The Shoo

“Strike while the iron is cold.”
The Shoo are nimble opportunists—small, spring-jointed travelers who live by wits, speed, and a talent for turning other people’s plans into their own profit. On Verkalium they slip between markets, rumor-nets, and back alleys, flipping salvage and spoofing signals to stay one jump ahead. As they say, “If the Shoo fits…”

Quick Profile

Stature & Look: Compact, agile builds; large observant eyes; quick, springy posture.
Core Identity: Cunning scavengers, prankster engineers, dealmakers. Loyalty is personal, not ideological.
Signature Tech: Kitbashed zippy ships, spoof boxes, decoy drones, and firmware “borrowed” from anyone careless.
Role in Verkalium: Couriers of gray-market goods, intel brokers, and last-resort problem solvers when orthodox routes fail.

Appearance

Shoo silhouettes read light and lively: narrow torso, long forearms, digitigrade bounce. They layer mismatched plates, soft holsters, and jangling lanyards of keycards and dongles. Helmets are half-visor “caps” that flip down to a full face shield when trouble looms. Their gear looks improvised—but the wiring is immaculate.

Iconic cues

Dazzle-patch panels and stickered cases.
Utility belts stuffed with decoy pods and signal taps.
A pocket full of “totally legitimate” access badges.

Physiology

Fast-Switch Neuromotor: Exceptional reaction and hand speed; fatigue spikes if forced into repetitive heavy labor.
Elastic Tendons: Great jump distance and scramble speed across cluttered spaces.
Sensory Bias: Big oculars favor motion detection; struggle a bit with glare and long-range tracking.
Limits: Low raw strength; sustained melee or load-bearing work drains them quickly.

Psychology & Social Character

Opportunistic Ethics: “If it isn’t nailed down, negotiate.” They respect cleverness and panache more than titles.
Crew Bonds: True loyalty exists—but to people, not flags. Betray a Shoo’s crew and you’ve bought a clever enemy.
Humor as Armor: Jokes, pranks, and theatrical exits defuse tense rooms (or provide cover for a lift).
Conflict Style: Spoof, distract, isolate, extract. If they’re trading punches, the plan already failed.

Society & Heritage

Shoo diaspora ships are patchwork caravans: families, crews, and markets on the move. Their oral histories celebrate The Flip—stories where a hopeless constraint turns into an advantage. They arrived at Verkalium not to plant a flag, but to work the gaps: between Houses, between shifts, between laws that hadn’t been written yet.

They maintain pop-up bazaars at airfields and canyon alcoves, where you can find a part that “doesn’t officially exist,” a rumor that shouldn’t be true, or an exit route no one else noticed.

Technology & Material Culture

Spoof Boxes: Portable emitters that clone transponders, jam lanes lightly, or paint phantom cargo.
Decoy Drones: Cheap, cheerful, and everywhere—flashy enough to pull a guard’s eye for three crucial seconds.
Zippy Rigs: Over-tuned thrusters, hot-swapped firmware, cooling that’s “good enough for one more run.”
Trade Goods: Salvaged components, patched firmware, rare fittings, rumor packets (“news with odds”).

Life on Verkalium

Preferred Sites: Starport alleys, market fringes, maintenance catwalks, and any place with three exits.
Planetary Hazards: Intelligent flora loves shiny; Shoo bait it with throwaway glints while crews slip past.
Neighbors: Friction with Velocri timetables; playful rivalry with Humans who call them “creative vendors”; careful respect for Carcinum quarantine rules (sticky lessons learned).

In-Game Attributes (Genesis / TCG / 4X hooks)

Affinity: Scouting / Salvage / Deception

Global Buffs

Cold Read: First interaction with a new market or faction each cycle yields bonus offers (discounts or extra trade slots).
Lucky Find: Periodic Salvage Events at active sites: gain components or swap junk for useful parts.
Lane Spoof: When moving between adjacent nodes, a Shoo party can mask cargo type, reducing interception chance.

Tradeoffs

Glass Knuckles: −Melee/Direct Combat effectiveness; morale dips in prolonged stand-up fights.
Crew Squabbles: On long projects without a “win,” apply Bickering: small −Productivity until given a side-job or prize.
Quality Roulette: Hasty installs can add a minor Glitch tag to upgraded gear unless a specialist (Resonati/Human) signs off.

Unique Unlocks

Decoy Field: Deployable drone cloud that draws aggro and splits hostile targeting for a short window.
Spoof Relay: A relay that clones transponder traffic—temporarily marks a hostile patrol as “friendly” to local sensors.
Scavenger Bay (T2): Facility add-on that converts tailings/scrap into Random Components; higher variance than standard refit lines.

Commander Perks (choose one)

Hand Is Quicker: Your first action against any new site has +Great Success chance and leaves no trace.
Exit Always: Gain a free evac route marker after finishing a job; one-time fast retreat.
Fence Whisperer: Black- or gray-market deals yield extra component rolls; small chance to upgrade rarity.

Synergies

Velocri: Shoo scout ahead to soft-clear routes; Velocri nail the timing—together, Lane Spoof gains duration.
Resonati: Signal Loom cleans up Shoo spoof spillover, reducing Glitch odds.
Mechani: Scavenger Bay stocked with Mechani spares becomes shockingly efficient.
Olivanti: Food-for-favors programs calm Bickering and boost bazaar morale.
Humans: Admin mediation legitimizes gray deals, unlocking brief legal windows for pop-up markets.

Counterplay

Carcinum hazard perimeters force decontamination—spoofing won’t skip the slime check.
Skahh heliostat floods erase Decoy Field shadows.
Vaporati dark lanes are harder to spoof; bring better keys or bring tea.

Strategy Tips

Keep Shoo busy and rewarded—chain small wins to prevent Bickering.
Use Decoy Field to peel wildlife or guards off high-value crews.
Pair Shoo salvage with Resonati QA to turn chaos into clean upgrades.

Cultural Notes & Etiquette

Never call them “thieves” in public; say “acquirers” or “fixers.”
Bring a trinket to trade, even if symbolic; refusing to barter is rude.
They’ll test you with a small fib. Spot it graciously, and you earn real terms.

Visual Guide (for artists)

Morphology: Small, springy; big eyes; quick hands.
Gear: Kitbashed plates, dangling tags, decoy pods, spoof box with blink indicators.
Aesthetic: Bright, optimistic hard-sci-fi; cel-shaded/NPR; clean values; light honest wear; no photoreal effects.
Brand Cohesion: Basalt/sand neutrals with emerald UI accents and pops of caution yellow.

Lore Hook: “The Market That Wasn’t There”

When a heat surge shuttered the main exchange, a Shoo crew spun up a phantom market—pallets, chalk lines, spoofed registers—then sold the real queue to itself at a discount. By dusk the exchange reopened to discover its best trading day… on someone else’s ledger.