Note: this list is not complete.
: Teelot
Biology: The ättla are a race of bipedal anthropoids, characterized by their tall, slender frames and angular heads. Almost uniformly straight from top to bottom, there's hardly a concave or convex anywhere on their bodies, save for – most prominently – a shallow dip between their upper and lower arms. They have two pairs of these, both equally long, ending in three-fingered hands. Their skin is typically a dull red with a rough, leathery texture to it. It almost appears wrinkled, with tiny channels snaking across the surface of their bodies.
As stated previously, their heads are not rounded like a human's. Instead, they appear more like a pyramid that's been tipped over, with the underside only barely longer and broader than the others. A pair of flat protrusions jut out from the backs of their heads. Two large eyes are set on either side of their heads, giving them a fairly large field of view. Their mouths are somewhat small, comprised of a three-sided jaw at the narrow tapering of their heads. They possess small, razor sharp teeth, allowing them to thoroughly shred food well before it reaches their throats. Their native language is spoken in a low, melodic humming. Most other languages prove very difficult for them, and so they often rely upon translators.
Instead of bone, their supportive endoskeleton is formed of a dense, pliable, and tensile kind of cartilage. Despite their scrawny appearance, the ättla are immensely strong, capable of exerting huge amounts of force many times their own body weight. In order to cope with this extreme stress, their bodies have adapted to resist opposing forces, maintaining shape and solidarity even under massive duress. Conversely, they are not meant for running. At most, the ättla can jog for short distances before having to rest. They tend to take long, but slow strides wherever they go, resulting in a very fluid gait. Average height for males and females are roughly the same, at about eight feet seven inches.
Culture: It is worthy to note, first and foremost, that the ättla are a contender species, rivaling even Suesh technologically. At first glance, they appear to be a model race. They are often soft spoken, not given to belligerence or petty squabbles, and can fit into any role. It is a well known fact that they are almost excessively polite, always displaying the utmost courtesy when interacting with anyone. Their culture stresses respect, both showing and receiving. However, underlying this idyllic countenance lies a factor which has made them one of the most feared races in the known galaxy: Their sense of pride. To lay the field: They feel very little emotion, not experiencing anger, sadness or fear at all as we know it, and happiness is experienced in a much muted capacity. While not quite the same as how humans perceive it, the notion of personal honor and insult is highly prominent in ättlan culture to the point where it has shaped quite a lot of their society. What is most important is that if an ättlan feels they have been slighted to any degree they will immediately be overcome by a powerful desire to rectify this and restore their standing. This is done, quite simply, by killing the transgressor on the spot. Having apologized beforehand, of course.
Obviously, their society formed laws to regulate this practice. If one has been slain for having supposedly insulted another – the “accused” – then the killing party, referred to as the “respondent,” must provide ample proof. If it is discovered that the accused, in any way, had not actually committed an act culturally recognizable as an insult, then the respondent is publicly executed. Most other civilizations institute a zero tolerance policy for ättlan honor killings, and the Collective have openly stated they will formally abandon any of their kin that breaks another sovereign state's laws on the subject. This decision came about due to the belief that violating another culture is, in effect, insulting the entire race, therefore giving that species precedence.
The preferred method to kill one who has insulted another is to rip them apart with their bare hands. This is also the favored method for combat in general, but they have developed and produced firearms out of necessity. Because of the natural durability of their bodies, this act can be rather difficult, often leading to a prolonged struggle in some cases. An ättlan needs every ounce of that tremendous thew if they wish to pry the head from the body of one of their own.
Another matter worth mentioning is that in ättlan society ships are never owned by any more than an individual. Captains are viewed as almost a class of nobility, with higher-than-average stature amongst their people. “Petty kings in the sky,” as one human ambassador noted. Their civilization lacks a standard navy. All vessels are armed to defend themselves, and in a time of war it is seen as the solemn duty of the captains to band together, volunteering their services to aid in the defense of the Collective. Regardless of the expectations other races have had about this system, it has proven to be effective against aggressive powers.
