These are just ideas at the moment. The first two sections in each are just scene setting stuff, so you can skip to 'Advantages' and 'Disadvantages' if you don't like walls of text I have kept it down to 1 sentance for each advantage/disadvantage. Dovan(Mather) [hide] Physiology: Insectoid based lifeform with a linage in the Iratus Beatle, which still exists on the Dovan homeworld and to the Cro-Magnon's of Earth. The majority of their superficial DNA is Cro-Mag, hence their Human-like appearance. Certain hold overs from the Iratus line include: pale, greenish-white skin with white hair, two vomeronasal apertures(Defunct) either side of the nose, feeding cavities on the palm of each hand and remanants of an exoskeleton linking to the spine. Internally the bodies share many of the same organs as Cro-Mags, with the addition of an organ that produces a Myostatin inhibitor, an organ the processes the 'life force' of fauna and the so-called Psi-Organ, allowing limited telepathic communication between Dovan. Psychology: Dovan hibernate for extended periods of time as their feeding cycles often greatly cull the local fauna. It is believed that sentience was gained by individuals protecting certain types of fauna, particularly herbivores, allowing for much shorter hibernation cycles to develop, thus greater survival odds. Dovan hold their females in reverence and have out-evolved the biological imperative due to their long lives, leading to very slow population growth. Advantages: Hibernation - Total colony shutdown for up to fifty years without technological aid. Rapid regeneration - Considerably above average constitution, allowing them to take far more punishment before dying. Telepathy - Combat and Espionage bonuses against non-psionic races. Queen's Control- Capital Planet/Ship cannot rebel and Planet/Ship is immune to Psionic attack while Queen is alive. Hallucinogenics- Combat and Espionage bonus against organic life. Night Sight - Combat and Espionage bonus in 'dark' environment. Myostatin Deficency - Increase physical strength. Disadvantages: Carnivore- Can only survive on O and M Class planets for more than a year, unless supported by animals brought there, or from previous colonisations. UV Weakness- Can only survive in K and M type systems or outside the Goldilocks zone of F and G type systems. Few females- Growth penalty Weak-minded - Research penalty and increased vunerability to Psionic or Hypnotic attack. Night Sight - Combat penalty in 'light' environments, doubles in 'bright' environments. Can be temporarily or permenantly(without proper medical attention) blinded. Psi-Organ - Increases vunerability to Psionic attack. Queen's Control - Quadruples vunerability to Psionic attack, not on the capital planet/ship. Organic life - Morale Penalty for planets not of type M and/or the capital planet's type. [/hide] Robis(Icuownage) [hide] Physiology: A cybernetic lifeform built in the image of the Cro-Magnons. The reason for this is unknown, as no archological investigation has yet yielded any artifacts from the time of creation. Robis Scientists have theorised this is because the primative Robis, known as Cro-Magnis - the earlist surviving example of cybernetic life on the planet - were dropped on this planet by a higher form of Cybernetic life trillions of years ago. Some believe as cyber-formers for the eventual arrival of the master race, others that they were the children of the master race, saved from some cataclysmic event and were saved by their sacrificing parents. Psychology: Though 95% inorganic, the Organic 5% plays an important part in the perpetuation of the Robis, allowing the creation of new Robis, as well as the storage of information, hardcoded into DNA in an unbroken line back to the very first cyber-amoeba, though mutations in the DNA have corrupted much of the memory, giving a recall of only 60,000 years, though capacity varies from Robis to Robis. The Organic components are stored within the head and abdomen with the Central Processing Unit and Metabolism Chamber in the middle. This is believed to signify the dominance of technology over the organic. Certain fringe groups believe that the opposite is true, that it is central because that is where life started, but organic life is the innevitable evolution...as stated these are fringe groups. Advantages: Mechanical life - Can survive on type D, F, G, H, K, L, M, P, Q, R and Y planets. Mechanical life - Can survive in O, B, A, G, K, F and M type star systems. Genetic Memory - Pre-Existing research bonus and decreased training time/cost. Technological Imperative - If a technology exists within scanner range then research into that technology is boosted. Technological Imperative - New technology improves morale and the Civil Technologies morale bonus is doubled Cybernetic life - Almost immune to Biological Weapons Inbuilt CPU - Espionage bonus against computer based hacking, and espionage bonus when stealing data. Purpose - Does not suffer morale damage from genocidal or immoral acts Non-Organic Mind - Immune to Passive Psionics Fleshless - Increased physical strength Disadvantages: Mass and Multiple Delusions - Morale is negatively