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Revival is standard as in other species, except for cloning. Vox bodies are unable to be cloned due to their unique physiology. | Revival is standard as in other species, except for cloning. Vox bodies are unable to be cloned due to their unique physiology. | ||
= Lore = | = Lore = | ||
== | ===Behaviour=== | ||
Vox will never willingly surrender unless the only other alternative is death. However, they will happily fake surrender if it puts them in a better position to escape. They lie as easily as they breathe and appear fearless despite their propensity for running like the clappers at the first sign of trouble. | Vox will never willingly surrender unless the only other alternative is death. However, they will happily fake surrender if it puts them in a better position to escape. They lie as easily as they breathe and appear fearless despite their propensity for running like the clappers at the first sign of trouble. | ||
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Civilian crews have no staff roster, just families. If a ship has no families that work a certain trade they will try to exchange families with another ship or ark. | Civilian crews have no staff roster, just families. If a ship has no families that work a certain trade they will try to exchange families with another ship or ark. | ||
== Biology == | |||
The Vox species can be divided, generally, into four groups: Vox primalis, Vox armalis, Vox auralis and Vox apex. | ==Behavior of NT Vox Crew== | ||
Unlike the typical traits of Vox trade or raid crews mentioned above, Vox that appear as staff on Nanotrasen vessels behave differently. To begin, Vox that appear on crew aboard NT vessels are often not there by choice, but are restrained by a contract, debt, or otherwise. While it is rare for Vox to willingly work for NT, some are forced to do so because they are not fit for work as a Raider but still wish to work freelance, Trader Rejects if you will. | |||
While Trader Vox have oaths of pacification and wish to flee rather than fight, Crew Vox are quick to find that in certain situations these will no longer be viable options and as such they must adapt. Breaking the Inviolate is often no issue for crew Vox, many of which are not expecting to meet up with a larger group anyway. Overall, crew Vox react to combat and the Inviolate as they need to be for their chosen profession. | |||
===Biology=== | |||
The Vox species can be divided, generally, into four groups: Vox primalis, Vox armalis, Vox auralis and Vox apex. | |||
Due to the mysterious nature of Vox reproduction, and the complete lack of specimens from the three latter categories, much of their genetic and physiological compatibility and similarity are unknown. All four groups are known to possess cybernetic enhancement, sometimes to an extreme degree, and all of them are known to share at least one common dialect, designated Vox-pidgin, irrespective of their vocal capacity, distance from each other, and cybernetic equipment. | Due to the mysterious nature of Vox reproduction, and the complete lack of specimens from the three latter categories, much of their genetic and physiological compatibility and similarity are unknown. All four groups are known to possess cybernetic enhancement, sometimes to an extreme degree, and all of them are known to share at least one common dialect, designated Vox-pidgin, irrespective of their vocal capacity, distance from each other, and cybernetic equipment. | ||
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Vox bones are light, porous and very flexible. Vox can turn their heads almost a hundred and twenty degrees to the side due to their long necks. They tend to sway when interested in something, or anxious, and shriek at glass-fracturing volume to drive off attackers. | Vox bones are light, porous and very flexible. Vox can turn their heads almost a hundred and twenty degrees to the side due to their long necks. They tend to sway when interested in something, or anxious, and shriek at glass-fracturing volume to drive off attackers. | ||
====Vox Primalis==== | |||
The majority of observed Vox belong to the Vox primalis category, and range from three to four feet in height. Skin is thick, reinforced with keratin scales, and appears to act as an insulator and pressure-suit combined. The molecular complexity of the skin suggests that extensive engineering has been undertaken to adapt it to low-pressure environments, and attempts to grow samples in the lab have resulted in highly acidic compounds burning through the dish, the table, and the hull beneath it. | |||
Despite their size, Vox primalis musculature is highly dense and capable of extremely powerful rapid movement, ideal for sprinting, leaping and kicking. Sustained effort is less effective, and prolonged exertion will cause lactic acid buildup that can reach crippling levels. An exception to this rule is the beak, which is capable of reflexive and prolonged pressures in excess of 500PSI. | |||
Vox talons are very hard, approximately equivalent to twice the hardness of human bone, and appear to be insulators against electrical current. The hardened skin on their forearms and lower legs is of similar consistency, ribbed in the manner of Earth birds, and exhibits a healing factor against surface damage characterised by leading researchers as 'absurd'. | |||
====Vox Armalis==== | |||
Vox armalis are a smaller subgroup within Vox populations, never observed outside of frigate-class or larger vessels belonging to Vox crews. They stand twice the height of their primalis kin, statistically, and are far heavier and more armoured. In most cases, sensory organs like eyes and tongues have been completely replaced with cybernetics of bewildering complexity. No sample of an armalis or their cybernetics has been recovered due to inbuilt, extremely subtle self-destructive measures. Spectographic analysis suggests that almost every internal cavity within the average armalis is filled with semi-organic circuitry and cybernetics, their specific purposes unknown. | |||
