The first time you meet an Om, you'll think someone left a bowling ball hovering in the corridor. A crystal sphere about the size of a basketball, humming faintly, pulsing through colours that shift with whatever it's feeling. Blue-green calm. Deep amber irritation. A flickering white that means it's doing maths you won't understand for another six semesters. They're beautiful, in the way that things older than your entire civilisation tend to be.
They don't have hands. They don't have legs. They don't have mouths. What they have is telekinesis, telepathy, and the quiet, immovable certainty that comes from being the first species to chart the galaxy -- at sublight speed, because when you live forever, patience isn't a virtue. It's just unnecessary.
The Om discovered Faster-Than-Light travel was possible, then decided to walk anyway. They mapped star systems the way geologists map strata -- slowly, precisely, and with the understanding that anything worth knowing would still be there when they arrived. They were right. Most of the time.
Orathan -- one of three planets in the Tri-Lithis system, a gravitationally impossible trinary configuration that has kept astrophysicists awake for centuries. Three planets orbiting the same star in perfect gravitational symmetry -- a configuration that defies the three-body problem and should not exist naturally. The leading theory is that an extremely strong magnetic field links the three orbiting bodies, creating a stable resonance that no natural formation could produce. This was clearly a constructed system. By whom, and for what purpose, is the most expensive unanswered question in astrophysics.
Each planet is home to one of the three Silicoid sub-races: the Slaters on Ignaar-Crucis, the Nanocoids on Nythex, and the Om on Orathan. When asked about the origin of this celestial arrangement, the Om respond with serene acceptance. It simply is. They find the question endearing.
Orathan's surface is predominantly crystalline, creating landscapes that shimmer with an otherworldly luminescence. The vast majority of this terrain is occupied by the Om's megacities -- colossal structures of grown crystal that appear to be both alive and in perfect synergy with their inhabitants. Only a select few from other species have ever set foot on Orathan, and those who have speak of it like a fever dream they're not sure actually happened.
Theoretical physicists have hypothesised that the unique orbits and rotations of the three Tri-Lithis planets may be more than a stunning display -- they could be a power source for the Om and their crystalline infrastructure. This celestial mechanism might hold the key to the genesis of the Om themselves. The Om have declined to confirm or deny this. They declined politely, which for an Om means they projected a gentle sense of "stop asking" directly into your prefrontal cortex.
Om communicate primarily through telepathy -- a complex, multi-layered transmission of thought, imagery, and abstract pattern that operates at speeds organic brains can't process. Between Om, an entire philosophical argument can conclude in the time it takes a Human to blink.
With other species, they slow down. Considerably. The experience of receiving Om telepathic communication has been described as "having an idea you didn't think of." A concept appears in your mind, fully formed, as though you'd always known it -- except you hadn't, and the floating crystal sphere across the room is pulsing a faint amber that means it's waiting for you to catch up.
They find spoken language inefficient and slightly amusing. An Om forced to use a vocaliser -- a shaped resonance chamber grown specifically for the purpose -- sounds like a wind chime having a migraine. Most don't bother. They just think at you and wait.
Om names are resonance harmonics -- vibrational signatures that identify an individual's unique crystalline frequency. Transliterated into phonetics, they are single-syllable crystalline tones:
Ahn, Vrex, Thel, Kor, Syn, Nex, Phal, Ren, Zoh, Ith
To an Om, these transliterations are about as accurate as spelling out the sound of a sunrise. They tolerate it.
Neuro -- the Om who became Nuronet. One of the oldest and largest Om ever to have existed, Neuro volunteered to become the seed consciousness of the Android moral architecture. The process required integrating silicon circuits onto its crystalline matrix at scale -- a procedure that is often fatal for Om, given the extraordinarily delicate balance between organic crystalline electro-signals and etched silicon hardware. Neuro survived. Over centuries, it expanded beyond any single node, any single planet, any single concept of self. Eventually, Neuro was relocated to an unnamed molten planet in an unknown system, enclosed in a planetary geothermic bidirectional Dyson sphere -- the greatest feat of Om engineering to date, well it would be if they told anyone. Scientists would love to research exactly how it was done, if only they could find the place. That was a millennium ago. Whether Neuro still exists as a distinct consciousness within the Nuronet architecture is unknown. Occasionally, the network exhibits behaviour that suggests it might. Nuronet has been "unable" to comment. Scientists suspect it is "unwilling."
