Space-faring Magicians?

jaazaniah1

Are there any magic using, space-faring races in Champs PNP? Not the "technology that is sufficiently advanced will seem like magic" stuff, but real magic. E.g. FTL travel engines powered by bound demons. Spells instead of phasers. Etc?

bulgarex

The only official race that's definitively described that way are the Elder Worm, the Slug's people. The Elder Worm utilize both technology and sorcery, but blend the two in ways incomprehensible to most other species. For example, Worm starships have engines which open mystic "gates" directly to their destination, and are crewed by "sorcerer-engineers." Their ships fire "arcanobeam" weapons which are difficult for purely technological defenses to resist. (Champions Beyond pp. 209-10.) This combination of magic and science is very powerful, as attested to by the Elder Worm having been able to stymie the Malvans during their war over hundreds of millennia.

The Elder Worm originated on another planet in the Milky Way, and at their peak controlled an empire spanning nearly half the galaxy. Although "Wormworld" was shattered by the Malvans and their race was hunted to near-extinction, a few enclaves of their kind survive, hidden on scattered planets. Those enclaves have hoarded remnants of their magical tech, including a few of their starships. The Slug is actually the hereditary ruler of the entire Elder Worm race, to whom they all hold inbred loyalty. He's unaware that others of his kind survive elsewhere in the galaxy, but since his rebirth they've begun to sense his return. Should the extraterrestrial Worm locate him they would flock to his banner, vastly enhancing the power at his command, and becoming a terrible threat not just to Earth but the whole Milky Way.

bulgarex

Here is an image of Elder Worm ships, taken from Champions Beyond :




Like most Worm tech it doesn't look like any other species' technology, being non-Euclidean and grotesque to the eyes of most other sapients. Large Elder Worm structures like starships may not even exist wholly in this universe.

bulgarex

During the Malvan War the Elder Worm not only had numerous other races subject to them, but created monsters to fight for them. Prominent among these were the Thane, sapients with formidable psychic powers. Some Thane also survived the war in hiding, and may have the same sort of techno-sorcerous resources as the Elder Worm. (They're noted as having some true sorcerers in their ranks, although those are rare.) In the early Twenty-First Century they've started making moves to build an interstellar empire of their own. However, they're also loyal to the Worm's ruler on the genetic level, and would serve him if called.

The Thane get a short background description on CB p. 218, and a PnP character sheet and illustration on p. 224.

jaazaniah1

Hmm. Thanks for the info. I was sort of hoping there were some "good" guys out there. I'm working on a concept of a swordsman from a fantasy/magical space alien race that could be tied into existing lore, but it seems that there is nothing fitting. Well, the universe is big, so, I will create my own lore

bulgarex

Oh, if that's what you're looking for, that's a different story. There are certainly possibilities if you'd be willing to consider races from other dimensions than that of Champions Earth. The one that most closely fits "magical space alien race" are the Munahr, maroon-skinned humanoids with a more massive, "blocky" look than humans, with greater average strength. The Munahr come from a dimension known as "Altethrya," conquered centuries ago by Istvatha V'han. Altethyra's physical laws are based on about half-magic, half-science. Among most sapient species native to the dimension, knowledge of science and spellcraft grew hand-in-hand so there's no real distinction between them in most people's minds.

Prior to V'han's invasion the Munahr controlled a large space empire. Despite fierce resistance they were ultimately overwhelmed by the Empress's vast forces. Over time most of the Munahr have become loyal Imperial subjects.

Altethrya is briefly described in Book Of The Empress pp. 173-74. Admittedly, the book mentions that "Altethryan technology simply doesn't work in less magic-rich dimensions." But it also notes that V'hanian researchers have made a few discoveries of use elsewhere in the Empire, so there could be exceptions, perhaps developed by a gifted scientist/mystic who studied those disciplines on other worlds.

There are further possibilities among the dimensions if the race of your character doesn't have to be space-faring. If you'd care to describe more of the background you'd like for him/her, I may be able to suggest suitable candidates.

jaazaniah1

Thanks again. I am really looking for an essentially humanoid race of magical aliens that have space travel ability.

bulgarex

In that case, the Munahr described above are the only official species I can find that's known to fit your requirements.

