Skala
Stilio probehemoti
Introduction
Skala are lizards that are used to living in tunnels, like ants or rabbits. In spite of their cold blood, they’re usually very friendly.
Playing as a skala will suit players who want to don horns, scales and tails – and who want to learn how to be individuals, now that they’re away from the hives and in-group mentality that defined life on their homeworld.
In-Game Description
Skala are a species of bipedal reptilians. They are covered in rugose insulating scales, which flare into blunt horns or crests on their heads and on their joints. Skala are ectotherms: while their thick skins can retain heat for long periods of sustained activity, spacefaring skala rely on heating elements built into their immersion suits for external thermoregulation.
The most common model for Skala settlements is a warren made up of specialised chambers, inhabited by a group of skala and their livestock. Larger settlements are made up of interconnected warrens, forming hive structures or “superwarrens” that exchange culture and resources as in any metropolitan assembly.
Prior to first contact, skala technology had sufficiently advanced to the point of asteroid mining via drone. Several of these remote craft had been captured by SHADOW corsairs, who were themselves intercepted by Alliance forces en-route to the skala homeworld; this encounter brought them into contact with the Alliance and the wider universe.
Conditions that would be stuffy and claustrophobic for other species are just right for many skala, evolutionarily wired as they are to seek heat and closeness. A species used to huddling for warmth now faces an entire wild and open wilderness – but it does not do so alone.
Roleplay Notes
Joining the Alliance sparked a cultural revolution for the skala, more so than is typical for a spacefaring species. While several generations have passed since first contact, evolutionary preferences are not quickly changed. Does your skala still instinctively flinch at the sight of the sky, or do they find joy in open spaces? Consider the close quarters of the Ardent: your division as a warren, your teammates as fellow members of a hive. How would you adjust to these new proximities?
Costume Brief
Requirements
Skala are scaly, which may be represented with a mask or with makeup – as long as your face is at least half covered, you’re good to go.
Avoid
Do not use solid brown or black scales or base colours; these colours can only be used as part of patterns. Avoid making any horns or claws too big, these are intended to be similar to lizards like the bearded dragon and horny devil, and not like a dragon.
Additions
• Horns or crests on the head or limbs, which can be glued on as prosthetics, integrated into kit, or worn as a headband or on hair clips.
• Short claws on your hands, akin to pointed nails.
• Scaled frills.
• Eye colour to match other features, as well as cat-like slit eyes.
• Any additional features are generally a similar colour to the scales, in different hues.
Variant: Tailed Skala
Some skala have tails, which must be recognisably scaly and reptilian – a fat gecko tail is fine, as is the long tapering tail of an iguana. Be mindful of others (and your own turning radius) if you do decide to wear a tail! There is no gameplay difference between tailed and tailless skala, and tails are treated as traumatic to lose but regrowable over time.