An alien species native to the planet Cabina, which they currently share peacefully with the human population of immigrants, settlers, and refugees attracted by the former Church of Humanity, Repentant.
Physiology[]
“I am Krik-tik-T, Singer of the first song*, Orator of the present moment*, Crafter of aluminum and gemstone.* Bearer of the ancestral Onyx Shard frame.* You have the honor of gazing upon the rough-ground matter burrow digger." ~rough translation using a CHR-developed translator
Lifespan:[]
The average lifespan of a Cah-Binn is 50 human years. The Cah-Bin Larvae starts life as clever as a human teenager and have reached maturity three years after having crafted its exoframe*
Birth:[]
The Cah-Binn are birthed out of chitinous eggs as smooth-skinned larvae with multifaceted eyes and an oval-shaped brain. The center mass of the creature and its innards are sheltered by a durable, flexible, and translucent protein barrier, covered in excreted mucus and connected to a series of multi-faceted tool like appendages.
Autopsy reports have the tendrils of the newly born larvae reaching approximately 2 meters in length, but this infant creature, when alive and mobile has a very deceptive height in part due to how malleable and disjointed the individual appendages are at birth.
These tendrils grow and develop as the creature needs during its developing phase. The density, prehensile strength, length and grip strength of a co-joined tendril bundle usually is wholly dependent on the quantity and quality of material available to the creature. This is one of the few things that doesn't change as the creature ages and adapts to its surroundings. Once the tendrils have been fused together, they cannot be undone but will continue to grow as one whole limb.
The hatched creature, while without natural defenses, boasts a considerable intellect when compared with a human child. It starts its life with the instinctual knowledge on how to craft their egg into a durable chitinous exoframe, which it starts out crafting using the remnants of its eggshell and whatever materials the parents have seen fit to donate to ensure the survival of their offspring. Generally speaking, the number of limbs featured on the Cah-Binn exoframe has significance as to how well they did in their childhood. The more delicate limbs attached to the Cah-Binn exoframe, the more successful it was above its peers.
A single mating between Cah-Binn usually produces four or more viable offspring. The resulting fight for material to add to their egg-based exoframe is the means by which the larvae are encouraged to develop both communicative skills and learn the harsh lessons of life. They learn to appreciate the crafting with their siblings, and the parents, having spent most of the gestation period crafting a safe underground shelter for this process to occur, act mostly as facilitators of knowledge and language while encouraging a steady and determined individualistic streak in their young.
By the end of their crafting period, the now young Cah-Binn are expected to emerge with a well-developed mind for calculus and physics as well as a thirst for exploring the known world, crafting fine art, and to have found a variety of passions to pursue.
Mating[]
The Cah-Binn, having reached maturity at the age of 3, will spend upwards of its next twenty years finding a suitable mate, one that can compete with the other intellectually, while also being tolerable for a long relationship together. Cah-Binn reproduce via a unique process of cellular fusion where both parties provide the needed biomass, and by the end of the mating, their bodies have been irreversibly fused together into a single creature with two heads. From an outside perspective it is almost like looking at a new species.
The two mating Cah-Binn, knowing their fate ahead of time, will spend several months using the parts of both of their exoframes to make themselves a body that can hold this new parent entity. Though it has happened, only rarely within the lifespan of a Cah-Binn's does this new entity take on a third or even a fourth mate. Known as Assemblies,* these Ancestral unions tend to be quite respected by the other Cah-Binn and represent multiple families. Their exoframes grow in density, mass and size to match the union of multiple intellects combining their efforts to one project.
When such a frame is inherited by a Cah-Binn spawn, the ancestral frame consciousness will select the heir out of the multiple families. Though it might never operate the frame at peak efficiency, there is a much higher chance that the Cah-Binn offspring, when fitted in a prebuilt Assembly exoframe, will attract more than one mate.
Glossary of Common Terms[]
*Exoframe. A term used for describing the crafted Cah-Binn exoskeleton. The Cah-Binn have long since perfected adding and converting technology into their frames and use alternative fuel to power these systems. This means a fully functional Cah-Binn frame can house the larvae within for days, dispense sustenance, take care of necessities like waste recycling, rest, filter air, and act as a sensor suite, while also serving whatever function the Cah-Binn needs to endure the environment. Some of the newer frames take on a humanoid appearance, and the Empire emphasizes that this is merely an act of mimicry used to deceive humanity into empathizing with the subject.
