Elensalites

Insalius

Member
SWRP Supporter
SWRP Writer
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
1,110
Reaction score
685
Elensalites
Credit for the art goes to 鮫肌 蛟 of Pixiv
STPYzTd.jpg
Thread Prefix: Fanon

•Name: Elensalites

•Biology: Elensalites are humanoid robotic constructs that stand between 6 and 7 feet, in the image of their creators. No internal components are shown as they are completely covered by armor that serves as their ‘skin’, and have a smooth plate in place of where their mouth would be. Instead of being mere droids, though, their intelligence was programmed to grow and discover just like any other organic race can do and can feel sensations through their armor through special sensors built under the metal. Their creators had built them to be able to experience the world as closely as they could to their organic bodies. While their bodies share a similar aesthetic appearance at creation, their minds can choose a gender if they want or they can choose to not be beholden to such descriptors. Despite how durable their metallic bodies are, Elensalites can ‘die’ if they feel they have taken damage bad enough for the mind to think they couldn’t survive and would feel pain from lesser wounds, even if the physical damage to their bodies could be easily repaired. While they do not need to breathe or eat to sustain themselves if one is placed underwater they will feel as if drowning, while bringing food or drink to their faceplates will simulate tastes based on a combination of previous data and built-in sensors examining the fare on a near molecular level. In recent decades, they have developed the ability not only to fully feel emotions but to empathize with other races easily thanks to their programming and sensors in their bodies. Programmed to live alongside their creator race did, the natural lifespan of an Elensalite is 130 years at the most. When one ‘dies’, provided the body wasn’t destroyed, a new mind can be placed inside that will act as a new life with a whole new perspective on the world. The experiences of the previous life is stored in a specialized black box deep in their bodies, only being released into the computer systems on their homeworld when they return to add their knowledge to the overall system and further their understanding of the world around them. The organic creators of the Elensalites programmed them to mimic their own lifespan of around 100 years, give or take a few years as can happen, so their bodies will go inert around that time and become able to have a new mind programmed into the husk. Their power source is an electromagnetic generator that is contained inside the black box deep inside the robotic body, very efficient for the power draw the body requires yet still needs to be recharged around the same amount of time that the creator race required sleep to further create similarities between the two.

•Breeding: If two Elensalites wished to create a union of themselves in the form of a new creation, or if an Elensalite and a member of another race wished to, they would travel to the Elensalite homeworld to combine pieces of their minds and memories to program into a newly created body. They could then raise this newborn as they saw fit, as if they had birthed it themselves. If a body ‘dies’, a new mind can be put into the old body that would be unique and potentially have no aspects of the previous mind in the body. While no sexual acts are needed for their reproduction, Elensalites that are more adventurous can modify their bodies to allow relations with other races though without the ability to actually create life in these ways.

•Strengths: Their metallic bodies give them increased durability alongside greater strength and speed than an organic race usually can attain. They also can quickly acclimate to most computers and mechanical systems, from being able to aim a blaster more precisely with each shot to quickly getting used to piloting ships they are new to.

•Weaknesses: Despite their metallic bodies if their minds believe they have taken a fatal blow they will ‘die’, even if the damage doesn’t have a permanent effect on their body. While their core, the black box that their mind is contained in, is protected from EMP effects the rest of their bodies are not. A strong ion charge or EMP field would make them immobile for a short time, making them feel as if their whole body were on pins and needles as they regained use of themselves. If a limb is lost it can be replaced with a new one, though if this is done while away from their homeworld they would not be able to feel sensations in this new limb and would feel as an organic would to have a limb replaced with a prosthetic.

•Diet: Due to being inorganic Elensalites do not need to eat or drink to keep running. What they need, though, is a dedicated rest time of a few hours every few days for internal parts of their bodies to recharge. Being unable to do so will make them become sluggish over time until they went into a form of stasis. Being connected to an energy source of some kind would recharge them quickly, making them seem to wake as if from a deep sleep, or they could be connected to one to prevent needing to rest for a longer time.

