Mhrinians

The **Mhrinians**, from the oceanic planet **Mhrini**, are a species of gigantic, highly intelligent crustaceans that possess the uncanny ability to render themselves invisible thanks to the large amounts of Ockium present in their biology. While not the largest or most powerful, their empire, the Mhrinian Concordat, is notorious for being one of the only empires in the entire Milky Way Galaxy that survived a war with the Coalition of Intelligent Organisms.

## Biology

Mhrinians are extremely large creatures, standing an average of over 20 ft (6.096 m) in height, dwarfing even the towering Serphiads. Their carapaces are very thick and bulky, which, combined with their size, make their bodies tough enough to shrug off most small arms fire. They stand and move on 4 large crab-like legs, and have 4 huge pincers that they use as hands on the upper half of their bodies. These pincers are mostly designed for brute force crushing and grabbing, though Mhrinians are able to extend small feelers from an opening near the base of their pincers that can manipulate objects more precisely. Their heads are small and their eyesight is rather poor, though they are highly sensitive to touch and sound. Their prodigiously large brains are located on their backs, flattened against the tough shell of their rear carapace. This rear shell is much more durable than the rest of their bodies, strong enough to protect against anti-tank weapons and other high explosives. This has made retreating a very easy tactic for Mhrinian ground forces during their war with the Coalition, as after turning their backs to their enemies they became much more resistant to any incoming fire. Like many other crustaceans, the Mhrinians resided mostly at the bottoms of the planet's oceans, their exoskeletons keeping them safe from the immense pressures. They can navigate on land, as well, but they feel most at home in the water.

The metasubstance Ockium played a big role in shaping Mhrinian biology, just as it did for most of Mhrini's ecology. Mhrinians are naturally born with small amounts of Ockium inside of their bloodstreams, which builds up as they age. A Mhrinian's body, somehow, is able to slowly synthesize very small amounts of Ockium over long periods of time, a process even the Mhrinians themselves don't understand completely. A useful side effect of this biological anomaly is that Mhrinians can manipulate the properties of Ockium in their bloodstream to bend light around their bodies and render themselves invisible. While all Mhrinians are capable of this to some degree, practice and age significantly boost a Mhrinian's ability to control the Ockium inside their bodies. If enough Ockium builds up inside of a Mhrinian's body, small crystals of the meta-element will start to form on various parts of the carapace, which will slowly grow as the Mhrinian ages. Mhrinians that have grown these crystals are some of the oldest members of their species, and are treated with great respect and reverence. Ockium crystals are nearly indestructible, so having large amounts of them on a Mhrinian's body vastly improves their durability, as well.

## Homeworld

The planet Mhrini is a fitting world for its inhabitants. It is very large as life-sustaining planets go, covered in vast oceans with colossal waves that break against the few tiny mountain islands that dot the planet. Life flourishes below the surface of the water, giving Mhrini one of the most diverse underwater ecosystems in the entire galaxy. This isn't what Mhrini is famous for, however. For some unexplained reason, Mhrini's crust and upper mantle contain a copious amount of crystallized Ockium, more so than any other planet in the galaxy. Even Lavernium Raze, notable for its high quantity of Lavernium, has less than a fourth of the metasubstance composition of Mhrini. The nature of Mhrini's geology has led many Coalition scientists to speculate that the planet may have been tampered with by some long-forgotten alien empire, since crystallized Ockium, as far as Coalition science is concerned, cannot form naturally, especially not in such large amounts. Due to the tremendous presence of Ockium on Mhrini, almost all aspects of its ecology have evolved to make use of its unique properties. Its high-energy nature has allowed many species on Mhrini to grow to tremendous sizes, siphoning off of the latent energy contained in the element. The Mhrinians themselves actually fall near the lower limit of size when it comes to other lifeforms on their planet, though few aside from them have gotten to see these titanic beasts up close.

Obviously, Mhrini was of great interest to the Coalition once they learned of its Ockium deposits. Normally, Coalition scientists had to synthesize Ockium in laboratories, and could only produce small amounts of it. Mhrini contained enough Ockium for the Coalition to do as much research on the substance as they wanted, potentially outfitting large portions of their military with Ockium-derived stealth technologies in the process. At this point, however, diplomacy with the Mhrinians was stagnating when the Coalition realized they were not at all interested in joining. War seemed like the only solution for obtaining this large resource deposit, leading the Founder Council to give its official war declaration shortly after diplomacy was discontinued. The result of the Mhrinian-Coalition War, however, would ensure that Mhrini's Ockium treasure stayed firmly out of the hands of the Coalition up until the Concordat's downfall at the hands of the Proxima Group.

## Psychology

The Mhrinians are a very religious species, centering their belief system on Ockium and their relationship with the substance. Early in their development, Mhrinians formed a religious hierarchy based on an individual's ability to manipulate the Ockium inside their bodies. The basic doctrine of their religion stated that Ockium was a divine substance that the Mhrinians were blessed with by a higher power, thus allowing them to achieve sentience. A Mhrinians's greater command over Ockium shows a higher level of spiritual maturity, and therefore a greater connection to their supreme deity. In turn, the Mhrinians that possessed the greatest talent for Ockium manipulation became the leaders of their society, maintaining control by limiting the general Mhrinian public's knowledge of Ockium and how to manipulate it. Even after the Mhrinians formed an interstellar empire, this hierarchy persisted, as scientific knowledge concerning Ockium was solely managed and collected by the upper levels of the government, never being revealed to the public. It allowed the Mhrinians to keep their religion alive and stable for millennia, thereby keeping the Concordat stable, as well. Outside of their leaders, the only Mhrinians with substantial knowledge of Ockium are their high-ranking infantry forces, who use the Ockium in their bodies to confuse enemy forces in combat. Though not technically part of the religious hierarchy, these Mhrinians are still widely revered as important religious figures.

Even outside of their religious beliefs, Mhrinians have a tendency of being superstitious and reclusive, especially to other alien races. They see themselves as the only adherents to their supreme deity, and since no other alien race they encountered acknowledged the divine nature of Ockium as they did, they believed that information concerning the substance solely belonged to them. Mhrinians are extremely reluctant to accept new scientific knowledge or foreign ideologies, as these things have been carefully monitored and controlled by their theocratic government. They are not fervent warmongers most of the time, but they will defend their empire with terrifying religious fury if their reserves of Ockium are threatened. This is why they defended their territory so effectively during their war with the Coalition. They saw the Coalition's aggression as an attack on their religious beliefs, and invested considerably more resources into the war than the Coalition.