Some of this material originally appeared in ‘Faster Than Light: Nomad’ Ship Generation, Part 2: Fleets.

Ylem Wraiths are slated to appear in the SAFCOcast Bestiary.

Faster Than Light: Nomad is published by Stellagama Publishing.

Ylem Wraiths

Ylem Wraiths appear mainly on the spinward edge of Confederation Space, although some have been sighted even within the Kante Empire. Despite the dire-sounding name, Ylem Wraiths appear friendly … if subtle mockery and absurd behavior can be considered friendly.

Appearance

In their “naked” forms they look like an ever-shifting iridescent mass of organs and unidentifiable but vaguely horrifying bits, some of which phase in and out of our three-dimensional space, but always with two manipulator limbs (“arms”) and three or four apparent locomotor limbs (“legs”). To accommodate human sensibilities they wear all-concealing robes that present the appearance of a two-to-three-meter tall robed figure with something like a head. (Nobody knows whether this is actual fabric or some sort of hologram.) Occasionally Ylem Wraiths will attempt to impersonate humanoids, with darkly humorous results.

Abilities

Wraiths have senses beyond our understanding. These senses replace and improve upon sight, hearing, and scent; they extend miles away, need no light to function, and can identify shapes and colors at the edge of their range. On the other hand, they have trouble filtering those senses to detect fine details obvious to humans. For all intents and purposes consider them extremely far-sighted: they can make out motion a mile away, but cannot see printed words.

Ylem Wraiths can move freely in all dimensions. In three-space this gives the appearance of several powers:

• Insubstantiality: Wraiths can make part or all of their bodies insubstantial by shifting itself in a higher dimension. As long as it still intersects three-space it will leave 3D shadows and ripples in the air.
• Immunity to Vacuum: Wraiths do not need to breathe, and can travel unaided in outer space.
• Levitation: Most of a Wraith’s mass resides outside our space, so gravity is a gentle but annoying tug. They appear to float in the air, with only a slight downward drift if they’re not exerting any effort.
• Teleportation: Wraiths can pull themselves entirely out of three-space and reinsert anywhere else. This process actually takes time, but it’s usually faster than traveling along three-space. To observers the Wraith appears to shrink to a point, then grow from a point somewhere else.

Wraiths need to eat exotic matter, but if they can’t find it by foraging between planets they usually have a clunky apparatus that creates what they need from ordinary matter.

Wraiths normally cannot make a sound (intentionally). They usually carry simple electronic devices (or the equivalent) that translate their electromagnetic emissions into human speech. The range of such emissions is fairly short but it can cause interference.

In worlds which have sorcery, Wraiths are immune to spells cast directly on them, due to their alien nature. Spells with natural effects (e.g. fire) affect them normally.

Human Guise

Young Wraiths, led by a not-quite-mature “Prefect”, frequently travel through three-space worlds, much like human students travel abroad. Usually they move around three-space in “human suits” they work like shadow puppets. Unfortunately, Wraiths need sophisticated technology to disguise themselves as a passable human.

Young Wraiths make do with a sophisticated whole-body “puppet”, made with local materials and “performed” with skill. A typical physical disguise has the following elements:

• A fake head or half-head with levers and a handle, fully articulated for facial expressions and human speech.

• A bladder to produce sound, if local physics does not allow electronic voices.

• A light half-exoskeleton, perhaps no more than foam or wood, to maintain the shape of shoulders, arms, hands, and legs.

• Clothing, usually voluminous to hide imperfections.

The whole effect is of a tallish, awkward, oddly-dressed foreigner. Depending on the skill of the puppeteer and the host culture, natives may or may not dismiss any oddities. In the worst case, natives will accuse the Wraith of being a demon, alien, monster, or multiple raccoons in an overcoat.

The disguise is part of three-space. A Wraith who exits three-space (e.g. by teleporting or going insubstantial) must either take off the disguise and fold it up for transport or simply drop it. If the latter, to inhabitants of three-space the human-suit simply implodes or deflates. If the Wraith goes insubstantial, its solid shadow appears around the human-suit with particularly creepy effect.

Usually the face/head is the most valuable part of the disguise, at least to a young Wraith. If forced to drop it the Wraith will try to get it back.

Habitat

Wraiths can manifest anywhere at any time, by themselves or within spherical bubbles of spacetime that might conceivably called “ships”.

Ylem Wraiths travel singly or in small groups from some other realm displaced in a higher dimension. They prefer to observe sapient three-space species without interfering. Some sapients have worshiped the Wraiths as gods or reviled them as demons, mostly through no fault of the Wraiths in question.

