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Gray Matters: Part Three, characteristics of gray races

A Terragen Reliability Survey white paper
 
 

Our assumption that the residents of "uninhabited" space are almost entirely refugee pariah species allows us to make certain broad and tentative guesses about the Gray population of the Five Galaxies in terms of biology, geography, political-economy, and culture.  As usual, we will focus most of our attention on O-2 Gray species.  Perhaps the most significant implication of uninhabited space being a refuge is that the distribution of species is reversed.  Most species that dwell in uninhabited space are members of the despised Built order of life.  Machine and Virtual species dominate the refuges of the Galaxies.  Indeed, this is the normal habitat of Built species.  Also, Built species largely avoid Organic civilization.  Interacting with Organic species seems to be a specialized (and high risk) niche among the clans of Built civilization.

Due to the trophic needs of Built life, these species tend toward metal or silicon rich planetary objects, including asteroids.  They have some interest in carbon (organic) compounds for manufacturing composites and polymers.  However, they avoid gas giants and water planets for obvious reasons.⁽¹⁾  They occasionally establish mining outposts on Titan-like worlds, but H-2 policy discourages extensive settlements on moons of gas giants.⁽²⁾  Ice-ball planets of various sorts are of little interest to Built species.  Though an atmosphere is usually a hinderance to Built sapients, temperature preferences vary greatly.  Some design clusters use ambient heat or radiant energy as a power source, while others rely on low temperatures to enhance electrical conductivity and for semi-conductor cooling.

(Except for Quantum life) Galactic Civilization is dominated by Organic life.  Therefore, at any given time, only a minority of Organic species live as Gray species in uninhabited space.  Most Organic species hiding in uninhabited space are Oxygen Breathing species.  Of these, most are pariah species.  Like the Romany, Jews, or overseas Chinese of Human history, they are despised as much for who they are as for what they do, believe, or have done.  The g'Kek --a species recently exterminated by the Jophur --were evidently massacred because the Jophur (among others) found the species' behavior inherently offensive.  Very similar to pariah species are species (or populations within a given species) that adhere to a dissident ideology.  The Caltmour ab-Brma ab-Krallnith ul-Tymbrimi seem to have been exterminated, at least in part, for reasons of ideology.  The current war by Galactic reactionaries against the Skikritn ab-Nasom ab-Losfor ul-Hemian is also clearly an attempt to stifle "excessive" dissent⁽³⁾.  The colonization of Venus during the Bureaucracy is a recent analog in Human history of flight from persecution to a planet offering natural protection and refuge.

There are also some O-2 Gray populations that are philosophical survivalists.  Such species (or sub-cultures) are often adherents to Inheritor or Obeyer philosophies.  They have retreated from Galactic Civilization to preserve their ethical purity.  Many also believe that absenting themselves from mainstream Galactic Civilization will be the best way to survive the inevitable Great War of Purification, and thus be among those chosen to Inherit by the Ancestors.  We expect that some separatist cultures might be relatively benign, like Hutterites or Amish sub-cultures among Terragens.  On the other hand, many survivalist groups will be hysterically xenophobic and rabidly militarized.  Some might make the Tandu and Brothers of the Night seem positively rational and moderate.

The reader should also be aware that a minority of O-2 Gray species will be true Galactic outlaws.  However, most of these will be species that ran afoul of some Galactic Tradition.  These species are merely hiding from punishment.  Since any set of laws has --at best --an indirect connection with what might be regarded as justice, there is no reason to expect one of these unfortunate fugitive groups to be significantly more dangerous than any other O-2 Gray species that an explorer might encounter.

Unfortunately, there will be a still smaller number of species that have hidden in uninhabited space so that they can live by crime.  Like pirates of the ancient Caribbean, professional highway bandits, or the Thuggee of India in Human history, these sapient groups will hide the location of their homes and bases --and even their very existence --while plundering interstellar trade, smuggling weapons banned by the G.I.C.W., and trading in contraband genetic material raided from Fallow planets.  (See also "gene raiding.")  Such groups will be well armed, vicious, and duplicitous in the extreme.

Though the dominant Main Sequence life-form at the macro-molecular level, Hydrogen Breathers probably have the fewest number of Gray species.  The main reason for their absolute and relative scarcity is doubtlessly linked to the scarcity of suitably unsuitable habitats.  While O-2 and Built species can live on (or in) almost any terrestrial planetary body, or in an entirely artificial arcology, Hydrogen Breathers are basically limited by their metabolic needs, gravitational requirements, and immense size to gas giant planets and built arcologies located in deep space.

