Vobavians

The Vobavians are a tiny species by human standards, standing only a foot tall on their hind legs, but there are over twenty billion of them on their home planet of Vobav. In several ways they resemble Earthly rodents, they are a burrowing species with mammal-like traits. Vobavians live in colonies with castes that determine what job they will perform. They have no permanent gender and can change their nature as needed for reproductive purposes.

Blepdorp is a worker, which is to say that they do whatever physical labour it needed to be done at any time. That can include digging tunnels, carrying heavy loads, or building walls but almost never involves leaving the colony’s tunnel system. Blepdorp has only been outside the colony tunnels to work twice, and the second time was very nearly struck by lightning (and is still deaf as a result). Blepdorp is perfectly happy with not going outside anymore.

Wooploop is an unassigned worker, which means that most of the time they get to lounge around and play games with other unassigned workers. It may seem like that sort of thing would be a drain on a colony’s resources, supporting lazy slackers, but the idea is that, should an emergency arise, the colony will have a contingent of well-rested replacements ready a moments notice. So far Wooploop has had to serve as a worker when a bunch of the colony’s worker’s were killed by a rival colony, a garment maker when a disease left most of the colony sick in bed, and a firekeeper when a season of flooding left the colony’s fire supplies running low. So Wooploop has seen a lot, but gets to enjoy downtime most of the time. It’s a pretty good life. Wooploop’s favorite pastime is racing. This colony, and many others, has a system of tunnels designed just for unassigned workers to race. Though Vobavians with assigned jobs don’t get nearly as much relaxation time, there are those who enjoy spending what they do get as spectators for the races.

Nublobb works on the surface around their colony’s tunnels, mostly foraging for the berry-like things that make up a large part of the Vobavian diet, but also serving as a lookout for trouble from other colonies. Vobavians are quite territorial and violence will often break out between colonies just for being near one another. Nublobb particularly enjoys that aspect of the job and has been known to forage closer to other colonies than is wise, just in the hopes of getting a chance to beat up rivals.

A Fact About Vobavians: Vobavians are not willing to have any relationship with the other animals on their planet. As vegetarians, they have never needed to breed them for food. They don’t keep them as pets or workers either. When a swarm of Vobavians wants to create a new colony, the first thing they do is chase off all the animals in the area and creates walls and fences to keep them gone.

Universe: White

Grunoferons

The Grunoferons are a species that are comparable in size to Earth’s rhinoceros or hippopotamus. They are bipedal, though their legs are positioned with one in front and one in back, rather than side by side. Their primary senses are based around magnetic fields, and at the front of their heads they have long trunk-like appendages with a ball that has generate electrical charges and generate electromagnetic waves.

The species live in nomadic herds, travelling with the seasons. The planet is large and their population is small, so there are not a lot of territorial conflicts. When a Grunoferon goes off on its own to start a new herd, it will send out pulses that tell its location to other solo individuals.

Etranzorry is a young Grunoferon, part of a sizeable herd in the planet’s tropical regions. Etranzorry is a curious sort that enjoys wandering off from the herd to seek out nooks and crannies that others may have never seen.

Mowndomy is an older Grunoferon, who has laid eggs seventeen times and successfully raised five children, which is well above the average, which is only one or two in a lifetime. Mowndomy attributes this reproductive success to the three rivers near the herds egg-laying fields, which create a natural barrier against egg-stealing creatures, which seems like a pretty reasonable assumption.

Dipdoplo is a solo Grunoferon currently seeking a new herd after having grown annoyed by the company of the last herd. Dipdoplo won’t admit it yet, but would be much happier alone than with a herd, but still seeks a new one because that’s what one is “supposed” to do.

A Fact About Grunoferons: Although there are no natural predators of grown Grunoferons on their planet, the eyes of Grunoferons have mystical properties that make them very handy in the occult sciences. This means that wizards from other planets, even other dimensions, will occasionally raid their homeworld and poach Grunoferons for their eyes, sometimes even leaving their living victims eyeless and forced to try to survive without their vision. Naturally, this has left the Grunoferons very wary of strange species.

Universe: Brown