Greegrox

The **Greegrox** are a race of space fish who exist, feed upon and guide a colossal moon-sized creature called the **Ancient One**. They are largely antagonistic to “metal vessels”, finding the concept of smaller creatures as baffling.

**Biology**

The Greegrox are essentially space fish, who share a parasitic relationship with their colony world, the Ancient One. They have a pair of tails and have a pair of lumiscent organs visible through their flesh. Greegrox evolved on the Ancient One, slowly becoming sentient and developing the ability to fly through space, as well as survive in the sheer cold of space.

Without a translator, the Greegrox are largely unintelligible. They speak in a form of song-language, referring to it as such. They act as advance scouts for the Ancient One, going ahead of the creature to find worlds with atmospheres for the Ancient One to consume.

The Ancient One himself acts as the homeworld, breeding grounds and food of the Greegrox. The Ancient One absorbs most of his energy from solar bodies, through various photosynthetic processes. He also consumes a steady flow of nutrients, from the atmospheres of rocky worlds. This has the unfortunate side-effect of destroying the world in question, as seen with the Menkmack. The Ancient One also lays eggs, though they take many millennia to hatch and the theft of one is enough for the Ancient One to continually destroy the homeworld of the Menkmack, slaughtering millions of their race every time.

**Culture**

The Greegrox practically worship the Ancient One, such is their symbiotic nature with the creature. This practice of adoration and symbiosis is known as Ancient Oneism. With glee, the Greegrox will even try to spread word of their “religion” to other races amongst the Federation of Allied Species.

The Greegrox have a fairly prejudiced view of planetary bound species, saying they might as well not exist if they cannot survive in space. Greegrox are suspicious of “metal vessels”, seeing their need for information as a means of attack and subterfuge. They find it easier to respond to individual crews aboard ships as the collective “metal vessel”.

The Greegrox have great pride in the Ancient One and took it upon themselves to defend the Ancient One from metal vessels, keep an eye on his diet and groom his glossy coat. They are his forward scouts and his first line of defence. The Greegrox will even go to suicidal lengths to keep the Ancient One safe, making sure he receives the nutrients he requires, regardless of the length of the journey or throwing themselves at metal vessels trying to attack the Ancient One.

**History**

The Ancient One has long been known to the Scryve Empire and has existed within their territory for a few hundred years at the least. Upon his arrival into Scryve space, the Ancient One made the fatal mistake of destroying a number of Scryve worlds in his bid to consume their atmospheres. This led to a brutal retaliation from the Scryve, leaving enormous wounds in the Ancient One’s hide. They have since avoided each other, though the Ancient One remains in Scryve space, under the protection of the Greegrox.

For the Greegrox themselves, they evolved on the Ancient One and began their lives on-board him, as he acts as their breeding grounds and homeworld. Slowly, over time, the Greegrox became sentient and began to circumnavigate the Ancient One. This developed further, extending out into space to marvel at the sheer size of their home. Upon doing so, the Era of Ancient Oneism began for the Greegrox and they began their symbiotic relationship with him.

This symbiotic relationship and their inability to communicate led the Scryve to conclude that the Greegrox were in fact, non-sentient creatures who acted as scouts for the Ancient One, rather than intelligent beings capable of strategizing and tactics. This worked in the Greegrox’s favour however, as the Scryve made no effort to enslave them, though given their proximity to the Ancient One, this might have been a factor as well.

A few years ago, The Menkmack has stolen the Ancient Ones egg. This is crucial, as within another turn of the galaxy, another Ancient One would be born and it is unlikely the current Ancient One would birth another egg. The egg is generally invulnerable to weapons, so the Greegrox aren’t largely concerned with the Egg itself. However, the Ancient One had begun to follow the Menkmack wherever they went, in a desperate bid to save its egg. This led to the continued destruction of the Menkmack’s homeworlds, forcing them to begin calling their new homes New New Whatever Menkmack to avoid changing the name. Given the Menkmack’s inability to return items they have stolen, they were forced on the run as the Ancient One followed in their wake.

Eventually, the Greegrox encounter the Captain of the Vindicator, who works to retrieve the Ancient One’s egg from the Menkmack, literally stealing it from under their noses. This causes the Greegrox to join the Federation of Allied Species and engage in the war with the Scryve. They even dedicated their forces to the final battle with the Xraki, helping to secure the system so the Captain could move in to finish the Origin and shut it down. After the war, the Greegrox continued with their patterns of migration, keeping the Ancient One safe and engaging in discourse with the other members of the Federation.