But as a rule, gas giants will be checked regularly for infestation by unlicensed colonists.  This means that as a practical matter, H-2 refugee species are limited to becoming Sooners; living in truly huge, secret, deep-space arcologies; or to colonies on the only kind of gaseous planetary body that is basically unsuitable for H-2 colonization or biosphere-forming --cold dwarfs.

A brown (or gray) dwarf is a very large gas giant that did not quite become a star.  Such bodies can occur independently in deep space.  However, because brown dwarfs (by definition) emit more energy than they receive, they are easily located and interdicted.  In contrast, a cold giant is a gas giant of Jovian or lesser mass, wandering in deep space. Once it has cooled --after the process of condensing from its primordial nebula --it will radiate back to space at thermal equilibrium, or about three-degrees Kelvin.  Whether as massive as a Neptunian or Jovian planetary body, any unfrozen fluids will thus be hydrogen and helium gases or liquids.  It follows that a wandering cold dwarf will --in effect- -be suitable for colonization by Neptunian life.  Thus, it only provides a relative margin of safety.  Furthermore, concealing the black body radiation from technological installations will be an ongoing headache for any refugee H-2 population making its home in a cold dwarf⁽⁴⁾.

In addition to the reasons mentioned above, various races will live in uninhabited space because they are --or were --the clients of refugee species.  The culture and political-economy of descendent species are difficult to characterize a priori, with difficulty increasing as any given species becomes further removed from the ancestral race that first sought safety in hiding.  Also complicating these preliminary guesses about Gray Civilization are the effects of further schisms and migrations within Gray Civilization.  Many groups that opt to flee from Mainstream Civilization do so because of rigid "sectarian" doctrines or perfectionistic worldviews.  There is thus no question that the pariah species and dissidents that form Gray Civilization will in turn produce dissident dissidents.  Many of these outcasts among outcasts and derivative dissidents will opt to (or be forced to) isolate themselves from those already hiding from Galactic Civilization.  In general, such groups will probably seek refuge and protection among their opposites.  Organic races will hide from mainstream and Gray Organic civilization in Machine space, while refugee populations from Machine space will be forced to seek safety among Organic Gray species⁽⁵⁾.  However, it seems quite clear that very few Gray species ever try to "return" to Mainstream Civilization.
 

Geography of O-2 Gray Species

Most Gray Organic species will presumably opt to live in arcologies.  These self contained, engineered mini-ecologies provide the best concealment options --albeit at the cost of earth and sky.  An arcology --especially a deep-space or buried arcology --can have a vanishingly small per-millennium probability of discovery.  The autonomous deep space   (or ship) arcology probably provides the best concealment possible.  The vastness of interstellar space (and its economic sterility) in conjunction with the slow speed of light combine to make the odds of discovery by a passerby very small indeed.  The odds of discovery by an organized patrol would be virtually nil.  Unfortunately, initial costs would be very high.  The problem of secretly acquiring what is --in effect --a very large generation ship (or fleet of such ships) will also be a major problem.  Then, costs remain high once the colony has been successfully hidden in deep space, because any additional materials must be imported at very high costs and some risk.  To a degree, the problem of ongoing costs for a deep-space, hidden colony can be offset if the inhabitants have opted to move an entire comet or asteroid from orbit into deep space (presumably building their micro-ecology on, or in, the former planetoid).

At the price of accepting somewhat more risk of discovery by voyagers or GIM Wardens, refugees can opt to live in a planetary body in a discarded system.  For O-2 species this means that the system contains no green or terraformable planetary bodies.  An absence of gas giants is also desirable because then the system will almost never be visited by Wardens.  The most promising sorts of planetary bodies are proto-comets in an Oort belt, hell worlds (not orbiting a gas giant or water world) such as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Ceres, or Pluto-Charion, and --oddly enough ocean worlds having deep water, but almost no land⁽⁶⁾.

If a species cannot (or will not) live indefinitely in an arcology, then their other option is to biosphere-form a planet that --according to received Galactic wisdom --is impossible to biosphere-form.  In addition to being an absurdly poor candidate for biosphere-forming, the planet should also be located in a system that is otherwise devoid of planets suitable for Organic colonization.  Failing that, the system should at least contain no other O-2 colonizable worlds.  (Unless, of course, our imaginary colonists are Hydrogen breathers.)

