Kymarks

The Kymarks are a bipedal species with four forelimbs, tails, and tusks. They evolved on a planet they call Bruundac that orbits a binary star system. Bruundac is a planet largely covered in water and sandy shores. The Kymarks live in cities along these shores. They eat by digging with their tusks to root out worm-like creatures that make up most of their diet. The Kymarks have learned how to breed these worms in immense number, but unlike our farming they don’t keep the animals around. Their goal is to make sure there are plenty of animals in the wild, instead of in custody.

The clothing worn by Kymarks are meant to be permanent. They are designed with colors and designs relevant to family histories and presented to Kymarks at their adulthood ceremony, and are intended to be worn for life. But that makes it easier for Kymarks with something to run away from, such as Wirpdi, to slip away. It does require surgery to remove ones outfit, but to Wirpdi that’s an easy price to pay. Now wearing a counterfeit outfit and having run away to a city on the other side of the world where nobody knows that Wirpdi has been completely submerged underwater and then come back to the shore, a crime punishable by death (Ancient Kymark myths insist that anyone who has been completely submerged could easily have been replaced by an evil duplicate. Modern Kymarks don’t believe this, but the rule is still there.)

Soffdo is a corpse sniffer. That’s a job, not a hobby. It’s Soffdo’s job to smell around the city for any Kymarks who may have died unseen in some hidden corner (Kymarks sleep hidden under piles of cloth or other similar holes). When Soffdo finds a corpse, it is given a proper burial at sea. Soffdo’s lower right forearm is damaged. Damaged arms are unfortunately common for the species.

Evdok is an orator. In the system that the Kymarks have set up, the orator is not giving their own point, necessarily, but is hired by others to make a point. Evdok may believe that razing a forest to make room for more city is a bad thing, but will passionately argue the opposite if hired to do so. It isn’t considered hypocritical in this culture, because Evdok would not be pretending to actually believe it, the audience is aware of the way it works, but is instead simply a Kymark doing their job.

A Fact About Kymarks: Kymarks have six eyes, with one large center eye surrounded by five smaller eyes that each specialize in registering a different range of the light spectrum. If one of the smaller eyes is lost, through disease or injury, the overall vision can become colorblind to that eye’s specialty (if the large eye is lost, that’s just blindness no matter the health of the other eyes).

Universe: Orange

Nice Pals

Over on planet Yeskobegg there is a species that call themselves the Nice Pals. They are quadrupeds, radially symmetrical, with a large sense organ on the top of their heads (their primary sense is not sight, but similar enough that we’ll call that organ an eye). Around the eye are six appendages that can protect the it, since there is no eyelid equivalent. There are also six appendages surrounding the bottom organs (including mouths, a nose, and retractable waste tube).

The Nice Pals believe in giving things positive names. They call themselves “Nice Pals” because they hope that will encourage them to exist in friendly terms with the rest of the universe. Offspring are given adjectives that the namers hope will encourage them to act well in life. While that makes some sense, as the names are meant to remind one how to act, it has also carried on to a more superstitious aspect. For example, there is a species of animal in Yeskobeggan oceans that they have named “Hopefully Won’t Eat Us”.

A significant percentage of the population of Nice Pals serve their communities as latherers. Scrupulous Hiip, one such latherer, spends the work cycle applying foam to the walls of Nice Pal structures, which both cleans and strengthens them. Scrupulous Hiip, like most other latherers, does the work because it is easy and does not require a lot of training, and there are so many latherers that they have one of the shortest work cycles on the planet. This allows for a longer pleasure cycle, and that’s what Hiip prefers.

Friendly Twill is a settler who has travelled to a remote region of Yeskobegg and is trying to establish civilization there. It has not been easy, the region is cold and rocky and Nice Pals have not yet developed seagoing vessels strong enough to reach its shores. But Twill toils hard, digging wells and building shelters in the hopes that others will come and help with the work, making it all worthwhile.

Honest Biot is an inveterate liar, but feels bad about it. The pressure of living up to one’s name is powerful, overwhelming even, and Honest Biot can’t take it. Life is hard. Lying makes it easier. None of that is Biot’s fault, why is it Biot’s problem. Just because of that stupid name assigned by a parent that didn’t even know Biot yet. How Biot hates the name, and that parent.

A Fact About Nice Pals: Though the Nice Pals do try very hard to be nice, theirs is still a society in which personal matters are occasionally solved by duels to the death. When a disagreement arises, one Nice Pal will challenge the other and the other must accept or lose the esteem of the rest of the community. Duel specifics vary across the planet, but most commonly the challenged party gets to choose the details.

Universe: Indigo

Ootmoos

Ootmoos are a thick-skinned bipedal species who are a big part of the pan-galactic community. Ootmoos are active in almost all of the universe-spanning social organizations that have been formed over the ages, including the Space Army, the Space Trade Union, the Space Pollution Removal Force, the Space Alliance of Piano Repairers, and even the Space Social Organization Organizer Organization. Ootmoos are everywhere, working to make a better Space for everybody. They have no blood, they can breathe underwater, they shed their skin once a year, and they like collecting pictures of clouds. Every Ootmoo in existence likes collecting pictures of clouds.

The Space Army’s Pooloop was an Ootmoo. Since the end of the war, Pooloop has been living on the planet Zarnton, seeking inner peace.

