01Peoples / field index
The Species
Keeper guidance for presenting nine major ancestries as cultures with institutions, contradictions, customs and lived experience.
Xenology archive · Alien Species
Life refuses simple answers.
A Keeper-facing archive of the peoples, bodies, histories and impossible ecologies that inhabit the Pearl Era.
Alien Species treats every ancestry as a complete people rather than a silhouette: institutions and daily lives, biological realities, rival histories, internal conflicts and the voices that make an unfamiliar world feel inhabited.
Incoming · Community mini-expansions
Every signal will be decoded.
Nine ancestries. Nine mini-expansions. You choose which ancestry reaches the Archive first in a seven-day community vote.
After voting closes, we’ll reveal the top three and their release dates, one week apart. Their covers will remain sealed with a Decoding indicator until each download is ready. Once that batch is complete, the next three will be revealed. Every mini will eventually be available here.
Explore the nine signalsInside the archive
Xenology made playable.
Research-grade detail becomes immediate table material: people to meet, places to enter, threats to fear and histories that disagree with one another.
02Contact / translation
Inter-Species Toolkit
Practical tools for language, first contact, mixed crews, cultural friction and encounters that never reduce identity to a single trait.
A shared signal is only the beginning.03Subjects / restricted access
NPC Gallery
Select an individual. Read what the archive has observed. Consider what it has chosen to withhold.
OBSIDIAN / ARCHIVESUBJECT RECORDS · ACCESS CLASS 04
RESTRICTEDPASSIVE / OBSERVATIONOPTICS / LONG RANGE
SUBJECT / HUMAN / 048-A
Admiral Helena Vance
Observed profile
A decorated commander in her sixties, known for aboard . Silver-streaked hair. One cybernetic eye.
Behavioral notes
Clipped military speech. Holds her hands while thinking. Taps her augmented eye when .
Protected assessment
ASSESSMENT REDACTED / ACCESS WITHHELD
Contact lead · CLASSIFIED
Approach . Objective .
PASSIVE / OBSERVATIONOPTICS / LONG RANGE
SUBJECT / CELESTIARI / 049-A
Luminara Starwhisper
Observed profile
An ancient Celestiari whose bioluminescence has faded to silver-white. Her voice carries several harmonics at once.
Behavioral notes
Closes her eyes when . Uses physical contact to . Regards emotional wounds as .
Protected assessment
ASSESSMENT REDACTED / ACCESS WITHHELD
Contact lead · CLASSIFIED
Approach . Objective .
PASSIVE / OBSERVATIONOPTICS / LONG RANGE
SUBJECT / SYNTHETIC / 050-B
NEXUS-Prime
Observed profile
One of the oldest awakened Synthetics. Successive chassis upgrades have left .
Behavioral notes
Perfectly still until . Eyes brighten during . Sometimes speaks for .
Protected assessment
ASSESSMENT REDACTED / ACCESS WITHHELD
Contact lead · CLASSIFIED
Approach . Objective .
PASSIVE / OBSERVATIONOPTICS / LONG RANGE
SUBJECT / KRYX / 051-B
Hunt-Master Grenn
Observed profile
A massive, gray-streaked Kryx whose age has not diminished his strength. Commands the Iron Fang Pack with few words.
Behavioral notes
A deep growl and measured silences. Displays . Respect is earned through .
Protected assessment
ASSESSMENT REDACTED / ACCESS WITHHELD
Contact lead · CLASSIFIED
Approach . Objective .
PASSIVE / OBSERVATIONOPTICS / LONG RANGE
SUBJECT / RIFT SPINNER / 052-B
Oracle Crystallis
Observed profile
An ancient Oracle whose outline shimmers . Their layered voice seems to carry .
Behavioral notes
Answers . Looks toward . Treats every thread as .
Protected assessment
ASSESSMENT REDACTED / ACCESS WITHHELD
Contact lead · CLASSIFIED
Approach . Objective .
PASSIVE / OBSERVATIONOPTICS / LONG RANGE
SUBJECT / BLOOMSTRIDER / 053-B
Elder Moss-Singer
Observed profile
Centuries of growth have thickened the Elder’s bark. Their root network .
Behavioral notes
Long pauses and a slow, resonant voice. Addresses people by . Considers choices.
