Copaxi

• Be set in your ways despite your ancestry's inherent ability to evolve over time.
• Be accustomed to living in unpredictable, unsafe environments.
• Have an extremely positive or negative view of authority figures.

• Don't recognize you after you change your body over time.
• Think your species once lived underwater, rather than in the skies.
• Assume you're suspicious of androids, robots, and other tech creatures.

Copaxis are complex colonies of coral-like polyps who typically develop into anthropomorphic forms, though some copaxis grow additional limbs or other atypical anatomical features. A segmented exoskeleton of calcium-rich shell covers most of a copaxi's body, and they develop elaborate crests on their heads, often called antlers, that help outsiders identify individuals. Most copaxis recognize one another by scent and need not rely on these crests, except when spotting each other from a distance.

Copaxis can passively—almost subconsciously—control the growth of the polyps that form their bodies. These polyps also gradually replace each other over the course of a copaxi's life. As a result, copaxis can change and reshape their physical appearance over time.

Each individual polyp in a copaxi's body plays a specific role in their anatomy. Feeding polyps, which copaxis typically grow near the part of their face where other creatures might have a mouth, include a set of five tentacles about 2 inches long suitable for filter feeding or catching extremely small prey; these tentacles are usually retracted into the copaxi's body and pose little threat to larger targets beyond painful scratches. The individual polyps' bodies extend beneath a copaxi's exoskeleton, intertwining with the other polyps in the copaxi's body to create muscle fiber and specialized tissues and organs. Though each polyp is an individual creature in its own right, and a copaxi's body is a “colony” of such polyps, a copaxi is also an individual being; the polyps create tissues for thinking and processing information, sensing a copaxi's surroundings, processing and storing nutrients, eliminating toxins, and even reproducing, which copaxis do asexually.

Copaxis once existed in a near-utopia of flying cities powered by their mystical connection to copi, an unintelligent, coral-like organism that once covered Tabrid Minor. Copi have a supernatural attunement to the cosmic forces of gravity, and ancient copaxis used this mystical connection to create their sky cities.

In 3 AG, Triune's Signal reached Tabrid Minor. Copaxi inventors learned they could refine copi into a semi-organic alloy suitable for constructing and fueling starships. While technological innovators drove copaxi society to construct a massive fleet to explore the stars, traditionalists clung to ancient mysticism and warned that the overly aggressive destruction of copi would spell the planet's doom.

War followed. This schism shattered copaxi mystical traditions, toppled the government, and eventually led copaxis to abandon their flying cities. They industrialized the surface of their planet and eradicated much of the planet's copi to fuel societal and technological progress. Part of the industrial revolution on Tabrid Minor involved the use of a robot labor force to expedite mining operations and construction, but the newly reformed copaxi government of the time ordered the eradication of the robots when their machines began to display signs of sapience.

Copaxis are only now beginning to realize that the rapid industrialization of Tabrid Minor inflicted catastrophic and irreversible damage to the planet's ecosystems. Tensions between the common people and wealthy elites are on the rise. In recent years, an anonymous corporate sponsor funded a massive starship project to revitalize copaxi space travel, hoping to save their society by finding new resources or new worlds to colonize. After learning of other, far more powerful threats in Near Space, Tabrid Minor's government applied for Pact Worlds protectorate status, seeking the assistance of the Starfinder Society to evaluate their planet for membership as a protectorate world; the petition remains pending.

Although copaxis reproduce asexually, they occasionally form long-term romantic bonds. They traditionally have no gender, though some have embraced more nuanced concepts of their personal gender identity after interacting with cultures beyond Tabrid Minor.

Names among copaxis consist of a “shell name” and a “flesh name,” each between one and three syllables in length. Copaxi communities grant flesh names to young clusters of polyps that have united to begin forming an adult copaxi. Once the exoskeleton is complete and a nascent crest is forming, the new adult selects a shell name to combine with their given flesh name.

The government of Tabrid Minor has spent decades suppressing knowledge of the planet's past, especially its history of civil war and ecological destruction. As a result, most modern copaxis have only recently begun uncovering their planet's history. Most admit that Tabrid Minor's rapid industrialization has caused serious damage to the planet, but only the most well-informed government agents know the extent of the damage or comprehend their species' faltering connection to copi. After Tabrid Minor first sought protectorate status in the Pact Worlds, the government cracked down even harder on any societal or historical introspection, believing Tabrid Minor's fraught history could undermine its chances of being accepted as a protectorate. Thanks to propaganda and manipulation by their everpresent government, most copaxis are content to go about their lives, play their part in society, and not ask too many questions about the past.

The government strictly monitors technological and magical advancements and has instilled superstitious fear of both sentient machines and mysticism in the populace; as a result, most copaxis know very little about the history of robotic life on the planet and are hesitant to study or rely on anything magical. Some copaxis must grapple with these beliefs even as they rediscover their own connection to magic.
Popular Edicts doubt and question the statements of authority figures, embrace modern values, follow and respect authority figures, do your part for the greater community
Popular Anathema ask too many questions, stay silent about the misdeeds of authority figures, step outside your assigned responsibilities, study forbidden subjects (especially magic)

Bryanisis, Gnaucara, Panacula, Therseis, Wherbai

6

Medium

Constitution, Charisma, Free

Wisdom

Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from the list of common languages and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent on your home world).

You're attuned to the forces of gravity. You ignore the clumsy and off-guard penalties while untethered in zero gravity.

Your polyps constantly and passively adapt over time based on your life experiences and goals. You can spend a month of downtime to retrain your copaxi heritage. Additionally, you can perform other downtime activities while retraining, but only while retraining your copaxi heritage, copaxi ancestry feats, initial trained skills, skill increases, or skill feats—not when retraining class features, class feats, and so on.