Aliases: shirdroids, the Freed, EssTeeBees (Shirren Transformable Bioships)
A biotechnological marvel, this is what happens when shippens get ahold of an abandoned android foundry. Not only did they produce their own unique take on androids, the "parents" (each and every shippen was treated as a familial descendant of its creators, though some few have turned their backs on this) included shirren shipwrights who gave their children the freedom to ply the stars. Although shippens are a fairly recent invention, less than 20 years old, the designs have spread enough that no one knows exactly how many there now are, though estimates range from several thousand to a few million.
Physically, their "normal" forms look like a shirren version of androids. The most visible difference is the lack of antennae, followed by tattoo-like circuits glowing through their skin during exertion (such as when transforming) and the lack of mating arms (omitted from their design since they can not reproduce naturally). In ship form, they are often hard to distinguish from ordinary shirren bioships.
Not having the same history of slavery as androids - though well aware it could happen to them - shippens tend to more freely take up the mores, including gender roles, of whatever society they find themselves in. (That said, many shippens hail from shirren societies, and find the host gender identity most compatible with taking other creatures into their ship forms.) While they do not share as strong a desire for making choices as shirrens, their mental design started by hardcoding free will, in an effort to make them incompatible with the Swarm's mental domination.
The Pact Worlds' initial reaction to them can be summed up as, "shirren androids", and that impression is largely correct. That each and every one of them is also a spaceship has not had that much cultural impact yet, though it may only be a matter of time.
+2 Con, +2 Int, -2 Wis, 4 HP
Shippens in normal form are Medium creatures with the android subtype. In ship form, they are Small or Medium starships.
GM Note: Starfinder is balanced around there being at most one party ship. Therefore, it is recommended that a party of adventurers have no more than one shippens. This is not a hard and fast rule, but take care with the ship forms if you have more than one in the party. For instance, if half the party is shippens and the other half their pilots and gunners, it may be wise to have the ship forms be Shuttles and the party act as a heavy fighter squadron. An all-shippen party will be a small fleet, and should be optimized to travel and act together (especially, they should all have the same class of Drift engine at all times).
Constructed: as androids.
Limited Telepathy: as shirrens. While in ship form, shippens are considered within range of anybody inside them for this purpose, and typically use this instead of internal comms.
Ship's Skills: being intimately familiar with moving a ship, and with tricks to peer across starship-scale distances, a shippen gets a +2 racial bonus to Piloting and Perception.
Ship Form: a shippen has an alternate form that is a spaceship, with a tier equal to the character's level at all times. The Hull Points for this form are tracked separately from the normal form's hit points. Select any Small or Medium base frame that can carry the entire party; this choice is permanent. When the character levels up, the ship form grows new components; redesign the ship form with the new tier's build point total and any HP increases, but minimal changes are encouraged*. A shippen may change between normal and ship forms any time they are able to move freely** and have enough space to do so (normally only a concern when shifting from normal to ship form). This is naturally a slow process, taking 1 hour for a level 1-5 shippen, but with experience comes ways of tapping ambient magic to speed up the process: a level 6-10 shippen needs only 15 minutes, 1 minute for level 11-15, and 1 round (though still a full action) for level 16-20.
When in either form, a shippen's other form is stored in a pocket dimension, inaccessible except by transforming, which remains linked to the shippen even when changing planes. Upon transitioning to ship form, all equipment worn and carried by the normal form either goes into this pocket dimension or winds up at a designated point (often the bridge or engine room) at the shippen's choice. Anything near the shippen that would intersect the ship's volume is normally pushed away, although the shippen may take inside any objects small enough to fit (any creatures must be helpless or cooperating). When changing the other way, the shippen may end up wearing or carrying anything inside but not part of the ship, up to the shippen's encumbrance limit; the rest winds up outside in volume the ship form used to occupy. (This can be a relatively quick way to offload cargo, especially if at a port that is taking a while.)
A shippen in ship form acts as a starship with one crew member who does not need life support (all such needs provided by the ship form while active). Anyone on board who the shippen allows to do so, may act as additional crew, up to the maximum crew for the base frame. The shippen may take any role desired (usually captain or pilot), even if that role is already occupied (forcing the current occupant to take another role), but only with respect to the shippen's ship form. If a shippen counts as crew for another ship for any reason (such as being aboard in normal form, or teleoperation), that is handled normally. Class abilities act as normal, so long as they can be performed by a sentient starship (spellcasting remains possible - though often pointless outside of boarding actions, since 1 hex in starship combat exceeds the range of most spells - but a solarian's solar manifestation is either solar armor too small for a starship, or a solar weapon that can not be wielded with no hands). A shippen can not be hacked, any more than an android. A shippen whose ship form reaches 0 Hull Points falls unconscious and is dying; if stabilized the shippen regains consciousness upon once more having at least 1 Hull Point.
Healing - whether through a mystic's healing touch, through the Medicine skill, or other means - may be attempted on a shippen in ship form, but the effect is divided by 10 rounded down: healing for 1-9 hit points does nothing, healing for 10-19 hit points heals 1 Hull Point, and so on. Repairs, such as by the Engineering skill, are as effective as usual. Shippens' two forms recover hit points (or Hull Points at an equal rate) naturally as described on page 251. Having weapons and shields powered down, and engines either powered down (such as while drifting, being docked, or having landed) or at constant thrust with no course changes (such as when crossing the Drift) is "resting" for a ship form for all purposes. If the shippen does not change forms for 24 hours, the unused form counts as having "complete bed rest".
* Points may be left unspent to save up for changes in the next tier, but no more than 10% of the new total. Changes that can be purchased in stages should be - for instance, a new heavy weapons mount should first be purchased as a new light weapons mount with a light weapon, then upgrade.
** That is: not asleep, dazed, dead, dying, encumbered, entangled, exhausted, fatigued, frightened, grappled, helpless, nauseated, off-kilter, overburdened, panicked, paralyzed, pinned, stable, staggered, stunned, unconscious, or any similar status not listed in the Core rulebook.
