Opifex

The Opifex are an enigmatic, nomadic species; plying space-lanes in their skipjacks and shuttles, most looking to trade, others to plunder. The Opifex are stereotyped by their heavy reliance on robots, their apathy towards most sentient life beyond their own, their ungainly avian forms, and their intolerance to oxygen. Opifex society is one of authoritarian structured hierarchy where all commands flow from the top to the bottom.

Quick-start Guide

• Opifex are naturals with machines and quick learners, they gain +5 to Cognition and Mechanical. An extra +5 can be gained if their homeworld is chosen in character setup.
• Opifex breath nitrogen and naturally find oxygen highly toxic to breathe, as such all opifexi wear a unique gas mask (Accessed through the load out option, be sure to select this, else you'll slowly die of poisoning)
• Opifex are naturally resistant to electrical shocks and require half as much food as other colonists to survive.
• Perk: Opifex gain the following perks smuggled circuit, smuggled path kit, and a toolbelt specific to their caste type. Smuggled circuit allows you to build an opifex scrap turret, a single shot .35 auto turret used to kill hostile fauna. Smuggled patch kit spawns an IFAIK medicine kit to quickly perform first aid. Your toolbelt is a special webbing belt that holds many items and comes loaded with a wide variety of useful tools and items specific to the caste you are, they come in medical, engineering, and combat varieties.

Biology

The Opifex have a simple avian biped structure, often with a long plumage tail, semi-rigid quills, and a beak. Their skeletons are composed of a lighter, more porous bone than humans, and they possess a two-channel redundant nervous system, which works well with the non-conductive qualities of their skin. On observation, one would note the rough almost scale like quality of skin covering their forms, which are actually a complex series of interlocking, organic plates, which can “lock” together to form a rigid seal. Opifex arms and legs end in lighter-colored plumage, while their claws and feet come equipped with sharp talons. Their bones are flexible enough to allow for a larger range of movement. For their size, they have an impressively dense musculature, allowing them to remain active for longer than humans. Though, after great exertions they tend to buildup lactic acid which cause muscle aches should they work themselves to hard. Much of their internal organs reside in their lower body; their head, neck, and upper body are dominated by a robust digestive tract, capable of breaking down most organic matter, in this way opifex are capable of extracting the maximum amount of nutrition possible from anything they eat, making the need for regular meals far less pressing of a concern.

Though the use of there wings has long since atrophied many Opifex have feathers and wings along the back and arms that once served the purpose of aiding in flight but evolution has made these limbs vestigial at best. Now they are simply there for attracting mates and sometimes aiding in the movement of zero gravity, though it isn’t nearly as useful as Opifex wished. While wings and plumage are common, it isn’t ‘uncommon’ to meet an Opifex lacking back wings or tail plumage with only feathers along the head, neck, or back. Colors range from bright and vibrant to dull tones but usually have two or three variations in texture with the arms, tail, and main feathers have distinct colors in either hue or being different colors entirely. An Opifexi beak is usually darker in tone than their feather coloration and often matches their main plumage if not outright black in color.

But perhaps the most alien part of their physiology is their brains; Opifex are commonly implanted with a nano-gate, a device used commonly to interface with Opifex technology. These nano gates contain the access codes and functionality needed to pilot ships, command Opifex robots, or use most devices made for them. In this way, the Opifex are able to safeguard there technological designs to prevent others from easily stealing their schematics. Many opifex, even those separate from their fleet, will make open use of their nanogates to remain alive, employing robots and various reprogrammed nanites and those without nanogates are often exiles who are shunned and actively mistreated by opifex still in good standing with most fleets. Another noteworthy biological adaptation is their reliance on nitrogen; they were seemingly born from a nitrogen-dominated environment, and so, it is the stuff they breath. Obviously, this renders most places inhospitable without the assistance of a breath mask, a red lensed gas mask which easily marks one as an opifex as few can safely wear it.

The most commonly met Opifex is known as a Populi who make up the bulk of opifex society. The average populi is only 4-5 feet tall and often use equipment and clothing ranging from scavenged to decent quality depending on the wealth of their fleet. Above them and making up a much smaller portion of the opifex caste system are the Dominus caste, hulking opifex averaging seven feet in height which often come equipped with extensive cybernetics, often making up a mix between opifex nobility, police, and military. Dominus are usually just as capable at as a standard populi, usually more so thanks to their better tools, and depending on assignment can be focused on combat, engineering, or medical work, usually leading teams of populi with the same focused training.

