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Species in Defiance
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A list of species in the television and game franchise Defiance. Votans The Votans are not a single species, but a collection of seven different alien species who evolved on a number of planets in the Votanis star system. The different races banded together to flee their star system when it was destroyed in a stellar collision, and ultimately arrived at Earth. The Votanis star system was destroyed in a stellar collision 5,000 years ago, but the millions of Votans who fled in ark-ships made the long interstellar journey in hypersleep, thus many of the older Votan characters were born in their home star system and lived under their old social structures before they had to evacuate. For example, older Castithans such as Datak and Stahma grew up in the caste-based society on their old homeworld, but younger Castithans born on Earth grew up after the Castithan social hierarchy broke down when they lived as refugees. Thus there is something of a generational divide between those Castithans who immigrated to Earth, who possess an older value set, and their second generation children raised on Earth (such as Datak and Stahma's son Alak). The Votanis star system was located in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. It was actually a binary star system, composed of the stars Vysu and Solus. Vysu was orbited by two habitable planets, Daribo and Irath, each of which had one habitable moon. Solus was orbited by one habitable planet, Casti. The Indogenes and Castithans evolved on Daribo, and the Castithans later colonized Casti (hence its name). The Irathient, Sensoth, and Liberata evolved on Irath. Together they were known as the "three worlds" and the "twin suns", though soon before the evacuation fleet departed, the Gulanee were discovered on the neighboring gas giant Gula, and the Volge on the planet Omec. The Votanis Collective is the unified government of the Votans, formed to escape their home star system, though since the Pale Wars many Votans have (like humans) factionalized and broken off to carve out their own small fiefdoms. The Castithans, Indogenes, and Irathients were the most politically powerful races in their home star system, thus they made up a disproportionately large number of the survivors in the evacuation. Because they were politically weaker, relatively few of the Sensoth, Liberata, or Gulanee were present in the evacuation fleet. The Votanis Collective is officially an alliance of five races, excluding the Gulanee and the Volge. So few Gulanee survived to arrive on Earth that they are not considered a separate faction, but are simply spread out among the other races of the Collective. The artificial Volge are hated by all other Votan races, and are the enemies of humans and other aliens alike. The Castithans and Irathients loathe each other, as their societies are based on idealistically opposite values of hierarchical order and rugged, chaotic independence. In contrast, the other four races besides the Castithans get along together quite well. The Irathients, Liberata, and Sensoth all evolved on the same planet where they peacefully co-existed for generations, while the rational Indogenes are also quite tolerant and try to get along with all of the other races. Most of the other Votan races, while not outright hating them like the Irathients do, see the Castithan as arrogantly trying to assume control over the other races. The Indogenes have a complicated relationship with them, because the Indogenes are very tolerant, but at the same time, the fact that they and the Castithans evolved on the same planet has led to each bickering over which of their two races is superior. Meanwhile, the labor-minded Liberata are just content to serve anyone, even the Castithans. When the Votans arrived at Earth, the United Nations granted them a limited settlement area in Brazil, created by clear-cutting massive areas of the Amazon rainforest. The Votans named this new colony "Sulos" (after one of the stars in their home system). Over the next decade, the Votans were granted three further colonies: "Irath" in Peru, "Indo" in Guatemala, and "Omec" in the Oaxaca region of Mexico. Humans were upset that any territory was being given to the Votans, while the aliens were upset that they were essentially being ghettoized in glorified refugee camps. During the Pale Wars, these colonies became the core territories of the Votanis Collective, and even 15 years after the war during the events of the TV series, Sulos in Brazil remains the capital of Votan territories on Earth. At least some Votan species are capable of procreating with humans, to create hybrid offspring. It has been stated so far in Season 1 that Castithan-Human and Irathient-Human hybrids exist. They are however extremely rare, as such an exotic pregnancy is dangerous to both the mother and the child. It is unknown if humans can interbreed with some of the more exotic Votan races, i.e. the Liberata who breathe nitrogen instead of oxygen. It has not been mentioned if there are hybrids between the different Votan species themselves, given their closer evolutionary relationship relative to humans. Linguist David J. Peterson designed the Castithan and Irathient languages for Season 1 of the TV series, as well as basic sketches for the Indogene and Liberata languages. As of Season 1, Peterson has not begun work on languages for the Sensoth, Gulanee, or Volge. Castithan Biology The Castithan, or Casti for short, appear very similar to humans. Their coloration is very