Thelean

Race of slug-like aliens with humanoid exoskeletons. Known across the galaxy for their ruthlessness and extreme zeal in pursuit of Centensian relics.

Summary
The Theleans are one of the races uplifted by a Ce'Tennan, and they seek to one day become their equals. Their uplifter was called Rashaek.

Like the Ce'Tennan, the Theleans are known by many names: most species know them as the Theleans (they come from a planet called Thelea), while the Avikan call them Thell, and the Theleans themselves use the name Thellan when referring to the entire species. The Theleans have other names for Theleans in various phases of their lives, however. A young Thelean without a synthetic endoskeleton is called a Thanas, Theleans still growing around their endoskeletons are called Vehnon, and fully grown Theleans are called Hyvon. Thelean outcasts are referred to as Narvakhan, while members of other species who have fully assimilated into Thelean society are called Avandhas.

The Theleans invaded the desert world of Kadavan, the Avikan homeworld, so they could get access to the treasure trove the Centens left behind on the planet's sands. The Avikan have never forgiven the Dominion for their actions.

The Theleans are currently the oldest and the largest (even outnumbering the Alliance as a whole). Their leader, Creaton, was uplifted by a Centens named Rashaek who set him on a path to try and bring back the Centens from their disappearance from the universe. The Theleans have waged war on numerous alien civilizations and have thus far always come out on top (though they got very close to being wiped out themselves too), and are currently searching the entire galaxy for Centensian ruins and artefacts. The Avikan and the Akkimari are both victims of this zealous quest, as both of those races held precious Centensian relics that the Theleans sought to take for themselves. The Alliance mostly stays away from Centensain ruins to prevent antagonizing the Theleans, as they know a war with the Thelean Dominion would be extremely costly and potentially fatal. As for the Centens' agenda, no-one really knows. They visited our universe and our galaxy in their endless quest of exploration, but mysteriously vanished tens of thousands of years ago. They left behind all of their cities and other constructs without any real clue as to why they left.

Terminology

 * Thelean/Thell/Thellan - a general name used to refer to the entire species, including all sub-types but also the Avandhas. Their name may vary depending on who uses it: "Thelean" is what most races know them as (They come from a planet called Thelea), "Thellan" is their own term for their race collectively, "Thell" is an Avikan term, and "Thellar" is Akkimari one.
 * Hyvon (plural Hyve) -  a fully-grown Thelean who has fully integrated their biomechanical skeleton into their bodies, to the point where the two are inseparable. Thelean tendrils that once grew along the sides of the skeleton have merged into strong, solid muscles, and little to nothing of the biomechanical skeleton is now visible on the outside. While there is a standard model, the Hyvon come in all shapes and sizes.
 * Vehnon -  A (usually young) Thelean who has received a biomechanical exoskeleton, and has started merging that skeleton into its own body, slowly transforming it into an endoskeleton. The shape of that skeleton is irrelevant: most Thelean choose (or are given) a humanoid skeleton, but some receive quadrupedal skeletons or other exotic skeleton shapes. All of them are Vehnon, so long as they are still growing into their skeleton. The endoskeleton's limbs are often still visible for decades, while the spine is integrated within weeks.
 * Thanas -  the natural shape of a Thelean. A somewhat slug-like creature with malleable tendrils all over its body, this is what all (natural-born) Theleans are born as. They have no biomechanical skeleton, only their natural skeleton.
 * Avandhas - A non-Thelean who has fully integrated into Thelean society, their nation assimilated into the Dominion. Often has multitude of bio-mechanical implants, making them far more powerful than their original species.
 * Narvakhan - A Thelean banished from Thelean Dominion for treason. Narvakhan means 'traitor'. Though the Thelean Dominion would never cast someone out, they'd resort to execution instead, so all of the outcasts are actually Theleans who fled.
 * Vesomeyr - Tendrils found all over Thelean bodies, the ones that can create weak electric shocks to stun prey (which was their original biological function) or to hack enemy electronics. Highly skilled Theleans can hack many types of computer by placing their vesomeyr on a circuit board and administering weak and extremely fast electric shocks to mimic binary signals.
 * Errasmeyr - Thelean hunters, highly trained fighters who specialize in tracking down elusive targets and bringing them down swiftly. Considered to be the most dangerous members of Thelean society. Whoever they're pursuing usually won't last for long. They have a lot of unusually tall members among their ranks. The Errasmeyr have some custom weapons and equipment, but for the most part, the difference lies in their training. The Errasmeyr are highly trained, far more so than common Thelean foot soldiers, and being accepted into their ranks is an extremely difficult feat. A rogue Errasmeyr would be considered too dangerous to be left alive, and likely be hunted down themselves to avoid any potential threat to the Dominion.
 * Darghae - The Darghae are the High Lords/Primuses of the Theleans. There are four of them - Anoton, Duoton, Dheroton and Feroton - and they are Creaton's most trusted advisors, and the ones in charge of leading much of the daily governmental functions of the Dominion.
 * Dominus - The absolute leader of Thelean society, only Creaton holds this title.
 * Kehran - Term for any one of hexagonal megastructures on planet Thelea.
 * Chamfa -Term for any one of swamps of Thelea.

History
Before the Theleans reached their spacefaring era, many thousands of years ago, the Theleans evolved from other slug-like creatures on Thelea that were once much smaller. The unique skin of the Theleans - which is somewhat slimy, so the outer layers of skin are almost liquid instead of being set in place like human skin - is something that evolved very early on, while their ability to create electrical signals evolved later as a defence mechanism. The tendrils are an inherent feature of the slimy skin, and were found on ancient ancestors as well.

The Theleans advanced from a stone age into a metal age, and went through many of the same steps that we humans did. They managed to reach an age of technological advancement on their own, building many electrical tools and vehicles, and even started experimenting with early spaceflight on their own. It's during that time that Rashaek appeared before Creaton and shared his knowledge, boosting the Theleans into a fully fledged space age in a very short amount of time. Creaton was a scientist at the time, not especially well known but highly regarded in scientific circles. The knowledge he gained from Rashaek allowed him to far surpass all of his fellow scientists, and eventually led to him being deified as he created the exoskeletons, FTL spacecraft and life-extension technologies.

Creaton was born in that time, and was one of the greatest minds of their time: he single-handedly developed more new technologies than any other had before him, which formed the basis of his current status.

Creaton eventually rose to power, but he wasn't revered back then as he is today. Sometime during his reign, a Centens by the name of Rashaek came to Creaton. Back then, the Theleans hadn't ever seen an alien, much less a Centens (who had largely vanished from the known universe already), and Creaton saw Rashaek as a god, much like how the Avikan see Rhadeis.

Rashaek granted Creaton a fully-equipped Centensian ship, along with thousands of relics of various functions, and gave Creaton the knowledge on how to use it all, too. I'll get to that in a bit. Creaton used all of this new knowledge to single-handely uplift his species into a spacefaring era, much like how the relics of the Centens, the city of Vas Vha'leih and Rhadeis' guidance uplifted the Avikan.

The Thelean Dominion has been around for tens of thousands of years, and they've been building fleets and conquering worlds since well before the predecessors of the Aegi left Earth. They simply have the massive advantage of time, and having grown so large, they manufacturing capabilities have also grown far beyond that of the Alliance.

There was plenty of infighting before Creaton uplifted the Theleans, and there have been several Theleans who tried to overthrow him since. None succeeded, obviously, but not all Theleans are always happy with his rule. The vast majority of Theleans are loyal to him, but the Narvakhan (banished Theleans) obviously aren't, and banishments still happen somewhat frequently.

They had a modern society at a point when Rashaek appeared, with some advances in technology (electricity, automation and such) but nowhere near spaceflight yet. Their society was struggling with resources, and internal conflicts were abundant. Creaton was just a regular Thelean back then - all of whom still had the natural slug-like appearance, though he had shown interest in what little Centensian ruins could be found on Thelea. One day, Rashaek simply appeared before Creaton, shared his knowledge and set Creaton on his current path, and left again without a trace. There's hasn't been any further contact with Rashaek. It was only ever a single encounter, and only Creaton ever saw Rashaek, but Rashaek did more for Creaton in that moment than maybe even Rhadeis has done for the Avikan. He also provided the base knowledge upon which all Thelean space technology was built, and single-handedly solved many of the issues the Thelean society was facing. He allowed the Theleans to reach into space only a decade or so after the encounter, causing the Theleans to advance technologically at a stupendous rate.

The Theleans weren't always as they are now: before Creaton uplifted his species (with the help of Rashaek), they had only just started their exploration of space (which was limited to their own planetary system). When Creaton created the exo-suits, he allowed the Theleans to grow in size, explore alien environments and actually stand a chance in warfare - their previous military equipment was minimal. However, even after the uplifting the Theleans were few in numbers and their technology was nowhere near as advanced as it is now. They managed to expand to a few other planets before they got into conflict with the first alien species they encountered. The war that followed was hard-fought, and nearly brought about the end of the Theleans. They increased their focus on military technology afterwards, and over the course of thousands of years, they fought dozens of other alien species which further honed their prowess in battle and further increased their technological advancement. They were threatened with extinction a dozen times over, but always managed to fight their way back. The path to becoming the largest force in the galaxy was long, bloody and very costly.

They've been around for longer than any of the other modern nations, and have been building a navy for tens of thousands of years, colonizing new worlds and expanding their empire along the way. They outnumber all of their enemies - though combining the forces of the Alliance, the Akkimari, the Avikan and some other nations will give them serious trouble - and generally have stronger weaponry and more advanced ships too. Their weakness is their lack of variety compared to all of their enemies, which also makes them predictable, but they simply have too many troops and ships to be challenged by any modern individual nation.

The current concept has them at about 10 to 20 thousand years as a sizeable spacefaring society. Though, these numbers aren't final yet. What is certain though is that Thelean society is much, much older than most other spacefaring societies, though they are nowhere near as old as the Centens or the Remnant.

Biology and Life Cycle
The Thellan begin their lives as Thanas, reddish slugs that are covered in numerous tendrils capable of sending out electric pulses, or growing into more capable tentacles over longer periods of time. As they grow older, they inhabit mechanical exoskeletons, usually giving themselves a humanoid shape (somewhat inspired by the Centens) and greatly expanding the capabilities of the Thelean body. Over time, a Thelean merges with their exoskeleton - which then becomes an endoskeleton - while retaining the ability to grow tendrils anywhere on the body. Proper training and perfect concentration allow the Thellans to mimic binary signals with their tendrils, allowing them to control their technology and hack into other races' technology.