Roodintoo is a young Ootmoo, merely six skins old, who is working at a spaceship factory. Roodintoo has never known any work but this, and isn’t really unhappy, but kind of feels like something is missing. With that in mind, Roodintoo has begun assembling a personal spaceship in their spare time, with the intention of travelling the cosmos once it is finished.

Ooverro was a Space Army captain during the war with the Flartians. Ooverro’s ship saw a lot of combat, and Ooverro lost many good crew members. All the crew members knew the risks, and obviously the Flartians had to be stopped no matter the cost, but those deaths still weigh on Ooverro’s soul. To make sure that their sacrifice was worth it, Ooverro now dedicates time and resources to repairing and improving the homeworlds of those lost crew members.

Toobooni still lives on the Ootmoo homeworld, which is called Voot, and has a very successful career as a singer. The Ootmoo languages, which would sound to our ears like a bunch of very fast hooting, is extremely complex and allows for advanced wordplay. Plus, every word has an “oo” sound, so rhyming is easy.

A Fact About Ootmoos: For a long time, the Ootmoos reproduced by laying their eggs inside the corpses of their enemies. When the species became a peaceful ally to other aliens, that was often frowned upon by others. Since then the Ootmoos have perfected compost mixtures that are actually more ideal for laying eggs than corpses ever were, which makes one wonder why they even did the corpse thing for so long. (The answer is because it freaked out their enemies, of course.)

Universe: Bronze

The Flitari

Having evolved in the dense atmosphere of a gas giant, the Flitari are tiny yet powerful flyers. One advantage they have, though, is that they are also capable of going into lighter atmospheres without bursting, which makes them even more powerful flyers on other worlds. Since first contact with the Space Army several generations ago, members of the species have left their world to visit the rest of the universe, joining spaceship crews or settling on worlds with ample sky in which to really let loose. For the most part, Flitari are highly intelligent. Which is handy, considering that they have only one eye and fly very fast. That can end poorly if they aren’t careful.

Subsy, a member of the Space Army crew who was only ever in the background, is a Flitari.

Isto is an explorer. Though the Space Army has mapped out an unfathomable amount of the universe in broad strokes, there are still many small planets that are unknown. Isto, along with a crew of scientists, are patiently filling in the details of a seemingly uninhabited sector, naming all kinds of stuff after themselves.

Ango has taken up residence on a world where racing is extremely popular. Representatives of all manner of alien species gather here to pit their fastest competitors for races on foot, in the air, and in the seas, depending on what the species can do (there’s even a race that takes place in a large volcano for some particularly extreme extremophiles). Isto has competed in a number of races, but never reached the big time, and is now training a young new racer who is racing to raise money for their poor homeworld. Unknown to them, their competition, a group of snobby rich jerk aliens, has been using illegal technology to cheat.

Abish is a serial killer. Since the Flitari are a common sight in the galactic community, and few other species can actually tell them apart, Abish finds little resistance when sneaking into spaceports or space stations. There, Abish will stalk prey, preferably from species much larger than the Flitari (as many are), kill them with sudden violence (for many targets, it’s as easy as acting like a living bullet), and then get away before anyone notices. Abish has killed dozens of times and has drawn no suspicion. Nobody ever suspects the Flitari.

A Fact About The Flitari: The Flitari are loners, at least when it comes to being with their own species. Since they began to spread throughout the universe, they are seldom seen in groups, preferring to remain in the company of other species, or even to go along altogether. Only when the Flitari go into mating season do they return home to be with their own kind.

Universe: Bronze

Blegbos

Blegbos are the dominant species on planet Whummmp. Theirs is a swampy world with shallow water all over the surface, and these blobby beings wallow there in relative peace. Overall, the Blegbos are an easygoing species, long-lived and mellow. Though Blegbos do feed on grassy plants of their world, they also intake a lot of energy by sprawling on rocks and lazily basking in sunlight. While doing this, they are also groomed by some of the small flying animals of their world, who pick insect and leech-like creatures off the Blegbos for their own meals.

Bollee of the Space Army is a Blegbo.

Vipee is a philosopher, one of the most common occupations on Whummmp. Vipee is really bad at it, though. Almost all of Vipee’s ideas are about lightning and how fast it is. We get it, Vipee. Lightning is fast.

Mokey, like all Blegbos who leave the homeworld, has cybernetic limbs that aid in mobility in other conditions. Blegbos need not attach their technology to their bodies surgically as they can “ooze” themselves into the limbs, filling the tiny crevices and making them natural extensions of their form. And when they don’t need them anymore, they can easily remove themselves by simply pulling out. Mokey’s spider-like legs allow mobility on the rocky, uneasy terrain of the world where Mokey is currently hiding from friends after losing a bet and owing them the equivalent of twenty bucks.

And Gurbly is a hunter. Though Blegbos are not carnivorous, they do still engage in hunting of certain species on their world for both resources (animals on this world have organs that can be used as tools such as water filters, air pumps, and even syringes) and esteem (successful hunters are rewarded with first choice of nesting grounds). Gurbly is a middling hunter, but enjoys the work.

A Fact About Blegbos: The Blegbos have invented more varieties of bucket than any other species in their galaxy by something like tenfold. They have kinds of buckets that human minds can’t yet imagine.

Universe: Bronze