Grey
Game Mechanics
- 30 karma cost
- Punches are weaker
- Water is Poisonous (Bugged)
- Immune to Sulphuric Acid (Also bugged)
- Have the 'Project Mind' power naturally, which enables the Grey to speak telepathically to one person at any range. However, unless the recipient also has Project Mind, they will not know who is speaking to them.
- Glasses look very silly on them.
Summary
The Greys, as they are called by humans, have recently emerged in the known galaxy. Although rare, many have gained employment with NT to be part of their research.
It is theorized that they evolved on a world akin to Venus, with their sulphuric physiology, and bodies suited to a lower gravity environment. However, those encountered have mainly lived aboard their space faring vessels, and none so far have disclosed where their home world is.
Telepathic by nature, they are at best quiet and mysterious and at worst arrogant and cagey.
Government
The Greys are an anarchistic race in many senses, but also a hive mind. They have no direct leaders - decisions are made by consensus, achieved through high speed telepathic links aboard their ships. Such congress allows hours of conversation to take place in a second. In the unlikely event that no consensus can be made, the factions amicably split, "agreeing to disagree", with a proportional share of the fleets resources taken by each faction, according to size.
Assignment upon their ships is done via meritocracy. Those with the greatest skills are given the most demanding jobs. All members have equal say.
Ambassadors are always posted after a congress, so they may best know the needs and wants of their people, and immediately return to one after their posting to report.
Each Grey fleet is tasked with research and scouting of the sentient races of the Milky Way. Greater psychic power results in more fleets sent to investigate. Vox have by far received the most scouts, but the Auralis have not yet been convinced they truly exist. The Xenomorph hive mind has attracted many, but due to obvious dangers, few have successfully returned. Recent genetic experimentation among humans has lead to the Greys making actual contact.
While clearly a first stage, the next stages are unknown to any Grey within the galaxy itself.
Background
Greys were virtually unheard of apart from the odd nutjob in some backwater planet, station or country ranting and raving about anal probing and 'visitations' but very recently in galactic history have the Greys made contact with the Nanotrasen Corporation.
Nanotrasen Corporation was very eager to get its hands on the secrets the many vast Grey fleets possessed, and the fleets and Nanotrasen struck a mutually beneficial deal. They would exchange secrets and staff.
Almost every single Grey on the Nanotrasen Space Station Cyberiad originates from a ship in one of these vast hive-fleets and their home-planet, if they ever even had one, is never referenced or spoken about and some of the more talkative Greys will deny even knowing about it. Many in fact do not - cloned while in the Milky Way, they have never seen or heard of it.
They are in fact from a distant galaxy. Their "mothership" arrived via teleportation, and is the only ship the knows which galaxy, or has the capability to return such a vast distance. It resides in the the void, thousands of light years outside the Milky Way. Here, additional ships were produced, crews were cloned, and sent to explore and make contact with the races detected within the Milky Way.
Behaviour
In terms of gender, partially due to the lack of obvious sexual dimorphism between Male and Female Greys, it is extremely easy and common to mistake a Grey's gender. Fortunately, being mentally orientated and higher-minded beings such as they are, they will rarely pass comment or bother to correct errors in pronouns and will generally allow such mistakes to pass by unchallenged.
They are at best polite and formal in speech and at worst, arrogant and infuriatingly cagey. Greys tend toward intellectual or bureaucratic positions where they can apply their vast intellect with comfort and will tend to shy away from more physical or menial tasks as their physique or pride demands it. However, Greys that work within the Civilian, Engineering or Security sector will either be highly skilled specialists whose expertise and creativity in a particular field is unrivalled, or canny generalists who possess a very broad skillset and a canny intuition.
For those willing to see past their arrogant, secretive and punctilious ways, it is not impossible to befriend a Grey. They have an unparalleled sense of duty, honour and diligence that means should they become fond of you, you can be sure they will check in every once in a while to make sure you aren't lying bleeding to death in maint.
Culture
Greys spend their entire life aboard ships, stations and research outposts either in space or on planets so they are very accustomed to an authoritarian and naval hierarchy and are accustomed to giving and recieving orders. As a result, they can come across as either slavish to their superiors, or domineering to their inferiors. Their appreciation for formal speech and mannerisms gives them a reputation for being aloof, stuffy, humourless or robotic at times.
The Greys are a highly advanced race, potentially far more so than even Nanotrasen or the Skrellian Government yet they remain frustratingly tight-lipped about their research and discoveries and many of the smaller and easily destroyable/salvagable ships in a Grey Hive-fleet will be equipped with weapons, armour and devices only slightly more effective than their competitors to prevent ships that get lost or destroyed being captured and its secrets reverse-engineered.
As a telepathic race, Greys tend not to have many instruments, but are large fans of singing, chiefly telepathically but also vocally, and for those more accustomed to beautiful and emotive performers Greys tend to hit the uncanny valley somewhat when an androgynous, big-headed, expressionless creep suddenly bursts forth with the most soul-touching melodies Man has ever heard. Though not all Greys are musicians, tone-deafness is an unfortunate malady that is equally as common amongst Greys as Humans. Oh well. Greys have a taste for body-art as spartan as it may be. It is not uncommon for Greys to have their foreheads tattooed with meaningful symbols, pictures or letters.