pale, however, verging on albinism, with pale white skin, white hair, and pale silver, pink, yellow or orange eyes. Accordingly, Castithan blood is a much lighter color than human blood, sort of a whitish-pink. Due to their pale, albino-like appearance, humans in the Defiance area often refer to Castithans by the ethnic slur "Haint" - which is another word for "ghost" in Southern American English (Defiance, in the former location of St. Louis, Missouri, is at the northern edge of the American South; "Haint" is rarely used as a word for "ghost" outside of the South, thus other regions may have other local slang terms and slurs for Castithans). For their part, Castithans often remark that humans have disgusting "pink skin", and Alak's young male friends remark that human women are "pink meat". However when Datak Tarr makes a snide remark about "pink-skinned" humans to Rafe McCawley, who is himself a Native-American, Rafe pointedly retorts "does my skin look pink to you?" Castithans can procreate with humans, but hybrid offspring are extremely rare due to the danger that such an exotic pregnancy presents to both the mother and child. When asked to describe the accent that Curran and Murray came up with for the Castithans Peterson said, "To my ear, it sounded like kind of a mix between a Japanese and Indian accent. They wanted something less thick." Culture The Castithan society is aristocratic and hierarchical, and the other Votan races view them as arrogant. The Castithans used to have a patriarchal, rigidly segregated society on their home planet based on castes, known as liros, though this has broken down somewhat among the survivors on Earth due to the harsh conditions of the war and its aftermath. Datak Tarr, the most powerful mafioso in Defiance (in the former location of St. Louis) is a Castithan, from one of the lower castes. His wife, Stahma Tarr, is from one of the Castithan higher castes. As a member of the higher castes which benefited from the old patriarchical hierarchy, Stahma feels that their family should acquire more power for itself. However, this very ideology insists that it is not a woman's place to seize power, thus Stahma is faced with goading Datak into taking more aggressive measures so that he (and by extension, she) will possess more power. The overall system of liro castes is known as Fovasho. Castithans conceptualize layers of society as like layers of clouds, with the more prestigious castes being the higher, loftier clouds. The Castithan word for caste, liro, even originally came from a word that means "cloud" in their language. There are five liros, though there is also an untouchable group officially outside of the caste system, which functionally makes up a sixth liro. This untouchable group is called Thawandayo, and allegedly consists of thieves, rebels, and outcasts from the other fives liros. Thawandayo are often referred to as yafyo in everyday language. An unofficial seventh liro has sprung up among the Castithans living on Earth. Within each liro, however, there are further subdivisions defined by one's job, age, and gender. Of the five official liros, two have been mentioned so far in Season 1: the Yuke and the Shanje. The Shanje liro is the highest caste. Datak is currently considered a member of the Shanje caste despite being born into a lower caste, because Stahma was already a member of the Shanje liro, and thus his caste status was changed when he married-up. The Shanje liro consists of heads of state, military commanders, the highest ranking religious officials, and the aristocracy. According to David J. Peterson, the names of the five liros are (in ascending order): Yuke, Rizi, Emine, Valáne, and Shanje. The Rizi liro is the warrior caste, however, and thus works equally with all liros. As a result, the Rizi liro technically does not fall into the traditional hierarchical structure, though in practice they are still vaguely perceived as below the Shanje but above the Yuke. Castithans as a whole have a markedly shame-based society, based on external actions instead of internal opinions, summarized by the Castithan maxim "seeming is being" (shiro ksa yu re ya). A Castithan who is treated as a fool is seen as a fool, and therefore, by definition is a fool. This principle of "seeing is being" extends to the liros, as a Castithan who behaves negatively (e.g. cowardly retreating in battle) shames not only himself and his family, but his entire caste. Castithans place great value on cleanliness, in part due to the value they place on appearances, and take multiple baths a day if they can. They deride the Irathients as "unclean". Castithan society is deeply religious, based on a monotheistic belief in a god known as Rayetso. The Castithan belief system possesses rigid dogma and hierarchical leadership (in contrast to more loosely "spiritual" Irathients). However, while dogmatic in many other social areas, the Castithan religion has few restrictions on sexuality, and Castithans are actually quite liberal in their attitudes towards sex. Ritual bathing is a common practice which holds a central place in Castithan culture, as well as some religious ceremonies. Higher castes are able to afford taking more frequent baths, up to three times a day. Bathing is a communal practice among the Castithans, somewhat like a Japanese onsen bath house, and thus they do not find nudity in the presence of family members at a bath to be particularly unusual. Indeed, when Christie is uncomfortable at the thought of sharing a communal bath with Alak's family, Datak complains to Stahma that Christie bathes in private, which is considered