Species name: Infernus or Faceless Ones
Homeworld/Place of Origin: Originally Scadrial, but that world has been destroyed in a devastating war.
Important places/worlds: Gamalon 6 has the largest colony of open Infernus in the galaxy, but the race can reproduce asexually and integrate into alien societies extremely easily.
Meta description: Heavily influenced by the Kandra from the Mistborn book series, except with their transformations based on harvested DNA rather than bones, because of the board's theme.
Biological description:
Saying that Faceless Ones have a single biology would completely misclassify their race. Instead, they could be best described as an infinitely re-shapeable pile of organic material controlled by a central intelligence. An Infernus has essentially perfect control of every cell directly attached to its body, allowing it to grow just about any organ, limb, or other biological structure it desires in seconds. While making large changes to their structure, a Faceless One's skin turns transparent, revealing the musculature and bone beneath. They are limited in size by the amount of organic matter they've currently digested, but extremely glutenous members of the species have been known to grow to the size of dinosaurs, while badly injured individuals have survived in bodies the size of chipmunks before eating enough to regrow to a more comfortable size.
One quirk of their body manipulation abilities is that creating new organs from scratch is an extremely difficult and time consuming process without a template to work off of. Instead, the race habitually gathers DNA samples from other species, and incorporates their biologies into a flawless internal database of body parts Infernus call the "Corpendium". Any DNA sample is enough to reconstruct organs, but by collecting a sample of reproductive DNA an Infernus is capable of perfectly duplicating a person, copying every detail from DNA, to retina, to fingerprints. They are even able to replicate synapses in the brain to the point that they can recall the creature's core memories. Individuals can share their collection of DNA with one another, but it is considered one of the most intimate and trusting actions a pair can do together, as one Infernus needs to physically place its brain inside the other. Which family member inherits a dead Infernus' Corpendium has been the single largest cause of conflict within the race. Their home world was in fact destroyed in a war over the inheritance of a royal line's DNA collection.
On the subject of brains, Faceless ones are capable of dividing their consciousness among as many thinking organs as they choose, but for practical reasons they generally limit themselves to 2 to 4. Each mind is entirely redundant, and holds duplicate copies of all of the creature's memories, but each can be directed towards different tasks, creating the illusion of incredible swiftness of thought, as well as a failsafe in case of injury. Creating too many minds has been know to cause strange mental disorders, multiple personalities, and difficulty in controlling transformations.
Infernus can reproduce either sexually or asexually to create more of their kind, though due to their individualist and dispersed culture asexual reproduction is by far the more common option. Infernus rarely have more than two or three asexual children in their lifetimes, and it is believed that they must give up some fundamental part of their self in the process. They are also capable of mating with nearly any race in the galaxy, but can't generate viable reproductive cells unless perfectly copying an individual of that race. Perhaps just legend, there are tales of a Faceless one repopulating a aquatic species of aliens it had lived among for several centuries by laying eggs as females, then fertilizing them with the all of the men it had encountered to that point, following a catastrophic asteroid impact.
Infernus are capable of living almost indefinitely, but their mental capacity has been known to begin decline around the time they reach 1000. Their race has only been space faring for roughly 5 generations, and it is entirely possible that the truly ancient among them remember a time before space travel. Great age is considered a powerful status symbol in their culture, and what passes for a government among the Faceless is led by the oldest member of a royal line dating back to before the fall of Scadrial. The longer one of the creatures has lived, the more DNA it has accumulated, the more powerful it becomes, but by gaining flexibility in forms, and through absorbing knowledge from borrowed memories.
