Convergence Brute

The Convergence Brute is an engineered subspecies of Grey designed for heavy labor. Their genetic makeup shares considerable overlap with Cielioid Boxers, though any direct relation is, at this point, impossible to establish. Study of the Brute genome has consistently pointed to the likelihood that they originated in the Convergence. One distinct upgrade the Brute has over the boxer is the presence of multiple enlarged nostrils to facilitate rapid air intake during acts of extreme exertion. Brutes are rare in Grey clades outside the Convergence, but not entirely unheard of.

Standing at a towering 4 meters tall, the Brute is powerful enough to push over a tree or pick up and carry a cow.

Convergence Node

Convergence Nodes are genetically engineered and cybernetically enhanced life-forms, developed by the greys that formed the Convergence. Convergence Nodes form the communication backbone of the Convergence hive-mind. Each node has a group of connected greys and other organisms that it oversees, and any Convergence ship larger than a short-range scout contains at least one node for coordination.

Convergence Nodes were engineered to solve the problem of long-distance communication, and their massive brains contain specialized organs that can send and receive spatial compression radio signals which they use to network with one another over astronomical distances. Convergence Nodes are little more than massive brains, though they do have a full grey body attached to the brain. The body is largely vestigial, as all the Node’s biological functions are handled through attached biomechanical systems.

Occasionally, (usually related to accident or violence) a Node dies without handing off its connected entities to another. In those cases the attached organisms are, at least temporarily, separated from the Convergence. If the separated organisms remain isolated from the Convergence long enough (which can happen naturally or through deliberate intervention), the attached organisms become a distinct hive-mind of their own with a unique personality. Typically, though, a transition to a new node happens in a planned and efficient manner, and all remain connected to the Convergence.

Bravaxian Grunkle-fly

The Bravaxian Grunkle-fly is a species native to Bravaxia (home-world of the Bravaxians).  Grunkle-flies are diurnal omnivores with three sexes (like Bravaxians, and most other animal species from Bravaxia).  Grunkle-flies are semi-buoyant in Bravaxia's thick atmosphere, and their main mode of locomotion is to fly on four paddle-shaped wings.  They have six eyes, and breathe through a series of small openings that run down the length of their bodies on both sides.  

Life Cycle

Grunkle-flies hatch from eggs laid by a female, and fertilized by both a left-male and right-male.  They mature over a period of about five weeks, and are about the size of a watermellon when fully grown.  They typically live as adults and reproduce for three Bravaxian years, occasionally living an additional year in old age.

Hunted for Food

Before the arrival of the Convergence on Bravaxia, the Bravaxians hunted Grunkle-flies for their diaphanous flesh, which has the odor and flavor of rotting fish.  Greys in the Convergence prize Grunkle-fly meat for this flavor (which Humans find repellent).  Along with Grabage-fruit, it was one of Bravaxia's major exports during the Convergence occupation.  Grunkle-fly meat is edible by Humans, though few actually enjoy it.  Bravaxians also use the sharp teeth of the Grunkle-fly as spearheads.

Bravaxian Garbage-fruit

Bravaxian garbage-fruit is a large melon, notable for its pungent odor (similar to rotting garbage).  The Melon's skin is bright red with white spots, the flesh is pure white, with small, black seeds.  The foul scent of the melon can be removed by steaming off the skin.

Garbage-fruit grows on short vines with square leaves that grow in the marshy quarters of the Wind-forests on Bravaxia.  The garbage-fruit vine has small, deep-red flowers.  When the Greys arrived on Bravaxia, garbage-fruit was a commonly gathered food. It turned out to be relatively easy to domesticate, and became a cornerstone crop of the agricultural economy.

Even when de-scented and carefully prepared, garbage-fruit is unpalatable to humans due to its bland flavor and soggy, pulpy texture.  The experience of eating it is said to be similar to eating wet cardboard.  Greys, and Bravaxians on the other hand thoroughly enjoy garbage-fruit, savoring its odor and texture. 

Growing garbage-fruit was one of the main occupations of Bravaxian slaves during the Convergence occupation of Bravaxia.  Even after the occupation ended during the third Convergence War, Garbage-fruit remained one of Bravaxia's chief exports.  For Bravaxians, garbage-fruit is a staple of their diet.  Among Greys, garbage-fruit is a sought-after delicacy.  On human worlds, its pulpy texture made it useful for the production of cheap paper, and its low price often made it a foodstuff of last resort for the desperately poor.

