Species Index

[mavikfelna]

This is going on to DriveThruRPG as a free/pay-what-you-want but I figured I'd share it here. This is an index for all of the species available from the wiki and for those in MgT2e, the sourcebook and page they can be found at.

If I've missed anything, let me know.

 

[WHULorigan]

I am noticing on the Contents Page, the entries are coming up as "ERROR: Bookmark not Defined".

(The Contents Page runs over a bit onto the Introduction Page too, if that matters).

 

[mavikfelna]

Ack, posted the old one. Let me fix.
EDIT, updated!

 

[Tom B]

Pacific Whiteside Dolphin - in addition to the Bottlenose. I think it's mentioned in Behind the Claw.

You also have Jonkeeren as Chimera. I thought they were humans modified by the Vilani.

Also - when you have species going over two lines - because there are several different sources. You sometimes list them twice. See potentially playable aliens (page 1).

There are subspecies of Vargr mentioned in AoCS1.

However excellent stuff.

 

[Tom B]

I'll send you some stuff I have. I've sent you a DM for your email address.

 

[mavikfelna]

Pacific Whiteside Dolphin - in addition to the Bottlenose. I think it's mentioned in Behind the Claw.

You also have Jonkeeren as Chimera. I thought they were humans modified by the Vilani.

Also - when you have species going over two lines - because there are several different sources. You sometimes list them twice. See potentially playable aliens (page 1).

There are subspecies of Vargr mentioned in AoCS1.

However excellent stuff.

The wiki has Jonkeeren as Chimera so that's what I went with. They're definitely gene altered, just not sure if they're mixed genes, making them chimera, or just variant.
Does the original dolphin stock affect the species at all? I didn't see anything for Whiteside initially.
Need to add the Vargr sub-species.
Already found a bunch of duplicates, thanks! I'll post updates soon, hopefully.

 

[mavikfelna]

Pacific Whiteside Dolphin - in addition to the Bottlenose. I think it's mentioned in Behind the Claw.

You also have Jonkeeren as Chimera. I thought they were humans modified by the Vilani.

Also - when you have species going over two lines - because there are several different sources. You sometimes list them twice. See potentially playable aliens (page 1).

There are subspecies of Vargr mentioned in AoCS1.

However excellent stuff.

I don't find any mention of Whiteside Dolphins in Behind the Claw. Do you have a reference?

I think I got all the duplicates, updated file attached.

 

[WHULorigan]

The wiki has Jonkeeren as Chimera so that's what I went with. They're definitely gene altered, just not sure if they're mixed genes, making them chimera, or just variant.

To my knowledge Jonkereen are just Variant/Geneered.

Someone at some point used a very sloppy/misinformed definition of Chimera (et al) and it got propagated somewhat thru wiki articles. IIRC I cleaned up the definition page and fixed some articles I knew about with the bad references (that is how I discovered it), but there are probably some erroneous entries still out there.

I just did a quick pass and fixed up some articles and definition pages.

 

[mavikfelna]

Great, now I have more work to do. ;p

Thank you for the help!

 

[mavikfelna]

To my knowledge Jonkereen are just Variant/Geneered.

Someone at some point used a very sloppy/misinformed definition of Chimera (et al) and it got propagated somewhat thru wiki articles. IIRC I cleaned up the definition page and fixed some articles I knew about with the bad references (that is how I discovered it), but there are probably some erroneous entries still out there.

I just did a quick pass and fixed up some articles and definition pages.

Ok, fixed Jonkereen. Anything you've seen that needs to be fixed?

 

[WHULorigan]

Ok, fixed Jonkereen. Anything you've seen that needs to be fixed?

Most of the entries listed in the Wiki Table on the Variant Human Races Page had to be fixed.

Essentially, there are no clear exàmples of "Human Chimeras" on the table.

The definition of Chimera (corrected, from the Wiki and T5) is as follows:

​

A ''Chimera'' is a hybrid of two or more distinct species, produced naturally or through Genetic engineering. In general, the term Chimera has a higher standard-defining threshold (and is thus narrower in scope) than the terms variant race or variant species in that the term specifically refers to a creature or species that was geneered from 2 or more distinct species, or that a single species was used as a base to which were added significant genetic modification sequences from one or more additional species. Simple engineered genetic modification of aspects of existing species does not generally qualify a creature or species as a Chimera -- it must be a hybrid or fusion of two or more distinct, independently viable species in some way. Thus the term Variant Race is broader in scope. In all cases the result is a new, unique species.​

​

If I can, I'll take a look over your document more closely later tonight.

