#raxilite

(art by Aberiu on DeviantArt)

(As an aside before we start, it is so hard to find good art of characters with symbiotic nanites that aren’t just super soldiers or wearing shapeshifting armor. So we’re stuck with art of a lightning gun because it’s tangentially related.)

Nanites and nanotechnology in general is, by all accounts, very, very small. It’s literally in the name.

And while collectively nanites can do many wondrous things, the fact that they’re so small means that applying mass times acceleration, or force… is not usually one of their strong suits.

But much like how ants overcome obstacles by working together, nanites can overcome this hurdle, and not just express great force, but manipulate it.

Today’s subject revolves around nanites that are specialized in doing just that. Whether they’re equipped with microthrusters, able to project magnetic fields that allow them to move and act more strongly as a collective unit, or some more esoteric process, nanites with the redirection faculty are good at two things, expressing surprising force on their surroundings, and redirecting other forces through them. The collective AI intelligence of these machines naturally is very good at on the fly calculations to do so.

As we’ll soon see, the result has shocking control over their opponents and of firing lines, so let’s take a look at how they achieve that!

At the start, these nanocytes can direct their nanite cloud to target a foe within or adjacent to it, causing their attacks to be subtlely guided towards that target, stabilizing the path of bullets, weapons, and energy blasts. This could be creating a mirrored tunnel for a laser weapon, gently pushing bullets and melee weapons back on course, or any number of a myriad of ways.

The cloud can instead be directed to exert surprising force on a foe within, pushing them around or tripping them.

As they master redirecting their attacks, even cover is reduced, and with a surge they can even bend the path of a ranged attack or line around cover or to catch different foes using the cloud alongside one of their nanite-created weapons.

On a more defensive note, their nanites can punish attackers by redirecting some of the force of a successful attack against them into projecting spikes or projectiles of nanomaterials back out at the perpetrator.

Finally, true masters are able to push multiple foes at once, though it is tricky to do so unless they spend a surge.

What we end up with is a nanocyte that blends ranged combat maneuvers with the ability to be especially accurate against foes stuck in their nanite cloud by ignoring concealment, reducing cover, and whatnot. Naturally, you should build for ranged combat and combat maneuvers as a result. As a fun aside, being able to spend a surge to bend their shots can make line weapons especially effective for them. Definitely worth considering, but otherwise your strategy here is to set up your cloud and a gear array weapon and keep foes trapped in the cloud to set up a kill box where you can hammer them with attacks and manipulate them with maneuvers.

With the complex math required to push foes and redirect weapons with trillions of tiny nanites, there is definitely a heavily analytical side to this option, though how much of that is the character and how much they rely on the nanites for such things can vary a lot by the character.

Reluctantly accepting the nickname “Dr. Haze”, Doctor Iklu Whiteblossom is one of the foremost experts on nanomachine-assisted ecological repair, and the tiny raxilite is no slouch when space pirates or rival corporations come calling looking for a quick buck off his research, as he is a crack shot with his plasma pistol, made more so by nanite assistance.

Cruel and exploitative, Captain Rekksha has taken to using a powerful dawn beetle core-diver as the primary muscle of her pirate crew, letting it rip into enemy vessels before her crew move in to mop up. If the beast ever needs prodding in the right direction, she uses her nanites to carefully redirect her stun gun to send painful shots in the proper motivating direction.

(art by Izaque Fagundez on Artstation)

Small announcement, folks: After today’s entry, the Starfinder Archetypes, which served as the basis for PF2 archetypes, will be moved into the regular weekly rotation rather than being limited to CFF. There’s enough of them now and the decision for them to be CFF entries was made back before Pathfinder Second Edition was announced. And now there’s a Starfinder Second Edition on the way too! Anyway, on with the entry!

As long as there have been militaries, there have been commanders there to keep their cool, analyze the situation, and issue commands. This has remained true through the Bronze Age to the present day, and will likely remain true into the far future.

There are many different styles of leadership, but today we will be focusing the style common to the individual squads of the Veskarium’s militaries, an adaptation of the ancient vesk tradition of the Battle Leader!

Battle Leaders have their basis in the teachings of the conquerer-god Darmoritosh, and as such they focus on momentum in battle, rewarding victory against individual foes with praise and new orders to direct those under them to even greater heights.

In other words, this is an interesting flavor of the classic “marshal” rpg trope, a military leader whose function is to buff allies with orders and commands, so it’s fun to see that realized in some way outside of the solider class, though you can always combine the two as well.

