Homebrew Moondweller Species Details

"I cannot understand your motives. First you provide medical aid, then you offer me safe haven without asking for compensation. I don't understand why you are doing this. If you are expecting to profit in return, then present your terms. Both parties must be fully informed of the specifics in this trade."
"Man, you are one suspicious guy. I don't have any such intentions."
"Why not? Is this also what you call kindness?"
"Yes, exactly! What's so hard about this? We're getting you outta here whether you like it or not! Let's go!"
"Very well. I will hold you to your word that this will cost me nothing."

—Granblue Fantasy, Second Advent

A race and threat unknown to the sky at large, the enigmatic Moondwellers are the citizens and soldiers of Central Axis, a technologically advanced base on the moon far beyond the reach and imagination of most who dwell in the Sky Realm. Possessing technology that is years ahead and history that is millennia older, these beings ruled by absolute logic plot the conquering of the Sky Realm, and the biggest obstacle in their way is merely their unfathomable scale of time giving the mortal races below centuries to prepare.

Ancient and Advanced

Nearly 20,000 years ago, the people who would go on to form Central Axis fled the Sky Realm realm for the stars above, taking refuge on the moon - if what they left could even be called the Sky Realm. This exodus predates the Creation Myth itself, and knowledge of their existence, much less their culture, plans and motivations, were completely lost to the ages. In the modern day and age, most regard the moon as just a glowing celestial body like the sun, or possibly a very distant island in the sky, with almost none aware that an ancient civilization lives on it, plotting their downfall.

Central Axis is a city of machines, and not just the highly advanced computers, nanomachines and engineering equipment that make up its vast list of assets. Its people are beings perfected by millennia of genetic engineering, surgery and other scientific tampering. Stronger, faster and smarter than any normal Skydweller, Moondwellers are made to be superior in every way - including the removal of such illogical, unnecessary things like emotions. Though they superficially resemble humans, they can be distinguished by their unnaturally pale skin and piercing ice blue eyes. Their hair ranges from light brown to platinum blonde to literally white, and their bodies are often engineered to be in perfect shape and proportion. They often speak in a rapid method of vocal data transmission that sound like nothing so much as the clicks, whirs and beeps of machinery to the untrained ear, finding the language of the sky to be far too slow and inefficient.

Yet for all their emphasis on speed and efficiency, it is nothing compared to their immeasurable patience and desire for absolute precision. And with how long they have existed, it comes as no surprise. The average moondweller has an infinite lifespan. So long as they continue to be deemed useful and receive their life extension surgery at regular 50-year intervals, their lifespan has no limit. Combined with their vast reserves of data and research, Central Axis can continue to exist nearly forever, and they create their plans and strategies on a similar timescale.

A Looming Threat

For all their advanced technology and intelligence, there is one obstacle that Central Axis cannot overcome: the stark lack of natural resources on the moon. A barren wasteland, it is a scientific miracle that they can continue to live there at all, much less with such powerful function. However, while Central Axis is a technological and military powerhouse, it is severely lacking in luxury, entertainment, culture or literally anything that isn't deemed strictly necessary. The vast majority of their citizens are in fact soldiers, each and every one with a specific purpose, trained to work and fight to protect their home or prepare for the future. Those who don't fight are engineers, scientists, researchers or strategists. And all of them live in highly stratified rankings, everything from their living quarters to their clothing, access to literature and even choice of rations being severely controlled and calculated for exact efficiency and functionality. Even something as simple as fruit jam is considered a luxury that only the upper echelons might even see, much less taste. And in the end, it all ends up the same: everything from broken parts to corpses to effluent ends up in the disassembler, the massive system that breaks everything down on an atomic level to be reused again.

Such a machine is just one of many indications of how desperate Central Axis is for resources. So it is of no surprise that they would set their sights on a place abundant with them: the Sky Realm. For millennia they have been plotting their invasion plans and implementing the preliminary measures. Sending agents, machines and other means of infiltration, they have been thoroughly researching the Sky Realm to assure complete domination. However, this cautious nature is what has kept the Sky Realm safe for so long. Because Central Axis operates on such an incredibly long time scale, their plans can be decades if not centuries in the making. Even now, they are still measuring the effects of the War from 500 years ago, where they saw the technologically inferior Skydwellers somehow triumph over the far superior Astrals and their Primal Beasts. Such a complete overturning of numerical logic is beyond Central Axis's understanding, so they continue to measure and research, unable to quantify the emotional bonds of Skydwellers and how they can triumph in seemingly unwinnable situations.