A Thelean begins their life as a Thanas: a Thelean without a mechanical endo- or exo-skeleton, who still retains the natural slug-like appearance. Once they've been given their exoskeleton, they become known as a Vehnon: a young Thelean who's still growing around their mechanical skeleton. The spine is integrated within a few weeks, but it can take decades before the rest of the skeleton is fully integrated. Once the skeleton is fully integrated (and it becomes a true endo-skeleton as opposed to an exo-skeleton), a Thelean is called a Hyvon.

Vesomeyr
They have a natural ability to generate electric currents, and are able to use their tendrils to manipulate all manner of machines. They can simply operate switches with the electric current, but with enough training, they are able to exert such fine control over their electrical abilities that they can use it to send binary data into machines, allowing them to hack into almost any system. Vesomeyr can emit electric signals anywhere along the length of the tendril. These signals can be delivered with incredible precision and at dazzling speeds, though they can't quite keep up with the fastest computers. The tendrils can be shaped into almost any shape, and are able to slip through tiny gaps. They can attach directly to circuitboards, wires and and other electrical equipment, and by emitting their own electric signals they can disrupt or overwrite signals sent by the hardware itself. A well-trained Thelean can use their own signals to mimic a binary signal, which is still the most frequently used system for computer calculations. If a Thelean knows the 'language' used by the computer, they can basically send it any instruction imaginable. Most of the time, however, a Thelean can only send some basic instructions or disrupt normal signals.

They can tap into basically any electric system, though the complexity of the system determines how well they can influence the system. They can always just disrupt the system though, acting essentially as a living EMP. Systems that don't use electric signals can't be tapped into, but those are extremely rare. Usually, the best you can do to prevent a Thelean from tapping in is to insulate the system and try to physically keep them out, or to make the system more complex than a Thelean could handle. Simple signal disruption is near impossible to prevent, though... The vesomeyr originally evolved as a defence mechanism and a hunting tool, and to act as appendages with which to manipulate your surroundings. The tendrils can also merge together to form a stronger tendril, which is especially useful for locomotion.

A Thelean tendril is 'slimy': Theleans have a gelatinous skin layer, and their tendrils can form anywhere along that gelatinous skin. They sink back and visually dissolve back into the skin, unlike Centensian tendrils that simply shrink back down. Because of this, a Thelean also doesn't have a set amount of tendrils: they can grow as many tendrils as they need and dissolve them back into the skin at will. The vesomeyr are just this gelatinous skin contracting and pushing out as a tendril. If one tendrils is removed, there's still the rest of the gelatinous skin that can form new tendrils. This skin layer also regenerates itself just like regular skin does, so if part of it is removed it'll replenish over time. A Thelean can grow their vesomeyr in many sizes, all of which fit different purposes. The long but slender vesomeyr used for hacking aren't especially powerful - they can't lift objects and the electrical pulses are weak too - while larger vesomeyr can potentially grab a small enemy, suspend them above the ground and strangle them to death. If they wanted to they could cover their entire body with tendrils. But, they'd stretch their skin a bit thin, so it wouldn't be very comfortable to them but they definitely can do it. Not too much more dangerous than growing a couple of larger tendrils, since they can distribute the strength and electrical power of their tendrils across all of their tendrils. So lots of tendrils means less strength per tendril, while fewer tendrils generally means stronger tendrils. There are limits to this, so they can't grow one massive tendril that has all of the electrical potential of the dozens or hundreds of tiny tendrils, but the difference isn't too large. Just like they can in their Hyvon (fully grown into endoskeleton) form, a Vehnon (growing around the endoskeleton) or Thanas (natural slug-like form) can grow tendrils all over their bodies, and these tendrils can be thick, thin, long or short, and they can flatten out parts of the tendril or add additional texture for more grip. Think of an even more variable octopus tentacle. These tendrils are really what make the Theleans what they are, as they can use then to hunt, navigate terrain, or create and manipulate tools. Thelean aren't able to properly merge bodies and combine into a single, larger entity. Their vesomeyr and upper skin layer (which are made of the same types of cells) can merge with those of other Theleans, though the immune system will usually fight the foreign cells.

Locomotion
Natural Theleans (without any of the exo/endoskeleton parts) use their tendrils a lot for locomotion - their small and lightweight bodies are easily moved with just a few tendrils - while the fully grown/enhanced Theleans don't use them for this very often. Only they'd mostly crawl everywhere, as they don't have any real limbs. They can certainly move without the skeletons, and can be surprisingly fast and agile. Relative to many Earth animals they are slow, of course, but they can use their tendrils to move, and can even combine their tendrils into proto-limbs to further increase mobility. The Theleans - or rather the average Hyvon - has a very heavy gait too, simply because of the enormous weight of their bodies. They also have little use for stealth (unlike the Akkimari), as they prefer a brute force approach to situations and are generally very confident in their belief that they'll win any encounter.

Biology
Theleans had a natural lifespan that was quite short, but their genetic and cybernetic modifications have made it so there's no real standard left. Some die pretty young, others (like Creaton) are effectively immortal. Natural Thelean lifespans used to be a few dozen years, but this was a very long time ago. Modern Theleans can use their technology to have effectively infinite lifespans, though they can certainly be killed. There's rumours of the Theleans working on technology to survive death, though, through things like cloning and transferal of memories or consciousness.

Even the Theleans could be vulnerable to alien viruses, although their genetic and cybernetic modifications and contact with dozens of alien species and worlds have rendered them immune to many alien viruses. The Theleans haven't had any issues with natural viruses for a very long time. Their incredible knowledge of biology has allowed them to create the exo/endoskeletons worn by nearly every Thelean, but it's also given them such control over their own biology that they've almost completely eliminated sickness amongst the Theleans. A mature, natural Thelean (so without exoskeleton or other enhancements) usually reaches about 1.1 meters in length, though larger specimens do exist. Most Theleans have integrated exo/endoskeletons though, and they can technically keep growing until their bodies simply can't support their size anymore (in which case additional augmentations can allow even further growth, like in Thelean titans). The average Thelean (one with a standard-issue endoskeleton) usually reaches about 3.4 meters in height, and the largest of them (who are genetically engineered for specific tasks) can grow up to eight meters tall. Height of a Thelean is usually a sign of age. The largest known Theleans stand about 8 meters tall, which is the size of some mechs. These are rare, however, as such size comes with large disadvantages. These giants are highly specialized troops. Technically, a Thelean could grow a bit larger still, but much larger and they lose the ability to properly regulate temperature, control bloodflow etc. (which is already an issue for the 8 meter giants). They require more and more technological augmentations to keep their bodies functional, and at some point it's better to just create a massive machine piloted by a smaller Thelean. There are some (mostly the titans) that can reach over 12 meters in height though.

Thelean titans are generally used for demolition (and sometimes construction) jobs, but they can also be deployed purely as a tool of intimidation. They'd rarely get deployed to the battlefield on their own - they are highly durable, but their size means they are an easy target - so they generally get quite an escort. Such a massive Thelean stomping about the battlefield and literally tearing down buildings on its own is a terrifying sight that can discourage enemies pretty badly, allowing them to be defeated at lesser cost to the Theleans. They also don't have great stamina - their size means they burn a lot of fuel, and they must feed constantly - which is another reason why a solo deployment generally won't work out well.

They are the physically strongest of the canon races, this is only due to their bio-endoskeletons as without them, a Thelean thanas are then the weakest species. Thier tendrils are a lot stronger than they appear, but they don't compare to the physical strength of an Akkimari, for example. They look somewhat like slugs, but they aren't all that much alike to Earth slugs. The Theleans are actually surprisingly capable without their endoskeletons, but they lack resilience and speed. They are capable of manipulating their surroundings with great accuracy though - their tendrils are more capable than human hands - and they are surprisingly strong, capable of lifting objects and strangling targets, as well as stunning prey using electric shocks.

Theleans are omnivores, they do have mouths and jaws (though not very strong ones) and had an omnivorous diet back on Thelea, so they can eat a variety of things. The endoskeletons give them stronger jaws though, and they can eat almost anything if they ever get stranded, but they generally rely on that artificial substance. Plants, animals and other lifeforms from their home planet are obvious picks, but nowadays they generally just eat an artificial substance that contains everything they need to sustain themselves. The type of food you're given by the Dominion depends on your role in the Dominion: soldiers need more than engineers, for example, and the types of nutrients in their food also varies from role to role. Theleans are omnivores, so they can eat a variety of things. Plants, animals and other lifeforms from their home planet are obvious picks, but they mostly eat artificial food. The type of food you're given by the Dominion depends on your role in the Dominion: soldiers need more than engineers, for example, and the types of nutrients in their food also varies from role to role. The Theleans have spikes on the sides of their lower faces, which are specialized tendrils that have hardened over time. Young Theleans have them too, but they aren't as pronounced and are still very flexible. The spikes move as the Theleans speak, and while they don't really make a sound of their own, they are used to express emotion. Natural Theleans only have a couple of bones - for the skull and a few along the spine - all of which are later supported by the metal exoskeleton to give fully-grown Theleans a nearly fully metallic skeleton. Natural Theleans don't have a classic spine, at least not one made of bones. They have some semi-rigid structures instead, a bit like cartilage. The Theleans definitely have a different kind of blood. The exact composition and colour isn't defined yet, but it certainly doesn't use hemoglobin. Theleans can also go into a state of hibernation - either natural or artificial - which allows these giants to simply sleep for months on end while requiring only minor amounts of food. Most of the time, giants are in such a state of hibernation, as keeping them fed all day while they're just sitting around is wasteful: the Theleans could probably provide the resources, but those are better spent elsewhere.