Greys have a tendency toward the practical, smart and monochrome. Their physical artwork tends toward emphasis of shape, shade, form and gesture. Though when colour IS used, it is used sparingly and typically with very bright colours. The exception to this are the Hive-Fleet's flag-ships which are often garish, opulent and sometimes debauched vessels of almost monarchic proportions. The actual Captain of the Flag-ship will often have a regal or high-born title such as 'Grand Lord/Lady', 'Empress/Emperor', 'Grand Admiral' or 'King/Queen' and these individuals are, as expected, psychics of immense power.
Biology
Their biology is a little different from Humans, except from one key point which is their weakness to water, which burns and wounds them in a manner not unlike acid. However, the display a complete immunity to sulphuric acid. This poses a confusing dichtomy to biologists, because this would imply that Greys evolved on a world with a sulphuric atmosphere however, Greys breathe oxygen exactly like Humans do, and do not seem to burn when their skin makes contact with moisture in the air.
Their throats and mouths are covered in a thick mucus which enables them to ingest water-based, human foods yet clearly pure yet this is not enough against pure, concentrated H2O which will kill them incredibly quickly.
The Greys are, as their name implies, always light grey in skin tone. Their bodies are almost unhealthily skinny with their skeletons and musculature showing prominently against their hairless flesh when disrobed, with the exception of the belly which typically has a slight paunch which is presumably where most of their fat resides yet this doesn't seem to impede their movement, and it is typically unnoticable when hidden beneath clothing.
Their eyes however, can be every colour of the rainbow and beyond, though the most common colour for a Grey's eyes is pitch black. Their iris, pupils and sclera completely indistinct yet their vision doesn't appear to have been impaired or enhanced as a result.
Their heads are very large, the crown of their heads large and balloon-like, and their dentistry suggests an omnivorous race, albeit one with very sharp k-9 teeth and incisors. Some biologists have observed that their heads resemble passing resemblence to the infamous black-carapaced xenomorphs that infest space in the Tau-Ceti region, but any link, if it exists, has not been found between the two species though they are both capable of communicating over a telepathic network.
Sexual dimorphism is virtually non-existent among the Grey, due to long term reliance upon science for their reproductive cycle. Genetic engineering has done away with the "primitive" reproduction systems, and cloning is the preferred method.
Technology
Much of the Grey technology is produced aboard the mothership and sent out. Knowledge of maintenance is given to the crew, but the secrets of production remain isolated. The technology used is limited to prevent reverse engineering, and often has deliberate design flaws built in.
Their ships are disc shaped, inter-system propulsion achieved through gravity generation, and FTL via teleportation. The FTL drive itself is a beacon that extends the Grey's telepathic abilities to communicate. It locates the vessel, identifies the location required, and the mothership performs the necessary teleportation.
Interspecies Relations
The Greys, as intelligent as they are, are also prone to forming schemas and stereotypes just as much as humans. Greys are aloof and arrogant creatures but their formal, polite nature tends to conceal any racism or prejudices they may have. It is almost unheard of for a Grey to openly and knowingly insult a particular species over public radio.
A scientific species, Greys are equally as likely to be compassionate and enlightened toward race as they are mean-spirited and prejudiced.
Diona - Utterly brainless and slow, and their children are vicious pests.
Humans - The Greys, having recently made their presence known, have only had meaningful contact with Nanotrasen Corporation. They are impressed with Nanotrasen's secrets and authoritarian, naval hierarchy but on the ground-level they see Humans as willful, brash and violent types. Yet they respect their intelligence, power and charisma enough to feel safe enough dealing with them.
Kidan - Monstrous, smelly animals. Useful for menial labour.
Machine People - They are respected for their greater intellect and capacity for knowledge, but are also equally prone to make little distinction between the lawless, complex IPCs and, say, the AI and its borgs.
Skrell - The Greys have a degree of respect for the scientifically minded skrell, and they are always eager to gouge scientists for knowledge and Skrell-Grey Research groups are not unknown. They are less keen that the betentacled, fish-like Skrell are constantly secreting moisture and hated water.
Slime People - The Greys have had zero exposure to Slime People until they met Nanotrasen. Their first impressions of Slime People is that they are friendly, trusting and naive. Perfectly exploitable!
Tajarans - Greys generally tend to see Tajarans as cowardly simpletons given their 21st century (primitive) technology and their incapability to fight off an oppressor to the degree where, when these oppressors left, the Tajarans didn't even know how to govern themselves. They tend to view them with some disdain
Unathi - Brutish, clannish thugs who are overly obsessed with lineage and tradition.
Vox - The Greys have had virtually no contact with the Vox and their first impressions are likely going to be the first impressions of every other race that encounters the Vox. Shifty, noisy and potentially brainless. However, they do respect the Vox's dedication to other crew-members and their respect for their own ship.
When it comes to the higher castes of Vox, Grey - if they are aware of them - show a mix of respect and fear. Their psychic potential exceeds what any Grey - and perhaps all of them combined - are capable of.