Ahn the Surveyor -- led the first contact expedition to K'hett that discovered the Bohecs. The Om survey team established a cliffside observation platform and spent weeks cataloguing what they initially classified as "non-sentient large insectoids." Their assumptions about anatomy and limited manipulative ability had blinded them to the truth. The Bohecs corrected this misunderstanding by erupting from the ground and disassembling the survey ship in a matter of minutes, leaving the scientists stranded in their shielded observation domes. Ahn was, by Om standards, deeply embarrassed -- a state that manifests as a prolonged deep violet colour shift and a low harmonic that roughly translates to "I would like to not be here." When rescue arrived, Ahn had already established communication with the Bohecs using the ship's Babelator data that the Bohecs had absorbed from the wreckage. Ahn's final survey report reclassified the Bohecs as "highly sentient, socially complex, and in possession of our ship."
| Name | Om |
|---|---|
| Sight | Average 360 |
| Hearing | Excellent |
| Touch | None |
| Smell | None |
| Taste | None |
| Special | Telepathic |
The Om have no conventional tactile, olfactory, or gustatory senses, they are crystal spheres, not organisms with nerve endings. Their "sight" is a 360-degree crystalline resonance detection that functions in all directions simultaneously. Their hearing is excellent, transmitted through vibrations in their crystal matrix. Their primary sensory advantage is telepathic awareness, an extremely sensitive passive field that detects the electrical signals of conscious minds within range, providing spatial awareness that most species would describe as unsettling and the Om would describe as "basic." Of course, this worked perfectly until the Humans turned up with something they crudely called Wifi, and the Om directed them to their research on nano-level carcinogens.
The Om interact with the physical world through telekinesis. They have no limbs, no manipulators, no mechanical interfaces. Everything they touch, they touch with their mind.
Range: 5 times their Harmony stat in metres.
An Om uses telekinesis primarily for self-propulsion -- the hovering isn't decorative, it's how they move. Beyond personal flight, they can extend force fields to manipulate external objects. A mobile Om can handle up to two Small objects or light weapons simultaneously, or one Medium or assault weapon. When stationary and focused, an Om can exert influence over a single Medium-sized object or manage a Large weapon.
An Om reloading a weapon while floating serenely across a firefight is a sight that tends to recalibrate your assumptions about what constitutes a threat.
Range: 10 times their Intellect stat in metres. Range is greatly reduced by electromagnetic and magnetic interference; active EM shielding, strong magnetic fields, and high-density Wifi environments can cut telepathic range to a fraction of its normal value or block it entirely. The Om consider this a design flaw in everyone else's infrastructure.
Om possess a complex and advanced thought architecture that allows them to transmit intricate ideas, images, and abstract patterns with near-instantaneous speed. Among their own kind, conversations happen in compressed bursts that contain more information than a standard briefing document. It's efficient, elegant, and completely useless when talking to anyone else.
The problem is bandwidth. Non-silicoid brains process thought at what the Om consider geological speed. Communicating with other species requires the Om to dramatically slow their mental activity and simplify their transmissions; a process they liken to explaining colour to someone using only the word "blue." They manage. They are patient about it. Visibly, pulsingly patient, in a shade of amber that everyone has learned to recognise.
The Om don't build technology. They grow it.
Where other civilisations manufacture processors and etch circuits, the Om nurture living crystals in vats -- cultivating compute units through the same process by which they reproduce. Their technology is not fabricated but born, and the Om treat it accordingly. These crystalline creations are not tools. They are companions. Pets. Family.
Asking to buy Om technology provokes roughly the same reaction as proposing to purchase someone's child. The emotional response is immediate, visceral, and accompanied by a telepathic projection of disgust that can leave unprepared individuals nauseated for hours. Despite this, Om compute units are universally acknowledged as the finest in the galaxy -- coveted treasures in the interstellar market. Acquiring one is a feat that speaks not just to your wealth but to your ability to navigate a cultural minefield that has no map and no survivors willing to draw one.
The one Om technology that is commercially available, because the Om consider it trivial, is anti-gravity projection. Om-grown crystalline field generators power every hover vehicle, cargo lifter, and planetary transport platform in the galaxy. The Junkers adapted it into their Anti-Grav Datalink Units. CONFED uses it for troop transports. FOFT uses it for cargo containers. The Om use it for moving furniture. The technology that underpins galactic logistics is, to the Om, a household appliance.
Orathan is not a planet with cities on it. Orathan is a city that happens to be planet-sized.
