Species of the Ecumene

The Ecumene is a vast organization that has innumerable member species within itself, but only those that are present in the Jovian Fleet have been categorized here for the sake of convenience.

## The Species

### Ukrazol

Resembling Octopodes and Nautuli more than any other life form on Earth, the Ukrazol have bulbous head like bodies with carapaces akin to crabs, large forward facing eyes and twenty long but thin tentacles. Weighing about the same as two and a half average human males, the Ukrazol look somewhat ungainly on land though they can "stand" in a manner of speaking on their tentacles if need be. Primarily rust red and sickly green with patches of Tyrian, the Ukrazol aren't the most appealing of creatures to the human eye, something worsened by their circular mandibular mouths making a clicking noise that is noted for being remarkably quick to get annoying. Noted by some in the Talon for a certain resemblance to the Martians of H.G Wells, the Ukrazol are rather likely to find a comparison to a species that does not realize the dangers of microbial life to be rather unflattering. Considering themselves to be highly intelligent forms of life, they have formed a substantial interstellar empire emnating from their homeworld of Kennuggoth, which as many an Ukrazol will tell you; is the beating heart of civilization from which the sacred winds of civilization blow from to bless less fortunate worlds.

While not the most mobile of creatures on land (though they do have a slug like foot to use), they are quite capable swimmers thanks to a number of water jets on their bodies and they are as a matter of fact; amphibious in the sense that they can breathe in the air. And just because they are not particularly fast on land (particularly outside of short sprints), does not mean that they are entirely defenseless. In tandem, their tentacles are quite strong and can handily overpower a human, though an experienced Octopus wrestler could very well get the better of most Ukrazol by exploiting their lower endurance out of the water. This combination of strength and intelligence and encouragement from the higher ups in their society has lead to the formation of a certain martial culture that believes strongly in survival of the fittest and thus the encouragement of militaristic tendencies in the Ecumene, shown in the rather cavalier attitude towards war shown by the Ukrazol. Those who die and can't be saved are unfortunate losses, but mourning them is a waste of time when one can learn from where they erred instead, and sacrifice to better the Ecumenical nation (if done sensibly) is praise worthy.

The Ukrazol are a hermaphroditic species, and have a largely uncommitted means of reproduction that has resulted in them finding concepts of love, sexuality, and romance from other species to be confusing and even disgusting; though others instead find it amusing or even worthy of curiosity. As a species that simply lays eggs in water and fertilizes them with a partner; the idea of pair bonding with mates is unusual to say the least, and any Ukrazol can take care of raising any ukrazol youngling it chooses and swapping the youngling with another to raise others. This means that the Ukrazol notably, do not have a concept of family as humans would recognize it. Some would even go as far as to say that they are an emotionless people, but this would be factually incorrect; they can experience many of the same emotions others can such as anger, elation, fear, disgust, or sadness; they just have different triggers for many of these and do not share the concept of love and lust with other species.

### Ritecalun

Known for their big, distinctive heads and large, mostly black almond-shaped eyes and sucker-tipped fingers, Ritecaluns are about the height of the average eight-year-old and have truly enormous brains. Rather latecomers into the Ecumene, the Ritecaluns have integrated rather quickly into the system following their annexation and filled many background roles more suited to their relatively frail forms. Ritecaluns are, as their enormous brain mass-to-body mass ratios would suggest, very intelligent; in terms of raw brain power Ritecaluns, in fact, surpass humans by a significant margin. They are also very inquisitive and curious and are not a conservative people either by nature or by their dominant cultures. Indeed Ritecaluns have often been compared to the children of other species in their willingness to try new things, capacity to adapt to new situations, and enormous ability to learn. What could take years for a human to learn can be digested by a Ritecalun within a few days, allowing them to dominate intellectual fields of achievement.

This means that they have made for excellent lawyers, being able to quickly digest the complex and leviathan law code of the Ecumene, and are quite useful in most any trade where physical might is not a necessity. However, the way their social skills are set up, among other factors, has prevented them from truly rising to the peak of the Ecumene's power structures. Some of this may arise from what others would perceive as impatience, as Ritecaluns have faster brain processes than is normal. Thus time seems to pass more slowly for them. Their neurology is predisposed to being easily bored without stimulation. The cues they've come to rely on as species without mouths for communication leave them at a disadvantage when interacting with others.

