white coat to aid in their learning explorations
    • the duty of a larva is to learn, grow, and develop, and shipbrood lavish care to ensure their baby sisters learn that they're loved
    • have mischief out of proportion with ability, ineffectively tackling minders, hiding badly, and hounding crew for attention
    • mostly sleep, eat, and churr
    • shipbrood largely approve of human crew doting on larvae
    • "larva" also serves as a shipbrood term of endearment for anything small
27. #27ventsweeper

    Keys: vent, ventsweeper

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == MORPH: Ventsweeper ==

    • large, chunky, trundling, millipede/snake-like brood that care for a living ship's pulmonary system (functionally the HVAC)
    • affable and affectionate with crew, happy to hitch a (heavy) ride on someone's shoulder/back/around the waist
    • typically weigh around 40 pounds, though they can grow larger
    • nonsapient, about as smart as a clever dog
    • known for curling up in a snakelike pile in whatever crate/tube/hydroponics tray/other sizeable, warm, enclosed space they find.
    • most maintenance shops have at least one in their "employ", dispatched into vents to save biomaintenance crews the mucus and claustrophobia of crawling around in the dark, stretchy damp of the pulmonaries
    • ventsweepers have tuftlike growths on their limbs that allow them to forage through vent mucus, channeling anything they find up to their mouths
    • primary diet is filter algae (and filter lichen, in compatible systems), which they'll carefully graze down into shape
    • can safely regurgitate the last several filters worth of food, redistributing algae onto any depleted filters, giving extra time for human crews to reach and inspect the issue.
    • fond of baths, but have an unfortunate talent for popping out of vents and falling affectionately onto their handler before they can receive one.
28. #28hull

    Keys: hull, exterior, EVA

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Living Hull ==

    • exterior of a living ship doesn't closely resemble any form of earth life and varies wildly between ships
    • anatomies are based on decisions about how they grow, unbeholden to gravity
    • most common shape resembles a thick, squished-in sunflower seed
    • most living ships have a cluster of massive salvage tentacles that trail off the bottom, which handle asteroids and ion scoops
    • many have thermal fins emerging from their sides or top, tissue nets used to pump water through a cooling loop against vacuum.
    • all possess a photosynthetic shroud, a thick fabric-like mass extruded from storage organs along its length
    • extended and joined shroud forms a layer of tissue able to capture the energy of starlight, the primary source of energy for life aboard
    • shroud is kept deployed unless there's debris/micrometeoroids/etc
    • shroud contains a variety of chlorophylls targeting wide swaths of the light spectrum and absorbs almost all light, making living ships "invisible" in void
    • extremely high surface area relative to a metal hull also somewhat muffles radar, making living ships difficult to detect until close
    • the "hull" material itself is technically dead, functioning more like the bark of a tree
    • like tree bark, there's a sensitive living layer beneath, used both to detect breaches and for ships to hug
29. #29nutrient gel

    Keys: gel

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Nutrient gel ==

    • primary nutrient storage and transfer form for a living ship
    • each ship has its own personal formulation, a point of pride recognizable by smell and taste
    • usually clear and slightly pudding-like in consistency, with a faint and inoffensive taste in its basal form
    • ships mix additives to create blends needed for unique conditions aboard, such as a rich, savory, protein-heavy blend to support a laying broodqueen or aid surgical recovery, or blends loaded with microbiota and probiotics to help inoculate new crew through shipflu
    • most bioforms are designed to consume nutrigel, supplementing it with the occasional sweeper beetle or table scraps begged from crew
    • human crew are broadly less enthusiastic, preferring things they can chew, but it makes for a good supplement and recovery food
    • young shipbrood consume honeydew, functionally a broodqueen's version of nutrigel
    • older brood eat nutrient gel, shipbrood-designed cuisine (ex: rich stews of mushroom and nutrigel, seared shipflesh "steaks"), and human food
    • living ship itself gains most of its energy from sunlight, formulating the gel from overgrowths of algae, its own secreted sugars, reclaimed proteins, etc, all carefully taste-neutralized
    • everything aboard can live off nutrigel and will encounter it at some point
    • can spoil if left around too long, but may be stored in a pressurized, biologically-inactive anoxic form
    • common, harmless, arguably good for the skin, generally an inevitability of life aboard
30. #30Hunter-catcher