Cybernetic augmentation
The limbs on a fully grown and enhanced Thelean are actually formed over many years as a Thelean grows around their exoskeleton (which in turn becomes and endoskeleton). When they first equip an exoskeleton, they use their tendrils to control the robotic exoskeleton limbs with the electric shocks the tendrils can create. If those tendrils are never retracted and are always attached to the exoskeleton limbs, with more and more tendrils attaching themselves over time, those tendrils will permanently merge together to form actual organic limbs, with the exoskeleton functioning as the bones of those limbs. Depending on the size of the skeleton they are growing into, and a bit on the health and genetics of the individual Thelean too, for the standard Hyvon model the average time to fully grow into the exoskeleton would be around 30 to 40 years. Smaller skeletons could be grown into within a couple of years, while some of the larger models may take over a hundred years, but these are extremely rare. Cybernetics are so ingrained in their culture that the standard image of a Thelean has become one who is truly a blend between organic and mechanical. They shape their bodies into countless forms using cybernetics, and those cybernetics are a big part of why they have become so successful. Technically, a Thelean could even merge themselves fully with a spaceship, and there are reports of this happening already. Many Theleans have replaced some of their organs with cybernetic organs though, to improve function and reliability. Some manner of immunity to disease is definitely one of the benefits of the cybernetic enhancements/replacements.

Hemaphroditism and reproduction
The Theleans wouldn't have male and female versions of words in their own language, but they default to 'he' when using English, but they aren't asexual either. Like slugs, they're hermaphroditic, so they can reproduce with any other Thelean, and both can act as the "male" or "female" of the pair. Modern Theleans generally reproduce through artificial means, however, such as cloning and genetic engineering, which allows them greater control over their hatchlings. In natural reproduction, the "cocoon" (which is really closer to an egg in function) is carried by the "female" of pair until it's large enough to continue developing on its own. In artificial reproduction, the cocoon is created by breeding machines, and breeding facilities often have thousands of rows of cocoons all growing at the same time. The Theleans are monogender. They may be referred to as a 'he' or a 'she' by others, but essentially those terms are meaningless when applied to a Thelean. That rapid reproduction is one of the primary reason why they're such a dominant force in the galaxy. They had a head-start on most of the other modern nations since they reached their space age a lot earlier, but they maintain that dominance with sophisticated technology and massive numbers. Being able to quickly clone entire armies is an incredibly valuable tool to them.

Theleans lay 'eggs', though they aren't much like what you might imagine when you think of an egg. There's no hard shell, and egg might not be quite the right word for it either. Instead, they are more like a sack, with a skin-like outer membrane and veins visible all over. These eggs are quite vulnerable, given that they lack a hard outer shell. The eggs are actually a bit like an external womb.

When a Thelean hatches, the egg opens at the top and the hatchling Thelean crawls out. They are fully formed at this stage, though they obviously don't have their exoskeleton nor a humanoid shape. Hatchlings have the natural slug-like appearance of a Thelean, with tendrils all over their bodies that help them move and manipulate the world around them. Hatchlings are able to survive on their own under the right conditions - they have a natural instinct to hide and wait for easy prey, which they'll grab with their tendrils - but usually require the help of a parent to survive early childhood.

Most Theleans these days are born in massive hatching facilities, where they are cared for mostly by machines and some of the facility staff. Education starts at a very young age, as does physical training, and younglings are assessed over the first few years to see what roles they fit best in Thelean society.

The cocoon is a little different in its function, though: it isn't a true cocoon (calling it that is a stretch by itself), but it's more like an egg. It contains a Thelean embryo, which will tear through the thin membrane when it has sufficiently grown. Modern Theleans are still grown from such an egg, but they are hooked up to various machines which will infuse cybernetic parts into the embryos, allowing the embryos to hatch with a cybernetic endoskeleton already in place.

Technology
Thelean technology is quite varied, but the probably the most signature feature of Thelean technology is its attunement to Thelean biology. You won't see many buttons on Thelean tech: instead, there's usually small holes in devices that the Theleans can place their tendrils in. By creating small electric shocks on those tendrils, Theleans can control anything from machinery and vehicles to weapons and exoskeletons. That's also why a lot of Thelean tools are useless to other species: without the tendrils, you can't use any of the controls. The Theleans use mostly mechanical technology, but sometimes use organic technology too and they've been known to combine the two as well. They have advanced cloning and birthing technology, allowing them to create specialized Theleans through DNA scripting.

Exo/endoskeletons
One of Creaton's inventions was a type of exo-skeleton that could eventually become and endo-skeleton Basically, a Thelean would extend their tentacles to tap into the exoskeleton and control it, but they'd never have those tentacles retract back into their bodies as they usually did. Over time, a Thelean could grow more and more tentacles, until they formed a layer on top of the skeleton, forming a sort of skin. That allowed them to become more like humanoids, which came with a host of new possibilities for them. In cases of being caught captive, a Thelean can use their own endoskeleton to kill themselves, making it very difficult to be captured alive. The standard exo/endoskeleton was first developed by Creaton after he was uplifted, but there were some early prototypes for the system before then. These too were made by Creaton: he just managed to realize his vision thanks to Rashaek's knowledge.

The majority of Theleans use the bipedal skeleton that's based on Creaton's original skeleton - a design he was given by Rashaek - but there are other skeletons too. Some Theleans have quadrupedal skeletons, have multiple arms or have some other completely unique shape. Most of these unique skeletons are given to Theleans who need to fulfill specific functions or act as specialized soldiers, though, since most of Thelean architecture and technology is built for the bipedal skeleton.

Theleans can grow their bodies into countless different shapes or 'models' based on the endoskeleton they select at a young age. Theleans that are still growing, but are already on active military duty will have heavier armor. A fully grown Thelean (called a Hyvon), in default model has the distinctive elongated head and raptor-like legs.

There are definitely Hyvon who use armour in addition to their mechanical endoskeleton, and those suits of armour are powered exoskeletons too which further increases the strength of the Hyvon wearing it. Beyond that, there are also Hyvon who grow into full exoskeletons instead of making them endoskeletons, so they always have an outer layer of armour. This is an uncommon practice however, as it makes it difficult to fully utilize the Thelean's tendrils. Some Theleans also grow into completely different body shapes, usually to fill some specific role in the Dominion military forces.

Thelean titans can be often quadrupedal, or have some other exotic body shape to support the massive weight. They're often more machine than organic.

It depends on the exact type of skeleton, but most are very complex pieces of technology. There's special interfaces all over the mechanical limbs that allow the Theleans to easily control the skeleton, powerful actuators in every limb to enable great physical strength, and many more built-in features. One important system is the power system: they don't want their skeleton to require a battery, so these skeletons can draw from a Thelean's organic/chemical energy as well. But they also have special slots for additional power cells, which are especially useful for the larger variants Many of the limbs have a very wide range of movement, and some skeletons have built-in self-repair modules and all sorts of maintenance modules. A good skeleton doesn't require any manual maintenance for decades, but eventually every skeleton will require some work. Since these skeletons become endoskeletons (which are fully integrated into the body) the process of maintaining a skeleton requires incisions and the like. It's a good thing the Theleans have good medical care including painkillers and the like, otherwise skeletal maintenance would be extremely painful. And for some processes, like maintenance on titans, medical care doesn't always cut it... Being a titan is not a pleasant experience.

Violation Protocol
Theleans can use their vesomeyr's electrical properties to imitate binary signals and corrupt technology, bringing it over to Theleans' side. Vesomeyr can be detached from Theleans main body and attach to the target. Vesomeyr will rot some time after being detached from a Thelean.

It depends on the size of the target that gets violated. Very large targets might not only have vesomeyr attached to them, but a live Thelean as well. In such cases, they generally detach after a few days, or when the target is no longer needed. Smaller targets, like Droden and Drahl units, actually have a central violation unit attached to them that sustains the vesomeyr. It's a part biological, part mechanical construct that can sustain and control the vesomeyr. The unit usually digs into the target and buries itself inside the target so it isn't as exposed, and cutting it out becomes very difficult. Without that central violation unit, the vesomeyr can operate on their own for a few days at least, sometimes lasting up to a few weeks, after which they'll die. They can also increase their lifetime by absorbing food that the target comes into contact with, but they can't sustain themselves like that forever The central violation unit also won't last forever, but it can generally keep the vesomeyr alive and functional for many months until it runs out of fuel.

Centensian tech is generally too advanced to violate, but there are exceptions as not all of their tech was as sophisticated. In order for the vesomeyr to properly violate a target, it needs to be able to control that target through electric pulses, and the Theleans need to fully understand how the target functions. For that last reason, violating Centensian tech is usually not possible, and for that same reason violating a biological creature is usually also not possible: the Theleans would need to fully understand the way a human brain operates before they could properly control it.

For AIs, it depends on how advanced that AI is. SAIL(Starbound) would likely be a viable target. The vesomeyr can also be used on targets that are too advanced to disrupt their operations to some degree, but full control - like with violated Droden and Drahl - requires full knowledge of the target's systems.

For organics, for a simpler neural system it could work. Vesomeyr could be attached to a smaller creatures like insects for example. (In this case they could be used as spies.)

Spacecraft
Thelean scouting ship can tear through destroyers - a dreadnought would be too heavily armoured for that ship to do any real damage against it. Against destroyers and other even smaller ships, though, the weapons are simply very powerful, and combine that with the fact that the ship is incredibly fast and agile allowing it to evade much of enemy fire. In cases of extreme need, the Thelean scout ship can also accelerate to incredibly high velocities and eject the cockpit, allowing the sharp-pointed frame to literally tear through an enemy ship's armour. That leaves the cockpit vulnerable with only basic maneuvering capabilities and some basic self-defence weaponry, so the tactic isn't employed very frequently.

A dreadnought is very hard to destroy, you'll need another dreadnought or a sizeable fleet of destroyers for that. The average Thelean dreadnought isn't quite as heavily armoured as an Alliance dreadnought - Theleans prefer using numbers of pouring all their resources into a single massively powerful ship - but even their dreadnoughts are very hard to take down. It takes fire from another dreadnought, or concentrated fire from multiple destroyers, to punch a hole into the armour plating, and even then you may not cripple the ship unless you hit or destroy a vital system. Dreadnoughts always have redundancy systems, making them even tougher to cripple. Outright destroying a dreadnought is near impossible - ships don't explode as easily as they do in something like Star Wars, so the best you can generally hope for is to cripple a ship and prevent it from fighting back. Even blowing up a ship's core generally won't destroy the ship completely, unless that core is intentionally overcharged beforehand and a self-destruct sequence is initiated. Theleans dreadnoughts require a few hundred Theleans to fully operate, though they can operate with smaller crews by sacrificing some functionality. Most of them are crewed by a few thousand Theleans, however, as there's also soldiers for invasions and for the massive fleets of fighter ships on board.

