RACE · 001
Humans
The galaxy's former masters
Though the days of their greatness are long past, humans still remain one of the most numerous races in the galaxy and an important part of its political map.
ARCHIVE OF RACES
Race Catalog
The complete list of known sentient races of the galaxy — 38 entries.
RACE · 001
RACE · 003
Araleks
Golden Traders of the Galaxy
Founders of Silizm. One of the wealthiest races, controlling the galaxy's rare fuel market thanks to a monopoly on unique benzzorange technology.
RACE · 014
Kiorns
Hot-Tempered Warrior-Scholars
A warlike race of bird-like beings with a culture of duels and affairs of honor. Advanced scholars whose internal disagreements are often fiercer than their conflicts with other races.
RACE · 016
Homyaks
Resilient Colonizers
One of the galaxy's most widespread races, with outstanding hardiness and resistance to radiation. A critical shortage of females (1 to 10) has shaped a unique society of contract births, in which males take on the raising of children.
RACE · 017
Koshkri
Proud Loners of the Void
An independent and proud race, known for its grace, speed, and dislike of communal living, yet one that gets along easily with other peoples.
RACE · 065
Agatylais
The Race of Eternal Servants
A race closely related to humans, with pronounced sexual dimorphism: the women are almost indistinguishable from humans, while the men have a hypertrophically large nose and brow ridges. Historically subordinate to more powerful races, which fixed upon the Agatylais the label of a race of servants.
RACE · 157
Sohians
Four-Armed Heirs of Humanity
Four-armed humanoids who worship the stars. Humans they honour as their forebears, and they are certain that after human civilisation will come the Sohian one — which will sooner or later bring the galaxy to heel.
RACE · 158
Ryubizes
Neuromancers Bred for the Net
A race thought to have been bred from humans for work in the Net: brains reworked for implants, eyes for total darkness. Most Ryubizes are female — descendants of eighteen Ancient Mothers.
RACE · 159
Drags
The Weapon That Overthrew Its Gods
An uncivilised race of the galactic south, bred by the Star Wanderers as a fighting force and altered to breed faster. The Drags overthrew their gods and tore sector P-4 into warlord kingdoms, where the strong own the weak and cartridges serve as money.
RACE · 160
Shchekits
Four-Armed Seekers of Land
An aggressive four-armed race of the southern sectors for whom nothing matters more than a plot of land. Land is scarce at home, so the Shchekits leave to earn money abroad — in gangs, cults and Surditary hosts — anything to save up for a holding of their own.
RACE · 161
Bulvers
A Cult of Strength Without Mercy
A brutal race living by a cult of strength: the weak have no place here except as slaves of the strong. The Surditary, who once wiped out a third of the Bulvers, are revered by them as gods — and gladly take Bulvers as fighters into their gangs.
RACE · 162
Snizers
The Bottom of the Food Chain
A numerous, cunning and cruel race of the southern sectors that sits at the very bottom of the Surditary hierarchy. They are thrown into battle first, their chiefs sell them into service for weapons, and Bulvers are not above eating a Snizer in the most literal sense. Every Snizer dreams of serving out a contract and living free. Very few manage it.
RACE · 163
Zherkyet
The Race That Outlawed the Self
A closed race from sector N-12 that denies individuality. Implants in every brain read thoughts, and if those thoughts stray from the goals of the ruling Yuti-Kaa, the mind is "sterilised" and rewritten. The Zherkyet speak to the outside world only through the Sanahaz — and their technology is worth a fortune on the black market.
RACE · 165
Farngashes
Masters of the Third Horn
A race from the west of the galaxy that rose not by technology but by the third horn — a telepathic organ that bends Farngash fauna to its will. In war their beasts act as a single mechanism.
RACE · 181
Tukapau
Predators of the Lower Levels
A very strong race from the galactic centre with a bad reputation. The Tukapau live on dark worlds and in the lower tiers of cities, eat only living prey — their religion forbids eating the dead — and are often found in underground gangs. Even their mating ritual not infrequently ends with the death of one of the partners.
RACE · 193
Zuzhuroses
Paddy-Field Clans and Sea Pirates
Herbivorous humanoids with superb hearing who live in vast farming villages among flooded fields. Their society is split into clans led by elders and forever at war over land — so even the sowers go armed. A Zuzhuros earns an earring for every 25 years of life, while the meat-eating pirates wear two from youth.
RACE · 195
Chezuchi
Masters of the Permafrost Under Prohibition
A race of the northern latitudes and the permafrost: hunters and herders who live at minus a hundred and think very well of themselves for it. Alcohol works on them like the strongest narcotic, and on their planets it is banned outright.
RACE · 206
Iarutu
Mountain Birds of the Nest Families
A race of flightless birds from cold, mountainous worlds. They live in large communes headed by a nest family — one they are quite capable of overthrowing. Their sacred number is four, and their science is inseparable from their religion.