unseemly for a "proper" Castithan wife. Castithan society regards excessive love of the arts as frivolous. Thus Datak looks down upon his son Alak's interest in Earth music and job running Defiance's radio station (located in the Gateway Arch). Stahma was actually something of a famous artist when she was growing up in the Votanis system. She explains that it didn't have an exact human equivalent, but loosely speaking she composed a form of poetry, which was broadcast across the planet as a sort of television broadcast. Stahma was actually something of a minor celebrity for her compositions, but her upper-caste family thought it was improper, and she stopped composing when she married Datak (just before going into suspended animation on the evacuation Arks). When the Votan star system was being evacuated, each race was left to decide how they would select the small fraction of their populations which would be saved. The scientific and rational Indogenes stoically selected their best and brightest, while the Irathients decided who would earn a place in the evacuation fleet during a round of inter-tribal wars to determine who was the strongest (and therefore fittest in their culture). However, the Castithan leadership officially decided to evacuate only members of their higher castes, and leave the lower castes to die in their home star system. Thus, more than any other Votan race, the Castithans on Earth are not a microcosm of their entire race's social structure, but a disproportionate slice of their ruling elites. This causes several problems for the Castithans on Earth, as they don't really have a working-class base to rely on. Indeed, higher-caste Castithans living on Earth tended to assume that they could treat the other Votan races as essentially their new lower-castes, feeling they should lead the Votanis Collective while the other races serve them. This has led to considerable tension with the other races. Even so, a large number of Castithans from the lower-castes were still able to make their way onto the evacuation fleet and arrive at Earth, through one means or another (bribing their way onto the ships, or simply stowing away). Aesthetic Castithans value cleanliness as a sign of purity, thus their clothing and buildings tend to be varying shades of simple white, sometimes mixed with grey. Indeed, the Castithan word for caste, liro, comes from a word meaning "cloud". The Castithans conceptualize society as like layers of clouds: the more prestigious a castes are higher layers of clouds. Thus, Castithan designs try to emulate the pristine white of lofty clouds. The Irathients are the most common Votan race living on Earth. The Irathients evolved in the savannah regions of the planet Irath, similar to the Great Plains of North America. This has made them particularly well-suited for survival in the badlands of the Storm Divide created during the Arkfall, which begins at the western border of Defiance, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. However, the Irathients in the new frontier have switched from the draft animals of their ancestors to roving motorcycle gangs, such as the Spirit Riders led by Sukar. Still, while many Irathients have pursued a nomadic life scavenging in the badlands, many others also pursue a life of peaceful settled farming, in harmony with nature. On extremely rare occasion, certain Irathients are born with psychic abilities, which grant them visions of past or contemporary events during which they were not physically present. Irathients who possess "the sight" are said to be touched by their god Irzu. Irisa Nyira is one such Irathient who possesses these abilities, though because she was raised by the human Joshua Nolan, she didn't know what her visions were and he mistook them as simply PTSD-induced hallucinations. On arriving in Defiance, other Irathients explained to Irisa the true nature of her abilities. As with the Castithans, Irathients can procreate with humans, but hybrid offspring are extremely rare due to the danger that such an exotic pregnancy presents to both the mother and child. Language David J. Peterson also developed the full Irathient language. L'Irathi, the Irathient language is in many ways the opposite of Kastithanu; for instance, L'Irathi has a head-initial word order. The phonologies and phonotactics also differ considerably. L'Irathi is built around an extensive noun class system which affects every aspect of the language. The L'Irathi word Shtako has been picked up by the four other races in the Votanis Collective, as well as humans; it is used as a swear word. Peterson even went so far as to develop a scheme for what L'Irathi-accented English is supposed to sound like (it vaguely resembles an Eastern European accent). Younger Irathient characters intentionally are not portrayed as speaking this way, i.e. Irisa was raised by Nolan since she was a small child so she speaks English without an accent (though she still knows L'Irathi as her native language). Culture While aggressive and tribal, the Irathients also have a great respect for nature and are a deeply spiritual people. However their "spirituality" is a very loose and personal polytheistic belief system, in contrast with the rigidly ordered hierarchy and strict dogma of the Castithan religion. They look down on humans for disrespecting and abusing nature. Irathients chemically cremate their dead in a funeral custom known as "sinking", in which the body is wrapped in a shawl and then sunk into a bath of acidic chemicals. The chemicals break down the flesh of the corpse into basic nutrients, allowing the flesh to rejoin nature