Description
The Ool-Tyr are an intelligent life-form from the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns that evolved in zero-gravity. When the first explorers from the E1MS reached the nebula known as Ool-Tygnoth (home of the Ool-Tyr, and one of the early systems explored by the E1MS), the Ool-Tyr lived in a pre-technological state, hunting and gathering the plants and animals that grow there. After they were conquered by the Empire, the Ool-Tyr often took on the role of piloting spacecraft, for which their lives in free-fall made them uniquely well suited. Eventually, many Ool-Tyr ended up buying or stealing their ships, and setting out on lives of piracy. In fact Ool-Tyr pirates became so successful, that they helped drive the Empire into a defensive stance, and an over-reliance on star-gates for interstellar travel and trade.
An Ool-Tyr's body is spherical, with four large tentacles in a tetrahedral arrangement, and four large eyes, also in a tetrahedral arrangement. Eating, breathing, reproduction, and removal of waste are all handled through body orifices, which are between the tentacles. The tentacles are used for locomotion (both by grappling, and by expelling inhaled air through orifices in the ends of the tentacles), and for speech (through the same orifices).
Ool-Tyr vary in color from light blue to dark purple. As they age, their color gradually fades to grey or beige.
At birth, an Ool-Tyr is about the size of a basketball. Since they live in free-fall, gravity imposes no limits to an Ool-Tyr's size, and they continue growing throughout their life-cycles. The oldest of them can be quite impressively large.