Aliens of the Terran Confederation

[Korto]

OK, first an explanation because someone will be wondering; the Terran Confederation is the 'brand name' for a fictional setting I've had dancing around in my head for some years now. One day, I hope to make something out of it, but whether it's stories or a role-playing setting, I'm not sure. If I ever manage to work it out, that'll probably help...
The Terran Confederation itself is the confederation of human governments. It's about as real a confederation as the Holy Roman Empire was an empire, and it's no accident that most of the weapon platforms orbiting Earth aim inwards, but I digress.

The point of this thread is to describe the non-human inhabitants of the galaxy, and expose them to criticism. There is the risk I've gone too wanky, but I'm sure I can rely on you lot to point out where that's the case.
It's to be stated that these species evolved naturally, they were not engineered.

I'll start with the Tai'Qu (pronounced Tie Ka). My favourite, therefore the most risk of wanking.

Tai'Qu evolved in the jungles; as reproductive rights was governed by real combat possibly ending in death (as opposed to show bouts), and they were a predator hunting the larger and tougher creatures of their world, the evolutionary pressure was for the ability to fight, to take it and deal it out. As they developed intelligence, even if they came up with better ways to hunt, it didn't end the fighting for harems, which was always hand to hand.
Tai'Qu males resemble earth gorillas, except being much larger at a meter across at the shoulders, and standing upright three meters tall (however they're commonly hunched over and are a little less than 2 meters. They DO knucklewalk). The average specimen is six to seven hundred kilos, although some have been known to top a tonne. They are extremely strong, with a muscular strength pound for pound similar to that of a bear, and have very fast reactions (shockingly fast for anyone expecting something so large to be slow and clumsy).
They have multiply-redundant bodily systems. For instance, they not only have two hearts, but the veins and artieries are all lined with muscle and able to pump blood. One heart can be knocked out, and the Tai'Qu will still be able to act, although he'll feel faint. If both hearts are knocked out, he'll collapse unconcious but the blood vessels will be able to maintain enough blood flow to keep him alive. If a vessel is severed, the muscle lining has a very strong spasm reflex and will close it off, and there are plentiful cross-linkages. (Nb - It seems to me this would be a very low-pressure system. What effect would this have?).
Despite a more efficient metabolism, they have a very high dietary and oxygen requirement. Their natural diet included sugary fruits, meat, and fat, and they still spent much of the day hunting, gathering, and eating. These days artificial concentrates are very common.
Along with the brain, there are numerous 'sub-brain' nodes through their body, for instance one controlling the lungs, one for each heart, and others for other vital systems. There is also a node within each limb that controls reflex actions, eg, if a Tai'Qu puts his hand on a hot plate, instead of the message having to go all the way to the brain and back, the node takes over the reaction. Reflexes learnt through training are stored at the node. This is a major reason for their legendary speed. It also has a few interesting effects, one is that Tia'Qu cannot hold their breath, the lung-node over-rides the brain's command. Another is that if the brain is taken out of action in some way (eg, gets half his head blown off), he may still continue carrying out an action if it was relatively simple, or reflexively react to stimuli (for a while. Until the body finally works out it's dead. Which can take a while without a brain).
They die young. Adult at around 5, dead before they're fifty

They're an emotional race, with very strong instincts and intuition, and they commonly follow them without second-guessing. Their instincts and intuition are commonly very accurate in close combat and other physical activities, they can almost invariably do the right thing without thought. The more thought and planning an activity requires, the more they lose this advantage and their emotional natures (and notable impatence) can even become a handicap.
They have a very strong instinct of Right and Wrong, and while they don't have a written down, organised law as such, an act breaching this instinct will have mobs out in the street looking to Put It Right! Obviously this can mean mistakes get made, but as long as they were honestly made, that's all right.
(Special note - Something they consider irredeemably evil is the use of WMDs. They've never explained why, but anyone ANYWHERE using such risks the Tai'Qu finding out, and then it can work like some kind of bloody holy Crusade for them)
The biggest leap forward for their civilisiation was when they evolved a certain, ummm, call it "honesty of support". This is, they will honestly support a side based upon their honest personal appraisal of its merits, not based on how much they like the guy pushing the view or what he's promised to give them for their support. This was vital to lift them out of the stone-age because everything was (and still is) decided among them by who's the strongest and has the meanest bunch of hombres. 'Everything' includes scientific theoreys. Their progress has been quite slow.
Incidentally, civil wars on board ships between the captain and someone who thinks he can do a better job are not too uncommon.
Their biggest polictical unit is the clan, which can range in size from hundreds to hundreds of thousands. Inter-clan co-operation and inter-clan warfare is equally common. Raiding is almost considered a racial sport, if not a Holy Mission.

Tai'qu females are intellectually retarded to the level of five-year olds. This is a natural quirk, as some of the genes affecting intelligence also affect gender. Any female 'sports' more intelligent that this are invariably infertile. (Nb- If this makes me sound mysoginist, I'll mention that the Kerridan are a female species where the males are mindless and only live for two or three days). They are about the height and build of a human male twelve year old, are covered with blotchy brown and brown-green fur, and no smell. They're marsupials, with a pouch and give birth to commonly two young about 5mm long (who then crawl into the pouch, etc).

