KazarimCorps, Part 4 (Species: Calakhon and Kaevolians)
Three of the species common to the KazarimCorps setting are also found on Desara for the Kazarim Campaign Setting: humans (known in KazarimCorps as “kaevolians”), noktor, and zmey. They have slightly different traits and rules, given that Pathfinder and Starfinder don’t perfectly sync, and given the vastly different environments the two settings have as well as the passage of time (the noktor and zmey on Desara left Jeruntam two thousand years ago). The other three “species”—calakhons, kosha, and the Preserved—are unique to the KazarimCorps setting, and two of them aren’t even natural-occurring creatures. The kosha are artificial intelligences designed by the kaevolians to aid them in interstellar exploration, while the Preserved are cursed kaevolians and noktor, turned into quasi-undead by the warped magic of the Glow and the Crescent of the Damned.
Calakhons
The native sapient species of Bru-Asar, the calakhons are humanoid, crustacean-like creatures who in the years before the Awakening were little more than nomadic hunters with the very beginnings of stone-age implements and the knowledge of fire. The Awakening of the God-World caused earthquakes and floods, reforging Bru-Asar’s tectonic plates into new shapes and robbing the world of its natural sun. However, the calakhons adapted to their new environment, and when they first encountered the kaevolian and noktoran refugees, they proved to be a dangerous hazard for even such advanced species. While some fought back against the calakhons, others sought to uplift them, quickly advancing the species through the wonders of technology and culture. Today, while some calakhons remain hostile to outsiders (and they tend towards a certain amount of xenophobia in general), this species is an important part of the Glow’s demographics, with many joining the KazarimCorps or the Soman League Defense Force.
Calakhons stand a bit larger than the average kaevolian, with broad, chitinous shoulder plates and outer carapaces. Males tend to have more robust carapaces than females, although with slightly narrower body shapes. They have ten limbs, with three pairs of these acting as legs. A pair of large, blocky chelae, sometimes known as “shield claws,” attach near the top of the cephalothorax. These chelae are not very dexterous, but are heavily armored. They are primarily used in defense and courtship rituals, although they can hold objects if manual dexterity isn’t a concern. The last two limbs are the maxillipeds. These thin limbs end in a three-fingered hand capable of fine manipulation, though typically with a little less ability than other humanoids. Most calakhons have carapaces with a blue or red complexion, although some go into a deep blue-black or a bright yellow. This species does not possess necks, but instead have heads deeply set into their carapaces, with short mandibles, a pair of antennae, and a pair of eyestalks peeking out from between their protective armor.
Female calakhons deposit vast numbers of fertilized eggs into breeding pools up to once a year. In their larval form, they are microscopic, and prefer to hide among water plants and other flotsam in the pools. After three years, they enter their adolescent period, losing their ability to breathe water and gaining the general form of an adult of the species, except that they are about the size of a small rodent. During their adolescent stage, calakhons moult nearly once every six weeks over four years before they become young adults, gaining what will be considered their definitive size (although they never really stop growing). As adults, their rate of moulting decreases to once every seven or eight years. During the time after their moulting, the calakhon loses their natural armor bonus and takes double damage from all sources; this period lasts for one week per Constitution modifier before the calakhon’s carapace hardens again.
Most calakhons have a startled, suspicious nature, as if expecting some new wondrous marvel or mind-numbing horror to occur at any moment. They often come across as distrustful of outsiders, but their paranoia stems less from disliking other species, and more from the exceedingly swift change of calakhon society over the last several centuries. They have gone from the early stone age to space flight in that time, which has left a lasting mark on their outlook. The species can be very clannish, but once a person gains their trust, they are eager to prove helpful. As a whole, calakhons seek a stability that they know they will never truly find. Some calakhon clans do remain hostile to outsiders, and these groups live in the wilds of Bru-Asar, trying to avoid the trappings of technology. However, even these xenophobic clans can’t resist using some modern weapons, especially melee weapons.
