Race Meet the Frostborn (Addressing the name 12/23/13)

Images are in the works! Please bear with me!

On the subject of the name:
after thinking about it i have decided to keep the name.
while some of you great people believe that the name doesn't fit i, as a person who needs to stick up for his suggestion, must say that the name is final.
While you where all wonderful for suggesting names. i believe that i have made the race not only plausible lore wise but i also believe that, with the latest update, have also made the name possible.
Again, thank you for the wonderful suggestions but i have decided to keep the current name and i'm not backing out now.

I fear that changing the race too much on the whims of the public will make the race loose it's personality.

i will continue to take suggestions but i will be observing vigilantly and making sure that the current lore, personality and feel of the race doesn't deviate from our ever-so-friendly ice-space-vikings into some generic race made out of paper.





First time suggesting a legit race; more info will be added and things are subject to change. Art will also be added when available. all advice/suggestions are welcome!

Art will come within the next few days. i cried a little when i lost some progress.

Change log:

Firstorm Update:
The lore update happened on 11/29/2013
Added the "Raising a civilization" lore section
Updated the "anatomy" section.
Finalized the Character sprite.
Added a "history" lore section.
Added the "player's Frostborn" section.
Updated the "generic Frostborn" section.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Name change happened on (11/4/2013), A big thanks for all the input!
fixed the "Scientist" grammar issue! can't believe that slipped right past me so many times!
New character sprites added on (11/7/2013)


Their Creation:

On many designated planets, not fit for the containment of life, there was a varied set of clinical trials for nano-tech.

The plan was to create nanites that could mimic cells in such a fashion that limbs could be recreated and implanted. The results where far some successful, the nanites could not handle frigid weather. Growth would be impossible without a constant source of energy and nanites would eventually fall apart when implanted onto organic material.

Three scientists had devoted their lives into this project and could not accept their failure. They stole the last surviving canister of the nanites and decided to break every rule in the book. They spent the remaining time of their lives creating new life from scratch.

They succeeded but their new race was not without flaws.


Raising A Civilization:
many Frostborn would become close quickly to alien life such as predators, the three needed to change this.
they continued to work on this wonderful life for years to come, two of the three scientist's passed on but with the lives lost they could not fix the "Friendly issue".


the final scientist was on his death bed
The Last Frostborn on their near-lifeless planet by his side wished only to help the scientist.
with a warm chuckle he realized all those years where for nothing, the answer was there all along.
you can't teach a child to live by a code or rules because children brake rules but you can have a child keep a promise.

The Scientist promised to return one day as long as the lonesome Frostborn promised to make a thriving world with his people.
The Frostborn was handed a book and a manual.The book was of humanity and it's many cultures,
The manual was for the machine that would create new and fresh Frostborn.


The Lonesome Frostborn Re-created his people from scratch and started a-new, sadly the latest generation was flawed.

While the latest generation would expand and eventually die from starvation or war.

choosing many past cultures and failing to have a sustaining, the Lonesome Frostborn was fed up with his race.
He Re-created his people once again, programmed them to fear and to hold onto all promises like a backbreaking bond.

He succeeded at sustaining his race and forced them to thrive in a Viking style civilization.
Tribes would fight for land, anybody who promised to fight to the death.


Anatomy:
The process to prevent the decay of the nanites takes a lot of energy so they are at a constant state of hunger. The nanites where paired with a large cluster of water (the size of an average blood cell) and given individual functions such as carrying nutrients to each "cell" or sending air into the required areas.

A light layer of "ice" was formed to create something similar to skin, keeping everything well insulated and hidden from the outside world.

The most important part of a Frostborn is the core found in their chest, it contains everything that a Frostborn is (brain, heart and even their stomach!). the core is the only thing that can be seen through the layer of icy skin.

water can wreck the insides of a Frostborn if "breathed" in by breaking the bond between the bunched-up water molecules and the nanites. drowning is still an issue

The Frostborn are modeled and anatomically correct to a human so there are no worries of crazy sprite reworks for this race.