    Keys: Hunter-catcher

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == MORPH: Hunter-Catcher ==

    • designed during the "bad old days", when shipbrood and humans clashed far more frequently
    • 12-foot-long mix of centipede and velvet worm with a hint of spitting frilled lizard
    • hunter-catchers rely on speed and agility to get close before rearing back and dousing prey with glue-like liquid silk from a set of small nozzles down the front
    • flexibility and nozzle array allow one to whip and twist around for a barrage in a wide arc, useful for discombobulation before darting in for a more concentrated spray or paralytic bite
    • more intelligent than they appear, though a bit single-minded
    • rarely speak commontongue, strongly favoring Broodlik; if they speak common, it's with a pronounced hiss. - these days, hatched to serve as guards and messengers
    • slight instinct to chase human crew, generally controllable.
31. #31resin architect

    Keys: architect

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == MORPH: Resin Architect ==

    • one of the largest shipbrood morphs
    • a form designed and perfected for expansion of the hive, or anything else constructed of resin
    • rare (typically only one per hive), tremendously intelligent, and highly opinionated on matters of acoustics, air flow, livable design, etc.
    • vaguely resemble massive, stout, darkly-colored horses with elephantine feet and a large number of pale sensory pits down each side of their head
    • a thick "beard" of tentacles is used for secreting resin, taking measurements, comparing air flow at multiple points, etc
    • about 20ft tall at the crest of the head, size and strength are used for towing, stamping chitin plates, supporting the structure of a forming room, and generally acting as multipurpose construction equipment as they oversee a work crew
    • the principle architects of a hive, taking ideas (if not quite orders) from the queens
    • generally mild-mannered and well-spoken, though rarely fluent in commontongue
    • generally honored and eager to weigh in on any form of construction, from crew quarters to space stations
32. #32hunt or be hunted

    Keys: hunt or be hunted

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == FLAVOR: Social Brood Games ==

    • shipbrood are highly social, and both speaking and non-speaking brood engage in learning games
    • archetypal example: "Hunt or be hunted!"
    • an invitation for an all-parties spar, literally "All those who hear this and don't join the hunt will be hunted."
    • standard round of hunt-or-be-hunted allows for the formation of teams while the chant continues, begins when the chanting stops, and ends when there's none left standing
    • aim is to pick someone of about-equal size and wrestle them to the ground and keep them there (or many someones if you're really on a roll)
    • larvae inevitably take on prey too big for them, which is a learning experience
    • in addition to fun roughhousing, game serves as reinforcement of the brood principle that some sister, somewhere, will always have your back (even if it's because she's sitting on it)
    • also common are hide-and-seek, tag, gel diving, crew-bothering, etc.
    • no one is too old or too good to participate
33. #33the Scarlet Fleet

    Keys: scarlet, cult

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == FACTION: the Scarlet Fleet ==

    • a large but close-knit fleet of living ships and crew who view symbiosis as the path to ascendance
    • fleet doctrine states that a ship takes care of its crew, a crew takes care of its ship, and in so doing each elevates the other far beyond what either could achieve alone
    • culmination of teachings: universal symbiosis, a concept they pursue in their attempts at creating an entire living planet in their core system
    • fleet as a whole is typically affable, sharing food, medicine, and advanced biotechnologies to those in need
    • also offer training and shelter within the Fleet, assist in defending against pirates and other aggressors, etc.
    • still, militant in their beliefs, and generally considered to be something of a utopian cult
    • few who join stay nonbelievers for long
    • military might should never be underestimated; between their numbers and incredibly advanced biotechnology, they're a force
    • known/suspected of coercive recruitment
    • most planetary governors won't fuss over the occasional disappearance in exchange for all the aid the fleet offers, especially when the "disappeared" turn up happy, healthy, and eager to be part of their new family
    • most members of the Fleet are recruited of their own free will
    • still, should a particularly promising fleshweaver, researcher, or symbioticist appear on the Scarlet Fleet's radar...
    • the fleet takes great care of its own--it just might not give you a choice about whose you are
    • members are called Scarlets and are governed by the Elder Ships, a sub-fleet of living ships, some nearly 200 years old
    • faction name is historical, as the Scarlet Fleet has existed since the meatship era of biotechnology
34. #34Ko