RACE · 213
Shreds
Sea Technocrats and Slavers
An aquatic, highly advanced race and pitiless racists: every other race is, to them, only slaves. They contest dominance beneath the water with the Povody — but rely on engineering rather than mysticism, up to war machines several storeys tall.
RACE · 260
Nechota
Emotionless Warriors
The Nechota are a sinister race, extreme racists who believe that everyone else should serve them either as slaves or as food. Several centuries ago the race was struck by…
RACE · 262
Eyzakers
Hives Where Only the Queen Is Sentient
Insectoids among whom only the queens are sentient: the rest are part of her neural network, and the larger the hive, the cleverer its queen. The greatest hives match the lands of the Golden Suns.
RACE · 283
Zhorogo
Burrow Communes Ruled by Queens
A burrowing race from sector M-30 that came up to the surface — and into space — in communes of several thousand. Only the queen of a commune is fertile, and a planet is governed by a council of representatives.
RACE · 313
Marihays
A Free People That Isn't Really Free
The Marihays are a race of humanoids fairly widespread in the galaxy. The Marihays see the chief purpose of their lives in conspicuous consumption and making money.…
RACE · 316
Zhaks
Refined Bioengineers
The Zhaks are a very numerous race, but one that lives relatively compactly, which is why far from everyone knows about them, unlike the Agatylais, the Araleks, or humans.…
RACE · 320
Emans
A Warlike Race with Impeccable Organization
The Emans are a race closely related to the Zhaks. Fairly widespread in the galaxy. Most members of this race are medium-height (170 cm) humanoids with a tail.…
RACE · 322
Maksids
Nomads on Living Machines
Reptilian nomads whose machines are alive: an animal is settled into the mechanism in place of an engine, and it feeds on meat. An engine like that can only be kept fed on the move.
RACE · 341
Velters
Four-eyed witches from the edge of the Underworld
A race of four-eyed, human-like beings: a matriarchy from the border of the Underworld. Velter women are considered witches — they survive the gravest wounds and hold the secrets of pheromones and poisons.
RACE · 393
Raveis
Industrial Hives with a Distributed Mind
Insectoids living in confederations of hives: slave biomachines make up eight tenths of the population, while the Many-Eyes — the hive's distributed mind — rule. Unlike other insectoids, they build real industry.
RACE · 404
Synrises
Masters of biotech and biomachines
A populous monarchy obsessed with biotechnology: their Biomages grow biomachines for every task — from war beasts to cargo haulers.
RACE · 410
Kozrond
Nomads of the Blood God
A nomadic race from sector V-6, known to its neighbours as pitiless raiders. Their god demands sacrifices, and a sentient race counts as the finest offering — hence the raids that never end.
RACE · 431
Shvars
Milk, Fights and a Shared Spring
A small race of hermaphrodite farmers living in close-knit communities. Their milk acts on many other species like a powerful drug, and drug cartels eagerly buy it up despite the bans. And every spring the Shvars settle the roles in a pair in the arena: the winner fertilises, the loser bears the young.
RACE · 432
Svarits
Miners Who Smell Out Metal
A rodent-like underground race and superb miners: glands on the neck catch the faintest shifts in the air of a shaft and find deposits by scent alone. Here wealth is worn — the Svarits weave their clothing out of gold.
RACE · 434
Karuses
The Mute Who Speak in Colour
A race without speech: the sounds they make are too poor to carry meaning, so the Karuses talk by changing the colour of parts of their bodies. An exquisite sense of smell makes them indispensable on geological expeditions.
RACE · 435
Eltraks
A Gvidanstvo on Eman Precepts
A race that took on the Eman way of things: one-man rule, a repressive apparatus and hard racism. Their gvidanstvo presses slowly but steadily into Gnot space.
RACE · 443
Chefs
Predators in Unkillable Flesh
A four-eyed race close in build to the Tsai. The Chefs eat live or freshly killed prey, do not shy away from the flesh of sentient beings and are almost immune to radiation. Their society rests on harsh racism, and under international classification they are recognised as a parasite race subject to extermination.
RACE · 451
Tutsiys
Eternal Nomads of the Walker-Cities
A nomadic race of sector P-6 whose whole purpose in life is constant movement and the search for new pastures. Long ago their herds built walker-cities that locked together at night into a fortress against predators. The Tutsiys still live in huge herds: you rarely meet a lone Tutsiy, and only the chief may speak to strangers.
RACE · 452
Sarkatts
Hooded Warriors of the Code
A mysterious and warlike civilisation of sector P-6 bound by a code of honour. The Sarkatts never take off their hoods and are known as superb soldiers, yet they will not shoot the unarmed or the weak. A Sarkatt will give water and food to an enemy dying of thirst — and may harm him only once he has left the Sarkatt's home.
RACE · 453
Dirobrans
Spiny-Backed Loners
A race of loners from sector P-6 whose backs are covered in sharp feathers. Each Dirobran holds a territory of its own and meets its kin only to mate. Centuries of internal wars made them good fighters, and employers readily hire Dirobrans as mercenaries despite their bad name.