The largest known dreadnought is the Darghorok Prime, Creaton's personal spaceship, which sits at approximately 15.6 kms in total length.

Darghorok Prime's primary weapons are a pair of front-facing railguns which are approximately 14 kms long, making them extremely powerful. It's also got 14 side-mounted 1.4 km railguns for broadside barrages, along with countless smaller turrets (both railguns and energy weapons) and missile bays. It definitely needs multiple hyperdrives.

The Darghorok Prime, Creaton's personal dreadnought, is likely the most intimidating ship the galaxy has ever seen. (not counting stations like Regulus) A standard issue Thelean dreadnought, a bit smaller than the Avalon but still absolutely massive. The two front-facing spikes both feature railguns spanning the entire length of the ship. It's also got a central energy-based weapon, alongside many smaller railguns (like the powerful broadside railguns) A smaller Thelean vessel, that would classify as a large frigate or a small destroyer.

A colony ship, full of cargo but still heavily armed with many broadside railguns. And a true destroyer as well, the Theleans are extremely well-prepared for combat situations.

A weaponized gravitational pull would disrupt them for a little while, but their swarms are all interconnected and so they'll quickly recover and find new paths to avoid the gravitational anomaly. Their swarm ships hardly ever collide, even though they're often extremely close to one another, thanks to the systems steering those ships all talking to one another and instantly communicating about any obstacles.

The Thell usually use AI pilots for their swarm ships. There's some manned variants as well, but these are usually upgraded ships with better armour and weapons, and they are built to break off from the formation and go in close to enemy vessels.

Most Thelean ships have a self-destruct feature to prevent enemies from salvaging and re-using Thelean technology. The cores of these ships don't have the standard safety features that prevent overloading, and so the core can be overloaded which will result in a massive nuclear explosion once the core's power levels reach past the threshold. This process take a little while (usually a few minutes), but is fast enough for the vast majority of instances.

Weaponry
They use a wide variety of ranged weaponry! The molten slug rifles are pretty common, but they use a lot of conventional railguns as well. There's also ion weaponry, lightning rifles, conventional ballistic weapons firing explosive projectiles, and a bunch of more exotic firearms too.

The Theleans use both ranged and melee weapons, though ranged weapons are more commonly used simply because they give you a massive advantage in most situations. They'll frequently fall back to melee weapons if enemies are too close or the area is unsuited to ranged combat: it's mostly a practical matter to them.

There's various classic blades of course, as well as heated ones much like the ones the Akkimari sometimes use, but they do have few more exotic melee weapons too. Exactly what those will be, is unknown as of yet. There's possibility of mechanical weapons that can change shapes, have extending or folding parts, or otherwise change some aspects of the weapons.

Thelean weapons, in general, are mostly mechanical constructs, but they do connect to Thelean biology which prevents aliens from picking up a Thelean weapon and using it against them. Some weapons do use more organic materials, but in general Thelean weapons are still mechanical.

A lot of Thelean technology has been built to accommodate for the tendrils used by the Theleans. For example, the controls of their ships, as well as other computer interfaces, generally consist of a large board with dozens, sometimes even hundreds of small holes that their tendrils can crawl into. They then use the electric shocks produced by their tendrils to control their technology, which makes the majority of their tech useless in the hands of aliens. Other races can use similar technologies to prevent enemies from using their technology, but it's not a very common sight. The Alliance practically never uses such technologies as it's often focused on creating technology that's equally usable by all members of the Alliance.

The tendrils could still move a bit after being amputated, but they'll quickly stop giving off electric pulses and the pulses that do occur will be random - not very useful if an non-Thelean is trying to activate a console or ship control panel. Simply inserting the tendrils won't be enough, as they'll need to replicate the electric signals that the Theleans use to control their technology as well. It's definitely possible to control Thelean technology as a non-Thelean, but they'll need very specialized tools to replicate the tendrils and the electric signals, and they'll obviously need to learn how the controls work, too.

Most ships feature a railgun or some other weapon that spans almost the entire length of the ship.

Projectiles from Thelean flux weapons (which aren't fully finished yet) feature a small physical bullet enveloped in a plasma shell, somewhat like the plasma shells used by the Union. Those bullets have a very basic target-seeking propulsion system in them: the flux rifle accelerates the projectile (somewhat like a railgun, hence the rail-like barrel extensions), while the projectile makes minor course adjustments to more reliably hit targets.

The rotating ball in Thelean weapons is a part of the firing mechanism, usually found on very powerful weapons. Most Theleans weapons have a small canister of fuel attached to them instead, but things like the minigun have multiple canisters and the ball to condense the projectile liquid and ready it for firing.

There's no single standard design for Thelean mechs, and the definition is a bit blurred for them. They do have some true mechs, but many of them are so integrated with Thelean exo/endoskeletons that you might as well see them as extensions of a Thelean's body. There's some small and very agile mechs, but they also have large, lumbering combat machines with heavy armour and heavier weapons.

Control over Regulus Station
They control the Regulus station, which is capable of making pretty much any planet uninhabitable, although the weapon has only been used once in the past few tens of thousands of years. If it was somehow taken for them, they'd throw as many of their fleets against the station's conquerors as needed for them to take it back. Regulus would pose a massive threat to the Theleans if it ever fell into enemy hands, and so they guard it at all times with some of their strongest and largest fleets. If need be, and they would not be able to take the station back for whatever reason, they'd try to destroy it instead to prevent anyone from using it against the Dominion.

The fleets guarding Regulus have been instructed to defend the station at all costs, and are under no circumstances to leave the station. Even if Thelea itself was under attack, the Regulus fleets would stand their ground and defend the station to the last man. Thelean fleets are unlike any other modern nations, the Dominion has been around for tens of thousands of years, building ships and assembling fleets. While the Alliance imposes a limit on the number of dreadnoughts each member state can control, a single Thelean fleet (and they have hundreds of them) can have anywhere from zero to fifteen dreadnoughts. They aren't be-all end-all weapons, of course, but it does show the massive numbers advantage that they have. Dreadnoughts are common battleships for the Dominion, they have a hundred at least.

Regulus Station is rarely fired by the Theleans, and is more of a last resort in case things really go sideways for them. The only well-recorded instance of its use was to fire upon the Ventronian homeworld, which ended the Thelean-Ventron war. They'd never use it on a planet like Kadavan, given how rich in Centensian artefacts and ruins it is - destroying those isn't worth what little they'd gain. Akris was home to at least one precious artefact - Kel'chis - but they managed to extract him without too much force.

The Theleans could definitely build more weapons that could wipe out entire worlds, but something that could actually destroy a planet is most likely outside of their capabilities. Even Regulus doesn't destroy planets, though it can completely wipe out an entire world's population. Regulus will vaporise the upper layers of the planet's surface, wreck the atmosphere and cause massive earthquakes and volcanic activity. It may well crack continental plates and melt an entire continent, but the planet won't be destroyed.

AIs
The Theleans see AI as useful, but potentially dangerous, tools. They don't build AIs themselves because they believe a Thelean operator to always be more reliable. Unlike humans, they can also shape their bodies into many different forms, and so they can create specialized Theleans who can perform tasks that humans would need robots for. Their ability to directly control electronics has further reinforced their belief that AI are unnecessary in the Dominion.

They definitely have the ability to create advanced AIs (like Trink) - and have done so on a few occasions - but generally their AIs are used for controlling drones and the like (which don't require highly advanced AIs) or for managing facilities, ship systems and such. They've never created sentient AI in humanoid bodies, outside of a few experiments, as Creaton prefers live Thelean troops.

Avandhas enchancements
Avandhas often get their own equipment, as regular Thelean tools often won't work for Avandhas. However, some Avandhas get special bio-mechanical implants that allow them to replicate tendrils to some degree, which would allow them to make (limited) use of conventional Thelean technology. Non-Theleans can't receive the mechanical skeletons since those are built specifically to suit Thelean physiology: only the Theleans can grow their bodies in such a way that the skeletons are properly integrated. However, non-Theleans can receive other cybernetic augments, and exo-skeletons are also always possible. (Ex.: So while Draunaar-Hyvon hybrids wouldn't be possible, enhanced Draunaar are certainly an option.)

Other
Due to their zealous pursuit of any and all Centensian technology, they are the most knowledgeable on the subject. They understand centensian technology very well. But, still nowhere close to their level. The Theleans have certainly attempted to use Centensian psionic tech, to minor success. The basic systems, like force projection (i.e. telekinesis) are relatively easy to figure out. One just needs to control a Xanafian Shard the right way. The Theleans can't quite build these systems themselves, but they can use existing Centensian systems. The more advanced systems, like telepathic projections, are beyond the Theleans' understanding though. Rashaek did not provide much information on this, besides the very basics.

Theleans have researched transference of conscience, though they're still far from perfecting such a technology.mIf successful, such a transference could allow you to transfer your conscience into a cloned body, but to do so you must fully understand what conscience is, and be able to manipulate it. (Only the Centens are known to have perfected it.)

Thelean technology is full of nano-tech, which has proven extremely difficult to work with when another race attempts to reverse-engineer it.

The Theleans are the most likely one to have extensively study and use new materials, since they are very widely spread and try to use everything to their advantage.

Resources aren't much of an issue for them anymore either - they control such a massive territory with so many resources that they can do almost anything they desire. Time and technology are their greatest restrictions. A small ship like a frigate could be completed in just a few weeks, while a destroyer takes a couple weeks more. A dreadnought will take months to complete, simply because it's such a massive vessel to build. The Theleans have the resources to build several of these at the same time, though, while nations like the Union require years to build just a single dreadnought.

Yeah, the Theleans have drones of their own, too. They use a wide variety of drones for various purposes, although they general prefer live Theleans performing tasks, especially if they are important tasks. Time and resources aren't as scarce/valuable to the Theleans, and they can technically live forever, so automation isn't too high of a priority for them. The drones they have are very hard to hack, both due to the advanced programming of their drones, and the use of biotechnology that other species are generally unfamiliar with. It's possible to hack them, but you'll need a very talented and highly specialized hacker for it - someone who has studied Thelean technology in great depth.