*Singer of Songs. All Cah-Binn relate to music mostly by vibrations, and during their struggles at birth singing songs is a way of learning. Due to this tradition, some Cah-Binn take the title Singer of the first song as part of their name to depict that they were the prime progeny of their clutch and the most successful of their peers.
*Orator of the past/present/future moment. This is a title and a statement of philosophy. A Cah-Binn is expected to decide on a point of view to use in debate amongst their peers and parents. They reflect their choice in their name. Some valuing the traditions of the past, others living in the moment, and some look to the future.
*Bearer of Ancestral exoframe. When a Cah-Bin parent or elder dies their frame is recycled through the family unit and given to the one most worthy to bear it. Some of these frames, especially ones who predate the war with humanity are carried with reverence and the user is known by having the title of "Bearer of the Ancestral exoframe" usually with a material or compound in between the word Ancestral and Exoframe followed by its purpose.
*Crafter of. Cah-Binn will use what materials are available to craft with, but take certain materials or compounds to use above others to stand out. Being a crafter of a certain metal or compound means the Cah-Binn has taken care to master a metal. Most Cah-Binn usually acquire on average five different materials which they employ in their crafts in addition to their extensive bioengineering and cultural trades for rare or beautiful materials.
*Assembly. A term used for multiple Cah-Binn mated and joined into a single frame.
History[]
Early History & War for Human Prosperity[]
Before humanity's arrival in the sector, the Cah-Binn had settled planets in the Benilli system and handful of systems surrounding Cabina, including Pujaya Nita (0611) and Hild (0610).
In 2215, the Cah-Binn Interstellar Expanse came to an end, extinguished by humanity during the War for Human Prosperity. Their immense alien fleet, guided by their great Gestalt Exoframes, had been hunted down, and what remained of Cah-Binn leadership following this genocide was left with no choice but to sign a treaty prohibiting space-faring and secluding them to their homeworld of Cabina. The Cah-Binn spent the next 400 years as objects of curiosity and entertainment. As with many alien species during this time, those who were not driven to extinction were treated as playthings by humanity.
Post-Scream Emergence[]
In 2665, following the Scream, humanity seemingly disappeared from Cabina, almost overnight. After decades of silence from their captors, the Cah-Binn cautiously launched one of the few surviving Gestalt Exoframes into orbit. There, it was discovered that humanity had vanished from the system entirely, leaving nothing but ruins and corpses in their wake. Believing that the original human-alien treaties confining them to their homeworld had become null and void, the ground of Cabina shook as more and more spaceships emerged to begin expanding into the Benilli system. The first colony was established on Prora, a world with a permanently frozen surface on the far outskirts of the Benilli system.
In 2763, Velan explorers rediscovered the Benilli system and found it full of Cah-Binn ships hunting for resources for their Exoframes. The Cah-Binn managed to make contact in the old Imperial tongue learned during their centuries in imprisonment, and this dialogue appeared to avert immediate hostilities. In the following years the Cah-Binn began to engage in trade with the humans, and over the next century, this relationship continued to grow. The Cah-Binn established void-stations in the Tsatsos and Helesco systems, seeking new markets and new opportunities. Humans bought from them items and resources that were still rare or unavailable in the post-scream economy. In return, the Cah-Binn learned how to outfit their ships with new spike drive propulsion systems.
The empire did consider the Cah-Binn expansion a breach of the original treaty. But as the outposts posed no threat, and the trade was profitable to all involved, nothing was done beyond lodging a formal protest and using the issue to rile up anti-alien sentiment whenever it was politically convenient to some imperial faction or the other.
The Blood Eagle and the Bombing of Cabina[]
- Main article: Aquilan-Cah Binn Conflit
This trade and stalemate lasted until the reign of the Blood Eagle. The Cah-Binn were an obvious target for Empress Aquila Alejandra Ari’s reunification campaign. But when the Aquilan Emperox sent her imperial troops out to cleanse the Cah-Binn outposts in 2905, she met with more resistance than she expected. The Cah-Binn outposts were reinforced with garrisoned defenders, and their trade ships were as varied as their exoskeletal frames. This uniqueness and resistance proved to be more than humanity had initially bargained for. Attempts to create tactics and strategies to combat the Cah-Binn backfired, often disastrously so.