Homeworld: Unknown.
Biology: These digitigrade bipeds have no equivalent to any species on Earth. Standing at an average height of nine feet, they are fearsome to behold. Their thick hide is a pale, sickly yellow hue, pulled taught across their dense musculature and angled bones. Their arms are long gnarled limbs with knobby joints, the skin crawling as the bones beneath swivel in their sockets. They terminate in in large hands, both transforming into six very long claw-tipped fingers. They stand on four slender toes with broad tips, providing them excellent stability despite their awkward appearance. The spine is curved dramatically outward as it travels upward, finally bending in again at their broad boney shoulders. Their equivalent to human shoulder blades are two bony protrusions, jutting in gentle arches slightly upward and in either direction. On average, they measure at least fourteen inches in length. The skin covering them has hardened almost to the point of a scaly thickness, turning from a pale yellow to a deep gold in color. Their necks are longer in comparison to a human's, but not terribly so. They slope out and then forward again, leading directly into the back of the skull. Two small, dark eyes are set into the gently curving sides of the head, inches above a wide fang-filled mouth. Their chins are long and narrow, reminiscent of iconic beards from ancient Egyptian art.
Culture: Evidence exists to suggest the Dead Ones – a very rough translation of the species' autonym – are the descendants of an ancient civilization believed to have spread far beyond the Orion Arm. What little traces of their technology remain speak of extraordinary power and sophistication, though these are hardly worthy adjectives for what little remains.
The Dead Ones do not populate planets as other species do, but live an entirely nomadic life aboard fleets of starships. Rugged, simple, and barely held together by the ingenuity of their engineers, these fleets serve well enough as basic homes and transport for raiding parties. Though they have garnered a reputation as pirates, this is somewhat of an inaccurate label. Piracy is typically enacted by rogue elements seeking to better their own fortunes and status, whereas consolidated leaders need not be so frivolous with their violence.
Individual fleets are ruled over by mighty barons, recognizable for the tapestries hung from their shoulder arches. Higher ranks are signified among the Dead Ones this way. The lowest command rung is symbolized by a single banner hung from the right arch, near the base. The next step up is signified by a second banner attached to the tip. Four banners, two on each arch, designate the highest office beneath the baron himself. His badge, alongside the four banners the lieutenants carry, is a fifth cloth hung between the two arches.
As this may suggest, the Dead Ones are a combination of military and warrior culture. Their ranking system is simple, but intended to display merit and instill order. Fleets are always surrounded by warships to defend the noncombatants, and it has been gleaned that assaulting any unarmed vessels is considered anathema – this even extends to vessels of other races. Their code of honor tends to be forgotten by aliens, who only remember colonies and freighters sacked by Dead One warriors. Never assume their code makes them kind, however. They are vicious, brusque, and xenophobic. At best, you can expect to be ignored by them if they are not out for blood.
While many have called for the Dead Ones to be exterminated by the greater interstellar powers, one obstacle renders this nearly impossible. A few barons have in their possessions ancient warships once commanded by their predecessors. Experts have posited it is likely these ships are not being employed to their full potential, but that is hardly comforting. They have effortlessly ruined some of the most revered military starships ever constructed, and sundered small fleets with ease. For the most part the Dead Ones keep to themselves, and so the stronger powers are content not to draw their ire.
Homeworld: Suesh
Biology: The evra are a race of bipeds caught at an evolutionary crossroads between reptilian and avian, which has earned them the nickname “raptors” from humans. Males typically stand at seven foot nine, females at seven foot seven. They are digitigrades, their two toes ending in wicked talons; two arms, three-fingered hands. Built tall and slim, the evra are not a race engineered for raw physical strength, but are geared for speed. The average specimen can reach tremendous speeds with ease, and leap great distances. As one might imagine, this proclivity for quickness indicates a more fragile frame, and indeed the evra are not the sturdiest species. Rather than face a fight head on, they prefer to move around their enemy and attack from a more favorable vantage point. Their minds also process information rapidly, allowing for quick on-the-spot plans and easy outmaneuvering. Their heads are elongated but short, with wider crests at the backs of their skulls. They have two sets of two eyes, the forward pair being the smaller, and they are set barely an inch apart.
