Name Cephalex History The Cephalex, though mostly known for their excessive wealth and untracked crime, have a long history, originally as a race of clueless, if technologically advanced seadwellers. [IMAGE REMOVED] Early Advances The Cephalex, in past times, were not always bipedal, instead, appearing similar to the Cephalopods of various worlds, only somewhat sentient. During this time, they were not yet technologically advanced, but were still uncanny builders, constructing massive, stone cities from materials on the ocean floor. Over time, they began to exploit technology that seemed to simply drop into their lands, from an unknown source, leading to increased intelligence and the ability to work with alloys and other metals, materials they had no access to before. This lead to, for a time, the Cephalex, becoming extremely religious, beliving these artifacts to be gifts from their gods, the Eternal Aura, which some would call sunlight, passing through the waves, which they could not reach from their ocean floor homes. However, this was not to last. The Living Ash Roughly a century after the Cephalex reached the pinnacle of their glory, something came, referred to only as the Living Ash in historical documents. This being, creature, force, somehow darkened Planet Ceph's twin suns, bringing about an eternal night, before heading towards the planet itself, seemingly draining all its water, mutagenic spores released from its body twisting and mutating the Cephalex into Bipedal, air-breathing creatures. Oddly enough, the being, whatever its intentions were, did not destroy the Cephalex's cities, only the rest of the planet, leaving it barren, dark, and nearly deserted. Only four species remained on the planet, the Cephalex themselves, large, floating Cuttlefish, which would later be changed into Cephalex ships, Gulpers, monstrous Eel-like burrowers, which happen to find the Cephalex delectable, and odd, Jellyfish-like being left in the wake of the Ash. The Cephalex, in the aftermath of the disaster, however, were introduced to something beautiful, the Stars. Starry Night In the calm after the storm, the Cephalex were introduced to the one symbol they would cherish eternally, the Night Sky. The sight of this sky locked them in a sort of permanent cultural state, similar to what you would see in a Noir Film. Rapidly, the Cephalex, filled with a new inspiration, spread and researched, discovering new technologies, and imrpoving those that fell from what they once believed to be gifts from the Heavens. Renaissance It was at this point that the Cephalex began to become what we know of them now, gritty Mobsters and investigators with a taste for Art Deco. Over several years, the Cephalex built cities across their homeworld, each one extremely large, and tall, as to see the Stars in all their glory. After around 3 centuries, the entire planet was covered in city, and by then, the Cephalex needed a new focus. They created massive banks, to store all currencies of their world, focusing on the standard currency, Skrells. This lead to an emergence of Crime, and many mobs, mafias, and gangs forming, the largest and most influential being the O-mer-tas. After the O-mer-tas sprung the largest bank on the planet, several mobs came in and raided, before breaking a sacred vow, leaving the planet, with their riches, and creating storage vaults and lairs on other worlds. Now that the vow had been broken, the code was broken, and several civilians of planet Ceph began to take off as well, some in pursuit of the stolen wealth, some seeking to colonize, and some seeking to discover new creatures. This is the point we are at now. Technological Advancement The Cephalex, while highly advanced, are only truly known for one technology, their ability to blend Machine and Creature with incredible ease. Gulper watchdogs, Jellyfish defense Drones, Cybernetic Guards, and, of course, their personal spacecraft, Cuttlefish with bridges built into their hollowed out bodies. Other notable technologies are their firearms, all barely looking advanced enough to actually do damage, but, in truth, being some of the most powerful throughout the sectors. However, most Mob goons only use weak, stolen ones, and their telltale powerful weaponry belonging solely to Cybernetic Guards, or their spacecraft. Age: Futuristic Foreign Relations The Apex: Even the most brutal Cephalex despise the Apex, believing their oppressive, controlling empire to be a destructive element to their individual plans. Core Worlds are instructed to shoot Apex Vessels on sight. The Avians: The Cephalex generally find Avian Beliefs rather silly, almost counterproductive, compared to their worship of the Stars. Nonetheless, the Cephalex generally ignore the Avians, finding them a sideshow, rather than an actual threat. The Hylotl: The Cephalex find the Hylotl rather annoying, believing peace and love to be silly concepts. Additionally, before the Ash came, Cephalex were known to eat fish and other aquatic animals. There are rumors that the O-mer-ta higherups often eat fried Hylotl, but they have denied this claim. The Glitch: The Cephalex are unnerved and confused by the glitch, finding their medieval society uncanny and disturbing when seen being practiced by machines. The Cephalex try to avoid the Glitch as much as possible. The Humans: The Cephalex generally don't care for the Humans, but do see their kind as a possible gateway for spreading their culture to other races, and often try to recruit them into their gangs as lackeys. The Florans: The Cephalex find the Florans to be pests, distractions, disturbances in their schemes. Their head-hunting antics and tendency to live on planets that would normally be perfect for a bank have led to a long lasting "Extermination Job" by the O-mer-tas. Visuals Kidding. This is a placeholder until I've got a concrete design for them, will be changed later. Otherwise, the Cephalex have very slimy skin, often in the color purple, and a series of tentacles obscuring their beak-like mouth. Two of these tentacles are longer, and, in lore, are often used to hold cigars or magnifying glasses.
Are you like following me or something? I go to my alerts and you have posted on like every thing I have posted on.....
I like this idea! Noire-ish detective/crime movies are always great - but I'm glad you went the extra mile and made them technologically advanced beyond that era. Loving the biomech aspect. One thing I'm confused about: Are they still underwater? Maybe the picture of the building's confusing me... We do need more variation in colony types. And they don't hate all races - just 2.5 races.
"O-mer-tas" seems far too obvious to me. I like the idea of crime-oriented Noire cephalopods, however.
This. Seriously, pixel art isn't THAT hard. Just go through a few drafts on paper, then try to convert it to what you want.
