Wanderers

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Some civilizations refer to the cosmos as space separating their colonies. Some civilizations refer to space as a place to live. And then there are Wanderers. Strictly speaking, they are not any particular species - this is a collective name for all those for whom space is not just a place to live, not just an interstellar void. Organic modifications, mechanical technologies, paths are different, but the final, main distinguishing feature of the Wanderers from other species, is one.

For most galactic civilizations, space is an absolute hostile environment. The need for the supply or cultivation of food, the need for atmospheric pressure, gravity, protection from hard radiation, other more delicate moments - all this means that ordinary species can only survive in space. Absolute autonomy is unavailable to them. Even cosmites, such as the Invertebrate Star Pilgrims Sashli, treat space with fear and respect, able to live only within their metallic shells.
Wanderers can consider space to be their home. For them, the vacuum of interstellar emptiness is a comfortable space, giving them everything they need to live. Stars give them energy, the matter for repair they find in asteroid fields and nebulae. Many of them are completely mechanical with some retaining traces of organic matter, but in any case, each Wanderer is more like a reasonable spacecraft than a terrestrial creature adapted to the conditions of space. They can be very different, their age can reach millions of years, but the Wanderer can always be accurately distinguished from other ships at almost any distance, because of their structure, which is fundamentally different from all ever registered ships.

Meeting with the Wanderer is a relatively rare event about which the population of the galaxy has no consensus - some consider it a good sign, others consider them harbingers of misfortunes, and many endow Wanderers with a significant aura of mysticism and mystery.

Biology

Each Wanderer is more of a mechanism than a living being, to one degree or another. They could be called intelligent ships, but they seem to be very little like ships. The structure also differs, which many explain to the fact that the Wanderer is more of a developmental stage than any particular faction. The Wanderers' corpses are extremely rare, and most often contain exotic technologies that have little resemblance to the technique of the Alliance or the artifacts of the Ancients, being something unique. Two completely identical Wanderers have not yet been found, but nevertheless they all retain a certain weird feeling of relationship despite their wild variety of forms.

Military doctrine

Wanderers do not have an army, military forces or something similar. Nevertheless, each Wanderer is far from being helpless, and most often carries powerful weapons. However, not a single case of the Wanderer’s unprovoked attack was registered - they always attack either in response to aggression or as retaliation. It is not known how the Wanderers communicate with each other, but somehow they always find out who and where attacked their member. If the attacking ship survived, the Wanderers will certainly soon appear chasing it, relentlessly again and again, until the aggressor is destroyed. Wanderers always take revenge only on individual ships, but among the many cosmic forces of the Galaxy there is a belief that if you were on the ship that attacked the Wanderer, then from now on you will yourself be a target for retribution. This, however, is not true - Wanderers completely ignore the condition of the crew of the ships.

State system

Anarchy. At least, it looks like this: every Wanderer, or a group of Wanderers, is on their own, but nevertheless, they will get help if they need it. Wanderers cannot be called a monolithic cultural group, but nevertheless, they all consist in a kind of community, where there are neither oppressed nor favorites.

Society (general mentality, special features)

There is certainly nothing evil in the Wanderers, but there is nothing in them and nothing habitual to the mind of a land creature. Their intentions, desires and aspirations are so different that few can understand them. Wanderers rarely make contact, but they like to stay in the star system for a long time, basking in the star’s rays, watching the dance of sunspots on its surface, or listening to local music of various EM frequencies. There is a great chance that during this time, the Wanderer will still make contact. Somehow, they always know what language to answer, and linguists were never required. Apparently, the only valuable commodity for the Wanderers is information - they have never shared anything else with the Alliance, nor asked for anything else in return. The speech of wanderers is always extremely vague, full of allusions, allegories and subtle comparisons. The significance and mysteriousness of their statements was the cause of more than one headache. It also only contributes to the reputation of the Wanderers as mystical and mysterious creatures who have discovered the secrets of the Universe, who know any answer to any question, and that they share their wisdom - if you compose your question in the right way.