---
# System prepended metadata

title: Phorids
tags: [Species, Lore]

---

{%hackmd theme-dark %}

# Phorids

More commonly known as plasmamen, phorids are a loose "race" of people whose bodies are composed primarily of plasma. They resemble the skeletons (and exoskeletons) of other species and have a wide range of interesting physiological quirks.

[notes]: <> (short snippet that wraps them up as fast as possible. Discloses the fact that these are plasmamen with a slightly more professional and easy to type name.)

## Physiology

[notes]: <> (This goes first because this is going to be what's most pertinent to gameplay. Sticking to this exact order for every species isn't entirely necessary. This includes biological quirks, such as radiation immunity, cold immunity, and the tendency to burst into flames)

Phorids are largely skeletons made near-entirely of a plastic-like plasma-based substance. They're extremely fragile, due to their skeletal structure, and tend to burst into flames when exposed to oxygen. Without a supply of gaseous plasma, they will suffocate and expire.

Phorids possess organ-like structures which perform vital body functions. A spongy mass acts as a filter for gaseous plasma. A crystalline structure processes chemicals. Another performs metabolic functions that "fixes" plasma into usable energy, and so on.

Though the plasma they're made of is imitating organic tissue, they're exempt from many vulnerabilities of organic matter– they have no DNA for radiation to destroy, they don't need to eat, and they don't mind the cold. The only pain they can feel is psychological.

## Origin

[notes]: <> (This section serves as a transition between the Biology and Culture sections, to make the document flow better.)

Phorids are technically a disability rather than a species. Any living organic matter can be subject to the effects of phoron-restructuring events. These events are typically catastrophic and/or anomalous, and always involve plasma one way or another– fires, experimentation, excess amounts of liquid plasma, etc. Soft tissues are usually destroyed completely by typical phoron-restructuring events, leaving only hard tissue (such as bones or chitinous exoskeletons).

While the personality traits of their past selves usually persist, they rarely remember their experiences prior to restructuring. Some fully forget the details of their past lives; these are considered the lucky ones. The unfortunate fact is that many will live on with fragmentary memories of a life they used to have and may never be able to return to.

[notes]: <> ("Why do they look like skeletons?" They are skeletons. "Then why aren't there plasmadogs?" nobody coded them "How does this specifically work?" Leave it open, to keep how plasma itself works open, because elaborating on it too hard would go into sci-fi harder than we want, and to let people choose who they want to be a little better. "Why aren't there plasmoths?" we havent added them yet)

## Culture

Phorids do not have a unified culture, but their shared experiences often bring them together. All phorids once experienced a period of readjustment; one of the most psychologically taxing readjustments a person could ever experience. They have died, been brought back from death, and now need to live with a deadly oxygen incompatibility and a dependency on an expensive and dangerous gas. A phorid is unlikely to survive the readjustment period without aid.

Because of all of this, the average phorid is incredibly dependent on others for survival, especially in the early stages. Nanotrasen is the biggest provider of phorid life support equipment, the biggest supplier of phoron, and who most phorids turn to for survival. As such, Nanotrasen has amassed a large clientelle of phorids that depend on them entirely for survival.

Many of these phorids are Nanotrasen employees, legally bound by a contract to work for them.

Of course, this state of affairs didn't resonate with *everyone*. Though living independently of Nanotrasen is difficult when they are the most reliable source of everything you need to live, phorids who manage this lifestyle exist. There are even those who attempt to actively fight against Nanotrasen's grip, using themselves as an example of the damages caused by insufficient working conditions.

## Gameplay Changes
- [x] Update blurbs (name can be kept plasmaman ingame and incode, just make sure word "phorid" is somewhere, similar to the plasma-phoron thing)
- [ ] Different species of phorid ie lizard and teshari skeletons, hollow moth shell phorids, etc
- [ ] Envirosuits that aren't for NT jobs
- [ ] ruins (?)
- [ ] Plasma ships
###### tags: `Lore` `Species`