docs for RP game
The Tsaj
The Tsaj is a collection of gestalt minds. Each individual Tsaj is made up of worms. Each worm is relatively mindless, but when they form into a mass, their intelligence massively increases, in a approximately logistic function. Memories can be transfered between Tsaj, by transferring individual worms, however, only those worms that were there when the memory was formed will have the memory. Tsaj are effectively immortal, as although their constituents die over time, the conciousness remains so long as the swarm remains coherent. However, they lose their memories over time. So unwrittten history gets lost. Skills remain known so long as they get regularly practiced, but if not used, they are lost when the last component which remembers the skill dies. They effectively have no childhood, as they spring into existence as their “parent(s)” provide the requisite number of worms to provide sentience, with full memories and skill sets.
They can frequently be found in a exoskeleton, as this both allows them to effectively manipulate their environment as well as protects them from that same environment. Most exoskeltons are artificial in nature, not grown organically. Before they reached a high tech state, one of the more common types of exoskeleton was basically their wood equivalent. Their gestalt nature makes a Tsaj difficult to kill, as killing individual worms only reduces the strength and intellgence of the mass. A sufficiently small Tsaj will join with any other Tsaj it can find. A sufficiently large Tsaj will often split in half, resulting in two Tsaj. The combination of these results in Tsaj generally remaining in a relatively tight range.
A Tsaj does not need to be touching in order to maintain cohesion. Proximity alone is enough, though touching makes them more resilient.
Physiologically, the worms resemble the common tube in tube design. That is, they are roughly tube shaped, with a digestive track going down the center. The worms are omnivorous Each worm has a main eye, with a small vesgistal second eye. They reproduce sexually. The Tsaj practice artifical selection on their worms to improve their constituents’ health.
Due to their biology, warfare amongst the Tsaj in pre-history was difficult and often inconclusive. It wasn’t until they encountered other species that they recieved their first lesson in modern warfare. That isn’t to say that fights didn’t occur.
Tsaj society changed significantly when it grew beyond the tribal level, as they stopped being able to easily trade worms to keep their thoughts in sync. However, the Tsaj construct representatives from each clan, representing them in government at a higher level. These representatives will “live” only as long as a session, then return to their “parents” to re-assimilate.
There are no schools per se. After all, there’s no childhood or adolescence. If a Tsaj wants to learn a skill, they find a master, and the master trades them a worm with the appropriate memories to be able to perform the skill. Usually this is an equivalent exchange.
They don’t have one. They don’t wonder what happens after death because it rarely comes for them. Only by misadventure do they normally die. They find the concept strange. Which isn’t to say that they don’t have ethics.
Solar power is still commonly used, as it’s cheap with endless fuel. Commonly, this is used for either fixed stations, or planetary use through beamed power.
Aneutronic non-thermal HB fusion reactors supply majority of mobile power. Direct energy conversion avoids thermal losses, and reduces power and fuel requirements.
Flow capacitors provide high rate of energy release, while simultaneously having high energy density. These traits are useful for mobile power that isn’t large enough to equip a fusion reactor. Depending on available cross section, power can reach the megawatt level, while energy density exceeds 80 MJ/kg.
Utilizes the Mach effect, resulting in pseudo-reactionless drives (no reaction mass onboard). It instead reacts with the universe, pushing everything in the opposite direction.
Mass reduction field generators are universally found on Tsaj warships. They provide improved acceleration to objects under their effect, with the downside that excess kinetic energy will thermalize if the field reduces in stregnth. As such, Tsaj warships will carry redundant generators. A ship in contact can also extend it’s field to other ships.
The downside of the field on ships is a benefit for kinetic kill missiles. It provides an effective self destruct mechanism, and increases effectiveness against lightly armored targets (planets, stations, etc).
They require energy to increase the strength, as there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Conservation of momentum and energy are still applicable. Reducing the mass results in an increased velocity, which results in increased KE. This must be compensated for.