S&V Xenos: Usik – Gregarious Walrus Folk

Trankvila, the Usik homeworld, is a heavy gravity world that experiences long periods akin to ice ages. Since it joined the Hegemony, the Usik have become part of many a new colony. Heavyset and short compared to the average human, Usik skin color range from deep browns to light tans though as juveniles they are covered with a fine insulating white hair that molts as they mature, leaving adults with only facial hair tufts. Their biology and thick skin are capable of withstanding the great ranges of temperatures of Trankvila, making them well suited to extreme planetary climates.

Traditionally, they are a matriarchal society with sizable clans. When they made contact with the Hegemonic Alliance, they quickly adapted and proved to be curiosus and socially outgoing. Since then they have been often found in diplomatic or service positions throughout the Hegemony. 

Common Usik Names Anik, Atka, Alor, Denali, Ila, Jissika, Katjuk, Kupin, Lusa, Meriwa, Panik, Pinga, Sakari, Suluk, Uki, Ulu

Usik Special Abilities

Note – These are intended to be used as something in addition to Playbook abilities, enhancing a character like a Background, adding an extra die for Actions where appropriate or Pushing for special outcomes or increasing the effect.

0 Stress

Climate Resistant: Your thick skin is well adapted to extreme temperatures that would make most xenos drop.

Push for 1 Stress

Heavy Gravity World: When performing a feat of strength, it only costs 1 Stress to Push Yourself.

Social Animal: Strong is the clan and their reach. It only costs you 1 Stress to Push Yourself when attempting Consort or Sway.

Push for 2 Stress

Indomitable: Between your thick hide and determined will, there’s no stopping an Usik on a mission. For 2 Stress, you may reduce the Level of Harm you have taken by one level, even after you Roll to Resist.

Gain 1 Gambit When …

Slow & Steady: Gain 1 Gambit for your Crew when you take a penalty to outcomes when speed or agility is required for an Action Roll.

Design notes

• As memory serves, this was inspired when a player asked if their Contact could be a walrus person and we just went with it because it was something different. Later I connected it to Ghus of the comic Saga (which if you haven’t checked out, that is one wild space opera setting!) and had completely forgotten there had even been walrus folk in the Dragonlance saga (found much later in the series). The more I looked, the more examples I found like the Tuskarr in World of Warcraft (I briefly played Warcraft but never got further than gathering wolf pelts in WoW) so finding images turned out to be easier than expected.

• I was looking to subvert the trope of the stout species, rejecting the honorable warrior culture in favour of a very social one. You don’t think of a samurai or even a klingon when you look at a walrus, but when you see two bulls competing or even the females aggressively threatening each other for better social position, they certainly fit the martial mold.

• The name was taken directly from the Dream Park novel The Barsoon Project (Larry Niven & Steven Barnes) where one of the characters wields an usik, a magic club fashioned from the pubic bone of a walrus. It was dropped into a D&D game by a buddy of mine and lived rent free in my head ever since. Apparently the correct way to spell it is ‘oosik’ but I still went with the phonetic way I had first encountered in the novel.

• For the common names, I cheated and feel a little guilty about it. I searched for common Inuit names and tinkered with some of the letters, primarily replacing ‘q’ with ‘k’ and replacing a few vowels.