Pyro

Alert

Combat

Support

Diplomacy

Type

Power to Ignite

Starts Fires in Systems

As a leader, after a combat where you deployed a brigade, you may use this power to “start a fire” in the target system if it does not already have a fire. All attack drivers are displayed in the fire as fuel instead of being scrapped.

When not a leader, after destiny, you may haggle to create or expand a fire in the target system. The defender may haggle with influence equal to their authority. You may use this power to accept their offer and create a fire in the target system if it does not exist. Then, display a pod to the existing fire in the target system. The defender may display a pod from their cache as well.

A fire in a system adds the might of its fuel pods to the defending fleet if you are not in the invading fleet. Fires are “extinguished” after an encounter where it adds might. When a fire is extinguished, vaporize it along with its fuel. If your power is deactivated, all of your fires are extinguished.

Legacy: Start a fire in each system. Draft two pods as fuel for each fire.

One can imagine the herculean effort it would take to jettison creatures made of pure fire into the space age. However, after the Gale confirmed that wind can exist in space, the Pyros now poised ready to carry out their dream of setting the Cosmos ablaze and bringing about the Glorious Inferno.

Leader: Combat
Not Leader: Destiny

Optional

Wild Flare

When not the invader, after the gate is aimed, you may discharge this flare to force the invader to target a different valid planet in the same system.

Not Invader: Launch

Super Flare

Whenever you use your power to create a fire, you may discharge this flare to draft pods from the cache until drafting an attack pod. Add it as fuel to your fire and scrap all other drafted pods.

Leader: Combat or

Not Leader: Destiny

Modifications

Originally named Fire Dancer. Changed to fit my one-word alien name edict.
Originally the power to “awe”. Changed to the power to “ignite” to better match the fire theme.
Original Super Fire Dancer can add one fuel to an existing fire at the start of its campaign, which I found too underwhelming. I gave it the ability to add more fuel to its fires, making them more valuable.
Original Pyro does not vaporize fuel pods, merely scrapping them after the fire extinguishes. I added this as a mechanical change for additional flavor.
Pyro’s legacy creates one-time fires in each system that will defend against incoming invaders. The strength of each fire will vary based on the pods drafted, so different aliens will benefit more from the effect. The legacy works to delay invaders and can help aliens gain some easy backer boons or save their pods for invasions. Defensive aliens like Siren and Squee can get a good deal of value from this legacy. Original Cosmic has no legacies.

Tips

As a combat power, Pyro can be very dangerous, but generally it only shines as a defender. This trait allows Pyro to save its strongest pods for invasions.
After Pyro’s first encounter as a defender, it can perpetually chain fires in its own system, ensuring it will always have one as long as it plays an attack pod. Opponents can be reasonably sure that Pyro won’t aim for compensation as a defender unless they are aiming to negotiate.
If the opposing system has a strong fire, commissioning Pyro will allow you to bypass it. Zapping Pyro will prevent it from bypassing a fire, but the timing would only allow it to be zapped when it attempts to start a fire via a haggle. Since Pyro can only haggle when not a leader, zapping Pyro to prevent it from bypassing would only be useful when it is a bystander, essentially depriving it of sponsorship value for an invasion.
As long as Pyro is not the invader or defender, it can haggle to create a fire each invasion. Since it is immune to the fires itself, it is generally always better to have more fires than fewer. If every alien has a fire in their system, the invader will have a difficult time pushing through without either commissioning Pyro or having their own combat power.
When Pyro is invading your system, using your strongest pod can potentially create a defensive wall via the incoming fire. However, do note that Pyro has no obligation to create a new fire with that pod, so you might waste the pod on

