Stargods Wear Spandex (GoodManners & Desertpaladin)

[GoodManners]

It is called Inotar, and it is a world of ice and snow. The summers are brutal storms of frozen rain that sweep across the landscape, carving great furrows in the ice-packed ground, and the winters are stagnate sub-zero deserts where the permafrost reach down dozens of meters. Life here is brutal, but life does exist. Giant ice-caves carved into the sides of everlasting, ever-frozen glacier mountains that tower above the frozen landscape, each one situated above naturally occurring deep-ground geothermal hotsprings that bubble up to the surface beneath the ice-mountains, creating small pockets of life, miniature ecosystems that live and die by the spring they are situated around. Each ecosystem is like its own self-contained world of apex predators and prey, ice tunnels play home to various different breeds of sapient creatures, each one vying for access to the others underground oasis.
Of one such breed of sapient life, there is the Valku. Their oasis, situated within one of the giant, towering ice mountains, was home to a natural vent in the ceiling, like a portal staring up into the grey-white sky. There were times when the planets solitary moon would be situated directly above this hole, and its light would shine down directly onto the thermal lake that was their oasis, forming a picture perfect mirror image of the moon upon the surface of the water. This advent was called 'God-Coming' by the Valku. It was their holy eve, it told of a legend passed down through their people, the story was nearly forgotten, but the ceremony of the 'God-Coming' was still practiced dutifully. The offering of a clutch young females to the lake, to entice their god to walk among them.
Tonight, was one such night. The moon was full in the sky above Inotar, and the time was ripe, crystalline instruments carved out of never-melting ice were struck against the shores of the thermal lake, making clear ringing sounds across the surface, as a procession of white furred humanoid creatures were led into the warm waters as offering.

 

[desertpaladin]

Unlike the other nights, the hundreds if not thousands of nights where this ceremony was held, the moon changed for the people of the small oasis, across the moon's surface a bright streak, this one of crimson hue talked about only in legends by her people as one of the signs of the gods lit the night sky brighter than the moon itself. The people would see the streak still linger in the sky before a sudden loud crash could be heard down the tunnels away from their oasis, whatever had happened it was hardly normal and would need to be investigated.

Some ways away at the crash, maybe an hour's journey for a man on foot a large burning heap of scrap laid burning the last of the life away as a young male collapsed, sitting back against a nearby ice wall as he tried to recover. His space suit was already working on keeping him warm, the material a wonder invention that even if he was partially exposed to the elements he would still be warmed up entirely thanks to the almost magical material of the suit. The dark red material glistened in the moonlight and the fire of his smoldering ship. Stewart looked over at the wreck through his helmet and sighed. Pushing himself up he knew he had to work on building a shelter or something, since while the suit would help from the cold he would still need food, water, and a safe place to sleep from predators should there be any. He checked a small AR display which appeared seen only by his own eyes as he pulled off his helmet. The planet was livable, he would not use up the suit's power on life support functions aside from the heat then... He began to check his supplies, he managed to save a laser with a recharging battery pack allowing him 100 shots a day, a medical kit which thanks to the advances in nano tech would reform themselves every week or so back up to full if he used it sparingly, a month or longer if he had to use most of it, and some rations. Sadly much of the more technical side of the ship was rendered inoperable by that fluke accident which seemed to take out the computer of his ship, so most of the onboard systems were dead if not already roasting in the fire...

Stewart stood, standing at 6'4" he was tall for a human. With short brown hair and handsome hazel eyes with light skin he was rather attractive for his species, sure he had not been working as hard toward grooming, his face starting to get somewhat hairy from a lack of shaving as it was just beyond a 5 o'clock shadow but for the most part he was still rather fit thanks to well... there really not being much else to do while traveling in space. However as he began to take in his surroundings he quickly grabbed his pistol. He heard something, some creature was nearby...

 

[GoodManners]

The ice-land wastes were dangerous. Threats were abundant , for in the harsh icy wilderness, there were things that had adapted to make it their home. The wind was blowing- it was the start of this planets summer months, and the vapor from the melting soft-ice and snow, would stir the winds on a planetary scale. For anything caught outside of a cave during these months, they would be the easiest of prey. The sound of the crash had echoed, carried by the winds. The unusual nature of this sound, and the light that had played precursor to it had drawn the attention of one of Inotar's more violent natural predators.