Despite all their faults, they've been in space the longest of any species, and they have spread to dwarf not only any other known species, but all the others species combined.

[CaptainChewbacca]

*Cracks Knuckles* Alright.

Tai'Qu evolved in the jungles; as reproductive rights was governed by real combat possibly ending in death (as opposed to show bouts), and they were a predator hunting the larger and tougher creatures of their world, the evolutionary pressure was for the ability to fight, to take it and deal it out. As they developed intelligence, even if they came up with better ways to hunt, it didn't end the fighting for harems, which was always hand to hand.

Alright, pack hunters. Not so different from us.

Tai'Qu males resemble earth gorillas, except being much larger at a meter across at the shoulders, and standing upright three meters tall (however they're commonly hunched over and are a little less than 2 meters. They DO knucklewalk). The average specimen is six to seven hundred kilos, although some have been known to top a tonne. They are extremely strong, with a muscular strength pound for pound similar to that of a bear, and have very fast reactions (shockingly fast for anyone expecting something so large to be slow and clumsy).

Problem, and one I blame TV for: Gorillas aren't jungle creatures. Your varmints evolved in the jungles, so I'm guessing they'd be more arboreal (tree-swinging) like Orangutans or lemurs. Gorillas live in forests, mountains, and grasslands. Also, the muscular density of an ape is already good, you don't need to make comparisons to a bear. Lastly, 'shockingly fast' means nothing, just say they're quick or agile, since I don't actually know what 'reactions' means in this context.

They have multiply-redundant bodily systems. For instance, they not only have two hearts, but the veins and artieries are all lined with muscle and able to pump blood. One heart can be knocked out, and the Tai'Qu will still be able to act, although he'll feel faint. If both hearts are knocked out, he'll collapse unconcious but the blood vessels will be able to maintain enough blood flow to keep him alive. If a vessel is severed, the muscle lining has a very strong spasm reflex and will close it off, and there are plentiful cross-linkages. (Nb - It seems to me this would be a very low-pressure system. What effect would this have?).

A multiply redundant circulatory system is good for fighting, but bad for fighting injured. If everything is pumping blood, that means that these things will bleed to death FASTER from injuries if the muscle lining itself is torn, which seems likely. The blood pressures would be very high, because everything would be constantly pumping. It does, however, jive nicely with...

Despite a more efficient metabolism, they have a very high dietary and oxygen requirement. Their natural diet included sugary fruits, meat, and fat, and they still spent much of the day hunting, gathering, and eating. These days artificial concentrates are very common.

What's 'high oxygen requirement' mean, though? They can't hold their breath for more than ten seconds?

Along with the brain, there are numerous 'sub-brain' nodes through their body, for instance one controlling the lungs, one for each heart, and others for other vital systems. There is also a node within each limb that controls reflex actions, eg, if a Tai'Qu puts his hand on a hot plate, instead of the message having to go all the way to the brain and back, the node takes over the reaction. Reflexes learnt through training are stored at the node. This is a major reason for their legendary speed. It also has a few interesting effects, one is that Tia'Qu cannot hold their breath, the lung-node over-rides the brain's command. Another is that if the brain is taken out of action in some way (eg, gets half his head blown off), he may still continue carrying out an action if it was relatively simple, or reflexively react to stimuli (for a while. Until the body finally works out it's dead. Which can take a while without a brain).

The multiple brains thing is very intriguing, though an inability to EVER hold your breath is a huge evolutionary liability which leaves you incredibly vulnurable to drowning, exposure, or choking. The moving-after-decapitation is a bit silly, though, unless you just mean the limbs would be flopping around for a while.

Overall, not a terrible species design, though you've clearly made them to be the uber-large-uber-tough race. Make them a LITTLE smaller and rethink some of the peculiars and you'll be fine.

Overall grade: B-

[Temujin]

It seems like quite a few of these type of threads have come up recently. I think one problem that most people have is that they leave everything solely up to biological development via evolution, and hence the the species can come out not entirely making sense from a biological and cultural perspective, as well as seeming a bit wanked.

For creatures to develop a technological culture, assuming they aren't an uplifted or an otherwise engineered species, they are going to need to mirror certain elements in our own development.

• They need to have a reasonably developed level of sapience.
  They need to be omnivorous, and develop agriculture.
  They need to have effective tool manipulators, and the right environmental pressures and resources to develop advanced tools.
  They will need to develop complex cultures and live in sizable cities.

Now if a species can get to where we are now and not destroy themselves, then they can, and likely will begin to modify themselves via genetic engineering and cybernetics. You don't need to rely on evolution to give them grand abilities, nor should you give them limitations based up their original biological makeup; unless culturally they are totally opposed to any kind of advanced medicine.

Just some food for thought.

[Korto]

Tai'Qu males resemble earth gorillas, . They are extremely strong, with a muscular strength pound for pound similar to that of a bear, and have very fast reactions (shockingly fast for anyone expecting something so large to be slow and clumsy).