After a particularly brutal war of attrition and pyrrhic victory on Prora, the Empress scrapped plans for a ground assault of Cabina, replacing it with something far more brutal and intending to make Cabina a message. Months of orbital reconnaissance, surveying, and threat assessments had produced lists of population centers, landing sites, and strategic locations, and to these were added anything that bore the faintest resemblance to a Cah-Binn construct.
In 2906 the Imperial fleet began the process of systematic planetary bombardment of every location that had the slightest potential of containing alien life. Hordes of strike craft herded and contained populations in order to make orbital strikes as effective as possible. After the first month of such unrestricted bombardment, the Cah-Binn managed to transmit an offer of peace talks. The site of the transmission was bombed. The next eight months saw various offers of surrender transmitted. Every time, the site of the transmission was targeted soon afterwards. After a grand total of nine months of the near constant bombardment, the Empress abruptly ordered the bombings to cease. The Cah-Binn had been wiped from the planet's scarred surface, and as an additional unintented effect, Cabina’s already fragile ecosystem had been sent into a tailspin which would end with its complete and utter collapse.
Following the bombardment, a token garrison was deployed to the surface, tasked with little more than watching over the ruins of a dead world. Many years later, the garrison would be recalled to assist in the quickly escalating second civil war. It was only when they were gone that the few surviving Cah-Binn began to rise from deep underground bunkers.
CHR Involvement[]
A small colony of settlers had sprung up around the garrison fort. After the garrison's departure they claimed it for their own uses. They christened the capital Lux Gravare, or “Burden of Light,” and committed to the work of restoring the planet. When, in 2969, the founders of the Church of Humanity, Repentant sought a safe harbour to put into practice their ideas, Cabina and Lux Gravare became an obvious choice.
Though understandably wary at first, the Cah-Binn begrudgingly accepted these 'repentant' humans' presence. Though the devastation visited upon them by humanity was, and still remains, fresh in the Cah-Binn's cultural memory, over time many have come to trust their human neighbors. Part of helping build this trust was that include in the Church of Humanity's offer of reconciliation that was a promise: If anyone ever seeks to bombard the Cah-Binn again, they'll have to bombard millions of humans who will fight alongside them.
Today, the human population outnumbers that of the Cah-Binn, and though the two species largely live in separate communities, relations between the communities are good.
Alien Social Structure[]
Family and Community[]
To the Cah-Binn nothing is more important than the family unit and their joint project of constructing a suitable dwelling for long-term survival and eventual space travel. Each family unit separates into branches, with the older Cah-Binn acting as project leads, and the younger ones dissembling information from the outside world back to the domicile through trade and intellectual pursuits abroad.
Individuality[]
The Cah-Binn as a whole strive to develop their intellect as a matter of expressing their individuality. This hunger for mind games, hypotheticals, philosophy, and an instinctual fear for being naked and vulnerable, has ensured the species survival until present times.
Armed with knowledge and always seeking to improve their exoskeletal frames to one-up each other and improve their status outside of the family unit, Cah-Binn tend to specialize their frames through the lens of an area of expertise, and then frame their needs within an undercutting philosophy developed by the individual to ensure they surpass their peers in at least one aspect:
- Tradition (the Past)
- Current needs (the Present)
- Experimental (the Future)
It is not rare to see their immense capacity for adaptation to various systems or modes of technological improvement enhanced further by the use of custom-made tools, or for a family project to be set back years due to unforeseen deaths in the family.
Language and Speech[]
Spoken Language[]
The Cah-Binn use vibrations, sound, and visual effects to communicate, and they replicate this speech through their exoframes to hold high pitched, long-distance conversations with each other. A Cah-Binn conversation can be heard upwards of 1 kilometers, and close distance communication with a bass rhythm emoting still travels at least 100 meters. Standing close to a Cah-Binn in its suit emoting to another Cah-Binn for extended periods is a known cause of permanent hearing loss to a human spectator on Cabina.
Most Cah-Binn families near human dwellings have had to adjust the frequency and loudness of their close distance communication. This has led to a low frequency "Human Dialect variant," that mimics reasonable human output. However, it is basically a form of intimate whispering for the Cah-Binn, who consider upwards of 30 meters as their personal space.
