The Abyssal
A spacer ship that was hired to render assistance to a Nanori outpost whose star was close to going supernova. Unfortunately, the Spacers were disabled in close proximity to the supernova with the Nanori still on board. This caused them to suffer horrendous losses to the hard gammas that ripped through their bodies. With the Spacers Biotech insufficient to repair the ongoing damage, some of the Nanori felt forced to resort to the reckless use of nanophages that broke organic cells down into inorganic cells. This resulted in the loss of their organic bodies to all on board, and necessitated much reshuffling of their new fully inorganic bodies. When the dust had settled, many of the Spacers on board had not been able to adapt and had perished. Others having survived would prefer to have not survived and would end themselves rather than live on as less than human. Those that survived had to adapt to their new life.
For starters, being no longer biological, their methods of procreation had to be reworked. When Abyssals decide to procreate, they each gift a pruned Neuroform that is merged into one Neuroform that is implanted into a new body that is to be a new Abyssal. The fact that the number of parents does not have to be more than one allowed some Abyssals to prune themselves and regress back into an infantile state rather than live with the knowledge of what they once were.
With their lost humanity, so too did their goal in life, no longer could they sow the seeds of humanity far and wide, but they did not forgo the stars either. They now work at rendering assistance to any and all that may have troubles while on a voyage, and thus maintain ties with the Spacers and the other spacefaring Civilisations.
Some Abyssals have taken to using not human looking bodies, but rather becoming actual ships; some have come to consider their bodies as tools to further their goals rather than an actual part of themselves. Those that do wear clothes tend to favour utilitarian jumpsuits with pockets, patches, tether rings, microboosters and more.
Most Abyssal ships are run by one Neuroform that is built into the ship, with others to assist them in a hierarchal system to insure working status.
Common Name: Abyssals
Emblem: A bright halo with an unblinking mechanical eye looking out of it.
Typical Allies: They maintain lukewarm ties to the other Spacers, and will render assistance to them. They have no permanent allies.
Typical Enemies: They have no permanent enemies.
Benefit: Abyssals have no Biotech score, having had replaced their whole bodies with Nanotech. They have competitive advantage in Nanotech. This also means that they use Nanotech in place of Biotech for all purposes.
Capabilities:
Civilization: Bio 1, Cog 3, Meta 3, Nano 5, String 4
Citizen: Bio -, Cog 3, Meta 1, Nano 5, String 3
Common Neuroforms: Most Abyssals are Baseline Dynamic, often locked into their artificial bodies. Some however become Dataforms in order to switch bodies, considering the body as more of a tool than as a part of their own person.
Core Values: Star-Birthed and Diligence
Star-Birthed is the belief that they must aid others that travel in order to avoid others facing what they found themselves going through. Abyssals use this CV to aid others that require assistance while on a voyage, but also to avoid attempts to make them settle down.
Diligence is what kept Spacer ships functioning for so long in the depths of space, and they prize this quality above all others. This is of particular importance to the Abyssal, being something that failed them in the past. It gives a bonus to all actions performed very carefully and without haste, triple-checked and tested for certainty. This takes about twice as long as usual. Abyssals can also use this to prevent people from convincing them to do a half-assed job.
