Fiction:Mochadia/Creatures/Grox

"Being useful to the Grox is good for your survival."

- The Grox

The Grox are a sentient species of cyborg aliens that are supposedly the most evil and hostile race in the galaxy. They are feared by every alien with a philosophy and an archetype. The Grox control a vast empire with thousands of star systems and inhabit anywhere near the Galactic Core.

Nature
"The Grox are the ultimate evil in the galaxy. They are machines that exist entirely outside of nature."

- Stones of Life

Feared and hated by every empire in the galaxy, the Grox as a species are extremely delicate and weak and have only survived due to their incredible intelligence and technological advancement over other species. As they developed among incredibly hostile species, they themselves grew to believe that the only way to survive in the universe was through aggression and expansion. They are an ancient race, having been spacefaring for eons while nearly all other races weren't even sapient yet. Although their minimal senses and strength have been enhanced by cybernetic implants, they're still among the most feeble sapient lifeforms in the Galaxy, but make up for it with incredible military might, and the ability to prosper on barren planets.

Unlike most land creatures, Grox are intolerant of conditions survivable to other life forms. As such, they can only survive on T0 planets. If a planet's terrascore is raised, the planet cannot be inhabited by Grox unless anti-terraformed. It may be true that, since every religious artifact mentions that the Grox must be opposed, they are of another archetype; it would appear that they are an archetype unto themselves. For some reason they wish to see it that nobody gets to the Galactic Core, possibly to keep the Staff of Life hidden, so it cannot be used against them. Some people think that The Grox are actually a later version of the human race, as humans are no longer on Earth, which is T1 in the game. This could be possible due to humans' greater reliance on technology. The Grox' spaceships can also be seen in the Creature Stage, occasionally abducting creatures, so the Grox may have been the first sentient beings.

Culture
"The Grox are machines with absolutely no sense of humor! They destroy entire races and never offer an explanation of what it is that ticks them off!"

- Blocks of Chance

The implants of the Grox serve an important religious, as well as functional, purpose. The implants not only improve their abilities for functional reasons, but also distance the Grox from others. The implants' purpose may also be to remind them of their own physical weakness, which would explain why the Grox consider other empires unfit to roam the universe, due to the belief that they don't deserve their gifts. The Grox may attempt to mimic the average life form's behavior to manipulate them, but they are bad at portraying a 'normal' personality without drawing attention to their cyborg anatomy and their obsessive hatred for every other life form. They do, however, understand the Spice trade and Sporebucks, the common Galactic Currency.

Toxicity
The Grox are 'toxic', as exposure to conditions survivable to other life forms causes them to disintegrate. If the player abducts a Grox citizen, they are incinerated because they are 'too toxic for your Cargo Hold.' This 'toxicity' is shrouded in mystery, but it does indeed tie in to how the Grox Empire is viewed by other civilizations, as an abomination of incomprehensible size that must nevertheless be feared.

Aggression
The Grox are approximately two times as distrusting as a Warrior Empire (-15 or -30 compared to the Grox's -70). They also have a resistance to relationship improving devices, such as the Super Happy Ray. The Grox are extremely hard to defeat or ally due to their size and aggression. They will attack systems tens of thousands of parsecs away in their war on all fully organic life, and once attacked the receiving planet of the Grox raid always seems to be too shell-shocked to communicate with the player's ship.

In Other Culture
Almost all philosophies hate the Grox. Scientists and Diplomats don't actively hate them, as Scientists are somewhat admiring and are curious about them (possibly because of their technological achievement?), while Diplomats regard them as a powerful potential ally. Bards think of them as "no fun at all" and say they are "not explaining what ticks them off." Warriors and Knights view them as the ultimate challenge and rivals, Traders regard them as enemies of universal happiness, Zealots hate them for religious reasons, and Shamans and Ecologists say they are unable to reach harmony due to their murders and hatred of nature. They are also disliked due to their ownership of the contested Galactic Core, desired by all except possibly Bards ("We never wanted to go there anyway").

Appearance
The Grox, being cybernetic creatures, most notably exhibit cybernetic implants that replace the the right eye, right arm, right leg, and part of the abdomen. They are the most notable for their hostility, but are also notable for their asymmetric, weak, impish appearance. They are short, orange in colour, and their non-cybernetic parts are weak creature parts.

Biology
They have an astonishing number of colonies surrounding the Galactic Core, serving as an obstacle to the player. They are extremely aggressive and are only able to survive on otherwise uninhabitable T0 planets. Raising a planet's T-Score will make it impossible for the Grox to inhabit it and will destroy any existing Grox colonies on said planet. It is extremely hard for any empire to defeat the Grox, since their amazingly vast empire spans 2400 systems with more than 5000 planets.

Vehicles
Grox have powerful but slow vehicles, with exception of the Grox spaceship.
 * Grox Grumbler - Land vehicle
 * Oceanic Grox - Sea vehicle
 * Groxoplane - Air vehicle
 * Grox (spaceship) - Spaceship

Buildings

 * City Hall: Grox Platz
 * Factory: Grox Stacks
 * Entertainment: Grox-o-Plexx
 * House: Grox Sweet Grox
 * Turret: 1600 HP