The Vroons

 

The Vroons are utterly inhuman but strangely intelligent residents of Rogue Planet. They are rivals to humanity, and seem uninterested in cooperation or treaties, and perhaps do not even see humans as worth talking to. They appear to be upright starfish, up to about 4m/13ft tall, with three fingers on their hands and another pair of limbs acting like legs. A single pupil-less eye stares from the centre of their bodies. Although not obvious at first glance, their mouths are actually on the "palms" of their hands. 

Vroons are clearly intelligent in their own way, having both a complex society and their own technology which includes exceptional skill at biology and genetic engineering - Vroons have a habit of capturing a creature (either a native of Rogue Planet or a colonising species) and turning it into something quite different, sometimes horrifically so. 

Some humans have tried to negotiate with the Vroons, but such naive attempts at best are ignored, and at worst the would-be diplomats are taken away to the vroonian bio-vats for transformation. Many humans now just attack the Vroons on sight and this is reciprocated. 

Vroon tools and weaponry fall into two main categories: mechanical and zoological. Like humans, vroons will use things made of metal, plastic, glass, carbon fibre and other inorganic matter and although the size and shape is clearly for vroonian use, such technologies are generally understood, at least in principle, by human scientists. Oversized laser guns, ablative body armour and hover barges are all used by Vroons. But the scarier side of Vroonian science is the organisms turned into living weapons. The original form of such biological constructs are sometimes apparent but other times completely obscured by the drastic modifications imposed upon them. But it has been documented several times that the Vroon have turned humans into zombie-like monstrosities with claws instead of hands and then set them loose near human populations.