Rather than scales, the evra have grey-white, ashy hide with a leathery texture. Hard black plates usually form on faces, shoulders, chests, all across their backs, and forearms. These are only basic protection, and are like paper to any sort of real weaponry. Males generally grow some small amount of feathering at the elbows, which is colored either pale blue or vibrant green. These evolved with the intention of attracting mates, and tend to be removed if they join the military.
Languages for the evra are a collection of sounds: Chirps, barks, growls, pops, and clicks. They are capable of speaking other languages – such as English – fluently on their own. However, when doing so their words are muddled by noises reflecting their native tendencies. This creates an accent founded more on the sounds made while talking, rather than the pronunciation of the words.
Culture: The evra of Suesh are one of the most feared, hated and respected races in the known galaxy. Older than even the vowl, these raptors expanded into the stars as the Sueshan Expanse, an imperialistic power built upon the subjugation of other races. The Expanse and the Empire first met a little more than five thousand years ago, and almost immediately went to war. The gluttonous Expanse sought to swallow this new race as it had done several others, but the vowl proved more than a match. Holding a solid defense, the Empire surgically annihilated their enemy's alien holds. Eventually, only those worlds colonized for their own people remained. They were quick to sign a surrender, but this substantial loss forced them to undergo a cultural revolution. The focus shifted from martial prowess to commercial, technological and diplomatic dominance – though their navy remains exceptionally advanced and powerful, even if relegated to a purely defensive stance.
Suesh – as their nation is today known – is a contender state, rivaling the Empire in every area. Though beaten, the evra were never defeated. They continue to view other species as being intellectually and culturally inferior, but tend not to be open about this. Regardless, it's managed to become fairly common knowledge. Their ambassadors are shrewd and silver-tongued, extensively trained to handle alien delegations and matters of foreign affairs, earning them many advantageous deals. In fact, their entire race is known to be highly “political” in their interactions with others. Even their military embraces the ideology that it's far easier to win a fight by shooting your enemy in the back rather than facing them head on. Business leaders and politicians fight most of the wars in this era, anyway. One admiral has even been quoted saying: “Leave the conflicts to the assassins, I would rather my people not have die unless no other options be first presented.”
Morality is a nonexistent concept for them, and their society has been totally devoid of religions since before they first colonized planets in their solar system. Not to say either concept really led into the other for them, of course. They do, however, happily embrace any situation that allows them to twist such ideologies. As with everything else, it is a thing to be used – a tool, a means, and a weapon.
Suesh, though a superpower, is one only warily tolerated by most other nations. After humanity established diplomatic relations with the evra, a Coalition ambassador had this to say on the race: “Suesh, as an entity, is the worst nightmare of all decent men and women. The evra are twisted and powerful, and possessed of a malignant intelligence. Should they ever go unfettered.. I shudder to think of the consequences.”
Homeworld: Teu
Biology: There are no known Earth cognates to the hol navui. Their skin is an iridescent sapphire blue, with patches of scales growing along their backs, stomachs, and necks. They are digitigrade bipeds, standing on two sets of three short outward facing toes. Their backward sloping tibiae grow to be taller than the bases of their femurs – as equivalent to the human knee – requiring a third, downward angled bone to connect the two together. Their arms are more similar to a human's in structure and length, their narrow hands ending in four dextrous digits, long and slender. Overall, they are built as beings of endurance rather than bursts of extreme speed or strength, exhibiting a balance very similar to that of a human's. The average height for members of their race is around five feet nine inches, and the very tallest specimen ever encountered by a human was only six feet.
