WHIMs WISPs and WARPs

Overview

Whiptails originate from an artificial setting where they were created as small, portable, friendly data managers. Small enough to sit on your shoulder if they are allowed to, they are record keepers and data analyzers meant to out compete protocol droids. Relatively durable for their size, they required far less maintenance than droids, and they didn't require a technician or oil baths for care. Dark colored with striking patterns, they were meant to appeal to the upper echelons of society who could afford the initial purchase price. Like most technology, the price came down with time to make them more common, and unexpected circumstances of their advanced version came to pass.

Common Properties

Classification	Biodroid		Movement modes	Walk, swim, flight (WISP/WARP only)
Height	6-10 inches		Diet	Herbivorous / Nectar feeder. Photosynthetic
Length (Nose to Tail tip)	8-15 inches		Color	Dark gray base, default blue and yellow. Customizable at cost
Weight	5 - 10 pounds		Cybernetics	Cyber ready. Custom Neuromachine interface standard

Movement

All three series of whiptail are aquatic and capable of both swimming and breathing underwater but to different degrees. Whims excel in water with Warps second. The wings of a Wisp can be used for swimming but are less effective.

Wisp and Warp series whiptails are flight capable. Wisp units focus on high agility and maneuvering while Warps are biased more towards speed and endurance flight. Both are capable of moving in small spaces.

Walking is always the slowest movement mode for whiptails due to their small legs. They can keep up with most bipeds walking speed, but they need to be carried or switch to flight for running speeds.

Photosynthesis

All whiptails are photosynthetic. The dark coloration of their skin is due to optimized visible and ultraviolet absorption that drives their photosynthesis. Both carbon and nitrogen are fixable by whiptails. As a result, whiptails can subsist for long periods on light and mineral water. Photosynthesis reduces their maintenance cost and upkeep by offsetting their other dietary needs. Unlike plants that exchange gasses directly from their external environment, the whiptail blood circulation brings carbon dioxide back from tissues and to the skin where it can be consumed by photosynthetic reactions and exchanged for oxygen produced in the skin.

Diet

All whiptails are herbivorous with nectar feeding being their preferred source of nutrition. Sugar water and occasional mineral supplements are enough to sustain whiptails. They can also process even chain alcohols like ethanol and butanol without becoming intoxicated. This lets them consume and subsist on cheap, common liquors, and this makes them easier to take into bar settings or in scenarios when drinking is required as a social or diplomatic action.

Cybernetics

All whiptails have three find on their back: on as a dorsal fin and two near the lower back, tail base, or hips. These serve both to guide them when in water, but each fin is packed with specialized nerve clusters that form their innate neuromachine interface. When paired with a mobile cyber suit, they can operate communication and computer interface tasks by directly linking to the specified computer systems

Bio-Luminescence

All whiptails have luminescent structures meant to make them visible at night or in dark places to better prevent stepping on or otherwise damaging them in the dark. The intensity of the light is determined consciously by the whiptail from nearly dark to bright and visible at range. Antennae, fins, and tail adornments such as finds or spades glow.

Silicone Skin

The outer layer of whiptail skin is made from a siloxane polymer. This makes them very smooth on the outside if faintly rubbery, but it also gives them excellent protection from chemical hazards. Because whiptails do not respire like leaves would, by gas exchange from outside, this later does not impact their photosynthetic ability. It also aids greatly in their ability to retain water.

Specific Lineages

	Whiptail Information Manager (WHIM) are the origin of the series. Generally on the smallest end of the size spectrum, these units are known for being exceptionally polite, honest, and punctual. Their primary purpose is to manage data for their owner much in the way a personal data assistant or droid might. They also served as status symbols, and almost anyone who had money needed to at least have one somewhere just to show off their wealth. Whims are extremely gregarious, and they were engineered with the need to be helpful so that they would remain in the company of others. The threat of isolation or being discarded was more than sufficient to keep these early units obedient. While not common, some particularly sensitive whims could detect aggressors or toxin well before their owner and thus provide alerts and protection. When paired with the right accessories, whims could interface with computers and machines to operate them and this greatly expand their usefulness.
	Whiptail Advanced Research Prototypes This project began with initiation of several custom requests from high profile clients. The official series runs from warp 1 to warp 8 with small iterations between some of these versions. The end goal was a flight capable unit to address issues of mobility on land, and a major processing and personality shift that would be needed for some specialist tasks. While records of series 1 thru 7 exist, there are no extant specimens from these experiments both due to failures in viability or when their usefulness was no more. Warp 8 would later become the WISP series, but it was not the end of the WARP series. Starting as an advanced medical and repair test, warp 9 could create multi-purpose seeds in their nano repair bay, and these could be applied as a medical bandage to aid wound healing in others or themselves. However, they soon learned to 'heal' themselves in such a manner that they produced offspring. These were dubbed warp 10, and combined with the WISP confidence and instincts to survive, a number of these units and their progenitors succeeded in escaping. Because they should not exist, no external warnings or police alerts were made, and these units and their lone shuttle headed far from their origin to start their own colony.
	Whiptail Independent Special Product Wisps, 1 and 13 shown at left, are extremely rare units made for special deployments. Only thirteen units exist, and each one was sent to a different hi-profile client or diplomatic target to serve as a peace offering as well as a spy for the company. Wisps are the most confident unit able to operate for long periods alone. This makes them more prone to defection at baseline, but their formal education and training compensate for this. They still possess the whim need for acceptance and approval, but they can tolerate isolation for extended periods without permanent damage. This makes them easier for the company and the end user to deploy them. In two cases, 1 and 13, the units possess supernatural abilities, and they have been placed in special positions where the end user can take advantage of this trait. In all cases, Wisps will readily tell you what they think of you regardless of it being crass or negative. They are brutally honest in most cases, but they will observe some degree of restraint if they must. Their confidence makes them fiercely loyal to their owners to the point of risking their lives for them. Only Warp 10x series units are known to show this degree ferocity. Note the tail has large, flat fins instead of heavier finds uses in the whim series. These feather like fins help provide steering when in flight. Both also have the dark photosynthetic skin, but they have different patterns and colors that show up these units can be customized and identified by their markings. They still posses the trio of aquatic style fins that form the basis for their cybernetic interfaces. Like in other whiptails, the fins and antennae are bio-luminescent but with different colors in this case.

Notable Whiptails

• Relic Whim An old series Whim that survived through the Replicator Wars only to end up entangled in an eldritch plot far older. Bears a number of power he would rather not have. Often accompanied by the Darkness entity (K)Night
• Pepper Wisp Wisp used in a Star Wars game setting. An emerging force user a dangerously strong need to belong. Partner to Jack, a Wildkin collie from Protein Solutions
• Ryvyx Warp A class 10x Warp from long after the Replicator Wars. His shuttle vanished after entering light speed, and he has been lost since.