Speaking their language usually requires a text to speech translation device which then emits sound and waves from a suitably large speaker.
Written Language[]
The written language for the whole Cah-Binn race is a purely visual symbol language, like reading wingdings.
They craft it into their exoframes with stylistic flourishes and use different variants to symbolize smells, tastes, and different emotional contexts. Some dialects have different stand-in symbols to depict these degrees of sensation, and others have conceptual symbols.
Changes Due to the Conflict with Humanity[]
The conflict with humanity introduced new kinds of thoughts and concepts to the forefront, that had hitherto been unnecessary for Cah-Binn survival. Never before had they needed to debate the concept of their own worth or justify their own existence.
For instance, they still remain baffled by the concept of the soul, and not having one. For a long time Cah-Binn scholars sought to debate mankind as equals, not understanding that humanity did not desire to debate the issue, but rather sought to use these concepts to aggressively subvert their competing species.
To the Cah-Binn, whose culture is based on a hierarchy of individual family units competing for dominance within a community, the combined might of humanity united in their aggression was simply too much to handle.
In the wake of their defeat and the resettlement of Cabina by the Church of Humanity Repentant, various Cah-Binn began to approach humanity with a newfound desire to express kinship with their human neighbors. Initially, it was an instinctual move, motivated by survival and fear. They would debate the finer points of theology and try to find common ground, desperately seeking a status quo that did not involve their own extinction. It was clear at least to the Cah-Binn elders that the only way to reach equilibrium with humanity would be to play upon their sympathies, or to get humans fighting other humans, on their behalf.
The following two centuries of peace, coexistence, trade, and slow planetary restoration seem to have sparked a trend in human-inspired exoframe fashion within the Cah-Binn populations closest to human settlements. For example, some new exoframes stand on two legs rather than a supportive four or even six legged frame. As human settlers introduced materials from alien fauna, such las bird feathers, many Cah-Binn incorporated them into their designs. There has been a resurgence in items such as long membranous wings allowing for all kinds of new and wondrous patterns on Cah-Binn exoframes.
Technology[]
The Cah-Binn in their prime used their understanding of gravitic energy manipulation to uproot their family domiciles into orbit and to craft enlarged exoframes to promote their individual understanding and breakthroughs with regards to physics. However, unlike human technology, the Cah-Binn eschew all forms of mass production. Cah-Binn technology is hand-crafted by a specific individual to serve the specific needs of the specific Cah-Binn it was designed by or for.
Agriculture[]
Cah-Binn discovered early on the power of glucose in their primitive formative years, and still have several plantations for growing sugar using a black tube-like plant.
Eaters of Bone, Metal, Earth, and Protein.[]
The demands of protein to use in the creation of exoframes and organic structures are great, and as such the Cah-Binn do not only harvest their dead, but also trade for bone and protein off-world.
Though they harvest sugar, and use bone and protein for crafting their exoframes, the Cah-Binn entity within the exoframe eats loose rock and other detritus. They harvest great quantities from using a process called "churning" that extracts minerals from the earth and leaves a layer of soft dirt that washes away when the rain comes.
Churning[]
Churning is referring to an act whereby rock and earth is ground up into a semi-fluid state and the surface begins to shake and split apart. The act of "churning" ground is, by virtue of the technology used, limited to a square of two kilometers at the time.
The sound emitted by the Cah-Bin underground "churning" device is a deep and energetic bass growl that can be heard up from a few kilometers distance of the Cah-Bin family unit's territory. Most entities above ground are quick to find out when and where the device is in effect and depart long before it begins the process of harvesting minerals from the soil. This sound is usually what demarcates that the Cah-Bin family unit's territory is occupied by a living family.
Family Domicile As Spaceship[]
A Cah-Bin family dwelling appears above ground to be a large protective eggshell dome with a 20-foot thick outer shell. The inside of this domicile includes an oval-shaped ritual greeting area, an audience chamber rife with cultural significance for the family which resides within, usually depicting how long the family project has left before it is complete.