effected by all forms of diplomacy and warfare. Morale also diminishes at twice the normal rate. Technological life - Combat penalty against electro-magnetic weapons, including lasers. Organic life - Morale Penalty for planets not of type M and/or the capital planet's type. Cybernetic life - Population growth costs money Cybernetic life - Population must increase in size by at least 10%, despite deaths, every decade, or face proprotional negative morale. Inbuilt CPU - May be reformatted and datamined. SAI - Unable to use Sentient, Sub-Sentient, Artifical, Virtual or otherwise non-organic Intelligences as slaves, drones or otherwise, without negative morale. [/hide] Formis(Roccodog) [hide] Physiology: Insectoid life forms, closely resembling ants. The history of the Formis has been constantly rewritten, like a wikipedia page in which the reader is the subject. Thus the true history of the Formis has been lost over the years, however certain agreed facts are that at some point in the past there were many Queens, all vying for power and dominance, and while this continued there was never peace for more time than it took to breed replacement troops. Each Queen was at the center of their own Philotic Web - Philotics is considered entirely false, and a byproduct of Psionics, by all outside the Formis - allowing communication between all those under its control. As time went on Queens were killed and control taken of the forces, until, finally, only a dozen Queens remained. Around this time space flight was discovered, and so the remaining Queens chose to explore space peacefully, with enough territory to sate their quest for power. However as the ships fanned out across the star system the Philotic Webs became strained, with Formis leaving the range of their Queens and becoming independent. For a long time this confined the Formis to near their own planet, until one Queen announced she was letting go of total power, in favour of a much weaker 'protection and sharing field'. Many scientists and Queens scoft at this, believing that weakening control did not extend range...and they were right, but the Queen, the current Queen, had genetically modified herself, so when the demonstration came she could protect and act as a conduit for knowladge to flow through, far beyond the main system. The other Queens quickly relinquished their powers, hoping not to be left behind in race for space. The current Queen then struck, taking control of all the Formis and killing the remaining Queens, cementing her dominance. Psychology: Though only one in a million eggs will ever become a Queen, and even then must be 'activated' by eating the roots of a certain tree, the belief that there are more Queens lurking in the shadows has lead to a near total loyalty to the current Queen. Suprisingly, despite the bloody history, the Formis are very friendly to each other as well, though the threat of a new Queen or invader will often stir even the most peacable to war. There are some individuals who are born immune to Philote, in the past these were the scientists as only they and the Queen were capable of free thought, though they were always treated with suspition. Now, though, these Imphilotes, are considered to be disabled, since they can't access the web and must learn things instead of instantly knowing them. Even so, they still have a special place in society, often controlling key systems, so that even if the Queen is killed, or another Queen seizes local control, they will remain loyal to the Queen. Advantages: Heat Vision - Can see in conditions regardless of lumosity. Philote - Allows Philote research, which acts like Civil and Psionic research. Philote Web - Original(Ie research you have come up with) technologies recieve double research speed. Synesthesia - Distance is judge on sound(Hearing) and vibrations within materials(Touch), rather than vision, which doubles the accuracy of artillary in ground combat. Synesthesia - Ship-board combat bonus (Due to engine reverberations effectively creating a minimap, if the engines are offline then ignore this bonus) Fast Growth - Population will double every two decades as standard. Disadvantages: Delusions of Philote - You cannot share research with other races or even work together on projects. Heat vision - Combat penalty in hot or cold environments, additionally cannot use computer screens or writing particularly well. Synesthesia - Space Combat Penalty (due to vacuum, if touching then this penalty is ignored) Organic life - Morale Penalty for planets not of type M and/or the capital planet's type. Philote Web - Slows research on New(Ie research that someone else has thought of) technologies. Philote Web - Slightly slows research on pre-existing technologies. Queen's Eggs - Population cannot grow faster than doubling in one decade. Fear of the Edge - Exploring a new system has a small chance of losing the ship. [/hide] Lithians(Retech) [hide] Physiology: The Lithians are amphibious lifeforms, with strong comparisons to frogs in appearance. Females are usually are far more intelligent than the males, though the males are usually far stronger. However the term 'Female' and 'Male' should