Modding Help Mod Assistance/Help Needed - New Race: The Lyxaris

BIOLOGY​

The Lyxaris are biologically diverse in many ways. Physically, they appear often diminutive in stature and their anatomy is conducive to agility and maneuverability. They have sharpened senses for avoiding predators, as well; they can hear, smell, and see with about a couple times the efficacy of the average human being. Their eyesight is quite sharp even in darkness, but this makes them susceptible to bright lights. They have excellent balance, as well, in tune with their agility. They are built for moving through the vast, dangerous forests on their homeworld, with prehensile feet and tails, and leg structures that allow for higher jumps, longer, bounding steps and falls from more extreme heights. Their skin naturally ranges from black to white, but can be different colours very, very rarely. It is most commonly a dark, ashen grey. Their skin has a remarkable trait, biological markings that often take nearly artistic forms, looking like tattoos that glow brightly. (In this case, only a couple marking designs would really be necessary with a few different, one-colour settings.) They come in nearly any colour and their design can be eerily representative of something, or entirely random. They share this trait with their blood, which is often the same colour, glows in a similar fashion, and can, indeed, be nearly any hue. They are endothermic, with an average bodily temperature of 19.4°F (-7°C); their blood does not freeze due to special agents in it that prevent such, which also make it highly toxic to beings without filters capable of handling it.

Lyxaris were, initially, an avian species that originated on a very cold and dark planet. Well outside of its habitable zone, it had yet evolved many species over the course of its slow disconnection from its DA2 White Dwarf. Much of the flora there, in sprawling, boreal forests, contained enough natural bioluminescence to eerily light a majority of the planet's surface. In turn, much of the life developed similar, as mating traits and as methods of locating other pack members or tribe members, though many predators forewent the markings so as to stay better hidden.

Many animals on this planet developed quite differently than on Earth. A good majority of animals are not able to be classified like they could be by humans (avian, mammalian, etc.). As such, they developed a few traits that humans would think exclusive to certain groups. Spiracles on their skin assist in breathing when the mouth is blocked, hollowed bones make up most of their structure as per their avian nature, and they possess a nonlethal paralytic venom. In addition to the strange mixing of the classifications, many of the animals on this planet bore a nigh-unique ability: Psionics.

Lyxaris psionics manifest as a physical energy that, in unknown fashion, is capable of altering the physical realm with a variety of effects. Most Lyxaris have an inherent technomancy, allowing them to interface with their own technology. By now, this method is utilized everywhere, especially in military tech, to make theft more difficult. The other facet of Lyxaris psionics is the 'potential', which is a secondary path that allows the growth of a new power through years of arduous training and effort. Acquiring this ability in full requires that the user sacrifice a level of strength and higher caloric intake for the sake of utilizing the provided powers fully. These powers vary drastically and can range from pyromancy to biomancy and more.

At a first glance, the Lyxaris would seem powerful and their anatomy would seem very able, but they have a number of glaring flaws in their anatomy. Primarily, the Lyxaris are of very weak constitution. Most are physically weak and can not lift heavy objects. Additionally, they sustain considerably lower damage due to hollow bones and a considerably lessened regenerative ability as a direct result of cells that divide at a considerably slowed rate compared to that of humans. Finally, while their neural core (brain) is a webby and strong fibrous structure instead of the squishy stuff found in the skulls of humans, this thick material is instead located in the center of their chest, behind a reinforced ribcage, among one of the two hearts and their lungs. A much easier target.

However, Lyxaris have many 'peripheral' or environmental resistances that make them very hardy. Their resistance to cold allows them to survive in -15°F (approx. -26°C) comfortably and even far less. However, their acclimation to cold results in a weakness to heat, requiring armour or cybernetic augmentation to survive in higher heat levels.

The Lyxaris additionally have an inherent defense system against psionic mechanisms that would control their mind, using any created mental links that were not willing and returning massive feedback of psionic energy to cause painful headaches and daze the offender, exposing them to further assault. Moreso, their lessened regenerative function results in a side effect of increased resistance to ionizing radiation, allowing them to absorb more radiation without being effected (though by no means not effected by it. Just slower. Think cockroaches.)

Finally, the crown jewel of their anatomy is a very complex immune system that allows them to fend off almost any disease and their filtration systems are strong enough to process and destroy most toxins that aren't specifically made for them.
Summarizing: The Lyxaris are powerfully resistant to their environment; radiation, disease, poisons, cold, but have glaring weaknesses that certainly offset such: weak constitution, low endurance, low regenerative ability, easier to hit brain (because center mass), weakness to bright lights...