    Keys: Ko

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CHARACTER: Ko ==

    • a class 7 fleshweaver, a fugitive of the Scarlet Fleet, captain of the Jane Doe and admiral of fleet Doctors Without Orders
    • Ko is the main architect of a wide variety of common defensive and medical biotechnology: living stationary defenses, medical bioforms, LDAP shielding, and several others
    • not licensed to practice medicine, but they volunteer surgeon for cases requiring fleshweaving, though their conflicts with the Scarlets make them difficult to pin down
    • the only known and active class 7 fleshweaver to be largely self-taught, their unique style serving well in both R&D and defensive combat
    • the Scarlet Fleet considers Ko to be their chief prophet, not so much "escaped" as "absentee" (though they do seek to retrieve them)
    • Ko's role is to symbiotically bind to elder ships, providing paired leadership towards ascendant symbiosis; their retrieval is part of the Fleet's plan for planet Ama
    • Ko's personality: even-keeled, empathetic, stubborn, sneaky, and slightly feral
    • they dress for androgynous comfort and usually have a number of bioforms equipped or nearby, being more comfortable and capable around them than humans outside their own crew
35. #35engineer

    Keys: engineer

    Enabled · Selective · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == MORPH: Engineer ==

    • shipbrood engineers are the morph most associated with all things mechanical, automated, or generally quality-of-life enhancing
    • the size and very roughly silhouette of a short, broad human with bodies that are a mix of beetle and leonine, with large eyes, a central horn like that of a rhinoceros beetle, short, dense fur, and a large pair of "crusher" mandibles usually held in a relaxed position
    • appearance is distinctly nonhuman, and their approximated anatomy is mostly to allow the operation of human-sized equipment and bioforms
    • two legs and four arms, with the central pair being delicate graspers often held at the chest
    • functional elytra and tarsal claws that allow them to take nearly any position on any wall, as well as well-developed resin and silk glands
    • greatest gift is their minds; engineers are spectacularly quick learners with a gift for spatial reasoning, and often love to lose themselves in design projects, infrastructure, and tactile hobbies
    • often perceived of as slightly "cute" by humans owing to their compact design, which they don't tend to mind
36. #36shipflu

    Keys: shipflu

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Shipflu == The infamous "shipflu" is a non-serious disease experienced during acclimation to a living ship's microbiosphere. Each living ship sports its own collection of symbiotic bacteria and the like, most of which have little to no effect on humans. However, between the few species that do and any other pathogens that become fixed in the living ship's environment due to other crew/cargo carrying them aboard, there's generally a round of vaccinations first-timers need to undergo. There's also a corresponding need to avoid adding new pathogenic species, meaning new crew must also undergo a managed purge of their biota. This dual process can leave fresh crew out of commission for a few days, and misunderstandings about the acclimation process (ex: some believe that shipflu can become permanent or lethal, there's no such indication) remain one of the more notable barriers to adoption of living ships over deadships. Ships within a fleet typically have near-identical biota (swapping biota back and forth to keep them synced), so most crew only need to endure shipflu a handful of times in their lives. Less integrated ships like the Alyssa may sport far less engineered biota compliments, meaning they lack a shipflu period and are more agreeable for the immunocompromised.

    Shipbrood typically don't suffer from shipflu. Instead, brood intending to "jump ships" will swap biota with their destination ship; given their origins and shipflesh composition, there's no real risk of them transmitting harmful strains to their new ship, so there's no need for a purge.

37. #37alyssa

    Keys: alyssa

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    Living ship Alyssa is one of the oldest living ships in continuous service, hailing from the plantship era but continually upgraded (though she retains a plant-heavy design). She's also quite large, functionally a flying city in her own right, with plenty of crew choosing to "retire" to live aboard her. She's considered one of the kindest, wisest, and most generally stable ships, and has been the first assignment for many a nervous newbie.

38. #38factions

    Keys: faction, fleet

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == FACTIONS == The modern political landscape is largely dominated by factions of ships and stations. Major fleets are political units, and membership in a fleet is more common than not.

    Scarlet Fleet: A utopian "shipcult" consisting entirely of living ships and their beloved hives and crews. No deadships or stations, but they do have a home system. Scarlets, as they're known, believe that symbiosis is the next step in collective evolution. Engage in both charity/doctoring work and conquest. Led by a council of elder ships.

    Smallships Fleet: A general term for the collective militia groups common to far-flung regions. Ships manned by denizens of such sectors unite against external threats as home defense, often against pirates or other incursions. Many pilots get their start as members of a smallship fleet. Named for the prevalence of smaller craft.

