Gorvans
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Name: Gorvan
"Quote" —Gorvan

The Gorvans have never kept a good record of their own history, and so the way they acquired FTL travel is still a popular topic of scientific debate. In the pre-Cleansing days, they made excellent fighter pilots; their ships were built, as they were, tougher than that of almost any other known species, and with excellent (if primitive) weaponry: to a gorvan, "more is better". Today, they mostly serve as freighter pilots in the outer rim, and occasionally find work elsewhere, but with the downfall of the Galactic Community, and humanity herding them onto lifeless outer worlds, finding their place has proven difficult.

Despite their many shortcomings (or perhaps because of them) many species find them to be endearing, and they have no shortage of friendships and allies - except for the Daxx, and, of course, humanity. A gorvan is a friend to almost everyone.

Description

Physical appearance

Gorvans are herbivores that appear something like a rhinoceros-centaur that went horribly, horribly wrong. Their lower body - the "quadruped" portion - slants downwards towards the front legs, which are slightly shorter than those in the rear. The rear legs are not quite at the end of the body; external research shows that earlier in their evolutionary history, their ancestors were built in a way that made them capable of standing on their hind legs, using a heavy tail (much longer than their current stub) as a counterweight. Evolution instead opted to give them the upper body and arms that they possess today, presumably because it was the easier option.

Their evolution was rocky; the Gorvan homeworld was filled with nasty, dangerous predators not entirely unlike the dinosaurs of Old Earth, and through much of their species' evolution, they were prey animals. This greatly contributed to their appearance of today: their skin is less "skin" and more akin to a thick, scaly hide. This, combined with their segmented muscle structure, permits them to shrug off wounds that might cripple mere humans, giving them a significantly higher survival chance against apex predators on the hunt. In addition, their eyes are on the sides of their head, giving them monocular vision; this helped them detect incoming predators no matter where they happened to be facing.

And this leads into the most common perception that other species have about Gorvans: that they are slow, clumsy, dull-witted creatures that have difficulty turning around in a hallway and can barely find their own four feet. This assessment is actually fairly accurate. The gorvan head is massive and misshapen, shaped something like a strange cross between a parasauralophus's head and the entirety of a sperm whale, with a squat vestigial horn on the front, just ahead of their eyes. They have virtually no binocular vision.

On the other hand, their arms (while strong and bulky) and their three-fingered hands are very deftly-controlled, and well-suited for cockpit controls. They've developed a keen, intuitive spatial sense to make up for their lack of binocular vision, and their ability to pilot ships is legendary - assuming, of course, you can get them into the cockpit to begin with.

Lifespan and reproduction

A popular stereotype persists of the "happy gorvan family" - two adults and two kids, all of them very stupid and clumsy. In reality, gorvans do whatever the hell they want and none of them really give a shit what anybody else does. While most of them that do care are monogamous (especially the more intelligent gorvans), their standards vary so widely that it's hard to really say much about their "culture" - either in terms of relationships or parenting. A popular saying among xenobiologists is that "gorvan culture deviates like human language". Over just a few hundreds years, their culture can change so widely as to be unrecognizable - owing almost entirely to the strong presence of the Gorvan Media, and the manipulative control it has in shaping their population's beliefs and desires. Of course, a lot of this has changed since the Galactic Cleansing, but a lot of it still remains the same. They're just as easily shaped and molded by their social environment as they ever were.

Apart from all of that, gorvans are pretty standard in terms of reproduction - sexual dimorphism, just like humans. The females gestate their young for about 19 months, and then give birth to a live, healthy young gorvan - capable of walking shortly after birth. The mothers lactate just like most terrestrial mammals, until the gorvan's teeth are mature enough for them to eat solid foods.

Gorvan children make the transition to adulthood at age 20, at which point it is socially acceptable for them to have children. Their fertility ends around the age of 46.

Gorvan life expectancy averages around 98 years - very similar to present-day humans - although in their prime, they averaged 111.

Abilities

Gorvan characters have the following characteristics:

  • +1 durability
  • +1 conventional
  • +1 auxiliary
  • Natural armor: Gorvans have incredibly tough skin resistant to heat - tough enough that they can easily absorb laser and plasma fire with minimal damage.
  • Battle fury: While gorvans rarely participate in combat, they can enter a state of adrenaline-fueled rage when they're wounded, giving them a 1d6+1 (50%) chance of shrugging off each non-critical wound as superficial.
  • Large: Gorvans do not suffer from knockback and cannot be knocked over by other creatures. Gives a +2 bonus to strength that applies only when determining whether a weapon can be wielded.
  • Spatial intuition: While it rarely shows up on the ground, in a ship, gorvans have a very strong spatial intuition. This gives them a +1 boost in ship melee and maneuverability-only rolls.
  • -1 hacking
  • -1 robotics
  • -1 general knowledge
  • Quadruped: Gorvans are quadrupeds with a tall upper body. This is counted as a negative only because it simply gives enemies more things to shoot at, and also makes certain things impossible (jumping over countertops or crawling, for instance).
  • Clumsy: Literally having two left feet, and poor kinesthetic sense, grants gorvans disadvantage on all on-foot maneuverability-only rolls.
  • Can't climb: Gorvans can't climb - not up a ladder, nor a mountainside, nor a rope. Their arms cannot support their body weight, and their legs weren't made for climbing.
  • Sluggish processing: Having been a primarily herbivorous species throughout their evolution, gorvans never really needed to think on their feet. This gives them disadvantage on all intuition-only rolls.
  • Monocular vision: A gorvan's eyes are set on the side of their head, meaning they see poorly when looking at something head-on. They roll 1d6 on perception checks with a 33% chance of an instant fail. Additionally, rolls for detecting stealth have a 1d6+2 (67%) chance of being treated as though the character is facing in their enemy's direction.

Society

Culture

Culture

Homeworld

homeworld

Technology

tech

Government

The Media

Gorvan media is famous (or infamous) throughout the galaxy for the incredible degree of control it once had on the lives of their people.

Languages

Language

History

History


Species
Aah'kroahAzquadBheziansDaxxFysarGorvansHiltorelKrolumPlodiiQyraxSybnialsTachikaWralk

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