You can see most of their physical anatomy from the image up there, but here is another image to assist in understanding:

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As you can see, the Lyxaris have long tails with arrowhead-shapes on the end. These tails are fully prehensile.. Additionally, Lyxaris legs are dualjointed, which, normally, would put strain on them the way their natural position is, their lower center of gravity, very light and small stature and etcetera allows them to utilize these legs well. They are especially strong, and give this species heightened agility. When jumping or taking long steps, these legs can fold out to push them further. They can also fold in slightly to produce a spring-like effect.

They also have horns, which, at first glance, would look keratinous, but are really chitinous, with sensitive, tiny hairs all over them to detect touch, a vestigial trait from some kind of feeler when they were an avian species, possibly for detecting wind currents. Their feet have strong grips, made for navigating trees, clinging to branches and other such perches, and the toes are reinforced with keratin and quite sharp. They also have two fingers and a thumb to each hand, though their fingers are broader, allowing the same kind of grasp as humans would be able to have. Furthermore, their ears are long and pointed. Their tongues are also strangely long, reaching up to two feet, and are usually folded in a compartment further down into the esophagus.

To clarify on their organs; their head is still shaped like that of a human, because the skull harbors a very large, lymphnode-like organ that maintains and controls the very complex immune system, simply referred to by themselves as an 'immunocore'. Destroying it can completely cripple their immune system, but usually it will kill them, as it is necessary for a few other life functions. They also have two hearts; one is located in the lower left part of their abdomen, while the other is in the upper right of their chest, serving about half the function of a full heart each.

I know this is a lot to read! But, hopefully it's enough to get someone invested in the project. Thus ends the biology section, and on to the even more fun part:

SOCIETY & LORE

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The Lyxaris' culture is to be considered 'blank', 'default', 'bland'. They are very utilitarian, despite the flair in a lot of their design, showing a concern for knowledge and scientific ambition well over artistry. Their artistry is minimalist and 'charming' in its own way, though by this point it has been influenced by many other cultures. The Lyxaris as a whole show surprising cultural sensitivity due to the way most were brought up, allowing them to assimilate into other cultures and respect/participate in them properly. This has furthered the ability of their silver tongues and political 'slipperiness'.

The Lyxaris are, or possibly were, the most powerful species in their galaxy to their knowledge. They had built a large empire out of other willing participants, by offering coalitions and alliances only to slowly buy out their allies and simply absorb them as a part of the empire. Their 'conquest' was of a political nature and normally not violent, and they actually kept good relations with these other species thanks to their cultural sensitivity. The integration of these species into their empire had profound effects on their culture, as having aliens from different cultures living amongst their own kind meant that many had found themselves enamored with them, leading to a 'cultural revolution' that created a strange regional culture among their empire, a patchwork of various alien cultures depending on what aliens inhabited the colonies there.

The Lyxaris have a reputation for immoral acts during wartime, and blatantly have a disregard for individual life. Their use of their resources to buy out their dissenters would mask this well enough, or occasional 'silencing'. They prolifically utilized biological, chemical and radiological weaponry, going so far as to use zombification agents and parasitic diseases. Most soldiers carried different forms of biological weaponry, using their powerful armour and filtration systems to thoroughly abuse their natural gifts, flooding battlefields and even civillian settlements with deadly poisons, radiation and chemicals. They have also been well known to capture soldiers, or even use their own, to create synthetic biomechanical superweapons.

They are also cannibalistic, though a more refined version of such. Instead of burying their dead, in order to keep their food supplies in surplus, they simply place their bodies through refineries that strip the bones of meat and package them, where the meat is sold at grocery stores and other such places.

The Lyxaris would, however, among the races of Starbound, be but a phantom of a force unknown. They are displaced units from rare interuniversal expeditions to create colonies. The colonies would be successes, allowing a small population to exist among the other races of Starbound; however, their government cut contact, stranding these sects alone, in alien environments, to fend for themselves and hopefully find asylum among the others. Not much is known of the current status of the Lyxaris empire or why it has cut contact with their colonies, but perhaps you could find that out through codexes scattered in 'zombie bases' and small settlements, among many other facets of the secretive empire...?

Among this powerful force you will find 'zombie bases', half-converted Apex and Human structures containing unique Lyxaris technology and information, but with technology that was obviously stolen and edited from their base structures, leaving an eerie feeling like the inhabitants are but parasites. Soldiers here will try to prevent you from getting to information inside, and you will have to slay them to get loot and codexes!