Their skulls are slightly more elongated than a human's, with some slight sloping to the shape as a result. They have only two eyes, set more to the front of the skull in line with a predatory species. Usually they are either silver or green, with rare cases of purple. As omnivores, they have teeth designed to tear and grind their food. Their vocal chords allow them to fluently speak human languages with ease, though many tend to employ translators rather than learn to speak another tongue.
Their native atmosphere is largely helium based, and thus they wear hermetically sealed environment suits when interacting directly with other races. Their biology does allow them to breathe oxygen for very limited amounts of time before it becomes lethal to them.
Culture: The hol navui dwell under the auspices of the General Directive, a loose sociopolitical network indicative of an advanced tribal system. Even more pack oriented than humans, yet less belligerent, hol navui society is based around mostly autonomous cells, known as Clades. These are not tribes as humans know them, not really. There are no clans or castes, merely groups of like-minded and often related individuals. Nothing keeps one hol navus stringently bound to a particular Clade, and they are allowed – some Clades even encouraging – to transfer in the name of maintaining diversity in their culture and DNA. In ancient times these were not dissimilar to societies built around overarching families and bloodlines, but growing technology and evolving culture slowly transformed this system into the cooperative circuit seen today. Clades do not even own individual worlds, some sharing planets with several other Clades in partnership and friendly competition.
The Directive is a middling power, neither too powerful nor too insignificant, yet at just the perfect position to go largely unnoticed in grand political schemes of stronger governments. As a state, in those cases where decisions must be made that affect the entire race, the Directive is largely neutral when considering foreign conflicts, far more interested in cooperation and trade. Hol navui starships are easily recognizable for their quicksilver hulls and organic aestheticism. Humans often remarked how their designs appeared reminiscent of fish. Small fleets can be found patrolling all across the known galaxy, or even venturing beyond, for any number of reasons. The lack of a pure military arm means all vessels are readily equipped to defend themselves.
The Coalition enjoyed friendly relations with the Directive as a trading partner. Being on similar footing, humans and hol navui built very strong ties both politically and socially. During the War, the Directive sent out a message across their fleets to shepherd any humans they found to safety, much as the vowl would do. With their resources not being as plentiful as those of the Empire, the most they were able to do after was offer refuge for survivors.
Homeworld: Na'Gadra
Biology: First and foremost: the ko'la'zhi are a seamless union of biological material and synthetic parts. It is nearly impossible to distinguish either from the other merely by looking. Centuries of advancing technology and refinement have resulted in beautifully organic cybernetics and flawless reengineering of existing organs and bodily processes. Everything is sleek and natural, blending together as if they had been birthed with artificial elements already grafted into their physiology. This marriage extends into every aspect of their biology, and much of their early childhood involves steady augmentation to complete the transformation. Their bones are replaced with a skeleton composed of a lightweight and extremely strong alloy, and their flesh is enhanced with smart nanofibres. Musculature is totally usurped by a similar material, granting them immense physical power. Their overall endurance is tremendous, very much within the realm of what we might consider superhuman. Their brains are also heavily enhanced with a bath of chemicals and neural cybernetics.
They are tall bipedal plantigrade anthropoids, standing between eight and nine feet in height. Their heads are angular and marginally elongated at the rear, with nearly flat faces and broad lower jaws. They have three pairs of stacked eyes, each set growing farther apart in descending order. Their faces are covered by alloy plating, and advanced sensors compensate by feeding information directly to the brain to be translated into sight. Their mouths lack lips, baring needlelike interlocked teeth for all to see and putting their carnivorous tendencies on display. Rather than speaking, they have augmented their vocal chords to simulate various sound patterns, allowing them to speak almost any conceivable auditory language so long as they are known.
