User:GreytideSkye/Vox

SPECIES

Vox	Denonyms: Vox Related Lore: Lore:Nova, Lore:Space Languages: Vox StandardA form of hybrid encoded language employed by the biomechanical Vox species, characterized by sounding extremely annoying and irritating to those who don't recognize it. It usually requires an implant to be spoken in its entirety.

This Species

Vox, one of the least understood species in the Nova Sector, appear to come in some form of organic-technology mech suit, piloted by an organically-grown brain they call a "stack." One will find Vox aboard Arkships, each dedicated to researching some perceived exploit in reality. Plasma duplication, xenobiology, farming, bluespace... you name it, there's an Arkship studying it.

To what end is such a commonplace fact known by every Vox, that no Vox will dare translate the Navigator's mission into a lesser tongue, lest the translation collapse an infomatic quantum noospheric state and render the past centuries of research retrocasually inert. No, nobody in Nanotrasen knows what that means, and no, no Vox will elaborate further.

Regardless, Vox can be found anywhere civilization is, following the compulsions of their Arkship of origin. If their actions seem unscientific to you, you simply lack the neural pathways to conceive of the true hypothesis being tested.

Vox and Vox Primalis are the exact same species, differentiated because of coding concerns. Lorewise, they are the same.

Analysis: Biological

Physiology, Origins

From the desk of the Historical Derevisionism Fact Checkers:

Cross-reference: Early parables, Speculative Evolution research, Bluespace Retroobservatory 7's findings on the Vox Origins.

Conclusions, disputed:

• Early Vox were avian in nature, the result of several bird-like species analogous to Sol's Corvids evolving towards first intelligence, and then fine manipulation.
• Early Vox were reptilian, ground-based feathered or unfeathered quadrupeds who evolved bipedalism along traditional evolutionary pathways. Tailed initially, possibly lost during upright walking, reintroduced for productivity upon fleshsculpters' discovery of deprecated neural pathways. Research tends to agree subconclusively on this evolutionary track.
• Early Vox were paradoxically modern Vox, cast back through future work from the Transtemporal Team, which eventually will always have been the strongest path to the Vision.

Analysis: The mythological plausibilities of multiple competing origins serve the Vision greater than firmly cementing a single pathway into mundane fact.

Relatable Sol Meme, for optimal cognitive connections: "If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice."

Physiology, Modern

Sol Federation, Threat Analysis Bureau:

The average Vox is a digitigrade, reptilian biped with stiff, semi-rigid keratin quills on their head, a long prehensile tail, and a teethed and bilaterally-split jaw. They have a flexible and lightweight skeleton and a two-channel redundant nervous system. They generally stand anywhere from 1.3 to 2 meters tall, averaging at 1.5 for most Vox, with a primarily green and brown coloration, but can have different colored quills and body markings. Their bodies are scaled with rigid, nonconducting plates in overlapping rows, which can be bristled or flattened at will to optimize cooling or form interior seals as to retain heat. Their aforementioned quills act as a supplementary cooling system, with tiny capillaries allowing bloodflow into the hollow recesses inside of the quills, which they may often violently shake to produce a cooling effect with the air; this also functions as a threat display, as many Vox will attempt to cool themselves down before engaging in a fight as to regulate their body-temperature though exertion. They do not respirate as humans do, but they do require a nitrogen-rich atmosphere to 'breathe', and suffer badly in the presence of oxygen. Their musculature is geared towards sudden bursts of rapid movement, with a vulnerability to lactic acid buildup as a result.

Biopsies of discarded voxform have confirmed analogous brain features to most biological life, though the outstretched nerves are coated in a more active protein, more easily damaged than the standard myelin sheath, but organically repaired through their dual-focus immune system. From that, what were previously seen as mismatched colorations on the voxform scales have been postulated to instead be their equivalent of a scar: discarded tissue repurposed elsewhere in the body by their immunorepair system. Blood clotting in particular seems to be mismatched tissue organically welded into place, in contrast to a dedicated platelet structure. As a net result, the common voxform does not replenish its supply of repair tissue, relying on external supplements and an inefficient conversion of amino acids. Voxform thus seem to be intentionally designed to age and degrade; interrogations have yielded conflicting theories, including references to a "Mortality Appreciation inquest," a means to enforce returning to the Arkship for debriefing and updates, and a retrocausal conspiracy that implies that future voxform actively steal components from present voxform. They have remained uniformly silent about a suspicious cavity near the brain stem found in all known autopsies.

Each Voxform has been found with artificial markings upon their body, in seemingly no uniform pattern or symmetry. We've ruled out biological lineage and social caste; several genetically identical Voxform have been found with wildly different markings, and one set was found to be multi-layered, stacking six layers of conflicting symbology atop each other. We lack a statisticically significant sample size of complaint individuals with which to draw further conclusions. In short: fuck if we know.

Voxnote! The Vox markings culturally exist to identify a Vox's topic of research, their present skillsets, their past accomplishments, and active experiments. Of particular note is the Voxform's position in the Tree, and any possible Publications they have notably Contributed to.

Analysis: Cultural

Culture, Origins

All Vox culture is derived from a single tenet:

todo: Research brings power.

From this axiom comes the rest of their civilization.

