Synopsis: Gilfren are a highly aggressive species from the planet Jaquas. Tampered with by a now dismantled civilization, they serve as a harsh reminder of the dangers of elevating races to spacefaring status before their time. Often seen as raiders and merciless expansionists, the races that arrived from the Milky Way refer to the Gilfren as the ‘Krogan of the Sea’.
Biology: Gilfren are long and slender at the base, but become thicker once you move upwards. Humans refer to them as ’Walking Sharks’ as most of their body is still streamlined for aquatic movement, but they also feature arms and legs which feature retractable fins at the elbows and on the outside of the knees. There is also a retractable fin at the base of their thick long necks. When in the water, they keep their limbs tucked close to the sides with their fins extended and most movement comes from their powerful forked tails.
Their heads are elongated with a point at the end instead of a nose, but their jaws are stretched back beneath the head and open considerably wider, to reveal multiple rows of sharp teeth. Their eyes are dark spots on the sides of their head, two on each side, and their nostrils are slits that extend from the tip of their face and down the sides and below the eyes. Sound is received from a simple channel on either side of the head. A shocking trait about the Gilfren is how quickly they learn. A Gilfren’s ability to retain new information is alarming compared to other races, which allows them to quickly adapt to new scenarios and devise or revere-engineer new technologies.
Their skin, with a very fine and smooth scaling over it (feeling like a piece of fine-grit sandpaper), is two-toned: Dark on the top and light on the bottom: A natural camouflage to mask their presence to prey while swimming. Colors tend to be beige, blue-grey, or the very rare red. (Such specimens are shunned by their fellows and are considered to be poor hunters).
Females are usually a foot or two taller than males and weight more, sacrificing a streamlined appearance for greater power. Females are an average of seven feet tall and 200kg, while males are around Six feet and 130kg. Females are known to be more aggressive than males.
Voracious carnivores, Gilfren have a fast metabolism and heal faster than other races, especially after they’ve gorged themselves on flesh and retreated to a safe area to rest. Their internal organs feature some rather interesting items. They have one main stomach and two sub-stomaches for storing food. They also feature set of sacs that can keep oxygen stored for later usage. These oxygen sacs can hold a day’s worth of air in total. Their buoyancy sac can draw from these oxygen sacs for quick rises to the surface, and it is impossible for a Gilfren to suffer from ‘the bends’. Information on how deep a Gilfren can dive is a closely guarded secret.
Their hearing is sub-par. Their vision is more focused than other races, and their peripheral vision suffers. Their sense of smell is potent, moreso underwater, and they can detect electromagnetic currents underwater. Like Krogan, they enter can enter a form of ‘blood rage’ which results directly from when the smell of blood becomes overwhelming. They feature less control in these cases, and may even turn on each other if the scent comes strongest from them. The average Gilfren lifespan quadrupled since their uplifting, which now reaches up to two-hundred assuming a death by natural causes. Fertilization occurs within the female, who keeps an egg clutch of around six to eight within her before birthing them somewhere safe where they will hatch . . . most often the strongest will eat their siblings, behavior which is often encouraged by the parents. Biotic Gilfren are rare but considered highly dangerous given the partial control Gilfren have over their nervous system.
History: The Gilfren were just reaching their ‘feudalistic’ stage when their home planet of Jaquas was visited by a race known as the Pera’Cil. The Pera’Cil people were friendly to the Gilfren, freely offering them access to their advanced technology. The Gilfren accepted the gifts, but viewed the Pera’Cil as weak and as easy to conquer. What resulted was a long war ending in the destruction of the Pera’Cil and their colonies being annexed by the now bloated Gilfren Empire.
The Gilfren would continue to expand but were eventually thwarted by other, less receptive races and pushed back to Gilfren space. The Empire still sends raiding parties and attempts to annex other colony worlds primarily as a show of force. They focus more on building up their weapons in response to the rest of the Galaxy forming a Cold War with the rest of the world.
Culture: Child mortality rate is deliberately high as children are taught to fight their way to the top. ‘Survival of the Fittest’ is a mindset drilled into the head of all Gilfren. While crimes are still punished and most laws are similar to that of other species, cannibalism is not considered a crime. . .in fact, not consuming the corpses of your victims is considered ‘dishonorable’ and murderers who do such are punished more severely than murderers who eat their victims. Calling someone ‘not worth eating’ is a grave insult that has started many fights throughout the history of the Gilfren.
Hunting is the Emperor-decreed past time of the Gilfren, and it alarms people from other races that the Gilfren have many laws concerning when you can hunt what creature. They have programs that ensure that overfishing and overhunting are punished and kept under control and they care a great deal about maintaining the balance of the food chain . . . so long as they remain on top, anyways.
They worship their Emperor with a fanatical zealotry, and all Emperors past and present are remembered. The Gilfren do believe in an afterlife, known simply as ‘The Great Hunt’ which is typically depicted as an endless ocean filled with fish.
Turning one’s back on a Gilfren is considered a challenge and expecting forgiveness for any wrong doing onto one is foolhardy at best and suicidal at worst. They never forgive grudges to the point where it may be ingrained into their instincts.
Gilfren prefer to build their cities deep underwater, which lets them live in peace without outsiders bothering their day-to-day lives. Some cities on land exist, but these too are not too friendly to outsiders who aren't in tune to their cutthroat way of operating. . .Tourists in particular are despised.
Most Gilfren seen by outsiders are males as females are usually running colonies or businesses.
Military/Government: The Gilfren Empire is headed by a single powerful Emperor or Empress who oversees all aspects of the empire through various offices and departments. While royal lineages are possible, it is not unheard of for the Emperor to be replaced through assassination and consumption (including his or her offspring). In general, Succession in government is cutthroat in the most literal of senses, with someone staying in office until enough people are dissatisfied with their performance and manage to kill them. There are elections to certain political offices, though eliminating the competition is not unheard of there either.
Oddly enough, large-scale rebellion isn’t a concept they are too familiar with as they rather enjoy the government they have, which provides individuals with a large amount of freedom so long as they abide certain universal laws and 'don't cause too much trouble'.
The Gilfren Military is divided similarly to that of others. Their navy is comprised mostly of Frigates arranged into ‘wolf packs’ and they prefer to build carriers, with their fighter pilots known for being as fierce as they are skilled and relentless. Fighters are well equipped in comparison to that of other species, and a large swarm of them can take down a poorly defended Dreadnaught. They utilize ‘Scare Tactics’ heavily and tend to send two groups to pincer and trap larger groups. Males are conscripted at a certain age for a period of twenty years then given the option to sign on longer, while females may volunteer. They will institute a draft when necessary, but not without providing incentives to enlist prior.
Relations with the Galaxy are strained, but not openly hostile. Trade occurs between the two, but the Gilfren Empire restricts visits to its space and openly prides itself in how unwelcoming it is to tourists.
Trivia: -SHARK PEOPLE, OOH HA HA!
- I kinda picture them as shark-faced Zoras from the Legend of Zelda. . .or Street Sharks, which amuses me greatly. JAWSOME!
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