Ritecaluns eat through their fingers, which open up to drain fluids from something, whether a plant, a living creature, or soup. They breathe through stomata structures that occupy a part of the body somewhat similar to nipples, leading to a great deal of confusion among UFO analysts. They have gained a reputation for being "probers" for the habit of poking interesting abductees and draining some blood from them, a common prank played on abductees by the youth culture that predominates on the fleet (rumours that they probe the anus are unsubstantiated, and have more to do with a reluctance to admit to one's amorous adventures than aliens). Their curiosity frequently leads to them being the first creatures in the fleet that human and cetacean abductees see.

### Drakul

The Second species of the Ecumene, the Drakuls are often called "Dragon Men" or "Reptoids" for a few prominent features such as their reptilian snouts, their sinuous tails, their prominent wings, and their ability to fly in at least short bursts by running bio-electricity created by their muscles through trace Cavorite packets in their body to counteract gravity. The Drakul are huge and powerful beings, the Cavorite implemented into their biology making it easy to be big and strong and thus letting these three meter tall brutes stand proud and strong. Indeed, Earth's gravity is lighter than what they're used to, having come from the unusual planet of Draksis and established their own interstellar empire by settling on similar worlds while vassalising other culture sbefore being absorbed by the Ecumene after a gruelling conflict and extensive negotiations. However, if they begrudge the Ecumene for this conquest, they certainly don't seem to show it, having served loyally for immense gulfs of time and populating many Mind Councils and Commands with their own, though the fact that the Ecumene has carefully weaved wool over their eyes and combined both propaganda and carefully engineered pheromones and genetic programs to keep them serving with...well not smiles since they can't do that but definitely with happiness.

A crucial difference between the scaly muscle men and species like humans though is that they reproduce on Estrus cycles and outside of when a female is in heat and a male can pick up that scent; are virtually sexless. The idea of a libido with settings between "full power" and "nothing" is an academic question at most for them, and they are meticulous keepers of schedules and information about time to ensure that the estrus cycle doesn't cause too much disruption in their society. It also means that their appearance can shift rather noticeably as their cycles progress; males growing more colourful as the time approaches and females shedding more scales to have the best possible coat for the occasion, sometimes dramatically enough to confuse non-Drakul who lack their keen sense of smell to pick up the subtle nuances that stay the same to verify identity. But the Ecumene of course, is hardly concerned with such things, being more interested in maintaining a culture of martial loyalty and military duty within the Drakuls who dwell within the Ecumene so that they may continue to serve as soldiers, commanders, fighters, and leaders.

Especially as their endless ability to regenerate missing limbs and physiology make them eminently suited to frontline combat, while the numbers of eggs they lay and hatch allows them to absorb losses frightfully well. They are not invincible by any means, but even a naked Drakul will generally defeat a human with a shotgun without any real injury to itself thanks to their highly small arms fire resistant scales, skin, and musculature, and of course having greatly superior physical prowess over any human short of those equipped with truly heavy duty battlesuits or cybernetics or are packing high-grade biopsionics.

The Drakuls in the Jovian Fleet are no exception to this, and look to the task of engaging with the local forces with the permitted grades of equipment with the sort of pride one gets from doing something one spends their entire lives having glorified. A growing number are questioning why more effort isn't being put into integrating humanity into the Ecumene rather than simply poking and prodding them and setting up the eventual invasion force, particularly when the green crystal that is a tell-tale sign of Scrin interest has already made landfall and the dormant fleet in the kuiper belt is sure to awaken eventually; nevermind the potential of other rival powers to intervene. They have proven worthy after all, and while they may bear a resemblance to the much-loathed Zeelich; surely appearance alone is not enough to have to bring them into the fold with the scourge rather than the gift basket.

### Yarghuls

Six limbs, two tails with pincers and a barbed switch-like blade, claws like little cavalry sabres and mandibles like sickles and dreadful hypnotic eyes that can lull one into a false sense of security. Bodies of carbon-like carapace and pallid plastic like semi-flesh and sinister purple highlights hunched like some half-way house between a bestial Raptor and an upright Man, corrosive drool and veins filled only with a noxious viral agent drenched ichorous solution that is virtually superheated and ravenously hungry. Corpses eaten from the inside out by things that burst from within, growing huge and terrifying with frightful speed and a seemingly born knowledge of how to kill and frames that shift to colours that the human eye cannot see at will. A dreadful speed matched only by an even worse persistence and a knack for appearing in and out of one's peripheral vision, sending those horrible directed clicks that one feels in their chest rather than hears to remind prey that they are watching until one eventually goes insane from the constant stalking where they finally grant the release of death. These are the calling cards of what the UFO community have called the Slender Stalkers.