The nanites don't run indefinitely so the core breaks down the energy and distributes it equally into each individual nanite, the water is constantly flowing like a blood stream to send out the needed energy supply("digested food") and the oxygen to burn the energy supply(breathing).
The frostborn are more like a massive colony of ants. They send chemical signals across the body to a main nanite cluster(center of the core that holds 'personality, behaviors and instinct). The main nanite cluster uses the water nanites to send signals to the outside ice nanites and the ice nanites move accordingly.

When the skin breaks and the ice nanite breaks, the water nanite adapt and quickly fill in the holes.

The body, in other words. Is a giant, walking, thinking and adapting ant colony rather than an actual body.

Ice nanites protect the insides and act as the main stimuli sensors for the colony(drones)

Water nanites distribute energy, oxygen and orders as well as changing jobs when needed.(worker ants)

core nanites work as the decision making and break down of resources.(queen ant)

the core nanites are also bonded with water.

finished two tattoo designs. uploading later.




I finalized the face design. it's going to be a socket-ed face, this could lead to more sci-fi gear later


you can choose the color of the body, core, hair and an added tattoo option.


Life Stages:

At the infant stage, Frostborn are like small snowballs with eyes. This was programmed to make them more approachable. This stage of life is extremely fragile because they have yet not developed the icy shell that protects the core. The Frostborn will nurture their young for years to come.


At the Adult stage the Frostborn now has the hardy shell that protects their core, they will begin to work for their family and chief but there is always the chance that they shall be chosen to leave the village to look for their “Great Deities”.

The Frostborn weaken at the elder stage of life, constantly feeding to sustain their bodies. Many are killed as the world doesn't have enough resources to sustain them.


Beliefs and religion:

Out of fear of the unknown, the scientists that created the Frostborn wrote a simple religion to keep them in check. The Frostborn believed that Thee great deities ascended from the ground and created life. but what wasn't anticipated was that the new life started to quickly thrive and evolving. the three scientists fled, terrified on what might happen if they where discovered.

The strongest of the families now travel the stars in hopes of finding their deities. Sacrificing livestock and hoping that one day, their creators will return to them.
living off basic rules, no stealing or murder. things like that.
They believe that once a Frostborn has passed away, their spirits will go back into the earth and rest upon an eternal mountain of food where they will feast with the great elders of centuries past. Gaining new knowledge and peace among the Great deities.
the greatest sin the a Firstborn can commit is treason, punishable by public execution.

the first encounter with the Frostborn was almost glorious, they showered the visitors with gifts. Unfortunately the travelers betrayed their trust and where quickly slaughtered. with the left over technology they where able to reach space, adapting to the tech and making it more suited for their race.
they held no grudges though and where able to be accepting of the other races, as long as they kept their words.

History:
(please note the the frocol Civilization was just one of many other generations)

100BFS(Before FireStorm): Rise of the "Froza Civilization".
Considered the second generation of Frostborn. Capable of breaking promises and lying, the 'Froza' where far from the perfect civilization.
Revolving around the 1990's-1990's era of Humanity, they where highly experimental with technology.

149BFS: First 'Froza' space shuttle leaves their planet. Every nation on the planet rejoices and has 'the week of peace' added onto the calender. no wars are to be fought during this yearly celebration.

150BFS: everything begins to settle but with high mortality rate.
still not considered 'Perfect'. High population begins to take toll on the planet but a fix seems to be in the horizon as something revolutionary is launched; the "Frozanet" is launched worldwide! a new way to connect globally and to other planets?!

151FS(THE FIRESTORM): half the planet is covered in flames, seems to be Frost-made(man-made). no signs of survivors as the fire continues to burn and spread across the ocean.

152FS: the fire is confirmed to be frost-made, it seems to burn off nanite energy. 1% of the population remains, there seem to be signs of life within the walls of flames...it's been a year since there has been talk of hope.

152FS: Rise of the "Frocol Civilization'
It seems that a section of Frostborn rebelled and use some sort of super-weapon.
All remaining "Froza" have been "wiped out"

153FS: 'Froconet has been launched worldwide".



The theme:

I would enjoy if there where Viking themed Or Nordic in nature.

Down to earth but very brutal, they take care of their surroundings and work as a tribe. accepting of strangers if they prove their worth to the tribe.

I’ll try creating sprites but I would like some help with this, I’m not the best at creating furniture or weaponry.

the dungeons should be based off of large super huts or temples made of a mix of solid ice and stone.


