Part 23: Melnorme - Alien Races

Here're some random videos:
Fwiffo's intro
Orz
Arilou
Melnorme
Saving the Zoq-Fot-Pik from the Kohr-Ah
Spathi Eluder vs. Slylandro Probe

To anyone that's a complete newbie to the game, the absolute best source of in-game hints as to what you need to do are through the Melnorme. Meaning that even if you're going to fail your first game, you should learn everything that the Melnorme have to say about the galaxy, take your notes, and start your next game with all that in mind.

Here's what the Melnorme have to say about alien races

The Zoq-Fot-Pik are a friendly co-op of three alien species all native to the same world. They are presently suffering severe collateral damage from the ritual combat between the Ur-Quan and the Kohr-Ah. While this is unfortunate for the Zoq-Fot-Pik - they have been forced to to abandon many of their worlds - this close proximity to the inter-Ur-Quan war will give them insights into the conflict, which will be of great use to you. In addition, the Zoq-Fot-Pik met the Chenjesu early on in the war, and are eager to make allies who can protect them from their enemies. In case you are interested, the Zoq-Fot-Pik homeworld is at coordinates 400.0:543.7, planet I.

The Ilwrath are presently attacking the Pkunk in the Lacaille and Krueger constellations. These beings have slavish devotion to their dark gods Dogar and Kazon, which in the past few years has been used against them by the Umgah. If you need to manipulate the Ilwrath, we suggest you discover the Umgah's technique and duplicate it.

The Pkunk are a mystical off-shoot of the Yehat species, who left their bird-brothers long ago to found a peaceful enclave in the Krueger and Giclas stars. At the present time, the Pkunk are defending themselves against the Ilwrath, who have been commanded to attack the happy birds by Dogar and Kazon. The Pkunk may be unwilling to make a formal alliance with you, but we have confidence that if you explain yourself honestly, they will help your efforts against the Ur-Quan.

The creatures presently fighting the Ur-Quan are called the Kohr-Ah. They are an Ur-Quan sub-species who split off from the main species many thousands of years ago. Their present fight is a ritual reenacting of a major difference of opinion between two, rival Ur-Quan leaders after the Ur-Quan overwhelmed their slave-masters, the Dnyarri. The Kohr-Ah are immune to reason, having long ago lost the ability to see their situation objectively. They live in a self-maintained paradox: to ensure their safety and security, the Kohr-Ah fight an endless battle against all other sentient species.

I must warn you of some very bad people. "Is this worth so many credits?" you ask yourself. I assure you, it is! The creatures are called the "Druuge" and they are a callous and evil race. They care for nothing but profit and personal gain through unfair mercantile exchanges...why are you looking at me like that, Captain? It is not appropriate. As I was saying, these wicked creatures will try to sell you commodities at unreasonably low prices. Hey! - They almost give away fuel! Do not fall for their tricks! There are hidden costs - secret tariffs! So that you may avoid them, I will tell you that their main trade world is Zeta Persei I. Why are you smiling, Captain?

The Burvixese race evolved on the planet Arcturus I. They lived there in a relatively benevolent manner, until the Kohr-Ah came and destroyed them during the course of 2 or 3 unfortunate days. The Druuge were largely responsible for the Kohr-Ah finding the Burvixese. You see, the Burvixese were in a long-distance Hyperwave contact with a race known simply as the Gg. For decades, the Gg and the Burvixese traded much valuable information, until the Gg came under attack by an invading race who you know as the Kohr-Ah.

The Gg warned the Burvixese that the Kohr-Ah located races by their Hyperwave transmissions and that they had already discovered the radiations from the Druuge. When the Burvixese were kind enough to warn the Druuge that a hostile alien race was homing in on their Hyperwave radiations, the Druuge shut down all their transmitters and erected a powerful Hyperwave beacon on the surface of the Burvixese moon. The Kohr-Ah changed course, attacked the poor Burvixese and sadly, destroyed them all.

The Thraddash are an arrogant, stubborn, and thick-skinned species who reside in the Draconis and Apodis star systems. They have little or no respect for anything but force, which they admire greatly. To make the Thraddash your friends, you should consider killing most, but not all of them. In addition, they guard some kind of sacred relic at the star system Zeta Draconis, though we do not know the true nature of this artifact. The Thraddash homeworld is at Delta Draconis.