most efficiently. Similar to certain forms of cremation with fire, the chemicals do not dissolve the bones, which are left behind as a memorial of the deceased. Due to their respect for nature and religious beliefs, the Irathients refuse to vaccinate their children. This led to tensions when the town of Defiance instituted a mandatory vaccination policy, leading to violence and many Irathients leaving the town. Several members of other races look down on them for this, blaming unvaccinated Irathients for spreading diseases. Another major reason which contributed to the Irathients' disdain for vaccination is because they naturally possess very strong immune systems, which are capable of fighting off most diseases. As a result the Irathients never developed particularly advanced disease-fighting technology on their homeworld, because they simply did not need it. The problem this raised was that Irathients can still serve as hosts for diseases which are harmless to them, but dangerous to other species. This led to a stereotype even in the Votanis system that the Irathients are "unclean" plague-carriers: a view particularly embraced by the Castithans, who are obsessed with cleanliness and ritual bathing. While this has led to prejudice against the Irathients there is a basis of truth behind it, and even on Earth it was discovered that Irathients can carry and spread diseases which while harmless to them, are dangerous or fatal to humans. The Irathients tend to get along well with the Sensoth and Liberata, because they all evolved on the planet Irath, and peacefully co-existed on it for many generations. The Irathients can't stand the Castithans, whom they see as arrogant, as their rigidly hierarchical and ordered society and culture is the opposite of the chaotic, independent-minded society and culture of the Irathients. Aesthetic Traditional Irathient clothing is a combination of roughspun fabric and ornate beads, somewhat resembling the traditional clothing of various tribal cultures from Earth. They frequently braid beads into strands of their hair. Unlike the Castithans, however, who mostly cling to their old world dress style, many of the Irathients have tried to assimilate to their new life on Earth, after a fashion. They have bright white skin and no visible hair follicles. Their heads are hairless and smooth; their external ears don't really protrude, smoothly merging with the rest of the head. They have hexagonal shaped irises, and their skin is covered in faint hexagon-shaped scales; even their written language is based on hexagon shapes. Despite having scales their skin is surprisingly soft, like human skin, and their blood is silver-colored. As the most scientifically advanced Votan race, they upgrade their own bodies with numerous genetic and cybernetic implants (which are often not externally visible). Some parts of the cybernetic implants are often visible as faint dark lines running under the skin of their heads. The specific implants vary from one individual to the next, as they serve to augment the specific profession that an Indogene chooses to pursue as an adult. Indogenes can smoke tobacco cigarettes and receive the same mild sense of short-term euphoria that humans do when they smoke tobacco. At the same time, however, Indogenes who smoke tobacco are stated to also suffer the same negative long-term health consequences as humans do. This is evidenced when Dr. Yewll complains that "these things will kill you" before herself taking a drag from a cigarette. Language Indojisnen, the Indogene language is polysynthetic, thus allowing an entire sentence (containing both verb and noun elements) to be expressed in a single long word. It was also developed by linguist David J. Peterson. The Indojisnen writing system is also based on hexagons. Culture Culturally, the Indogenes tend to be technical geniuses, scientists, and doctors. Highly analytic and adaptable, the Indogenes tend to get along well with all other Votan races. The Castithans, however, are something of an exception, as both races evolved on the planet Daribo and each feels they are superior. However, Indogene-Castithan tensions are more along the lines of petty bickering than a deep-seated blood feud. Language Yanga Kayang, the Liberata language, includes a high frequency of slang terms. Culture The Liberata are described as a servant-class race. The Liberata were once economically very powerful in the Votan star system, but their own avarice led to the ecological and social collapse of their society, after which they became dominated by the Castithans. Present-day Liberata humbly consider their present-day status as menial laborers and servants as deserved atonement resulting from the mistakes of their ancestors. They are well known for their gruff tempers and are sometimes considered petty. However, their frequently sarcastic demeanors have a deeper and more tragic origin, stemming from cultural disillusionment after their society self-imploded due to their own ancestors' short-sightedness. The Liberata have a polytheistic religion focusing on the basic needs of life. However, their social collapse while in the Votanis system, combined with their relatively low numbers in the evacuation fleet, resulted in very few of their religious traditions surviving on Earth. Instead, the Liberata ended up borrowing many religious traditions from their planet-mates, the Sensoth and Irathients. Liberata bury their dead vertically, with their worldly possessions piled on top of their heads. Their bodies are covered in reddish-brown fur, except on their faces, which have grayish skin. Their jaws