Orvens

A major race of the Red Ocean. Though the orvens are not as strong or prominent as the nunsers, puelmers, voribugs and so on, they possess their own advantages that have not only helped them maintain a strong position in the alien community, but also bolster its tech and defenses to a higher level. The major alien races of the Red Ocean were the equivalent of first-rate states in human terms. This meant that the orvens mastered a level of technology that could give the MTA and CFA a run for their money.

The orven race was known to be strong, but that only applied to its best. There were many other orvens who were not as wealthy and powerful. The large orven underclass had to make do with cheaper and more inferior tech. It turned out that many exobiologists viewed the orvens as the aliens that most closely resembled humans. Another important aspect about orven society was that those at the top were extremely smart and powerful. An important reason for that was because the orvens at the top were functionally immortal. They had access to advanced biotech treatments that completely broke the physical and non-physical limitations that successfully allowed them to escape the fate of a natural death.

No one knew how many years the oldest orvens had experienced, but the intelligence that the MTA had gathered from many sources suggested that there were numerous ancient visionaries that had first come into prominence over 10,000 years ago and still remained active to this day. The orvens looked up to these living fossils so much that they even revered their highest leaders as literal gods. The orvens were bipedal, furred mammals that closely resembled upright apes but without a nose. For some reason, the orvens and many other native creatures on the same planet never developed the sense of smell. They all made up for it by strengthening their other senses. The orven race stood out for their four eyes. The powerful eyesight of the orvens caused them to develop a preference of operating in low light environments. As they originally evolved on a planet with 0.81 g, the orvens were also taller than humans on average. A typical orven adult could reach a height of 3 meters, though the tallest individuals of this race were known to surpass a natural height of 4 meters. The orvens also lived significantly longer than humans. They aged slower to the point where a typical healthy orven individual was able to live up to 320 years without relying on any treatments. The downside was that the orvens did not excel that much at learning. It took decades for them to raise qualified scientists, engineers, doctors and other professionals. It was due to this that the orven race maintained an extremely high respect towards elders. Over time, the orvens built up a society where many of its people were born into castes. Though there was still a limited degree of upward and downward mobility, the vast majority of orvens tended to learn from their parents and pursue the same careers. The orven caste system was quite stable for the most part. The orven society existed for a long time and had reached a high level of stability.

On the other hand, most orvens were dull and incapable of exhibiting much independent thought. Many of them were no different from slaves who solely existed to serve their higher caste masters. The upper echelon of orven society were generally smarter and more talented, and heavy augmentation further made up for their genetic and physical shortcomings. The difference between a lower caste member and upper caste member of this race was so high that it was not that much of a surprise that the latter could moonlight as a god. One of the more interesting quirks about the lower caste orvens was that they did not engage in any form of entertainment at all. Recreation simply wasn't a part of their lives.

Orven-style starships have an all-black coating along with the wide and relatively flat hull shape. No other indigenous alien race has a history of designing such an atypical scouting vessel.