Gwix

Gwix
Species Info
Homeworld		Merik Reuir
Empires		Onk Conglomerate
Life Expectancy (Max)		120 (250)
Average Size		3-12 Feet

Overview

The Gwix are a species of industrious, hyper capitalist humanoids that have varying skin tones and body types. While “Green” is the natural tone of their skin, pigmentation can vary between hues of reds, yellows, and purples depending on their environment. They are a hearty species with an aptitude for logistics and science, and can be seen in all corners of the galaxy. Happy to play with novel and dangerous, the Gwix’s boom in scientific research and industry can lead to unexpected results, if their ruined moon is anything to go by, a result of a runaway physics project gone entirely haywire.

Biology

The Gwix are divided into two bloodlines, The TOK and the TAL. These bloodlines are often regarded as the “Brains” and the “Brawn” of society as they’re named after the Goddess of Prosperity and the God of Might respectively.

TOK Gwix are short statured, stout, and sometimes spindly humanoids that sit around four feet tall and are often seen in corporate offices and large laboratories. In their standing military they’re often civil engineers and spies, though there are exceptions to the rule. Their smaller stature and slow metabolisms make them ill suited for heavy duty labor.

TAL Gwix are large, bulky, and sit around at average 9 feet tall with high metabolisms and strong bone density. While they can be misconstrued as dim-witted, this is far from the case, as TAL Gwix are often just as brilliant as their TOK brethren, but have a certain lean to more athletic occupations, as their heavy requirement for activity can often make them feel cramped or confined within closed workplaces. You can typically see TOK as foremen and field researchers, as well as making up the bulk of the general military hierarchy.

What determines a Gwix’s bloodline is unknown, a TAL Gwix may be born to TOK parents, and visa-versa. Where the bloodline differences show only upon puberty. While it is assumed to be genetic, researchers cannot find any correlation on dominant or recessive genes, and the TOK and TAL populations remain semi-steady at a near 50/50 split.

Gwix bodies are incredibly adaptive to their environments and will take on different attributes based on the planet they’re on or deployment. Green is considered the ‘ideal’ color on a habitable world, however you may see yellow gwix who live on worlds where the temperatures are higher and harsher due to geological activity, red gwix living on iron-rich worlds with low oxygen, purple gwix have even been spotted working in deep space where light is low and spaces are cramped. A Gwix can survive in a dead-air environment for up to two weeks if provided enough nutrition and rest.

Galatic Opinion

Most gwix fall into one of two categories. The larger group, and by far the one most familiar to outsiders on the galactic scale, are known to be trustworthy to a fault when it comes to business dealings. The have a mind for numbers and public relations, and a drive to invent, invest, and stoke the furnace of industry. They are quite conscious of their public image and work hard to present themselves to each other and to the rest of the universe as modern, civilized, and industrious.

The second group is a dwindling, but VERY vocal minority who cling to the old ways, when prosperity was won not in board meetings or diverse portfolios, but on the blood-streaked fields of battle. They delight in embarassing their more well to do cousins in front of foreigners and potential investers, acting the belligerent fool in order to deliberately sabotage their species' reputation on the galactic stage. These gwix tend to be more religious than their more civil counterparts, valuing the counsel of shamans over that of stock brokers, particularly when they selectively choose passages and teachings that reaffirm their objections to the way in which their society has shifted in recent decades.

While only hard-core traditionalists are religious and shamanistic for their two gods, their teachings have penetrated into the day to day of society on both sides of the cultural divide. TOK spoke that loyalty is a virtue, and TAL spoke that promises must be kept. There is a supreme fear of being labeled as an ‘oathbreaker’ in Gwix society, often looked upon with the same distaste as a murderer. That said, a Gwix Adversary is not to be underestimated, and often cannot be bribed with. Gwix are industrious, experimental, and will use the most novel approach to situations, making them a variable powder keg when it comes to diplomacy, development, and war.

Faith

The gwix religion is an example of dualistic theism. It is their belief that all of existence is made possible by a stalemate between the forces of order, TOK, and chaos, TAL.

The godess Tok is associated with currency, industry, the drive to build and create art. Her temples are beautiful edifices of marble and gold, and in more recent times, chrome and glass. Depictions of the goddess portray her as a gwix of modest stature with golden skin and a knowing smirk, often carrying a stack of coins arranged into a tower in the palm of her hand.

The god Tal is associated with war, devastation, the endless march of entropy and the ficklness of fate. In keeping with a god of destruction, he has no vast cathedrals or soaring temples. Impromptu shrines made of wood or clay have a tendency to crop up in abandoned lots or decaying buildings, but most gwix choose instead to honor him with deeds. Tal is depicted in religious iconography as an immensely large male gwix with rust-red skin and a perpetual disapproving scowl, dragging a wooden club that leaves furrows through the soil in his wake.

Neither diety is considered good or evil in the sense that most other faiths understand the terms. Gwix feel a constant need to grow, to expand their territory, their market shares, and their families. When there is no more room to grow, chaos makes room. Bubbles burst, share values fall, family members die. While there is little doubt that the times of boom are most enjoyable, it is understood that the inevitable bust is quite necessary on the whole. "Little wheels must spin so that the machine can turn," as the saying goes.

Visitors to Onk space could easily be forgiven for seeing the megachurches of Tok in the financial districts and thinking that the gwix worship just one god. Many more mistakenly percieve Tal to be some sort of devil figure, a symbol of evil and barbarism. However, both of these views fundamentally misunderstand the roles that both dieties play in the hearts and minds of the faithful. To the gwix, it is only somewhere in between these two vast forces that they can truly thrive, which plays a factor in their tendency to favor death worlds as the locations for their glimmering new cities. After all, when you start at the bottom, there's nowhere to go but up.

Style Guide

Please see the Appearance Guide for non-race specific guidance and rules.

Gwix are ‘Goblins and Orcs' with a firm bit of sci-fi glam to them. Consider using power armors, modern clothing, and laboratory aesthetics when designing your Gwix. Body type only matters for height, but players are encouraged to build their Gwix in any combination of exotic skin color or body size as they see fit. If your Gwix is religious, feel free to decorate their armor with seals or tribal accents, facepaint, or have some sort of small clan fetish on them. (Prayer Beads, Totems, etc)