The Carcinum

“Sweetness warns.”
Graceful and courteous in person, the Carcinum are bio-chemists by birth—soft-chitin beings who exude a sweet, narcotic slime that soothes… then stills. They build gardens of scent and signal, shaping their surroundings with chemistry as others do with steel.

Quick Profile

Stature & Look: Soft-bodied, chitin-sheathed bipeds with pearlescent sheen; vented masks or gill-like valves for chem control.
Core Identity: Individually kind and measured; collectively defensive and lethally efficient when threatened.
Signature Trait: Sweet toxin-slime—a volatile residue that attracts, calms, and ultimately incapacitates aggressors and pests.
Fleet Doctrine: Ships are easy to track by chem wake, but contamination disables pursuit—cloak systems and optics foul under residue.

Appearance

At first glance they seem ceremonial: smooth plates with nacre glints, soft glow along seam-vents, and ribboned reservoirs at hips or spine. Their protective masks are elegant rather than menacing—perfume flutes and micro-atomizers blend into the design. Clothing favors rounded forms, hazard pennants, and color tabs indicating potency and antidote pairing.

Iconic cues

Drifting scent veils in still air; amber or mint hues in light.
Hex-pattern vent masks; chem kanji or icons etched into plates.
Sticky footprints on wet stone—beautiful and dangerous.

Physiology

Chemocytes & Reservoirs: Specialized glands produce layered secretions—lures, anesthetics, and tacky binders; blends can be tuned in seconds.
Pheromone Speech Layer: Sub-auditory messaging rides atop spoken language for nuance and urgency.
Mucocutaneous Armor: Slime forms a microlayer that seals cuts and blocks pathogens; also damages certain synthetics over time.
Limits: Dehydration reduces control; windy, arid conditions disperse blends too quickly; cross-contamination can backfire without proper scrubs.

Psychology & Social Character

Harm Reduction Ethic: The cleanest fight is the fight that never escalates—lure, calm, isolate, evacuate.
Covenants of Use: Strict social codes govern when and where a blend may be released; violations incur communal censure.
Hospitality Reflex: Guests are offered counter-scents (antidote tabs) as courtesy—a subtle trust contract.
Conflict Style: Terrain conditioning and scent funnels; bloom the trap only at the last possible moment.

Society & Heritage

Carcinum prehistory is written in Scent Books—wax tablets that hold preserved blends alongside stories of their use. Cities were designed as wind-instruments, with alleys and baffles that steer plumes like melodies. Diaspora ships re-created this architecture in miniature: baffle corridors, scrub gardens, and reservoir stacks labeled by family recipes.

Their arrival at Verkalium was practical: pest control, quarantine, and hazard-proof farming—skills frontier towns needed immediately. Early misunderstandings—wildlife collapses near poorly sited vents—led to today’s cautious zoning and joint oversight with Humans and Filtrati.

Technology & Material Culture

Aerosol Weavers: Micro-nozzle arrays blend and project precise cones or sheets of scent.
Slime Gardens: Terraced beds where specific flora concentrate reagents; harvest yields base compounds and visco-elastics.
Chem Beacons: Replace light with scent for guidance in storms or blackout conditions—coded trails readable by mask.
Decon Rites: Portable scrub basins, neutralizing salts, and fiber mats—always part of the kit.
Trade Goods: Anesthetic resins, hazard beacons, tox-filters, decon salts, and adhesive sealants.

Life on Verkalium

Preferred Sites: Wet gullies, estuaries, misted ravines—places that hold scent and feed gardens.
Planetary Hazards: Intelligent flora can “learn” attractive notes; Carcinum rotate blends and add bitter tail notes to prevent co-adaptation.
Neighbors: Cooperative with Humans on quarantine; tense with Filtrati over shared fluid spaces; Mornath mitigate residue with gravel scrubs around workyards; Vaporati appreciate de-scent corridors for stealth.

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

Affinity: Defense / Area Control / Hazard Management

Global Buffs

Scent Wardens: Facilities staffed by Carcinum gain −Incident Chance (fauna/pest/wildlife) and −Infiltration from close-quarters threats.
Anesthetic Bloom: Triggerable zone effect that applies Slow + Pacify to hostile units/fauna entering the area for a short duration.
Residue Lattice: Paths and perimeters treated with binders grant +Ambush Resist to allies and −Pursuit Efficacy to enemies.

Tradeoffs

Quarantine Overhead: All Carcinum sites and ships require decontamination steps—−Docking/Trade Speed and occasional supply delays.
Chem Wake: Overland movement leaves a traceable trail unless time is spent on scrubs; stealth operations suffer unless paired with allies.
Humidity Dependency: In arid/desert biomes, effect radius and duration are reduced without water support.

Unique Unlocks

Slime-Garden Terrace: Structure that converts local biomass into Chem Reagents and Adhesive Sealant; small passive pest reduction nearby.
Chem Beacon Net: Low-power guidance replacing visible light; −Detection for allied night moves within net; compatible with Vaporati routes.
Neutralizer Sluice (T2): Facility module that auto-cleans residue on outgoing shipments—removes trade penalties for that site and prevents cross-faction contamination events.

Commander Perks (choose one)

Gentle Hand: First hostile wildlife event each cycle auto-converts to Calm Dispersal (no injuries, small resource loss).
Clean Lines: Decontamination time −40% for your convoy and allied visitors.
Bitter Tail: Your Warden zones resist adaptation—fauna cannot learn or bypass your scents in this region.

Synergies

Mornath: Gravel scrubs amplify binders—+Perimeter Integrity and cheaper ward upkeep.
Filtrati: Joint fluid engineering allows precision chem gradients (if politics allow), boosting sort/refine from waste streams.
Resonati: Harmonic dampers stabilize aerosol plumes in stormy EM weather—+Zone Duration.
Vaporati: Chem Beacon Net overlays with dark routes for silent convoys.
Olivanti: Garden residues repurposed as plant-safe repellents, protecting terraced farms.
Humans: Admin-led quarantine corrals reduce trade penalties and speed inspections.

Counterplay

Shoo can spoof hazard placards; invest in tamper-proof sigils or Resonati verification.
Skahh heliostat heat thins plumes—deploy shade baffles or upgrade reservoir capacity.
Frigidi cold snaps condense aerosols unpredictably; calibrate nozzles for brine-laden air.

Strategy Tips

Treat and own the approach lanes: lay Residue Lattice before building expensive cores.
Stack Neutralizer Sluice on export hubs to keep commerce flowing.
Pair with patrol or stealth factions to offset Chem Wake on long moves.

Cultural Notes & Etiquette

Accept the offered counter-scent tab before entering Carcinum spaces—it’s both safety and courtesy.
Do not wear strong perfumes or solvent-heavy sprays to meetings.
If you slip on a Carcinum floor, they’ll apologize; if you ignore the hazard pennant, you apologize.

Visual Guide (for artists)

Palette & Finish: Pearlescent nacre, soft ambers/mints in aerosol veils; emerald UI studs for cohesion.
Shapes: Rounded plates, reservoir flasks, hex-vent masks, hazard pennants.
Rendering: Cel-shaded/NPR, clean value groups, gentle speculars; no photoreal slime—readable forms over goo.

Lore Hook: “Perfume of the Quiet Gate”

During a wave of rift predators, a Carcinum warden tuned a three-note blend that led the pack in a slow circle until patrols could re-route civilians. The gate never closed, and no blood was spilled. The recipe—Quiet Gate—is now guarded like a hymn.