TECHNOLOGY​

The Lyxaris are powerfully advanced. They utilize a wide variety of weaponry, from normal ballistics to plasma weapons. Their plasma weapons are more deadly than one might think, a strange kind of 'jelly' fired in bolts causing the plasma to stick to their target, burning almost like napalm. They use lasers quite a bit as well, from small pistols to massive ship-built guns sweeping across the land and vaporizing all in their way.

They are fond of biological weaponry, because of their inherent ability to completely disregard it with no equipment whatsoever, they are keen on flooding battlefields and enemy environments with toxins and diseases while their own troops stage an incursion. They use a type of crystalline weaponry as well, that capitalizes on empathy and psychology, expecting that other enemies will group around a wounded soldier to assist them only to be struck by the explosive charges and razor-sharp shrapnel these crystals result in.

Fighting them is an utterly draining experience in general. Psionics, fear tactics, biological weaponry and generally powerful weaponry makes them a force to be reckoned with.

Their society is just as advanced as their military. Many manual labor jobs are occupied by robotic units, and their robotics are advanced enough to produce nigh-on replicas of organic life. They have a deep fondness for synthetics, as many of their people will not be caught without some form of cybernetic enhancement, including what are essentially personal computers within the body.

Their technology's motif is very strange and very persistent. Despite their utilitarian nature, their technology has a certain flair to it. They are fond of purple colors (like this text, especially), and their technology bears very little angles and instead uses much curvature. Grey, purple, and white are the most prevalent colors in their cities and fleets, and the nigh-on organic curvature of their ships is charming in a way. They are fond of glowing trim, placing glowing 'paint' between the plates of (non-stealth based) armour and ships, and using lights on the inside of their ships that almost look like markings for illumination instead of more conventional lights. In general, their technology can be compared to technology like that of the Geth from Mass Effect, or the Covenant from Halo. Their ships take on many organic-like forms, with avian and insectoid design motifs. Their fleets are a visually distinct and petrifying sight to behold!

 

Well I can't contribute much in the way of the race itself or anything requiring animation but I CAN help with race specific guns, and I can do coding (to an extent) for things like recipe, gun, object, fuel, and projectile based stuff. Just PM me with a task you need done and I'll say if I can do it. If you want a small sample of something I threw together look at my one and only mod, the Transformers Mod.

 

I really hope you get the help you need for this, because it looks like an interesting race to say the very least.

 

Yeah I just looked into the games assets for human objects and it may take me as while I get around the way it's set up to accommodate color variations. Icould just make close duplicates as it would be easier, which is likely what I'll end up doing because whenever I screw with files that have frames I just screw up. Should have first samples sometimes tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on what obligations i have arise.

 

Close duplicates is good enough.

 

So I really like the look of these guys. I have began work on a template that I believe would fit well. The idea was to make a humanoid with unique features such as the extended/jointed ankle feature while still fitting into the basic humonoid template so other armors would work (I'm not sure if they will exactly yet, haven't tested it). Take a look, I might be interested in working with you on this mod.

 

eyyy, one of the people helping with the mod officially, i've got some progress with the torso and legs. here are the fem personalities, and the sitting position:

the blush on the stomach and toes is planned to be colorable, these are just mockups
what dya think, forumites?

 

I would thin out the tail more, maybe give it a little more curve in the first couple. Other then that looking pretty good so far. Also maybe differentiate the shading and belly color more.

 

I'm looking forward to this !

 

Hey everyone. Ace here, the resident furniture spriter for this mod. I'm already under way with a lot of interesting designs! Expect a lot more from this mod than you'd normally expect, because I'm sure as heck ready to design everything that this mod needs.
This is just a few things that I've been getting started with

 

A teaser!

 

Quick update!

We're not dead! We're just kind of stagnating a bit. We're still working on art assets. I could still use someone to help in fixing vanity items so that they fit with the playermodel as well as making new ones, I could still use people to make guns and projectiles, and I could also use someone to help me through the tedium of coding the items in to streamline the process, if anyone wants to help with that.

 

Bonus update, added technology section!

 

Just wanted to state my interest in this. Keep up the good work!

 

So! Uh, our body sprite artist kind of bailed midway. I'm still enthusiastic about the project and hopefully this won't put a massive damper on us, but for it to not we desperately need someone willing to help with body textures.

 

Do I have permission to repost this picture?

 

This one?​

 

Sure, as long as you give credit to the artist, prospass @ deviantart.com

 

i gave the character a shot..