Note that there are established means, both technological and magical, for someone from one of Istvatha's conquered dimensions to pass to another dimension, even bringing a whole space ship with them. Access to dimensional transit is restricted in V'han's empire, but heroes don't let things like that stop them. A rebel against her rule may want or need to leave her empire; and a world that's repeatedly thwarted her attempts at conquest would probably sound like a good destination.

bulgarex

jaazaniah1 said:

Hmm. Thanks for the info. I was sort of hoping there were some "good" guys out there. I'm working on a concept of a swordsman from a fantasy/magical space alien race that could be tied into existing lore, but it seems that there is nothing fitting. Well, the universe is big, so, I will create my own lore

Absolutely fair. The Milky Way alone in this era of Champions history is heavily balkanized. Even the Andromeda galaxy is known to be inhabited. So there's plenty of space to fit any civilization you need. As long as you don't define it as the oldest, most powerful, or ruling a huge swath of our galaxy, you'll be fine.

jaazaniah1

Think the Blood Guard from the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and you'll have what I am going for. Elite force of bodyguards, but in this case mercenaries.

bulgarex said:

jaazaniah1 said:

Hmm. Thanks for the info. I was sort of hoping there were some "good" guys out there. I'm working on a concept of a swordsman from a fantasy/magical space alien race that could be tied into existing lore, but it seems that there is nothing fitting. Well, the universe is big, so, I will create my own lore

Absolutely fair. The Milky Way alone in this era of Champions history is heavily balkanized. Even the Andromeda galaxy is known to be inhabited. So there's plenty of space to fit any civilization you need. As long as you don't define it as the oldest, most powerful, or ruling a huge swath of our galaxy, you'll be fine.

bulgarex

Oooh... that is interesting. Not at all the direction I thought you were going in.

How does your character fit in with the rest of his kind? And is his race's star-faring magic a feature of the character?

bulgarex

Your mention of the Bloodguard gave me an interesting thought. IIRC they were bound in service by an ancient oath, and because of that oath were eternally unaging unless killed. Perhaps your character's race was formerly slaves of the Elder Worm, and they were placed under some curse by them, like being forced to wander space. Maybe they turned against the Worm during the Malvan War. They could have salvaged some of the Elder Worm starships after the war. (Worm magic technology is mentally and spiritually disturbing for other races to use, so that alone might have been enough to curse them.)

Only one race subject to the Elder Worm is named in Champions Beyond, the Nl'ta'k. Aside from their name there's just one other detail given for them, but it's a doozy: during the Malvan War the Worm sacrificed all 7.2 billion of the Nl'ta'k race, in a ritual to incarnate one of their Qliphothic gods bodily into this galaxy to fight the Malvans. The book doesn't specify why the Worm chose this race. Nor whether any of them managed to escape...

jaazaniah1

Well, still working through details, but imagine a space-faring organization, like the Federation, but instead of technology everything is based on magic like out of a western-European fantasy world. E.g. instead of a view screen on the bridge there is a large central crystal ball, a bound demon serves as the warp core, magical wards for force shields, etc. A typical ship would be named something like the heavy cruiser Grimoire. All the officers are magic-users of some sort, depending on their rank. They all wear traditional wizard robes and the like, use spells, have wands and staves, use potions etc. D&D style stuff. Basically I've been trying to imagine what a LOTR world would be like once it developed the interest to explore space and used magic instead of tech to do it. Within this Federation there are all kinds of planets. Some have developed magic, some not.

