Shtal

The Steelbloods, also known as Shtalona or Shtal, are the predominant post-sapiens race of the Ostrova Cluster. They are the descendants of the Stal'naya Krov who founded the cluster. They embraced cyborg and psychotronic technology more than any other civilization. They value knowledge and rationality, and continually seeking to improve and enhance the quality of shtal life.

## History

Descendants of one of the original founding movements of New Aeon. They wanted to transcend the limits of humanity by embracing and advancing the science of cyborganic enhancements. They called themselves the Stal'naya Krov which translates to "Steelblood". Over time, people referred to them as "Stalnaya" which evolved into "Shtal".

Over time, through genetic engineering intended to make them more compatible with the implants, shtal diverged from the t of humanity such that a shtal born without implants would be blind and ill and most likely survive.

## Psychotronics

The Shtal all have psychotronic implants which allow them to interface with technology and digital information directly with their brain. In a limited way, they can use electronic external harddrive to supplement their brain. This also means they can communicate with other shtal (or anyone with a compatible implant) electronically with their mind. This is still limited to mostly verbal communication and base emotions. This has resulted in the early stages of a hive mind. The different networks which people belong to are known as confluences and they are an important part of Shtal culture.

There are 3 types of Confluences with different levels of importance: minor, major, and regional. Personal or minor confluences are almost ubiquitous among the shtal and are mostly pragmatic. But part of a major confluence requires a higher level of commitment and change in lifestyle that can be seen like as religious. Being part of the regional confluences are compulsory for all Ostrova citizens, but attitudes toward these confluences are somewhat religious in nature as well.

## Reproduction

Shtal generally reproduce through artificial means. It is common for shtal to have anywhere from 1 to 5 parents who raise the child together or send the child to be raised by government child rearers. DNA of all the parents is mixed or engineered to the preferences of the parents. The child is grown in artificial wombs which are designed to keep the fetus in optimal conditions, and perform the body modifications and implants required at the optimal time of gestation. Psychotronics are most effective when implanted early in the fetal gestation.

## Sub-races

Shtal often change their mechanical and psychotronic implants to suit their personal preferences and pursuits so the appearance of shtal is very diverse. But each sector has a default configurations so these 4 are most common:

### Senza

The senza configuration is the least invasive. Senza have the simplest psychotronic implant, only replace heart and eyes with superior mechanical alternative, and often implement some metal armor around the cranium. Senza are the primary residents of the Liliang sector.

### Nivani

In the Memski sector, the default configuration is the nivani shtal which is designed to maximize happiness. They tweak the brain chemistry to maximize the serotonin levels without getting depleted. They may replace many body parts but always keep their more sensitive skin such so as to not lose that pleasure. Their pain nerves are significantly reduced. But nivani are still very zen. They are not just partiers or thrill seekers necessarily but they they just want to get the most pleasure out of life while still trying to be very objective rational beings. They generally understand and study human psychology the best and try to achieve the goal of maximizing pleasure while still understanding what can lead to poor mental health (though there are plenty that go too far and go crazy).

They look similar to the senza but have more synthetic skin and more complex psychotronic components.

### Razumi

The Razumshtal are the primary configuration of the Cognis province. Their primary value is typically knowledge and rationality. Their culture aims to expanding their knowledge of the physical sciences, and mastery of esoteric pyschotronic skills.

Razumi often have no exposed skin. Instead they integrate a layer of synthetic skin and metal armor. Much of their internal organs are replaced with artifical alternatives but whatever biomass they do have is very insulated and protected. Their faces are metal masks that often have permanently stoic expression. Though they could easily create faces which allow for a more expressive or lifelike face, they often prefer the masklike appearance. Since it's so easy to communicate telepathically they do this to reduce the facial expressions which they sometimes see as a more animal-like form of communication. At the same time, they choose to keep the general human facial features as they recognize that seeing human faces is a fundamental need for human psychology and could create mental health problems to stray too far from a "natural" human face. It also serves to separate them from the other races and make it easier to hide their feelings. Every face is customized by the individual but a few common trends of white or black metal, components.

### Almazi

The Almazi are the primary inhabitants of the Zuanshi Sector. They typically value physical strength and the pursuit of enhancing life through technology to be most durable. They design their bodies to be far physically stronger, more durable, and higher tech. They also value the pursuit of immortality. A major problem with this pursuit is the weak biological brain which is the worst limiting factor. Because of this, though biologists/psychologists here are important for this goal, because of their disdain for biology it is socially looked down upon to study biology even for that reason. Almazi are typically the most individualistic and tempermental.

They have the least biomass of all shtal. they are heavily armored and don't care about looking very human so they often don't have a distinct face, just helmet look.

### **Comashtal**

Shtal that are proxies, living life via remotely piloted bots called "remotes". Becuase of the sophisticated psychotronic tech, their senses and experiences through their machine bodies are just as vivid as real life any shtal's. Because their bodies are designed for proxy life, most comashtal would not be able to survive using with their organic bodies on the outside.

Most Comashtal are from The Necropolis/Catacombs, a region of Ostrova where the majority of residents are Proxies who live in a shared "dreamspace" (virtual reality) called Idyllicia, but visit "hardspace" / "mundanespace" via proxies.