Vagalars

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Vagalars are a race in the game. The Vagalars are what happens when a race finds enlightenment at the end of a long evolutionary path. Having a hard time believing that? Just ask them how it happened.

At the dawn of their evolution they were just like all the other kinds known to man, clambering through trees eating their leaves and fruit. Having once climbed down, however, they created a culture, built cities, and are nwo considered one of the most advanced races in the galaxy as well as the owners of a culture that goes beyond normal understanding.

While they were once carnivores, their evolution left them humanists and inveterate vegetarians - they look down on meat-eaters as underdeveloped. On the other hand, that does not keep them from being gracious when it comes to the weaknesses and shortcomings of others (so long as they receive equal treatment). They are peace-loving to the extreme, though that extreme occurs when stranges cross their core interests or those of creatures they like. At that point they are merciless: just try upsetting the galactic order by attacking someone vulnerable or getting in the way of saving a species on the verge of extinction and watch the entire weight of the Vagalar civilization turn on you. Harmony, the Vagalars think, is paramount.

## Physiology

Like other herbivores, Vagalar physiology is built around protracted digestion of fiber-rich foods. As a result, they stand out thanks to their pudgy bellies and underdeveloped muscles. They prefer not to move too much, and consider physical labor, which, not coincidentally, they have a hard time with, unnecessary. Instead, they switch out unproductive muscular work with its more intellectual counterpart and use their brains to avoid overexerting themselves. As they say, “Better think for a day than sweat for an hour.” When it comes to inventiveness and the number of contrivances they’ve come up with to make life easier, they are in a league of their own. After all, if you can’t move something with your muscles, move it with your thoughts. Many believe that Vagalars are telekinetic. Some even say they can read minds (just so they don’t have to expend excess energy while their mouths are busy chewing). Their highly developed medicine casts into doubt the idea that they can quickly regenerate, though the rumor that they can somehow heal even the worst of injuries with their spiritual strength refuses to die off. They don’t bother to confirm or deny the rumors spread about them, which generally serves only to enforce the view held by the galaxy’s more superstitious inhabitants that Vagalars can do anything if they have enough time to think and invent. The version claiming that Vagalars can move stars, at least, is corroborated by the fact—even though it flies in the face of their nonviolence and humanitarianism—that they destroyed an entire star system. Sure, Vagalar diplomats claimed the star simply collapsed with no help from them, but who’s counting? Anyway, Vagalars try to live in harmony with the galaxy, everything around them, and themselves, which is why they focus so much attention on their food, their hygiene, and everything else that has to do with physical and spiritual health. They take a philosophical approach to disease and consider all suffering to be exactly what they deserve, and that is why everyone who tries to take a life is held to be morally and spiritually crippled—in other words, out of balance, with everything that entails.

Regardless of their distaste for physical activity, Vagalars are very hardy. They can even exert themselves in the interests of a lofty enough cause. They live where other races would have long ago given up, their silvery fur letting them shrug off heat, cold, water, and wind. They can survive solar activity and swings in barometric pressure, can live in the forest as easily as in the mountains, and have no problem getting by with minimal food on plains or semi-deserts. Overall they are a group that can withstand climate change, as they are as capable of adapting as any of the more physically advanced races.

Vagalars don’t enjoy the process of mating, though it is one they treat with all the attention and focus befitting a highly developed civilization with a philosophical bent. Families are usually small, and having three children is almost unheard of. Because of that they devote an incredible amount of time to raising their young. Both parents are very caring and capable of doing anything for the sake of their family. Children mature slowly, spending most of their lives learning and only having families of their own around the age of 40. The vast majority of Vagalars live to a ripe old age thanks to advanced scientific developments and the special care they devote to their health.

## Culture

Vagalar culture is incomprehensible for anyone without a solid background in the sciences and fifty or more philosophical concepts. Their entire lives are a whimsical web of science, art, and spiritual practices—and don’t even try to figure out what “religion” means to a Vagalar. They’ll spend two days explaining it, at the end of which you will still have no idea what they actually said. They are all, on the other hand, more than happy to accept your belief, philosophy, and worldview, all the while giving you ten different options for how you can make them better and link them to what you don’t know in order to give it all practical application. Before you have a chance to take a look around on arrival, the Vagalars have already suggested how you can more effectively utilize what you have on your ship or better organize your thoughts so as to enhance, if not all the races in the galaxy, then at least your own and the ones closest to you. And they won’t even think it worth noting the significant impact they had on your culture or the knowledge they imparted, pushing your civilization years into the future. Just don’t forget that they did all that using the tools you already had at your disposal, tools you would not have known how to use were it not for this amazing race. Vagalars devote most of their time to their own development: some through contemplation and meditation, others through art. They can use their twenty skilled and flexible fingers to create exquisite music and visual artwork, and their concept of the world is so multifaceted that those who come across one of their pieces stand gazing at it for a while before walking away with a better understanding of the depth and splendor of nature. Unlimited knowledge of the cosmos led to the creation of unique genres in music, while Vagalar literature is the picture of brief, clear discourse. It does not take them many pages at all to state what Human civilization took millennia to accumulate.

Vagalar social structure is reminiscent of a monastery created to preserve philosophical equanimity at all costs. They handle all changes with ease and aplomb, doing their best to gain new knowledge about the world even in the worst of times. If a society is shaken by conflict, especially due to injustice, all Vagalars take personal offense to what they see as an attempt to overthrow the harmony in place. They can involve entire worlds in things they deem critically important only to melt off in search of their own spiritual enlightenment once the crises are over. This is a race of individuals prepared to come together in the name of their common interests.

Vagalar politics are fairly simple: they are focused on preserving and supporting harmony in space, nature, and individuals themselves. If something stands in the way of that, it needs to be removed, and that is how conflicts of interest arise between races struggling to resolve problems by force. Something extraordinary and threatening has to occur before the Vagalars deploy their fleet.

They don’t particularly care for power, as power simply distracts them from comprehending the world and themselves. With that said, if they need to take up politics or government in order to better themselves or help support universal harmony, they are prepared to do so. Government roles are all appointed by election and can be revoked whenever they so desire. In war anyone who feels capable of leading can do so, and they fight with all the attention to detail they are famous for in order to return harmony to the world and their souls.

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