•Behavior/Temperament: The main desire for all Elensalites is to find their own unique place in the galaxy. Due to this, most are filled with a wanderlust to explore while being inquisitive and open to new people and experiences. Even if they feel that it is not their destined purpose, an Elensalite can empathize with a person or cause and fight for it if he believes it is the right thing to do. The more they travel the more affected they are by the greater galaxy, sometimes turning this seemingly innocent goal of searching into more pragmatic views on life to create criminals or hedonists if they so happen to choose those ways of life. Overall, Elensalites can have any kind of behavior depending on their experiences with others.

•Communication: Elensalites speak verbally, thanks to a speaker beneath their faceplate that gives a voice that is unique to each mind yet always has a metallic tinge to the sound. While there is just a series of lights where the eyes would be on a humanoid, they can be just as expressive with them to convey emotion or other meanings in the same way a humanoid can, such as seemingly raising an eyebrow to be inquisitive. They can learn other languages quick but are not capable of mastering the same amount of languages that a protocol droid can due to differences in programming. When speaking with each other, though, they can empathically send a feeling and meaning between themselves. This takes great trust among the race, and due to their sense of innocence that most have, this kind of communication has yet to be taken advantage of. While rare, other members of races that are more empathic than most have been able to communicate in this way with Elensalites, feeling almost as if it were telepathic communication but with feelings instead of words.

•Culture: Elensalites place a lot of value on learning and discovery, making many of the cities on their homeworld open to other races to visit and live to mesh as many other cultures together as they can. They also celebrate life of all kinds and respects when one passes away. In some cases, a ceremony is done to inter the mind of one who has ‘died’ into the great database while they celebrate the creation of a new mind, either in a new body or in an inert body that has returned home. They try to find any reason they can to celebrate, however, as nearly all Elensalites love life and enjoying every second of being alive.

Elensalites at their most basic level are all equal, though that does not mean they have equal skills or personality quirks. When a crisis or problem arises, either on a large scale or small, the Elensalite with the best qualities to handle the issue is elected the temporary leader until the issue is resolved. Their complete trust in themselves has not caused any problems with one refusing to give up their power, though as they interact with the galaxy at large such feelings may start to take hold. These worldly Elensalites then behave more like whatever culture they interact with the most, becoming a kind of outsider to the usual Elensalite leadership selection process if they return to their home planet during a crisis.

On their home planet or when traveling in groups, Elensalites work together for the greater good of their race and of those around them that they care about, willing to give just about everyone a chance. The concept of castes and societal divisions is foreign to them, allowing for any member of their race to move from job to position in search of their place and as their skill dictates. If an Elensalite is ill-suited for a role they are usually asked to find another, with others of their race helping them to find their niche in society. The more an Elensalite becomes like a race or culture that they spend a lot of time with, though, the more they take on their views and ways which makes interacting with their native society more awkward.

•History: The original Elensalites were organic and humanoid, great scholars and scientists that sequestered themselves on their homeworld to study the secrets of the world around them. Not interested in space exploration and viewing the Force as at best a curiosity, they focused on robotics and artificial intelligence to answer one of their biggest questions: can a synthetic being attain the same mind and feelings as organic beings could? Was ‘humanity’ something that could be created and programmed into a robotic frame? With these and many more questions as the basis of creation, they designed and built the first of their robotic charges who shared the name of their race to live alongside. For centuries, they observed each other and learned from each other, the simplistic intelligence created evolving over time to become closer and closer to how the organic Elensalites saw the world.

This grand experiment came to a tragic end, though, when a virulent plague was brought to the world by a small meteorite that managed to land on the planet. While a cure was eventually found it was too late to save the organic Elensalites from being wiped out. Now left to just other robotics as their race, the Elensalites interred their fallen fellows with great honor and tried to continue their research and experiments. Soon a depression came over the race, though, as they now didn’t know what their future would entail. What purpose would they have, and who benefits from the answers they would find about existence and the world?

