The first Psycrux were a cabal of powerful psycasters who sought to further enhance their abilities with gene-editing. Dissatisfied with the xenogerms available, they commissioned ever more experimental solutions, culminating in the Psyphon gene. This grants the ability to drain psychic energy from the minds of others to refuel one's own psyfocus.
To facilitate a ready supply of minds to drain - not to mention laborers - Psycrux possess the ability to implant a Thrall xenogerm into others, turning them into slow, docile workers with limited ability to rebel against the Psycrux.
Due to the high proportion of the brain devoted to psychic powers, Psycrux are all blind. They are also noted for their deeply unpleasant personalities.
Xenotype: Psycrux
Hunger rate: x100%
Advantages:
- Natural Psylink (VRE:A)
- Super psy-sensitive (VRE:A)
- Swift meditation (VRE:A)
- High entropy capacity (VRE:A)
- Domineering (+50% suppression power and arrest success chance)
- Psyphon
- Implant xenotype: Thrall
With VPE Psycaster Genes
- Archon
- Archotechist
- Puppeteer (if loaded)
Disadvantages:
- Abrasive
- Aggressive
- Blind
- Greedy
- Unstable
- Poor social
Cosmetic:
- Eye colour: cyan/magenta/yellow
- Head frill
- Fringeless ("helper" gene limiting hair styles to ones that won't intersect the frill)
Xenotype: Thrall
Hunger rate: 100%
Advantages:
- Never bored (no recreation need)
- Low sleep
- Reduced pain
Mixed:
- Docile (certainty loss x200%, suppression fall rate x20%, suppression power x20%, social fight chance x50%, prison break interval x10)
Disadvantages:
- Slow runner
- Slow melee hitter (VRE:A)
- Slow shooter (VRE:A)
- Slow study
- Unproductive (90% global work speed)
- Poor artistic
- Poor social
Other Features
Compatibility
1.6 only. In 1.5, this xenotype is included in the base mod Cyanobot's Genes.
Generation
The frequency with which psycrux and thralls show up as factionless pawns (beggars, transport pod crashes, etc) can be controlled using a slider in the mod settings. Default is never. They can be added to factions with a mod like Xenotype Spawn Control.
Planned Features
Quests
Actually the reason this release got delayed so long compared to my other xenotypes is that I wanted to add quests from the start to allow you to encounter psycrux in the wild. However, I'm finding the quest system fiddly and awkward, and I figured it was better released than not released.
Planned quests include:
- host a horrible psycrux and their thralls
- go hunt a psycrux
Xenogerms
Psycrux xenogerm as rare and expensive quest reward.
Infographics
For now, check parent mod Cyanbot's Genes for documentation of the new genes.[docs.google.com]
FAQ
Version that isn't dependent on VRE : Archon?
Probably not, sorry. I'm using so many of their genes here that it would be a pretty awkward conversion.
With thanks to:
- wep of https://wepfont.com/ for Atmospheric font
- Camera+ for allowing close screenshots
- the Vanilla Expanded team for VRE: Archon