protrude further forward than on humans, like apes. Sensoths generally possess great strength, which unfortunately in past centuries before the evacuation of the Votan star system made them a target for slaver raids by the Castithans. The Sensoths have a lifespan about twice as long as any other Votan race, often living as long as two centuries. Much of the once unique aspects of Sensoth culture were swept away by centuries of slavery and servitude under the Castithans. They still possess their own simple, monotheistic religion. They believe in reincarnation, and that leading a good life will allow them to advance to a higher state of being in the next life. Because of their patient, simple morality, Sensoths are quite tolerant of other religions and cultures. Gulanee are so rare that others often assume that they are simply floating balls of energy. Instead, they wear carefully crafted "encapsulation suits" which are difficult to build and maintain. Gulanee will die if they spend more than a few hours outside of their suits. While Gulanee are extremely rare on Earth, one of the largest concentrations of them is located in former British Columbia. After the Pale Wars ended, several Gulanee units entered into an improbable alliance with a large number of defecting Biomen soldiers from the human military, and overran the city of Vancouver. From their powerbase in Vancouver, they carved out their own independent empire loyal to neither the Votanis Collective or the Earth Republic, stretching across British Columbia and down south far enough to include the city of Seattle. Volge Disliked by all of the other Votan races, and the closest thing to a straightforward "villain" race. They stand over eight feet tall, are covered in dense armor, and possess integrated internal weapons. They come from a different planet in the Votanis system, Omec, and during the evacuation were intended to be left behind by the other races. No one knows who smuggled the Volge onto the Arks, or why, and their reappearance during the Pale Wars was a surprise to the other Votans. They are not part of the Votanis Collective. The Volge also utilize walker-mechs as heavy support artillery. After the Pale Wars ended they retreated to underground caverns, and continue to be hostile to humans and other Votans alike. David J. Peterson did have a hand in creating the Volge language (briefly heard in the premiere), however, the actual sounds of the language were created by the series' sound engineers. Peterson thought it would be interesting if the cybernetic Volge were so different from humans and even the other Votans that it is physically impossible for the other races to pronounces the sounds of the Volge language. Mutants Numerous new mutant races were created when the Votans' terraformer technology was haphazardly released in the Arkfall of 2030. Some are bizarre hybrids of animals from Earth and different Votan planets, or creatures so drastically altered that it isn't really clear what stock they were created from. Species Among the most prominent mutant species are Hellbugs, originally a small and rather harmless insect species from the Votanis system carried in the Arks, which were twisted by the terraformers into vicious predators. Hellbugs are hive-based eusocial insects with several different specialized castes, ranging from small Skitterlings that attack in swarms, to larger lion-sized Warriors. There are even larger varieties that are several stories tall. Greater effort hasn't been expended on eradicating Hellbugs because they are a very valuable fuel source. Hellbugs consume gulanite ore as a digestive aid, which results in their excrement containing unrefined "petrohol", the main fuel source for contemporary vehicles. Another mutant species in the badlands and forests surrounding Defiance are dangerous Saberwolves, wolf-like mutants which vaguely resemble a cross between a bear, a spider, and an armadillo. They have mammalian heads and jaws but walk on six insect-like legs, and are covered in armor. While dangerous to travelers, they are fairly susceptible to small arms fire. Scrappers are intelligent robots created by malfunctioning terraforming nanites whose programming was badly damaged. They are usually cobbled together from the material of the Ark ship the nanites crashed in, or simply whatever scrap metal happens to be in the vicinity, hence the name "Scrappers". Bizarrely constructed out of whatever materials happened to be on-hand, Scrappers are very hostile and irrational, nor very coordinated in their goals. The nanites were supposed to be controlled by their ship's onboard AI, or "Ark-brain". Most Ark-brains were destroyed when their ships crashed into Earth during Arkfall. Rarely, however, a few Ark-brains survived the crash, but their programming was still badly damaged as a result. This has led to particularly dangerous situations in which Scrappers are actively created and led by a damaged and deranged Ark-brain. Badlands The actual concentration of mutants varies between different areas, and is heaviest in regions that were most drastically altered by the malfunctioning terraformers during Arkfall. These are generally known as "badlands" regions, such as the Storm Divide zone stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains in North America. Other badlands regions in North America include the San Francisco Bay area, the swamps of the Las Vegas badlands, Canada's Northwest Territories, and particularly the Florida Quarantine Zone. Human militaries resorted to heavy use of tactical nuclear weapons in Florida, and the Votans responded on a one-for-one