the Kosmosis Chronicles

species sheet

[Data Entry] 'creature name'

1 Etymology - where did their name come from? For example, humans were named after soil, just like their home planet.

2 History - go figure.

2.1 Origin - where did your creature come from? Were they manufactured, evolved, etc. What did they do prior to civilization?

2.2 Pre-Contact - what did they do before contact with the rest of the galaxy? Did they even have a Pre-Contact phase?

2.3 Contact - brief info on the who, when, what, how, and if applicable, why of their first contact. Skip if this hasn't happened yet.

2.4 Post-Contact - what have they been doing since? Skip if not done with first contact yet.

3 Habitation and Population Statistics

3.1 Historical -where did they live? How many were they? Were they crammed into a small space or did they each get thousands of acres to themselves?

3.2 Contemporary - same as above, but for the present.

4 Biology

4.1 Anatomy - what do they look like? What are their organs? Do they even have those? Are they based on the element of carbon, silicon, etc. or are they just machines or computer data? A mix of all of these? Anything of note?

4.2 Physiology - how do they function? How do their components or organs work to achieve homeostasis? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostasis) Include, if appropriate, what atmosphere they breathe, eat or drink. Also add stuff like allergies, vulnerability to magnets or radiation, temperature tolerance, gravity preference, light preference, sleep-rest pattern, thinking-speed, etc. Finally, how do they keep themselves alive in an alien biosphere, like say Beyon? Gas masks, pressure suits, what?

4.3 Genetics - how are their blueprints passed on to the next generation? DNA? Left-handed DNA? Literal blueprints? Is it even possible? Are there certain issues regarding it?

4.4 Life Cycle - how does a typical life cycle look like? How long does it take? Is there anything of note? Has civilization altered it? If so, how?

4.5 Subspecies and Variations - do they just have different sizes and skin tones, or are they as diverse as the Tyranids? What makes each group different? Do certain groups tend to aggregate in certain nations?

5 Psychology - what do they generally think like?

5.1 Consciousness and Memory - when are they conscious? When do they get their first memories? How perfect is their memory? Do they dream? Do they naturally have, or are otherwise susceptible to, multiple personalities, slip of the tongue, etc.

5.2 Mentality and Emotion - are they herd-based, pack-based, program-based? Do they possess, or are prone to, obsessive-compulsiveness, sociopathy, etc? What emotions do they have, if any? Do they have ones that we don't? How do they, can they, control all of these? To what extent?

6 Culture and Society

6.1 Classification - are they classified by sex, gender, purpose, wealth, or any other quality?

6.2 Roles - what do each of these classifications do?

6.3 Social Structure - is the family, squad, etc. the basic unit of their society? What are the other units of society? What is the highest position, if there ever was one? What does each unit do and how do they interact with each other? Is there more than one society, body, nation, faction? How does this all relate to the rest of the galaxy?

6.4 Economics - how does their economy work? Is there just one model or are there different ones depending on scale and specific society in question?  Again, how does this all relate to the rest of the galaxy?

6.5 Conflict Management -  how do they handle conflict? Killing each other? Humiliating each other? Freud? What do they do, both on the individual and national scale, when it comes to filthy xenos?

6.6 Technology and Artifacts - what is their tech generally like, both in a civilian, military and any other common context? Anything they excel at relative to the galaxy? If applicable, what do they use for FTL? What do they wear, if any? Most importantly, do they have pr0n?

6.7 Communication - how do they communicate? Sound, light, electric current, body signals, e-mails? Is it possible for other races to speak it? If so, what is required, specifically? For example, an Octopus might be able to speak "Cuttlefish" while a Naucean would need an LED screen.

6.8 Philosophy and Spirituality - what are the prominent philosophies and faiths and what are each of them them like? Any brief history about them? Statistics like growth rate, adherence, size, tendency to occur in one society over another? Have they spread beyond the race in question? For the last one, you should probably ask for permission first from the creatures and civilizations' respective owners.

6.10 Art - this includes music and literature. Basically, anything that has to do with aesthetics. How does it influence other parts of society? Do they paint giant smileys on their fusion warheads? Has any of their artistic genius, or fail, spread beyond their species?

6.11 Entertainment - how do they entertain themselves? Do they like First Person Shooters? Are they RPG nuts? Do they regularly conduct LARPs? Do they spend their office hours surfing online humor websites and top ten lists? Do they have fully-interactive tactile VR for those exceptionally lonely nights? How does this all impact society, and the electric bill for that matter?

