Aliens in Legionnaire

Like any self-respecting space opera role-playing game, Legionnaire presents a selection of intelligent, alien species.  Player characters can come from any of the species examined in this post.  “A player should decide upon to create an alien creature before he starts rolling attributes or assigning points to attributes,” we are told.  In terms of game mechanics, alien player characters modify attributes in accordance with the Attribute Modifier Table.  Alien characters automatically possess certain culturally-taught skills (presumably only if they meet a given skill's Intelligence prerequisite).  Also, there are 'difficult' skills for each alien species.  These skills can be learned normally; however, when such skills are used, an additional die is added to the difficulty.

Naram

Art by Jim Holloway

As a species, the Naram are remarkably similar to humans, in fact, “...only expensive and difficult DNA mapping can actually distinguish between Humans and Naram.”  As such, they can interbreed.  Unlike Humans, the Naram have been civilized for more than 300,000 years.

It turns out that “Terran Mayans were actually a Naram colony.”  Mayan civilization 'disappeared' when they returned to their homeworld and became a quasi-religious movement.

Naram characters have +3 Charisma but –3 Luck.  They have Seduction as a culturally-taught skill and Interrogation and Urban Environmental Survival as difficult skills.

Ssora

Art by Jim Holloway

Ssora are warm-blooded, lizardlike creatures who average a meter and a half in height and 70 kilos in weight.  While bipedal, they rely on their prehensile tail for balance.  The tail is interesting in that it ends in two fleshy pincers that can hold tools or delivery a nasty pinch.

“Because of the similarity between Ssora and Terran mitochondrial RNA,” it is theorized that Ssora “evolved on Earth and left in migration ships for the far side of the galaxy.”

Ssora characters suffer a modifier of –3 on Charisma, Dexterity, and Strength.  They have a +4 modifier for Speed (reaction speed only) and +5 Agility.  Ssora have Bureaucracy, Protocol, and Swindling as culturally-taught skills and Cryptography, Climbing, and Swimming as difficult skills.

“Often described as devious,” we learn, “Ssora are unswervingly loyal to friends, which makes them one of the more dependable species.”

KessRith

Art by Jim Holloway

For the first three thousand years of Human/KessRith contact, the KessRith were implacable foes who neither granted quarter or expected it.  Since that time, they have also proven powerful and loyal allies of the Commonwealth.  Their fatalistic outlook on life colors everything they are and do, but their sense of humor mocks this more serious side of their nature.

It seems that KessRith did not develop faster-than-light travel independently, they “co-opted the technology from the Ssora.”

KessRith naturally possess an Armor Factor of 2 as a result of head-to-tail plates.  (The rules describe the plates as bony, but later indicates they are fleshy.)  KessRith suffer a –3 modifier for Agility, Charisma, Constitution, and Luck, but enjoy a +5 modifier for Strength and Dexterity.  They also have +4 Speed (land speed only).  Culturally-taught skills include Blade and Tactics.  Difficult skills are Bounce Pack Operations (“Bounce packs are anti-gravity devices worn on the back of infantry troops”), Seduction, Garrote, Swimming, Zero-G Ops, and Zero-G Martial Arts.

Baufrin

Art by Jim Holloway

Baufrin are an insectoid species, having two pairs of manipulatory limbs as well as “mandibles, six eyes, and five pairs of mobile limbs.”  Each pair of eyes are sensitive to a different electro-magnetic range.

Baufrin exoskeletons have an Armor Factor of 3.  They undergo a molting process every eight years.  We learn, “This molting process and occurs after the Baufrin enters a period of fertile, sexual frenzy.”  After molting, a Baufrin adopts a new personality, often forgetting their prior personality.

Baufrin characters receive a +5 modifier to Dexterity and a +3 modifier to Agility.  They have a –5 modifier to Charisma and a –2 modifier to Speed (land speed only).  Electronics and Repair Tech are culturally-taught skills.  Repair Tech requires an Intelligence of 13, so one wonders why Baufrin do not have a positive modifier to that attribute.  Brawling, Martial Arts and Wrestling/Club are difficult skills.

Menelvagoreans

Art by Jim Halloway

This species is original to Legionnaire.  Menelvagoreans are divided into five 'breeds' or castes.  In descending order of societal prominence, these castes are:  Warriors, Pathfinders, Rockshapers, Drones, and Philosophers.  Little is known of the non-Warrior castes since, presumably, only Warriors tend to interact with alien species.  The Menelvagorean 'physical characteristics' described by the Legionnaire rules represent only the Warrior caste.

Although Menelvagoreans (or at least Warriors) have “bony skin (akin to that of an armadillo),” it evidentially does not provide any armor value. “Menelvagoreans slough their flesh every nine years or so,” we learn, “corresponding to one complete orbit of their world.”

Menelvagoreans have a +5 modifier to Dexterity and +3 modifiers to Constitution and Strength.  They also have a –5 modifier to Charisma and –3 modifiers to Luck and Agility.  Their culturally-taught skill is Martial Arts; difficult skills are Research and Xenobiology.

Vauvusar

Art by Jim Holloway

This is another species original to Legionnaire.

The Vauvusar are four-armed, bipedal aliens with a tail.  Their eyes are set on either side of their enormous head, much like a hammerhead shark.  Because they evolved from amphibious creatures used to grazing on surface-floating creatures, their “head” is largely mouth – their brains sit in the upper part of their chests.  A Vauvusar's arms are not particularly strong, but they are capable of quick movement – so quick, in fact, that no wise human plays in a card game with a Vauvusar dealer.

Vauvusar have a +5 modifier to Constitution and a +4 modifier to Speed (reaction speed only); however, they have –3 modifiers to Charisma, Luck, and Strength.  Culturally-taught skills for Vauvusar characters include Negotiation, Protocol, Scuba, Strategy, and Swimming.  Difficult skills for Vauvusar characters are Ambush, Seduction, and Swindling.

Zogs

Art by Jim Holloway

This is yet another species original to Legionnaire.

Zogs “have been likened to a short gorilla upholstered in Gila monster skin.”  They undergo three moltings during their lifespan.  During the molting process, a Zog's “flesh stiffens into a chitinous cocoon within which the Zog lives, surviving off the stored fat, for up to three months.”  According to legend, on rare occasion, Zogs emerge from chrysalis as “tall, golden-skinned, human looking immortals with magical powers, that go to live within the planet's core.”  There is no evidence that such golden immortals exist.  Yet somehow, within the fifty years between the first and second contacts with aliens, Zog civilization improved from pre-industrial to “a technological level equivalent, in certain places, to 23rd-century Earth.”

Zogs have +3 modifiers to Agility, Dexterity, and Strength, but –3 modifiers to Charisma, Constitution, and Luck.  Zogs have no culturally-taught skills, but difficult skills include Negotiation, Research, Seduction, and Swindling.