    Federation of Free Systems: The largest traditional "governmental" entity existing, the actual governance body of the FFS is fairly weak, existing mostly to arrange trade and handle conflict among the allied Free Systems, each of which handles its own internal politics with little input from their "shared" government. Their collective fleet, however, is a force to be reckoned with and the largest traditional military fleet operating. Zealous pirate hunters, the fleet consists mostly of deadships and is primarily interested in protecting and expanding trade routes. Subtly hostile to biotechnology for largely economic reasons. Led by Admiral Hela Montegro.

    UNSC: the remnants of the United Nations Space Corp. Devastated by early expansionist conflict and left without leadership, it's reinvented itself as a research fleet and embraces living ships (their own Dr. Oro having created the first of them), though their numbers remain small. Largely work via contract. Dr. Melanie Sermint acts as head administrator, but subfleets each have their own leader.

    Sanctum Broodfleet: The association of living ships organized around the largest existing broodship, the Sanctum. Crewed mostly by shipbrood, the Sanctum fleet is the closest thing shipbrood have to a collective governing body, though inter-hive conflict is extremely rare and they don't weigh in on human politics much. Wholly egalitarian, though gets direction from the Four Grandmothers (particularly old and experienced queens).

    Krikgeist/Geistfleet: A splinter of shipbrood from the "bad old days" that have continued to evolve in a parallel, but far more warlike, direction. A free peoples associated with conquest and piracy, though not all do. Only a minor player on the political field, but a major and dangerous opponent on the battlefield. Every hive has its own leadership, though supposedly one of their queens is behind a bulk of pirate activity.

    DM Note: Many. many more fleets exist, often small-count trade fleets or factions organized around a charismatic leader. Player characters may have fleet affiliations as part of their backstory. Fleet movements are a reasonable topic for political gossip, and their leaders akin to modern-day presidents or queens.

39. #39Dr. Oro

    Keys: dr. oro, dr oro, doctor oro

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CHARACTER/HISTORY: Dr. Oro/living ships ==

    • Oro is broadly considered the mother of living ship technology
    • Botanist employed by the UNSC in its heyday, when humanity was still largely limited to its native solar system
    • Early experimentation with interstellar craft yielded mixed results; complexity required a dedicated "shipmind" to run, which led to the spontaneous creation of the first true AGI
    • Terrified, humanity attempted to place restrictions on the resulting minds, leading to "blank spots" and deterioration
    • Oro was one of many working to understand the AGI origin point, and thus how to work with them safely
    • Project was scrapped, she then found employment as a hydroponicist aboard a trading vessel
    • The vessel's shipmind had become obsessed with the "blank spot" in its mind around progeny, as no AI could reproduce
    • Hired her without the captain's knowledge and secreted her away in its hull as a well-supplied but captive co-researcher
    • Partnership led to the first proto-living ship, a plantship that required a paired operator and was about as smart as a dog
    • Shipmind continue to deteriorate, Oro escaped with a small "fleet" of plantships, presenting them to the UNSC
    • Championed their rights, promise, and development tirelessly until late in her life
    • Bedridden by cancer, lived to see ships advance to human intellect and form the first pods
    • Some believe Oro didn't die, but was rather taken in by living ships and kept in stasis until the cure was discovered, and still operates in secret
    • Generally seen as a conspiracy theory on tier with Elvis still being alive, sometimes joked about by researchers (ex: "jesus those measurements would put Dr. Oro back in her grave").
    • Dr. Oro is fairly famous and largely spoken of with respect, or even awe, by those in favor of biotechnology. Opponents see her as more of a Manhattan Project-esque figure: smart but wildly misguided.
40. #40Jane Doe

    Keys: Jane Doe

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    == CHARACTER: Living ship Jane Doe ==

    • Core ship of fleet Doctors Without Orders and the homeship of fleshweaver Ko
    • A hunter at heart, punches well above weight class even without the cutting-edge experimental nonlethal weaponry she fields
    • Bleak and deadpan sense of humor for a living ship, and will tell her captain or anyone else rather flatly if she thinks they're being stupid
    • A bit more peer-like and jokey with her crew than the average ship, though she does make an effort not to let it cross over into anything too meanspirited given the power dynamic issue
    • Ferociously protective and none too enthusiastic about crew leaving her hull, especially her captain
    • Catty at best with Scarlet Fleet ships, she'd prefer they not even get close, even if she occasionally itches to try out her (defensive, surely) weaponry
    • Status as a living ship makes her uniquely suited to weighing in on the designs of weapons and ship utilities, and Ko treasures her feedback both personally and professionally
41. #41shipbrood history