Their build is wiry and thin, as related to their size. All lean muscle and lithe physique, meant for stints of great speed followed by long recovery. Of course, their science has permitted them to go far beyond the boundaries handed to them by natural evolution. Their muscles tightly hugs their bones, and their pliable grey-blue skin is wrapped equally as taut. This allows one to very easily make out their endoskeleton by making readily observable every concave and convex across their form. Long arms end in broad four-fingered hands. Their fingers are tipped with a malleable substance capable of molding into razor sharp claws in moments where hand-to-hand combat is the only option for self defense. Hip bones jut out with all the ostentation of fins at the tapering base of their trunks, devolving into narrow legs and wide feet. Their three toes fan out from one another, talons arcing down to grip the ground, originally meant to provide superior traction and balance while sprinting.
Culture: The ko'la'zhi are bound together under the contender nation Ka Fel, a vast empire stretching across hundreds of colonized worlds. Meaning “the Sublimation” in their most widespread language, it presents a foreshadowing of the elegance and marvelousness of the people within, but says nothing of the horror they bring with them. Predominately, their culture glorifies warfare. Not merely martial prowess, but the art of fighting a war against others. The skill involved in drawing out brilliant strategies and inspired leadership ability. When they first contacted humankind, their first act was to sift through our history to study our military and legendary leaders. They especially admired Sun Tzu and his treatise. Though the ko'la'zhi have many religions, the reigning social philosophy dictates that through war they shall be preserved, and through peace they will be destroyed. While the logic is debatable, it has yet to fail them. Science presented them the means to strengthen themselves, enhancing their bodies with highly sophisticated implants and widespread augmentation. They have exuberantly seized this opportunity to make themselves into more formidable warriors, increasing their strength, speed, intelligence, perception, and durability far beyond their origins.
Ka Fel is an autocratic state, ruled by what the ko'la'zhi call “the Glass Monarchy”, as it may shatter at any moment. When a strong enough following is amassed, a political faction may challenge the monarch for the right to rule through all out war. This variation of combat is highly ritualized and treated as something of a game, despite the loss of life it entails. Ancillary government cells rise up to rule during the turmoil, mediating throughout its duration and hailing whichever side claims victory. The navy takes no part in this act, requiring soldiers to put their lives on the line for whomever they support. In actual war, the ko'la'zhi are a force to be reckoned with. Apart from the general infantry equipped with directed energy weapons, there exists a breed of soldier harnessed with heavier armor that charges the enemy line, wielding a plasma lance and – what humans affectionately termed – “plasma shotgun”. Their proficiency and technology have made them into an utterly terrifying force.
In some ways, the ko'la'zhi are worse than the evra. While lacking the latter's malevolent genius, their sweeping militance and power have made them a more direct threat. Their belligerence is curbed largely by the vowl and other mighty contender races. If they had their way, the entire galaxy would be an eternal battlefield of constantly swaying seats of dominance. They have voiced their disgust with the stagnation they believe the vowl to have imposed on the known galaxy. Oddly, that is not to say they are gruff and given to mindlessly attacking everything. A ko'la'zhi enjoys speaking of warfare almost as much as enacting it.
Homeworld: Unknown
Biology: Unknown
Culture: Unknown
These so-named “Listeners” are an enigma. Quiet, isolationist, and nebulous, they have become something of a horror story among known alien species. Thus far, sightings have constituted only their vessels. A rotund central body developing into three large spires, two to either direction and a third straight down. They hang or drift in the distance, either beyond line of sight or just within. They never attempt to communicate, maintaining their iconic silence and appearing to simply.. listen. Observe. Wait.
Homeworld: Unknown
Biology: Unknown
Culture: Unknown
Nothing is known of this new civilization, aside from the fact they are remarkably and terribly advanced. This is evidenced by the speed and accuracy of their FTL, casual construction of stellar megastructures, and apparent invulnerability when faced with overwhelming firepower. There is also some limited evidence to suggest that the Roving weaponized space-time anomalies to destroy human spacecraft and other extraterrestrial constructs. Even their name is the subject of sheer speculation. In short, the Roving are a nightmare: unknown and unassailable.