Protected assessment
ASSESSMENT REDACTED / ACCESS WITHHELD
Contact lead · CLASSIFIED
Approach . Objective .
ACCESS CONTROL / 0x13
INTRUSIVE ACCESS DETECTED!
Proceeding to shut down.
TERMINATING SESSION
KUROGANE TECHNOLOGIESSECURE SYSTEM BIOS / 04.7
KUROGANE TECHNOLOGIESSECURE BIOS / ARCHIVE ACCESS
OBSIDIAN / SIGN IN
- USER
- PASSWORD
SESSION / DVoss
ACCESS GRANTED
Restoring archive…
04Threat / field study
Threats & Adversaries
Predators, engineered horrors, rival specialists and ancient dangers with enough character to become more than stat blocks.
Charon Skitter-Rat · A small danger in the walls.05Ecology / depth study
Environments of the Void
Alien biomes, orbital habitats and hostile ecologies that shape every choice the crew makes inside them.
Hydros · Surface, harvest platforms, deep currents.06Artifact / recorded command
Relics & Artifacts
Objects whose biology, history and ownership carry consequences far beyond their immediate function.
Admiral Korvax’s Last Command · An order outlives its owner.07Table / human mannerisms
Human mannerisms / d10
01
Quotes ancient texts or pre-Silence films.
02
Collects small, apparently worthless objects from every world.
03
Never removes a particular lucky piece of clothing.
04
Slips into technical jargon during ordinary conversation.
05
Has an unusual fear: recycled air, open spaces or perfect silence.
06
Unconsciously mirrors the person they are speaking with.
07
Checks every exit and keeps their back to a wall.
08
Offers food or drink to take charge of the social space.
09
Fidgets with a small object or taps their fingers.
10
Makes steady, unblinking eye contact when serious.
Random Tables
Fast inspiration for names, customs, complications, discoveries and the strange details that make a place feel observed.
One detail can change a whole conversation.08Story / an unexpected inheritance
Tales from the Void
Stories and campaign seeds that turn xenological discoveries into pressure, relationships and long-form adventure.
Valerius Prime · Someone is already watching.09Biology / incomplete records
Anatomica & History
Comparative anatomy, the Currency of Eternity and competing accounts of galactic history reveal how every archive has an author.
Three forms of life. An incomplete account.Nine peoples · countless lives
Never a monoculture.
An Accord exchanged. A machine kept alive. A pattern deliberately concealed. These glimpses of daily life show cultures through their practices, shared spaces and choices; no single scene defines an entire people.
01 · Ailuran / Accords and exchanges
The Economy of Truth
Secrets circulate through carefully worded Accords. Reliability gives information its value; the bonds people choose can be as binding as any contract.
02 · Bloomstrider / Cultivation and memory
A memory still growing
A community grows through seasons, tending both its future and the memory held in root and ring. Decisions reach beyond the lives of those who make them.
03 · Celestiari / Listening and remembrance
The work of remembrance
Long memory makes listening a responsibility. Their archives and conversations preserve lived experience, including the grief that public records leave out.
04 · Ethereal / Presence and shared space
Rooms between states
Being present need not mean occupying a single state. Everyday spaces and social habits reflect a people comfortable with uncertainty and different points of view.
05 · Human / Improvisation and connection
Built through belonging
Trade routes, mixed crews and improbable settlements grow through personal ties and improvised solutions. There is no single human way to build a life.
06 · Kryllian / Forge-Clans and craft
Maintenance as devotion
Making and maintaining are moral work. A well-kept machine carries a Forge-Clan’s reputation, its obligations and its refusal to surrender useful things to decay.
07 · Kryx / Discipline and belonging
The pack's compact
The pack is a social compact built on competence and mutual obligation. Planning, sharing and earned trust matter as much as the hunt itself.
08 · Rift Spinner / Identity and privacy
The choice to be known
Every individual bears a distinctive pattern across abdomen and torso, sometimes extending to legs and face. Clothing can conceal those markings: being recognized is not always an invitation.
09 · Synthetic / Autonomy and memory
A self chosen
A manufactured origin does not decide a person’s purpose. Self-repair, personal memory and the freedom to choose a body express lives made on their own terms.
Enter the archive