The reader should note that the Galactic definition of "impossible" does not always mean technically unfeasible, but often seems to imply that the task in question is completely uneconomical, stupid, or foolish.  Earth's terraforming projects on Mars and Venus are thus often called "impossible" projects by Galactics. The Mars project is considered "impossible" because the resulting biosphere will be unstable, requiring constant maintenance by its keepers. It follows that the biosphere of a terraformed Mars will not survive a GIM imposed regional_O-2_migration.  Therefore, the Mars project should never be able to repay its costs to the clan that terraforms it.  In the case of Venus, the problem is not that the resulting biosphere will be inherently unstable, but that the initial costs and time-to-viability are so extraordinarily large that the project will give an absurdly poor relative return on the investment.

Note that the definition of any biosphere-forming project as "uneconomical" is relative to given initial conditions.  Mainstream Galactic definitions of economic impossibility are based on modal Galactic economic conditions.  However, no Gray species will be laboring under economic conditions remotely close to those that prevail in Mainstream Galactic Civilization.  First, they will place a much higher relative value on a planet-sized biosphere whose existence is secret.  Second, because Gray races do "not exist," they are under no obligation to migrate.

Of course, not being Sooners, Organic Grays will not be found on gas-giant, Earth-like, or biosphere-formable worlds, and they will seldom colonize Titan-like or highly metallic planetary bodies.
 

Production and Trade among O-2 Gray Species

The authors strongly believe that production among Gray Species will be strongly biased toward autarky and self-reliance.  The self-evident need for secrecy, often compounded by fear verging on paranoia, insures that trade in any form will be problematic for a group trying to hide from wider Galactic Civilization.  For Built Species, restrictions on trade largely apply to intercourse with the Organic Civilizations.  There is every indication that trade within Built Civilization is quite active and healthy.  However, for O-2 --and even more for H-2 --residents of Gray Space, all forms of trade must be severely restricted.  Unlike Built species, they have no (generally applicable) reason to trust any other species or groups a priori.  Among Organic Gray species the need to hide from Galactic Civilization provides no inherent bond and no presumption of trust.  Thus, Organic Gray species are --in the main --isolated even from one another.  Indeed, most probably believe that "uninhabited space" is largely devoid of population.

As a result, Gray species tend to have very limited resources compared to the norms of Galactic Civilization.  Resources will be further limited by the need to hide.  Resource extraction must be done surreptitiously, and any waste products disposed of discretely.  Even energy is a problem because black body radiation will be an ongoing concern for most Gray species.  Unlike those fortunate enough to live quietly in Galactic Civilization, who enjoy an abundance of all resources (except for habitable planets) --Gray Civilizations will put a premium on the conservation of resources, even one as absurdly abundant as energy.

Tight constraints on primary resources --including normally 'free' goods, such as energy and information --will be further exacerbated by a tendency toward very large military budgets and high levels of preparedness.  For Gray species reasonable preparedness includes the ability to avoid detection and --if need be --neutralizing threats of detection, as well as the ability to run (and start over) in a worst-case situation.  As a result, consumer goods will be quite limited, and Gray Civilizations will rely more on public facilities than most species participating in Galactic Civilization.  In short, relative to standard indices of technical and productive achievement, Gray species --especially Organic Gray species --will have very low standards of living relative to Galactic norms.  In extreme cases, privation --along with the need to hide and to conserve resources --may even result in dramatic, intentional self-modification of species parameters. (See self-uplift.)
 