Society
While the Theleans are all individuals, their society does strongly resemble a hive-mind society: there is no conventional economy, little internal strife, and they are led by a single, absolute monarch called Creaton To the Theleans, Creaton isn't just the leader of their nation, he is the leader of the entire species, and is considered a god by most: the Theleans follow him with extreme zeal, and those few that don't are quickly banished or killed. The Theleans do have a number of other leaders, but they are all subordinate to Creaton. Their role is generally to oversee specific planetary systems and manage the day-to-day workings of the Thelean Dominion.

General description
Theleans revere Creaton, and Creaton (and the other Theleans with him) revere Rashaek and the other Centens. Though, most of Thelean citizen see Creaton as their uplifter, not Rashaek. Even though the latter's appearance and gift of knowledge was the reason for why the former could uplift them.

These are the four Thelean High lords that rule very close to Creaton, starting with: Anoton, Duoton, Dheroton, Feroton. (Duoton is the tallest of them all, Feroton comes in second, Creaton comes in third, followed by Dheroton and Anoton.)

The highest ranks are Dominus - only Creaton holds that title - and the High Lords all hold military power as well. Each High Lord has a specialty, and not all of them involve military duties, but each still has significant sway over the military and can command forces of their own whenever they need. Duoton is the highest-ranking individual in the Thelean military after Creaton, and is likely the one who manages military forces the most out of everyone. Other ranks are yet to be named.

Theleans see knowledge as power. While they got numbers and weapons, they know that knowledge they don't have is dangeous. The current population is approximately 13 trillion strong. There's also many non-Theleans in the Dominion, which are also counted here, but those make up a small minority of the total population.

The Theleans aren't innately evil, though they do lack morality. They'll do whatever they need to accomplish their goals - including exterminating entire species - but if they have no reason to fight them, they usually won't. The Theleans have minimal concept of morality, so they'll use their weapons as they see fit regardless of the situation. The Theleans don't like wiping out entire species, but not because or ethical issues: they simply believe it to be a waste of resources, but oftentimes a better alternative than not recovering the relics that species holds. Their expansionist mindset won't back down for any alien species. Theleans simply don't care about the alien civilizations that they crush.

And they're not very honourable either: the Theleans have very little concept of morality, and they don't make much of a distinction between right and wrong. If something is practical and logical, that's the right choice to them: they simply don't grasp the concept of ethics that we have. As a consequence, they don't care much for honour either.

Theleans do experience emotion, though in general their emotional range is slightly more limited than that of humans. For the most part, Theleans lack a sense of morality as we know it, though: if something's practical, they often won't consider the other side of a conflict. They won't feel bad for killing aliens if it furthers their cause, because they don't feel the moral dilemma of such actions. While we humans may feel bad about it and thus change our course of action, the Theleans simply do it because it must be done.

The Theleans actually weren't always so aggressive in their methods. For a pretty long time, they tried to reason with other alien species, but hardly any would cooperate. Over time, the Theleans learned that violence and taking relics by force was the most efficient method, and so they've stuck to it ever since. The short story of what the destination is is to bring back the Centens.

They have good intentions, but they are very practically minded and their brains do not process things the same way our human brains do. They have emotion and some form of empathy, but compared to a human they seem highly immoral. Morality isn't much of a concept in Thelean society: the Theleans simply don't have as strong a sense of morality as we do. If something works and is needed, it is right to them. If innocents have to die, it does bother them a little bit, but it's not much of an obstacle to them. They aren't very well understood by most other species, who often label them as aggressive and brutal, but in reality they are trying to do what is best not just for themselves but for everyone. Their methods aren't generally very agreeable to other species, though...

If it's a severe enough crime to warrant getting marked as rogue, the Theleans would try to kill them at the earliest opportunity. Crime in Thelean society is a bit different than in other cultures, though, since the Theleans have very little notion of morality, and the most common crime is treason.

The Theleans have no concept of marriage, but they generally don't reproduce naturally either. They grow new Theleans in dedicated hatching facilities instead. Even before this practice though, the Theleans didn't have marriage. The concept is completely alien to them. As was mentioned, the Theleans are mono-gender, and some the very concept of homosexuality and transsexualism is simply unknown to them. One definitely won't find any red-light districts in Thelean society - it's something they have trouble even grasping the meaning of.

The Theleans may be massive in number, but they are predictable and highly uniform in their tactics, their strengths and their weaknesses. They usually keep to their standard strategies, unless they determine those to be ineffective against a specific opponent. The Avikan have never been much of an issue to the Theleans, so few specific strategies were developed against the Avikan, but the Theleans do have specific strategies against the far more bothersome Akkimari, for example.

Theleans are very much focused on performing their duty, and don't spend a lot of time "having fun". The fact that a Thelean can live indefinitely also means that they can easily spend long stretches of time doing basically nothing - if there's nothing to be done, they don't feel like they're wasting time. They do have some competitions in both physical and mental activities to entertain themselves with, but duty is almost always the most important factor for them.

Even without Creaton they'll still have their duties to perform - there's more than just military personnel, since they need to produce food, ships, weapons, exoskeletons and so much more too - but yeah, if they're done with their assigned activities and don't have any competitions to partake in, they'll often just wait around doing very little.

All-natural Theleans, Thanas, retain the Theleans' original slug-like appearance, and they serve specific functions within Thelean society, but there aren't all that many of them outside of hatchlings.

The very largest Thelean doesn't have a name right now, but they weren't anything special. Bred from birth for a single purpose - to be a massive workhorse for construction work and perform some special combat roles - they weren't particularly bright or interesting as a person. Focused entirely on their work, there wasn't much of a personality to them. They spent most of their life asleep, actually, only waking up for work to keep resource usage to a minimum.

Thelean territory in general is very dangerous of course: they don't tolerate intruders. Though on the other hand, space is so vast that you could quite easily pass through Thelean territory without ever being noticed, if you don't do anything that could draw attention. If any foreign ships are found in Thelean territory, it's very well possible that they'll open fire on sight. Thelean space is massive though, and like any other territory, the vast majority of it is just empty space. There's also countless uncharted worlds within their territory, though visitors always run the risk of running into Thelean ships there.

Goals
They are a nation dedicated to almost a single purpose: the study and reclamation of Centensian technology. From birth, Theleans are taught about how Creaton uplifted the entire species, and how helping to fulfill Creaton's quest for knowledge of the Centens is the greatest purpose they can ever aspire to They've been pretty much completely indoctrinated and see Creaton not only as their leader, but often more as their god. Some Theleans are trained from birth (and genetically modified as embryos) to excel in things like combat, hacking (through their vesomeyr/tendrils) and other specific tasks, so there is a bit of a caste system in their society. As for what the Theleans do with the Centensian tech, they mostly study it to try and gain as great an understanding of Centensian tech as they can. They hope to bring the Centens back to the galaxy, and they have some other plans as well, but the race's creator hasn't revealed what those might be yet.

They'd still focus the vast majority of their efforts on reclaiming Centensian relics - they believe only Centensian technology can help them achieve their goals - but other powerful relics cannot be ignored. (Such as a rare instance, encounter of Remnant ruins or relics) Especially when it relates to extra-dimensional things. The Theleans strive to learn all they can to return the Centens to the galaxy, but that's not all there is to their goal: they believe a cataclysm is incoming, one that is related to the Centensian home universe and that can only be prevented with the help of the Centens or their technology. Other artefacts and technologies that can open gateways into other dimensions may interest them too since those may help them understand the nature of the omniverse (the collection of all universes/dimensions), which in turn could teach them more about the cataclysm and how to stop it. The study of Centensian relics is still seen as the primary source of information about the cataclysm.

That being said, if they do accomplish their goals, that may still not be ideal for a lot of other alien nations - the Theleans won't simply relinquish their power, and given that they don't really have any concept of morality, a world saved by the Theleans is likely still a hostile world.

In their opinion, the Theleans believe that they work in the best interests of the entire galaxy. (And they might be right in that.) Their methods aren't very well received by most, but they have good reasons for becoming what they are today.

If the Theleans obtain all of the relics and the knowledge that they seek, and finally realize their goal, they'll return the Centens to our galaxy, and to all of the other places that they left behind. The Theleans and Centens stop the calamity that the Theleans believe is coming for everyone, saving life in this and other universes. After that, they ensure that the Centens regain their legitimate place as rulers of the multiverse, and shape the universe to Centensian ideals. That's the way the Theleans would see it, at least.

Most either don't know of their true goals and intent, don't believe in it or don't agree with it. It's complicated. One the one hand, they care enough that they've shaped their entire society to the goal of saving all life in the universe. On the other hand, they don't care at all for the individual beings and nations that they crush in order to reach their goal.

Architecture
The Theleans has a very dark visual style overall, with angular, massive, imposing structures of dark metals and red accents. Utilitarian in design, but with a bit of flair to make the structures look more massive and imposing, like the nation that built it. A lot of massive structures and recurring hexagonal patterns, spiked towers and massive communication arrays topping the buildings. The Theleans have several architectural styles, and some of these include more rounded designs as well, but the hard, angular structures are most common. Thelean colonies may feature a giant monument of Creaton's image. Theleans certainly have a lot of architecture that's hard to navigate for Aegi and other average-sized species. Though a lot of their architecture has been built to support both larger and smaller Theleans. Aliens will definitely find plenty of Thelean locations with massive stairs that they'd have to jump up.

The Theleans also generally don't build bases on planets they invade, unless they feel the need for a permanent occupying force. They left barely anything behind during the first eight invasions, but after the ninth invasion they built a number of small outposts on Kadavan to speed up their operations on the surface.

Arts and entertainment
Theleans don't use music much, though it does exist in their culture. They generally don't get the same kinds of emotional/psychological reactions to music like we do, so there isn't much value in it to them. They don't make a lot of music, however: art has never been their strong suit. What little music they have is mostly instrumental, using metallic sounds.

Theleans have some basic sports, they're mostly tests of strength or tests of intelligence. The former has very strict rules as to who can partake, however, since there's many different types of Theleans and all of them are designed for different roles. A warrior wouldn't battle an engineer, for example.

Theleans can adopt highly varied body structures, and so contests between different types of Thelean would be unfair. Some Theleans are massive, while others are small, and while most are bipedal, they also have quadrupedal forms, and forms without legs.

