Meng

Created by: Garry Stahl
Appearance: Starbase 600 game
Number of Members: 20,000
Nature of Members: 6'6 humanoids of a willowy body type. They are digigrade mammals with a vaguely goat faced look. Their skin is hairless and on average the color of reddish sand. Meng wear clothing for style , protection, and modesty in that order.
Meng have no particular talent for psionic abilities. The powers of the mind were one of the sciences they dropped when fighting to survive being unable to reproduce.
Their sciences have turned life into a long afternoon of perfect health, if you have a physical problem they can fix it. Death however they cannot fix so they are risk adverse. They know that each one of them dead cannot be replaced.
Organization: Ad Hoc oligarchy with everyone in the ruling class.
Game Role: Mentors to a new race
World Role: Another race
Relative Influence: Minor, even in their own system.
Public or Secret?: Open secret
Publicly Stated Goal: Pass on the knowledge of our mistakes to the new children of our sun.
Relative Wealth: Minor. Some cool technology and a used up world.
Group advantages: Age and experience
Special Abilities: High tech. Special attention to the computer, robotic and medical fields.
Group disadvantages: Dead race. No new children in 1000 years.
Special disadvantages: Few in number and it isn't getting any better.
Those who favor them: The Sujeira that know about them.
Those opposed to them: No one.
Area of Operation: The Su system
Headquarters Location: Planet Meng, or Su 5 8/-15.2
Public Face: Gentle people living out the end of days.
Notable Members: Non mentioned.
History of the Organization: The Meng are the children of a less than idea class M world. They are physically tough in cold and dry environments. By the time they reached space they noted the rising sentience on the fourth planet and left it be. They were present in space during the Ane's 6th Star Drive period. They are contemporaries of the Encarta.
Meng had their stellar period and in that time earned many enemies. In that time they also had a change in philosophy. Too late it seem one of those ancient foes killed them with a meta genetic weapon. For a brief time the Meng put aside their now peaceful ways and retaliated. Then they came home to try and solve the problem before they all died.
In the process things like star empires and exploration were forgotten. Even the study of their developing neighbors was forgotten. They defeated age, they conquered disease, in time they even leaned to keep a body going forever, but they did not undo the effect of their foe's weapon, they could not reproduce.
By the time they have done this the race was down to 20,000 individuals. and the local area was stirring again. They took a quick look about and asked the new Empire to leave the developing planet alone. They traded a few minor technologies for their cooperation.
The great disaster was not then long in coming. Their new neighbors were heading out into space. They had even landed an expedition on Meng. The Sujeira had a warp drive in the construction stages when the news from space turned bad.
Something was destroying the Sharidn Empire. Methodically, slowly, and surely. The Meng looked into it. HIDE was their advice. They pulled their visible tech out of view, and cloaked their city to look abandoned. Sujeira abandoned space and made enough noise to spare their colony on the third planet.
Some 100 years later as everyone is picking up the pieces the USS Abraham Dannon NCC-79546 has arrived in system. The one remaining Sujeirain space base having been scanned played tough trying to drive them off. Didn't, but everyone has new friends.
Today: The Meng are into free love and gentle, peaceful ways. A sort of tough love flower child viewpoint. They cannot reproduce, but sex is still fun. Disease is not a problem, ergo they are to the left of hedonistic in their personal style with each other. They do make a clear division between themselves and others in this. Meng society is for Meng. If you want to run yours like theirs, fine, but they really do not enjoy cross species orgies. Anything else they share openly. The Meng feel that an open friendly attitude toward other open and friendly races is the sole way to pass on their legacy. They no longer possess any military at all. A handful of small beautiful ships and their survival technology is all they have left. 
2408: Contact with the Builders who are willing to share the insight the Ane gave them. Let go of the old, build anew. With what they have learned they can skip many of the purely computer generations the Builders dealt with. The project is working non-stop. Time is not on their side. 
Category:Races
Category:Implosion Zone
Category:Epiphany Trek