Most calakhons follow Veenan, the river god of their homeworld, Bru-Asar. The most common classes for this species are soldier and mystic, although more and more calakhons find themselves drawn to the mechanic and technomancer classes as the species becomes better integrated into the institutions of the Soman League or the KazarimCorps.
Ability Adjustments
+2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Dexterity. Calakhons are sturdy and strong, with a strong connection to their ancestral hunting-based culture, but they lack some of the manual dexterity and agility of other species.
Hit Points
6
Size and Type
Calakhons are Medium aberrations with the calakhon subtype.
Speed
Calakhons are slow for their size, with a Base Speed of 20 feet. However, they have a Climb Speed of 30 feet as well. Although aquatic when they are in their earliest stages of development, they lose this trait and their natural Swim speed when they become young adults.
Senses
Normal vision. Scent (sense through [60 feet]).
Armored Carapace
Due to their carapace and their shield claws, calakhons make fearsome combatants. They gain a racial bonus equal to their Constitution modifier to both EAC and KAC. In addition, when using their shield claws as part of fighting defensively or total defense, they gain a further +2 racial bonus to KAC. Alternately, these shield claws can be used as part of a combat maneuver, granting a +2 bonus to the attack roll.
While the carapace is powerful, it does prevent them from wearing armor. (Ex)
Minor Regeneration
Although they are not capable of spontaneous regeneration, calakhons do heal quickly, restoring twice as many hit points and points of ability damage per night of rest. In addition, lost limbs grow back at the calakhon’s next moulting, although this increases the moulting period by 2d4 weeks. Finally, as long as the calakhon has at least 1 Resolve Point, they regain a stamina point every minute.
Uplifted
Calakhons have strange associations with technology, and often end up discovering new techniques of using old tech simply because they have no preconceived notions of how things are supposed to work. Once per day, they can reroll a failed Computers, Engineering, Life Science, or Physical Science skill check, but they must take the second result. (Ex)
Starting Languages
Calakhon, Kaevolian
Kaevolians
One of the most powerful and numerous of the Glow’s species, the kaevolians are the descendants of an ancient space-faring race that got stuck within the borders of the Brilliance during the Awakening of the God-World. Most of the kaevolians’ history was lost centuries ago, but this much is believed: for a thousand years, their people traveled through the stars, colonizing countless worlds and exploring the Dark. They arrived in the Jeruntam system sometime before the Awakening, and helped the noktor and zmey fight a war against the Stone Spider. The Awakening of the God-World defeated this coalition, destroying most of the kaevolian fleet and making refugees of the noktor and zmey. The few remaining ships in the fleet ferried these survivors of the war to Soman and Bru-Asar. Much of the technological achievement that exists in the Glow is based on kaevolian science.
Kaevolians have skin, eye, and hair colors that run the gamut from very dark to very light, including a few options that have resulted from tinkering with their own genetic code, such as blue and green skin tones.
Most kaevolians follow the Bodda Am, an ancient religion brought with them from their home world. Within the Feet, and on the wheelworlds and other space stations, kaevolian culture often finds itself organized into a loose consanguinity, a sort of warrior or scientific society. In other places, such as on Bru-Asar or Soman, they have various farming communes, republics, and petty kingdoms. In general, the kaevolian people as a whole believe in equality and the benefit of the group’s survival over individual desires, but there is quite a lot of variation over the species. Most kaevolians become mechanics, operatives, soldiers, or technomancers.
Ability Adjustments
+2 to any single ability score.
Hit Points
4
Size and Type
Kaevolians are Medium humanoids with the human subtype.
Speed
Kaevolians have a Base Speed of 30 feet.
Senses
Normal.
Bonus Feat
Kaevolians select one extra feat at 1st level.
Skilled
Kaevolians gain an additional skill rank at 1st level and each level thereafter.
Starting Languages
Kaevolian.