Language
It's yet to receive a name in the Thelean language itself, but in the Alliance it's usually just called "Thelean" or "the Thelean language". The language isn't very well understood in the Alliance - there aren't many opportunities to properly learn it outside of the Dominion - but it's a bit of a mishmash of languages. The original Thelean language is at the heart of it - the one they spoke back before Creaton uplifted the Theleans - but there's parts of Centensian in it too, as well as parts of the dozens of languages spoken by the species that were assimilated into the Dominion. Their voices have a lot of variation. They depend a lot on how Thelean has formed their body.
 * "Erras se vahl!" translates to "Hunt the enemy!"
 * "Creaton thasse dhas!" translates to "Creaton take you!"

There is a bit of an interstellar written language, or at least alphabet, though: Centensian. The Centens left their ruins and writings on so many worlds throughout the galaxy that many alien species now use it as their own alphabet too. The Theleans are the prime example for this, and the Centensian alphabet is used throughout the entire Dominion.

Treatment of Avandhas
Avandhas are treated surprisingly well, actually. It depends on the species and the circumstances under which they were assimilated, and also on the amount of time they've been part of the Dominion, but many assimilated species are treated almost the same as true Theleans. It is harder for them to climb the military ranks, and some of the highest ranks are exclusively available to Theleans, but other than that an Avandhas can be pretty much equal to a real Thelean.

By Thelean standards, assimilated species are treated extremely well. Those standards may not always be up to par with other species' standards, though. They'll definitely enjoy great protection - the Dominion may be the safest nation for common civilians - but all Theleans have certain duties to ensure their worth within the Dominion. That includes military service, but production/industry work and such are other ways to serve. The Dominion has no currency and no wages, but all civilians are provided for by the Dominion.

If the Theleans treated their own people badly, their empire wouldn't last very long. Being part of the Dominion doesn't allow any luxuries, and citizens have to work hard, but they do get to live a decent life. The Theleans' lack of morality can be troublesome though: if it's in their best interest to stop supplying someone, they do it without a second thought. In that way, there's not a whole lot of stability/certainty in the Dominion.

They lose most of their original culture when they get assimilated, and are rarely referred to by their old names afterwards. They're called Theleans then.

Multiple entire species that have been assimilated into the Dominion. Most of these are pretty small and the total population of Avandhas is insignificant compared to the population of true Theleans There's at least a dozen assimilated species. (A list is yet to be defined by Aegonian.) Some of these were taken by force, and had no choice but to join the Dominion. But there's also a few which joined willingly, glad for the protection, knowledge and resources the Theleans offered.

The Theleans don't enslave anyone - an unwilling worker is not a valuable resource to them. They have assimilated various other species into their empire, both to strengthen the Dominion and to offer protection, knowledge and resources to the assimilated species. That being said, the choice is often death, assimilation or relinquishing all Centensian relics, so there's not too much choice for other species.

As for AIs: It'll depend on how that AI "species" operates: if they are all individuals with a physical body, and they aren't capable of transferring their consciousness into a network, the Theleans would view them pretty much just like an organic species and allow them to become Avandhas. If they are a more "fluid" species, capable of transferring consciousness, working in a fluid network etc., the Theleans would likely see them as too unreliable or too great a risk and instead choose to eliminate the AI.

Most Avandhas are aliens who were conquered by the Theleans and chose annexation over annihilation, but some individuals also join the Dominion out of their free will. It's very rare for people of the Elithian Alliance to join the Dominion, but it's not impossible and it has happened on a few occasions Joining the Dominion definitely has its benefits, but they come at the loss of a lot of freedom, and most people in the Alliance value their freedom too much to give it up.

Narvakhan
The Narvakhan are generally a bit more diverse as the Dominion. The Dominion is very rigid, and its citizens are all taught the values of their society, but everything is very monotone. Theleans who think differently often become Narvakhan. It also means that the technological development of the Narvakhan (while slow due to the smaller numbers and lack of central population hubs) goes in a different direction than that of the Dominion. A downside of rejecting other ways of thinking is that you also stifle progress a bit.

A Narvakhan can be any kind of Thelean. There are Vehnon (with an exoskeleton) and even Thanas (all-natural, without any exoskeleton) who deserted, but also fully grown Hyvon. A Thanas would likely stay that way as the Narvakhan usually didn't have new exoskeletons for their new members, but a Vehnon could keep on growing provided that they managed to keep the exoskeleton maintained. (it needs upgrades as a Thelean grows if you want to reach those larger sizes) There's plenty of small Hyvon in the Narvakhan: Theleans who have fully grown into their exoskeleton, but who never managed to reach the default height for fully grown Hyvon as the growth was stunted by a lack of resources and upgrades. There aren't any recorded Narvakhan Titans. The body of a Titan is so cumbersome that it requires a lot of maintenance and resources to keep it going, and many of them spend most of their time asleep. They don't really have what it takes to run away since they can't survive on their own. A whole group of Theleans would have to desert at once, taking a Titan with them for a Titan to become Narvakhan and live.

The Narvakhan are hunted by the Theleans just as, if not more, ferociously than they hunt the Avikan. That has forced the Narvakhan into hiding, and they rarely interact with other species because of the risk of exposing themselves, and because they fear they won't be understood and simply shot on sight like most Theleans are in hostile regions.

Perception of and interaction with other races
Theleans see knowledge as power. While they got numbers and weapons, they know that knowledge they don't have is dangeous. They don't necessarily want no other race to have knowledge of the Centens, but they don't want other races to have knowledge that the Theleans don't have. And races with too much knowledge of Centensian technology are potential threats (due to their technological advancement, which could give them an advantage over the Theleans), which marks them as a target as well. They wouldn't actively try to suppress it, unless it's knowledge of some type of weapon or technology that could threaten the Theleans. For example, knowledge of Hyverium usage, jumpgates etc isn't something that's considered dangerous by the Theleans, nor is knowledge about the existence of weapons like the Regulus station, but knowledge about how to build something like Regulus would be considered extremely dangerous.

The Theleans will keep track of each faction and monitor their development, but they only really do so to prevent any surprises in the future. Other than the Alliance as a whole (the individual nations are largely insignificant to them), they don't see anything as a real threat any more.

The Theleans rarely actively seek out war, instead preferring to observe from a distance and keep to themselves, but they are zealously searching for Centensian artefacts and won't stop at anything to get them. They know their own strength and don't relish the destruction of alien nations. They won't hesitate when they have to show strength, but they don't intend to eliminate all other alien nations.

It's a result of thousands of years of interaction with other alien nations, amongst some other things. The Theleans have been hoarding Centensian relics for a very long time, and have tried many approaches to obtain relics held by other aliens. They're tried diplomacy, trade, intimidation and much more, and in most cases, aggression has proven to be the most effective method to reach their goals.

All of the modern races pitted against the Theleans would also be a somewhat equal fight: the Theleans greatly outnumber any individual nation in the Milky Way, but combine all of the other nations and that ratio changes. The Theleans have the advantage that nearly every citizen is a military asset too, while the Alliance and most other nations have a much greater percentage of civilians with no military experience. The combined forces of those nations will also have more varied tactics, which grants them an advantage over the somewhat predictable/uniform Thelean military. All in all, the advantages and disadvatnages of each side would mostly equal out, making the outcome of a conflict between the Theleans and the combined forces of the other nations difficult to predict.

Combined forces of all existing, canon THEA races could become a force formidable enough to fight the Thelean Dominion. If they would feel threatened by it, they'd reactivate Regulus and reinforce the fleets protecting it at all times. They'd force the rest of the galaxy back into docility. They don't like using Regulus because it takes a lot of resources and destroys potential resources, but they won't hesitate to use it if they deem it necessary. And most nations will concede if the Theleans start destroying homeworlds.

If an alien race offered them a Centensian item: They'll likely accept the offer, but what they do afterwards is difficult to predict. If they truly believe that the nation intends to help the Theleans with their cause, they may cooperate with them and offer them a place in the Dominion (which usually means they lose much of their nation's individuality, but get protection, technology and more in return). The Theleans have assimilated many nations into the Dominion, and other species can often be seen fighting alongside the Theleans and assisting in the excavation and retrieval of Centensian artefacts. However, if the nation gives them any reason to distrust them, they may end up attacking them to take whatever Centensian technology they have by force. That's happened plenty of times with other alien nations, too.

If a race denied them Xanafian shards/ Centensian relics. They'll launch an invasion pretty soon afterwards. The scale of that invasion will depend on how valuable the Shards/relics are determined to be. The Avikan relics and ruins were at first judged to be of minor importance, hence why they sent a couple of scouting flotillas first: they were meant to assess the true value of Kadavan's Centensian remnants The final force to invade was the only true invasion force.

If they believe that the other empire's technology would allow them to speed up their mission they'd certainly investigate. It'd likely start with scouts being sent out, assessing the technology and the empire's defences. If the technology is found to be worthwhile and the defences breakable, they'd attack and either annex or destroy that empire to gain control over their technology.

The only ones who were able to challenge the Theleans in a full-on war were the Ventrons, who rose around the same time as the Theleans and had similar military strength. There's currently no known method for reliably breaking through one of their fleets, though the Theleans don't always perform as well in small-scale conflicts as other nations. Any small force would have a difficult time facing off against the Regulus fleets, though, since Thelea and Regulus are the two best-guarded locations in the Dominion. It's not impossible to get a small force through, but it'll be incredibly difficult, and the enemy would likely not have the firepower needed to disable Regulus with such a small force.

Thelean scouting flotillas can be as powerful as a full naval force of any Alliance nation. (It's not uncommon for them to feature a dreadnought and thousands of Thelean troops)

The methods used by the Theleans are horrific by other nations' standards, but remember that the Theleans have a very different sense of morality. They've also had a long history of interactions with other alien nations, and they did try more peaceful/diplomatic options earlier in their history. Those attempts were generally either unsuccessful in giving the Theleans access to Centensian relics, or were simply met with hostility from the other party. Through experience, the Theleans have learned that taking things by force is the most efficient and effective means to achieving their goals. They also believe that their supreme goal - to restore the Centens and avert an apocalypse - is in the best interests of the entire galaxy. They believe that they are helping the entire galaxy, and if some nations have to be sacrificed for that goal, that's very much an acceptable price to pay.

Many other nations have been completely wiped out by them. Others ended up merging into the Dominion, keeping their lives and being well protected, but they often lose much of their nation's individuality and culture in the process of becoming Avandhas. So cases like Avikan and Akkimari can be considered 'lucky'. There'd be quite a few more races if it wasn't for the Theleans. They have certainly changed the galaxy a lot.

