Vari

Introduction

Vari are insect-like people that evolved in an incredibly hostile landscape, with huge antenna to detect even bigger threats.

Playing as a vari will suit players who want to play as sensitive survivalists, who feel things very keenly. It will also suit anyone who wants to be a bug, but that goes without saying.

In-Game Description

The Vari are a species of flightless insectoids. Their large and sensitive antennae are their most prominent sensory organs, and their bodies are covered with angular symmetrical patterns formed from ridges of fused chitin. Adult vari are among the smallest mature lifeforms of their oxygen-rich home planet, where the most common non-sentient carnivores can grow to be as large as a standard-issue Alliance shuttle.

Popular science among vari holds that the pressure put on them to outwit a multitude of flighted predators was a major factor in their sentience. Pre-contact vari social structures demonstrate a complex collective responsibility, termed “redundantism”: all adult vari are trained to take on as many responsibilities as possible, so that any gap in the workforce can be taken up by any individual.

Species that are contacted by the Alliance typically undergo a trial period in which they are gradually introduced to new technologies and other lifeforms. For the vari, the process was fast-tracked: it was deemed that the conditions of their homeworld were such that it would be unethical to restrain them there for longer than necessary.

The vari have returned the favour by throwing themselves into Alliance endeavours, embracing the culture and technology of others with curiosity and fervour. Things that were once unthinkable, miraculous, are now commonplace: vari look ahead to a sun-bright future.

Roleplay Notes

Many vari struggle to adjust to the relative comfort and plenty of the Alliance – even FABREP food is a revelation when you don’t have to fight a bus-sized wasp for it. Does your vari prepare for the worst, or hope for the best? Do they try to do everything, or focus on one area of expertise now that they don’t have to be a jack of all trades?

Variant: Vestigii Vari

A few vari, the Vestigii, have vestigial insectoid features such as abdomen-style tail sections, carapace shell parts, wings, or non-functional limbs partially fused to their torso/thorax. If removed, these vestigial parts do not regrow, and stumps will become hardened chitin.

Costume Brief