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Skrell
- Species Type: Sapient Amphibious Humanoid
- Population: ~50 Billion
- Population Demographic Majority: Skrell
- Common Language: Skrellian
- Government Type: Lineage-Based Caste System
The Skrell are a race of amphibious, cold-blooded humanoid aliens. They are one of the major players in galactic politics, and although they are considered relatively on a similar level of political and military power to SolGov, their exact capabilities are kept secret and unclear. Their society follows a caste system and generally tries to project the Skrell as rational, dependable, and careful. It is their overt caution that borders on paranoia in their interactions, however, that most hinders them. A remainder from a harsh period of history and potential bad actors. Skrell are, in short, hard to trust, and choose their words and truths carefully.
The Skrell have a lot of similarities to Humans in terms of their biology, with a few key differences. The first thing being their headtails. Though not used to help them transport their eggs as in the past, they remain as tools for non-verbal communication. They also are perhaps the easiest way to tell a Skrell’s gender, based on their length, as the females’ ones tend to be longer.
Additionally, the Skrell lack an outer ear as well as a nose, the latter simply being nostrils on their face where the nose would be. Their eyes are also larger, with a relatively larger pupil as well. They can see a slightly wider range of colours than Humans, though they can not see as well as others in the dark. Their vocal chords are suited to a wide range of sounds, including those that are extremely hard to imitate for regular Humans without sufficient augmentation. Their sense of smell tends to be less receptive than that of an average Human.
Skrell skin comes in a wide variety of colours, and feels soft and ‘squishy’ to touch, almost as if a little slimy. They can not grow hair, and save for the length of their headtails display no signs of sexual dimorphism. They have five-fingered hands and webbed feet with four toes. Skrell are coldblooded; as such they need to more heavily rely on external means of remaining warm, be it layers of clothing, heaters or AC. Their ideal temperature is somewhere around 35 degrees Celsius, though it can vary depending on the Skrell, as some have adapted slightly to other environments.
Skrell society first started forming as isolated tribal groups, mostly in swamps or near lakes and oceans, generally moist places with stagnant waters. As Skrell developed, learned to farm seaweed and a handful of other Qerr’balakian plants that thrived in greatly humid environments, they started expanding. Tribes soon grew and made larger settlements, and eventually, progress gave way to city-states. The Skrell expanded, learning to expand further inland or into less humid areas, often changing the landscapes, digging new channels and making new lakes and ponds. They advanced at a constant pace in terms of the sciences and technology, some more keen on sharing, others bickering and warring for territory.
Perhaps the most notable event during Skrell history occurred in a period comparable to the Human renaissance, where a small Skrellian kingdom managed to start rapidly gaining power, with clever politicking, deceit, manipulation and a network of spies and assassins, managing to reign for a few decades before being brought down by the remainders of who they trampled over. While a period of great advancement, this brought along an air of intrigue and a form of cautionary paranoia that seemed to have never truly went away. Furthermore, the lineage of this small yet powerful kingdom has since remained in hiding, surviving until the present day, where it is known as the Qerr’Glia.
After a very tense industrialization during which numerous generations have been born with a steadily rising rate of severe medical conditions, the Skrell realized what fate they may all befall if they remain on Qerr’balak and pollute their waters. This marks one of the few times the Skrell acted both relatively quickly, as well as in unison, and after a rather rough few decades, managed to find alternatives. One of which was space.
Generations after reaching space-flight capability, the Skrell have started to rapidly expand to their neighbouring solar systems after their own discovery into the physics anomoly that was Bluespace. Colonies in different systems were generally free to organize themselves as hey saw fit, provided they keep engaged with the Skrellian Interest League, though as more colonies were established the power that Qerr’Balak held over these colonies loosened dramatically. To this day, the SIL remains tense, but proves efficient enough to dispel the most major tensions and avoid open conflict, with only a single planet ever exiting the League.
The Skrell’s first contact with alien species was with the Unathi. For a moment tension seemed high in the SIL, as most were debating whether to ignore, help, or pre-emptively dispose of a potential, threatening, and physically stronger alien race. However, after a period of careful contact, communication and peace talks, the Skrell eventually decided to aid the Unathi, making allies for the future, be it out of gratitude or debt.
The stereotype, or perhaps the general disposition of Skrell is unassuming, often polite, but mostly secretive. Skrell tend to be cautious, sometimes to an overt degree, leading them to try and hide any information from anyone they might not trust. And trust can be hard to gain in Skrell. All this untrust and caution is deeply rooted in Skrell society, leading to expression being very limited, save for subtle hints in verbal and non-verbal language, many near impossible for a non-Skrell to pick up on without proper study. Skrell experience emotion as other individuals, but they are usually conditioned from a young age to not express themselves “needlessly”, leading to a wide-spread notion of Skrell lacking emotion, which is a falsehood. The expression “Skrellian Smile” has entered the galactic dictionary due to this, describing a smile that, ultimately, says nothing, and hides a discomfortingly wide range of possible expressions.
Of course, Skrell are people beyond this, and they show more of themselves to people they trust. And duty always comes first. While lacking in expression or trust, they often make good, efficient and smart workers that at the very least are a similar match to those of other races and in some, especially the scientific field, are able to overtake them. Furthermore, Skrell naturally can grow to trust others, often having a much easier time with non-Skrell, as they are less likely to pick up on subtle cues, leading to one often becoming less guarded and tense.
Today the Skrell by population and territory make up the dominant power in the known galaxy, making up a large potion of the Perseus arm. However not all of it is inhabited. While not having a history of outright violence with any other species, Skrell's advanced technology and relative head start in the FTL race has put their neighbors at a diplomatic unease.
Credit for Skrell goes to Rock, who put so much effort into the Skrell.