Vox Pariah

Vox Pariahs are Primalis Vox who have broken the inviolate to such a degree, either on purpose or by mistake. To the point an Apex has marked them for a special brand of 'execution' where their cortical stack is forcefully removed by their own actions, or through direct orders, and their 'meat' spaced and discarded. While their stack is either recycled or also thrown away.

While normally lethal, some are 'lucky' enough to survive the massive bleeding, brain damage and metabolic panic *and* be found in the vastness of space before their nitrogen had run out.

Heavily undesired by most of society and heavily brain damaged from surviving their lobotomy, Vox Pariah lead an exceedingly difficult life.

## Mechanics

* Pariahs can speak in both Vox Pidgen(by default) and Galcom using **say :0**

* Pariahs are NOT immune to pressure and DO need voidsuits to survive hard vacuum, unlike their counterparts

* Pariahs can only breathe nitrogen and usually carry nitrogen internals.

* Pariahs can still 'leap' like their more able-minded counterparts, though they lack the coordination to truly tackle their opponents (No aggressive grab, both are knocked down and stunned.)

* \*aflap intensifies

## Guidelines

* Pariahs are very, VERY badly brain damaged. Having an implant that stored most of their memories that had been in their family line for millennia torn out of their skull. What little they remember of the Shoal and their past life is blurry, muddy, fearful and static.

* Their metabolic and physical states have suffered heavily. They stink badly, keeping food down is unpredictable at best, their appetites vary from day to day.

* Undesired and exiled by their own species, it's no surprise the more 'civilized' species rarely, if ever want one around. Pariahs are only seen by frontier stations lacking in qualified personnel. Or extremely tolerant crews that have a reason to place faith in their new confused, loud and smelly shitbird pet.

### Behavior

With the rather haphazard, forceful removal of their Cortial Stacks, Vox Pariahs suffer from a wide variety of sometimes debilitating neurological disorders and often diminished intelligence. Even the lucky few Pariahs that escape the traumatic ordeal of being forcibly removed from the Shoal with minimal tissue damage are haunted by a ghost of random, incomplete, and scrambled information, leaving them constantly bewildered, confused, and terrified. Without their Cortical Stacks, Pariahs little or nothing of their previous lives, their fellow Vox, or the Shoal, leaving them with a distinct sensation of emptiness. This makes them exceedingly wretched and miserable creatures, often getting through each day because they don't know any different. A Vox Pariah likely doesn't commit suicide because they are either too cowardly to do so, or the shadow of the Inviolate prevents them from doing something so unduly wasteful. Although shells of their formers selves, Pariahs are still Vox and are thus aggressive, underhanded, and downright cruel.

A Vox Pariah's violent removal from the Shoal leaves them with an intense desire to be social, as it is not so easy to forget the emotional conditioning involved with their rigid social order. Being alone is extremely unpleasant for an individual Vox. Since they can no longer have meaningful interactions with their own kind, Pariahs will settle for the next best thing, generally any sentient creature with a degree of intelligence that doesn't completely hate them. Their psychological need for the stability and structure that comes with being under a family or crew will cause Pariahs to latch onto individuals that can care or provide for them, whether the individual in question is thrilled with the idea or not.

### Perceptions

Nanotrasen employed Vox Pariahs are not held in particularly high regard, taking the position just below Tajara on the corporate totem pole. They are just a step above slave labor, literally being paid in the extra few cents that crop up during payroll accounting, the digital equivalent of pocket change. Pariahs generally fill the lowest level positions on frontier stations, the jobs that other races either feel are beneath them, or are too dangerous for any sane individual to perform. Vox Pariahs aren't trusted with much at all, although the ones that manage to retain the majority of their former intellect can find themselves in Engineering and very basic Medical positions. Vox Pariahs in command positions are completely unheard of.

Other civilized races find Vox Pariahs to be only slightly more tolerable than full fledged Vox as there are far fewer of them, they aren't quite as keen to steal everything of value, and their miserable states tend to dull their violent tendencies. They still stink, screech, and are still quite aggressive creatures.

### Other Vox

To Vox still in good standing with the Shoal, Pariahs are one of the most loathsome, despicable, and vile things imaginable in their society, lower than even other races considered fit only for bodily consumption. If encountered during a raid, many Vox Raiders will go far out of their way to torture and kill Vox Pariahs, as if performing some great duty for their mysterious masters, some even taking considerable delight in tearing the poor, wretched creatures to gory blue-spattered pieces.

Vox Pariahs have only a vague concept of what a normal Vox is due to the curious shadow of information the Cortical Stack leaves behind when forcibly removed, although it tends to be heavily distorted, blown to nightmarish proportions. The sight of a Vox Raider elicits a powerful fear response in the damaged minds of a Vox Pariah. They become monstrous and wholly terrifying. Something in the ruin of their brain tells them that they are going to die. Animal instinct grips the mind, and self-preservation is king, although what a Vox Pariah does at this point may vary greatly. Some may become feral and mindlessly attack the source of their terror, some may flee for their very lives as quickly as they can manage, disregarding all else while shrieking at the top of their lungs. Some may simply go into varying states of Catatonia.