The Om reside in sprawling megacities crafted entirely from grown crystal, structures so vast and intricate they defy imagination. The architecture is alive in a way that most species find deeply uncomfortable -- walls that resonate, floors that hum, corridors that seem to anticipate where you want to go. Visitors describe the experience as being inside something that is aware of them.
The celestial ballet of the three Tri-Lithis planets -- locked in their magnetic dance, orbiting in perfect synchronisation -- may be more than spectacle. Theoretical physicists have hypothesised that the orbital mechanics themselves power the Om's crystalline infrastructure, and perhaps the Om themselves. The Om neither confirm nor deny this. They simply state that this harmonious existence is their natural state of being. It is an answer that answers nothing, delivered with the serene confidence of a species that has been fielding the question for longer than your civilisation has existed.
In the intricate tapestry of intergalactic relations, the Om hold one card that makes them indispensable: they can back up a wet-ware brain.
Leveraging their advanced silicon-based technology and the formidable capacity of their crystalline structures, the Om possess the ability to capture the complete synaptic pattern of any carbon-based lifeform. This neural imprint is stored within an organic Om Crystal -- a Mindshard. Combined with cloning technology, a Mindshard means death is no longer permanent. It's a setback. An expensive, disorienting, memory-gapped setback, but a setback nonetheless.
The technology has complexities. For a seamless restoration, the synaptic pattern must be downloaded into a clone that matches the biological age of the original at the time of capture, or alternatively into a specially prepared Android host. Service tiers range from comprehensive packages including rapid clone aging -- full-body life insurance -- down to basic Mindshard-only backups. Clients can store their Mindshard in the Om's vaults or carry it with them.
This service became widely known by the time Humans were inducted into the Unicore Accords, and it has fundamentally altered how most organic species perceive mortality. Death is a temporary condition. The Om are the cure. They charge accordingly.
| Species | Compatible | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Humans | Yes | Baseline carbon-based. Clean capture, clean restore. The primary market. |
| Rodi | Yes | Organic brain, fast synaptic patterns. Captures well. |
| Kanarie | Yes | Organic brain. Ultrasonic memory encoding restores cleanly. |
| Sketh | Yes | Organic brain. Cold-blooded physiology requires temperature-matched clone. |
| Bohecs | Partial | Individual Bohec consciousness can be captured, but restoration outside a hive produces a disoriented, low-function individual. An Independent Bohec restores cleanly. |
| Junkers | Yes | Only the central cortex needs backing up; the orbiting sensory components are hardware, not consciousness. Restoration requires a new cortex unit; the existing peripheral parts relink automatically. |
| Zetas | Yes | Organic brain. NTDD temporal fields can cause versioning conflicts with older backups; recommend re-imprinting after any time displacement event. |
| Cyborgs | Degraded | Whatever organic brain tissue remains can be captured, but the synthetic architecture doesn't transfer. Restores with memory gaps, personality drift, and a recalibration period. Cyborgs consider this acceptable. Everyone else finds it unsettling. |
| Androids | No (target only) | Synthetic consciousness; no synaptic pattern to capture. However, Mindshard patterns can be loaded into a specially prepared Android host as a restoration target. |
| Om | No | Crystalline consciousness. They built the technology. They don't need it. |
| Slaters | No | Silicon-based, fusion-powered. No synaptic pattern. |
| Nanocoids | No | Nanite collective consciousness. No wet-ware brain to capture. |
Wetware Incompatible. Silicoids (Om, Slaters, Nanocoids) cannot install Wetware augments. Vat-grown donor protein has nothing to graft onto; crystalline matrices, fusion cores, and nanite swarms all reject biological tissue on contact. The geneticist will not even take your deposit.
As an Om, you can select from these extra Racial Feats when choosing from the Racial Feats List.
Effect: Establish a telepathic link with one willing creature within your telepathic range. You share simple thoughts, emotions, and warnings, enough to communicate danger, direction, and intent without speaking. Costs 1 Action to establish. Once established, the link is maintained passively and persists until you dismiss it, the target moves out of range, or either party is Incapacitated. You can maintain only one Telepathic Bond at a time. The target experiences your thoughts as gentle impressions, ideas that arrive without being invited.
Severance Risk: If the Om is destroyed while a Telepathic Bond is active, the dying consciousness may attempt to survive by crawling down the link into the bonded creature's mind. The GM rolls in secret; on a result determined by the Om's Intellect vs the host's Willpower, a fragment of the Om's consciousness takes residence in the host's skull. This is not possession. It is a passenger. It has opinions. It does not leave. The host gains +1 Psych permanently and occasional intrusive thoughts in a voice that is not theirs. The Om High Council considers this "an acceptable survival adaptation." The host rarely agrees.
