Copaxi

Copaxis evolved from copi, an unintelligent, coral-like organism that once covered their home world—the now heavily industrialized planet Tabrid Minor. Copi exhibit a supernatural attunement to the universe’s gravitational forces, and for ages, copaxis harnessed this organism’s power to create floating cities where they lived for centuries in a near-utopia.

The Signal changed copaxi society forever in 3 ag when copaxi inventors discovered how to refine copi into a semiorganic alloy suitable for constructing starships. Conflicting ideologies arose between traditionalists who clung to their people’s ancient mysticism and technological innovators who wished to explore the stars. These differences led to violence and, eventually, all-out war. The ensuing struggles toppled the established order, nearly destroyed copaxi mystical traditions, and led copaxis to abandon their flying cities in pursuit of industrialization. The newly united copaxis decimated the planet’s copi, simultaneously fueling a technological revolution while also severing their connection to the copi’s supernatural power.

Thanks to their world-spanning government’s fearful suppression of its past for decades, modern copaxis have only recently begun uncovering their planet’s history. Most admit that Tabrid Minor has suffered as a result of rapid industrialization, but few know the extent of the damage or comprehend their ancestors’ sacrificed connection to copi. Fewer still know the history of robotic life on the planet, for the government strictly monitors such technology and has instilled a superstitious fear of anything resembling a sentient machine in the populace. After Tabrid Minor began petitioning the Pact Worlds for protectorate status several years ago, the planet’s government increased its crackdown on historical introspection, fearing the world’s fraught past might undermine its chances of being accepted.

Copaxis have long enjoyed an affinity for solarian techniques, particularly minor feats of gravity control, though their current powers encompass only a shadow of what the species once accomplished with their full copi connection. Now that adventurers have begun rediscovering their people’s ancient techniques locked away in the floating cities, sundry factions—from independent gyms to soldierscholars trained by the military—have begun restoring and innovating the nearly forgotten arts of gravity manipulation and ecological mysticism.

A copaxi is a colony of individual, genetically identical polyps that have developed into an anthropomorphic form. Each polyp includes five feeding tentacles, about 2 inches long, that facilitate filter feeding. These polyps adapt and intertwine to form every part of a copaxi’s body. Their segmented, calcium-rich exoskeletons sometimes develop elaborate horns and head crests that serve as unique identifiers for a copaxi.