A cyber-gothic role-playing game for mature players.

Millennia of evolution in strange, artificial surroundings has changed the Hiver’s body and mind superficially or dramatically. In a sense, they are all deviants from the Imperial paradigm. The degree of deviancy varies from Spire to Spire, Hive to Hive and Hive-World to Hive-World. The sheer weight of numbers of people living and having lived in these varied conditions for so long means they have adapted to their surroundings.

The 6 Senses

The senses of the Hivers have altered due to their millennia long evolution and twisted environment. The senses of taste and smell have atrophied, indeed, some races don’t have them at all. This is due to their long disuse; little else is tasted/smelt than the chemical stench of the re-cycled air, or the ash-chlorine taste of Block.

The eyes have also dimmed due to the orange lighting that illumines and warms the Hive. Though Hivers can see perfectly in the gloom, were they to experience full day-light they would have to squint painfully and Delaque may well be temporarily blinded without their goggles. The skin is at once sensative and tough. It is sensative to sunlight, which would burn a Hiver’s skin quickly. It is tough due to the abrasive atmosphere and the scar tissue and callused skin that will build up over a short life and is inherently leathery from birth. Hearing is more sensative, but the noise of the Hive quickly damages it and usually a Hiver (especially of low class) can get damaged hearing from gun-shots, machine noise, engines and explosions.

The most important improvement in the sense is the psychic sense. Despite the damage done to the Hiver brain through pollution and evolution (or perhaps because of?) more and more Hivers are born with more than primitive awareness of themselves as Selves. Some of them, almost all unwittingly, can tap into the psychic pseudo-space known as the Warp. This place is the noumenon, the ether, the Otherworld, heaven/hell, call it what you will, a reflection of the thoughts and feelings of the living, physical beings of the material world. Virtually all of these emergent psykers have little control over their own awareness and powers. Strange things happen to or around them, and they are in danger of being possessed or deformed by this strange, alien power. And those psykers that do have control over their powers are even more dangerous to themselves and others.

The teeming population of Necromunda makes spontaneous mass psychic emergance a terrible potential danger to the souls and sanity of all those trapped within the tottering Spires of the Hives.

Hivers are much quicker than we are, adrenaline pumps round their bodies almost all day and they have to be alert to stay alive. Hivers also heal much fast than we do, despite their poor diet. Wounds that would kill a normal person would only cripple a Hiver, and crippling wounds may only slow a Hiver down. They are a brutalised and violent turn in our legacy and feel pain less intensely than we do – partially due to their evolved nervous system, but mostly through willpower and de-sensitivity. Sheer ferocity and psychopathic rage drives the Hiver. S/he is a dangerous person who can endure the worst conditions and pains.

Sleep

Hivers also need less sleep than we do. Their REM patterns are shorter but more intense, though dreams are virtually never remembered, and they heal quicker asleep than we do. Occasionally hivers go into spasmodic throes and fits in their sleep. This may have some connection with emergent psychic potential, brain-damage or stress. 4 hours of sleep is usually enough, though richer Hivers may languish for a full cycle (6.5 hours).

All Hivers on Necromunda have a faster metabolism and age and mature quicker than the average human of our time. As a rough rule of thumb, these ageing process is a about third faster than ours so by the age of 7 a Hiver is physiologically 10. This means that the long childhood necessary to human development is shortened. Consequently certain areas of the brain are under matured. Despite this, the rapid growth makes up for and overtakes some of these losses (mainly in abstract thinking, language and reasoning capabilities). Hivers are not defenceless for as long as we are, which allows for a lower infant mortality rate than expected and an ability for youngsters to become independent from their parents and fight/work for themselves quickly. Usually by the age of 3 Hivers will be working in factories, cleaning out chimneys, climbing into narrow mine shafts and fighting over chunks of Block with their siblings.

Typically, the childhood of a Hiver is 4 years, followed by a long period of growing strength and maturity where the Hiver is in her/his prime for 15 years. The life span of Hivers are typically cut short by cancer caused by pollution, or congenital disease, violent death, or accident in the work place.

• Scavvies: 13-25

• Underhivers (lower): 22-5

• Underhivers (upper): 25-30

• Midhivers: 25-35

• Penthivers: 40-250

This is worthy of special note. Most penthivers, unless they fight in brat gangs, will not encounter much direct violence to themselves, and are above most of the pollution and waste dumps. They can also afford better food and usually are the first to breathe the air. Their lives are less stressful and they usually get more sleep too. Consequently they may live for up to 50 years without cyber-medical aid. Eventually though, their rapid ageing will mean an increasing physical, and perhaps mental weakness, which others will exploit. The richest Penthivers can afford bionic replacement. Most organs can be replaced, with the exception of the brain (though even parts of this can be augmented, removed and altered).