Problem, and one I blame TV for: Gorillas aren't jungle creatures. Your varmints evolved in the jungles, so I'm guessing they'd be more arboreal (tree-swinging) like Orangutans or lemurs. Gorillas live in forests, mountains, and grasslands. Also, the muscular density of an ape is already good, you don't need to make comparisons to a bear. Lastly, 'shockingly fast' means nothing, just say they're quick or agile, since I don't actually know what 'reactions' means in this context.

I really just meant they resemble gorillas in appearance, not necessarily anything more. They would also resemble orangutans, but more gorillas.
The comparison to a bear for strength was unnecessary. Conceded, and wont be done again.
To clarify with fast, I meant the idea that if you threw a punch at one, the return punch would be coming before your punch had landed, which comes as a shock to anyone expecting them to be lumbering. As opposed to 'can run at 100mph' fast.

They have multiply-redundant bodily systems. For instance, they not only have two hearts, but the veins and artieries are all lined with muscle and able to pump blood. One heart can be knocked out, and the Tai'Qu will still be able to act, although he'll feel faint. If both hearts are knocked out, he'll collapse unconcious but the blood vessels will be able to maintain enough blood flow to keep him alive. If a vessel is severed, the muscle lining has a very strong spasm reflex and will close it off, and there are plentiful cross-linkages. (Nb - It seems to me this would be a very low-pressure system. What effect would this have?).

A multiply redundant circulatory system is good for fighting, but bad for fighting injured. If everything is pumping blood, that means that these things will bleed to death FASTER from injuries if the muscle lining itself is torn, which seems likely. The blood pressures would be very high, because everything would be constantly pumping.

I was hoping the 'spasm closed' relex on all non-capillary vessels would prevent excessive bleeding

It does, however, jive nicely with...

"Jive nicely" is really what I aim for. One thing leading to another and all interconnected.

Despite a more efficient metabolism, they have a very high dietary and oxygen requirement. Their natural diet included sugary fruits, meat, and fat, and they still spent much of the day hunting, gathering, and eating. These days artificial concentrates are very common.

What's 'high oxygen requirement' mean, though? They can't hold their breath for more than ten seconds?

I meant they consume litre for litre much more oxygen than a human to sustain themselves. Probably unncessary to say given I've already indicated they have a much more active metabolism (a much bigger "fire"), but I thought it an important consideration in a space-faring race.

Along with the brain, there are numerous 'sub-brain' nodes through their body, <snip>. It also has a few interesting effects, one is that Tia'Qu cannot hold their breath, the lung-node over-rides the brain's command. Another is that if the brain is taken out of action in some way (eg, gets half his head blown off), he may still continue carrying out an action if it was relatively simple, or reflexively react to stimuli (for a while. Until the body finally works out it's dead. Which can take a while without a brain).

The multiple brains thing is very intriguing, though an inability to EVER hold your breath is a huge evolutionary liability which leaves you incredibly vulnurable to drowning, exposure, or choking. The moving-after-decapitation is a bit silly, though, unless you just mean the limbs would be flopping around for a while.

Overall, not a terrible species design, though you've clearly made them to be the uber-large-uber-tough race. Make them a LITTLE smaller and rethink some of the peculiars and you'll be fine.

Overall grade: B-

The breath-holding thing was an afterthought of "OK, there's this back-seat driver brain. What happens if I do something it doesn't like?" It doesn't cause a problem with choking (or plastic bag style suffocation) as far as I can see, as breathing is impossible anyway. It's a major problem with drowning as then you can "breath". And then die. None the less, it's a afterthought, and therefore on wobbly ground.
The 'moving after' thing was meant to be a bit like how a shark can still bite (occasionally) hours after it's caught. It doesn't mean it'll act with any thought, just dumbly carry out a rote-learned reflex if it somehow gets the impression it's required (normally due to a nerve misfiring).
They have been made to be 'uber tough', true. It's their schtick. The big bogeymen of battle that everyones terrified of, but with problems elsewhere pulling them down to size.

For creatures to develop a technological culture, assuming they aren't an uplifted or an otherwise engineered species, they are going to need to mirror certain elements in our own development.

They need to have a reasonably developed level of sapience.
They need to be omnivorous, and develop agriculture.
They need to have effective tool manipulators, and the right environmental pressures and resources to develop advanced tools.
They will need to develop complex cultures and live in sizable cities.

Now if a species can get to where we are now and not destroy themselves, then they can, and likely will begin to modify themselves via genetic engineering and cybernetics. You don't need to rely on evolution to give them grand abilities, nor should you give them limitations based up their original biological makeup; unless culturally they are totally opposed to any kind of advanced medicine.

Just some food for thought.

Reasobly developed sapience - check - from need for pack hunting and social grouping
Omnivorous - check, if limited to high-value foods and not understanding this requirement v being pure carnivore
Tool-user - check, althogh not as finger-nimble as us
Complex culture and cities - check, although it took them a long time.

As for destroy themselves, well.... human academics have speculated about their frankly inveterate hatred of WMDs (including dropping big rocks on planets), and their unwillingness to talk about it. Has anyone ever seen the Tai'qu homeworld?
I personally am a bit cool on genetic engineering and cybernetics (no good reason. Just am), and I think these guys are too. Anyway, most of their limitations are mental, not physical. There are at least two other races that would be interested, however, although I think the science of artificial enhancement (in universe) may be a bit less advanced than you'd hope.

