Small and furtive, the Wrinlians are often overlooked by larger races. Yet through technological prowess and inquisitive minds, they’ve successfully spread through the Hegemony. Despite their size, Wrinlians seem possessed of manic amounts of energy. Few shipyards will not have a pack of Wrinlian mechanics hard at work.
Wrinlians have a number of distinct physical features. They possess a secondary set of arms, commonly carrying a tool or device of some sort. They are omniverous, though much of their homeworld cuisine is arthropod based, including insects of all sizes and not necessarily deceased. Additionally, they have an adaptaion with which they can store food and small items in a throat pouch that can be quickly disgorged at will. In appearance, their fur comes in a wide range of colors, including blue, pink, and purple. Deep midnight blue is extremely rare and ancient Wrinlian superstitions considered it to be a marked by the gods for a special destiny.
Culturally, they prefer to travel in groups, be they formed of fellow Wrinlians or others that they have adopted as part of their group. Wrinlians often have multiple names, including a birth name, family name, location name, and a simple nickname used by close acquiances. Due to the massive size of some Wrinlian communities, their concept of personal property differs greatly from many other Hegemony species that can create serious misunderstandings.
Wrinlian 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
Multi-Arm: You have four arms.
Natural Weapons: You have a mouth full of fangs that can count as Fine Weapons when in melee.
Push for 1 Stress
Saved for Later: You may Push for 1 Stress to disgorge an small item from your Loadout without it counting against your maximum. Alternatively, you may Push for 1 Stress to swallow a small item that is concealed from non-invasive searches.
Wall Crawler: You may Push for 1 Stress for +1 Die to Actions used to climb surfaces that would be impossible for other humanoids.
Push for 2 Stress
Manic Energy: You may Push for 2 Stress for +2 Dice for Actions used to dismantle, destroy, or wreck. Alternatively, you may Push for 2 Stress to add or subtract 1 Segment for a Clock that is time dependent so that the Action is completed quicker.
Gain 1 Gambit When …
Alien Build: Gain 1 Gambit for your Crew when you need to use equipment designed for a regular humanoid but due to your extra arms and size, you are unable to use it or can only use it at penalty.
Design notes
- The Scum & Villainy core book has but one line about Wrinlians, mentioning that they are multi-armed mechanics. I had a vision of a singular oversized head with multiple arms sticking out. I briefly considered an octopus species and I might still bring something like that into play. In the heat of the moment speaking as a key NPC, I found myself starting to channel Glass Cannon star Skid Maher’s Dr. Kundatu Friss, a small rodent humanoid and started describe something furry and blue with four arms and fangs. Naturally, one of my player’s exclaimed, “You mean like Stitch?” and I just went with it. I don’t expect to be sued by The House of Mouse over use of the image, but it’s going to really flavour most game uses from here on in.
- Wrinlians fit the tropes of “cute alien” and “small and clever”, basically a cuddly goblin.
- I really want to test out using +2 Dice for a Push, for it will make things truly superhuman for some Playbooks that already have 2 to 3 pips in an Action, getting more bang for their Stress rather than a Stress discount. I considered it for some of the other xenos but it didn’t seem to fit at this point.
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