Wazagans for GURPS

[sir-talen]

Inspired by the lives of a couple friends of mine, who live in very different cultures, but became fast friends through their love of fantasy art and their similar online personas.

The Varn Dominion and related information is copy Peta Hewitt from her online webcomic Terinu

Background

The Wazagans' homeworld was discovered by a Galactic Sapiens Alliance exploration vessel about two hundred years ago. Only twenty light years from Earth itself, at the time it was considered extremely fortunate that they had remained undiscovered until after the Varn Dominion's collapse. Being the first race discovered since the Varn had attempted to absorb humans into the Dominion, they were the immediate focus of several scientific and industrial expeditions.

Explorers found a race that was gregarious, friendly, and remarkably open-minded about being visited by strangers from the stars. The wazagans (they were named by a Muslim member of the first expedition after the Arabic word for “lizard”) had a general Socio-Tech rating of five (early Renaissance in human terms), and were extremely eager to raise it to Galactic standards, concentrating primarily on medical goods and hiring engineering teachers to improve sanitation and living standards in their growing urban areas. All seemed well and good, and the free and open exchange of information and goods was just getting up to speed, when there was a considerable bump in the road.

Sociologists who had expressed worry about contamination of wazagan culture were generally ignored in the rush, but their fears proved justified when the first missionaries arrived. Previously the many cultures on Wazaga tended to share a relatively primitive polytheistic culture centered around the usual cycles of the seasons, fertility and the pursuit of knowledge. Then missionaries from both a range of conservative Christian and Muslim sects began flowing in, attempting to share their point of view with new converts, much as their forefathers had undermined the Creos' beliefs in their Wise Masters. None of them could have possibly expected the alarming enthusiasm with which the wazagans moved to embrace this monotheistic God. Spurred on by the growing worldwide communications network, within a span of less than fifteen years the old polytheistic religions were reduced to 5% of their previous numbers, while the majority of wazagans were nearly evenly divided between Southern Baptist and Revised Wahabbism. Historians, recalling the very painful history between Christians and Muslims on Earth in the 20th and 21st centuries (never mind the Crusades), winced internally and prepared for the utter worst.

To everyone's surprise except for the wazagans, nothing of the sort happened. Wazagan converts managed to take the best of both religions, especially the lessons of toleration and charity, and politely set aside the worst aspects, primarily the bits about conquering the heathens. To a wazagan, you're worshiping the same God whether you're a Muslim or a Christian, and it doesn't make much sense to get hung up on the details. To date it's a relatively common sight to see Wazagan missionaries on worlds across the GSA, working in pairs consisting of a member of each faith, doing their best to bring God's word to whomever wants to hear it.

Appearance and Biology: To a human observer, Wazagans resemble wingless, anthropomorphic dragons, and despite their name they're actually warm-blooded. Their skin color goes in a range of blue tints from light eggshell blue to a deep, almost black, purple. They're hairless except for atop their heads and notably bushy tufts in their ears, which range from white to blue to purple in color. Their eyes are large and wide-set, adapted for life under their planet's relatively dim red sun, with large, mobile ears atop their heads, and are slightly stronger due to the higher (1.2 Gs) gravity of their world. Height and weight follow GURPS standards for baseline humans.

Though evolved from opportunistic carnivores, modern wazagans are fully adapted omnivores. They tend to sleep longer and harder than most races, averaging ten hours of sleep per night and waking up extremely groggy

In terms of reproduction, their closest Earth equivalent is the platypus. Females lay soft shelled eggs, which are fertilized approximately a week later by the males of the community. Once born, a baby wazagan emits pheromones which activate milk production in adult females in the immediate area, and they are nursed communally. A young wazagan will generally have no knowledge of his parentage, but is raised and loved by the community as a whole.

Sociology: This reproductive method has had a profound effect on wazagan social dynamics. In general, Wazagans think of community, as opposed to family when forming social structures. Like human, vulpine and other GSA cultures, it evolved to protect the young and ensure their safety and by extension the future of the community. But while the other GSA cultures tend to be focused on the dynamic of mothers, fathers and their immediate kin, a wazagan is raised by literally dozens of people, each more or less equally important to him or her while they grow up.

This extends into their politics as well. In general pre-contact wazagan nations did not follow the human dynamic of strong individual leaders, but rather oligarchies or parliaments. This extends to the more recently formed wold government. Consequently, decision making tends be a relatively lengthy process, as leaders gather, debate, talk to the communities they represent to get their opinions, and then debate some more. On the other hand, once a decision has been made, it usually has the whole community behind it, which can result in subsequent actions taking place with almost frightening speed.

On an individual basis, a wazagan tends to be friendly and open minded. Xenophobia is generally rare, since anyone encountering an outsider while generally have their whole community supporting them or within shouting distance. Even in the past, wars of ideology (as opposed to capture of resources) tended to be unheard of.

Wazagans Today: Today wazagans are on a fast track to being fully vested members of the GSA. Their industrial base has moved up to Socio-Tech Level Seven (late 20th century) and is expanding rapidly. Despite their formidable physical attributes, few wazagans serve in the GSA military, but as part of their faith, they're enthusiastic participants in emergency response teams and other aid organizations.


Characters

Stats: ST +2 [20]

Advantages: Acute Hearing +2 [4], Acute Vision +2 [4], DR 2 (Tough Skin -40%) [6], Empathy [15], High Manual Dexterity +2 [1], Night Vision/2 [2], Peripheral Vision [15], Sharp Claws [5], Sharp Teeth [1]

Disadvantages: Charitable [-15], Easy to Read [-10], Extra Sleep/2 [-4], Low Tech -2 [-1], Slow Riser [-5]

Total: 38 points.