Ralyeh



The Ralyeh are a race of warlike cephalopods from the planet Zek in the Rallos system. Their empire is called the Ralyeh Theocracy, and they are devoted to conquering the galaxy in the name of their Elder God.

Description
The Ralyeh are cephalopods who bear a strong resemblance to squid or cuttlefish. Their heads protrude forward from the body, with no real neck. They possess large forward-facing eyes on either side of heads and short feeder tentacles around their mouths. On a squat Ralyeh body is two legs and four arms which end in two grasping tentacles. The top two arms are larger, while the bottom two are shorter. Due to their aquatic nature, Ralyeh possess gills on their sides, and greatly value ocean planets.

Ralyeh society is highly religious, and Ralyeh sometimes refer to themselves as the Ralyeh Devoted, referring to their worship of the Elder God. The Elder God is a grisly diety whose scriptures revolve around inevitable doom and death. As a result, the Ralyeh tend to be quite morbid. They are also very warlike, willing to kill or convert the rest of the galaxy in the name of their god. There is some suggestion that the Elder God may in fact be an ancient space-faring race, whom they worship due to finding ancient Artifacts on Zek. The race is led by Acolyte Zar, who, after a vision from the Elder God, launched a bloody inquisition on Zek and looks to take his crusade to the stars.

Racial traits
The default racial traits for Ralyeh are:


 * Aquatic
 * Resourceful
 * Meticulous
 * Poor Farmers
 * Holy Land

Unique Melee Abilities

 * Ink Spray
 * Power Staff
 * The Shocker

Unique Experimental Technology

 * Ashes To Cashes
 * Ralyeh Temple
 * Ralyeh Shrine

Personality
The Ralyeh AI personality is randomised from the following traits:


 * Aggressive
 * Technologists
 * Genocidal
 * Mercantile

Notable Ralyeh

 * Acolyte Zar, leader of the Ralyeh Theocracy
 * Xalbar, Ralyeh Accountant.

Ships
Ralyeh ships can be confusing, as early ships point forwards whilst larger ones appear to point backwards. Ralyeh ships are the only ones in the game with animated moving parts (tentacles).

Combat hulls

 * Inquisitor (Fighter)
 * Zion (Corvette)
 * Missionary (Frigate)
 * Acolyte (Cruiser)
 * Sceptre (Battleship)
 * Godcaller (Titan)

Non combat hulls

 * Freighter
 * Colony Ship
 * Construction ship

Trvia

 * The Ralyeh are inspired by the Cthulu Mythos, created by H.P. Lovecraft. This is evident in their feeder tentacles and worship of the bloodthirsty Elder God. The name Ralyeh is inspired by Lovecraft's legendary city of R'lyeh where Cthulu is supposedly imprisoned.
 * In Stardrive 1, the larger Ralyeh ships engines were located in front, as indicated by the tentacles on the hulls. This is no longer the case in Stardrive 2.