Most novakid have portions of their membrane that are less “rigid.” In humanoid novakids, this is typically at the top of their head, causing soft, flowing outcroppings of plasma that resemble hair. These regions, known as a novakid’s “corona”, are malleable and easy to style with magnetic tools.
Novakid plasma can be any colour of the rainbow, though warm colours are slightly more common. The appearance and translucency can vary wildly; some plasma may swirl like stormclouds, while in other cases it can be translucent, making the novakid appear ghostlike. Novakid that don’t glow at all, either due to lower energy plasma or an opaque membrane, are referred to as “blackcores” even if they aren’t strictly black; non-blackcores can also stop glowing if they are ill or starving.
Not all novakids have humanoid shapes. Novakid inherit the body plan of whoever raises them, even if the guardian isn’t another novakid. Isolated novakid communities can take especially alien shapes under the right circumstances. Humanoid communities that have been isolated for only a couple generations may have the “wrong” finger count or grow coronas in unusual places, and novakid directly raised around other humanoid races are often the most accurate. Novakid that have been raised in hylotl territory may develop tentacle-like limbs on their head instead of coronas, or leaflike protrusions in the company of florans. Novakid around apex or rantori may have corona areas all over their body, causing their entire body to appear to be on fire.
Using very strong magnetic tools, an adult novakid’s body can be molded “surgically”. However, the process is very uncomfortable and disorienting, and requires specialized knowledge to be performed safely.
Novakid stave off starvation by ingesting high-calorie substances- fatty and sugary foods work, but flammable substances such as gasoline and rocket fuel work even better. Food and drink is typically inserted into the plasma around the brand, where it passes through the membrane and is quickly burnt and digested. A novakid can taste their meal for as long as it is still intact; heat-resistant “tough” foods are sometimes selected to prolong the pleasurable feeling.
A novakid that consumes an excess of calories too quickly enters a state known as “overcharge,” which causes a blinding plasma glow, euphoria, lowered inhibitions and a general “drunken” stupor. Many novakid enjoy the state and induce it intentionally, often through very high-energy fuels.
Novakid can also become “high” by sticking magnets to their brand, which causes synesthesia, fuzzy vision, hallucinations and staticky speech.
While they have no genetic material to exchange, novakid reproduction can still be considered “sexual.” Novakid have three sexes; “positive,” “negative,” and “dual polarity.” Positive and negative novakid can reproduce with eachother, while dual polarity novakid- who make up 25% of the population- can reproduce with any sex, at the cost of lowered fertility. Unlike with many other core races, sex has never had any bearing on gender in novakid culture.
Once a novakid has found a compatible partner, one “donor” provides some of their plasma to the “recipient,” who then incubates the foreign mixture of chemicals for an unpredictable number of weeks (often two) as a brand slowly crystallizes. When the incubation is complete, the infant is violently ejected in a blast of radiation and plasma and a protokid is born.
Protokids are small, hyperactive and superheated bundles of joy. In their first week of life, protokid glow a bright white, must be fed constantly, and are hot enough to start fires and seriously hurt any organic that touches them. After that, they slowly cool down, lose energy, double their size to that of a basketball and fade to the plasma colour of their parents. Often, plasma colour favours the donor parent more than the recipient, but it can be a mixture. Throughout their infancy, protokid have malleable membranes and change shape constantly; they grow legs or roll around to move.
Protokids become adolescent novakids at unpredictable moments. Some transition as early as 6 months, when others mature after 2 years. Once a novakid is an adolescent, their form becomes more fixed and they take roughly the same body shape as whoever is raising them. A novakid that is isolated at this critical period may never take a fixed form, and is mentally stunted.
Adolescents start at the size of toddlers and slowly grow larger over the course of decades. A novakid is considered mature once they have stopped growing, which occurs between the ages of 17 and 35.
The average novakid dies at the age of five hundred, but they can live up to seven hundred if they take good care of themselves. Elderly novakids are forgetful, dim, slightly bloated in appearance and often take on a deep red hue. Unlike with organic races, dying of old age is real and has nothing to do with age-induced complications– the brand simply gives out after centuries of wear and tear. There is little that can be done to prevent it aside from cloning a new brand and injecting in the novakid’s memories.
Anodyne are a rare “subspecies” of novakid, characterized by their ingrown, spherical brands, “swirly” plasma appearance, and crystalline deposits on their body. All novakid produce crystalline slag as waste, but most cultures scrape it off as soon as it appears. The anodyne don’t do this, and instead keep small amounts of the waste for cosmetic reasons. Cold plasma colours, especially blue, are more common in anodyne than novakid.
Anodyne are typically calmer and more even-tempered than their novakid cousins, but are otherwise normal novakids. Anodyne and novakid can have children, though novakid traits are inherited more frequently.