Codex: Galotians

Galotians are voracious protein hunters, but they’re not truly dangerous.

Name (Singular): Galotian

Homeworld: Galotia

Height & Weight: Highly variable

Coloration: Highly variable, typically matches the local environs for camouflage purposes

Lifespan: Indefinite. Galotians show no signs of aging or cellular degeneration.

History

Galotians were the first species encountered with any true shape-shifting potential. Discovered during the chaotic second Planet Rush, they were originally thought to be hostile predators. Early explorers fought tooth and nail to stop themselves from being enveloped in the horrifying blobs of goo that rolled out of Galotia’s swamps with little success.

These unfortunate first victims often did not survive the curious creature’s attentions. The galotians did not understand most species’ need to be exposed to gaseous oxygen in order to remain alive. Rather than devour the resulting corpses, the living oozes spat out the lifeless bodies and lumbered away. For no explicable reason, ‘Attacks’ died away almost entirely after the first week of contact with the rest of the galaxy. Plans to declare the planet unfit for colonization were scuttled, and more and more visitors came to the wet, swampy planet, seeking riches amongst the muck.

Galotia was mineral poor, unfit for most kinds of farming, and only rich in diverse, if seemingly useless life. Interest in the planet died down until only a few long-term biological survey teams remained. They observed the native galotians enveloping other creatures, sometimes for hours at a time, then releasing them, seemingly unharmed.

While studying this phenomenon, the scientists made little progress. It wasn’t until near the end of the survey that a massive and unexpected breakthrough finally happened.

A galotian, one of the native blob monsters, appeared at the edge of camp in the shape of one of the younger, shapelier researchers. It was an almost perfect simulacrum aside from its monochromatic color scheme and glistening, wet skin. The galotian even molded her body to mimic the appearance of the scientist’s nightclothes.

Then, it spoke in broken ausuri, apologizing for killing an explorer nearly a year ago.

The expedition was thrown into chaos. No one had thought these seemingly simple creatures could be sapient, and the very idea of one learning a core language unaided rattled every assumption about this planet and its ecosystem.

That galotian called herself Galos, and her influence paved the way for normalizing interactions between Galotia and the rest of the galaxy. Once galotian feeding habits were understood and the gooey aliens learned how not to kill their “prey”, they became sought-after companions the galaxy over.

The troubled history of Galotia is held up across the galaxy as the original success story of long-term planetary surveys and as reason enough to continue funding studies on every survivable rush planet.

Feeding Habits

These sentient goo creatures are widely considered some of the most empathic beings in the known galaxy. Rather than devouring plants or flesh, they use their naturally mutable shape to stimulate their prey into releasing copious amounts of sexual fluids. They see it as trading pleasure for sustenance, a kind of self-imposed biological prostitution.

The concept of rape is something they struggle with as a race. Seeking consent goes against their every base instinct, but with sufficient exposure to galactic culture, they’re more than happy to only feed from willing lovers. Galotians are prized as shipboard companions by many a lonely captain, serving as a source of company and physical intimacy in an immense, dangerous galaxy.

Galotians can subsist on almost anything: protein pastes, meats, plants, or even scraps of bone. They dislike such fare, seeming to desire bringing their food sources to climax almost as much as actually harvesting the resulting fluids.

Biology

Galotians in their natural form appear as amorphous blobs of a single color. Natives are usually pale, muted colors, designed to fit in with their environment and allow them to surprise their aqueous prey for feeding. Those living in the greater galaxy have learned to eschew such subtle thinking, picking brilliant hues from every color of the rainbow to pigment their soupy forms with and shaping themselves into ludicrously endowed female forms, the better to procure semen. Vaginal secretions are far less nutritionally dense, though some galotians have taken on male appearances and demeanors to pursue races with abundant lactation or more useful secretions.

Their cells are highly conductive multipurpose organs, capable of relaying nervous system messages as easily as shifting nutrition around. These cells are more than ready to alter their purpose on demand, swapping between multiple sets of DNA in order to rebuild themselves for a new purpose. Some older, more experienced galotians are even capable of incredible feats of self-induced bio-engineering, producing chemical and biological cocktails to permanently increase a sexual partner’s usefulness as a food source.

Galotians are as adept at feeding on their own cells as easily as they are at feeding on anything else, causing them to grow or shrink in accordance with their nutritional needs. This is effectively a double-edged sword for these liquid ladies. Since every cell effectively functions as a neuron, a lack of feeding can lead to a loss in intellect. Starving galotians can become as small as a basketball before temporarily losing sapience. Death typically occurs soon after.

On the other side of the spectrum, extremely well fed galotians can grow as large as elephants. At this size they are at their peak physically, capable of shaping their mass in impressive ways. Oddly, they do not display a marked increase in rational intelligence. The extra processing power afforded by more neuron-like cells seems almost entirely dedicated to bioengineering their own form.

Few galotians ever rise above average intelligence. Most consider them a fairly dim, easily excitable race, unaware of the brilliant bioengineering that they perform at an entirely subconscious level.

Reproduction

Galotians reproduce entirely asexually. Asexual reproduction has many disadvantages, but these ‘goo-girls’ get around most of them by virtue of their own malleability. They only reproduce when they have a large amount of body mass, and it is at this time that they’re best able to alter their own forms, even capable of adjusting the DNA strands in different portions of their bodies.

Every galotian will spawn a half dozen daughters once she accumulates enough body mass, each with her own hand-tailored, evolutionary adaptations. The young galotians emerge fully formed and, with a portion of their mother’s memories, often retaining abilities like speech and literacy in their entirety. The loss of so much mass will bring the mother down to a few hundred pounds of weight, her daughters each easily a little heavier than the average terran.

Keeping a galotian from reproducing is easy. Simply manage her food intake so that she never grows too large. Of course, the chance to feed a galotian can be difficult to turn down, particularly if one has managed to alter your sexual organs or drive in any way.

Place in the U.G.C.

Galotians do not seek traditional jobs or employment. They desire warmth, companionship, and sexual fluids. Invariably, they wind up serving as sexual companions, indentured servants, or sources of cheap genital enhancement. Many serving in long-term jobs soon forget about collecting payment so long as suitable living areas and food are present.

Nonpayment of a galotian indentured servant has been considered a serious felony after the parliament passed the Galotian Rights Act in response to a rash of mistreated goo-girls.

Backlash

The Church of the One God maintains that galotians, and creatures like them, are demons given flesh to tempt us in this mortal realm. Many marriages have collapsed in response to galotian immigrations. Some worlds ban them from securing residency in order to prevent the disastrous effect they can have on monogamy. Others require troubled trios to enter into counseling together. Such treatments are reported to save 90% of marriages, even if the galotian winds up living with (and servicing) both partners.