Unopa

Backstory

An Unopa hive is roughly the size of a city park and contains perhaps eighty thousand individuals, each of whom is a kind of cheerful, fuzzy, palm-sized creature that floats by anti-grav humming. Alone, they are pleasant company. In swarm, they have been documented disassembling entire cruiser hulls in under nine minutes. They speak through synchronized buzzing harmonics; no off-Unopa has ever decoded the language.

Physiology

Palm-sized fuzzy spherical aliens with anti-grav humming organs. Operate exclusively in swarm formation in combat.

Visual template

Each individual Unopa is roughly the size of a human palm — a round fuzzy near-spherical body with two horizontal color bands (warm gold + deep amber, OR gold + cinnamon, OR pale cream + black; the bands vary). Two huge translucent wings fold along the back, beat too fast to see. Two small antennae rise from the head with tiny round nodes at the tips. Six tiny segmented legs tuck under in flight. The face is a smiling cartoon-like expression with two large round black eyes and a thin curve of mouth — disarmingly friendly. In combat they appear as SWARMS — a card depicting an Unopa shows 5-30 of them arranged in coordinated formation (a sphere, a wedge, a halo around a central one). The swarm leader sometimes wears a small braided collar or a single ceremonial bead. They emit visible harmonic light when humming together (the harmonic glow is the card's energy effect). Posture is constantly hovering; they never land in combat.

Color palette

• #fae448
• #f87830
• #3a2418
• #fff5c0
• #a07020
• #5a3818
• #e0a050

Signature abilities

• Lift-Drive
• Med-Mend
• Splash
• Slipstream