[Mayabird]

Doesn't necessarily have to be omnivorous. Probably makes it easier to get protein, but if they have to consume huge amounts of plant matter it could give them a push towards agriculture. Think elephants. Doesn't have to be that big, of course, and it doesn't necessarily have to be anything like elephants, but they pull off intelligence, high socialization, and tool manipulation without eating meat.

As for the needing oxygen, you could just give them better lungs, like avian lungs instead of mammalian lungs. Birds can extract oxygen far more efficiently from the air than mammals, which is how geese can migrate above the Himalayas when the highest peaks are said to be in the death zone. Or maybe their air has a higher oxygen content, or denser, or both.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I like most of your reasoning, but nonetheless I can override my autonomic nervous system to some extent, and so can most mammals. To have a creature that is at the mercy of its' own body is an evolutionary liability. Natural selection would favor those who CAN override their hindbrains when the situation calls for it.

Otherwise, these things will be killing each-other as a result of being startled. Ever THINK you see something out of the corner of your eye? Now you just punched your best friend in the neck before you realized it was a flash of light in the corner of your eye.

Also the 'spasming closed' for the blood vessels, when it does work, will cut off circulation to limbs like an internal tourniquet. You'll have a lot of stumpy gorilla men.

As a last nitpick, I've always felt putting an apostraphe in an alien language or name is a hallmark of not having a better idea. Why not just call them 'Taiqu'? What's the punctuation add other than looking exotic?

[Mayabird]

An apostrophe wouldn't be so bad if it was for some sound that can't be replicated well in letters, like some specific guttural coughing sound, and it would look stupid to write TaiGKHWACKqu. There's the precedent for using ! to mean a tongue click, like that which is used by !Kung of the Kalahari Desert. Or maybe something more exotic, like the word has to be accompanied by some sort of gesture to mean that particular thing and the apostrophe is a placeholder. (No doubt Duckie cringes here. I am so sorry.)

That being said, since you're making up a species/language/culture there's no point in forcing that to be in the name. If you really want the guttural coughing sound or hand gesture or a beatdown from Duckie you can stick it in some other words.

[Korto]

As a last defense of my blood system (v bleeding to death) I will point out that

They have multiply-redundant bodily systems

which includes

(blood vessels have) plentiful cross-linkages.

As an anolgy, their blood system is more like a city street map (where if one road is blocked, there's always others), then a railway system (where if the track is out, it's bus or learn to love walking). That's why I suspected they may have quite low blood pressure.
I'm siding with you over the uncontrollable reflexes. Too silly. Breathing should be more like ours, where we can override the desire to breathe up until we just have to breathe, and reflex goes off before brain only in high adrenalin, instinctual type times. Otherwise, while males wouldn't be able to kill males by accident that easily, females are an entirely different matter, and they react, shall we say, poorly to females being hurt, even by accident (there's such a huge power differential an instinctive over-protectiveness of females became an evolutionary necessity).
I could say that culturally they automatically take actions to be seen and heard at all times (to not sneak up on people), but I would have trouble reconciling that with their being a hunting race.

And I like the apostraphe. So there. It looks exotic, which was its point.

Tai'Qu is really the humanisation of their name. They speak in very low frequencys, half their talk is subsonic to us unless they make an effort to speak falsetto, it's very gutteral and barking in many parts.

Amusingly, the two races to follow (the Kerridan and Annites) don't have apostraphes because their names are completely unprounceable to humans, and so humans just stuck their own names to them.

[Korto]

OK, time for race number two. The Annites.

The name Annite comes from where they were first encountered by humans, arround the informally named "Annie's Star" (after the exploring captain's infant daughter). They are the most recent race on the scene.
Annites are a feathered (I tried to think of an alien alternative to feathers, but couldn't think of anything as good) avian species with six limbs (a pair of legs, wings, and arms) that stand around three feet tall. They are lightly built, with hollow bones, and quite fragile compared to a human. They do however have the most powerful muscles, pound for pound, of any of the four spacefaring races, and the most efficient metabolism. They are readily capable of flight in normal (earth-like) conditions. Their feet are taloned claws similar to an eagle, but with three front and two back claws. Their "hands" are vaguely similar to a human's, but thinner and with short claws rather than nails. (Closely related species have longer claws, and use them to tear at prey too large to be killed by the initial swoop)
An annite's health is tightly linked to its position. The more powerful it feels, and the more annites it dominates, the healthier it is, better able to fight off infection, and the slower it ages. Even without medical engineering (which at least doubles an annite's lifespan, only available to the powerful), and assuming aging is the only factor, a ruling annite can live more than 200 years, compared to a drudge's less than 30. Also, the more powerful they feel, the more hygenic they act (a ruler is practically obsessive compulsive about cleanliness), and the sharper-witted, energetic, and ambitious.

