Allseed Lore

The question of whether Allseed are aliens is both simple and complex to answer. The simple answer is no. Allseed are not true aliens, only the species or distant descendants of species introduced to terraformed planets by Novus colonizers. Yet more often than not the Allseed appear to be alien creatures on newly discovered worlds.

Novus have existed for longer than any single society, rising from barbarism to technological singularity before tearing themselves apart so many times that the shredded remains of their nations and cultures lie strewn across the cosmos. When the Novus destroy themselves and ruin the world they created, they rarely leave a planet completely uninhabitable.

In the ashes of Novus society the lifeforms they made struggle to survive. But struggling life transitions to sustainable life, and sustainable life transitions to thriving life. A world forsaken by the Novus may become a paradise populated by the life they seeded only a few millennia later.

Newly expanding Novus civilizations often discover such planets in their initial exploration of the stars. Most assume the planets of teaming life came about naturally, evolving parallel to their own.

Society: The vast majority of Allseed live on the planet they were designed for. Lacking the ability to adapt to hostile environments, any Allseed who wishes to travel off planet requires advanced technology, either developed by their own species or introduced by outside forces.

For those still part of the society of Novus who created their species, their culture depends heavily on the Novus culture and purpose for their species’ creation. A species made out of artistic aspiration or to populate a newly terraformed planet has a very different experience than a servant species created to fill a societal need.

A species that has become one of the dominant life forms on its planet with little to no knowledge of the Novus can have any variation of society conscious life might create. Such cultures might survive contact with the Novus mostly undisturbed, or alter drastically after interstellar contact is made.

Unfortunately, many species allowed to flourish in the Novus’ absence suffer when interstellar colonists discover them. Even when the violence of a planetary invasion is avoided, the slow violence of cultural assimilation and drained resources can prove little different.

Ecology: The ecology of the Allseed is as varied as bioengineers can devise. But certain distinctive traits shape their existence on a grander scale.

While the Novus act as a constant that may outlive the stars, Allseed are subject to the drift of evolution and entropy. A given species will only remain in their current state for a handful of millennia before genetic drift reshapes it.

Appearance: The only common factor among Allseed is their origins, recent or far removed, at the hands of Novus bioengineers. This makes traits similar to the Novus appear often, even if they are far from universal.

Most Allseed are humanoid or adjacent to humanoid, and very few Allseed species have more than one sex. Nearly all have verbal language and cultural learning that allows them to share the Novus experience of reality.

Game Play: The Allseed act as a response to the need for alien characters. In much of space faring science fiction, aliens are used to give an exotic and fantastical tone to the otherwise soul crushing nature of the universe beyond our habitable planet.