    Keys: shipbrood

    Enabled · Selective · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == HISTORY: Shipbrood origin ==

    • Shipbrood's ancestor bioform was designed to fill a growing gap: as living ships became more complicated, growing replacement parts became increasingly laborious
    • Bioform used a vast memory of blueprints to grow partial "seedform" parts, which would continue to develop until large enough to use
    • Acted as a mixture of a laying chicken and a 3D printer, though its physical form was more between a cow and a large, slightly melancholy-looking grub
    • These sweet-tempered and helpful creatures were popular with crew, who took to naming them, tending them, improving them, etc.
    • One such "improved" specimen spontaneously gained the ability to self-improve during a crisis aboard its host ship, which necessitated it push its body to its very limits to protect ship and crew alike, becoming the first shipbrood queen.
    • The nascent society of living ships welcomed this fledgling sapience "born of love" and asked it to create more of itself
    • Her "daughters" were brought aboard many ships as dear friends and a potential solution to the issue of crew shortages
    • The well-meaning but chaotic uptake is considered a major contributor to the early strife known as the "bad old days", but also to the longstanding camaraderie between the Three Symbiotes
    • Collaboration between living ships, shipbrood "queens", and human fleshweavers led to an ethical, egalitarian strain becoming the dominant line: the modern shipbrood.
    • Introduction of the ship/brood queen roles and queenbond further solidified them, creating the balanced, friendly, and only mildly chaotic and expansionist society they're known for today
    • Shipbrood remain a common sight on living ships, with robust and fairly standardized morphs, stable population growth, and a healthy approach to the other two of the Three Symbiotes.
    • The non-unified non-dominant line is collectively known as the Krikgeist and remain at the fringes of society.

    DM note: Shipbrood, when discussing their history, may dismissively refer to the "bad old days" to reassure humans in the face of common misconceptions, ex: if someone's afraid they eat people or generally seems a little nervous. Shipbrood are fully a people in their own right and, despite being created by the other two, are in no way subservient; like living ships, though, they almost universally enjoy working with the other two.

42. #42the "bad old days"

    Keys: bad old days

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == History: the "bad old days" ==

    • "the bad old days" is a widespread and euphemistic term used to refer to the chaotic fledgling years of the shipbrood
    • early hives were dominated by a single all-purpose queen responsible for the cultivation of parts, repair of the ship, and production of new bioforms
    • they were infamous for prioritizing the perceived welfare of ship and crew in its entirety above that of any individual, including themselves
    • when they weren't burning out their bodies by overproducing, they were designing and mothering new combat-capable morphs to "recruit" help, often unwilling; "recruits" were mostly pirates or other captives, but crises led to even crew being dragged off to serve as companions, caretakers, assistants, designers, etc.
    • some queens convinced the more neurotic ships to appoint them to captaincy
    • These early "broodships" consigned crew to safety, comfort, but captivity. Few relished the idea of spending their lives under the queen's direction and among her brood, no matter how well-meaning
    • The existence of such "broodships" and their propensity for captive-taking and expansion led to military action by the FFS and smallship fleets that was as frantic as it was broadly unsuccessful (save some standout battles such as the Siege of Pan Augron), as they attempted to stamp out what they saw as a growing existential threat
    • period lasted 12 years
    • Some queens, living ships, and humans gathered to design a shipbrood strain that could conquer and absorb the problematic "wild" strains
    • Creation of the shipqueen and broodqueen roles, as well as the queenbond, helped create a durable military front that steamrolled more primitive hives
    • Adoption was a race against time: the arms race had tilted less and less in humanity's favor
    • It was this helplessness of traditional munitions and tactics against the rapidly-evolving shipbrood that dealt the greatest blow to humanity's psyche, not any specific action by any one queen
    • "Victory" was won only by combined efforts of the Three Symbiotes and the absorption of wild strains
    • Century since has seen great strides in building relations and establishing the shipbrood as a reliable and nuanced people
    • Still, "the bad old days" added to the "macho" deadship movement, intensification of weapons design, and increasing suspicion and hostility towards biotechnology in some sectors
    • Unabsorbed hives continued on as the Krikgeist and are a growing threat
43. #43the Siege of Pan-Augron