The Player's Frostborn:

Most "Froza" descendants care very much about knowledge and know about their anatomy and even reached space travel.

The 'Player's Frostborn" seems to be a "Froza descendant. hiding among the "Frocol" by masquerading as one of them. Capable of lying and breaking promises.

As such, when investigating items they should talk about Frostborns like normal but with a slight remembrance of times and people gone.

This of course is just for mechanical purposes. the player can Roleplay as a "Frocol" descendant.

The generic Frostborn:

most "Frocol" decedents don't care much for knowledge and do not know that they are made of nanites.

There isn't a day that a Frostborn is looking for food or a good fight. There are strong willed, goofy and over all, very thick headed.

When it comes to diplomacy they prefer a direct confrontation rather than talking things out but they are known to be very expressive if it comes down to an argument. While the Frostborn don’t enjoy admitting fault or losing, they are very willing to drop the subject or admit defeat. if you beat a Frostborn in combat of political battle they will always hold you with high regard.

While they seem rather hardheaded, they weigh their decisions accordingly.

Making friends with a Frostborn is easy, buy him a drink or beat him in an arm wrestling contest.
most Frostborns enjoy a hardy adventure as much as the next guy.

Planets:
while they prefer more icy planets they can still be found just about any other life sustaining planet.

Armor set bonuses and effects:

I am highly aware that special traits are held in the races armor. So here are some of my ideas, if you have better ones I would be more than happy to work with them.

Tier 1 to 4:

Melee armor: being hit by any form attack releases an Aoe of frost. Slowing down enemies, the slow and severity of the slow increases in duration as you go up in armor tiers.

I wanted this because it could be used with either sneak or heavy attack players.

Sneak type characters can swoop in and strike but if found out and attacked by another melee user than can use the slow to get away.

For a heavy attacker who is going to get hurt a lot, they can keep getting hit and constantly refreshing the slow. Assuring the kill for their team because your opponent cannot walk away (of course, this is only if they have no dash tech installed)


Ranged Armor: their slow is carried onto their projectiles but it’s not an Aoe. The slow duration increases with the tier but keeps the severity of the slow so it doesn't out slow the melee armor. In which case, sometimes it’s best to have a melee armor if you know you’re going to get too close to an opponent. An increased energy pool when using the armor.

Heavy weapons guy can keep their opponent slowed with their frost. Dishing a nice contestant damage without worrying about getting too close, working great with the fire rate of your weapon.

Machine gun users can easily use this armor type to their advantage. Moving around the field and keeping everyone slowed and procking another slow once the invincibility frames of your opponents stops

Snipers take the role of support very well with this armor tier. Insuring that your opponent won’t make it out without fighting.

Tier 5 through 7:

Melee armor now grants slow through attacking. Attacking now sends a “wave of cold” that slows in a line. The slow gains severity throughout the armor tier and damages enemies that where hit by the wave.


Ranged armor loses the on hit slow but gains a “Frost spike” effect. Once bullet strikes the target it creates a countdown of 5 seconds. When the timer runs out it triggers an explosion of frost that hits in an Aoe. Granting extra damage to surrounding opponents with a weakened slow. The initially hit target doesn't take damage from the ice spike but procks a sever slow, the slow does not climb in severity throughout the tier but the Aoe frost spike damage increases.


Remaining tiers:

Melee damaged slow returns, attacks still send out “Wave of cold” and slows.

Ranged “Frost spike” continues. Slow now gains severity throughout the remaining tiers.

 

Sounds interesting! If you wanted to differentiate their appearance, perhaps they could have spiked of ice crystals in different patterns on their heads? Maybe even ones that look like horns (to continue with the ice-viking theme). I like that you've added lots of details about their culture and possible game mechanics.

I do think the name might need a little work though. Unfortunately it bears a resemblance to the 'frist!' meme in comments, and when I read the thread title I actually thought it was a misspelling. Maybe their name could be based on one of the terms for different forms of ice or snow?

