Description
Greys in general are tall, two or so metres tall. They have pale skin and very long limbs and fingers. They are very intelligent, long-lived, and have roughly similar strength levels as humans.
History
It is believed that the ancient species which colonised the galaxy and terraformed the planets, were ancestral Greys. Since then, the species has split into two - the modern Greys, and the Nortiks. Greys went on to join the Empire, an interplanetary government based around a core shared military and government. Meanwhile the Nortiks formed the Pacifist Union, which seeks to civilise the galaxy by subjugating planets and systems.
Biology
These races are considered different subspecies. The ancestral Grey is Homo viro veteris. Modern Greys are Homo viro novus, and Nortiks are Homo viro nortika. They are in the same genus as us ‘normal’ humans, and share many general features (bipedal gait, general facial features, body plan, etc), but you’d never confuse a Grey for a human.
Nortiks are visually very similar to Greys. They are slightly shorter and more robust, and while Greys are completely hairless, Nortiks have long hair, beards, eyebrows, arm and leg hair, etc. They are different, but a racist or ignorant person would confuse them, or not notice a difference. A Nortik spy could pass as Grey with some effort and upkeep.
Culture and Technology
Greys are native to the Rho star system, but have spread throughout the Empire. Rho can be described as appearing somewhat communist, as the culture values the quality of life of its citizens as a whole, over anyone individually. Most cities are a blend of technology integrated into natural forest. Old growth trees, hundreds of years old, are more valuable, and holy places are usually integrated into them.
Though all Imperial tech is advanced compared to modern Earth, Greys are even more advanced, and most major advances originated in the Rho system, such as solar-powered weapons and space transport, plasma shielding, and vanderdrone inertial dampeners, which can act as an autonomous swarm of microscopic drones and assist in space travel, and in dozens of other applications. Their newest technology, yet to be released to the wider Empire, is the Amorphous program, which increases precision control over vanderdrones. The can now form solid objects, such as weapons and ships, or be manipulated in the air, for example to produce concussive blasts or propel oneself through the air.
The Nortiks, cut off from the Empire, have different technology. They have access to vanderdrone inertial dampeners, but not the solar weapons of the Empire. Instead they use electrolasers (slow-charging guns that shoot a devastating bolt of lightning). They tend to pilot saucer-shaped ships, which they use to abduct people from planets throughout the Empire. They drag them upwards using vanderdrones, and the people are never seen again.
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