Well, I finally got around to doing my version of the Edosians (nee Edoans) from TAS for use with my The Razor's Edge series. My version is a bit of whole cloth, sewn together with stuff from the official Star Trek website regarding the series and some stuff from FASA. Notably absent is stuff from the novels, most of which I don't like that much (and the stuff I've read about the Edosians from the novels left me kind of cold). So, here they are, the semi-final draft (pending some vetting from you good people).
Edosians
PERSONALITY: Edosians are a quiet and extremely private people. They are very modest about their own accomplishments, which lends to their reputation as secretive. Their world has never been in a war; as a result, Edosians are a peaceful species with a great reverence for life.
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Edosians average about the same height as Humans, though they have a slighter build. Their body mass is about the same due to their extra limbs. Their skin ranges in color from pale orange to brick red. They have bony faces, yellow eyes, and no noticeable body hair. Their most striking feature, however, is the fact that they are tripedal. They have three legs and three arms; the third arm emerges from their chest. Each arm ends in a three-fingered hand.
HOMEWORLD: Edos (Epsilon Minora III), a planet in the constellation Triangulum, near the energy barrier at the edge of the galaxy. It is a small class M world with a relatively small inhabitable land mass (approximately 83% of the surface is water).
While just within Federation space, Edos is not a member of the Federation, choosing to remain independent. They have signed trade, science, and mutual aid treaties with the Federation, however. Their system is popular as a stopover for science teams seeking to explore and investigate the barrier.
CULTURE: Edosian history goes back some 24,000 years. It was then, their religious records say, that their many gods crafted the first Edosian people out of the rich soil of their world. They molded them, and then breathed some of their own life into them, and wrote down the Laws for them.
Over those millennia, the people of Edos heeded the Laws, and this has been the backbone of their society. All of their social mores stem from it. The Laws dictate, for example, that all the people are equal to one another. This lack of class levels has served to eliminate strife on their world, and is the primary reason that there has never been a war in 24 millennia of recorded history on Edos.
The Edosian people are long-lived, another gift from their gods. This longevity, combined with the relatively small inhabitable surface area of Edos, has prompted the Edosians to practice their own form of population control. It is quite rare, though not unheard of, for there to be more than one child per family on their world. This is a conscious choice; there is nothing biological preventing an Edosian couple from having more than one child, and multiple births, while rare, do occur.
A side-effect of their low birth rate is that all children are precious, not just to the family, but to their community at large. Families tend to be quite close, and ancestral records are kept in great detail and date back for centuries, in some cases even millennia.
LANGUAGE: Edosian and Federation Standard.
COMMON NAMES: Edosians typically use only their given name; though they do have a surname, it is used only in very formal situations, such as during religious ceremonies. This surname consists of the given names of the Edosian’s parents, preceded by the word “nal” (roughly meaning “child of”) and joined by the word “mi” (Edosian for “and”). Traditionally, a male places his mother’s name first while a female places her father’s name first. For example, a male Edosian called Bilar, whose father was Krex and whose mother was Erlan, would be Bilar nal Erlan mi Krex.
As might be expected with their cultural philosophy of complete equality, Edosians do not have any gender distinctions in their names.
Edosian Names: Ailix, Anex, Arex, Bilar, Deritan, Erlan, Huj, Jak, Kando, Krex, Maldek, Moblix, Preej, Rollex, Triffa, Xen.
FAVORED PROFESSIONS: Scientist and Mystic. The Edosians are curious about the mysteries of the world around them; the best way to satisfy that curiosity is through the hard sciences. The social sciences are, for the most part, anathema to them because they are seen as a breach of privacy. Their deeply held religious convictions and the fact that they’re a polytheistic culture mean that more than a few of them become mystics, as well.
SPECIES ADJUSTMENTS: +2 Agility, -1 Presence, -1 Strength. While they appear ungainly, the Edosians are actually remarkably quick and graceful, though their slight build renders them slightly weaker than other species. Their intense need for privacy is somewhat off-putting to many other races.
SPECIES ABILITIES:
• Artisan: Edosians are skilled craftsmen and tool-makers, whose wares are sought after throughout the Federation. They receive a +2 bonus to all Craft rolls.
• Bonus Edge – Ambidextrous 2: Edosians can use all three of their hands with equal grace.
• Bonus Edge – Multitasking: The same brain structure that allows the Edosians to effectively control their extra limbs allows them to perform many tasks at once without noticeable effort.
• Extra Limbs: The Edosian race is tripedal, having three legs and three arms, each arm ending in a three-fingered hand. The extra limbs give them the advantage of +1 movement action and +1 standard action per round.
• Extremely Private: The greatest virtue of the Edosian people is to respect the privacy of others, and they expect the same courtesy in return. As a result, they are not the most social of creatures. Edosians suffer a –2 penalty to all social tests made against any non-Edosian.
NOTABLE EDOSIANS: Lieutenant Arex served as a navigator aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise in 2269. Sometime before that, he taught space navigation at Starfleet Academy, where one of his star pupils was a young Pavel Chekov. A long-time Starfleet veteran, he was not a product of Starfleet Academy. Rather, after a ten-year stint in the merchant space fleet, he enlisted in Starfleet as a technician and worked his way up into the officer ranks by way of a field commission during a battle with the Klingons. He was considered by many to be the best navigator in the fleet in his time. He was also decorated several times for bravery in the line of duty, even earning a Starfleet Citation for Conspicuous Valor. With typical Edosian modesty, however, he never speaks of these things.
Pick Breakdown: Attributes +0, Artisan +2, Ambidexterity 2 +4, Multitasking +2, Extra Limbs +10, Extremely Private -4. Total Picks = +14.