Don't these already exist on gamingsteve? The alien sheets cover things pretty extensively

so lets compile them here, revise them, remove meaningless numbers (what is a 12 in art supposed to mean) and replace them with words.

You're right, a 12 in Art is pretty meaningless. Why didn't we ever write justifications and explanations? And an entire species having a single religion is blatantly ridiculous when you compare them to humans. I hate it when some aliens have only one monolithic culture, and even more when it's a big cliche! Blugh! Some of the extra things were pretty silly and subjective, like "Strange Appearance". Wouldn't every other alien look strange to them?

But to be honest, in general DarthGrievi had the right idea. She just relied too much on statistics and sci-fi stereotypes. Maybe I can whip up a new and improved version that rests more on the pillar of storytelling.

A higher point in art could mean that the different cultures of that species may have a broader array of different art styles than other species.



But then again, I am against all kinds of spreadsheets for aliens, because not every point applies to every species. As soon as you break down the points to those shared by all species, you'll be left with 'diet' and 'method of reproduction'. On the other hand, if you could leave out certain points, you'll basically get a custom paragraph, what you would get anyway, except it's typed in horrible to read table-contents style.

Write a cohesive text separated by headlines such as "Reproduction", "Culture", "Politics" etc. and you'll be able to find all the information you need in a reasonable amount of time. Heck, you're all going to participate in RPs. One can expect of you to write up a 5 line paragraph.

that is more or less what i'm aiming for. I just want it to be consistantly formated across the board

[Data Entry] 'creature name'

1 Etymology - where did their name come from? For example, humans were named after soil, just like their home planet.

2 History - go figure.

2.1 Origin - where did your creature come from? Were they manufactured, evolved, etc. What did they do prior to civilization?

2.2 Pre-Contact - what did they do before contact with the rest of the galaxy? Did they even have a Pre-Contact phase?

2.3 Contact - brief info on the who, when, what, how, and if applicable, why of their first contact. Skip if this hasn't happened yet.

2.4 Post-Contact - what have they been doing since? Skip if not done with first contact yet.

3 Habitation and Population Statistics

3.1 Historical -where did they live? How many were they? Were they crammed into a small space or did they each get thousands of acres to themselves?

3.2 Contemporary - same as above, but for the present.

4 Biology

4.1 Anatomy - what do they look like? What are their organs? Do they even have those? Are they based on the element of carbon, silicon, etc. or are they just machines or computer data? A mix of all of these? Anything of note?

4.2 Physiology - how do they function? How do their components or organs work to achieve homeostasis? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostasis) Include, if appropriate, what atmosphere they breathe, eat or drink. Also add stuff like allergies, vulnerability to magnets or radiation, temperature tolerance, gravity preference, light preference, sleep-rest pattern, thinking-speed, etc. Finally, how do they keep themselves alive in an alien biosphere, like say Beyon? Gas masks, pressure suits, what?

4.3 Genetics - how are their blueprints passed on to the next generation? DNA? Left-handed DNA? Literal blueprints? Is it even possible? Are there certain issues regarding it?

4.4 Life Cycle - how does a typical life cycle look like? How long does it take? Is there anything of note? Has civilization altered it? If so, how?

4.5 Subspecies and Variations - do they just have different sizes and skin tones, or are they as diverse as the Tyranids? What makes each group different? Do certain groups tend to aggregate in certain nations?

5 Psychology - what do they generally think like?

5.1 Consciousness and Memory - when are they conscious? When do they get their first memories? How perfect is their memory? Do they dream? Do they naturally have, or are otherwise susceptible to, multiple personalities, slip of the tongue, etc.

5.2 Mentality and Emotion - are they herd-based, pack-based, program-based? Do they possess, or are prone to, obsessive-compulsiveness, sociopathy, etc? What emotions do they have, if any? Do they have ones that we don't? How do they, can they, control all of these? To what extent?

6 Culture and Society

6.1 Classification - are they classified by sex, gender, purpose, wealth, or any other quality?

6.2 Roles - what do each of these classifications do?

6.3 Social Structure - is the family, squad, etc. the basic unit of their society? What are the other units of society? What is the highest position, if there ever was one? What does each unit do and how do they interact with each other? Is there more than one society, body, nation, faction? How does this all relate to the rest of the galaxy?