Above them both and making up a mere one percent are the fabricator caste, a mysterious and never seen group of technocrats that design and build the bulk of opifex machines. Compared to a populi and dominus caste they average somewhere in the middle in height at around six feet and most are nearly entirely machine, with extensive material augmentation covering the bulk of the body to fulfill day to day needs while working in their flag ships production factory. The true naked form of a fabricator, or even the form most have after augmentation, is rarely known to even the highest ranked dominus, let alone a populi.

Opifex in general, regardless of caste, do not live very long, with a maximum life expectancy of eighty years, though few live past the age of forty. A combination of raiding, piracy, combat, and controlled sterile ship environments often leave opifex with physically weak bodies put in constant danger while scavenging, defending against void wolves, or avoiding patrols from empires and factions who treat them with open hostility.

History and Society

There is next to nothing known about the Opifex before their days of nomadic traveling between the stars. The Opifex are a notoriously tight-beaked people, and refuse to speak of how their society works or how long it has lasted. What is known, however, is where most Opifex come from; the Scavenger Fleets. Fleets are comprised of many ships, with the primary factories, living quarters, and materials stored on the flag ship, a battle ship sized vessel usually covered in parts old and new that were scavenged from destroyed or looted space hulks. Smaller secondary vessels accompanying the flag ship range from the size of single family vessels and larger cruisers that shift between being combat vessels or merchant ships. Most fleets vary from ten to fifty ships, not counting utility vessels known as sweepers or skimmers that work as automated couriers or what are known as "scrap craps" which are disposable junk ships often used as literal canon fodder via using them to shield more expensive ships or having them ram into and destroy enemy vessels.

As stated previously, the Opifex bear with them a strong moral code tailored to their natural personalities; one that primarily consists of not getting into fights, and ending up with the most out of any situation. Opifex crews follow an ingroup tribalism, always looking out for each other first and limiting the damage or misfortune of their fellows, even if they belong to different fleets. An individual Opifex will try bribery, coercion, and haggling before resorting to fleeing, or violence (should things go very bad) when dealing with non-opifex. Interactions between opifex are often settled by ranking and caste, with populi submitting to a dominus' will and a dominus submitting to a fabricator. In the case of equal rank, opifex will often attempt to barter with each other to resolve disputes, but violence is not unheard of if diplomacy fails. Opifex names are also strange concept to those outside their fleet as opifex do not normally use actual words as names, often time they refer to a binary designation determined by their nano-gates serial number that other opifexi recognize when connected through their unique technology. These binary names however are difficult to pronounce in english and in opifexee they translate directly to words that usually refer to that opifexi's particular skills, attitude, or rank. Common names are "Engineer Populi One Four One", "Technician Populi Seven Two Five", "Explorer Dominus One One Zero" and similar naming patterns, however, opifex outside their fleet will often adopt easier to understand names, usually defaulting to a 'front' name that will use a common bird species or human name as a way to seem more approachable by the most common race they meet in space. Even with a cover name, Opifexi will still use their real names between each other, usually spoken upon greeting due to lacking the usual connection network that an opifex fleet provides.

The opifex are also extremely zealous in keeping themselves and their fleets safe, to the point of giving sol federation and mar'qua territories wide berths to avoid active engagements. Those few opifex flag ships that are successfully defeated or captured are also often 'scuttled' a process from which the ship has a powerful EMP detonated inside followed by a nuclear device, reducing any potential scavenge to nothing. Though smaller ships are rarely scuttled, as it is easier simply to abandon them with what can be taken rather than expend the resources to blow them up. This has in the past resulted in stranded or captured opifex, but these populi and sometimes dominus rarely revealed anything of note about opifex society, showing either ignorance or simply lack of knowledge.

Relations with Other Species

The Opifex typically see other organics through a lens of apathy or distaste; whilst some see potential deals to be made, others see dumb “meat” that can’t possibly be sentient, despite making so many wonderful things for the Opifex to haggle/steal. This has made them a subject of scorn for many species. The Opifex hold no special distaste for one species over the other; all are typically considered “inferior” to the Opifex, though whether that has any real merit is up for debate. The more antagonistic attitude is typically carried by the dominus class while the average populi can have mixed opinions. How a fabricator feels about other races isn't know, as no fabricator has ever left his flag ship to meet one.