Their reproduction is the most interesting of any of the four. All through their life, they generate and scatter microscopic bacteria-like 'spores' from their skin, which become activated by being colder than body temperture. The more powerful an Annite feels it is, the more spores they generate.
These spores, when activated, go on a hunting spree, devouring any other spores they meet and can overwhelm. Sometimes (rarely) during the consuming process some of the DNA of the two gets mixed up. An interesting result is when two spores fail to have a winner, what often then happens is the two merge and freely exchange DNA, before resplitting and both going their seperate ways.
The next stage of their life cycle is parasitical, they infest an adult Annite through a break in the skin. They grow and develop into worms in the bloodstream before migrating to the brain. In the brain, they destroy the Annite's higher reasoning and cause him to want to avoid everyone and hide somewhere dark and remote. From there, they slowly consume him (in a way that keeps him alive for as long as possible). Finally they emerge from the host and form a coccoon around themselves, from which they emerge weeks later as adult Annites. (The first meal of these annites normally consists of any brood-brothers too slow to develop or too weak to defend themselves). Then, following instinct, they seek out other annites to join with.

Annite society could well be called 'evil'. They're highly politically cunning, treacherous, and only interested in themselves, with absolutely no fellow-feeling for other annites. Power is all they're interested in. They are currently ruled by a dictatorship, although an extremely unstable one.
If they see little worth in each other, they see absolutely none in anyone else. They have two common responses to the discovery of aliens. Kill or enslave them.

In combat they wear light armour optimised against lasers, and use laser rifles (which use disposable cartridges of charged chemical in magazines). They make some small use of their flight abilities (for air attacks akin to parachute drops), but normally the equipment is too heavy to make flight practical. They are however instinctually very good pilots. None the less they are "also-rans" compared to humans and tai'qu, and so they tend to rely heavily upon mass WMD bombardment, and have even sterilised planets. (In a related note, so far the Tai'Qu have been unable to find the Annite worlds, although they are looking.) The also make very good space "mines" (these are single shot beam weapons, normally powered by an atomic bomb. If the passive sesors pick up an intruder, the mine orients and fires).

[SilverWingedSeraph]

It seems like quite a few of these type of threads have come up recently. I think one problem that most people have is that they leave everything solely up to biological development via evolution, and hence the the species can come out not entirely making sense from a biological and cultural perspective, as well as seeming a bit wanked.

For creatures to develop a technological culture, assuming they aren't an uplifted or an otherwise engineered species, they are going to need to mirror certain elements in our own development.

• They need to have a reasonably developed level of sapience.
  They need to be omnivorous, and develop agriculture.
  They need to have effective tool manipulators, and the right environmental pressures and resources to develop advanced tools.
  They will need to develop complex cultures and live in sizable cities.

Now if a species can get to where we are now and not destroy themselves, then they can, and likely will begin to modify themselves via genetic engineering and cybernetics. You don't need to rely on evolution to give them grand abilities, nor should you give them limitations based up their original biological makeup; unless culturally they are totally opposed to any kind of advanced medicine.

Just some food for thought.

You seem to be making a lot of assertions without providing any evidence or even explanation for them. While a group of hunter-gathers surely wouldn't have the population density of a agricultural species, this does not in any way mean they somehow won't be able to develop technology. Lack of sapience and lack of tool manipulators could certainly prove a barrier to developing technology, but I'm eager to hear your explanation as to how lack of agriculture, being exclusively carnivorous or omnivorous, and not having a high population density can prevent a technological society from developing, especially in a species which might have thought-processes, cultures and evolved moral codes that differ from those of humans.

[jamsy42]

OK, time for race number two. The Annites.

The name Annite comes from where they were first encountered by humans, arround the informally named "Annie's Star" (after the exploring captain's infant daughter). They are the most recent race on the scene.
Annites are a feathered (I tried to think of an alien alternative to feathers, but couldn't think of anything as good) avian species with six limbs (a pair of legs, wings, and arms) that stand around three feet tall. They are lightly built, with hollow bones, and quite fragile compared to a human. They do however have the most powerful muscles, pound for pound, of any of the four spacefaring races, and the most efficient metabolism. They are readily capable of flight in normal (earth-like) conditions. Their feet are taloned claws similar to an eagle, but with three front and two back claws. Their "hands" are vaguely similar to a human's, but thinner and with short claws rather than nails. (Closely related species have longer claws, and use them to tear at prey too large to be killed by the initial swoop)
An annite's health is tightly linked to its position. The more powerful it feels, and the more annites it dominates, the healthier it is, better able to fight off infection, and the slower it ages. Even without medical engineering (which at least doubles an annite's lifespan, only available to the powerful), and assuming aging is the only factor, a ruling annite can live more than 200 years, compared to a drudge's less than 30. Also, the more powerful they feel, the more hygenic they act (a ruler is practically obsessive compulsive about cleanliness), and the sharper-witted, energetic, and ambitious.

Their reproduction is the most interesting of any of the four. All through their life, they generate and scatter microscopic bacteria-like 'spores' from their skin, which become activated by being colder than body temperture. The more powerful an Annite feels it is, the more spores they generate.
These spores, when activated, go on a hunting spree, devouring any other spores they meet and can overwhelm. Sometimes (rarely) during the consuming process some of the DNA of the two gets mixed up. An interesting result is when two spores fail to have a winner, what often then happens is the two merge and freely exchange DNA, before resplitting and both going their seperate ways.
The next stage of their life cycle is parasitical, they infest an adult Annite through a break in the skin. They grow and develop into worms in the bloodstream before migrating to the brain. In the brain, they destroy the Annite's higher reasoning and cause him to want to avoid everyone and hide somewhere dark and remote. From there, they slowly consume him (in a way that keeps him alive for as long as possible). Finally they emerge from the host and form a coccoon around themselves, from which they emerge weeks later as adult Annites. (The first meal of these annites normally consists of any brood-brothers too slow to develop or too weak to defend themselves). Then, following instinct, they seek out other annites to join with.

