[Snarks]

One of my favorite aspect about the FS setting is its minimalist approach on how many aliens are in the game. This lets us portray each species in-depth, avoiding the Star Trek effect of alien of the episode syndrome. The Of Motivations and Shivans thread did a really good job of building up the characteristics of the Shivans, emphasizing how alien they were, while taking into account key elements, e.g. the vast amount of time the Shivans have existed or how they seem to lack individuality. The important element is that we do not anthropomorphize other species. the So let's theorize about the lesser spoken about races: the Vasudans and the Ancients.

Key elements of the Vasudans include: a very complex linguistic system, a possible relationship with the Ancients, a strong faith in a ruling emperor (which isn't totally alien to humans either), a philosophical view of the world that allows for the co-existence of the dead with the living (whatever that's suppose to mean)

Key elements of the Ancient include: an imperialistic view of conquest, a preference for destroying or subjugating other species, a pre-subspace empire (Ancients were colonizing before subspace discovery), a belief that they could retreat and hide on their homeworld to avoid being destroyed by the Shivans (which is kinda ironic if we look at the UEF's philosophy in BP)

I might and probably have missed other elements.

Edit: Nothing wrong with discussing the Shivans here too or even Terran for that matter.

[mr.WHO]

Ancients: Kill or enslave several races in their own systems. Run back and stay in your own home system when you encounter your own nemesis. I feel cosmic scale BS here.

Why they didn't tried to pick a knossos to a different part of the galaxy/universe and blow/shut down gate behind them? Shivans seems to be uninterested in reactivating powered down portals. Even if shuting the portal makes that node is still traversable but decay for a few months/years/centuries, then they could try to pick a remote planet and set up secret , pre-space-era colony there.

Actually I could bet that Vasudans are actually regresed Ancients - Shivans seems to be disinterested in pre-subspace civilisations, but still they might done some regular sweeps in Ancients territory searching for hiding or crashed remnants of detroyed races. Vasuda seems to be ideal candidate for survival colony - it's barelly habitable so shivans might actually skip it when searching for Ancient remnants. Vasuda is also inside old Ancient territory.

[Phantom Hoover]

If we're talking about the Vasudans I really loved BP's typically imaginative take on their language and worldview.

[NGTM-1R]

The only real effort to work with the Vasudans beyond a brief flirtation with them, to really give you an immersive viewpoint, was Shrouding The Light.

For a never-done campaign I worked on, much was made about how the Vasudans ascribe great importance to names. To share something's name is to share its legacy and deeds: a great deal of emphasis is placed on the spiritual and traditional link when something shares the name of something else from the past and a name (whether personal, or even collective like a unit's) can be removed from the larger society by having accrued too much taint of failure, evil, treason, or murder. "Collective" names, such as for a group, are usually purely descriptive. A Vasudan squadron or battlegroup is described purely by its type and number. Nicknames like those applied to a Terran unit are not informal, they are marks of distinction granted by decree of the Emperor and describe a quality or concept the unit is considered to embody.

The examples at the time were the 223rd Medium Fighter Squadron, granted the name "Steadfast" for a single marathon forty-six hour sortie during the Siege of Vasuda Prime where they held the Vasuda-Antares node open for those escaping. And the 33rd Heavy Fighter Squadron, granted the name "Vengeance" after the settling the longest and most bloody military grudge match since Vasudans attained spaceflight: a battle against the PVD Prophecy and its works that began during the Great War before the Siege of Vasuda Prime and ended two years after the Second Shivan Incursion.