Bravaxians

History

Bravaxians are an intelligent species from the planet Bravaxia.  They lived at a stone-age (paleolithic) level of technological development before they were discovered by the Convergence (about 5000 years ago).  

The Bravaxians were enslaved by the Convergence as farmers, growing certain plants and animals from their home planet that the Convergence valued as food.  Chief among these were Garbage-fruit, and the Grunkle-fly.

The Convergence controlled the Bravaxians by creating "gods", bio-engineered beings with cybernetic brains, designed to resemble gods from various Bravaxian religions.  

Believers flock to see Oovex Snirk, one of the gods created by the Convergence. Snirk was a god of the hunt, and was used to teach the Bravaxians agriculture as well as to collect sacrifices of valuable foodstuffs.

The Convergence also came to utilize the Bravaxians themselves as a food source, (as an extension of the Bravaxians' own cannibalistic practices), and this was facilitated by having the "gods" demand sacrifices.  Bravaxian flesh is prized by the Convergence, because it has a narcotic effect on Greys.  The Greys who oversaw and harvested the Bravaxians always made a show of being the servants of the "gods" they created.

During the third Convergence War, the Planetary League liberated the Bravaxian home-world, which became an independent world.

Biology

Bravaxians are oxygen-breathing, omnivorous vertebrates with three sexes.  

Their skeletons are made of a cartilage-like tissue that is softer than the skeletons of most life-forms.  

Their mouths are bordered by a set of four prehensile tentacles that give them a limited amount of fine manipulation ability.  Bravaxian saliva is dark blue, but also slightly phosphorescent.

Their short legs make them slow, and easy targets for predators, which drove them to work together for mutual defense, causing them to develop culture and language.  

Female Bravaxians lay eggs, which are then fertilized by one parent of each of the other two sexes ( "left-male" and "right-male").  Female Bravaxians make up about 20% of the population, while left- and right- males each account for about 40%.   To untrained human eyes the three sexes of Bravaxian appear indistinguishable.  They are mainly identified by scent among themselves, but subtle variations of coloration and tentacle length can reveal the sex of a Bravaxian as well.

Culture

Before the coming of the Convergence, Bravaxians lived in small tribes and villages with polytheistic and animistic religions.  They lived in simple covered nests, and subsisted by hunting and gathering.  

Cannibalism is fairly common among Bravaxians, usually by one's own family members after a violent death (they avoid eating family who died of disease).  Bravaxian flesh is sweet-tasting, but mildly toxic to humans. 

Bravaxian writing was traditionally accomplished via tentacle, using saliva on pieces of wood.  Their saliva being dark blue, yet phosphorescent remains visible in both light and dark conditions, which is useful in the flickering light of the forest floors where Bravaxians live.  In Bravaxian culture, a written statement isn't considered authentic or sincere unless it is written in the author's own saliva.  This was initially a problem for the Convergence in their dealings with the Bravaxians, as Greys (like humans) have transparent saliva, meaning they were seen as inherently untrustworthy because things written in it could not be seen.  The Greys who dealt with Bravaxians on a regular basis genetically modified themselves to have Bravaxian-style saliva, in order to circumvent this problem.  After long subjugation by the Convergence, little remained of traditional Bravaxian cultures, and most learned to write in Convergence Script.

Each of the sexes generally exhibit one of two genders.  The genders are defined largely by what role they play in daily life, either tending the nests or hunting/gathering.  The majority of female Bravaxians are of the nest-tending gender, (being both relatively rare and biologically important as egg-layers, there is a lot of social pressure to keep them safely at home), while left- and right- males both tend to take up the hunting/gathering genders.

Habitat

The natural habitat of the Bravaxians is the floor of the wind-forests of Bravaxia.  These forests are dominated by tall trees.  The leaves of these trees are constantly agitated by the wind, creating constantly flickering daylight on the floor of the forest, which bravaxian eyes are highly adapted to.  After their liberation, when Bravaxians were able to build their own technological civilization, this adaptation to flickering light found expression in the form of their light fixtures which are designed to flicker constantly, much to the annoyance of other species.