(I may add more to this section, but its already getting pretty long)
Superhuman abilities:
A specific Faceless One's abilities are defined by the DNA it has encountered in its travels, but in theory their abilities are nearly limitless. Without relying on sampled DNA, an Infernus can construct a body with strength, speed, and stamina far exceeding anything in the animal kingdom by increasing the density of their bones and muscle tissue. An individual with the body mass of a human would have roughly the power of a full grown bull, or even a rhinoceros, depending on their skill at fine tuning their transformation. They are also capable of extending or retracting limbs at will, producing boney carapace strong enough to stop small arms fire and most bladed weapons, and growing wings, fins, or other forms of transport. They can also improve their senses to far surpass human levels. Perhaps their most terrifying base ability is their near indestructibility. An Infernus can regrow from any wound to their flesh nearly instantaneously by reattaching the lost piece of their body. Even explosives and energy weapons are only a mild inconvenience so long as their body is not entirely disintegrated. Poisons, diseases, and toxins are entirely ineffective against a Faceless One. The only sure fire way to kill one is to destroy all of the minds within their body (easier said than done, as they are housed in extremely resilient "skulls" and can be moved to avoid attacks), or by completely eliminating viable tissue to form a body from. Being dissolved in acid, irradiated, electrocuted for an extended period, frozen at sub zero temperatures, or ejected into space are some of the few ways to dispose of an Infernus.
Those are only the most basic abilities of the race. Each individual has almost certainly collected samples from hundreds if not thousands of creatures over its lifetime, and is capable of reproducing any combination of their biological functions. This can range from venom secretion, to fire breathing, sonic attacks, electric shocks, or nearly any natural defense mechanism among the quintillions of species in the galaxy. Interestingly, Infernus seem to have no talent for the mystic arts, either because they lack some ingrained spark or simply because their natural abilities are so extensive that they simply don't have the need.
Level of Technology: Faceless Ones have been a spacefaring civilization for several millennia, and have purchased, traded for, or stolen all relevant technology openly available in the galaxy (and much classified tech as well). They are not known as an especially industrious race, and generally obtain goods from other races rather than building or inventing their own. That is not to say the Infernus don't have scientists. Indeed, one of the most prestigious professions among their culture is known as the "Biosmith", Faceless Ones who dedicate their lives to the grueling process of assembling unique organs one cell at a time to solve problems which nature has not provided a solution to. Some of the most celebrated inventions of their culture, on par with the wheel in human civilization, are organs which can convert body mass into building materials, produce woven fabric, and integrate a piece of their body into another being to close wounds. Legends speak of folk heroes, known as the five saints, who spread knowledge of the first biosmithing across Scadrial, and are revered throughout the culture. Currently, the most sought after invention is a biological structure capable of surviving the extremes of space and capable of self propulsion, which would permit for at least short space flight.
Goals/Objectives: While the vast majority of Infernus live quiet lives impersonating other races and isolated from their own society, there are exceptions. The royal line of Scadrial still holds sway on Gamalon 6 and has been doing its best to extend its influence over its far flung kin by offering to share new biosmithing innovations with those who submit to their rule. Also based on Gamalon 6 is the Colimi crime family, a sinister organization run by Don Mecano Colimi, focused on accumulating power and wealth throughout the galaxy via espionage, assassination, and slavery. The inherent gifts of the Faceless Ones towards infiltration have allowed the Colimi to obtain troves of sensitive information, ranging from blackmail material, shipment manifests, to cutting edge technologies. While the number of actual Faceless Ones within the organization is blessedly few due to their low reproductive rates, their influence reaches to all corners of the galaxy.
Culture/Way of Living: Most Infernus live a nomadic life among the stars, traveling from world to world, encountering new species, integrating into new cultures, living peaceful lives for a few decades, then moving on. Their skill at blending in among other races is so flawless that even their own government can only make the broadest guess as to how many of their species exist in the galaxy. On Gamalon 6 Infernus generally live a metropolitan lifestyle in any of the dozens of plant's large cities. Nearly all labor is done by robots or drones, allowing the populace to focus on other pursuits, such as art, biosmithing, philosophy, and, unfortunately crime. The most celebrated form of art on the planet is self sculpture, where the artist shapes their body into the desired piece and remains on display, sometimes for years. It is believed that the sacrifice of one's freedom in pursuit of artistic vision is the highest pinnacle of expression.
Important/Persons of Interest: Jarvok Colimi is an out of favor member of the Colimi crime family, frequently tasked with jobs considered either too dangerous or distasteful for his relatives. He works as a spy, assassin, slaver, or whatever else his family requires to earn back their good graces. When not working, he is lazy, sexist, and a generally disagreeable individual. He makes an exception for those he views as peers in his profession, treating other hired killers with significantly more respect. He views humans as only one step up from roaches, but has to admit they make excellent slaves.
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