Sophont Review: K'kree

[robject]

The current K'kree draft character creation card is attached. Highlights to look for:

Characteristics and size calculation (size is appx 550 kg).

Sense strings are updated to agree with CT AM 02. Life Stages also conform more closely to AM02, but are normalized to 4-standard-year terms per Marc's specific request.

Current version timestamp: 12/7/2015, 8pm[FONT=arial,helvetica]
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[whulorigan]

Gender: FMN

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Genders: F (28%) M (41%) N (31%)

I mentioned this once before. I do not recall the K'kree as ever having been described with a third (Neuter) gender, only the standard Male/Female. Is this an oversight, or a deliberate conceptual change?
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[robject]

That's a change that Marc put in. However, I'm currently talking with one of the K'Kree fans out there (GypsyComet) and if he doesn't like it I'll back it out.

 

[whulorigan]

That's a change that Marc put in. However, I'm currently talking with one of the K'Kree fans out there (GypsyComet) and if he doesn't like it I'll back it out.

Are there any details as to how Marc envisions the biology/psychology of the FMN model?

 

[robject]

Are there any details as to how Marc envisions the biology/psychology of the FMN model?

Ha! Beyond what's on the character card? I don't know. There is a hard relationship between caste and gender there, however, with some overlap.

 

[robject]

I've removed the Neuter gender and re-worked the life stages to agree with CT AM2.

 

[robject]

So what I propose for the K'Kree life stages.

The two "uniques" are the term length and the custom penalties in the upper life stages.

6 year terms.

0: 1/2 term
1: 1 term
2: 2 terms
---- career begins at age 20
3: 2 terms 20, 26
4: 3 terms 32, 38, 44
---- physical aging begins at age 50
5: 0 terms (skipped)
6: 1 term 50
7: 1 term 56
8: 1 term 62, penalty -2
---- mental aging begins at age 68
9: 1 term 68, penalty -3
10+: penalty -3

 

[mike wightman]

You could add the neutral gender as being post reproductive life cycle.

Males that have no females to regularly mate with fight a lot amongst themselves for breeding rights in Terran herbivores. How about K'kree 'geriatrics' lose all reproductive organs and instead become the neutral third gender that is above the conflict that the reproductive stage brings with it? K'kree diplomats and elder statesmen could be largely made up of these neutral types.

Least it would make the K'kree a bit more interesting and alien than a terran moose...

 

[Nathan Brazil]

I am a K'kree fan (1248 My Little Ponies of Death dontcha know). I do not recall a neuter gender either.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

On senses, IIRC they were very-nearsighted with very, very good olfactory sense. Enough to tell that a human has eaten meat 7 days prior or less. I think that was in a JTAS article. Will go look up.

 

[GypsyComet]

Their olfactory sense should be higher, though perhaps not greatly so. Having spent some time out in the wilderness away from the well-washed masses, I can confirm that city people have a whole host of odors you don't ever notice until you've been away from them for a while. I've also heard Vietnam War anecdotes about being able to smell a recently soaped individual many feet away if you were coming back from a long enough patrol.

As such, the K'kree sense of smell may be more discerning as opposed to more sensitive.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Ya I know as well range vs sensitivity being a recovering cigarette smoker. Once it was out of my system...Reviewing profile card. Smell 16 is already pretty darned good compared to human 10. The example I gave was from somewhere, but involved the human narrator saying he had not eaten meat in a week and the K'kree ambassador could still smell the faint traces on him...

 

[GypsyComet]

Smell 16 is already pretty darned good compared to human 10.

Opening post says Humans are a 16. A typo somewhere.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

I was reading the 5.09 PDF to get a better understanding of smell. Humans have S-10-2 there.

 

[robject]

On senses, IIRC they were very-nearsighted with very, very good olfactory sense. Enough to tell that a human has eaten meat 7 days prior or less. I think that was in a JTAS article. Will go look up.

Thank you, Nathan. I didn't realize humans had only S-10. If so, then that was my error to say that humans were S-16.

S-16 therefore doesn't sound too bad, although it can go higher if you think it ought. And we can widen the span as well. S-16-3, S-18-3, or S-20-3, or better?

 

[robject]

On senses, IIRC they were very-nearsighted with very, very good olfactory sense. Enough to tell that a human has eaten meat 7 days prior or less. I think that was in a JTAS article. Will go look up.

CT AM 02 says:

Their eyesight is equal to that of humans in most respects. The K'kree cannot see as far into the red portion of the spectrum as humans but are capable of picking up more ultraviolet.

(So, it's shifted one band upward, RGB => GBP)

Their hearing is very acute.

(So, better than humans)

Smell is the sharpest of the K'kree senses. ... K'kree differentiate other beings by scent more than by sight or sound, and can detect the approach of enemies at a considerable distance.

(So, much better.)

 

[mike wightman]

Interesting fact: ultra violet vision provides less definition - a lot of birds can see into the ultra violet but raptors tend to have evolved filters (like us) to block UV so they have greater definition.

 

[robject]

NEXT STEPS:

(1) I'll attach the most current sophont creation card to the Original Post.
(2) I'll bundle the Aslan, Bwap, Droyne, Hiver, K'Kree, and Vargr cards and send them to Marc.

Office hours are posted on my door...