Scrapyard Station: Guardians
May. 6th, 2024 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feotakahariThe Guardians aren’t related to any other species on their planet. Allegedly, a species called the Engineers created them, then disappeared sometime within living memory. But no Engineer ruins or artifacts have been found, and none of the Guardians have clear memories of their technology or even their culture. It’s as if they were never there.
Before the Nomads found their world, Guardian society was barely agricultural, slowly rebuilding their technological knowledge from the starting point.
Guardians have very, very widely differing appearances, but they most commonly resemble hairless, bipedal rats, about four feet tall. They have long, dexterous tails that can be used like hands. Culturally, they tend towards lightweight but skin-covering clothing that blends in with the decor of wherever they consider their home. Imagine a vague mass of robes with a tail and a little rat snout.
Guardians have a tendency to be helpful and quiet, working in the background without seeking acknowledgement. Some Guardians try to break this tendency and seek their fair share, but they find it difficult to overcome a sense that they’re doing something wrong. Guardians weren’t built to speak without being spoken to.
Despite this, Guardians can be surprisingly social if you get to know them. They accept aid and support as freely as they give it, even from other races.
Guardians are known to be calmly and efficiently violent in defense of themselves or their friends, and rarely suffer trauma from violent experiences. They rarely strike the first blow, but it’s whispered that a few of them were designed as assassins and have no problem taking out their enemies.
By most measures, the average Guardian is smarter than the average member of most species. The Engineers clearly built them for mental as well as physical labor. But they lag behind in practical engineering and technological development, because there were some things the Engineers didn’t want to be eclipsed in.
Guardians don’t shapeshift, not exactly. Whatever they look like, it seems to non-Guardians like they were that shape all along, and whatever they look like is whatever’s best suited to the current situation. But if you think about it, you can remember situations that couldn’t have happened in their current shape, little contradictions that history quietly sealed over.
Despite this, most Guardians can’t perfectly pass as another species. Every time they try, residual programming forces them to leave some sign of what they are.
Guardian prostitutes are highly sought after. Whatever you’re looking for, they can be it for a price, and if you harm them, they can simply be durable. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they enjoy whatever you enjoy, and it definitely doesn’t mean that cute Guardian you just met is down to fuck. Sometimes even Guardians can slap you.
(Maybe I should retcon that post about how Nomads are often assumed to be the sluttiest race.)
Guardians have sexes, but the sex they’ve “always had” today might not be the one they “always had” yesterday.
Guardians can suffer health problems even when they change, and their injuries don’t heal faster than other races. They’re particularly prone to fertility issues, suspected to be deliberately put in place to keep them from getting too numerous.
The name “Guardian” is a polite fiction. Bodyguarding is just one of the many things they’re good at, but they wouldn’t want to be called “Slave” or “Whore.”
Like Scrappers, Guardian political representatives are generally aligned with the Builder bloc, often seeking better treatment for laborers.
There’s no inherent conflict between Guardian ratfolk and Nomad catfolk. This isn’t that kind of setting. However, there are a few Guardians among the Saboteur faction. (See “Scrapyard Station Needs More Villains”.)
Before the Nomads found their world, Guardian society was barely agricultural, slowly rebuilding their technological knowledge from the starting point.
Guardians have very, very widely differing appearances, but they most commonly resemble hairless, bipedal rats, about four feet tall. They have long, dexterous tails that can be used like hands. Culturally, they tend towards lightweight but skin-covering clothing that blends in with the decor of wherever they consider their home. Imagine a vague mass of robes with a tail and a little rat snout.
Guardians have a tendency to be helpful and quiet, working in the background without seeking acknowledgement. Some Guardians try to break this tendency and seek their fair share, but they find it difficult to overcome a sense that they’re doing something wrong. Guardians weren’t built to speak without being spoken to.
Despite this, Guardians can be surprisingly social if you get to know them. They accept aid and support as freely as they give it, even from other races.
Guardians are known to be calmly and efficiently violent in defense of themselves or their friends, and rarely suffer trauma from violent experiences. They rarely strike the first blow, but it’s whispered that a few of them were designed as assassins and have no problem taking out their enemies.
By most measures, the average Guardian is smarter than the average member of most species. The Engineers clearly built them for mental as well as physical labor. But they lag behind in practical engineering and technological development, because there were some things the Engineers didn’t want to be eclipsed in.
Guardians don’t shapeshift, not exactly. Whatever they look like, it seems to non-Guardians like they were that shape all along, and whatever they look like is whatever’s best suited to the current situation. But if you think about it, you can remember situations that couldn’t have happened in their current shape, little contradictions that history quietly sealed over.
Despite this, most Guardians can’t perfectly pass as another species. Every time they try, residual programming forces them to leave some sign of what they are.
Guardian prostitutes are highly sought after. Whatever you’re looking for, they can be it for a price, and if you harm them, they can simply be durable. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they enjoy whatever you enjoy, and it definitely doesn’t mean that cute Guardian you just met is down to fuck. Sometimes even Guardians can slap you.
(Maybe I should retcon that post about how Nomads are often assumed to be the sluttiest race.)
Guardians have sexes, but the sex they’ve “always had” today might not be the one they “always had” yesterday.
Guardians can suffer health problems even when they change, and their injuries don’t heal faster than other races. They’re particularly prone to fertility issues, suspected to be deliberately put in place to keep them from getting too numerous.
The name “Guardian” is a polite fiction. Bodyguarding is just one of the many things they’re good at, but they wouldn’t want to be called “Slave” or “Whore.”
Like Scrappers, Guardian political representatives are generally aligned with the Builder bloc, often seeking better treatment for laborers.
There’s no inherent conflict between Guardian ratfolk and Nomad catfolk. This isn’t that kind of setting. However, there are a few Guardians among the Saboteur faction. (See “Scrapyard Station Needs More Villains”.)