Young Wraiths are seldom seen alone or undisguised. Without the size and power of their elders they have to “walk” through three-space rather than float, and “climb” through solid matter instead of shunting around it.

Ylem

“Ylem” refers both to the nation of the Ylem Wraiths and the mysterious continuum in which it resides.

Gate Worlds

The Wraiths gather in our reality only at particular points, notably the so-called “Gate Worlds”. According to legend the “Gate Worlds” provide a vital link to their home dimension.

“Technology”

Personal Tech

Cargo Sphere

A Cargo Sphere holds an object (or person) in stasis until a Ylem Wraith chooses to release the contents. The sphere can enclose anything up to and including a large vehicle. It can be made opaque or transparent. It can also be shrunk down to a “pocket”-sized object with something still in it. The object or person inside is unharmed and unaware.

Capturing something in a Cargo Sphere is an attack action; the Ylem Wraith need only touch the target with the Cargo Sphere to capture it.

“Pockets”

A Ylem Wraith may keep any fist-sized object in one of its (infinite?) pockets, including a shrunk-down Travel Sphere or Cargo Sphere.

Sensor Spheres

Another fist-sized sphere, this time to help a Wraith read or otherwise examine something close up.

Travel Spheres

Instead of normal ships Ylem Wraiths fly “Travel Spheres”: perfect silvery spheres just big enough to enclose them, any passengers they want to bring, and any cargo they carry. Those who have ridden in a Travel Sphere report a solid silver floor, domed walls, and an eerie feeling of being inside some vast alien machine.

Spheres move through normal space at typical speeds, but they can also “teleport” in three phases: 1) the sphere shrinks down to an invisible point, 2) the point moves, perhaps through another dimension, 3) the sphere expands to its “true” size once again. With a command a Ylem Wraith can shrink a sphere and stuff it into a “pocket”, or expand the sphere around themself and anyone or anything standing next to them.

Battle Spheres

Wraiths guard Gate Worlds and other sites with “Battle Spheres”, which unlike Travel Spheres seem to be permanent constructs. Despite their size they have the destructive potential of a mortal warship and the agility of an FTL-enabled Galactic Age fighter. The Wraiths have demonstrated overwhelming superiority in space combat limited only by the number of Battle Spheres they could bring to bear.

Freight Sphere

To transport lots of mass the Wraiths use Freight Spheres, which like Battle Spheres appear to be permanent constructs. They are rarely seen outside of Ylem Wraith worlds, but some Wraiths conduct trade missions.

YLEM WRAITHS (Nomad)

Example Wraiths

Talents/Abilities: See Abilities.

• Wholly insubstantial Wraiths are immune to physical weapons, but not energy weapons.
• Wraith “Teleportation” may grant +1D to Stealth.
• Wraiths cannot attack while pulling out of or reinserting into three-space.

YLEM WRAITH Ships (Nomad)

Technology Age: Beyond Cosmic

The Ylem Wraiths’ need for Travel Spheres, Battle Spheres, and “gates” indicates they’re not as “godlike” as similar beings.

Travel Sphere

Cargo: Every unused crew slot can carry 0.125 Cargo.

Battle Sphere

Freight Sphere

Special Rules for Spheres

Use the spaceship combat rules from Faster Than Light: Nomad (pp 177-187) except for the following:

1. A Ylem Wraith with a Travel Sphere in its “pocket” may create it around themself with a single combat action. A Wraith may also deactivate the sphere with a single combat action, and put it back in a “pocket”.

2. A Ylem Wraith Sphere can use a combat round to leave normal space; the sphere appears to shrink to nothing. During or after the third round the ship may re-enter normal space, somewhere in the same star system, even in empty space inside another ship, appearing to grow from a point to its full size.

   A sphere outside normal space may also continue onward through hyperspace(?) to another system no more than 50 parsecs away.

3. In space combat, each Sphere may take a number of combat actions equal to the number of active crew plus one. (There’s evidence Spheres have their own form of Automation.) Thus a Travel Sphere may take two Actions in combat, and a Battle Sphere may take four.

4. Spheres lack certain systems, such as “electronics”, and their hulls patch themselves immediately, When damaged, a Sphere’s pilot rolls on this table:

   2d6	Regular	Critical
   2-4	Crew	Knocked Out
   5-6	Engine	Knocked Out
   7	Weapon / Engine	Crew
   8-9	Engine	Crew
   10-11	Power Plant	Destroyed
   12	Critical	Destroyed

   Where two options are given use the first if or while it exists, then use the second.

5. A Sphere that is Destroyed will toss its contents into the vacuum of space. (Spheres have no life pods.) Wraiths will be fine; other passengers, on the other hand, …