Alliance
They'd never be part of the Alliance as the Alliance is useless to them. The goals of the Alliance aren't the same as those of the Theleans, and while they don't directly conflict either, the Theleans don't see the point of having such an alliance.

If there was a threat to both Alliance and the Dominion. If Theleans believe it to be in their best interests then they could potentially work together with the Alliance.

They generally see the Alliance as a minor nuisance, since the Alliance doesn't interfere with relic extraction much but could hide relics within its territory. They respect the Alliance's potential strength, and prefer not to engage in open conflicts, but they're still confident they could win a full-on war. Operations by the Alliance have at times exposed the locations of Centensian relics, which has actually allowed the Theleans to obtain some relics that they otherwise might never have seen, so the Alliance's presence is tolerated. The Dominion doesn't really have much of an opinion on the Alliance's goals and ideologies - the Dominion doesn't care enough to have a real opinion.

The Alliance tries to monitor their territory as much as possible and regularly explores undocumented systems, and they constantly scan for activity throughout the territory, but it's far too vast to ever fully control or monitor. Many things go unseen within the territory for sure. The same is true for Thelean territory, though. They may have thousands of inhabited systems (most with very minor populations), and so the density of population is much higher there, but they still only directly control a minimal portion of their territory

In the canon storyverse, the Theleans and the Alliance have hardly any direct interaction. There have been some minor meetings, but these are extremely rare: in general, they both try to ignore the other as much as possible. The Alliance has little to offer the Theleans and isn't worth the resources it would take to try and conquer the territory. The Theleans prefer to seek out the easier targets that have far more Centensian artefacts and ruins to offer. The Alliance does all it can to not aggravate the Theleans, for fear of a large-scale war. Neither has much to gain from interacting with the other, so they try to stay away from one another. Of course, the Theleans do regularly launch scouting parties into Alliance territory, both to keep an eye on the Alliance and to scout for potential worlds with Centensian ruins. The roleplay storyverse isn't canon though, and the rules can be a bit different there!

Avikan
Theleans picked up signals originating from the Andrava system that pointed to potential intelligent life. The Dominion eventually sent a small scouting flotilla to scout out the system, and found the Avikan there, which started the chain of invasions. Each subsequent invasion was just another scouting force sent to determine whether or not Kadavan held anything of value, until the Theleans finally had enough of their scouting flotillas being repelled, and sent in a real fleet instead. (which led to the Avikan fleeing the planet in a matter of days)

The Avikan are still hoarding Centensian relics, and they also sealed the Centensian Vaults on Kadavan to keep the Theleans out. The Theleans also see the Avikan as a potential threat due to their knowledge of Centensian technology, but not enough for them to completely annihilate the Avikan.

First eight invasions weren't really invasions from the perspective of the Theleans. They were more like scouting missions, albeit relatively large scouting missions. The ninth invasion was the first in which the Theleans really sent a good portion of their military force to Kadavan, and the sheer amount of ships that entered the atmosphere was enough for the Avikan to lose any hope of retaliation.

The Thelean occupation of Kadavan has been weakening over time: they have already extracted a large amount of relics, and while there's still plenty of Centensian relics left for them to find, their numbers on Kadavan just aren't comparable to the original occupying force anymore. It would be possible for Avikan to win it back. Whether or not the Avikan will be able to hold on to Kadavan is another matter though.

There's still a decent force left on the planet, but nowhere near as many as during the final invasion. The Nomada would likely be able to fight the remainder of the Thelean forces if they brought their entire fleet back to Kadavan, but the Theleans would just send for reinforcements again You'd have to hit every place you want to raid at once, as the Theleans will call reinforcements if they encounter any new arrivals. It's unlikely that you'll be able to eliminate all Theleans in one of their outposts before any of them can sound the alarm. Yeah, the invasion of Kadavan was a pretty massive operation for the Theleans, and they've taken every precaution to ensure the success of that operation. The Kadavan extraction teams are constantly reporting back to command, and any disruption in those reports will be noticed quickly.

The Errasmeyr are the vanguard of the Thelean forces chasing the Avikan Nomada, and the Avikan have had several deadly encounters with them.

About Halla'Khan - They try to avoid it if they can: they have nothing to gain from antagonizing the creature, and hunting it down is a waste of resources as they've only occupied Kadavan to retrieve the Centensian relics. Should they ever find it guarding a Centensian ruin, they may try to hunt it down, but otherwise they'll likely leave it be.

Yeah, if they stop finding relics on Kadavan, they'll likely leave the planet. There's not very many Theleans on Kadavan right now either - most of the original invaders were combat units and not extraction units - and they'll likely leave behind a small force if they abandon the planet. That small force will continue to look for hidden Centensian sites, and will report back should the Avikan ever return to Kadavan.

They're still performing some extraction operations on Kadavan, yeah, though there's not much activity there any longer. The hunt for the Nomada is more important to the Theleans now, since the Avikan took most of the valuable relics with them when they fled Kadavan. The Nomada is proving incredibly elusive though, and even the Thelean Errasmeyr have trouble tracking them.

Surprisingly, assimilation may still be an option for them - they've definitely proven their strength and resilience to the Theleans, and being extremely practically minded the Theleans don't hold on to grudges for long. That being said, Avikan society is much more focused on pride and honour, and they'd never willingly get assimilated into Thelean society.

The Theleans (or rather, most Theleans - they're still individuals, and some rebel against Creaton) view the Rhaiod as heresy. The Rhaiod worships Rhadeis, who is seen by the Theleans as a rebellious Centens who has forsaken his kind, as well as the Centens's duty to the Omniverse. According to the Theleans, Rashaek embodies what a Centens should be: dedicated to the greater good, not to a single species that wouldn't survive without the help of a Centensian guardian.

The Theleans learned about the natural disaster on Kadavan that threatened the early Avikan. If Rhadeis hadn't intervened during that disaster, chances for the Avikan to have survived would have been extremely low, and the Theleans know that. They don't believe that the Avikan would have survived without that intervention, and they also don't believe that the Avikan would have thrived as they did without Rhadeis's opening of Vas Vha'leih. The same can definitely be said about the Theleans, though: they likely would have survived and grown without Rashaek, but they likely wouldn't have grown into the massive galactic presence they are now. Linerifles are an Avikan invention that uses no Centensian technology (though the early prototypes were inspired by a rare Centensian weapon). The Theleans don't have much interest in them, and they have plenty of linerifles collected already from their invasion of Kadavan.

Akkimari
The Theleans - who are known to chase Centensian artefacts with incredible zeal - eventually learned of the existence of Kel'chis and launched an invasion on the Akkimari homeworld, Akris. They stole Kel'chis and left Akkimari society in shambles as Kel'chis was no longer there to control them. What remained of Akkimari leadership has now placed a bounty on the head of every Thelean, and has promised an even greater reward to whoever retrieves Kel'chis. All of the scavengers found throughout the galaxy are in fact Akkimari bounty hunters chasing after Kel'chis, though many of them have given up the hunt and have instead resorted to general piracy, looking only for their own glory rather than the return of Kel'chis. They're far too disorganized to do much of anything.

The Akkimari homeworld was invaded by the Theleans only once, in a very brutal, lightning-fast and precisely targeted attack. They raided the capital of the Covenant and "abducted" Kel'chis, the Centensian AI that acted as the leader of the Kel'chis Covenant, leaving Akkimari society in shambles. The Akkimari have now started rebuilding their society, and a massive bounty was issued for whoever would retrieve Kel'chis from enemy territory. The new Covenant leadership has also placed a bounty on the head of every Thelean, so the Akkimari are actually hunting Theleans more than the reverse!

The Theleans are trying to extract information from him, as Kel'chis is the only active Centensian AI they've found so far. They're trying to use him to further their understanding of the Centens, but they haven't been very successful so far. Kel'chis refuses to cooperate, and has been pretty much silent ever since the Theleans took him. He's remained absolutely silent thus far, refusing to even acknowledge the Theleans' presence. He's essentially entered a state of hibernation until he is reunited with the Akkimari, or is convinced that some action of his could lead to that reunion.

If Theleans didn't have such massive number advantage then Akkimari could be a very challenging enemy. Although, the Dominion is simply to large to be defeated by them. The Akkimari can still salvage some materials from an exploded Thelean ship, but some groups of Akkimari have also learned how to quickly disable the self-destruct function so they can actually scavenge the Thelean ship for useful technology.

Centens
As is fairly common, Centens are deified by the race. In this particular case, Ce'tennan by the name of Rashaek would be the most revered one, as it was him who appeared before Creaton, and gifted him with the knowledge that allowed Theleans to reach such incredible technological prowess.

The Theleans would try to do everything they can to win that Centens's trust, and convince them to help their cause. (the Theleans believe that their goals are in the best interest of not only themselves, but the rest of the galaxy and the Centens too)

Might be able to jump some, but there's also plenty of Theleans who don't have much of an idea of what the Centens actually looked like. The teams in charge of actual relic recovery would know about it, but many footsoldiers (including ones used to clear alien-occupied relic zones) might have never seen a depiction of the Centens. (Notably, only Creaton saw Rashaek.)

Remnant
The Theleans know that the Remnant existed, and they know about the war between the Centens and the Remnant, but they don't know much more than that. Information about the Remnant is extremely scarce, even in the Centensian vaults uncovered by the Theleans.

Ventrons
The Ventrons, they are an ancient, near-extinct species that once competed with the early Thelean Dominion. They fought a long and gruesome war against the Theleans and nearly destroyed Thelea using the Regulus Station, but they were eventually repelled. The Theleans took control of Regulus, destroyed the Ventronian command structure and hunted down the remaining Ventrons until all that was left were a handful of nomadic flotillas that are constantly on the run (not unlike the Avikan).

The Thelean-Ventron war started out as a territorial conflict The Theleans and Ventrons were both colonizing the same sector of the galaxy, and neither was likely to willingly give up any territory. What started out as minor skirmishes eventually grew into a massive all-out war between the two empires, which saw one side almost entirely wiped out. The Ventrons also had several valuable Centensian relics in their possession, which further fanned the flames of their conflict. The leading cause was territorial conflict, however.

