★ NOVAKID ★ (pl. Novakid) The Novakid are a race of interstellar gas-bag people who are constantly on the move, mining asteroids and harvesting nebulae in order to distill and imbibe it ("moonshine" if mixed with regolith; "sunshine" if without). They are a scattered and uncoordinated people, having developed the technology for moving through space before developing the technology for long distance communication. Physiology The most important part of a Novakid is the brand - the dense metal symbol situated in the middle of their face. The brand is responsible for metabolizing fuels and producing a magnetic field/membrane that defines the shape of the body, keeping the precious plasmas from dispersing. Breaking the "skin" results in plasma venting / bleed-out, which if left untended leads to fuel depletion and inevitably death. The least important part of a Novakid is the corona - the hair-like emissions that emanate from the head. This serves no function other than to be pretty and impress other Novakid. It can be styled by running a low electric current through the Novakid’s brand. Life Stages A new Novakid is born when its parents mix their plasma together in a high temperature, high pressure condition and enough elements fuse into denser materials that form a new brand. The new brand then claims the plasma mixture as its own and a protokid (which hardly resembles a mature Novakid) is born. Towards the end of its life, the Novakid’s brand loses potency and the magnetic membrane grows weaker. The plasma is more loosely contained, and the elderly Novakid takes on a larger, duller appearance and a reddish hue (derogatory term: "red giants"). Novakid tend to explode violently when they die, so deathbeds are typically outdoors and at high elevations (with friends and family below). All that remains after a Novakid explosion is an inert chunk of smoldering metal that was once its brand. History The Novakid have no known history, since none of them were interested in keeping any sort of record. In addition, their being so spread out makes it difficult to even guess what system they may have come from, making independent investigation impossible even for the curious. Thanks for nothing. Speculation is that they came from either a gas giant or an exploding star. [citation needed] Technology Though they have a high intuition and aptitude for learning, they are extremely lacking in patience and attention span to the point of making them terrible students and teachers. As a result, only a small fraction of each generation’s knowledge is passed on to the next - the rest of it constantly being re-discovered or re-invented. The Novakid as a race have reached a technological equilibrium centered around steel and combustion. Any "space-age" technology introduced to them would be forgotten within 3-4 generations, and a "stone-age" community of Novakid can be expected to catch up to the rest of the population within 10 generations. Interspecies Relations They are not very good at this. For the most part, they don't know where anybody lives and nobody knows where they live either, so a given Novakid community is not likely to ever meet another space-traveler. But when they DO meet, they are very excited and personable and ask a lot of questions. However, Novakid will become familiar very fast, and typically end up becoming too familiar, often making inappropriate jokes or observations. They can be easily corrected, but because Novakid communities don't talk with each other, a traveler who has multiple encounters with these people is likely to hear the same stupid jokes again and again. Any diplomacy taught to a Novakid dies with that Novakid. Sprites More corona and brand variations, as well as colorful brands: Novakid as Starkid (© Fetalstar): Q&A What kind of armor abilities would they have? What could that smouldering chunk of metal be used for? Is there *any* historical account? Does the color of skin determine the age? How does the color change with age? Would they design something like a space shuttle to look like a train? And how about that face metal? Why the name "Novakid"? I don't think it's a good name. Do you pick the symbols on their face at random or only specific things? Can Anodyne more? Can Anodyne more in sprite? Can you color invisible brands? What are those two Novakid in the picture called? Can you kill a Novakid? Black hole people? What's the point to Novakid genders? How do Novakid communicate? How do Novakid eat? But how do they ACTUALLY eat food? What would happen if a Novakid drank liquid nitrogen? Will a Novakid regenerate lost limbs? Novakid brain stupid. Credits: Firstly, much credit goes to Suika. The base template for the Novakid came from this sketch (which later was formalized as the totally cool Anodynes), which got me hooked on the idea of a "faceless" race. Credit also goes to Fetalstar for her Starkid, whose design also served as inspiration and whose name led me to the Old West theme. To be honest, I wanted to call these guys "Starkid" too, but I have already stolen enough as it is. My only "unique" contribution to the idea was to put a cowboy hat on one and to make up a lot of bad science. Oh, and slapping a branding iron on their face. Novakid Meet the Anodynes: A comic showdown between myself and Suika UPDATE: Stretch Goal achieved! They're a goin' in game at launch! UPDATE2: I made them into a mod race here, incorporating more of the Anodyne design. EDIT: Dropping "Novakids" as a plural form, because it sounds so commercial. Would people be willing to call them "Novakid"? I hope so.
