Skrell

Skrell

S. Sapiens

Home System: Jargon (Nralakk)

Homeworld: Jargon IV (Qerrbalak)

Language(s): Skrellian, Tau Ceti Basic

Political Entitie(s): Jargon Federation

Overview

An amphibious species whose passion lies in the field of the combined sciences, the Skrell are the oldest and most advanced species present on the galactic stage. The Skrell evolved on a planet covered in vast swamps and freshwater seas, hence their amphibious qualities. These include moist, pliant, and nearly translucent skin, as well as their vestigial gill slits.

Skrell are largely asexual, with most seeing reproduction as a process necessary to continue their lineage and nothing more.

While humanity has largely overtaken the Skrell in the area of system colonization, the Skrell maintain a strong federation of colonies roughly three-quarters the size of human space. They are also the most technologically advanced species in known space, and possess the strongest and most highly trained military of any spacefaring species.

Mechanics

• Skrell have their own language that can be used by typing :k before anything you say, and can also be used over the radio.
• Skrell lack teeth and instead have hardened gums; this leads to them being big advocates on soft foods such as bread, or liquid foods such as soup. Skrells are omnivorous, but tend to prefer insects over the more common red meat served on station.
• Skrell have large heads with protruding head tails and due to this they cannot wear normal hardsuit helmets but instead need to wear Skrell hardsuit helmets (found in EVA). Their head tails also make it uncomfortable to wear normal headwear such as hats so most Skrell opt out of that. However, Skrell can wear normal hardsuits due to their body being very similar to a human one.
• Skrell have the ability to breathe underwater due to them being amphibious.
• The Skrell have been allies with humanity longer than any other race aboard Aurora has, and as such Skrell workers are some of the most reliable and famed workers for Nanotrasen. They are suitable for any role on station, and older, more experienced Skrell scientists commonly hold experience in a variety of fields (though they are also free to specialize.)
• The Skrell take on Basic (the standard station language) is characterized by short, concise sentences, and an elimination of repetitive or non-essential words. You can refer to Mass Effect's Mordin Solus [1] as an example of this.

Biology

Main article: Skrell (Biology)

Skrell have an average height ranging from 4’5” to 5’1” for males, and 4’5” to 5’5” for females. Skrellian skin looks gelatinous, but in fact has a second layer of a less translucent flesh under the surface. Skrell faces are quite plain and their eyes completely black, leaving it difficult for other species to gauge a Skrell's exact feeling and emotions. Adapted for aquatic life, Skrell are fully amphibious, and are capable of breathing underwater while also possessing superior underwater vision. Their hands and feet are very similar to that of humans, except for a lack of nails and the presence of strong webbing in-between each digit. Due to their amphibian nature, the Skrell lack any real teeth and instead possess hardened gum lines. Their diet mostly consists of Qerrbalak-native algae, plants and insects. Instead of a developed nose, Skrell smell through two simple slits sitting in the middle of their face. Skrell bear tentacle-like "head-tails", which possess no muscle tissue, and simply hang down over a Skrell's shoulders. The purpose of these tentacles is to keep the skin close to the neck damp for the incubating of eggs. Tentacles are often adorned with jewels, cloths, chains or plates, as a fashion statement.

It is difficult for other species to differentiate between male and female Skrell, as the only outwards difference between the two genders is found in tentacle length - female tentacles being slightly longer than male ones. It should be noted that the Skrell have no social concern for gender, which they only see as an issue for the purpose of reproduction. For this reason, Skrell unfamiliar with galactic customs can often confuse the gender of other species, and struggle to adapt to the gendered pronouns of Tau Ceti Basic.

A healthy Skrell can naturally live up to two hundred years, but current medical technology allows them to increase their lifespan to an impressive 300 to 450 years.

Social

The Skrell language, Skrellian, can be best described as a series of hums, warbles, or croaks. While Skrellian would not make sense to other species, it can display a wide variety of emotion and meaning that Tau Ceti Basic cannot. When learning other languages, Skrell tend to forego grammatical structure, which they mostly simplify for the sake of efficiency. Additionally, most inflections and nuances that carry tone and emotion in foreign languages are lost to them, due to the wide differences between the nature of Skrellian and other tongues. It is notable that two Skrell conversing in their own language can communicate perfectly underwater.

