Highly Specialized Races [Space]

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Let us imagine that we have an advanced alien race with the following traits:

Atrribute Modifiers: ST-2 [-20]; DX+2 [40]; IQ+2 [40]; HT+2 [20]

Advantages: Craftiness 4 (Alternate Benefit) [20]; Night Vision 5 [5]; Stalker 4 (Alternate Benefit) [20]

Disadvantages: Curious (12) [-5]; Impulsiveness (12) [-10]; Xenophilia (12) [-10]

What role do you think that such a race would play in an interstellar society?

They sound like hunter-gatherers or foragers. The Xenophilia probably does not make them incapable of low-level violence, or legitimatized violence. They could also be the stereotyped Nepali especially Sherpas (Ghurkhas are supposed to be always friendly off duty but when on duty they are kind of-not). The problem is the reconciling the Xenophilia with traits that sound more useful for bellicose endeavors, and while in fact it may be easier than it sounds it needs some imagination.

Another idea is gotten from Systems of Survival. According to the book the Ik people were displaced, forcibly resettled as farmers and of course they became mafioso because they had not had time to evolve economic and social systems properly. One of the speakers suggested the government would have been better off hiring them as game wardens. You don't have to go with any part of the narrative to use it in making a hat. What if they are known for working with the wilderness police of a given planet?

Ythrians can be kind of high-strung and xenophilia is not exactly one of their traits. But as Poul Anderson presents them, they tend to be decent sorts. An even closer example are Treecats, who are to shy at first to be called xenophiles but later do not seem to have nice discriminations about which human to bond with (though apparently it bonding does seem to have so many strategically profitable results for them that one might suspect it of being calculated like a political marriage).