Watching the human through multifaceted compound eyes from several dozen meters away was what was known to the various sapient species on Inotar, as a Grachi. Centipede in shape, but with each leg playing host to a cluster of razor-sharp claws, and a proboscis like a serrated blender, it burrowed through the ice, just beneath the surface of the snow, feeling for movement with its extrasensory organs along the fins of its carapace. When it struck, it leaped out from its concealed position and lunged at its target, the proboscis that was its mouth, biting deep into flesh, and delivering a potent paralytic that rendered its prey helpless as it clung to its body with its legs, and dragged it back under the snow to eat at its leisure.

This Grachi was unsure about its target, its eyestocks protruded from beneath the snow covering, its multispectrum vision allowing it to see the human clearly despite the poor visibility. It's hunger motivated it to burrow forwards, its eyestocks parting the snow like a shark fin. It wasn't the only creature hunting tonight, from a distant cave, white-furred humanoids sallied out from their hidden exits.

 

[desertpaladin]

Stewart's eyes lit up with warnings, apparently life had been detected nearby using the suits built in sensors. God damn was he happy he had put in the extra cash for this thing, he popped back on his helmet just in case for the extra protection and brought his gun to the ready. Things were hard to see with the wind howling kicking up any loose snow from the surface as he tried various vision modes to see through it all. Eventually he managed to get the thermal to work, after all to live on such a cold planet like this the beasts would need insane internal body heats and damn if this thing wasn't one of them. He shifted, watching the creature burrow closer and closer, his focus on this bug and not on any of the humanoids approaching him. He didn't know they were even there but the humanoids could soon see him and his wreck just as the bug attacked.

The beast was larger than he had expected, sure he could see it through the limited thermal vision he had but still seeing it from afar and close up were two different things. Now it wasn't like he wasn't used to see giant bug-like creatures but damn did they freak him out, as such his thumb quickly flipped the switch on the side of his gun turning it from single shot to full auto as his finger held down the trigger.

It was like his gun was the flaming gun of god, a stream of superheated light rushed from the end of his laser pistol and right into the center mass of the creature. While the thick carapace like armor had done its job at first the rapid firing of the pistol, which thanks to being merely energy rather than a full kinetic blast had practically no recoil, the first few shots which would have only injured soon turned into much more deadly shots which burned through outer shells, inner guts, and then out through the back. The beast looked confused, roaring out in pain as his insides were fried and only stopping when the blood soon gurgling in his lungs cauterized from the super heated shots. As the beast landed, the momentum forcing Stewart to shirt so as not to be hit by the flying corpse did he look up and notice the humanoid furry people before him. He was ready to raise his gun but they did not seem hostile, not like the beast he just put down.

 

[GoodManners]

The science behind an energy based weapon, a laser most prominently, is a vicious, and effective science that boils down to a single solid fundamental fact that units all organic life together. That fact is a simple one: all organic life contains cells, which contain water.

Water boils.

Enter the laser. A thermal energy weapon that basis its killing potential on the very thing that grants life to all things. When unprotected organic material is struck by a laser, it initiates a chain reaction that causes the fluid within a cell to boil- that boiling fluid creates steam, this steam is then super heated as it bursts out of the cell, and combined with countless millions of other cells this gaseous explosion reaches all the way through the body along the path of the laser. The body will quickly bloat from the sudden expansion of the super heated steam roiling within, with only two means of escape. Blood and viscera will be propelled out the entrance and exit wound of the laser, and in some cases, the body will just 'pop' in an explosion of gore. A laser is always a fatal weapon, blowing off limbs with ease and body shots are a most gratuitous end for any target. Dealing with the aftermath of a laser weapon wound is a messy, terrible business that many energy-gun owners prefer not to think about, instead going to detail on the benefits instead.