Homeworld: Urala
Biology: The shuree are strikingly tall bipeds, in the range of thirteen to fourteen feet on average. Offsetting their great height is their remarkable emaciation. They are elegantly spindly, with negligible muscle beneath their thick black skin. Without contest, they are not a species intended to run, lift, or do any sort of fighting at all. They are, however, ingenious. As herbivores, they escaped the clutches of predators through guile and cunning, constructing more and more elaborate methods of evading their hunters down through the ages. Their endoskeleton lacks durability as well, buckling quickly under severe abuse. The shuree were not a species who succeeded by being the most lethal, but they were without a doubt the most intelligent beings on Urala. That advanced reasoning and creativity would serve to uplift them from their delicate origins to one of the known galaxy's most revered species.
As digitigrades, all of their weight is balanced firmly on two sturdy toes. Their legs are only gently bowed backward, swiftly straightening again and developing into the subtle slopes of their hips. They have double torso rather than merely one, the lower possessing a secondary heart and lungs. Two equally long arms sprout from the upper, the second pair directly beneath the first. A third set of arms, two thirds the length of the former two, grow out from the lower torso. All six of their slender hands bear seven very long four-jointed digits. These are extremely dextrous, permitting them to work with great care and proficiency with the most intricate parts of complex assemblies. Topping it all, their heads are fronted by a crest of protective bone, pronounced ridges splaying out like rays of light emanating off their faces. Their mouths are set directly beneath this plate, small and full of molars for chewing fruit and vegetation.
The weakness of the shuree is now a thing of the past. Technology provided a boon for them, by which they have greatly reinforced and upgraded their bodies. More resilient bones, stronger muscles, and toughened flesh. Neural enhancements to increase their already substantial intelligence hundredfold. Synthetic shuree are made to look the spitting images of their creators, though not from the same parts of course. Skin is foregone for composite and molecularly engineered alloy plating. Muscles are dense weaves of nanofibres imbuing them with fantastic strength and speed. Their brains are powerful computers, processing capabilities expanded even further when linked with other synthetics or AI shuree. The organic shuree elected to maintain some level of their natural biology, installing just enough cybernetics to make a noticeable difference.
Culture: In their distant past, the shuree constructed strong and sophisticated machines to compensate for their physical frailty. During that eon of their history, they had already tasted the universe's capriciousness and sought to bulwark their race against the tides that rushed to devour their sand castle of a civilization. They had not the foggiest idea what the results of their actions would be, or the culmination of a thousand years of progression and evolution. The machines they wrought looked down at their fleshy creators and saw not inferiority or weakness, but threads of potential that could be spun into a tapestry of utmost grandeur. The modern shuree exist in a society where science and religion have blended into something unfathomable to many other species, where vast and puissant AIs and indomitable synthetics rule alongside magnificent organics who have ascended beyond the mortal strictures of ephemeral minds and bodily limitations. The great union known as the Assembly of Nine stands among the contenders as a shining light, truly alien to outsiders of all stripes. Even the vowl marvel at the alliance birthed from Urala, wherein there is believed no difference between the lifeforms it encompasses. They are all shuree, as they see themselves.
The name of their nation derives from the governing body of the shuree. At the summit are three nonpareil AIs; their irrepressible minds dominating the shuree in all their forms, be they of flesh or composite. Below them a congress of six, divided evenly between synthetics and organics. This council is known amongst the shuree as Central: the heart of their race. From here they dispense their power, leading their people ever forward into a brighter tomorrow. In matters of foreign policy they have strong ties to the vowl, though they are not as ardent guardians. Keeping largely to their own affairs, and rarely interfering in the business of others.