After the war, the Chenjesu and the Mmrnmhrm chose to be slave-shielded on the Chenjesu's homeworld at Procyon. We suspect that they are melding their two species to form some kind of new, hybrid race, a race which may be powerful enough to destroy the Ur-Quan single-handedly. However, by our calculations, this process will take many decades, if not centuries. Should you wish to talk to them, we recommend you invest in a Hyperwave broadcasting system which is powerful enough to penetrate the shield around their world.

The Mycon are using this time while the Ur-Quan have their attention elsewhere to expand their sphere of influence as fast as possible. The Mycon colonize planets by launching tough spore-pods from orbit and injecting them under the planet's surface. Months later, after the spores have grown hundreds of thick, fibrous tendrils under the planet's crust, the tendrils suddenly thrust up out of the planet and create huge calderas, not incidentally filling the planet's atmosphere with the Mycon's preferred gases, clouds of super-heated steam and sulphuric acid.

Following the end of the war, the Androsynth began experimenting with Inter-Dimensional Fatigue, a process which is related to your faster-than-light drive, but involves dimensions far more alien than Hyperspace. They had just made a major breakthrough when they were suddenly wiped out by a race called the Orz, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Actually, we don't know what the Orz did to the Androsynth - they're just all gone.

The Arilou Lalee'lay are a mysterious race of IDF beings, IDF meaning Inter-Dimensional Fatigue. They do not reside in this galaxy, or in fact, anywhere in this universe. While it is true that the Arilou are rarely seen far from the Columbae star group, they do make regular, secret visits to your world, and have done so for centuries. Ever since Earth was slave-shielded, they have focused their attention on the humans aboard the starbase, many of whom are now members of your crew. Though the Arilou Lalee'lay always smile and are never overtly hostile, we believe that they have a secret agenda which somehow involves your planet, Earth. These secret plans may or may not cause grief and woe to you Earthlings.

Just under 20 years ago, the brave and suicidal Shofixti annihilated their species by exploding a Precursor device - some kind of bomb - in the interior of their sun. The resulting storm of solar flares cooked the life off the Shofixti homeworld and incinerated over a hundred Ur-Quan Dreadnoughts, which had just entered the system to conquer the Shofixti. In actuality, there are still at least a dozen Shofixti left alive in the galaxy. One or two are at Delta Gorno, guarding the dead hulk of their once beautiful world. Others can be found in VUX space.

The Slylandro are a mostly non-solid, sentient race who live in a gas giant at Beta Corvi. We recently sold them a self-replicating exploration probe, which has somehow turned hostile and attacks everything it detects. If such encounters have angered you, Captain, please do NOT address your concerns to us. We possess a formal Waiver of Damages, authorized by a Slylandro Speaker and are in no way responsible for this situation.

The cowardly Spathi live at the single planet orbiting Epsilon Gruis. They do not actually live on their world, rather they reside on its airless moon. The reason? A xenomorphic species, which craves the sweet-flavored flesh of the Spathi, has been transported to the surface of their planet and makes every attempt to devour the poor Spathi. I am certain that the Spathi would be forever in your debt, if you were to eliminate these creatures from their planet. What? You fear the aliens will find you a treat also? Fear not. Our data reveals the beasts are not interested in your species. Should you wish to consult with the Spathi Ruling Council, you will need to know the Secret Spathi Cypher - a password which is "Huffi-Muffi-Guffi."

Like you Earthlings, when the war with the Ur-Quan was lost, the Syreen chose to be slave-shielded. Their new world is at Betelgeuse. The Syreen's starbase is crewed by the starship commanders and crew who were decommissioned at the end of the war. Though the Syreen hate the Ur-Quan with a vengeance, they are unlikely to offer you assistance, unless you reveal to them the truth behind the tragedy of their original homeworld, Syra, which was destroyed by the birth of a Mycon "Deep Child" a century ago.

When the Ur-Quan entered Gamma Serpentis - the home star of the Yehat - their queen made a sudden change of allegiance and allied with the Ur-Quan hierarchy. They became Ur-Quan combat thralls. This act was viewed by most Yehat starship officers as ultimately dishonorable, the desperate act of a corrupt regent to maintain her throne. The Yehat's shame was greatly magnified by the Shofixti's show of courage, when they destroyed their own star system to slow down the Ur-Quan Armada.