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Alaron the bionoid

A Bionoid is a creature from the Spelljammer campaign setting.[1][2]

"... conventional military odds favored one bionoid against ten fully armed scro."
- General Grimnosh, Sky Shark Battalion[3]

Overview[]

Bionoids are chitinous, insectile bipedal humanoids with a glowing circular gem in the center of their foreheads. Originally created as 'living weapons' by the Elven Imperial Navy at the height of the first Unhuman Wars, volunteers allowed themselves to be altered into organic fighting machines. After the Wars, they were abandoned and cast out into the cosmos, to make their own way far from the sight of the elves. Years of being ostracised, of living apart from the rest of elven society like plague victims, has instilled in them a deep distrust of all other elven races.[1]

Description[]

In their humanoid form, bionoids look like normal elves, half-elves or humans,[2] though they are typically slender, well-muscled, and fairly tall for their particular race. They move with great economy; useless gestures or movements are very rare.

In their combat form, also called their monster form, they are tall, muscular creatures with iridescent exoskeletons. Hard claw-like blades protrude from both forearms and their head. In addition to a pair of compound eyes, they possess four secondary eyes that can move independently, like those of a chameleon. Pebbly, metallic-looking muscle fibers are visible at their joints.[1]

The process of transforming into their combat form is near instantaneous, and is referred to as the Change.[4] After undergoing the Change, most bionoids traditionally wear loose silver robes for a period of meditation and purification.[5] When mourning the death of a loved one, a bionoid will traditionally wear a red tabard over their clothes.[6]

Personality[]

Though their combat forms strikes fear in those who encounter them, their demeanor belies their looks. As a people they are uniformly calm and even tempered, and are often contemplative. Although bionoids were instilled with an instinctive urge for combat without quarter, they are essentially good beings who constantly strive to control the powers of their implanted nature.[1]

Combat[]

In battle, a bionoids' true nature becomes apparent. They can make two slashing attacks with their forearm blades as well as strike with their spiked fists. Similarly, a bionoid's feet have a heel spur that is utilized in a kick or a stomp attack. Due to their speed and dexterity, bionoids usually use their fists, forearms and feet in combination with a leaping attack that brings them into close combat almost immediately. When fighting large opponents, a bionoid can also attempt to crush them in their arms, dealing damage as long as they maintain their grapple.

Bionoid are specialized in the use of unique halberd-like weapons that are only crafted for their use. A bionoid's halberd is an enormous double-headed polearm, with a bladed and pointed halberd-style head at each end. A bionoids' speed, agility and expertise with these traditional weapons make them greatly feared opponents.

A bionoid's most powerful attack is a spell-like effect similar to a fireball spell. The bionoid folds open the twin dorsal plates on its chest, exposing two highly charged membranes. Opening these chest plates injures the bionoid, while causing damage as a fireball spell in a 30-foot cone. The injury caused to the bionoid means this attack is one of last resort. The warrior must rest for a full day after such a discharge before using it again.

The crystal eye on its forehead is a bionoid's weak point. The eye remains in the center of a bionoid's forehead when in combat form, but is hidden inside the skull in its humanoid form. Removal of the crystal eye results in the bionoid's apparent death and the immediate decomposition of their body. However, the crystal eye actually traps its host's essence to wait for regeneration. If a suitable humanoid touches a crystal eye, the eye may reduce and restructure the new body in favor of that of its stored host, resulting in death (of a sort) for the victim. A crystal eye' removed from a bionoid's forehead is worth around 10,000 gp – but woe betide the buyer!

If a direct crushing blow shatters the eye, both the eye and the bionoid die irrevocably.[1] In all cases, except the forced removal of their crystal eye, a bionoid will revert to their humanoid form upon their death.[7]

Society[]

Most bionoids are solitary folk, living alone or in small family groups.[8] As loners, they may choose to travel throughout wildspace and the flow, working as crew members on spelljamming ships across the Known Spheres, or serving in some country manor or castle. Still others live as hermits on lonely asteroids far from normal spelljamming trade routes. In some cases, elven communities sympathetic to their situation have taken in individual bionoids.

Rarely, larger bionoid communities, known as clans, will form and may comprise hundreds of members. Such a community is almost always led by the individual who founded the clan, either the original bionoid or their full-blooded descendants. Other bionoids are welcome to join the community, but must avoid interacting with (and infecting) residents of the outside world. Although engineered for war, most bionoid communities sustain themselves primarily through farming, and practice battle skills primarily as a spiritual discipline. Most frontier cities and spelljamming outposts welcome such bionoid communities.[1]

However, certain disaffected bionoid communities form what are known as battle clans, drawn together by their hatred for the Imperial Fleet and dedicated to getting revenge on the elves that abandoned them so long ago.[2] Seldom in bionoid history have such clans been formed and the results have been so appalling that both bionoids and elves have shrouded these episodes in secrecy.[6]

Ecology[]

The creation of a new bionoid combat unit is extremely invasive. A mature bionoid may produce a disc-shaped "egg" with a single crystalline "trigger" at its center. This crystalline trigger serves to attract potential hosts since it resembles a magical item. It will also serve as the newly created bionoid's crystal eye. When a potential host, usually an elf, human or similar humanoid, touches the crystalline trigger, their essence marks the egg, which bursts, attaches itself to the host as a symbiont, and alters their physiology, creating a neophyte bionoid.

If an orc or related humanoid touches an egg, it explodes in a mass of corrosive filaments, resulting in their immediate death. If the orc manages to avoid the brunt of the attack, they still take significant damage. Rarely, when a half-orc touches an egg, they will instead bond with it, forming a new bionoid. Evil-aligned creatures may successfully fuse with an egg, but will undergo a radical personality change as a bionoid's essentially good nature will become dominant.[1]

Notable Bionoids[]

  • Alaron, of the Blue Cottage Clan, was a renegade human bionoid who worked for the scro and was assigned to Gamaro Base in Moragspace.[9]
  • Hectate Kir was a half-elven bionoid navigator and companion of Teldin Moore, the Cloakmaster.[10]
  • Wynlar, Enestor, Tekura, Zeddop, and Soonla, all of Clan Kir, were renegade bionoids who worked for the insectare spy-master K'tide and General Grimnosh of the scro Sky Shark battalion.[11]

Signature Spelljammers[]

As members of the Elven Imperial Navy, bionoids were assigned to various elven ships, especially armadas and men-o-war. However, once the Imperial Fleet abandoned them, most bionoid groups would have had to make their own way, and would most likely use whatever vessel were available. That being said, battle clans, like Clan Kir, appear to have a distinct preference for the shrikeship.[12]

Appendix[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Newton Ewell, MC9 Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix II, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Bionoid entry
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Bruce Nesmith, SJS1 Goblins' Return, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Mercenaries Compound section, chapter 3: Gamaro Base Description, pages 38-39
  3. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 181
  4. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 45
  5. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 203
  6. 6.0 6.1 Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 204
  7. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 197 and 290
  8. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), page 280
  9. Bruce Nesmith, SJS1 Goblins' Return, 1991, (TSR Inc.), page 15
  10. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 32-34 (first appearance)
  11. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 43-48 (first appearance)
  12. Elaine Cunningham, The Cloakmaster Cycle, The Radiant Dragon, 1992, (TSR Inc.), pages 44, 178, 193-194, 196, and 286-287
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