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The Malforma, intermediary leader of the Ripthing Tribes, stretches and tests its new claws by digging a gouge 12 centimeters deep through the reinforced plating of the floor. It rises to its full height - and keeps - rising - turns its many eyes on the local corridor, listens, ears wriggle, fur bristling, tongue rolling to check the air for prey and power.
Sacs along its spine expand and expel princely scents.
The Kronin Ripthings cluster close, to breathe in near-royalty.
Acolyte rocks on her feet and shakes her head and has to concentrate not to bow her head. Chemicals so rarely lie. If this thing says it should be obeyed in all things for all times at all times forever, why would that not be truth?
Still, while chemicals are not duplicitious, sometimes, the artifice of man and the designs of this facility is. The Kronin #2 Strain were breed for combat. Search and prowl missions. They're meant to be led by a human operator who can take advanced tactical decisions beyond the scope of the stigmergic chemical communication that the Ripthings employ.
So Acolyte tastes the air and adjusts the profile of her sweat and the molecules in her hair.
It is an intense battle of the will. Two creatures staring at each other, each trying to command the other to bow first...
--
Acolyte evolves a Chemical Feature.
RANGED lets your actions work at Range with less of the usually horrendous penalties, which will make marking and secreting things easier. Much like with guns and bows and thrown knives and other ranged tools, one can also AIM ranged features, try to trick-shot, be a little more precise in application.
All those times you were running about trying to mark things 10 tiles distant? Yeah it didn't work because of the walls and also because without RANGED your features are presumed to work in touch and reach range. You can't smear your hands over things 20 tiles distant!
AREA (Tog) is Area, Toggleable. The Tog is important. It's a free action to set Features with it to wider area - Area 1 is 1 7 tile aoe (from a centre, add +1 tile to all sides).
AREA OF EFFECT in a game that takes place primarily inside a confined space where people are often close together is useful to be cautious of. If you turn area mode on and go "KILL THIS" and spit into a zone that has 3 of your allies and 7 of the enemy, those chemicals can't tell the difference between your friends and your foes. Be a little circumspect with this. The other "minor" drawback is that concentration gradient naturally diffuses a little; you're spreading the same stuff out over a larger area. So sometimes, you get slightly less effect than you hope for. Since Chemical Signalling so often simply directs or notes or shapes intention, this is not so important. But do be aware that the Ripthings were using Chemical Signalling to take Recovery Actions for you, and so if you tried to Recovery Action an entire area by bathing it in pleasant smells of home and safety, you'd get a little less.