Though a mainly scientific species, Skrells have interest in other forms of culture. Skrell artists are fairly prevalent, and martial arts also form a fairly widespread Skrell interest. Skrellian arts often (but not always) focus on the mind. For example, a recent movement focuses on how the mind interacts with the world around them.

Emotional

While many people believe that Skrells are heartless and have no emotions, the truth is actually quite the contrary. Skrell convey emotions the same way humans do, through movement, tone of voice and language used. Due to Humans' limited audial receptors, however, the many tones a Skrell can project are lost to all non-Skrell, and thus Skrell have a very difficult time expressing emotion to other species. In contrast, when matched with another of their kind, communication is so seamless that two parties involved in a discussion would almost be able to guess each others' thoughts at times, simply through the variety of vocal tones used in conversation. The most common Racial slurs that are used against Skrell are, “Frog”, ‘Squid”, “Waterboy” and various other creatures that have aquatic relation. Skrell tend not to react to these insults however, not out of indifference, but because they are often prideful and would prefer not to lose face through confrontation. This kind of emotional reaction is quite common in Skrell; Skrell are reputed for choosing not engage in a fight or a challenge unless they were certain of their own victory. Among other things, this has led to the Skrell military having the best victory-defeat ratio in the Galaxy.

Skrell come from the same planet of the average slime. Comically, this has led to the emergence of the term "Slimekin" as a common Skrellian insult.

Culture

Main articles: Skrell (Culture), Skrell (Factions & Politics)

Although colonial Skrell culture exhibits some regional differences, the culture of the Jargon Federation's core systems is highly unified. Skrell place a great importance on technological and scientific development, believing the key to a species' survival resides in their ability to move forward and adapt to new situations. There is a high pressure on the average Skrell to perform, both for the advancement of the Skrell race and for personal glory and recognition. Although automation of many labor-intensive tasks has become a mainstay of Skrell society, leading to an ever-growing interest and quasi-romanticization of research-related professions, Skrellian life is still dependent on the contribution of some under-appreciated but highly crucial manual labor workers. Nevertheless, Skrell have begun outsourcing some of their manual labor to other species such as humans and Tajarans.

Skrell do not disregard other sentient species as much as they consider them on a different plane of development from their own. Although they maintain a close relationship with Dionaea, and lucrative business and research partnerships with humans, they tend to look down upon Tajaran and Unathi as if they were children, yet to make the necessary social developments for their species to be considered on the same level as other spacefaring empires.

Skrells highly value logic, and rarely make rash decisions. Additionally, although they lack the humans' drive for ambition and expansion, they believe themselves to prize adaptability very highly, being willing to modify themselves through the use of implants and genetic engineering without hesitation, and going out of their way to colonizing the most hostile of planets through a mix of ingenuity and perseverance, as long as they can make a scientific or economical gain from it. Paradoxically, they are also very conservative about their own scientific and cultural customs, being unwilling to admit mistakes due to the amount of effort they put in making the "right" decisions. For a Skrell, having to admit error is devastating.

Skrell designs are highly ascetic in nature. It would be improper to assume that domains such as fashion, architecture and art are neglected by the Skrell, although the sleek, refined lines and preference for white and chrome found their designs has been found to be somewhat off-putting to other species.

History

Most of Skrellian history has been characterized by the formation and cooperation of small to large-scale councils. The Skrell are considerably more peaceful than other known dominant species (Humans, Tajarans and Unathis), which leads to an absence of large-scale conflicts through the species' history. This does not mean the Skrells are strangers to strife, civil unrest and rebellion; thusly, they are known to maintain a powerful standing army, both as a deterrent and peacekeeping force.

A short timeline of important Skrell history, adapted to standard human dating, goes as follow:

10 million years ago - The predecessors of the Skrell species being diverging from the evolutionary line of Qerrbalak's native salamanders.

~50 000 BCE - Modern-day Skrells (S. Sapiens) appear.

~12000 BCE - Beginning of Skrell sedentary age. Skrells live in tribes ranging from a few hundreds to thousands of individuals.