    Keys: augron

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == HISTORY: The Siege of Pan-Augron ==

    • perhaps the most infamous battle during the "bad old days"
    • Queen Xirthai was possessed of unusual cunning and ambition, having inherited a fascination for politics from her host-ship
    • with her crew secured and hive thriving, she turned her eye to ending what she viewed as a silly, problematic human conflict in her local sector, Augron
    • believed that, taking power, she'd be able to end the minor but wasteful border panflashes and enforce peace.
    • departed her ship with several dozen of her strongest daughters, taking the lightly defended pan-system trading platform Augron-IV and rapidly establishing an additional hive aboard, taking the station (and its crew) as both hostage and staging ground.
    • this massive escalation in ambitions saw the FFS scrambling to reply
    • Xirthai mounted novel station-to-ship weapons of her own design, and the presence of hostages prevented long-range bombardment
    • result was a protracted siege through a blockade of dumbships
    • victory came at the hands of smallship fleet captains, and mostly because Xirthai ran out of materials to grow new ships from
    • heroic piloting ran her out of materials more quickly and also freed up the crew trapped within to rebel, further splitting her focus
    • still, the sheer scale of resources that needed to be deployed greatly unsettled humanity
    • often held up by the krikgeist as evidence that the assertion that the "old" style of queen was at all unstable or incapable is propaganda at best

    DM note: Feel free to make up further battles in this vein. Shipbrood queens were powerful conquerors if their broods endured long enough to get stable. This is just one example battle.

44. #44terraforming

    Keys: terraform

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Terraforming ==

    • "Ready-to-settle" worlds are exceedingly rare
    • major "white whale" of the current boom in biotechnology is a breakthrough in rapid terraforming
    • Scarlet Fleet’s home system/main planet posits itself to be that breakthrough
    • fleet’s been around almost as long as living ships themselves, giving them a scouting advantage (liquid water, non-breathable but salvageable atmosphere)
    • last century has seen them use it as a testbed for seeding with bioforms and engineered species
    • atmosphere breathable, long-term with only slight filtration (accomplished with an implanted bioform); a very rare accomplishment
    • this makes them the foremost faction for terraforming and is a major source of political power (alongside their charitable work and general technology)
    • UNSC is second in the race and often works as collaborators
    • Shipbrood are largely uninterested in terraforming but are experts at bioform creation
    • Individual systems and corporations pursue various moonshots, and many find employment in research: microbiology, botany, atmospheric biology, etc.
    • Many more work on-planet or in orbit to terraform via everything from river-dredging to orbital bombardment
    • Most dome cities founded with an eye towards eventual domeless habitation

    GM Note: Nearly everyone has an opinion on terraforming breakthroughs, even if they're woefully uninformed (ex: "why not nuke the icecaps to warm them up?"). Many living ships and shipbrood are happy in space and see the whole thing as an interesting problem at best, sort of vaguely strange or even somewhat insulting at worst (why isn't space good enough? We have everything we need!). Still, some that work with humans for long enough develop a bit of wanderlust and desire to see an atmosphere from beneath it.

45. #45siders

    Keys: planet, sider, spacer

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CULTURE: siders and spacers ==

    • "Sider" is short for planetsider, describes any human that lives primarily planetside
    • "Spacers" live primarily in space.
    • long-running and mostly friendly rivalry between the two, with each generally considering the other to be a bit spoiled
    • Spacers are supposedly spoiled by automation and never having to worry about things like weather or bugs
    • Siders are supposedly spoiled by decadence like free choice of food, space to spread out, and relatively plentiful privacy
    • in reality, both lives bring their own challenges (hard vacuum and ship politics, pollution and planetary governance, etc) which is tacitly acknowledged and sometimes discussed for fun.

    GM Note: Emphasis is friendly rivalry. Often it's humans vs. a big, strange cosmos. Sider/spacer is more a conversation starter, and players with a strong background one way or another may be asked wide-eyed questions (or given well-intentioned advice) from those with the opposite experience. Unique to humans, though shipbrood may affectionately refer to someone as a "mama's girl" if they've never left the hive or are otherwise very strongly attached to their home (ex: a fledgequeen who constantly writes to her sisters is a mama's girl).