Important Figures

The Fabricators

Unbeknownst to most other species, the Opifex have a third caste. Or rather, a leadership caste that operates their flag ships. The fabricators are considered by the Opifex to be the purest of their kind, with the populi and dominus being little more than engineered sub-caste, fit for specific tasks. From the observations of an outsider one would believe the Opifex in charge would be the highest ranked or wealthiest Dominus, or perhaps a particularly savvy Populi, in truth it is the fabricators who call the shots for each fleet from the safety of their factory domains where they coordinate fleet operations.

The fabricators themselves are covered head to foot-talon in robes, with a special hood that covers all but their beaks. Their limbs are proportioned longer than their size, giving them incredible reach and speed. Were they interested in combat, they could prove quite deadly in close quarters due to the meticulous precision of their sharp talon fingers and long gangling reach. Fabricators however are extremely reclusive to the point of rarely even meeting with their dominus sub-caste, instead relaying orders through their nanogates or remotely controlled nanobots. Some fabricators, having spent so much time in isolation merely producing and researching new technology between coordinating their fleet, often do not believe that the outside world is even real.

What sets a fabricator apart from the populi or dominus is their near machine-like intelligence. There ability to control and manipulate vast armies and factories of individual nanobots is what allows their often under supplied and under equipped fleets to manage well even against dangerous threats like void wolf reavers or confederacy military vessels. This singular focus and exceptional prowess is why no fabricator has ever been seen by anyone outside other opifex, for their value is too great to allow them to be put at risk.

The God Machine

God machines are a whispered rumor, a legend among outsiders and even the opifex that powerful sentient AI machines are used by the fabricators to operate their fleet at maximum efficiency. In truth, these rumors are real, each fleet contains a god machine within their flag ship from which it operates in conjunction with the fabricators. It is unknown to what extent what it controls or even what its real purpose is, but every opifex knows their fleet has one and all of them are loyal to keeping it and their fabricators alive, even at the cost of themselves. The supposed rumors whispered among void wolves say that the god machines are controlling the opifex, using them as metal and meat to keep themselves alive, but the opifex are quick to dismiss this as they are loathe to use AI to such a degree.

The veneration of the god machine can come across to many as near religious worship mixed with technocratic pragmatism, as opifex often upload any scavenged records, data drives, or files they find to their flag ships massive data banks. These files are usually subject to careful scrutiny by the fabricators, who look for interesting code, records, or data that could be of use as either blackmail or incorporated into opifex technology. Some opifex are of the belief that the god machine is entirely mindless, merely a 'helper' AI that the fabricators designed for the sole purpose of parsing, storing, and maintaining the big levels of data they harvest.

Whether this is true or not is subject for debate, as the fabricators refuse to speak on the subject, but many opifex still speak with reverence to their fleets god machine as no matter its purpose, it is key to their survival.

Common Opifex Terminology: Quick Guide

God Machine: The supposed reason scavenger fleets are so technologically advanced and powerful, either using or being used by the fabricators to coordinate and control their many ships, servers, and robots.

Fabricators: The mysterious and reclusive "true" opifex, heavily augmented and bedecked in robes, they refuse to ever leave their flagships and are often eccentric and single minded. No one except the opifex has ever met a living fabricator.

Dominus: The caste above the populi and below the fabricators, hulking at nearly seven feet and often cybernetically augmented. They tend to lead large teams of populi and have their own ships, with a haughty and arrogant nature fitting the 'nobility' of their station.

Populi: The most common of the opifex one can expect to find. Often short, grumpy, and covered in feathers. They have a wide range of personality, shifting from scrupulous merchants to ruthless raiders to honest mechanics. Mind the talons.

Meat: A slur common among Opifex, meant to refer to other species that don't utilize technology in the same or extreme degree an opifex does.

Flag ship: The biggest and largest ship in a opifex fleet that contains the bulk of their production factories, living quarters, materials, and supplies. Also houses the fabricators and most important critical machines.

Scrap craps: Junk ships held together by hope and duct tape, often staffed by unfavored or criminal opifex who are usually used as literal cannon fodder by either physically shielding more important ships or launching themselves into enemy vessels with an overclocked reactor.

Skimmers/sweepers: Small fast vessels often used for scouting, usually staffed by a single populi or a robot whose primary purpose is to traffic deliveries of materials, opifex in transit, or packages needing to be moved elsewhere fast.

Canon Species in the Sojourn Universe
Core Species Akula - Kriosans - Humans - Mar'qua - Sablekyne - Naramad - Abhuman
Non-Core Species Opifex - Cht’mant - Cindarite - Mycus - Folken - Minor Factions