basis at the local level, by deploying their own chemical and biological weapons on a grand scale. The terraformers released in Arkfall combined with the already heavily mutated local life to create some of the most exotic and dangerous mutants on the planet, which combined with heavy NBC contamination made Florida extremely dangerous and practically uninhabitable. After the Pale Wars ended, both the humans and Votans declared Florida a Quarantine Zone due to the contaminants and exotic mutants in the region. Much of continental Europe was also badly affected by terraformers during Arkfall and is now swarming with mutants. Among the worst affected regions is Germany, where samples of the most bizarre and exotic Votan species landed and were mutated by the terraformers. Germany's climate was also altered, turning it into an alien rain forest swarming with dangerous mutants. Political order did not hold up well under the strain, and Germany has politically balkanized into numerous small feudal city-states, fighting themselves just as much as the mutants swarming the area. Bizarrely, while Germany was transformed into an alien rain forest, just across the Rhine River malfunctioning terraformers transformed a vast swath of Western Europe into sub-arctic tundra. One of the largest concentration of Ark crashes occurred in the Rhone valley of southern France, which flash-froze a swath of territory extending across France from the English Channel down to include portions of Switzerland and northern Italy. The cold climate meant that mutants aren't a major problem as they are in Germany, but the freezing landscape itself still makes survival difficult. Worse for the survivors is that an Ark-brain survived the crash into the Rhone valley but its programming was badly damaged, making it exceedingly malevolent. It converted the surviving materials from its crashed ship into an army of robot Scrappers, which in turn built hordes of new Scrappers using pieces of technology and metal they found buried in the ice. The few surviving humans were left in such dire conditions by the climactic changes that they could not oppose their conquest. Ever pragmatic, the Scrappers have kept alive the humans in their frozen empire to serve as slave labor, to aid in the construction of more Scrappers. While much of continental Europe was badly affected in Arkfall and left swarming with mutants, the British Isles were practically unscathed. The British Isles are one of the regions on Earth least affected by the Pale Wars and Arkfall with little or no terraforming and mutants, resulting in one of the most pristinely preserved areas of Earth (though they are still affected by generalized changes to Earth's overall ecosystem, weather patterns, and invasive Votan species from other regions which were terraformed). Their status as a series of islands separated from the mainland also helped protect them from external threats. Fiercely isolationist, the United Kingdom's draconian government has adopted a siege mentality, constructing massive container walls along all of its coastlines dotted with guard towers and supported by automated artillery, determined to protect one of the few remaining pristine regions of Earth (it isn't clear if the United Kingdom is a member of the overall Earth Republic, the way Columbia is in North America). It is stated that the coastlines have been fortified all around the islands of Great Britain and Ireland: it isn't clear what the political landscape is, for example if the UK has allied with Ireland for mutual defense, or if both governments have merged. Biomen In addition to the alien races, another race present in the series are the Biomen (or Bio-Marines). During the Pale Wars, in an effort to match the Votans' superior technology, Earth's militaries successfully developed genetically engineered, fully synthetic sentient life-forms which could be mass-produced as shock troops in the war. Designed to be stronger and tougher than humans, the Bio-Marines were treated as expendable, because they were considered to possess no human rights. Biomen are larger and better muscled than normal humans, with bulging overdeveloped neck muscles. They come in a variety of skin colors, both natural and unnatural (e.g., blue) and have vividly colored eyes. Each production run of Biomen was given its own "batch name", based on the first or last name of U.S. presidents e.g., "Pierce", "Reagan", "Carter", "Woodrow", "Barack", etc. Biomen can be individually identified by the three inch tall serial numbers which have been branded across the width of their chests. Thus Bioman "Ulysses-537634" is from the Ulysses S. Grant batch, individual soldier number 537634. Biomen have an "off button" somewhere on their bodies, with the location dependent on their batch. If hit with enough force in the off switch, a Bioman will be knocked out cold. Nolan won a street match with Ulysses-537634 by punching him in the base of his spine (i.e. his tailbone, in his buttocks). Triggering the off switch will not kill a Bioman, as several thousand volts of electricity will wake them up. Biomen were engineered to eagerly obey orders, and have low personal initiative, making them appear somewhat dull-witted. They have become upset or confused in the absence of an authority figure. Biomen were designed to be naturally aggressive for the wars, and now that the wars are over they have been rendered obsolete. The Biomen have difficulty integrating into peacetime and are ostracized by baseline humans and Votans alike.<ref name="defiance_d" /> See Also
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