About
The most general defintition
A sophont is a category of intelligent being. This category can derive from their biological species or technoligical culture, and more often then not, both.
The definition in Strikermechanica relies on some further categories, but can be related to species, race, and even morphological caste (as is the case for thots).
Sophont - meaning intelligent being.
The expansion of humanity out into the local parts of the galaxy, has resulted in the discovery of other sapient beings, which were doing the same thing. But all of these species brought with them artificial life forms from both the products of genetic engineering and of artificial intelligence.
The technological and biological origins of sapient life forms expands on what it means to be sapient, and the term race is no longer adequate. The term species is also problematic, partly because it suggests biology and doesn’t really work for robots, but also because genetic modifications, can still be part of the same biological species, yet be clearly different enough to be another race.
So, we went with the term sophont.
The sophonts that are listed in this section represent those that are the most commonly encountered in the Worlds of Striker. They are by no means all of them, your GM may have an additional one that they’ve decided to use.
The listings are kept short allowing you to set up a character, but no more. There is an enormous scope for expanding on them, which is left to other books, publications, and yourself.
Note also that the pictures show the sophonts in their natural pigmentation. Given the wide availability of genetic engineering, you can have more or less any pigmentation you want, including some very unnatural ones, such as blue or green skin (for humans), purple irises etcetera. This can be your own character’s choice, or one made by your character’s ancestors, and passed down.
The specifications at the end of every listing are to facilitate character generation, and summarise the things that you need to put on your character sheet. The following headings briefly explain these specifications.