Oma

Oma are vast creatures, often called “space whales,” that travel endlessly through the inky void. They magically project electromagnetic fields that shield them from the effects of the vacuum as well as from the particulate rings and dense atmospheres of the gas giants in which they usually feed, extracting energy and nutrients with their energy baleen. Oma are most often seen traveling alone, though there are regions of The Pact Worlds system where pods of oma are known to migrate together on a particular, if mysterious, schedule. Rarely, massive numbers of oma gather in the rings of a planet and put on an incredible show, their energy fields intermingling and reacting with local gases to light up swaths of space in a multicolored spectacle. A typical oma is 150 feet long and weighs 250 tons.
The most commonly known—and least understood—feature of oma is their starsong: a haunting telepathic melody that can be perceived thousands of miles away, even across the void of space. While most describe starsong as slow, mournful, and crooning, none ever agree on the finer details of a particular oma song, which suggests that each listener hears something different. Attempts to decipher concrete meaning from these tonal poems have so far eluded even the most brilliant magic and linguistics experts, as the oma speak in riddles that even they don’t always appear to understand. Scholars and cryptolinguists among the glowing (and completely unrelated) poet-whales of Triaxus's arctic seas claim that the patterns represent a surprisingly complete oral history of the universe, albeit a highly stylized and nonchronological version. Whatever the content of the songs, even the saltiest of spacefarers can become tearily nostalgic when they recall their first experience hearing the haunting sound in the silence between worlds.
Most reported interactions with oma have affirmed their docile nature, and many experienced spacefarers believe that the titanic creatures have a benevolent streak and that sighting one is a sign of good luck and favorable trade ahead. More than one crew of a disabled starship has reported being found by a passing oma, which then herded the ship back to civilized space. Once its temporary charges are safe again among their kind, the oma bids farewell with slow somersaults and cryptic starsong. However, those few that have attempted to hunt oma for sport have found them more than capable of defending themselves; the massive beasts can unleash a targeted burst of energy that disables most modern starship power cores. This has not gone unnoticed by various governments, who make periodic (and so far unsuccessful) attempts to reverse engineer and weaponize this ability. Oma are also capable of swallowing small starships (such as fighters and interceptors) whole; some do it accidentally as they feed, but most only when provoked.

Civilization and Culture

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Oma as Starships Barathu once used oma as living starships, telepathically directing the creatures from within their surprisingly habitable stomachs. Modern bioengineering has made this form of travel rare, though occasionally delegations of barathus arrive at a port in an oma to make a grand impression. In a more gruesome fashion, certain advances in the synthesis of organic materials have created a more morbid way for smaller creatures to also harness the great power of an oma. At the end of its natural life, a typical oma travels to a gas giant that meets specific (but unknown) criteria, where it locks itself into orbit and refuses to feed as it sings a final telepathic dirge. Enterprising shipbuilding outfits—sometimes employing telepaths who have attuned themselves to this particular song—race to reach a dying oma before its orbit inevitably decays and the titanic corpse is lost. Specialized crews secure and preserve the massive beast, refitting its body into a ship frame that, while poorly suited to Drift travel thanks to its largely organic nature, makes for an excellent—albeit ghoulish—Material Plane transport vessel.