Omdua

Illustration by Charley Hall.

Bibo digicapitus

The adaptable and fluid Omdua helped to found the Alliance, and they have been present for every stage between the first outposts and its current breadth. Instinctively drawn to imitate the shape – and the expressions – of other species, these tentacled nomads have always drawn strength from their own plurality and the diverse (or diverting) behaviour of others. The Omdua bring a fluid perspective to matters of galactic importance, befitting the fluidity of their own forms.

Omdua Appearance

Requirements

Omdua have thick brightly coloured “crests” on their heads instead of hair, which can vary in appearance from short curves to long tentacles – these may be prosthetics or attached to a wig, headdress, clips or close-fitting hat. Omdua are colourful – feel free to match or contrast the colours of your alien elements!

Additions

• Darker stripes towards limbs and extremities.
• Gills
• Fins
• Frills and organic ruffs similar to those under the bells of jellyfish.
• Fully non-human skin tone.

Avoid

Try not to have your hair on show – crests should entirely cover the back of your head, and any wigs should be styled to have hair fibres look like thin tentacles under the crest.

Variant: Masked Omdua

All omdua mimic the shape of other creatures (in this case, humanoids) in an effort to fit in, but cannot change the appearance of their crest. For a select few omdua this includes their full face, with their full-head crest giving them an unnervingly non-human appearance.

Variant: Luum Omdua

Some omdua have specialised light-emitting zooids called “luum” (loo-oom) as part of their bodies. This natural bioluminescence can be represented using UV or glow in the dark paint, or subtle LEDs that look reasonably organic – use the bioluminescence of comb jellies as a guide when considering the overall look. There is no gameplay difference between omdua with bioluminescence and those without.

Omdua History

The Omdua conceive of their history as a series of distinct epochs divided by hard paradigm shifts. While there are holdovers and retention of useful knowledge between these eras, they are delineated by a mass adoption of new technologies and ways of living – such that the lives and beliefs of one era’s Omdua would be mutually unintelligible to those raised in the age that follows. These periods are named, in order:

Prehistory to A -2500

The era of Emergence. Climate historians and paleoneurologists theorise that the cooling of Geel, the Omdua homeworld, led to a slowing of the intense chemical processes in its vapour oceans. Wild protein blooms developed into colony structures and reefs, which in turn produced the first proto-Omdua polyps – which went on to evolve into the sentient Omdua.

A -1000 to -700

The Dynamic era. Omdua society, now globally dominant, specialised at a spectacular rate. Extraplanetary space travel via solar sail was achieved far ahead of other comparable technologies, followed by the development of manifold collapse technology and exploration outside the local Uliilu system. Had the Omdua encountered a hostile spacefaring species at this stage in their development, it is likely that their lack of experience in defense or diplomacy would have led to disaster.

A -700 to -500

The era of Difference. The Omdua reached the Forest arm of the galaxy and the planet Arliris, where they encountered the Tever. First contact was rocky, and the Tever managed to steal FTL technology before relations normalised. The Omdua were intensely fascinated by Tever culture, which challenged their sense of self; Omdua society underwent a period of intense Tever mimicry (sometimes termed the sub-era of Resonance) before re-stabilising.

A -500 to -350

The era of Calling. Omdua ships encountered MOTHER and attempted to initiate diplomatic relations; delegates were variously rebuffed or captured for ransom, and the situation was only resolved by Tever military violence – at a terrible cost. The Omdua took this disaster as an opportunity to mature, and out of the consequences of their naivety came a formal, though prototypical, alliance with the Tever – the birth of the modern Alliance. The end of this era coincided with the defense of Ok Yator from MOTHER in A -364, which in turn brought the Skala into the Alliance.

A -350 to -250

The Boundary era. Contact with THRONE prompted the Omdua to consider what they are not, and what they do not wish to become. Patterns of reactionary thought emerged, and many avenues of scientific inquiry were blocked off for fear of the consequences of change. This created a feedback loop feeding increased militarism and paranoia in the nascent Alliance, with the joining of the Vari as a high point in an otherwise insular era.

A -250 to -150

The era of Complexity. After an age of stagnation and troubled reflections on their history thus far, the Omdua were jolted from their soul-searching by the appearance of Earthlings – followers of an ancient Omdua call to other lifeforms. Observation of another mode of mutualism prompted the Omdua to reconfigure again, and they began to push Alliance politics towards a new vision – softer, kinder, more hopeful.

Present

The era of Uncertainty. Torn between optimism and introspection, the internal politics of the Omdua still seem inscrutable to outsiders; perhaps because they don’t truly know themselves. An ever more complex galaxy requires Omdua to be at their most variable and viable, whilst still figuring out who they are and what their purpose is – a tall order, but one that their friends in the Alliance are poised to help them fulfill.