Molen

The Molen are a squat species of creatures that hail from the chilling, ammonia-aired caverns of Eard. Requiring pressurized breathing masks when dealing with other species, the Molen have nonetheless become skilled tradesmen and financiers across the galaxy despite these differences in basic biochemistry and the limitations imposed upon them by those traits. The Molen government, the Molen Protectorate, is a hierarchical system where trade is king, with clans bartering everything from land to goods, machinery to even people.
One of the least physically adept sapient species within the known galaxy, the Molen have overcome this weakness by educating themselves elsewhere. Having spent millennia in their homeland honing the fine art of trade and negotiation, there is not a Molen alive who couldn't go toe-to-toe in a discussion with trained tradesmen of other species.
== Biology ==
The Molen are unable to survive unprotected in an atmosphere more suitable to humans and other carbon-based lifeforms, and as such require protective masks capable of providing the proper atmosphere to them as traditional nitrogen/oxygen air mixtures are poisonous to them.
Despite individuals distinctly sounding like males or females to human listeners, Molen genders are apparently a mystery as well. The Molenthemselves consider the question both intrusive and hilariously irrelevant. With little else to go on, people simply assign an arbitrary gender value on a Molen based on what they sound like.
== Culture ==
Molen culture is dominated by trade, whether it be of land, resources, or even other tribe members. The Molen have a reputation as traders and merchants, and many work as some of the best financial advisers in space. Due to the Molen not being physically adept, they tend not to be violent, and can even seem overly-pacifistic and cowardly to other, more militant species. The Molen homeland is remarkable for having done away with warfare as an institution of the state, as the Molen lack the romantic view of war found in the galaxy's more aggressive species. Physical skirmishes between groups rarely last long, and are almost always ended by social castigation, bargaining agreements, or harsh economic sanctions.
Molen have two names but no family names. According to Molen sensibilities one cannot own a person, so using a family name would essentially be laying claim to their offspring. Possibly because of their tribal origins, Molen tend to refer to members of other races by their source land rather than species name (i.e. "Ark-clan" instead of "Arkian").
Known volus nonverbal cues include laying one's palms flat on a table, an action roughly analogous to humans steepling their fingers.
Category:Species