The floor has a passage that leads deeper into the structure below ground, like a submarine or a bunker. There are multiple layers and hatches and holes for Cah-Bin burrowing and "churning" towards the planetary core. The occupied ground around the dome experiences the act of being "churned" by the Cah-Bin family on a rotational basis.
The outer shell on its own is composed of ablative sheets of metal harvested from the earth and gathered manually. This outer layer is thick enough to withstand nuclear detonation as well as conventional low impact kinetic strikes. The dwelling has its own internal air filtration system as well as other amenities to facilitate deep space living, and can provide refuge for the family on board for as many months or years as the family has accounted for in their designs.
The Cah-Binn ship's outer layer is composed as such that it blocks all forms of radiation and disguises the electromagnetic signatures within, making the dwelling undetectable by radar, and disguising it as part of the surface of the planet. However, the Cah-Bin design on the layer above ground is dissimilar enough, and marked out as a Cah-Binn dwelling, and as such it can be discovered by visual means (sight).
The final product is a kilometer long torpedo shaped protective hull capable of housing hundreds of Cah-binn with their various professions on board the vessel for an extended stay in space. These domiciles, when finished, are Drive Capable and equipped with multiple short range kinetic warheads, mostly used to deflect stray debris and clear paths. The extremely large ship, while durable and extremely resilient even to modern day human warships and their conventional weaponry, has no feasible long-range deterrent nor conventional fighter escorts. In their prime, the Cah-Binn opted to instead close with an enemy vessel and launch Exoframe warriors to dismantle and board enemy vessels manually.
Gravitic Drive, Gravitic Tech[]
The Cah-Binn have been denied the use of their most vaunted Gravitic technology ever since the reign of the Blood Eagle. This technology and honed manipulation of gravity are what allowed the Cah-Binn to uproot their massive spaceships from Cabina's atmosphere. It also allowed the Cah-Binn to increase the growth rate of their exoframes to become disproportionately large when compared with the alien inside.
Some exoframes, jointly operated by more aggressive Cah-Binn pairs, have been registered to be upwards of 50 feet in circumference. They are capable of swift above ground movement in spite of their size, sporting the same ablative armor and kinetic capabilities as their space-ships, though diminished due to size constraints.
The head region of such a vessel functions more like a control center for the alien inside and gives off no functional electronic signature for long ranged sensor arrays to pick up outside of visual sensors. It is what enabled the Cah-Binn to fight toe to toe with the greatest of Human Mech pilots.
It was believed by all that these suits were destroyed defending the Cah-Binn colonies, but rumor has it that some of these suits were recently unearthed intact on Shan, and that rogue Cah-Binn were invited to the planet by an obscure faction calling themselves House Vagrant.
Ancestral Gestalt[]
When the Assembly (multiple Cah-Binn mated and joined into a single frame) parent figure dies, it is usually within the comfort of its massive exoframe. All of the medical equipment and biomechanical assistance implants keeping it alive shuts down. The end result of its death means leaving behind biomechanical nerve endings, thought streams of knowledge and experience transferred to a unified consciousness that simply cannot be replicated by ordinary means. This ancestral Gestalt, while it cannot operate the exoframe, is perfectly capable of communicating, reasoning and selecting the inheritor Cah-Binn out of its available progeny.
Current Collaborations with Humans[]
Planetary Restoration[]
See also PRISM NETWORK NEWS - SAVING CABINA by Aristotle Seide
See also BREAKING NEWS: Cah-Binn Cleaning Cabina Climate? by John Davelkolhn.
Over the past two centuries, The Church of Humanity, Repentant and the Cah-Binn made efforts, independently and jointly, to restore plant and animal life to the planet. As a result, most settlements are surrounded by swathes of flourishing flora and fauna. Outside of those, however, the planet is dominated by barren and lifeless desolation, the soil itself rendered permanently infertile by the dioxin pollution.
Lux Gravare Community[]
The Cah-Binn aliens are partly nomadic, and their population is divided into family communities nested inside metal yurts/lodges that bear familial markings shaped by the family elder. The largest and more known of these communities are close to the city of Lux Gravare where they facilitate trade with humanity. Each dome is separated individually by at least a 20-kilometer distance.
ACRE Mine CB000163[]
- Main article: Gadalfo
This mineral and metal mine provides one of the primary exports of Cabina, and employs nearly half the population of Gadalfo. Many Cah-Binn work in this mining operation, utilizing mining specific exosuits to greatly increase efficiency. Some locals call it "Hell Hole 163."