6.4 Economics - how does their economy work? Is there just one model or are there different ones depending on scale and specific society in question?  Again, how does this all relate to the rest of the galaxy?

6.5 Conflict Management -  how do they handle conflict? Killing each other? Humiliating each other? Freud? What do they do, both on the individual and national scale, when it comes to filthy xenos?

6.6 Technology and Artifacts - what is their tech generally like, both in a civilian, military and any other common context? Anything they excel at relative to the galaxy? If applicable, what do they use for FTL? What do they wear, if any? Most importantly, do they have pr0n?

6.7 Communication - how do they communicate? Sound, light, electric current, body signals, e-mails? Is it possible for other races to speak it? If so, what is required, specifically? For example, an Octopus might be able to speak "Cuttlefish" while a Naucean would need an LED screen.

6.8 Philosophy and Spirituality - what are the prominent philosophies and faiths and what are each of them them like? Any brief history about them? Statistics like growth rate, adherence, size, tendency to occur in one society over another? Have they spread beyond the race in question? For the last one, you should probably ask for permission first from the creatures and civilizations' respective owners.

6.10 Art - this includes music and literature. Basically, anything that has to do with aesthetics. How does it influence other parts of society? Do they paint giant smileys on their fusion warheads? Has any of their artistic genius, or fail, spread beyond their species?

6.11 Entertainment - how do they entertain themselves? Do they like First Person Shooters? Are they RPG nuts? Do they regularly conduct LARPs? Do they spend their office hours surfing online humor websites and top ten lists? Do they have fully-interactive tactile VR for those exceptionally lonely nights? How does this all impact society, and the electric bill for that matter?





Also, I think we should probably use a separate datasheet for cultures and civilizations, unless a race in particular is either under a one-world government, or one party is simply too big while the other nations are so microscopic while at the same time not being notable.

That looks really good! I think It will help me, actually. Once we get more sheets we can start filling out the resources area.

that's very good yuu. I only have one addition, actualy

7 characters/people

7.1 historical -

7.2 contemporary -

Figures that would be Bard's addition. What's up with you and important single figures, anyway? What would you write down there if you were asked to make a sheet for humans, eh? Jesus, Isaac Newton, who? There are too many important figures, so details like that don't deserve their own section unless the general culture and psychology of the species places great importance on it.

Speaking of which, I agree with Yuu. Most of section 6 seems a bit too monocultural, so until then we should keep those parts general and vague and/or just include details from several major cultures of the species.

Other than that, this looks fantastic! My only additional complaint is that we need some defining units for the sections dealing with statistics, i.e. "g"s for gravity, kPa for pressure, all that. And there should be more defined rules on biochemistry: we need fundamental element, atmosphere, solvent, and gravity. Unless they live in outer space or whatever. Wait... In that case, we only need gravity! The L-Classes of my planet sheet can take care of the rest. Mind if I post that here, or should I create a separate topic?

yea your right nvm then

That's actually what I had in mind. I thought my continuous reminder to look at things in a non-monolithic manner would be enough to motivate people to do the same for the rest. I was just afraid I might sound like a broken record if I repeated it in each section of the sheet. >_>



Thanks for the reminder.

We should probably use Système International and put things in scientific notation for things greater than say a hundred.



I was in the idea that the 'etc.' would be enough to convey the message.



I was thinking of separating the race sheet from the planet sheet because, well... it's for the planet.

Judging from the sudden title change, it looks like you want me to repost that planetary sheet. (It's been improved since, especially the L-Classes.) Am I correct?

Could never be closer to the truth.   :)

BAM! Check out the Galactic Encyclopedia.

I take back my take back.

Lets write a book on WWI. whats that? We should say something about that Hindenburg fellow? Cant imagine why. Single figures aren't important.

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but actualy I was talking about listing the unimportant people. when I said characters I didnt mean historicaly important figures. I meant your characters. any character you have. not just the leader of the free world. you probably arent going to RP as him anyway.

Oh, I get it now. Thanks for clarifying.

I suppose people who were important in recent history and possibly those who were really, really instrumental in the shaping of the species' culture could be included.

Probably a list of RPs involved in as well so people could more easily extract stuff like feats and quotes.

yea having a catagory of planet works, but we also should have a full data sheet like the people one.

It also be a good repsitory for all these PCs we have.

I second that.

Helps smooth things out and eliminates the need for rummaging through old RPs just to read some info that people forgot.