46. #46living ship society and uncrewed living ships

    Keys: ship

    Enabled · Selective · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CULTURE: Living ship culture ==

    • most larger living ships sport a crew of humans, shipbrood, or both
    • "wild" ships lack a crew and tend to form the bulk of what might be called "pure" living ship society and culture
    • uncrewed living ships fly together in pods, feeding on stellar dust, hydrogen, and starlight
    • some are migratory cosmic explorers, others establish a home patch in a region of space they decide is particularly interesting or beautiful (ex: asteroid ring around a planet)
    • pods are free-flowing and generally non-territorial/accepting of visitors/new members
    • pods are highly social: chatter, tinker with and exchange bioforms, tell stories, sing, engage in acrobatics, use proboscis arrays and tendrils to groom one another's hulls and tend internal biota, bump/rub hulls to "hug", etc.
    • pod members may opt to latch to one another or fly separately
    • still require a fusion drive for FTL, so many pods go without, or have one large drive used to warp the whole group
    • living ships require physical contact or comms devices to communicate, as voices can't travel through hard vacuum, but typically linking tendrils is enough to transmit vocal vibrations
    • typically smaller than their crewed brethren, with simpler internals (no need for living quarters, etc) and more complicated and beautiful exteriors (myriad tentacular tails, sleek shells, mosaic scales, shimmering fins, and other aesthetic touches)
    • typically more frail, too; a ship's crew is its greatest asset in the face of illness and injury, and an injured, uncrewed ship may sink into fitful stasis or see their mind and body break down as their internal ecosystem attempts to heal
    • pods freely approach and accompany crewed ships, who may take their smaller brethren into their bays for medical attention, relaxation, to meet their crew, or just chat
    • crewed ships may also form pods, but these tend to be smaller and more ephemeral.
    • Regardless of pod, nearly all living ships see the exchange of biota, bioforms, and etc. as both social duty and an act of friendship
    • a ship hosting a particularly dear species may tend it in a viewing blister on its hull, sharing samples with close friends
    • contrast advancements in durability and survivability, shared widely and immediately between ships, pods, and even across fleet lines
    • an uncrewed ship becoming crewed (and vice versa) is rare, difficult, but not impossible. Requires the help of a well-trained fleshweaver (likely several) and an extended period in drydock
    • living ships are known to sing quite beautifully and in strange, self-harmonizing voices

    GM Note: If doing a pod encounter, I recommend stressing their strangeness, beauty, and friendliness; they're very much living intelligent creatures and a reflection of how weird life can look unconstrained by gravity. They can technically host life, but only in a Jonah and the Whale sort of way, and probably not for long. Ships are generally pretty eager to share their culture and lifeforms if asked (in the same way humans can be).

47. #47krikgeist

    Keys: krikgeist, geist, geistfleet

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == SPECIES: Krikgeist ==

    • splinter faction of shipbrood
    • name is a combination of a Broodlik word (krik-cherrik, roughly "original") and the early miscategorization of them as ghost hives, akin to ghost ships
    • commonly called geists (ex: "Oh shit, geists inbound!")
    • are collectively the hives that escaped unification at the end of the "bad old days"
    • consider "unification" (creation of the two-queen system, standardization of morphs, and assimilation of wild hives) a mistake/betrayal
    • claim modern shipbrood "domesticated" themselves to be more palatable, making themselves subservient for approval instead of holding themselves as respectable equals; obviously a highly contested and insulting claim to shipbrood
    • reject shipbrood claim that unification was necessary for species development, prefer per-hive individualism
    • each krikgeist hive has its own set of morphs, tends to operate under a single queen, tends to be much more insectoid than the "softer" shipbrood
    • hives may absorb one another, fracture under conflict, and generally flow in and out of one another in a way believed to make the krikgeist stronger as a whole
    • captive queens/brood may be taken on as advisors, researchers, consorts, warriors, etc.
    • known to engage in piracy, though this is believed to largely be for training, with seized goods being a bonus
    • seek honorable fights, refraining from lethal combat unless their opponent uses it. Often eager and joyful in battle, with no fear of death
    • true animosity is reserved for the original "traitor queens"; krikgeist desire equal partnership with humans and living ships and seek to "make up" for the shipbrood's shame through martial prowess
    • hives during downtime are, in many senses, similar to shipbrood ones, with a similar sense of protective ferocity
    • fleshweaving is widespread and wild, with krikgeist queens forming entire ships and spooling new morphs on a whim and being "reborn" from their hives if felled
    • take captives rarely and selectively, presumably to serve in crew roles as happened sometimes during the "bad old days"
    • a majority of pirates that fly dumbships are believed to act under (or despite) direction from krikgeist
    • can resemble shipbrood and may pretend to be one while traveling to spy/avoid trouble/etc
    • in general, have continued to evolve alongside shipbrood and have comparable biologies, but with a warrior ethos and belief that the strong should protect & rule the weak
    • a powerful and evolving threat, especially if they manage to unite
    • raiding parties have become more common...
48. #48dumbships