be used with some care here, as the evolution of the Lithian race did not occur simply. In the long distant past, millions of years before the present, the Lithian people were just beginning to evolve. As the first tadpols swam in the ponds, growing lungs and gills to survive on the scattered islands of the homeworld, away from the predators of the sea, aliens arrived. At first the aliens saw only animals, but as they observed the tiny swimming beings they saw the sparks of intelligence, and nurtured them. But these aliens were not carbon based, their concept of evolution was entirely different, with life spans on billions of years they grew in mental ability, the earlist ancestor of the race reaching sentience before it evolved naturally. So while they watched, poked and proded the primative Lithian, they documented. When they saw anything that might threaten the Lithians they removed it, allowing the Lithians to evolve free from predators. Hundreds of thousands of years past as the Lithians evolved steadily, never competing, never wanting, and so when sentience calm they were creature of peace, not war. At this point the Lithian species was Mono-sexed, reproducing asexually. As the Lithians learnt to communicate with the Aliens as equals, not pets, the race advanced in science, coming from stone tools to fusion power in less than a century, but their rapid progress, their lack of predators, had stripped them of all caution. Before the century was out the Lithian were experimenting with their own Genome, using the thouands of years worth of data gathered by the aliens to track DNA patterns thoughout history. The aliens were more cautious, but overly so...Some had been alive when they had first arrived, always in control of the planet and the destiny of the Lithians. Few, if any, believed that Lithians were in danger, and so the blind followed the deaf until the Lithians had their first accident, a genetic lab exploded, spreading contaminance into the air. Overnight hundreds were infected with a hyper-hormone, turning the peaceful into the psychotic. Within hours a full scale war had erupted, the advanced technology of the aliens was seized, used and destroyed within a matter of days...the aliens themselves soon followed. The Lithian, without any guidance let more and more toxins and genetic sprays loose, hoping that one would destroy the other, instead the interactions caused the unthinkable the infected could now pass their genetic material to non-infected individuals. The uninfected fought for decades, trying to resist the mutant race, but knew the battle was in vain when their own soliders could be replace the enemy that they killed. Eventually a step slightly less frightening was devised. The uninfected Lithians altered themselves, making their body encapsulate the genetic material, try to infuse it with original genetic material and then eject it. The infusion only had a 1 in 5 chance of success, but this meant that they could no longer be infected and that perhaps their race would not die out in savagry and barbarism. Psychology: The gene wars have left deep scars on the race. The war destroyed all the progress that had been made, over the next century the Lithians re-entered the stone age and then lost even those tools. The race had to re-evolve in a hostile planet...the previously docile speices had been altered as well. The new found dimorphism broke down as the intelligent and the strong, though this intelligence is nowhere near as bright as it once was and so millions of years after these events the Lithian climbed out of the reefs and began their path to civilisation, and after thousands of years of progress, they have reached space. The two 'Genders' only support each other because they need each other, while the males are irreplacable as hard labourers, the females only have their positions of power because the males can't take their place. The males are more than willing to accept alien dominance to get rid of the females. Advantages: Ruined Planet - Small research boost from the capital from periodically discovered data caches. Fast reproduction - Capable of doubling in population every year. Water life - As long as there is Ocean the Lithian can ignore normal limits on population size. High Natural Immunity - There are few natural plagues or diseases that can affect the Lithian. Apathy - The vast majority of the population have no ability to think, so morale only changes when there is a lack of food or other commodity. Caste System - Production and combat ability are increased. The Need - Once a decade one production project may +1/5th completed OR one research project may be accelerated by +1/5th. Disadvantages: Ruined Planet - The Capital city produces none of the normal bonuses Water Life - Can only survive on type O, P and M planets. Dimorphism - Lithian Planets have a 20% chance of surrendering before fighting has even started, as the morale of the invading force's capital is higher than the Planet's current morale. Apathy - Research for Civil Projects has 10% of the normal effect. Organic life - Morale Penalty for planets not of type M and/or the capital planet's type. [/hide]