Cabina Frontier Caravans[]
Outside of the three major cities of Lux Gravare, Mugenjishi, and Gadalfo, the human population of Cabina's main continent inhabits far-flung towns, villages, and homesteads dedicated to agriculture and the exploitation of natural resources. Settlements closer to Lux Gravare and larger Cah-Binn clan-homes are connected and rely on traveling Cah-Binn caravans for resources they are unable to produce locally.
Psi-Ball[]
- Main article: Cabina Fever
In order to teach the indigenous Cah-Binn about Human culture, mixed teams of Repentant individuals and Cah-Binn played each other in the commoner's variant of Psiball. With time (and the faith's increasing membership) more and more human psychics joined the initiative, until they formally founded a team under the moniker of Cabina Fever.
Shortly after the Fever's official founding, the Church of Humanity, Repentant funded its entry into the sector's Psiball league, hoping to use the platform as a new way of reaching people in the sector and spreading the message of repentance.
In its first season, the Fever's roster consisted of both humans and Cah-Binn but since enemy teams refused to play against aliens, that quickly changed. Shortly after the first few matches, new rules that formally forbade alien team members were introduced. Since that day the Fever's management tries to lobby for the revocation of those rules.
Psychological Lens (SWN Tags of Cah-Binn)[]
Sagacity (Page 206 SWN.Revised Edition)[]
These aliens love intellectual pursuits above all others. Logic, wisdom, and erudition are all prized as the best and most glorious expressions of their nature, and their rulers are invariably sage-kings of remarkable depth and breadth of understanding. Such understanding does not necessarily stand in well for good judgment, and sagacious alien civilizations are notorious for overreaching in their ambitions. Stupidity and ignorance are moral failings to this race, and some of them treat very harshly those species that they do not feel to be their intellectual peers.
Journeying (Page 205 SWN.Revised Edition)[]
This species has an incurable wanderlust. Perhaps they roam the stars in fleets of massive spike drive ships, or they may make steady circuits of the nearby stars to connect their worlds and exchange people among them. More technologically primitive species might sail the waves of alien seas or make nomadic journeys across the continents of their world. Few of these aliens can ever be happy in remaining in one place for long, and they are forever scouting new worlds and new lands simply for the pleasure of being there a little while
Alien Player Characters / NPC's[]
Natural Defenses[]
The alien has access to an exoframe with natural tools which can be considered as weapons. The alien has a base Armor Class of 15 plus half their character level, rounded up. If you give them body weaponry or tools have it equivalent to a medium, advanced/primitive weapon and/or a pre-tech / post-tech toolkit, depending on the technology available.
Environmental Savant[]
The alien can, with considerable effort, craft the necessary modifications to its exoframe which allow it to endure all sorts of atmospherical and environmental conditions, up to and including surviving in the harsh vacuum of space for several days at a time before needing to retreat to its home to replenish and repair its exoframe.
Representing the Cah-Binn In universe[]
The Base Adult Cah-Binn in its frame is considered a Vehicle. The primary example without any add-ons is represented in the ATV explorer vehicle in the SWN-Revised edition (Page 76) or if in space the Cah-Binn adaptations give it the profile of a fighter, but the stats of a Free Merchant (Page 95). Married Cah-Binn cohabiting in a frame count as Gravtanks (Page 76) or Corvettes (Page 95) depending on whether they have made their frame to adapt to the rigors of space or are walking about on the surface. The extremely rare Gestalt Frames are equal to Heavy Mechs (page 304) or Fleet Cruisers depending on specialty.
The Cah-Binn weakness is that they lack the collective will to present a unified front, and their love of intellectual pursuits and non-standardized equipment meant that even at the heights of their civilization, most Cah-Binn Motherships only had short-range spike-missiles for clearing away debris. While these worked wonders in close-range engagements, easily piercing the lower quality imperial ships, it would prove ineffective once humanity had solved the issue of Cah-Binn motherships being virtually undetectable in space. Though extremely tough and armored the Cah-Binn were eventually eliminated from being a competitive species, but their incredible ingenuity and ability to endure harsh conditions meant that they would endure even in present day Acheron Rho.