 

[mavikfelna]

Most of the entries listed in the Wiki Table on the Variant Human Races Page had to be fixed.

Essentially, there are no clear exàmples of "Human Chimeras" on the table.

The definition of Chimera (corrected, from the Wiki and T5) is as follows:

​

A ''Chimera'' is a hybrid of two or more distinct species, produced naturally or through Genetic engineering. In general, the term Chimera has a higher standard-defining threshold (and is thus narrower in scope) than the terms variant race or variant species in that the term specifically refers to a creature or species that was geneered from 2 or more distinct species, or that a single species was used as a base to which were added significant genetic modification sequences from one or more additional species. Simple engineered genetic modification of aspects of existing species does not generally qualify a creature or species as a Chimera -- it must be a hybrid or fusion of two or more distinct, independently viable species in some way. Thus the term Variant Race is broader in scope. In all cases the result is a new, unique species.​

​

If I can, I'll take a look over your document more closely later tonight.

Please, let me know if I need to change a bunch. There are 15 chimera after moving the Jonkereen. It's at least an easy fix.

 

[tytalan]

Vilani are a major human race not a minor and the default is not Vilani it is a Vilani/solimani mix. Pure blooded Vilani live longer than Solimani there actually has not been any write up on pure Vilani in mongoose T2 yet.

 

[mavikfelna]

Per the definition in my sheet, I'm not using the major/minor tags for creating jump drives, it's for purely if it's a mostly unmodified human species.

My understanding is that the base human from the core rulebook is actually the Vilani or mixed Solomani/Vilani. They just never say it outright though.

 

[Tom B]

The wiki has Jonkeeren as Chimera so that's what I went with. They're definitely gene altered, just not sure if they're mixed genes, making them chimera, or just variant.
Does the original dolphin stock affect the species at all? I didn't see anything for Whiteside initially.
Need to add the Vargr sub-species.
Already found a bunch of duplicates, thanks! I'll post updates soon, hopefully.

Sorry it's Aliens of Charted Space 3, page 157.

 

[tytalan]

Per the definition in my sheet, I'm not using the major/minor tags for creating jump drives, it's for purely if it's a mostly unmodified human species.

My understanding is that the base human from the core rulebook is actually the Vilani or mixed Solomani/Vilani. They just never say it outright though.

Your use of major and minor causes confusion. The base human depends a lot on where you set your game. For example officially the humans in the Spindward Marches, Denab, and Trojan Reach are primarily of Solomani decent. Plus according to both the Wiki and Vilani & Vargr the Vilani do have a slight genetic difference from Solomani. They are longer lived and have different blood types, if that from Ancient modifications or just a factor of their home environment is not clear. No where is the core rule book does it state that must imperial Vilani though a large percentage especially in the core areas are at least partially Vilani but unlike the Solomani the Vilani interbred with the many minor human peoples they encountered.

 

[mavikfelna]

Your use of major and minor causes confusion. The base human depends a lot on where you set your game. For example officially the humans in the Spindward Marches, Denab, and Trojan Reach are primarily of Solomani decent. Plus according to both the Wiki and Vilani & Vargr the Vilani do have a slight genetic difference from Solomani. They are longer lived and have different blood types, if that from Ancient modifications or just a factor of their home environment is not clear. No where is the core rule book does it state that must imperial Vilani though a large percentage especially in the core areas are at least partially Vilani but unlike the Solomani the Vilani interbred with the many minor human peoples they encountered.

They are not significantly different to prevent interbreeding and do not vary in any significant manner in game stats, so they are not a variant, genemod, or uplift and therefore a minor difference. I will use Human Subspecies in future updates, though I'm not convinced that is a better term.

 

[mavikfelna]

Ok. There have been a few complaints about my use of Minor Race to mean Minor Variant Human species. I was going to change that to Human Subspecies, but on thinking about I think I'm going to go with Minor Variant Human to avoid confusion with Variant Human species.