Annite society could well be called 'evil'. They're highly politically cunning, treacherous, and only interested in themselves, with absolutely no fellow-feeling for other annites. Power is all they're interested in. They are currently ruled by a dictatorship, although an extremely unstable one.
If they see little worth in each other, they see absolutely none in anyone else. They have two common responses to the discovery of aliens. Kill or enslave them.

In combat they wear light armour optimised against lasers, and use laser rifles (which use disposable cartridges of charged chemical in magazines). They make some small use of their flight abilities (for air attacks akin to parachute drops), but normally the equipment is too heavy to make flight practical. They are however instinctually very good pilots. None the less they are "also-rans" compared to humans and tai'qu, and so they tend to rely heavily upon mass WMD bombardment, and have even sterilised planets. (In a related note, so far the Tai'Qu have been unable to find the Annite worlds, although they are looking.) The also make very good space "mines" (these are single shot beam weapons, normally powered by an atomic bomb. If the passive sesors pick up an intruder, the mine orients and fires).

Interesting race but I think you should develop the whole Evil thing a little more. A society isn't just evil it just functions in a way we consider immoral

[Teleros]

OK, time for race number two. The Annites.

Interesting species. Is the difference in lifespan & such just tied to their means of reproduction, or is it psychological (or both)? If it's related to psychology, how do they stand up to interrogation? I can imagine their resistance to certain forms of interrogation and / or torture being pretty low, with all the problems that involves when it comes to making war.

The other downside to their nature is that I can see co-operation between annites being a pain in the arse to accomplish (and I suspect that even here, willing co-operation would result in greater results than forced co-operation), but I would call them "callous" or "amoral" rather than "evil".

[Korto]

A society isn't just evil it just functions in a way we consider immoral

When I said 'evil', I meant from the point of view of an outside (human) observer. No culture would consider itself evil. The Annites would probably consider the human culture... stupid. Incredibly naive and trusting of each other and missing all the obvious chances for treachery and self-advancement.

OK, time for race number two. The Annites.

Interesting species. Is the difference in lifespan & such just tied to their means of reproduction, or is it psychological (or both)? If it's related to psychology, how do they stand up to interrogation? I can imagine their resistance to certain forms of interrogation and / or torture being pretty low, with all the problems that involves when it comes to making war.

The other downside to their nature is that I can see co-operation between annites being a pain in the arse to accomplish (and I suspect that even here, willing co-operation would result in greater results than forced co-operation), but I would call them "callous" or "amoral" rather than "evil".

There is a phychological effect they feel from having dominance, control, over others, which runs over into the physical. It could be considered similar to the low-ranking suffering a state of medical depression, the depression deeper the lower their status is. This also depresses their immune system, and seems to degrade the body's maintenance systems. Basically, even if they were kept in a sterile environment and well-fed, they would still die significantly earlier than someone higher-ranking.
Drudges tend to be docile, obedient, and lack initiative. These attributes are generally considered positives by the higher-ups.
Their ability to stand up under interrogation is probably largely non-existent. As they have no loyalty to anyone other than themselves, they will act in whatever way they perceive as being in their best interests. Also, the feeling of powerlessness would make them docile and obedient (if they weren't already). It would be absolutely vital to keep anyone in the field as ignorant as possible. This is the exact oppisite of the Tai'Qu approach, where they try to keep everyone as informed as possible, to allow initiative to have maximum effect.
Co-operation is a pain in the arse, and they really don't realise how much weaker their constant treachery and therefore constant (legitimate) paranoia of each other makes their race. To work together, there has to be benefit to all concerned (at least those who get a say), and you must always ensure the cost of betraying you is greater than the reward. It's a very weak and unstable civilisation, and has only gotten as far as it has due to the long life spans of the leaders enabling them to take a longer view, and the realisation that you can build a higher social pyramid if you allow some to occupy middle rungs. That is, leaders will deliberately select and train up promising annites to higher positions, which puts the leader at risk (as the annite is now more of a threat, more intelligent, more ambitious), but makes them more powerful. You can't run a business just with drudges.
Thinking about this makes me feel that they may have a 'good' and 'bad' (in ability) armed forces. The general force may be made up of militia, drudges, listless, without initiative, expected to fight and die. As such, they would have shit gear and shit training, and would die in droves accomplishing nothing on a real battle field (may have use for crowd control, or mine detection). The other force would be elite, given drudges of their own by their higher-ups, and knowing that good performance will see promotion and more power. They would have good gear, good training, and small numbers considering the higher-ups would need to keep control of them. And they're still not a match for a human soldier (and squad v squad, when one squad is continually watching its own back in case a squad-member puts a bolt in it? Ever played Paranoia?). The annites would really rely on bombardment.

