Urog

Core Racial Traits

Trait	Effect
Blunt	Urogs are matter of fact creatures who value frankness and getting to the heart of a matter far more than protecting the feelings of others.
Electrical Resistance	Urogs have electricity resistance 5, which stacks with one other source of electricity resistance.
Electrolocation	An urog who is in contact with a crystalline or metallic surface can detect the presence of other creatures within 60 feet that are also in contact with the same surface, even thr…
Limited Telepathy	Urogs can communicate telepathically with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language.
Low-light Vision	Urogs can see in dim light as if it were normal light.
Plodding	Urogs have a base speed of 20 feet.
Skilled	Urogs gain an additional skill rank at 1st level and each level thereafter.
Darkvision	Urogs have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Blunt

Urogs are matter-of-fact creatures who value frankness and getting to the heart of a matter far more than protecting the feelings of others. Urogs take a –2 penalty to Bluff and Diplomacy checks

Electrical Resistance

Urogs have electricity resistance 5, which stacks with one other source of electricity resistance.

Electrolocation

An urog who is in contact with a crystalline or metallic surface can detect the presence of other creatures within 60 feet that are also in contact with the same surface, even through walls and other obstacles. This otherwise functions as blindsense (vision).

Limited Telepathy

Urogs can communicate telepathically with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language.

Low-light Vision

Urogs can see in dim light as if it were normal light.

Plodding

Urogs have a base speed of 20 feet.

Skilled

Urogs gain an additional skill rank at 1st level and each level thereafter.

Darkvision

Urogs have darkvision with a range of 60 feet.

Vital Stats

Stat	Value
Average Height	10-15 ft.
Average Weight	500–1,000 lbs.
Age of Maturity	50 years
Maximum Age	300+2d% years

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Outside of their home world of Dykon, urogs have a reputation as brash know-it-alls who stay engaged only while a topic interests them. Within Dykon's society, their lives of careful study show how they truly engage: sharing knowledge, avoiding the waste of precious energy by keeping conversations short, and leaving topics that require nuance to subject-area experts. However, not all urogs call Dykon home; at least one concentrated settlement of urogs on Akiton primarily worship Oras as they expand their understanding of silicon-based life. Urogs often make valuable members of starship crews as well, especially those who enjoy optimizing navigational routes.

As silicon-based life-forms, urog physiology differs drastically from their carbon-based counterparts. Their flesh is dense, heavy, and translucent—supple yet firm and covered in tough shell scales. While these shell scales are sometimes identified as an exoskeleton, urogs understand them as an extension of their segmented limbs and see the exoskeleton label as a holdover from carbon-based life being the standard paradigm. Many of urogs' so-called eccentricities come from the fundamental difference between carbon-based and silicon-based life. Overall, urogs don't bother fighting these misunderstandings—likely due to the amount of energy it would take to correct them.

Energy conservation and efficiency are biological imperatives for urogs. As their flesh is firm and mostly immobile at comfortable temperatures, they need to expend considerable energy to move their limbs. However, it doesn't affect their mobility, as they typically move by using minute cilia to generate electromagnetic currents and float over the ground. A similar electromagnetic process in their biology breaks down food into its molecular structure for consumption, making it so that urogs can consume almost any object. However, urogs prefer the easily consumed plant life and minerals from their home world since these silicon-based structures require less energy to digest. Their control over this process is precise to the molecular level, enabling urogs to consume choice nutrients and leave non-nutritive substances behind. For efficiency, they only keep their consumption field active to purposefully break down food or to safely carry delicate items.

When inactive, urog bodies settle into a resting state, their shell scales hanging over their limbs and making them appear like a scaled slug. When fighting, engaging directly with the environment around them, or otherwise exerting significant physical energy, urogs enter an active state, extending their beaked head-stalk and unfurling the limbs that line their abdomen. In this state, their body temperatures rise to make their joints supple enough to move. Maintaining this active state is physically taxing on an urog's body, to the point that a single hour in this state requires the same energy as a single day in their resting state. This active state is typically reserved for academic study, life-or-death situations, reproduction, or interacting with other species.