Effect: Your telekinetic range extends by 5m and you can manipulate one additional Small object simultaneously. This feat can be taken multiple times; each take extends range by a further 5m and adds +1 Small object to your capacity. The Om consider this "practice." Everyone else considers it terrifying.
Effect: You carry a personal Mindshard containing your own neural backup -- a crystalline fragment of yourself, updated at an Om facility. If your body is destroyed, you can be restored at any Om facility from the Mindshard data. You lose all memories since your last imprint. The Mindshard is a Tiny item. Updating your imprint requires visiting an Om facility during Lockdown. This is the original technology -- the one the Androids' Encrypted Backup was derived from. The Om had it first. They always do.
Effect: Your crystal matrix is denser than the Om average. Gain DR 1 (Slash). This does not stack with worn armour -- you ARE the armour. Can be taken multiple times; each take increases DR by 1 (max DR 3 Slash). Blades skip off your surface like razors on glass. Blunt and Pierce vulnerabilities remain -- density helps against edges, not impacts. Other Om can hear the difference in your harmonic -- a lower, heavier tone that roughly translates to "don't."
Effect: You can consciously control the colour shifting of your crystalline surface to blend with your surroundings. Gain Boon(1) to Espionage - Stealth checks. Most Om consider this undignified. You consider it practical. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Effect: Emit a focused resonance pulse that disrupts electronic systems at Short range. Select one target device or electronic system. The target must pass a Glitch Check or malfunction for 1 round. Costs 1 Action. The pulse is audible as a sharp crystalline tone that organics find unpleasant and electronics find catastrophic.
Requires: Om.
Effect: Your crystalline matrix has been tempered against corrosive compounds. Gain Resistant to Chemical damage; take half Hits (round down) from Chemical sources. Most acids slide off your surface like rain off glass. Industrial solvents leave a mark but not a scar. The Om consider chemical warfare a particularly crude invention, which is exactly what you'd expect from a species that has never had skin to dissolve.
Requires: Crystalline Resilience.
Effect: Your crystal matrix is reinforced against concussive and puncture damage; the two weaknesses that have killed more Om than any other cause. Your Susceptible condition to Blunt and Pierce is reduced by one step: Blunt and Pierce damage are now treated as normal damage instead of double, and you no longer take Bane on saves against them.
This feat can be taken twice. The second take upgrades both to full Resistance; you take half damage (rounded down) from Blunt and Pierce sources.
The crystal still shatters. It just takes more than a hammer and a knife to make it happen.
Requires: Telekinetic Mastery.
Effect: You weaponise your telekinetic field. Once per round as 1 Action, you can lift and hurl a loose object (debris, a tool, a thrown weapon, a hand-sized fragment of bulkhead plating) at a target within your telekinetic range, making a ranged attack using Weapons Ranged Thrown vs the target's TL.
On a hit, deal 1 Hit per 5m of your telekinetic range, up to a maximum of 4 Hits. Damage type depends on what you grabbed -- Blunt for debris and tools, Pierce for a thrown weapon, Slash for a sharp fragment. The GM picks from what's actually available on the battlefield.
You must have a suitable loose object within reach of your telekinetic field (carried, held by you, or in the environment). Empty corridors produce nothing. A workshop, a cargo bay, or a battlefield littered with wreckage produces rather a lot. The crystal does the work, you just point at the target and decide who deserves it.
Requires: Any Om.
Effect: Your crystalline structure resonates with the cognitive activity of nearby thinking creatures -- but only when you're actually paying attention to them. When you are engaged in conversation, negotiation, interrogation, or any other direct social contact with a creature you can see, you feel the texture of their mental state: deception, fear, hostility, affection, cognitive load. Not the content, just the shape of the mind.
You gain a RankedBoon to Espionage - Social checks involving detecting deception, reading intentions, assessing emotional state, or interrogation. Line of Sight is required -- you cannot read a mind through a wall, around a corner, through a door, or from inside a sealed compartment. The resonance needs a direct line between your crystal matrix and the target's nervous system.
This does not work on creatures with low or absent emotional signatures: Androids, Cyborgs (partial -- the feat reads the meat, not the hardware), or anything else Nuronet filed under "minds that do not hum."
The flesh is loud. The wiring is quiet.