The core ability of this path is the battle leader’s ability to react to an ally downing or critically wounding a foe and issuing their allies an order afterwards, bolstering their ability to act in other ways. When they start down this path, they learn one such order, which can range from enhanced damage on their next turn, greater speed, enhanced focus on skills or resistance, giving them a moment to recover, helping them stay alert, help them overcome afflictions, and helping them reposition. Some of these affect all allies, while others affect only the one that made the triggering attack.

As they grow in power, they can choose to forgo various abilities of their vocation in favor of learning either a new order, or to learn to better utilize an order they already have, increasing it’s effect.

Eventually, they also learn how to invoke two benefits of orders at once, granting allies even greater benefits.

Naturally, this archetype works best with more militant classes (especially vanguard with their occasional ability to have extra reactions in a single turn), but it can work well with pretty much anyone, especially if your build doesn’t have a lot of use for reactions normally. Also consider pairing it with a buffing support build such as a biohacker, mystic, and other spellcasters. The fact you can choose between your normal class abilities and additional benefits from the archetype is a nice touch as well.

You can’t put your life in another person’s hands without trusting them, and that’s exactly what happens in a military squad. Exactly what style of leadership your battle leader has is up to you, but you should probably roleplay them getting to know their various party members to better reflect their bond with the party.

Forgoing the life of a merchant, the witchwyrd Albonsai instead runs a mercenary company, where she is not afraid of getting mixed up in the fight as well. Unlike other witchwyrds her underlings seemingly keep her secrets out of loyalty rather than binding legal contract, though she also typically offers her best prices to her kin.

A raxilite delegate has long trusted their bodyguard team to protect them, but on their most recent assignment, they hire the party as an auxiliary force. The main team, however, is a very tight-knit group, and are mistrusting of the newcomers, a rift that would-be assassins could exploit if not closed.

It's easy to spin out a villain out of playable races and we haven't gotten many opportunities for that in these lists which are based upon monsters. While I do intend to look through some of the better races to use for monsters, it largely goes against the purpose of this series. At least up until we get to our humanoid and monstrous humanoid lists. However, occasionally in Starfinder (and largely just in Starfinder) we find a playable race that is not of one of these two typings. Both Ghorans, who we've talked about, and Raxilites fall into this category, as playable Plant characters.

Before coming on to the scene of um... space?... I guess... the Raxilites were already masters of biotechnology. Now I've always had this issue with BioPunk, where I hear that and I think that the bio we're talking about is more about plant tech. Instead, it usually entails a much more alien Gieger-esque flesh world. Biotechnology on the other hand, gives me the idea of doing experiments on creatures. So of course in this case of Raxilites, it is far more about the plant-based technology I think of when I hear BioPunk. In any case, they serve as the centerpoint of this practice, with ships structured off these plants being highly sought after and medicine from this craft making them well-known as a place of safety.

Raxilites are kind of like the Halflings of Starfinder, valuing both community and exploration highly. These qualities may not make them an obvious subject for your next big bad, but this idyllic life is actually just the building blocks for such a story.

Every part of Raxilite culture is expertly balanced to appear as if a utopia. Not so much so that it feels like a trick and this most likely not the intent of Paizo. It's not like an Omelas or Brave New World but nor is it a simple homely or cottagecore existence either. They clearly have a sophisticated technological civilization but one that is far more in line with SolarPunk than the cities of the modern day.

All of this however, while not requiring particular sacrifice from the community within, does require a sort of balance that some of them may consider... easily disrupted. There are some underlying points throughout the Raxilite cause that talk about how they restrict immigration and travel and how they value a community that is woven together harmoniously.

Now I am not someone who at all believes that this cannot be kept intact with the exposure to new elements, but even if the descriptions don't specifically describe the Raxilites as xenophobic by any measure, there is at least a measure of desire to keep that peace intact.

So in the situation of a refugee crisis, where a verdant world with food, power, and medicine a plenty, would look good. And we know, from examples recent and current, how cruel national power can be when faced with the supposed 'threat' of refugees. In this instance, one could imagine there to be certain Raxilite elites that may desire to 'preserve' their world of Raxil from these undesirables, with the players meant to be the ones to resolve the conflict in the midst of finding a solution for the actual threat that may be the cause of the crisis (though there need not be a specific reason, as the political battles of a migrant crisis could be considerable a story enough, however they may take place).