Grung

(After uploading this I realized I forgot to draw the other back leg... no they're not supposed to look three-legged).

Interaction with the Grung has been rare and bizarre. Distant human descendants have managed to piece together a little information on these mysterious creatures.

The Transcendentalis first encountered the Grung. The Grung ship was broadcasting a very low pitched drumming sound originally interpreted as a distress signal. The transcendentalis were excited, to say the least, as the prospect of encountering another space-faring intelligent species.

This excitement was short lived, however, after they came to the conclusion that the builders of the ship had probably perished at some point, and left behind mindless 'caretakers' to manage the ship. The Grung were apparently almost mindless despite their enormous brains.

The Transcendentalis decided to salvage the discovery my capturing one of the creatures (that they called 'Grung' after the noises they made). Another mammal-like creature was exciting. They were also apparently carbon based, which increased the chances that they came from an extremely rare earth-like planet.

The creature reacted violently to its capture, and the Grung seemed to react like a herd and protect the Grung. After killing the expedition team, the Grung's ship vanished as it activated superluminal engines left the slow Transcendentalis ship behind.


Hundreds of years passed before a Neogenesi Novus ship came across another Grung ship. The interaction was considerably more peaceful, and the 'Neo-Novus' were very careful to show their peace (Grung had become an almost sasquatch-like myth).

After nearly 5 years of quiet careful work, the Neo-Novus broke the language barrier and finally made contact. The Grung were, in fact, sentient, and had been trying to communicate during those 5 years as well.

The two ships exchanged knowledge for an exciting 3 weeks before the Grung once again vanished. It was learned;

The Grung communicate with a drum-like organ in their chest. It is speculated that the humming broadcast the Transcendentalis heard was a greeting or a warning.

The 'fur' they are covered in, is made up of several different hairs. Thick 'whiskers' are spaced evenly throughout their body, along with a coarse hair and a very fine 'down' that keeps them warm. Each hair is attached to a bundle of nerves, and it is the vibration across their fur that allows them to hear. The bulk of their brain is actually dedicated to interpreting these vibrations.

Their eyes are very crude and pinhole-like. They use their tongue to manipulate objects like we use our hands, and they've evolved to only need to look at objects up close.

Their nose appears to be a honeycomb-like structure on their lower jaw. It's speculated that they had a very strong sense of smell, but probably weren't capable of the same spectrum of smells as even 'ancient' humans were.

There appeared to be no sexual dimorphism among the Grung. In fact, no discernible gender could be found. It's possible they are asexual or reproduce via cloning.

The exciting exchange was cut short, however, as the Grung appeared to be getting uncomfortable with humanity. They seemed confused with our multiple religions, and outright shocked at the concept of Atheism. They were also unnerved by our fast pace of life and multitasking.

Like the encounter with the Transcendentalis, the Grung ship once again vanished into superluminal speed, never to be seen again.