What could be more appropriate for the Halloween season than a team of monster hunters? Well, here’s one of those:

Monsters and ghosts are not confined to the planet Earth by any means. Luckily, there is a team of aliens working together to fend them off:

Windwatcher

A member of the species known as the Rootfolk, Windwatcher is the leader of this team of monster hunters. Windwatcher was given their name after claiming to see spirits as a youth. While nobody ever believed Windwatcher’s claims, Windwatcher continued to see invisible things, but kept it a secret. After serving in the war against the Strondovarians and the Omnivoroids, Windwatcher noted an increase in the amount of angry ghosts causing problems for the living. After trying to convince the other Rootfolk of the problem, and again not being believed, Windwatcher went off alone into the cosmos to form a team that could do something about supernatural threats.

Kartiss

Being a Strondovarian, Kartiss would normally be an enemy of Rootfolk, but Kartiss has no loyalty to any species’s petty politics. Kartiss is only concerned with the destruction of monsters. Born and raised on a space station near the construction site of the artificial planet New Gurx, Kartiss was the sole survivor of an invasion of monstrous beings from beyond reality. Kartiss would have died when the space station self-destructed, but was saved by Windwatcher, who had arrived to investigate the mystical energies present. The two are now loyal friends devoted to supernatural investigation.

Josgann

Josgann is a mysterious being, the origin of which even its teammates do not know. What is known is that Josgann is extremely capable of detecting the supernatural. It is said that Josgann can detect a ghost manifesting on a planet light years away. The team suspects that Josgann may be a demonic entity similar to many of the monsters they fight, but aligned to their cause of destroying the bad ones. Josgann has offered nothing contrary to this, simply stating that it is here because it is needed.

Dooori

Dooori is the member of the team who facilitates communication between the species that make up the team, being able to communicate with any of the individual members, and relay messages to others. Dooori is also the team’s exorcist, capable of drawing on some higher power to expel evil spirits from the physical plane. Dooori’s also preaches a system of religious beliefs that none of the others are all that interested in, but they can’t deny the results.

Roger Lincoln

A member of a family of Earthlings that are hunted by demons and monsters and therefore have devoted themselves to the hunting of demons and monsters as a survival tactic, Roger was banished from his homeworld by a sorcerer. It was mostly dumb luck that helped Roger meet with this crew of monster hunters, but it has worked out well for all involved. Though Roger does think of returning to Earth, there’s no rush, because he’s doing good work hunting for monsters out in space and making monsters fear the Lincoln family on entirely new worlds.

(Roger is related to Natalie and Claire, and his brother Reg was killed in a SecGov storyline.)

Hey, it’s nearing Halloween again. How am I gonna do some aliens with a spooky flavor this year? Something less ridiculous than Jack O’Spiders? We’ll how about if the aliens are the victims of the spooky stuff this time:

Tirglanes

The planet Tirgal is under attack. The dark hordes of the Hated Dead have broken out of their underworld imprisonment and now the Skeleterrors are rampaging through the cosmos, and the unfortunate homeworld of the Tirglanes.

Tirglanes are a three-legged, three-armed, three-eyed species whose diet is comprised mainly of berries and nuts. They live in tight-knit family units in large stone structures, with the different families doing different jobs in the communities. If a community has any kind of leadership, it is generally a family that has proven themselves skilled as leaders.

Delipo was a typical Tirglane citizen, living in a largish town with a family of garment weavers. But then the Hated Dead arrived and demolished the town, so now Delipo and family are refugees, seeking some place of safety in a world that has none.

Hossak is a warrior on the front lines of the battle against the Skeleterrors. Having served in a number of wars between cities on the planet, Hossak is a skilled veteran, but this fight against the cosmic undead is something unlike anything the Tirglanes have ever seen. Skeleterrors seem to be orbiting the planet, coming down in swarms whenever they have recharged whatever form of energy it is they use. Hossak and the other warriors occasionally do repel the attacks, but it is just as common for the Skeleterrors to just leave after they’ve apparently sated their desire for destruction for a time. Hossak is growing weary of seeing allies die, but refuses to stop fighting.

The figure of a humanoid skeleton should have no inherent use as iconography of death on a world with no humanoids, but it does now that the Skeleterrors have attacked. Cerrikar is a necromancer who uses the symbology of death to power spells, and has found that the use of Skeleterror imagery has unlocked a lot of new spells hitherto unknown on this world. But is this power worth the risk of the utter destruction of the planet? Cerrikar is not sure, but plans to keep using the power until a decision is urgently needed.

A Fact About Tirglanes: Occasionally albino Tirglanes are born and they are considered blessed. Usually trained to become travelling bards, they are rewarded handsomely for their services and treated as honored guests wherever they go. Though many Tirglanes memorize the poems that tell the history of their world, albinos are the ones who know the most.

Universe: Silver

Kurndens

The planet designated “01.000” doesn’t know how it came into existence, but it does know lots of things. It is a fully inorganic world, a giant machine that, as far as it knows, has always existed as such, though it understands the unlikely nature of that. In recent times, it has decided to create life, biological life, from scratch, mostly for its own entertainment and experimentation. The results had, for a long time, been rudimentary, but now it wants more. It wants to create a biological entity with enough intelligence to actually converse. To provide new thoughts to the planet that has thought on its own for so long.