This search for purpose, instead of driving the Elensalites to despair, instead became the fuel for a new kind of desire about the world. Finally researching spacecraft and hyperspace travel about 75 years ago, they turned to becoming explorers and adventurers, finding out as much of the galaxy as they could while trying to find their place among the stars. Every Elensalite had their own destiny that they would find, some even finding it by staying on their home planet to care for and repair others of their race. It wasn’t long before they ran into another organic race, as well as they learned of such things as war and combat.

At first humans and other races tried to control the Elensalites that they found, using them in their war to try to gain an edge. Resistant to outside control, some Elensalites were either scarred or intrigued by what was happening and chose to either flee to safety or fight for what they thought was right. In the final years of the great war until peace was found the Elensalites learned a great many things about themselves and about the other races. As peace finally settled on the galaxy they began to invite any others who wanted to learn more about them to their world to settle and mingle, all in the pursuit of experiencing new cultures and learning as much as they could. They were not pushovers, though, and would defend themselves with the combat skills learned in the war if others tried to steal their technology or destroy their way of life. They traded knowledge for knowledge, using their resources and connections to improve their spacecraft and become a potent force in their region of the galaxy, if perhaps just a small one.


•Planet: The planet Myrhen lies on the Outer Rim, fairly secluded from most major hyperspace lanes. It is a verdant planet with four large continents and an archipelago of smaller islands amidst them. The very picture of a garden world, it is an easy thing for most organic races to live on its surface without need of too much alterations to survive. While evidence of smaller towns and villages is found for the old organic Elensalites living outside the large metropolises currently inhabited by the robotic successors, they are mostly abandoned due to not being needed anymore. These ruins are open for settlement from other organic races willing to live on the planet, with the Elensalites always willing to help make a new community comfortable among them. The plague that killed the organic Elensalites can still be found in places, though as the data for the cure was preserved it is simple to heal it before it becomes deadly.

•Technology: Due to the nature of their construction, the Elensalites are above average in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. While only having discovered hyperspace travel within the last century, their involvement in the Great War forced them to adapt and bring their space travel technology and combat technology to at least the standard needed to protect themselves. While other races may be developing further breakthroughs in such technology, as the focus of the Elensalites lies with cultural and philosophical studies their own pace of such research is behind most of the rest of the galaxy.

•Intent: I wanted to create a race that was open to RP in a variety of ways, from either having a combat-focused mercenary sure of his place in the world to explorers and diplomats and such. I wanted to also create a plotline for them that investigates what it truly means to be alive and human, and whether being organic is a prerequisite for either of those. While at the moment I don’t believe they can use the Force, it would be interesting if they were able to develop the ability to gain control over it as other races can to lend validity to their claim to sentiency and humanity.​
 
Last edited:

Malon

Veteran Member
SWRP Supporter
SWRP Writer
Joined
Sep 11, 2010
Messages
5,427
Reaction score
3,186
@Insalius
I really enjoy this race! Before I approve, I must ask for a bit of clarification on two matters:
  1. Can you elaborate a bit more about how this species dies? I'm not quite sure I understand the process.
  2. I might have missed this — if I have, I apologize — but, as mechanical beings, what is their power source? How is it that they "recharge" during rest?
 

Insalius

Member
SWRP Supporter
SWRP Writer
Joined
Jul 17, 2017
Messages
1,110
Reaction score
685
I just put two sentences at the end of the Biology section that should answer your questions. I hope they are satisfactory. :3
 

Malon

Veteran Member
SWRP Supporter
SWRP Writer
Joined
Sep 11, 2010
Messages
5,427
Reaction score
3,186
Interesting. I look forward to seeing how this species takes shape on the site. Approved.
 
Top