Eg Neve (glacial ice formed by compressed snow)
Pipkrake (small ice spikes that grow out of damp soil)
Rime (a type of river ice)
Firn (glacial snow at least one season old)
Frazile (small ice structure formed in fast flowing rivers)
Verglas (ice formed on rocks)
Graupsel (rounded snow that looks a bit like hail)

Great excuse to look up weird words

 

they are for sure, really early sprites...i kinda want to make their skin soften as you get into the feet and yes! their hair was planned to be all retro ice viking style! even some less viking looking hair but i'm still working on that bit

you make a valid point on the name! i like Verglas and Graupsel. might combine the two to make a more fluid sounding name.

 

Now my slime/nanite based race is gonna look unoriginal ;/.

Oh well, seems okay, although I don't know about the name.

 

Haven't read the real post yet, first thing I do is read some comments. But yeah I agree the name well... I read it has "Meet the firstborn."

 

name is under reworks! it shall be changed, no worries

i think a slime race would be cool, floating brains and stuff or more like some slimes that gained a sense of 'self'?

How does "Vergal" or "Fralize" sound to you guys?

 

@Autzome i was thinking just 'Frostborn' would work. or something completely different could work too.
i like the idea of this race though, it has enough lore that you understand where they come from without having to read too much, but also enough to where you could dive into the specifics of their creation if you so choose.

 

Thanks for the input guys! the name changed happen. i had to triple check the name! i didn't want to take the name from any other race suggestion.

Again, thanks for the input! you guys rock!

 

Needs to be plural.

Also I like the race. I like cold things. It's definitely a race I would play as. The sprites indeed need more work, but I am sure someone could help you with that.
Good luck!

 

Currently working on some new sprites.

possible things that could happen in order of most likely:
1) removal of the eyes.
2) making the sprites more color oriented. this could be a problem though
3)add more customization bits
4)changing position of the core.

 

I'd advise changing the eyes, making the core more pronounced, changing the skin to look more crystalline and adding armor examples.
Your race suggestion is fairly solid but could use a bit work.

 

i was experimenting with the face and you're right, the eyes look out of place as they sort of just....pop out.
i might move the core upwards and near the collar bone area, that gives me a bit more room to make the core more defined, you know?

armor is hard work, but hard work never killed anyone! i'll tack it into my to-do list.

 

I can help out with the naming, i'm good at that stuff
One thing though, it would look cooler (that pun tho) if the center bit where their guts are, was a bit bigger, and a funky shape that ends up being their race's symbol.
Like an upside-down triangle or something you know.
- and with that being said about the triangle, if you are looking for some eyedeas (these puns tho) you can stick a third eye where their nose would be, making an upside-down three-point triangle, except shift their first 2 eyes up a bit more, so it looks better.

Here is a sprite of it, the original and mine.
- The new eyes and core concept.

 

This....this brings a whole new meaning to snowball fights great job !

Maybe their "hairstyles" could snowflake-styled imprints like a tattoo.

 

I liked the No Eye idea I heard earlier but that may be going to far, there need to be a good balance. Keep up the work and I'm sure it can be great!

 

hey everybody! been juggling through some concepts but here is what i was able to cook up. it's subject to change.


things changed:
made the core more out there, the core color is changeable.
made a softening effect on the hands/feet/head and the chest core, working on making it a softer transition. might make the softening come from the core, as that is what happens with normal ice.
made the eyes softer and dependent on the main color chosen. they eyes stand out and i didn't have to remove them all together.

To do list
armor sprites, i have the concept for the melee armor somewhere i just need to sprite it out.
hair sprites. i have one in the works and a concept of another.

 

Pretty good changes but I'd still try to change the eyes, they just make it look too Human.

 

Try adding the 3 eyes in a tri shape?

 

Hey! after a lot of Ctrl-Z and chips i was happy with three facial features to replace the eyes.
number one
the face has a massive crack running down, i can slip in some history/lore as to why they have the crack. put in some more viking like "right of passage" sort of deal. can;t get the right thickness for the crack but it looks alright as it is now.


the second one is more of a faded cut into the face, again a possible right of passage. only issue was that i couldn't really make them stand out.


the third one is more a grid like single eye. stands out a lot more.


i tried a lot of the other suggested things on the thread but i couldn't pull them off as i wanted. thanks for the suggestion though! much love for the triangle!

 

A just had a sick idea, for the eyes:
I'm attempting to make a sprite version now.
But the idea was to make the eyes, a single heat signature shining through the ice a little bit.