====Vox Auralis & Vox Apex==== | |||
Very little is known about the Vox auralis and Vox apex, and their inclusion in reviews of Vox physiology is generally a footnote. Sightings of the individuals are rare, bordering on unheard of, but consistent enough to warrant acceptance as a facet of the Vox species. The auralis stand approximately the height of the armalis, and weigh three to four times as much. Badly corrupted records of analysis from destroyed probes suggest that they exist at least partially within bluespace. The veracity of this information is suspect and pending review. | |||
The Vox apex is known about solely from records, and acts as a physical god within Vox mythology. This is the full extent of recorded data on the entity or entities. | |||
==Background== | |||
===Relations=== | |||
The Vox have no formal declarations of peace or war with any known intercluster government. Their dispersed and independent nature makes it impossible to enforce any sweeping policy against the shoal, as individual ships will act in wildly different manners. | |||
Standard protocol in the Moghes hegemony is deployment of a soghun breacher crew to destroy the Vox and claim their equipment, irrespective of the flag displayed, due to frequent and repeated failures of the Vox to live up to their promises of peace. | |||
NanoTrasen maintains a shoot-on-sight protocol for all Vox ships above the skipjack class, or in other words, any ships with more than forty Vox crew, that stray within visual distance of an NT establishment. | |||
The Skrell have declined from commenting on the Vox, stating simply that they are something of an irritant, but a generally peaceable one. | |||
The Tajaran government maintains no facilities with sensors powerful enough to detect cloaked Vox vessels and has not reported any contact with the Shoal. | |||
===Culture=== | |||
The veracity of this information is suspect, as it has come from interviews with the Vox themselves. | |||
The Vox have no homeworld. Vox society is encapsulated by their huge, moon-sized arkships and the Shoal. | |||
Each arkship houses a population of at least ten million to half a billion individuals, if not more. They're very large, very slow, and usually surrounded by clusters of smaller Vox frigates and barges. There are only around twenty of them in existence, and they collect names over the course of their existence. An example ship might be 'Rolling Vessel of Seeking Souls Built on Bones of Leviathans, Scarred by Sunheat from Fifteen Systems, Scored by Weapons of Lesser Foes, Taproot to Thirty Tribes, Host to Six Trees'. Understandably, ships are given use-names, such as 'Sunheat Leviathan' for the previous example. Poetry is preferred over meaning in a lot of Vox naming conventions. | |||
Each arkship shares the feature of being roughly spherical - the central component and by far the largest is the grove, a sphere of metal containing soil and flora from the lost Vox homeworld. Dozens, if not hundreds, of prefabricated modules, stolen and scrapped ships, or the space equivalent of shanties, are bolted to the hull and to each other, forming a thick cluster of chaotic wreckage referred to as the arkship's 'shroud'. The strongest of the factional warlords on a ship usually get there by adding ships to the shroud, by force, commerce or trickery. | |||
The very oldest is simply referred to as 'First', and contains the largest grove of the entire disparate fleet. It's considered a holy site and maintains a skeleton crew to prevent strain on the ecosystem. Each prospective Vox fleet leader will make a pilgrimage to the First to add a new ship to the shroud, and to cement their fitness to command. | |||
Vox crews have a rigid pecking order, established over many many years. Newcomers to a Vox ship have to fight for a position tooth and nail, almost always displacing a previous member to the bottom of the pile in the process. Older, unfit or injured Vox will occasionally accede to the newcomer voluntarily, taking up a post on the home arkship to allow a fitter crewmember to serve. | |||
Crews without a pecking order, such as new groups freshly booted off an arkship and set to raiding, will have an internal structure that is highly chaotic. Traditionally, they choose an item such as a 'leader hat' to determine who is in charge, and then fight over it constantly until a clear hierarchy is established. Young Vox are loud, energetic, and proud to a fault. | |||
Vox raiding crews are almost always made up of young Vox, rowdy and champing at the bit to prove themselves; hence the Vox's reputation as violent, warmongering thieves. Older Vox, or Vox established on civilian vessels, tend to be somewhat more sedate, though in all honesty no less likely to fleece an unwary customer out of everything they own. | |||
Ritualized conflict is the cornerstone of Vox crews and Vox society as a whole. Contest-by-insult and contest-by-combat are the two most common means of this. A challenged Vox is allowed to choose the manner of contest, and refusing to choose or participate is considered forfeiting. A contest is called by rattling quills, flashing neck-markings and declaring it vocally to the person being challenged. All nearby crewmembers are expected to form a circle and witness the contest, irrespective of whether or not they know the combatants or care what's being decided. | |||
===The Inviolate=== | ===The Inviolate=== | ||
The Vox have a code of conduct and ethics, rigidly enforced, maintained and shared in an unknown manner. Ships with wildly varying cultures will still share the same core tenets despite being millions of lightyears apart. This is referred to as the Vox Inviolate. | The Vox have a code of conduct and ethics, rigidly enforced, maintained and shared in an unknown manner. Ships with wildly varying cultures will still share the same core tenets despite being millions of lightyears apart. This is referred to as the Vox Inviolate. | ||