What they call themselves is not pronounceable with human mouths and mostly is made out of sounds outside of human hearing ranges. But the Ukrazol love categorisation even more than humans do, and so transliterated into the name the wider universe calls them; the Yarghuls; or to poetically translate it literally from the Ecumene's lingua franca; "Fast claws that kill without being seen." Though only somewhat bigger than a person when they become developed enough to reproduce themselves, they are held with terror for good reasons.

The dreaded Slender-Stalkers are some of the most feared predatory sophonts in the known universe. Not because they are the strongest, for the Drakuls or the Ghormog are certainly stronger, not because they are the hardiest because they are absolutely not, or even because they have the most lethal natural weapons. Granted their claws and jaws are terrifying, but so long as one keeps away they should be fine against an unarmed Yarghul. What actually makes them so terrifying is the fact that they reproduce at what should be physically impossible speeds using the freshly dead to incubate, injecting bodies with their eggs that hatch into ravenous broods that devour one another and the body they're in until only the strongest are left. With a human sized body, only two will have enough food to reach maturity, but this process is over and done with in minutes, with corpses having been recorded as literally steaming from the heat produced by the incredibly rapid metabolisation of consumed tissue before finally bursting open as the new borns claw their way out of the cadaver. After using their hyper-efficient metabolisms that work on what is best described as organic nanomachinery to devour any usable matter nearby, they will then grow to the minimum size needed to form quasi-eggs; usually maturing within under an hour on Earth.

In essence, Yarghuls can, so long as there is food, reproduce at rates associated with Bacteria until an ecosystem has completely drowned in these bionanite horrors or they have achieved a comfortable level of dominance. Born to the deathworld of Arghalax; a planet that even the Social Darwinistic Ecumene forbids visitation to without permit for fear of something on that planet spreading to worlds not designated for Yarghul habitation; the Yarghuls climbed to the top of the food chain through sheer numbers, the ability to eat anything, and the curious trick of genetic memory. Yarghuls notably, never forget anything and inherit all the memories of their progenitors at the time of their oviposition, which can go back thousands upon thousands of years as they remember prior generations. Though "past-walking" takes more time the farther back a yarghul goes and the more specific the information they retrieve is, there doesn't seem to be a capacity limit through what the Ecumene has determined to be a natural psionic ability produced by their bizarre biology.

While biologists may feel the urge to compare them to Archosaurs or Insects which the multi-limbed carapaced and bug-eyed creatures somewhat resemble; a deeper examination of a Yarghul reveals that it doesn't even technically have true cells; its biology closer to that of viral chains that somehow, likely through psionics, are able to guide and direct their own movement and reproduction to achieve a sort of pseudo-cellular structure. Albeit one capable of immense physiological malleability and reproducing at absurd speeds as their eggs; in truth a packet of bionanite viruses; quickly start to convert usable matter into more of itself, forming into a pseudo-embryo with organids; so called because they are not really true organs in the strict sense of the term but serve somewhat similar roles as specialised structures. It is likely that the reason that other forms of psionic ability aren't more common in the Slender-Stalkers is that their biology uses it so much that only the truly practiced have enough power to spare for other purposes.

But what it does mean is that the Slender Stalkers are immensely coordinated and can grow into a world ending problem incredibly fast. A good thing then, that they are highly intelligent and have a keen eye for conserving resources to avoid eating themselves out of a house and home. Their peculiar methods of achieving dominance let them conquer the endless evolutionary rat race of their home world and achieve spaceflight themselves, and the Ukrazol's annexation of their kind was neither gentle nor swift. Some say the Slender-Stalker's young, monospecies nation was only defeated by the Ecumene's greater size and technological advantage in space warfare, others contend that their conflicts with the likes of the Zeelich or the Star Imperium drained their energies and focus, or that their disastrous run in with the Scrin and Hierarchy weakened their overall strength; but the Yarghul were fast learners and even quicker breeders who nevertheless failed to resist subjugation by the Ecumene.

Fearful of their potential if allowed to develop independently, the Ecumene's Minds got together and formulated political education and a great work of "neural reprogramming" to make them more pliable and use their genetic memories to the advantage of the Ecumene to create loyal subjects. It was not a process without its hiccoughs, but it was eventually successful in integrating the conquered Yarghul populations into the great wind of civilisation and making loyal adherents of meritocracy out of them. The Yarghul largely are given wide berth by much of ecumenical society for fear of coming off as food or incubation, and the bizarreness of their biology means that they have rather unusual needs anyway. But their knack for finding their way around a place and the pecularities of their memory passing makes them incredible special forces, able to quickly worm their way through a target and then find all there is to know before rotting it from within with their spawn.