Logic and Illogic

This illogical unpredictability has given Central Axis pause in their invasion plans and reason to conduct further research into the mysterious power that Skydwellers possess to turn fate. Fortunately for the Sky Realm, their efforts to quantify it have produced more questions than answers.

Long ago, Central Axis sent some of their people down to the Sky Realm to conduct covert missions, research and other tasks. However, their ships were a one way trip - fuel being one of the most scarce resources on the moon, the cost of such an item was deemed to be worth more than the lives of those they sent to do their work. So they abandoned their people, leaving them as agents forever stranded to be used when convenient and forgotten when not. Such was only logical, and the majority of the Moondwellers sent to the Sky Realm accepted that - until they were convinced not to.

With no one to rely on, and a mere fifty years to live without life extension procedures, the agents of the Sky Realm's inevitable downfall found aid from an unexpected place: the very people they sought to conquer. Regardless of logic, the people of the Sky Realm extended their hands to the new immigrants to their lands, offering aid to the injured and shelter to the weary. Kindness was not recognized as a valid motivation by Central Axis, yet it was this kindness that saved the people they abandoned. And even if they couldn't understand it, the Moondwellers they helped came to accept it, and in time, reciprocate. Many of them proceeded to make the Sky Realm their new home, settling down and having families. And not a few of these families made it their mission to protect this world they now lived in, including from the one that they once came from. Central Axis technology was turned for Skydweller use, including the creation of the Seal Weapons, fashioned from the powerful Automagods that were originally made to destroy them.

This betrayal did not go unnoticed, and in turn only deepened the mysteries of the Sky Realm for Central Axis and its cold calculations. Just how could their own agents turn against them and side with technologically inferior, illogical people who constantly fought among themselves over the most incoherent things? It was as unfathomable as it was frightening, and the puzzle continues to haunt the moon to this day.

Moondweller Names

Moondweller names originate from a long dead culture or possibly amalgamation of cultures that predates the memories of almost all races of the Sky Realm. While most are only given a first name, some exceptional agents are gifted with a second name, though the decisions behind them are unclear.

Male Moondweller Names: Cassius, Dex, Ellis, Adrian, Ian, Orion, Lucas, Aldrin, Felix, Castor, Victor, Hugo

Female Moondweller Names: Juana, Yatima, Elena, Dalia, Maria, Phoebe, Agnes, Claire, Zoe, Vita, Eve, Sophia

Moondweller Second Names: Krak, Stamp, Stone, Angel, Smak, Love, Up, Crystal, Button, Magic, Blue

Descendants and Agents

 There are very few reasons for a Moondweller to be in the Sky Realm, and almost all of them trace back to the same source: Central Axis sent them there, at one point in time or another. Whether they are currently on a mission, or have since completed or abandoned that mission, all pure Moondwellers were sent there by Central Axis, usually on a one-way journey. However, the agents sent and abandoned by Central Axis aren't the only ones with connections to the moon. This process has been repeated over many centuries, and while Moondwellers themselves can only live on for 50 years without life extensions surgery, their roots live on through the families they created in the home they came to love. Though they are few and scattered, here and there are descendants who inherited their piercing blue eyes, pale skin and hair, and sometimes, even bits of their technology and their missions - be they from the moon that abandoned them or the sky that accepted them.

 

Moondweller Traits

Through millenia of genetic engineering, Moondwellers share the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your choice of either your Strength, Dexterity or Constitution score increases by 1.

Age

As long as they receive life extension surgery at least every 50 years, Moondwellers can seemingly live indefinitely, with some having lived for thousands of years. During such time, they do not seem to age visibly, meaning the true age of any Moondweller can be near impossible to determine on sight, other than the assumption that they must have been on the moon to receive extension surgery within the last 50 years.

Alignment

With their rigid society and strict upbringings, all Moondwellers are lawful, with even those of more neutral persuasions being seen as aberrant. Given their strict adherence to logic and utility over any kind of morality, they tend towards neutrality rather than good or evil, but the Sky Realm has proven quite able to influence them.

Size

Moondwellers are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Logical Mind

You have advantage on Intelligence saving throws, and saving throws to avoid or end being charmed or frightened.

Calculated Action

Whenever you make a non-Charisma ability check or attack roll, you can add your Intelligence bonus to the total after rolling but before seeing the result. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and regain all uses when you finish a long rest.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and the rapid, machine-like language of the Moon.