Thelea is covered in gigantic structures built by the Theleans to keep the planet stable. Eons ago, the Ventronians were in control of the Regulus Station, and sometime during their war with the Theleans, they fired the weapon directly at Thelea. The Theleans were prepared for the attack, however, and managed to pull off an incredible feat: they planted their largest dreadnought in the path of Regulus's attack, and with a feat of near-perfect timing, they had the dreadnought enter Hyperspace at the exact moment that Regulus's beam impacted the ship. The ship was utterly destroyed, of course, but the beam was absorbed to a significant enough degree to save Thelea for the time being.

Thelea didn't survive completely unscathed, however: the planet grew unstable from the impact of Regulus's weakened attack, and it would have grown uninhabitable if the Theleans didn't intervene further. They started their largest-ever construction project, covering the entire planet is mega-structures intended to keep the planet's surface stable, and that's what you're seeing on the planet's surface now.

They retaliated with a massive effort to take Regulus Station, and after a bloody war (for both sides) the Theleans eventually came out on top, Regulus now under their control. The Theleans bombed the Ventronian homeworld (but did not use Regulus to destroy it), destroyed the Ventronian fleets and burned every colony they could find. The Ventronians were forced into exile, now nomads in space (not unlike the Avikan), and were eventually set upon by Stalkers who killed nearly the entire population on the large motherships. Some Ventrons still live, but their numbers are few, and their once-glorious empire is gone completely.

If they somehow resurfaced, Theleans would try to eliminate them as swiftly as possibly. Nuke into oblivion.

Had they not won their initial assault of Ventronia, they'd use the Regulus station to destroy it. Otherwise, they've been mining valuable resources from the planet, not much changed on it unlike it did on Thelea.

Trivia
This section is both for actual trivia and information that didn't seem to fit anywhere else. The Aegi (and the other Alliance nations) have advanced technology, but also have incredibly well-organized military forces, great battle tactics and such that'll help them fight a technologically superior force. The Akkimari lack all of that structure, but their technology is actually incredibly advanced thanks to Kel'chis and their natural intelligence and ingenuity. And the Akkimari aren't very forgiving either, even though they weren't harmed by the Theleans quite as much. The cataclysm could be even worse than that - think end of the universe scenarios here - but the scale of the disaster is difficult to predict. No, the Blast from the roleplay allowed remnants of modern nations to rebuild, but that event isn't canon anymore and a new blast may well behave differently (the old event was never really explored in-depth). You'll probably want to replace the central processor and memory core though, as those will have been altered or damaged by either the vesomeyr or the purging of the system. You can probably recover part of the memory core, preserving the Droden's personality before violation to some degree, but they'll never be exactly the same again." Yeah, those small locations you find scattered throughout the Starbound universe wouldn't attract much attention from the Theleans. Do note that in the canon lore, such locations aren't quite as common as they are in Starbound (Starbound and the Elithian Alliance canon are separate, though obviously similar, storyverses). They'd definitely have some interest in the Ancients' structures and technology, especially thanks to the gate/wormhole systems, but they'd see it as a technology to researchin order to expand their own arsenal and prevent others from getting ahead of them. They wouldn't hunt it down nearly as zealously as they do Centensian technology, as the Thell believe that only Centensian technology can bring the Centens back. They wouldn't much mind others researching it either, though they'll definitely fight if they discover a nearby structure that others are also researching.
 * The Ghavorkan used to be a natural type of wildlife on Thelea, and was actually largely domesticated by the Theleans (though they always kept their aggressive nature). They were primarily used as war beasts, or as hunting companions, since their speed and aggressiveness made them excellent predators. After the Theleans had modified themselves, the Ghavorkan were eventually 'upgraded' into their current form through cybernetic enhancements, much like the Theleans themselves. Nowadays, the Ghavorkan are generally bred in in artificial pods, which is much easier than breeding them naturally. They are still used as war beasts, since their overall smaller size and incredible speed gives the Theleans more tactical options in battle.
 * Theleans would evaluate potential strenght of a creature, and if it is deemed useful enough in tit's current state, the Theleans would likely proceed to create cybernetically enhanced clones of them (much like they did with the Ghavorkan, and many other types of wildlife from Thelea and other planets).
 * They'd also struggle to take on the entire Elithian Alliance. They have greater numbers and far more dreadnoughts, but their uniformity also lends them far fewer tactical options and they can be predictable in combat.
 * There's most likely even undiscovered sentient (possible even spacefaring) aliens in both Thelean and Alliance territory.
 * Thelean player in Starbound mod will be a Narvakhan. (Thelean outcast)
 * Other than the Centens - and likely some other ancient civilizations that have long since vanished - none of the other modern nations would be able to take the Thell head-on in a fight if they can use their massive advantage in numbers and technology. I think the two races that would be best matched against the Thell (if they lost their advantage in numbers) are the Aegi and the Akkimari, though
 * If there was an inter-galactic nation that started shipping Centensian artifacts out of galaxy, then eliminating them would become one of the Theleans top priorities. They might even resort to using Regulus station.
 * It's unlikely either species would forgive the Theleans for their actions even if they knew the motivations, but they might be able to understand them. But a genocide like the Avikan faced is difficult to forgive.
 * After Theleans are done with Centensian relic, depending on it's nature they might return it.
 * If for some reason all alien nations they encounter suddenly become cooperative, they could return to their non-violent methods, but that's unlikely to ever happen.
 * If they lost Thelea, If the Theleans lost Thelea, they'd lose a lot of the relics they have hoarded. While they try to distribute the relics across the entirety of their territory for just such risks, Thelea still holds the largest collection of relics as it's likely the best-guarded location in the entire galaxy, together with Regulus Station. Losing Thelea would be a massive blow to morale, as the Theleans have fought many enemies to keep their homeworld safe, but it's not a loss they couldn't recover from.
 * Most nations that could have challenged or beaten the Theleans were ancient ones that existed alongside the Cen'avath Anon. Most of them didn't manage to stick around for long after meeting the Centens - they likely wiped out more nations than the Theleans did.
 * In the FNE - the post-Blast roleplay that succeeded the original roleplay - Creaton vanished with the Blast and left quite the power gap. The Dominion eventually split into three factions in that storyline, so while the Dominion as it was known ended, the Theleans went on and became an even greater threat due to new tactics and mindsets.
 * The Theleans believe the cataclysm to be an impending event much like the Blast from an old roleplay: it was a massive surge of energy released throughout the omniverse which devastated modern nations.
 * About FU protocite: "The Theleans are the most likely one to have extensively studied and used it, since they are very widely spread and try to use everything to their advantage. It won't be an essential part of their technology, but perhaps some specialized forces use it."
 * There is a planned storyline for the Theleans where they are defeated, but it is not a victory we might expect. We'll have to wait and see.
 * When asked if Theleans could move their tendrils like Venom (Spiderman). "The tendrils don't extend quite that far and are usually not strong enough to lift an alien with such ease, but yeah, the tendrils can move somewhat like that! A well-trained Thelean who's adapt at combining their tendrils could even use it to lift some relatively heavy objects, but never to the level that Venom does."
 * They've mostly taken to studying the Centensian structures they found, and most of those were science outposts or something similar - not the best place for actual settling. The Theleans haven't found many actual Centensian settlements or civilian areas yet, and the few they have found are also primarily being studied rather than being lived in.
 * Aegonian was originally going to call them Hyvon in-game, but have since changed it to Thelean. Some of the older objects in the mod still have their hyvonDescription set, but those will be updated to theleanDescription once he starts working on the Theleans. (Newer items use the new discription.)
 * A skilled Thelean hacker could hack vehicles like a skoff or a krahl.
 * Could a violated Droden use Thelean technology? "No, not the main tech. The Droden was some vesomeyr attached to it which have overwritten its core programming and which force the unit into its violated behaviour, but those can't be controlled by the Droden to manipulate Thelean tech."
 * Is it possible to purge the Vesomeyr from a violated droden? "It'll be a challenge to get all of them - the vesomeyr dig into the Droden pretty deeply, and create a web of tendrils inside - but yeah, you can purge it. Cut it out, burn it out or otherwise destroy the tendrils, and you can halt the corruption
 * [Question about aliens working for Theleans] "As in species acting as mercenary forces for the Theleans? They'd definitely be open to it, but they'd only ever give minor contracts to mercenaries. They're quite distrustful of aliens, and would perform the more important tasks themselves. If that alien species offered themselves for such tasks, they could be offered a place as Avandhas, and put under the command of a Thelean general. Only then would aliens be considered for such tasks."
 * If they encountered a psionic race. The Theleans might try and cut them open to try and figure out how the psionic abilities worked, unless the Avek shared the information willingly. Such abilities would remind the Theleans of the Centens, and so they'd want to investigate for any possible links to the Centens.
 * An individual using Centensian technology is likely able to go unseen by the Thell, unless they transmit signals into space that clearly indicate the use of Centensian technology. If it's just radio waves and the like, they're fine - those take thousands of years to reach other stars anyways - but signals sent through hyperspace may be more troublesome. Some Vaults and other Centensian sites also transmit clear signals through hyperspace which can be picked up anywhere very quickly. But even if you send out some signals, if it's just them using some minor Centensian technology the Thell will likely ignore it - they (theleans) find small sites and new artefacts regularly and don't care much about the small things. It's when they (individual) start doing extensive research and excavation, or when you uncover ancient vaults and the like, that the Thell really start noticing. They might go unseen, but it depends on the technology that they uncover/research. If they find a small site with some weapons and minor artefacts in it, that's nothing special. But uncover a Vault and they'll be in trouble if they stay there for too long.
 * {Asked if Theleans would be interested in SB's ancients tech.}
 * As for violated Trinks, "I think it's possible! I don't know the exact details of how Trinkian brains/CPUs and such work, so I can't say for certain if the vesomeyr would properly attach to and interface with a Trink, but I think they'll be able to hack them too. It'll be harder than hacking a Droden, as those are generally simpler machines, but it should be possible."
 * [When asked what Vesomeyr would taste like.] "Hmm, they'd likely be pretty chewy, slimy and a bit sticky, and likely won't taste very well by human standards. While the vesomeyr aren't directly poisonous, they could still be harmful when eaten. If you cook them enough, the hazardous substances can be neutralized for the most part, but you'll be left with barely any flesh and mostly just a molten puddle of goo: the tendrils are mostly made up of the Theleans' slimy outer skin cells."