Development Notes

Pyro is a unique combat power that specializes in defensive combat, similar to Citadel and Macron. However, Pyro can also outsource its combat potency to other aliens, making it more difficult to invade certain systems thanks to its blazing infernos. The power is incredibly multi-purpose, helping Pyro to gain resources from haggling, set up combat advantages for a system that it can ignore, prune its cache of some of its smaller attack pods, and gain favor with other aliens with its assistance.
Pyro completes the elemental set of aliens. With Pyro as the fire alien, Tide as the water alien, Gale as the air alien, and Crystal as the earth alien, we have all four of the main elements covered. Pyro as a name also nicely contrasts with the ice alien Cryo, who acts as an offshoot of the water alien. It is also fitting that Pyro’s power vaporizes pods while Cryo preserves them for later. No other aliens released at the time were themed around fire, so Pyro got the concept entirely to itself.
The original super flare for Fire Dancer seems much too ineffective for the frequency of use. With fires being single-use and only helping the defender, Pyro wouldn’t even get a change to use the fire on the turn it uses its super flare. At most, it would help protect its power or the system of an ally, as something of a stalling tactic. Pyro could be encountered three times in the span of using this flare once, making it difficult to see the value. The idea I came up with lets Pyro gain naturally stronger fires.
One aspect I like about Pyro’s power is something that reminds me of my version of Sycophant. Every alien wants a fire in their own system, even though no one wants any fires in enemy systems. So when Pyro offers someone a fire, they are likely to accept, resulting in a situation that none of them want other than Pyro.
A “fire dancer” is a type of performer who spins around a burning stick to impress the audience. It fits with the original power name to ‘awe’, but it clashes with my 10th edict that dictates aliens must have a one-word title. Regardless of that edict, though, I prefer to theme the power purely around the fire so it can match the other elemental aliens. A ‘pyro’ is short for a pyromaniac, or one who loves fire. A being with a body made of fire would naturally be immune to fire, and their power could potentially have a transitive property that gives their fleet immunity as well. I could imagine it granting its fleet a shield made of fire that ironically protects it from flames.
Citadel is potentially the most comparable to Pyro. It is another defensive alien that uses pods from its cache to set up any number of citadels on individual planets. Pyro has the advantage of its combat bonus being system-wide, preventing aliens from dodging it by simply choosing a different target planet. However, Citadel has the luxury of controlling its citadels, being able to turn them on and off at-will. Citadel also will not lose its citadel unless the defender loses when the citadel is active, allowing it to get more utility out of each pod. Citadel cannot gain resources from haggling to make citadels, but that also means it doesn’t need permission to make a citadel wherever it wants. Also, since Citadel can use its power each invasion, it is faster than Pyro at pruning its cache of weaker attack pods. It is reasonable to say that neither power is strictly superior to the other, even though they have many similarities.
If I were designing a theme based around fire, my first instinct would be for it to be a combat and destroy alien. Fire is the one primary element that no life exists within, as fire is a destructive element that consumes life. Pyro does destroy pods with its power to gain a combat advantage, though it arguably gets even more utility from the resources and sponsorships it gains from its fires. I certainly wouldn’t have pinned it as a diplomacy power, but I think it does ultimately reflect the nature of fire in the same way that the fires fizzle out after one use. While fire does burn and destroy, it also provides warmth and comfort. It was one of the single most important discoveries in the history of mankind for its utility, so it makes sense that tapping into the power of fire would grant some of that utility.
It’s worth noting that Pyro the alien is the one who creates the fires, rather than the fire itself, and all aspects of it power facilitate the creation of as many fires as possible. It is like a firestarter for hire, which I think makes “Pyro” a better fit for a power name than “Inferno” or “Arsonist”.
Fittingly, Pyro’s biggest weakness is the lack of control it has over its fires. Once it starts the fires, they will add might to the next clash that it doesn’t participate in. The power can unintentionally end up helping another alien, but it will never harm Pyro unless the power gets zapped.
The alien name mechanic plays an interesting role with Pyro’s power. Since fires activate automatically, they will work against Pyro if it is zapped. The fires themselves don’t have a use clause, meaning the fires themselves can’t be stopped once they are raging. Pyro can only be zapped when making a fire, so it would need to be zapped when haggling for a fire as a bystander if the goal is to remove its threat to the defender.
I appreciate how Wild Pyro has the ability to set a random wildfire on a planet that just deters the invader from approaching it.
Pyro’s combat potential is actually quite high, capable of getting double the value of Villain from one encounter. It is counterbalanced by each use of its power being one-use and only being able to use the combat potency as a defender. Pyro’s true value is actually from gaining resources and acting as a pseudo-Parasite, since aliens without strong combat powers will want to commission Pyro to bypass its fires.
I like the idea of Pyro’s legacy lighting a fire in each other system like a funeral ritual. The fires all being temporary reflects the nature of a flame being ephemeral.