The laser pistol Stewart had was a baseline survival and self-defense model made for dealing with wildlife, it lacked in the kind of output that would let it brute-force its way through personal defense fields and ceramic-type body armor. Against exposed flesh it was more than fine, and the ability to self-charge and its general robustness made it perfect for its role as a weapon of survival. A more powerful, purse-built laser weapon, like a PLX.Mk2, A military grade plasma-laser hybrid weapon. Weighing in at about six-pounds, it’s pretty heavy despite its small size. As for a plasma laser hybrid, it’s a laser weapon, but it utilizes a plasma-gas internal controlled combustion to generate the energy it needs in order to fire. It had a super-emitter, capable of sustaining a long continuous laser beam that could cut through heavy-armor in an instant. Against unprotected soft targets, it was actually considered a warcrime to even consider this. If Stewart had used a PLX.Mk2 against the Grachi, he wouldn't have to worry about a corpse, the entire body would have been vaporized into a bloody red mist that would then freeze and be scattered on the wind.

As for the survival laser he had used, the resulting internal explosion within the Grachi was devastating, the thing was more than dead from a single shot, and while Stewart knew the concepts of how a laser weapon inflicted damage, to the Valku hunters that crept through the snow- thinking themselves hidden -to them, it looked as if he had simply pointed at the creature, and with a beam of red light, he had caused it to explode from within. Several chirped sharply in the approximation of a gasp. Others could only stare in awe. None of them moved, instead opting to stay low, to stay hidden half buried in the snow, crystalline spears at the ready, uncertain of what to make of this upright god-creature in red.

(Sorry if I got carried away with the laser-stuff.)

 

[desertpaladin]

(it's ok, but I'm passing out so I may be off for the night soon)

His thermals picked up the white furred people before his true eyes did. He looked at them, they looked mostly humanoid, though with their features mixed with those of various canine, feline, and vulpine creatures of earth. He stood there, unable to speak. He knew these creatures would likely not speak english and his translator, hell any of his programs didn't recognize the species from sight. If he heard their language then the suit could at least try and translate it allowing him to understand and speak with them. So he decided to prove a point, prove they were not hidden and maybe even get them to speak. Looking toward them he held out his arm, his palm up as he made a motion to rise, his hand moving his gun to a holster at his hip, his eyes scanning for any signs of danger from the species, worried they will soon attack but he would make short work of them if they tried. So for now he made it a point to not show them violence, only violence toward those who tried to hurt him like that bug creature. Even with how primitive the world seemed he doubted they were stupid.

 

[GoodManners]

(We can continue this tomorrow then, get some sleep- the brain works better with it. Trust me, I know.)

It took some time before one of them stepped forward, the slow realization that they were seen doing nothing to motivate them from hiding, or preparing to run. After what must've been several minutes, the largest among them stepped forward- even then it only came up to Stewart's chest. There were fourteen of them in total, all of them wore identical masks made out of an organic fibrous substance, strands of this material were swathed over their body to either act as some sort of armor or protect them from the cold. Close inspection revealed that while they were indeed humanoid, their legs were Digitigrade, they walked on their toes, wide pawpads spreading out over the surface of the snow as they lightly stepped atop it while Stewart was forced to wallow with it up to his knees.

They closed in bit by bit, they had tall ears, up and swiveling with sensitive hairs picking up on the slightest variations in the wind. Their faces were obscured by their masks, thin threads over the large eye holes hiding their gaze but protecting them from the worst of the sleet and wind. They were clustering closely together, each one of them carrying a long spear with a crystal tip atop a long black-stone pole, each of them was staring up at the human, heads bobbing up and down over one another trying to get a closer look, their silvery tufts of hair blustering in the wind, wrapping over their shoulders while large and long fluffy tails swished out behind them just over the surface of the snow. They were making soft clicking and murmuring sounds interspersed with high pitched soft keening, in a way, it was honestly eerie, their sounds seeming to come from every direction at once with no visible mouth to pin it from. The lead alien stepped closer to Stewart, and then closer, and then a bit more.

With one of them this close now, it was clear to see that they were quite fluffy, thick layers of fur covered every inch of them with longer tufts atop their head acting like hair- braids and crystal beads interspersed evenly. They had wide hips with powerful legs, the tail extending behind them was long and flattened out near the end like a tapered spade- allowing them to keep balance on the snowy terrain. This one reached out one hand- slowly, letting go of its spear, cocking its head, and with a four fingered hand lightly poked Stewart, the others fell deathly quiet.