The (Savaged) Vizzben
Type: Registered Bolter
Physical Appearance
Vizzben pale skinned mammalian-based carbon life forms, with elongated-oblong head, and two fleshy antenna that extend out the side of their heads. The are humanoid creatures with four fingers on each hand that end in small suction-cups.
The antenna to them are a special and almost sacred thing, almost a seual organ to them. They do not let anyone but their closest friends touch them, and only in intimate or leisure moments. They tend to swirl around when the Vizzben is excited like a dog wagging it’s tail and they retract into their skull when they are fearful.
History
No one is quite sure where the Vizzben came from. It is theorized that not even most Vizzben know where their homeworld is. Some say that the entire species was conned into forgetting their homeworld’s location – possibility lead to believe it was destroyed. Some occasionally refer to the itha’daca – roughly translated to the Great Con or Great Trick – that occured in their past but never really reveal what that was. Some non-Vizzben believe it was an event that lead to them to leave thier homeworld and completely forget it existed for one reason or another.
Since humanities arrival into the Inner Frontier, the Vizzben have been present. In fact, one of the first contacts into the Inner Frontier with the Vizzben were lead to believe they had trespassed onto the great Vizzben Intergalactic Republic and they had to pay tribute to continue exploring. The corporation paid tribute for 4 years until they realized it was all a con.
Society and Customs
Leisure and luxury are ideals in their disjointed society. On the outside, it seems their central goal is to simply bilk enough money out of people to live in luxury so they do not have to work. On the inside, something else seems to drive them – a natural instinct to empathically manipulate others for money and power. Like a predator driven to kills it’s prey, the Vizzben are drive to prey on the gullible. Every deal they make is usually very lopsided in their favor and their skill in throwing a veil over that is unprecedented.
Some mega-corporations employ Vizzben as salesmen as well as corporate spies. They have proven to be very skilled brokers of deals and information. Many believe that the Vizzben actually minions to a higher being – a boss alien that psychically stays in contact with all of them, processing the empathic and physical data all at once. This has not been proven and may have been a rumor started by a vizzben to cast more mystery on the operations of the species.
Attitudes
They have been described as cowardly, conniving, slippery, and as backstabbing. Life is an opportunity to be exploited to its fullest. Small and innocuous, Vizzben are exactly the type of sentient species you do not want to have living next door. While they are, by nature, nonviolent, they are persistent liars and con-men, and they have a seemingly species-wide ability to get out of trouble even faster than they get into it.
Vizzben wander the universe – i.e. they pick up and leave when things get too hot – revealing the wonders of the ages to the uninformed – i.e. bilking the suckers with fast talk and smooth operating – hoping to move happiness from one comer of the galaxy to another – i.e hoping to move money and other negotiables from the hapless victim pockets to their own.
Vizzben tend to attract a lot of alien prejudice, because they are not as trusted as other species. They tend to be gullible enough, that at times they believe their own con games. They tend to build reputations, for being con-artist and through this chosen line of work, they tend to attract a lot of contacts and enemies.
Vizzben are con-men and tricksters by nature. They enjoy their way of life perhaps more than they should – they are unnaturally cheerful and unnervingly optimistic. Their belief in the rightness of their nature can make them fun to interact with – as long as you keep your hands on your wallet.
Special Abilities
Frail (-1): The creature is less durable than most. Reduce its Toughness by 1.
Hindrance – Outsider (-1, Minor): -2 to Persuasion with aliens, they have a reputation for being untrustworthy.
Hindrance – Pacifist (-1, Minor): Vizzben fight only in self-defense. Violence is a sure way to end a business relationship and that’s not good in their minds.
Psi-Ability (+2) – Vizzben start with Arcane Background: Psionics, with powers that traditionally effect the Mind and influencing other people. Suggested starting powers are Empathy, Confusion, Mind Link, and Mind Reading.
Edge – Charismatic (+2): Free reroll when using Persuasion.