Facehugger's thoughts on everything reticulian!

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Alright, this is a sort of explanation of all the reticulian stuff in my stories. It is by no means complete, but it should help you understand where I am coming from. Or it will just confuse you more.

 

Basics:

The basic reticulian, or "grey" is indeed a grey creature that is slightly shorter than the average human. Greys come from a higher gravity (larger?) world with more oxygen, meaning that they will have trouble breathing until they have spent several years getting acclimated to the unique conditions on the planet Earth. Greys usually wear 'armor' or rather a symbiotic organism to counteract the effects of higher gravity and lower oxygen. This means that most of my greys will be wearing armor 24/7. It also means that a grey is more vlunerable to asphyxiation (such as getting the air knocked out of them by a rifle but) than a normal human.

 

Physiology:

It is theorized that greys evolved from dolphins or some other similar animal. The Grey face is very similar to certain species of dolphins. And in addition, their native language appears to be a 'clicking or chirping' that sounds very much like a dolphin. Also, certain species of dolphins have small, dormant areas in their brain that when stimulated, produce effects very similar to those of 'psionics.'

 

Modern Greys are able to communicate with eachother and other species via a unique form of telepathy, possibly evolved from their aquatic forerunners. This allows a grey to reach out and establish a secure, unjammable line of communication to whatever nearby being it wants. CoE troops have reported that the greys could also be capable of projecting things into a mind, such as images of the soldier's death (quite obviously causing morale loss.) However, it seems that for a grey's psionic talent to be fully utilized, they need some sort of amplifier. This amplifier usually has some feature that the mind symbolizes with built into it. (For instance, the Psi Stinger which causes paralysis is coated in static, so that it feels electric to the touch, which helps the user's mind focus on the desired effect.)

 

More Physiology:

98% of the greys encountered are sterile male 'workers.' Based on interrogation reports, it appears that greys have several 'queens' that are the birthing units for their entire species. A few grey females have been encountered, but these were usually in stasis. It is likely that should one queen die, a normal female will be revived to take her place. This female grey is then placed in a special holding tank inside an alien base, where she will be impregnated and rear her 'children' However, the question remains, if all the male greys are sterile, than where does the other half of the genetic code come from? Or, if they reproduce asexually, how do they keep their genetic diversity up? Investagation into grey reproduction is ongoing, because if we can stop them reproducing, we will eventually kill them off by simple atrition...

 

Psychology:

Greys are quite able to think individually (possibly indicative of the fact that they might have been like humanity once?) However, greys have an almost communist type of government, with individuality being shunned, opting instead to embrace a self-sacrifice motto that is actually quite noble. Thus, the greys are collective creatures by choice rather than biology. Greys put the community above themselves, this belief has often caused them to slip into a suicidal frenzy, attacking human forces until their bodies are piled up before them and the humans have depleted their ammo. Greys, when they are not driven into a killing frenzy, are actually quite peaceful, enjoying art (which they no longer seem capable of producing themselves, possibly a byproduct of stifling creativity?) and other forms of entertainment.

 

Technology:

Greys appear to have been faring the stars for a very long period of time. Their biotechnology is highly refined. However, pure biotech is a dead-end when it comes to technological developement. This dependence on biotechnology has caused the aliens to lose whatever ingenuity they once had. If they encounter something they think they can use, they can usually figure it out, but they can't seem to come up with new ideas on their own. Regardless, the alien weapons are highly developed and dangerous. The alien ships are fast and tough. The alien armor provides them with enough of an edge to win victory after victory.

 

Recent Events: The grey race has recently become split over the issue of biomass. It was just discovered, in one of the last examples of grey ingenuity, that they possessed the technology to create a super-being that would have unlimited mental power. Some greys, wanting to have some of that power, have recently begun rabid debating on this matter. The older greys are more conservative, and believe that such a being would bring about the enslavement and eventual destruction of their race. It is obvious that the more conservative (good) greys won, while the radical greys apparently left into exile of their own accord. (This was twelve years ago. They have been practicing their conquest strategy on inhabited moons, getting ready for the big project.)

[Aralez]

How do you see the role of the "evil" reticulans ? Are they a kind of aggressive individualists or "only" a different tribe with almost identical behaviour? The things you wrote reflect all my ideas about the greys, good work!

[Cpl. Facehugger]

The 'Evil' Greys, if they weren't trying to kill off humanity and establish the biomass would act just like the 'good' greys.

 

The evil ones want more power now (from the biomass), while the good ones are content with the power they have.

 

Edit: Thanks, a lot (well, not really) of research went into them. I looked over every single glossary entry relating to the reticulians except for most of the alien weapons.

 

If anyone wants to use any parts of this rendition of the Rets for their own story, go right ahead.