Tywom

The **Tywom** are a race of slug-like aliens who are wards of the Scryve Empire, but have been secretly defending humanity for the last few decades. The Tywom are notoriously unpopular throughout their sector of space and many tend to avoid their desperate attempts for friendship.

**Biology**

Tywom are a species of slugs, with a set of four arms they use for manipulating their technology, including a series of keyboards that form parts of their normal uniforms. Tywom possess two antennae on their head and are typically quite rotund in appearance.

Tywom tend to produce an excessive amount of mucus based on emotional stimuli, becoming moister when mentioned to be friends. This mucus forms a protective barrier against infection, as the Tywom are notably one of the only species immune to the Pinthi. This mucus is also used in the usage of their technology. Although it is unknown what function it provides, the use of mucus renders most Tywom unusable by other species who lack the ability themselves.

Tywom are almost universally disliked by other races, including the Scryve. They are incredibly desperate for friendship, but possessing very little in the way of social skills, this has been a largely fruitless effort. It is speculated that the Tywom’s unpopularity is an environmental adaptation, designed to be so repulsive to predators, they will leave the Tywom alone for fear of them being creepy. This would largely explain their generally unpleasant appearance, as well as their desperate need for attention.

**Culture**

Friendship forms the centre of Tywom culture, fuelled by a desperate need for companionship. This leads the Tywom to committing several acts that are perceived as creepy by outsiders, but are really just cries for attention and to be noticed. This includes the construction of an artificial human to practice hugging with and the creation of Tywom Friendship Training Centres, where Tywom recreate the homes of various species they wish to be friends with and dressing in rubber suits that the Tywom trainers use to simulate the species in question.

Tywom also conduct regular Friendship Survey expeditions to potential new species to befriend, where upon they provide the race with HyperDrive technology and uplift them onto the galactic stage to be friends with. Aside from the notable exception of humanity, these attempts have been met with disaster, as seen with the Zalence who were eaten by the Ancient One after they communicated with the Greegrox. The Tywom even operate a series of Friendship Colonies, where the most unpopular Tywom are sent to make friends with one another, even away from other members of their species.

Tywom culture currently seems to revolve around that of humanity’s, having been watching their various shows for decades and protecting the human race from the Scryve, misdirecting them to other areas of space. This obsession extends to writing fanfiction of these various shows, where the Tywom are the most popular members of the cast and are almost universally poorly written. However, this obsession also becomes fierce loyalty, attacking the Scryve to deflect their attempts to invade the Solar System and sending fleets to defend Earth as soon as the Captain makes contact with their homeworld.

**History**

Tywom history is relatively unknown, but given their comments on nuclear weaponry, it is possible it was a more peaceful progression than that of humanity. At some point in their history, all the animal life on the Tywom’s homeworld “left”. It is currently unknown how they managed this, but it is possible it is a joke.

Upon discovering spaceflight, the Tywom were reluctantly enslaved by the Scryve who allowed them to conduct research of their own accord, though it is widely thought that this was a ruse to keep the Tywom from bothering them too much. It was during their enslavement that the Tywom began their practice of spying on various pre-spaceflight species and attempting to uplift them in exchange for becoming friends.

This often led to disaster, with the most notable example being the Zalence, the last species the Tywom interacted with before encountering humanity. The Zalence arrived to space too early and ran afoul of the Greegrox, who proceeded to allow the Ancient One to devour their atmosphere. The Tywom do express regret over this, but it didn’t stop them from providing humanity with their first HyperDrive, allowing the human race to begin its ascension to governorship of the sector.

The Tywom had been monitoring humanity for decades, watching their shows and ensuring their survival by hiding the existence of them from the Scryve Empire whenever they came looking. Upon helping humanity reach HyperDrive levels, the Tywom became humanity’s first major allies in the galaxy. They had previously applied to the Federation of Allied Species well over a hundred times since discovering its existence and were finally allowed to join once humanity vouched for them at a trial under the Principle Dictate.

The Tywom continued to aid humanity in their rise to power, providing them with defence fleets and ships to the Captain of the Vindicator. They participated in the final battle of the war, helping humanity to secure the Origin and destroy the Xraki forces stationed there.