~1500 BCE - Beginning of the Skrell age of enlightenment: the aggregation of centuries of cultural and scientific developments leads to a dramatic increase in the quality of Skrellian lives. Many great projects are undertaken, with the population of the largest Skrellian cities numbering in millions.

~800 BCE - Advent of industrialization; the first assembly line is created.

482 BCE - First successful launch of a Skrellian spacecraft.

100 BCE - Skrells colonize Jargon IV's moon, Qerr'Malic.

~500 CE - Skrells colonize all major planets of their solar system. The population of Jargon IV reaches 30 billion. Development remains mostly stagnant for a millennium.

~1500 CE - Skrells begin launching manned missions outside of their solar system, through a summary form of warp travel.

~1800 CE - Skrell implant technology, already in development for centuries, becomes widespread.

2038-2132 CE - Skrells colonize the Epsilon Eridani system, leading to the eventual discovery of the Dionaea.

2413 CE - Skrells discover humans, and enter a scientific alliance with the newfound species. Bluespace is discovered in the same year.

2430-2440 CE - Rising xenophobia in the Sol Union leads to the development of new tensions between Humans and Skrell. Human-led anti-alien terrorism rises.

2458 CE - Present day. The Skrell occupy a large portion of galactic space, with colonies numbering in tens of billions of citizens.

Notable Information

Economics

While the Skrell seem less mercantile than the other races of the Milky Way, they in fact consider themselves some of the best tradesmen in the galaxy - an allegation which other species would sometimes like to dispute. Following the first contact with Humans, credits are accepted as a legitimate currency in the Skrell Confederation. The Skrell are most well known for their confectionery, medicines and implants. The most famous Skrell confectionery is Yewerie, a sweet cake coated in a sugary icing that is laced with minute amounts of Riehsi, a highly hallucinogenic mushroom the Skrell carry a natural partial-immunity to, and consider a mere flavoring rather than a recreational drug. This cake has been banned from numerous worlds in the Union and Sol, and is more openly accepted on the frontier worlds due to the lack of true law. Skrell medicines and implants are some of the most expensive and sought after pieces of medical technology in the civilized galaxy. Commonly traded goods include expensive regeneration and adrenal implants, some of which have been known to produce undesired and gruesome side-effects on humans. The Skrell have been highly sexualized in human culture due to strange sexual fetishes, this has led to many Skrell, male and female, turning to small roles in Human erotic movies and posters. The most Skrell erotic website is ‘Wetskrell.nt’ Wetskrell.nt is neither as perverse or indecent as one would seem, and simply depicts Skrell of various ages and colors in sexually suggestive positions. The Skrells' lax attitude towards sexuality and reproduction has led to most of them viewing the humans' fetishization of the Skrell species in complete indifference.

Geography

The Majority of the planets in Skrell space have been terraformed to suit their nature. A typical Skrell planet is covered in swamps, jungles, and the occasional large body of water. On planets where this kind of extreme terraforming is not possible, the Skrell construct large biodomes and habitat structures.

Architecture

Skrell cities are often considered less ornate than human ones, usually consisting of tall white skyscrapers that stand from the swamps, although it should be said that these buildings are usually covered in moss and other vegetation due to the environment they reside in. The Skrell have never enjoyed living underground, and as such, there is a distinct lack of underground buildings when Skrell outposts are concerned. The Skrell are famous for their underwater cities, which can span huge areas under water and are majorly constructed from glass. The secret to these cities, however, is not pressure-resistant glass, but instead immensely powerful shields that are powered by multiple supermatter engines inside the city. The largest underwater city constructed by the Skrell, Eriuyish, is located on Laush V (Laush is the second closest star system to the Skrellian home system Jargon). Eriuyish has an area of 17822 miles, and relies on seven different supermatter engines to power the 420 shield emitters located around it.

Military

The most common misconception about the Jargon Federation is that their military is almost non-existent. The truth, however, is closer to the opposite. While The Jargon Federation Navy is only two thirds the size of the Union of Sol's, the Skrells' incredible technological advances have made their military the most effective in the known galaxy. Most of the Skrells' strength is derived not from numbers, but from the advanced technology and firepower of their ships, and from their mastery of battle tactics and logistics. Their vat-grown Tup commandos are especially feared for their infiltration capabilities and combat prowess.