Species Modifiers

Immortal Freedom RPG > Character Creation > Species

Species Modifiers significantly modify the foundation of your character and change how they are perceived by others. Much like your character’s species, species modifiers do not determine the kind of person they are, but rather act as a foundation for their interactions with the world.

Hybrids

Every civilised species within Artilum Tem is biocompatible for the purpose of procreation. As such, it is inevitable that offspring would be born from the union of different species. These offspring are most often referred to as Hybrids.

Hybrids can result from the union of so-called purebreed individuals, or from existing hybrids, or any combination of the two. While there can be some complications from crossbreeding with a species other than one’s own, the resulting offspring are no more or less healthy than a non-hybrid.

Hybrids can only result from the union of the members of species introduced within the same era, or with the members of species introduced in previous eras. The following table goes into detail as to the members which playable species can breed with each other at any given time. Ewoche are never able to procreate, so there are no hybrids with Ewoche parentage. Hybrids with Uisi parentage are also unlikely, as they are introduced in the Fifth Era.

Hybrids may have two or more parental species in their heritage. Parental species are defined as the species which make up a hybrid’s parents, whether each parent had one or more species. Non-playable species can also be parental species, except that they wouldn’t have any impact on gameplay. Your character would just have a non-playable species in their heritage.

	Aeyan	Erelan	K’ohma	Megor	T’av	Terran	Zao
Aeyan	–	First Era	First Era	Third Era	First Era	First Era	Third Era
Erelan	First Era	–	First Era	Third Era	First Era	First Era	Third Era
K’ohma	First Era	First Era	–	Third Era	First Era	First Era	Third Era
Megor	Third Era	Third Era	Third Era	–	Third Era	Third Era	Second Era
T’av	First Era	First Era	First Era	Third Era	–	First Era	Third Era
Terran	First Era	First Era	First Era	Third Era	First Era	–	Third Era
Zao	Third Era	Third Era	Third Era	Second Era	Third Era	Third Era	–

If you decide you want your character to be a hybrid, you must select one of the abilities granted by their parental species. You may consider the ability to be a representation of the species with which your character most closely identifies, or passes as within society. You may not select a new ability after character creation, unless your character begins identifying more strongly with another of their parental species during their journey. As with most changes to your character, speak with the game master (GM) if you’d like to change your character’s primary species and ability after character creation.

To have fate decide your character’s hybrid status, roll 1d20. Re-roll if you are playing in an era without enough parental species for the result you rolled.

d20	Status
9-20	Not a hybrid
6-8	2 parental species
5	3 parental species
4	4 parental species
3	5 parental species
2	6 parental species
1	7 parental species

Sycophants

Important

Sycophant becomes available as a species modifier in the Third Era.

Sycophants are cyborgs resulting from the Hold’s assimilation process. All sycophants originate from species introduced before the formation of the Hold.

All sycophants are also necessarily undead, as they were killed as part of the assimilation process, or were already dead to begin with. Their bodies were then brought back to life using a combination of technology and magic. All that’s left of a sycophant’s previous life is a ghostly spirit remnant which inhabits a cybernetic host.

If you decide you want your character to be a sycophant, they are one of the lucky few who was able to break the Hold’s control and get a second chance at life. Some consider this second chance at life to be a blessing, while others consider it to be a curse. On the surface, there’s nothing separating sycophants from other members of their species—especially when considering there are individuals who get cybernetic enhancements.

Below the surface is where things get messy. A sycophant had an entire life before being killed and resurrected by the Hold. They may have an entirely different personality from when they were alive—while still holding onto memories of their former life. They may be able to perform magic when they were once unable, or vice versa. They may also be haunted by the horrifying acts they committed while under the Hold’s control, and be left emotionally scarred and cynical.

Sycophants are also effectively immortal, as their organic parts no longer age and can be easily replaced with more cyberware. However, the nature of their condition makes it impossible for them to procreate. Because all sycophants are made possible through cybermancy, they are able to specialise in disciplines usually reserved for cybermancers. Hwoever, they don’t necessarily have proficiency in magic beyond what the specialisation allows. Sycophants also react negatively to Divine magic. Even the smallest exposure will inflict searing pain.

Exclusive Species

Only some species can be sycophants.

Specialisations

Your sycophant character can select one of the listed specialisations without needing the class to which it is exclusive.

Abilities

To have fate decide your character’s sycophant status, roll 1d10.

d10	Status
2-10	Not a sycophant
1	sycophant

Classes