And, like in the Federation, captains are idiots and lead away missions. Unlike in the Federation each captain has a personal bodyguard, like the Blood Guard. These are from a specific alien race who believe service to one who is worthy of it is their highest calling. Once one of these aliens reaches a certain age of maturity he/she bonds with someone whom they believe is worthy of his/her service. He/she develops a telepathic connection, is utterly loyal to the other individual and serves that person until one or the other dies. The bodyguards are not really stronger/fitter than an Olympic level athlete but are incredibly disciplined and skilled at dealing and deflecting damage. They are not magical themselves, rather fierce hand-to-hand warriors, but their bond-mates will imbue/infuse them with a certain amount of battle-magic to help them in their bodyguard duties, so while all the bodyguards look much the same and wear mostly the same gear they are all slightly different from each other depending on their weapon training and what magic has been gifted to them. One can't become a ship's captain until one has proved worthy enough for one of these bodyguards to pledge themselves.

My character is one of these bodyguards. His ship and everyone on it, including the captain, were destroyed in a battle with some doomsday device and he ended up crash landing on earth. Standard fare. In CO terms these are MA framework Tanks. Now I just have to think of a name for this race of bodyguards . Maybe the Blood Watch? The character's name is Margrave, and I have been thinking that might just be the title that all members of his race take when they enter the bonded state.

bulgarex

Well, you certainly seem to have the details of what you want worked out. As you feared, this concept won't fit comfortably in the official CU, especially having a "Federation" of substantial size based on magic. However, you can easily define your character's place of origin as another universe than the one containing Champions Earth. The CU has a practical infinitude of those, with only a relatively small number defined and established. Some have different physical laws than Earth's universe, higher magic among them. In fact there are many alternate versions of Earth, including more magical ones, and ones in which archaic civilizations persisted and evolved into the modern day.

Your character could have been attacked over one of those alternate Earths. The doomsday device may not have displaced him in space, but did hurl him into another universe, so that he crashed on Champions Earth.

jaazaniah1

Hmm, maybe then a parallel earth where humans used magic to get in to space. Maybe instead of a doomsday device that blows up everything but him, some sort of dark sorcerer displaces him to CO's magically inferior earth. Instead of his bond-mate being dead, he is alive, and because of the bond broken by the dimensional barrier he feels a constant psychic wound/pain. Gotta have some degree of heroic angst.

bulgarex

That would absolutely fit the setting, and let you define your character's world of origin however you choose. FWIW there are official Champions characters from alternate Earths on Champions Earth right now. For example, the mutant master villain Kinematik (Champions Villains Vol. 1) fled from an Earth where superhuman mutants are persecuted and hunted by government. The Cahokian, a member of Merc-Force 1 (CV. Vol. 2) comes from an Earth on which a unified United States of America never formed, and Native Americans are a far larger and more prominent population. He was cast onto Champions Earth by a spell from a rival "supermage." Then there's Abrebaras, on whose Earth the Roman Empire never fell, and magic is so common it takes the place of technology beyond a Classical level. Abrebaras is a member of the Crusaders of the Infinite Realities, a band of rebels against Istvatha V'han (Book Of The Empress).

There are other Earths even more bizarre.

jaazaniah1

Cool. Thanks for all the feedback!

ealford1985

He could also be a frog too!

Just saying...it’s possible, in the many alternate earths one can’t be too opptoads to change

bulgarex

During World War II on Champions Earth, one of the heroes fighting Axis evil was Rex Sterling, aka "the Hound of Tomorrow," from an other-dimensional world called Argos where dogs are the dominant intelligent species, and who have mastered magic. Rex's write-up is in Golden Age Champions.

jaazaniah1

I quote: "Not a pupper!"

ealford1985

Golden Age Retriever pun missed

bulgarex

Actually, Rex Sterling looked like a chocolate-brown Labrador Retriever, so not far off. I think he'd have been amused to be called a Golden Age Retriever.

Rex continued the good fight into the 1960s, but during the cross-temporal "Secret Crisis of Infinite Wars" he disappeared and hasn't been seen on Champs Earth since. His final fate remains unrevealed.

bulgarex

jaazaniah1 said:

I quote: "Not a pupper!"

Well, Rex was very smart (for a human), clever and resourceful, often insightful, with a quick humorous wit. OTOH he was fond of playing ball and tug-of-war, and a sucker for belly-rubs and ear-scratches.