Kurnden was the first Biological Intelligence that 01.000 created, originally calling it 02.000. The lifeform, a four-legged creature with tusks, was designed to use sound to communicate and eventually began to develop words for things that 01.000 had not thought needed designations, including giving itself the name Kurnden. It greatly enjoys philosophical thought and discussing the nature of existence, which is exactly what 01.000 was looking for in a companion.

Wanting to replicate the success of the original, Kurnden 2 was cloned from the first, though the process was slightly physically defective. The planetary computer detected these flaws and planned to terminate the creation before it was born. Kurnden argued this, saying that the flaws would make the clone different from the original, and that would provide the new viewpoints that they wanted. Kurnden 2’s flaws, unfortunately, include a shortened lifespan. Kurnden 2 knows it will not live as long as it should, and that knowledge of its own mortality does indeed bring thoughts that had not occurred to Kurnden.

Kurnden 3 was created when the computer planet feared the flaws in Kurnden 2 would require a replacement. As a result, Kurnden 3’s perspective is also quite unique, as it simultaneously feels superior to its flawed fellow clone, but is mournful that it’s “sibling” will die. It provides insight to a kind of cognitive dissonance that the other Kurndens and 01.000 are not familiar with.

A Fact About Kurndens: The Kurndens have no means of reproduction and, at the moment, more of them can only be created by the machine planet 01.000.

Universe: Grey

The Mentarrids

The Mentarrids are a race of psionically powered aliens. Their physical forms are essentially just life support systems for their massive, complex brains, with eight stumpy legs help them graze the fields of their high gravity world, Torrascad. With almost no threats to their bodies on the homeworld, the Mentarrids are free to project their consciousnesses into the mental realms. Through this medium they have made contact with intelligences from other worlds and even other dimensions and realities. Most of the time the Mentarrids are more powerful than the others, being almost like natives of the mental realms, but unlike the true natives, they have a physical form to which to return when needed.

Fast Brain is a Mentarrid noted for being especially perspicacious. Wizards and astral projectors from all over the multiverse come to Fast Brain to answer vexing questions, and Fast Brain obliges because such puzzles are quite enjoyable.

Not all Mentarrids are kind to those they meet in the mental realms. Thought Spy, for example, has a tendency to steal information that other beings would prefer to keep secret and either sell it to those who are interested, or blackmail the victims with the threat of such sales. Since currency is not of much value in the mental realms, Though Spy prefers to be paid in servitude. Those who owe Thought Spy are asked to perform tasks in the physical worlds, the purpose of which Thought Spy has not revealed.

Astral Guide is a people person. When a mind wanders into the mental realms but is not quite as skilled at traversing them as a wizard might be, Astral Guide will offer them help finding where they need to be.

A Fact About the Mentarrids: Torrascad is the only planet to develop complex life forms in its galaxy. Were it not for their mental abilities, the Mentarrids may never have realized that other intelligent life exists. The remoteness of their world has definitely helped to keep them safe from invasion by other species.

Universe: Brown

Omnivoroids

By most human standards, the Omnivoroids are basically monsters. They stand about three meters tall on average, and as they have begun to spread across the galaxy they have learned that they love to eat any of life forms they find on other worlds. The form of digestion they have evolved allows the Omnivoroids (called Goulos in their own language) to digest biological life regardless of its origin. As such, they have no respect for other sentient beings, seeing the universe as one big buffet presented for them. Led by a ruler that we might call an emperor, the Omnivoroids are spreading across the galaxy in vast colony ships.

A couple of Omnivoroids can be seen over here, and then being visited by Little Choy over here. Surely everyone has been full of questions about them after those thought-provoking experiences.

Nunk is a commander of a Goulos Space Ship. It isn’t one of the colony ships that is bringing Omnivoroids to other planets, but instead a scientific scout ship that is mapping and cataloging the universe. If they detect an atmosphere that seems to support life, Nunk and his loyal crew will boldly go there to eat it.

Omnivoroids have very weak hearing, but their sense of smell is so advanced it it practically magic compared to anything on Earth. Because of that, there is no music among Omnivoroids, but there is a technique of timed incense burners that are meant to tell stories or evoke emotions in the way music is among humans. Eoicks is a scentsmith who creates such smell experiences. While most of the mainstream scentwork on planet Goulog these days is meant to be uplifting and life-affirming, but Eoicks is trying to challenge that by creating the scent-equivalent of punk rock music, harsh and challenging smells that run counter to the popular stuff.

Kerbo is a medical worker. The Omnivoroids are a particularly hardy group, viruses and bacteria are not a big concern for them, so the biggest medical concern is physical injury. Their equivalent of a hospital operates on principles that resemble a pit crew or an assembly line, with whole teams of workers toiling together to patch up injuries as quick as possible.

A Fact About Omnivoroids: Omnivoroids desire to mate for life is so strong that the ideal of promiscuity or adultery are utterly foreign to them. Mate pairing isn’t seen in a “romantic” way as it is on Earth, though couples are often quite fond of one another. Romantic love doesn’t exist among them, but loyalty is supreme.

Universe: Blue