Vox are organized into Arkships, massive interstellar vessels dedicated to a research topic, with the largest easily dwarfing most planets. A mixture of inorganic and organic technologies, these ships grow with effort and necessity, absorbing flesh and metal in equal measures into their superstructures. Each Arkship's research topic tends to be as broad as the ship is large, with obvious exceptions for research into size-related matters. The Diplomacy Team serves aboard the largest known Arkship, whose name is incomprehensibly long, oft shortened to todo: "The Tongues". When one Vox refers to the Arkships, they typically mean the most prominent ones, though any vessel which hosts Vox and a focused mission qualifies. Arkships are known to host specific inquiries and research fields as todo: subsets of

In-Game Lore Blurb

Designed and grown by the Apex, biocomputers the size of massive willow trees, the average Vox is a digitigrade, reptilian biped with stiff, semi-rigid keratin quills on their head, a long prehensile tail, and a teethed and bilaterally-split jaw. They have a flexible and lightweight skeleton and a two-channel redundant nervous system. They generally stand anywhere from 1.3 to 2 meters tall, averaging at 1.5 for most Vox, taller for Armalis, with a primarily green and brown coloration, but can have different colored quills and body markings. Their bodies are scaled with rigid, nonconducting plates in overlapping rows, which can be bristled or flattened at will to optimize cooling or form interior seals as to retain heat. Their aforementioned quills act as a supplementary cooling system, with tiny capillaries allowing bloodflow into the hollow recesses inside of the quills, which they may often violently shake to produce a cooling effect with the air; this also functions as a threat display, as many Vox will attempt to cool themselves down before engaging in a fight as to regulate their body-temperature though exertion. They do not respirate as humans do, but they do require a nitrogen-rich atmosphere to 'breathe', and suffer badly in the presence of oxygen. Their musculature is geared towards sudden bursts of rapid movement, with a vulnerability to lactic acid buildup as a result.

While the brain of any sort of Vox up to the Auralis are certainly present, a Vox is not considered 'alive' without the Cortical Stack. This mechanical brain is installed the minute a Vox is produced by the Apex, mind uploading being one of the oldest disciplines of the Vox, and it holds their memories, personality, and body information. These machines also hold their genetic information, a newly 'resleeved' Vox physically mutating into the parameters set by their stack. A Vox is not considered 'dead' as long as their stack can be put in a new body, and this process affords them functional immortality. However, no other beings are considered 'alive' either due to their lack of one; their absence of the divine spark of the Auralis. They feel neither empathy nor hatred towards aliens, their short, violent and ephemeral existences ultimately meaning as little as furniture to the Vox.

Artificially made by the Apex, Vox Primalis are grown for a purpose, their personalities and duties sourced by the cortical stacks installed in their heads. The exact specifications and duties of a Primalis may change throughout their life according to the enigmatic will of the biocomputers fabricating them, and their duties may be oddly specific at times; but seven core 'groups' of jobs are known by humans, signified by a series of neck, throat, facial, and back markings encoded with their role, genetic lineage, notable deeds, and arkship of origin.

'Drones' are the engineers, technicians, and builders of the Primalis. Their duties revolve around the upkeep of the Arkships themselves, and the operation of technologies new and old. 'Servitors' are in charge of biological affairs; making sure stocks are full, meals are made, and Vox are healthy. They typically share work with Drones due to Vox technology being both synthetic and organic.

'Raiders' are those combat-focused Primalis sent on excursion teams from the ships to plunder goods, people, and other wares from aliens. 'Scavengers' work alongside Raiders, pulling stations and ships apart to find anything even remotely valuable, down to the scrap metal and copper wiring in an outpost.

'Reavers' are essentially the white blood cells of an Arkship. Rarely seen but always around, these Vox are dedicated to expunging threats and ensuring that individuals in need of 'pruning' are brought in swiftly to the Armalis and Apex. If ever seen outside an Arkship, it's typically for the purpose of overseeing other Primalis in place of a proper Armalis.

'Leaders' are those that are in charge of a crew. Acting like a tightly-knit family, these work crews are kept in line not only by the Armalis, but by these typically very old Vox. These magnanimous (for a Primalis) individuals are very, very rarely seen outside of an Arkship due to their assignments requiring 'active duty'. To see a 'Leader,' in a place of aliens is to know that they are almost assuredly an exile, and shunned by all varieties of Vox. The Vox consider 'drains on resources' as inexcusable, and to be one is an act to be shunned upon.

'Larva' are not Primalis children, as they'd be less than a few months old at youngest, but a denigrating term for Vox that either have not yet been assigned a duty, or those currently inbetween them. While these Vox are often pushed by other Primalis to 'hurry up already,' it is the wide consensus of Vox that 'A lone leader is worse than a larva, for while even a larva has a future, all the leader has is a disgraced past.'

Work in Progress: Footer subject to change at a moment's notice. Do not take a red link's presence, struck-through or otherwise, as confirmation (or denial) of their canonicity.

Nova Sector Lore
	Common Species	Humans, Tiziran, Unathi, Moths, Ethereals, Azulae, Slime Hybrids, Teshari, Synthetic Humanoids (and assorted robots), Pod Persons
	Other Species	Genemodders (Felinids, Ice Walkers, Dwarf), Ashwalkers, Hemophages, Snailpersons, Ordoht (Formerly Skrell), Plasmamen, Flypeople, Vox (Primalis et al), Tajaran, Vulpkanin, Xenomorphic Hybrid, Rouges (Abductorkin), Miscellaneous Species
	Nanotrasen	Nanotrasen, Central Command, Emergency Response Corps
	External Groups	The Syndicate, Interdyne Pharmaceutics, DS-2, Cargo, The Spider Clan
	Nova	The Nova Sector, Indecipheres, Freyja
	Concepts	Bluespace, Plasma, Faster Than Light Travel, Resonance ("Souls"), Death
	SolFed	SolFed, Earth in 2565, The SolFed Armed Forces, The SolFed International Capital District