Aliens of The Empire

The Empire is human-dominated, but there are a large number of non-human races as well. Following are brief descriptions of the major races:

Humans

For unknown reasons, humans have been discovered on a surprising number of worlds in the Empire; most believe that they were seeded on these worlds by an ancient star-faring race referred to only as "the Rheri", or "Precursors", but the evidence for this suggestion is weak, at best.

There are several races of Humans originating from different homeworlds:

Phychi

The Phychi are one of the oldest star-faring races of humans; they originated on the planet Theris, and formed an interstellar Empire several thousand years ago. The Phychi were a very class-oriented, but the Empire flourished for hundreds of years -- and then the Tucanids arrived. The Tucanids had an extremely advanced, technologically, and they decimated the Phychi Empire. Theris was reduced to a radioactive wasteland, and only a fraction of the native Phychi survived.

Shadu

The Shadu originate from Shadra, a world with a strong religious tradition. They developed interstellar travel shortly after the Tucanids left Phychi space, and they formed a theocracy -- the Holy Shadu Republic -- from the war-torn remains of the Phychi Empire.

The Shadu, however, did not have the skill to run an interstellar government, and the Holy Shadu Republic collapsed into economic and technological ruin, and the Long Night began.

Centuries later, both the Phychi and the Shadu would band together to form the Empire of the Thirteen.

Kindred

The Kindred are a race of humans from the harsh planet, Garro. They were sufficiently far from Imperial space to develop an interstellar culture on their own. Just over a century ago, however, they finally discovered the Empire, and, being an aggressive race, declared war. The Kindred had a zeal for war, but because of their significantly inferior technology, they were conquered.

The Empire has been working on integrating the Kindred into Imperial society, but the Kindred are fiercely individualistic, and haven't been adapting well.

Imen

The Imen are a race of humans from Nem. They don't have a particularly distinctive history, but they have an Empire-wide reputation for being the most scatter-brained, incompetent race known. They frustrate the Phychi, the Kindred can't stand them, and yet, for some reason, they have the busiest starport in the Empire. The Imen never developed interstellar travel on their own; instead the technology was imported to Nem when it became a part of the Empire.

E'crotians

The E'crotians obtained interstellar technology from the Shadu in the days of the Holy Shadu Republic. When the Holy Shadu Republic fell, the E'crotians managed to hold together a relatively stable government, and they were therefore spared the worst aspects of the Long Night.

By the time the Empire of the Thirteen was formed, the E'crotians had the highest technology level of all the human races -- and, hence, they refused to join the new Empire. Over the years of the Long Night, they had grown quite arrogant and bigotted.

The E'crotians, as a culture, no longer exist, now. The end began for them when they tried to conquer a primitive non-humanoid race known as the T'yak. For centuries, they enslaved the T'yak, but the T'yak finally fought back, and in an eighty-year war, the T'yak killed billions of E'crotians.

Of course, a few E'crotians survived. But they live in secret, hiding amongst other human races, ashamed of their arrogance, and of their defeat.

Terrans

Ten years ago, the Empire discovered the Terrans. The Terrans are a race of humans originating from Earth. Although they developed interstellar travel on their own, the Terrans are technologically primitive by Imperial standards. Further, they are conservative, prudish, and xenophobic. And often quite dull.

The Empire hasn't really figured out its foreign policy with regards to the Terrans; most of their attention at the time was directed at the Third Ento War.

Syleen

The Syleen are a race of feline humanoids from the planet Sylee. They developed an interstellar Hegemony while the Phychi and the Shadu were in their Long Night period. They are a peaceful people dedicated to art and philosophy. When the Empire of the Thirteen was formed, they were one of the founding races.

The Syleen are small and lithe; their bodies are covered with light orangish-red fur, with a mane of longer fur on the crown. They also have thin tails. The most notable feature of the Syleen is the fact that humans usually cannot distinguish the male from the female Syleen. To humans, all Syleen seem to be unambiguously female -- they have thin waists, curved hips and mammories. The differences between the sexes are very subtle; smell is the main difference, from the Syleen perspective, but humans generally don't have strong enough senses of smell to detect the difference.

And this has caused more than one embarrassing moment.

Gil

The Gil are the fourth founding race in the Empire. The Gil are almost humanoid, but with six limbs, and long, vaguely trunk-like muzzles. The Gil reproduce sexually, although the species has only one sex. The race has a symbiotic relationship with another non-sentient species from their homeworld for reproduction; two Gil inseminate these "wombpods", in which the Gil offspring develops.

The Gil specialize in medical and engineering technologies.

T'yak

The T'yak are a race of ferocious, multi-limbed bear-like aliens. Their culture is tribal, and they have developed almost no technology of their own. Several centuries ago, the T'yak were enslaved by the highly arrogant E'crotians, who didn't recognize the T'yak as sentient. Eventually, the T'yak revolted. Using captured technology, they started what would become a genocidal war against the E'crotians. The T'yak had always had a natural aggression and inter-tribe warfare, but those conflicts were generally non-lethal wars of domination. It was not until the T'yak-E'crotian war that the T'yak developed their current ferocity.

The T'yak have six limbs: two true-legs, two true-arms, and two limbs that can function as either arms or legs. Their furry coats are brown, black, or sometimes even dark blue. They stand roughly three metres tall.

The T'yak do not have a central government; they have reverted to their tribal structure after the war, and although some tribes have allied themselves with the Empire other tribes remain independent.

Rheri

Many of the planets on which humans have been discovered have also had archeological evidence of an ancient race that lived 50,000 years ago. The Phychi dubbed this ancient race "Rheri", the Phychi word for "Precursors" or "Ancients". Today, little is known about the Rheri.

A popular theory is that the Rheri were the original race of humans. Another theory holds that the Rheri were a race of avian aliens. Yet another theory is that the Rheri were incarnations of the gods.

Kaarg

The Kaarg are a race of amphibian aliens from the planet Targus, known for their ability to eat just about anything organic. They are immune to all organic toxins, and will often eat the carrion and food wastes of other races. They have high metabolisms, and must eat frequently. The Kaarg are a member race of the Empire, but tend to avoid socializing with non-Kaarg.

Ento

The Ento are a race of insectoids that have had a long history of animosity toward the Empire. Since the formation of the Empire, there have been three major wars with the Ento.

Tucanids

The Tucanids are an expansive and violent alien race. The Tucanid invasion was responsible for the fall of the first Phychi Empire centuries ago. The origins of this race are not known, nor has any contact with the race been made since the invasion.

The Dopplegangers

The Dopplegangers are a race of shapeshifting humanoids.

Ylems

Ylems are a minor race of telepathic, amoeba-like creature about 30cm across. They are pale yellow in colour, and their skin secretes a gelatinous substance, which gives them a somewhat slimy texture, and many humans find their odour to be unpleasant. They can stretch their bodies from 3 centimetres to 60 centimetres, and they weigh roughly 2.5 kilograms. Ylems can extrude up to 4 pseudo-pods, which can function as either arms or legs.

The Ylems' telepathic abilities are relatively weak; they make decisions while telepathically linked, and because of this "group mind", they tend to find individuality foreign. They are a non-violent, gregarious race, but they do find non-telepaths very alien.