[Edi]

I realize that there is only a limited number of various names you can construct for an earth based space empire, but the Wing Commander one was named the Terran Confederation, so if you're aiming for an original work, you're potentially going to run into problems using this name by the time you talk to a publisher.

[Simon_Jester]

I might suggest "Terran League." "League" doesn't get used all that often, and it originated with the same concept of a bunch of loosely affiliated political entities hammering together some semblance of a government.

You seem to be making a lot of assertions without providing any evidence or even explanation for them. While a group of hunter-gathers surely wouldn't have the population density of a agricultural species, this does not in any way mean they somehow won't be able to develop technology. Lack of sapience and lack of tool manipulators could certainly prove a barrier to developing technology, but I'm eager to hear your explanation as to how lack of agriculture, being exclusively carnivorous or omnivorous, and not having a high population density can prevent a technological society from developing, especially in a species which might have thought-processes, cultures and evolved moral codes that differ from those of humans.

Well. Without high population density you don't get cooperation; groups are small and the wilderness is large. There's relatively little incentive to develop drastically new ways of doing things, because your main competitor is nature, not other members of your own species. Once your technology is good enough to make you the apex predator or to protect you from wild animals, there's just not much motivation to go scouring the landscape for rocks you can stick in a fire and get metal out of or whatever.

[Shroom Man 777]

StarCraft also has 'Terran Confederation' too. So it's already been used multiple times.

[Simon_Jester]

The problem is that there really aren't that many names a government can take based on its structure:

-Kingdom
-Empire
-Republic
-League
-Federation
-Confederation

There are probably a few others I'm missing, but those are the most common ones. Since there are dozens of Earth-based empires in science fiction, it's a safe bet that all of those options have been used.

If you want to have a "we are an interstellar polity governed from Earth" name, it's probably not going to be a very original one.

[CaptainChewbacca]

There's also Alliance, Pact, Hegemon, Dominate, Nation, Consortium, and Imperium off the top of my head. Plus, you can sprinkle in 'Earth', 'Star', 'Interstellar', or 'Terra'.

[Korto]

I realize that there is only a limited number of various names you can construct for an earth based space empire, but the Wing Commander one was named the Terran Confederation

<Sigh> I'll have to work on it. List of good suggestions, though. League's nice.

Never played Wing Commander. Humans still exist as smaller states, and the idea that they're actually allied with one another is really a political fiction, (for instance the two major states, the USA and New British Empire, hate each other with all the vitriol of the height of the Cold War, or even more considering what close, inseperable, friends the US and Britain were before the events of The Great Death). It's a fiction they maintain to impress the aliens. So, it needs to be a name that suggests an accord of equals.
Hell, - Pact, Alliance (although also used a lot), the UNE (United Nations of Earth, direct descendant of the United Nations), etc.

Chewbacca - Do you feel that "numerous cross-linkages" could fix the Tai'Qu blood problem you were talking about, or does it bring other problems?

[Serafina]

They need to have a reasonably developed level of sapience.
They need to be omnivorous, and develop agriculture.
They need to have effective tool manipulators, and the right environmental pressures and resources to develop advanced tools.
They will need to develop complex cultures and live in sizable cities.

Actually, it's quite imaginable that both carni- and herbivores could also develop agriculture.
Herbivores are obvious - their development of agriculture would be very similar to ours.

Carnivores, on the other hand, would have to take a detour.
They would have to develop shepherding first. That could already significantly lower their need to move around, making them settle in fixed locations.
The step to agriculture could come if they have to boost the amount of food for their herds. From that point onwards, they would be farmers growing plants for their cattle and then eating the cattle.

There are/have been human cultures to develop shepherding but not agriculture. The leap that has not been observed (to my knowledge) is going from having captive cattle to agriculture - but that's propably because every culture that had the right conditions for agriculture already had it. Humans can, after all, eat plants.
Carnivores, on the other hand, could life in an area that allows agriculture and still develop shepherding first - after all, they can't eat plants.

[CaptainChewbacca]

'Numerous cross linkages' just means there's more places to bleed from and more avenues that need to be closed off to stop blood flow.

I suppose you could do something like (I think) a fish, where a passive heart simply sends a pulse of blood OUT from the core of the body, and then it diffuses back through a very vague circulatory system.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

'Numerous cross linkages' just means there's more places to bleed from and more avenues that need to be closed off to stop blood flow.

I suppose you could do something like (I think) a fish, where a passive heart simply sends a pulse of blood OUT from the core of the body, and then it diffuses back through a very vague circulatory system.

That's not true for fish. Like other vertebrates, fish have a closed-loop circulatory system with arteries and veins. The only animals whose circulatory system behaves as you describe is the one possessed by arthropods. In them, there are no blood vessels. Fluid is dispatched from the core by a simple heart, and diffuses back towards the heart through pores and channels in the animal's body.

The only way to effect an aggressive biological response to bleeding is to either have vessels clamp shut combined with a truly phenomenal clotting response. To prevent tissue downstream from an injury from going gangrenous and dropping off, you could have aggressive blood vessel growth that rapidly spawns little side vessels that bypass the injured area. They'd be reabsorbed when the main vessel heals up. Which, if you had the sort of high-speed tissue generation needed to do that . . . wouldn't take very long.