Reproduction among O-2 Gray Species

Maintaining or increasing the size of the group --whether of the race or of the clan- -presents unique problems for residents of Gray Space.  As in the case of industrial production, the major constraints on social reproduction are going to be limited resources and constraints imposed by the need to hide.  In general, social reproduction among Gray Species is dependent on the size and productivity of available habitat.  Among Organic Grays, habitat --in practice --means an arcology.  The most efficient way to acquire new, secure living space is to find an abandoned arcology and renovate it.  However, this option might well be used less often than one would expect --not so much due to a shortage of abandoned arcologies, as because in conformity with prevailing Galactic knowledge, most Grays probably believe uninhabited space to be essentially unpopulated.  Thus, most Gray species will resort to building new arcologies from scratch, with all the attendant problems of clandestine industrial production and trade discussed in the previous section.  However, if a Gray species or clan did not believe that uninhabited space was --in fact --desolate, then it would probably prove far more economical to conquer existing arcologies in acts of piracy than to build from scratch.  Such a predatory policy would be further enhanced by lack of interference from Galactic Institutes.  Furthermore, many victimized groups would have defensive policies designed to stave off wholesale genocide, and might well abandon their hard-earned artificial worlds relatively easily --having either not planed for pirates, or after not being able to ascertain whether they are facing a threat from dark, pragmatic pirates, or implacable genocides, or Galactic enforcers.  Species that are members of clans with a long history in Gray Space will --of course --be much less susceptible to stampede in the face of habitat thieves and pirates, and are much more likely to have formed alliances with Built species and other Grays.

Having mentioned the possible existence of Gray clans, let us turn to the issue of clandestine O-2 uplift.  From a technical point of view, there is no significant impediment to an O-2 Gray species uplifting a promising candidate species once the candidate species has been procured.  Indeed, unless the Gray species in question is a subscriber to the Galactic Uplift Institute (presumably an anonymous subscriber), any uplift project would be free of regulatory constraint.  Of course, the group undertaking the uplift project faces the same constraints on expansion and social reproduction that we have already discussed.  Thus, project costs (once a candidate has been secured) are minimal relative to the costs incurred by the clan in providing living-space for their new clients.

The other cost associated with uplift is a much increased risk of discovery.  There is every indication that O-2 Grays are heavily involved in gene-raiding on Fallow and other interdicted worlds.  Since gene-raiding on patrolled worlds incurs a significant security risk over time, there is good reason to wonder why it is a common practice among O-2 Grays.  The question is even more compelling when one bears in mind that there is probably considerable bio-diversity represented in abandoned arcologies, not to mention the immensely long maturation that has been allowed in Methane and Ammonia biospheres.  Once again, the prestige of precedent and of the Library in all Galactic Civilizations⁽⁷⁾, combined with a belief that uninhabited space is sparsely populated, probably contribute significantly to the gene-raiders dependence on established biospheres.  Furthermore, abandoned arcologies are island ecologies, and the issue of relative species abundance may well be another reason to raid Fallow worlds.  Also, it is very likely that a Gray population would appreciate gene-raiding (and the subsequent sale of genetic information to solid Mainstream clans) as a form of symbolic victory over Mainstream Galactic Civilization.
 

Politics among O-2 Gray Species

In general, we expect an obsession with secrecy and security to cause most Gray species to have very isolationist policies coupled with extremely survivalist mentalities.  Many groups will be violent and reactionary xenophobes (in the aggregate).  At best, a Gray colony would treat an intrusion very cautiously.  Barring accident, most sapient-to-sapient contact --certainly early bilateral contact --will be by data-link, or at best voice communication, from a diffuse or remote transmitter.

In contrast, the internal politics of a Gray Species are likely to favor extensive social support, though at the price of insisting on a high degree of conformity --or at least cooperation.  Certainly, one expects to find a significant emphasis on species solidarity, sharing, and efficient cooperation.  However, as long as an attitude or behavior does not appear to pose a threat to external security or the internal cooperative economy, many Gray populations could exhibit a surprising tolerance for individual eccentricities.
 

Cultural tendencies among O-2 Gray Species

In general, Gray cultures will be marked by caution around strangers, often verging on paranoia.  This phobia of contact with alien groups not only leads to economic, political, and cultural isolation, but also to a great deal of insularity and parochialism.  O-2 Gray populations will tend to be highly ethnocentric and will often simultaneously condemn and envy other cultures --particularly those that participate in cosmopolitan Galactic Civilization.  Internally, O-2 Gray populations will usually be quite homogenous and community oriented.  Those individuals who fit reasonably well into their society will frequently live in close-knit, warm, and caring communities.  On the other hand, those seen as boat-rockers will often face various levels of sanctions --from gossip, to official and unofficial ostracism, to criminalization or medicalization.  The Brothers-of-the-Night should provide a good model for many O-2 Gray societies; though as a rule, Gray cultures will be far less aggressive and warlike (unless actually threatened).  Among Gray Hydrogen Breathers, the cultural characteristics typical of O-2 Grays will be even more pronounced, while Built clans and species will exhibit considerably more variation, even in their attitude toward aliens from Mainstream Galactic Civilization.

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