Unlike most species, for whom their vessels are objects- mere machines- all shuree starships are in fact living organisms. Not simply AIs implanted into great sheaths, but developed with the sole intent of existing as such an entity. Following this logic, warships are known among the shuree as “warriors”, the mightiest beings born to defend the Assembly against any and all aggressors. Their standing within shuree society is one of great veneration as guardians of the race, and they possess formidable power. Even the smallest warriors – measuring in at eight hundred metres – hold enough firepower to crack planets. The largest shuree warriors witnessed by humans were roughly four miles long, and carried fleets of highly lethal combat drones. These drones are extensions of the warrior's mind, and not separate programs. Their ground forces are synthetic as well, ranging in size from basic infantry to mobile fortifications launched from massive warriors orbiting above.
Technologically the Assembly are phenomenally advanced, and believed on the verge of surpassing the vowl. Such an event which would ultimately constitute a relatively minor power shift in the known galaxy. Because of their more benign tendencies, the evra and ko'la'zhi would still be firmly held at bay, thus keeping the current order largely intact. Many who are fearful of sentient artificial intelligence are wary of such a change, paranoid that the shuree will attempt a forceful conversion of all other races to their beliefs. Truthfully, the shuree believe that eventually every successful species will evolve to such a state on their own in order to survive.
Homeworld: Beza
Biology: Generally thought to be some amalgamation of insect and crustacean, the vowl hail from a planet with a largely tropical climate across Beza's seven continents. They are of above average stature compared to humans, generally standing at about seven and a half feet at most. Their bodies are sheathed entirely in an armored carapace, only effective against deflecting physical blows from their kin. They have proven worthless against kinetic rounds or directed energy weapons. It appears almost to be rough stone when viewing its texture, though it is far smoother to the touch, and usually colored deep blue or sea green.
They are quadrupeds, with a centaur-like body configuration. Their lower body is equal in length to their trunk and arched in the middle. The rearmost pair of legs transition naturally from the body, fanning outward from the center and down without any sharply raised joints. The forward legs begin right where the trunk meets the lower half, and almost appear to be very long arms. Jutting straight down into joints, where they suddenly reach outward to the ground. They are even stabilized by three finger-like appendages.
The trunk, or torso, slopes up and away from the lower body before leveling out again at the head. They possess only one pair of true arms, their seemingly smallish hands ending in three fingers. Their heads are elongated in a kind of teardrop shape, two pairs of five beady black eyes peering out through the carapace. Their mouths are beaks, and hidden within a mess of what is indiscernible as either tentacles or mandibles. Due to this, and the very alien nature of their vocal structure otherwise, they require translators to communicate with humans. Even the name we know them by is an approximation devised by the vowl themselves using human methods of pronunciation.
Culture: A mostly amiable species, the vowl are slow to anger and are renowned for their patience. In any conflict they prefer to seek a diplomatic resolution and are loathe to resort to violence. This pacifism, however, should never be construed as weakness. The Empire of Beza's navy is simply terrifying, and yet far from being the largest. The sheer sophistication of their science has allowed them an iron grip on the known galaxy, a responsibility they do not take lightly. Their consolidation of this seat was the swift dismantling of the older and much larger Sueshan Expanse. Ever since then, other races have always compared themselves to the vowl, giving rise to a class of species known as contenders – rivals of the Empire.
They conduct themselves in a manner of pressured grace. Seldom ordering other governments, preferring to make suggestions and hope their preferred path is taken. Many are eager to do so, fearing what the mighty Empire might levy on them should they prove difficult. In truth, the vowl would likely not be so harsh unless they feared such obstinacy would lead to war or some other tragedy. They respect the sovereignty of other nations, so far as these powers are aware their actions will have tolls. Despite their size and appearance, the vowl are very much gentle beings at heart.
As one of the most widespread and powerful races in the known galaxy, the friendship offered by the vowl to humans was invaluable. During the War, at a time when nearly all other races shunned humanity, the vowl were among the scant few to offer shelter to refugees. They kept their actions quiet in the off chance the Roving truly had targeted humanity as a species, but worked to ferry as many they could to safety. Even now, after the collapse of our government, the vowl uphold their alliance with the human race. Homes have been offered on the young colonies at the fringes of their territory, presenting many lost souls with some sense of security.