Urogs control the layering of their shell scales as they return to their resting state. Specific combinations act as fashion statements, mood indicators, or personal identifiers. They can also manipulate their color by purposefully consuming supplemental minerals. The changed color ranges from iridescent tone to a saturated dye, depending on the amount consumed, and fades over time. These supplements are produced solely on Dykon, so any urog who wishes to maintain their coloration typically stocks up when visiting, imports through a specialized mail-order outfit, or creates a unique blend and processes their own from locally accessible materials.

Culture on Dykon prioritizes efficiency whenever possible. While biological necessity drives conservation of energy, cultural values drive optimization far beyond the need to avoid overexertion and into its own art form. These values touch nearly every aspect of everyday life, from the way meals are prepared for quickest consumption to Renewal Day, a single day dedicated to the implementation of many low-priority changes all at once. Social interactions follow a similar structure, with the expectation that conversations outside of close relationships should focus only on necessary information and avoid small talk.

While this belief leads to stereotypes of curt urogs who walk away when conversations bore them, urogs see this avoidance as polite. Even in crisis situations, Dykonian society instills that it can be harmful to speak up on a topic on which one isn't an expert, as doing so inevitably leads to the spread of misinformation and misunderstanding. Even in a medical emergency, a traditional Dykonian response is to seek appropriate help instead of risking harm by taking amateur action. The common aphorism, “Don't undo work before it starts,” emphasizes the need to wait for direction before acting. On Dykon, this approach tends to be effective, as education typically focuses on specializing in a particular area of strength or interest, so an expert is never far away.

Day-to-day life is mostly self-regimented because urogs encourage each other to find the daily routine that works best for them. These routines do include unstructured time since being too strict is often inefficient; this contradiction is colloquially known as the inefficiency paradox. Particularly driven urogs refer to their time away from work or study as paradox days, as not working leads to more efficient work later.

Socially, urogs tend to have personal living quarters in their research lab. The majority of housing is built for lone urogs with the expectation that group living quarters will only be used for brief periods. Most socializing occurs in weekly knowledge-sharing groups, where urogs in the same field come together and share any insights they've learned. Few religious congregations maintain a consistent service with Eloruti, Ibra, Yaraesa, and Weydan being the most common. Individual urogs dedicated to one deity aren't uncommon, though it can seem rarer since devotion is treated as a private matter.

Education

After efficiency, advancing knowledge is the strongest value in Dykonian urog society. Formal education begins once children can move independently, which typically comes soon after they develop telepathic abilities. Their first lessons take place in large child-rearing centers, mostly in Zethir. There, they learn rudimentary urog skills: reading, writing, conservation of energy, and maintaining an efficient routine. Before they leave this school as adolescents, they undergo aptitude- and interest testing; the results determine initial placement into specialized academies.

These academies cover a wide variety of topics, treating both scientific and practical fields with equal respect. After initial placement, switching areas of study is encouraged, especially when a student struggles with coursework or seems disinterested. Specialized study within these academies takes another four years, at which point an urog graduates into adulthood. Urogs immediately post-graduation are known as dendrites, taken from a philosophical text likening urog academic lineage to branching rock formations.

In the immediate years after completing formal education, urogs are expected to find an academic mentor in the field of their choice. The mentorship and cohort experience is highly valued, with some urogs eventually finding full-time work in mentoring newly graduated students. During this period, urogs become experts in their chosen area of study by performing independent research and networking in their mentor's wider professional circle. Once a mentor has determined that their protege has mastered the subject, the partnership dissolves, and the protege changes from dendrite to learned.

However, education never stops. After significant milestones in their careers, such as publication of research or novel findings, urogs can choose to identify their education level by a new term. These terms are self-chosen, typically based on how much growth the individual feels this milestone represented. Typically, these appellations indicate rising in height, using terms such as “elevated” or the names of atmospheric layers. Going extended periods without these milestones is sometimes seen as matter of concern.