But, this brings to light some issues with my classification system so I figured I'd ask for help before continuing.

Currently, with the above change, I have the following classifications:
Species - the species/race is the base species other variants are taken from

Minor Variant species - the species has some differences in traits and/or stats but is otherwise still compatible with the base species. This can be through long isolation or planned adaptations or some other method of drift from the base but devices, medicine, food, etc.. are mostly or fully cross compatible and the species are likely inter-fertile.

Variant species - the species has significant changes in traits and/or stats and may no longer be inter-fertile with their base species. This could be through genetic drift or deliberate manufacture. Devices will generally remain compatible but medicines, foods and even things like atmospheric or gravity preference is changed and possibly completely incompatible. The changes are usually deliberate but don't have to be.

(Uplift Species) Uplift species - the species was deliberately modified to be significantly different from its base species. They are often different enough as to be thought of as a different species all together. Those identified as Ancient Uplift species were altered by the Ancients to fit some need and then left to their own devices. They may have changed significantly from their base over time. Terran Uplift species are usually uplifted by the Solomani but other groups or organizations may be responsible but the base species originated on Terra, they are currently identified as Terragen. If the uplifting species is unknown, it will be listed as just Uplift species.

Chimera species/species - are major gene mods using more than one species as a base. They will be listed as Chimera and then each known species they are drawn from.

Unsuitable, Unknown and Extinct are the classifications for races that not suitable as player species for one reason or another.

Finally, we come to the sub or non-species classifications.
Ethnic species - is a mostly social classification for a subspecies that is separated from their parent species in some manner.

Political (species) - I'm not completely sure how to do this one. Some seem obvious, like Sword Worlds are Political Human, but should they be Political Solomani or Political Terran instead? There are a few other listing that have special traits, careers, perks or other things that set them apart, like the Storm Knights or Drinax and Asim, which are political in nature but they are Terran or some other human species. The Glorious Empire is a Political Aslan classification. But what about multi-species polities? There aren't any currently that have representation in the MgT 2e rules, with the 3I as an exception but since they are the base for rules they are treated as the default and not listed. A race that is also a polity is not covered by this classifications but is instead the Species type.

Am I missing anything important? Is there anything that needs to change here? Please speak up and let me know so I can build a better index.

 

[WHULorigan]

Political (species) - I'm not completely sure how to do this one. Some seem obvious, like Sword Worlds are Political Human, but should they be Political Solomani or Political Terran instead? There are a few other listing that have special traits, careers, perks or other things that set them apart, like the Storm Knights or Drinax and Asim, which are political in nature but they are Terran or some other human species. The Glorious Empire is a Political Aslan classification. But what about multi-species polities? There aren't any currently that have representation in the MgT 2e rules, with the 3I as an exception but since they are the base for rules they are treated as the default and not listed. A race that is also a polity is not covered by this classifications but is instead the Species type.

Am I missing anything important? Is there anything that needs to change here? Please speak up and let me know so I can build a better index.

You could also go with Cultural/Ethnic (species) here, as there are at times probably some Sword Worlders outside the Confederation Borders, and some eras when there is no Confederation, but one (or more) regional polities formed from this group that may or may not control all of them.

Sword Worlders' ancestors were not necessarily derived from Terra itself (and were not from the Terran Confederation), but from the Old Earth Union during the Long Night after the fall of the Rule of Man. I would go with Solomani rather than Terran.

 

[mavikfelna]

You could also go with Cultural/Ethnic (species) here, as there are at times probably some Sword Worlders outside the Confederation Borders, and some eras when there is no Confederation, but one (or more) regional polities formed from this group that may or may not control all of them.

Sword Worlders' ancestors were not necessarily derived from Terra itself (and were not from the Terran Confederation), but from the Old Earth Union during the Long Night after the fall of the Rule of Man. I would go with Solomani rather than Terran.

So Darrian Aslan would be Cultural Darrian, despite being Political Darrian Confederation? And despite being Aslan as species? And Sword Worlds would be Cultural Sword World with a species of Solomani? Now I have to figure out how to show that. ::sigh::