Wow, this is pretty cool. The idea that alien life will resemble human life has always seemed with self centered to me. They would grow and evolve in different environments, and therefore also be different physically...or in this case...gasually. Anyhow, this idea intrigues me. What kind of armor abilities would they have? No fall damage? Weakness to fire? I want to know more!
That's probably the worst reason I've ever heard for something not being implemented. On topic of the thread: I love them, and the art is fantastic. Its cool how the eyes are this race's changeable feature, I was hoping for something like that with the Hylotl but that didn't really change. As for their lore and personality, I could see some long drawn out quest based around researching where one comes from, also with the social traits you described, it would be interesting to meet one and see its mannerisms.
That's also not the suggestion. Just because there's a ton of race suggestions doesn't mean this won't get in the game, if that's the mentality you're putting out then everyone should just stop posting suggestions right? Also reading the biology I'm curious of what that smouldering chunk of metal could be used for?
Ooo, I find this quite interesting, i like the look, and the ol west aesthetics. Amazing job sir! Random question, to those that do know about space-tech, would they design something like a space shuttle to look like a train? Or actually how would it look like at all?
I can imagine some sick-minded Novakid having a gun or a knife or something, made from the smelted brands of other Novakids that he killed.
I like the western kinda style they have But no history AT ALL sounds kind of weird, there must have been SOME encounters with diffrent races, and that the other race kept a log. Sure it might be harder to find but I think that if you take away ALL lore of them that they then lack a big part of starbound. Which is information Very cool idea though Grzzz vlamer12
Wow this totally not what I expected from that sketch but this looks amazing, I love the wild west theme revolvers were always one I my favorite firearms. Also dusters are the only coats that should ever be worn
The ability to stand in a plain with the wind billowing around you, looking ilke a badass. Or maybe survival in the vacuum of space (though I don't know how that works at all in the game). It could be crafted into a chair or used to burn marks into the hides of livestock. Gross! And the other Novakids would be none the wiser, just being all "nice knife, what's it made of?" and touching it and getting stabbed and going "auugh what no"
So a question I have is the color of skin determines age like some stars as they move through the life stages, im sure this won't affect game play but lore wise is that how it works. Like the yellow novakid is in his middle age, and the red novakid is older while the blue novakid is really young.
Oh, yeah, certainly other races have records of encounters with these guys - though for the most part it's stuff like: Year α: encountered a peoples called "Novakid." We spoke briefly, and we gave them the blueprints for radio communication if they are willing to contact us again in the future. They made fun of our appearance, but are otherwise friendly. Year β: second encounter with the Novakid in over a millennium. We spoke briefly, and we gave them the blueprints for hyperwave communication if they are willing to contact us again in the future. They made fun of our appearance, but are otherwise friendly. Year γ: we are beginning to suspect that maybe that these are all the same Novakid, trapped in some sort of time-loop. We are going to take video footage for future comparison. I suppose if there was a sufficiently old race that met them, there might be clues as to their origin, or if you were to look in the right spot from far enough away you could see some of the events of their past play out (given how long it takes light to travel).
Steam engines in space seem like a really interesting idea. I, for one, support the lack of lore toward the history of the creation these guys. It makes them rather enigmatic, bringing quite a bit of speculation from others. I'd say they're similar to the Anodynes in terms of creation, but the elements reacted to the piece of metal in their faces creating not just a blob of gas, but a sentient blob of gas! Or maybe they just put that on their faces because why not
Kind of half and half. The color of their body (the skin is actually translucent) depends mostly on their brand and whatever gases they have stored at the moment. When they're young, they tend to be very bright, but when they get older almost all of them tend towards red, regardless of their original color (kind of like how human hair turns white).
Yup. That "train" in the topmost picture is actually a rocket. It's a pretty simple shuttle that's no good at reaching escape velocity (so they avoid large planets) and has no life support. It's just a big rocket. Surprise! Turns out it's not important at all, and that it's basically like putting a tattoo on your brain and then mistaking it for the brain itself.
I guess another question I have is weaponry.like is the revolver actually a revolver that fires slugs or is it a plasma/energy based weapon?