Of course, the obvious problem is getting biology to work that fast. And the fact that a large organism with this sort of aggressive cell growth is likely to be a small dose of ionizing radiation away from death from stupefyingly malignant cancer.

[Korto]

Right! That's it! I want to start a poll to get Chewbacca and Terwynn banned for being mean and nasty and horrible and... and... and... mean!
(Insert "smiley" of pouting three year old here)

Oh well. The 'aggressive bleeding control' thing really doesn't add anything (on feel) beyond what I would get for just saying they have a faster and better clotting response, without actually giving any numbers to trip up on, and airily alluding to other measures humans also have (without mentioning what) also responding faster and better. Besides which, they do have medical technology. Slap on a synth-skin patch you lazy bastards.

[Korto]

Finally, the Kerridan.

The Kerridan are an insect-like race, who appear reasonably similar to 5 feet long, three feet high fleas. They have six limbs, using four for walking and the front two as manipulators. They breath through tracheae, assisted by hairs lining the vessels that move in a continual wave-like motion; this motion peridically reverses to expel dust and other rubbish. They have a carapace, a simple circulatory system, and an extremely acute sense of smell (they used to have poor long-range vision, but have corrected that with genetic engineering).

Kerridan, incidentally, is the human name for them. They speak in clicks, scrapes, and complex gestures, and their name for themselves is completely unpronouceable. Dr Anita Kerridan was the leader of the First Contact team sent to the Kerridan.

The Kerridan originally were a moderately successful species on a large island. They lived underground in large hives, would harvest foliage from above, which they used to grow fungus inside their nests which they then ate. They had a queen, workers, and soldiers. The queen would lay eggs, developing to pupae, who would become workers or soldiers based upon pheremones emitted by the queen, which she would emit in response to the concentration of worker and soldier pheremones detected within the hive. When the queen finally dies, the cessation of pheremone causes pupae to develope into queens (once the first queens hatch, the resumption of pheremones resume normal worker/soldier production). The queens would then leave the hive to form new hives, accompanied by a retinue of workers and soldiers, and the old hive would be abandoned. The first eggs laid by the new queen would be unfertilized, and would hatch into males; these males would mate with the new queen and then die, and the queen will store that sperm for the rest of her life. They had no predators on the island, and their numbers were controlled by fighting between hives, whom they recognised by different pheremone markers (every born queen would have a different pheremone marker, even though sisters). Then a mutation occured. The pheremone markers were passed on without alteration; this caused the hive to grow as a 'Super Colony', with multiple queens and the hive growing out organically, larger and larger. Any other hives run into by this growing cancer of a hive were quickly destroyed by overwhelming numbers, until finally the entire island was occupied by the hive, and all other, non-mutant, Kerridan had been destroyed. And still their numbers grew.
Obviously, such growth was not sustainable. Food shortages set in, leading to evolutionary adaptions increasing food efficiency. The ability to become soldiers was lost, there was no need for them, and they were expensive to maintain, and then under the ongoing food stress, intelligence (somehow) flowered. It was an intelligence devoted towards efficiency, precision, an intelligence that would take as long as necessary to get the correct answer, taking in account all possible variables, and emotionlessly do what was best for the Hive.
One of the first things that happened when a sub-hive became intelligent enough was it undertook a process of population control, reducing the pressure on the world above and culling the less intelligent sub-hive groups. From there, they continued to develop, largely by deliberetly breeding themselves for intelligence.

The intelligence they developed is completely emotionless, more akin to a computer than anything human. Every act is calculated (to the nth decimal place) with the only consideration being "How does this help the Hive?". They have no personal ambition, a limited sense of self, and are completely devoted to the betterment of the Hive (there is only one Hive, despite spanning multiple planets).
This way of thinking has had its benefits, and problems. They never suffered from world-endangering pollution, as they never used a technology until they had thoughly considered the ramifications; major industrial accidents were unheard of. Their technological growth was also very, very slow. Their scientific progress was also very slow, and they would always thoughly explore each area before cautiously looking further along new avenues (however, their knowledge is exhaustive).
Their biggest drawback, however, is in combat, which they learnt when they became a space-faring race and encountered the Tai'Qu. While they are the best in strategic planning, the fact is that a Kerridan cannot do anything without calculating out first the ramifications of the act, taking in consideration all available data. This was useful in maintaining a population on limited resources, it's bloody suicidal in the middle of an engagement.
They responded to this by employing Tai'Qu as mercenaries, until they met the humans whom they now prefer to employ (not quite as combat-able, but a lot more reliable). Mercenaries are the major human export to the Kerridan.
In a non-combat situation, their speed of thought is such that they seem only slow and thoughtful, and they are even capable of true muti-tasking, their minds carrying out different tasks simultaneously.

The Kerridan control very few planets compared to the length of time they've been in space (less than the humans, who are relative new-comers), but each planet is perfectly (to the nth decimal place) efficiently colonised, utilised and run.

[Jeremy]

Why are most insect aliens made into hive critters?

Why not reintroduce the warrior breed instead of using mercenaries?