When limbs become weak, damaged or decrepit they are removed and replaced with the durable and tireless bionic limbs. When organs become old or diseased (usually more from abuse than pollution) they too are replaced. This prologues longevity by many decades, typically old Penthivers are heavily cyber-altered. If they can afford it, usually only the brain, certain limited tissue and muscle, and the blood remain. If diseases or damaged blood gets cleaned or replaced. But eventually the brain oxydizes and the irreplacable cells die. This always means that Penthivers who have lived along time (into their hundreds) and are heavily cyber-altered eventually become subject to senile dementia. The memory degrades, the personality becomes disordered and finally madness, collapse and coma ensue. The brain rarely lasts beyond its 2^nd century.

Rapid sexual maturation means the population has a rapid cycle of births and deaths. At the age of around 8 Hivers can procreate. Many Hivers are infertile, but those that aren’t are a valuable resource. Depending on class they are married, prostituted or sold when it is evident they are fertile. Again, depending on class and circumstance, babies are then eaten, sold or nurtured. Women especially may spend the rest of their fertile life giving birth. Fertile prostitutes and rich men are prone to dying young form venereal diseases, which is the second most common disease after cancer. Some races give birth to litters of off-spring and have an extremely high mortality rate.

Interestingly, some races have penial bones, giving the male members of that race a continual erection. This hints at the possibility that Hivers do not engage in mutual arousal during the sexual act and, like other male mammals, the male of these particular races do not require titilation. With regards to the females of some of the Hiver subspecies, some races have larger and wider hips, much like Neandertal women, making the typically dangerous and painful childbirth easier, but giving these females more of a waddling walk and a slower gait. Other females of other races have seasonal as opposed to monthly fertility periods. Delaque women for example "come on heat" at particular periods and are only fertile at this time. During that time their dorment sexual drive reaches a peak and their usual pale white cheeks blush a gorgeous red to indicate their season to males. Some Delaque women paint their cheeks red to attract sexual attention, especially if they are infertile. It is popular for whores to paint themselves in this way also.

Albinos

Albinos have bleached white skin having evolved in the darkest, most lightless places of the Underhive. They are also blind, their eyes having atrophied to the point of uselessness through millennia of disuse. Typically, their hearing has vastly improved and they live by it. They also have lots of hair depending on how close to a Heat-Sink they have evolved. They must have be close to a Sink by some degree, otherwise the cold would have killed them. There are rumours some of them let out high pitched sonic screeches to hear by.

Delaque

These are a border-line albino case. Having evolved in areas with little or intermittent light their eyes have not withered, but have improved to see in the dark, though they are even more light-sensitive them a typical Hiver and consequently they must wear dark goggles or glasses to protect them in better lit areas. Their ears are also very sensitive to compensate for their eyes in the light. Their skin is also white from lack of light, and all of their hair is absent either due to prolonged exposure to certain chemicals or an evolutionary glitch. Delaque are also notoriously unstable in their temperament and have wild, impassioned mood swings. Delaque often die as a result of suicide or drug overdose and are more prone to stress, perhaps due to high-light levels and noise.

Scavvies

Not strictly a separate race, a Scavvy is a Hiver who lives in the lowest, most polluted level of the hive. They all have high levels of pollution and probably radiation in their bodies, and are more prone to disease due to their cannibalism and weakened immune system, as well as the stale air and dirty water. As a result of these problems deformity and deviation has a higher chance, especially in children. Many Scavvies have lived on these levels for centuries. The oldest have evolved to cope with these conditions one way or another…..

Scalys

Scalys are Scavvies who have developed a tough scaly skin over the course of centuries. This acts as natural armour (6+ save) and protects from the harsh environment to a degree. Consequently they have a longer life span (accounting for the 20+ years on the table above). They look like humans, other than the leathery, perhaps scaled skin.

Degenerates

These are Scavvies who have de-evolved into near mindless, gibbering sub-humans. Taking a step back from Homo-Sapiens-Sapiens they are stopped and strong, with hard brow and cranial ridges, big hands and thick muscles. They have a low, animal intelligence and do not use even simple technology like bows.

Back To Main Page