Such is why they are present in the Jovian Fleet as many others, not the least because they are so very expendable for all their skill and prowess. While fragile and spindly as their name would suggest, they hardly fear death and there are always more where they came from, and just about any source of biomass will do for their needs. A favourite are centres of the meat industry, particularly those with lax certifications, as one Network Cell investigating "ghosts" in a quiet Cascadian slaughterhouse found to their horror when they found both the source of recent disappearances as well as the odd sights and sounds in the butchery all at once before becoming another statistic themselves that dreadful April day.

One might be tempted to burn them, but they are quite resistant to both heat and radiation and most forms of toxin simply do not register with their odd biology, nor can any earthly disease infect such an aberrant biology. However they loathe both cold and strong electrical impulses, the former making them require much larger amounts of food to maintain their burning hot body temperatures while the latter breaks apart their complex molecules and carefully arranged electron bond-pairs quite dramatically. Such may explain why the Soviet Union in particular has a pretty good handle on the slender-stalker problem; particularly during winter months.

### Ghormog

Shaggy brutes somewhere between Bears, Apes, Mammoths, and Oxen, the Ghormog are some of the physically strongest species within the Ecumene's fighting forces. Known for their heavyset horns and thick tusks as well as fine pseudo-hair that forms a sort of additional layer of biological armour with their carbon-laced skin and osteoderms, the Ghormogs are also known for standing out as four meter tall behemoths that weigh a full three-tons of highly dense tissue and have enough muscle honed from a high gravity world to reduce a human to a greasy smear in a single punch. The Ghormog had once achieved space travel on their own, only for Ecumenical agents to sabotage their early civilisation to produce crises that they could be "saved from" before the Ecumene's rivals could pick up such a biologically useful species. The ensuing conflict brought their burgeoning interstellar society to ruin, and left them in no position to resist or disbelieve the Ecumene's promise of aid; and to this day the deception remains unknown to them, though with the time that has passed since the deception; the Minds have wagered that even if the truth came out, they would get over it in short order.

Ghormogs, being indigenous to the arctic regions of their homeworld, are extremely resistant to the cold, to the point that Allied Cryogenic weapons have significantly reduced effects on them and take much longer to actually freeze one, which they have used to ambush and kill more than a few peacekeeper patrols guarding experimental technology the Armanahs of the Jovian Fleet have ordered them to take. Generally used as berserk shock troopers thanks to their ability to fly into wolverine like rages when under duress that trigger not just greater usages of their strength but accelerate their body's natural ability to regenerate at great speed by means of their fat cell analogues also being akin to stem cells, letting them literally burn weight to replace missing sections of their body with a bit of help from bio-psionics. Such makes them well suited to the frontlines much like the Drakuls, though they typically serve in different capacities, generally as shock rather than line troopers.

Ghormogs keep rather tight extended family units, with those in the military typically enlisting with their siblings. While this means that when tragedy strikes entire family lines can be wiped out; Ghormogs have very strong senses of communal protectiveness over each other and will not run in a panic as long as there are others of their kind in need of their help; fighting rear-guards being virtually second nature for them to let them pull back in orderly fashion. While their communal attitudes clash with the Ecumene's hyper-competitive ideology, it is useful for using them as servants or ensuring those who rise to the positions of leadership are unlikely to threaten the power structures by associating the Ecumene itself with their family and friend units. It also makes them all too willing to have femtite implants that kick them into the dreaded "second active" state where they becoming little more than living weapons who are likely to; at best; pass out from the exhaustion when the femtites deactivate; or at worst explode should they be killed while the "second rage" state is active.

In the second rage state their skin and hair blackens as the femtites crawl through their physiology, they seem to bulk up as the subatomic machine absorb usable mass from the atmosphere, creating the distinctive howling of air being sucked into them and their bodily temperatures skyrocket as the hyperactive machines do their work. In this state it becomes even harder than it already was to kill an exo-armour clad Ghormog and they become little more than angry, hate-filled puppets for their commanders who see anything their commanders bid them to kill as in essence; demons who threaten what they love. An intoxicating high pervades their entire body as the thrill of battle mixes with barely fathomable rage, and while cognizant enough to still use weapons, a Ghormog in the Second Rage will kill everything it registers as an enemy if it has no other contradicting orders, or smash inanimate objects if there is nothing to kill.