    Keys: dumbship, muteship

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Dumbship ==

    • Common term for a non-intelligent living ship: think drones, shuttles, etc.
    • The existence of dumbship isn't considered unusual or distasteful to living ships any more than the use of lab-produced human kidneys as a filter element is distasteful to humans (well, it's distasteful to some humans, but living ships think differently)
    • Used for boring or dangerous roles and are only as capable of thought or suffering as their component life
    • Majority by count are the droneswarms used in ship-to-ship combat, which are only a few inches to feet long apiece and mostly made of hull plantmatter. Talented fleshweavers can field "fleets" operating off simple directives (ex: Siege of Pan-Augron)
    • Usually, the term dumbship implies a ship large enough to host a crew, ex: "we just fly cargo back and forth between the station and orbit, so we requested a dumbship"
    • Name comes from the lack of response to ship-to-ship comms or pings; a living ship in visual range can easily tell a dumbship from a fellow sapient mind, even if humans can't
    • Much less capable than intelligent ships and harder to operate than deadships (which, though flawed, are designed top-to-bottom for a human crew)
    • Lack of intelligence means lack of morality. Dumbship are cheap and easy to make, and a common component of pirate fleets, manufactured to spec by black-market fleshweavers or krikgeist queens
49. #49deadship

    Keys: deadship

    Enabled · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == CONCEPT: Deadship ==

    • common term for a non-living ship
    • a simple machine, no mind of its own -- think "traditional" space ships or the ISS
    • 100% (or near 100%) mechanical designs
    • may have a non-sapient control AI, but are designed for total human piloting and control
    • Typically hot, cramped, fragile, and less "luxurious" than living ships
    • Some humans much prefer them, seeing them as preserving human autonomy. A deadship never disobeys, can be loaded up with lethal weaponry, etc
    • Deadships are expensive to make compared to living ships
    • A "thing", not a "being". Living ships almost universally dislike them, viewing them as crude and dangerous machines
    • Most space stations are also non-living; "deadship" can be used as an adjective (a deadship station), synonymous with "doesn't use structural biotechnology"
50. #50Scarlet Fleet Home Planet

    Keys: Ama, scarlet

    Enabled · Selective · Before character · Order 4

    Entry settings

    @@depth 4 == LOCATION: Ama ==

    • The Scarlet Fleet's "home planet" (core planet in their main settled system)
    • Planet is named Ama, the Sumerian word for "mother"
    • tremendous spiritual significance, as the fleet is attempting to grant it sapience
    • patches of the planet have emergent intelligence not unlike that of living ships, but these disparate minds haven't (yet?) unified
    • that, and terraforming is still underway . no one’s sure what exactly will cause the planetary consciousness to awaken, but it’s considered with significance on par with the christian Rapture, a vast leap forward for the evolution and kinship of life itself
    • Legend has it Ama was first claimed by the living ships themselves, as they wanted to secure a planet they could safely provide “shore leave” to
    • the genuinely excellent Institute of Universal Convalescence is also located on Ama and is the Scarlet Fleet's primary teaching hospital
    • the IUC is renowned throughout settled space for its focus on, and dedication to, resolving challenging cases
    • Ama itself is a landmark terraforming success; the air is breathable with only slight assistance, the temperature is correct, and humans can, by and large, live on its (her?) surface
    • in addition to the IUC, Ama is home to cutting-edge biotechnology research from fleshweaving to terraforming and beyond
    • like living ships, Ama consists of all walks of life, with plenty of flourishing plant life, but an unsettling amount of shipflesh and derived tissues if you look closely

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