Astrazoan

The shapeshifting astrazoans have lived as humans, lashuntas, verthani and many other races for the past few centuries, but their origins are shrouded in mystery. As even they have no records of their beginnings, it is widely assumed they came into being at some point during the Gap. They have little in the way of their own culture and strive to find their place in the galaxy.

An astrazoan in their native form resembles a seven-limbed, human-sized starfish, with a single visual sensor in the middle of each limb. Their skeleton is cartilaginous and their flesh jellylike, but an astrazoan can spontaneously mold and introduce pigment into their flesh to imitate the appearance of almost any creature of the same size. Astrazoans are capable of forming both male and female reproductive organs and thus are effectively hermaphrodites. Because most astrazoans live in humanoid societies with defined gender roles, it is common for them to develop a fixed gender identity, but just as many are gender-fluid.

There are very few astrazoans in the Pact Worlds (though no one can be certain of the exact number), and the majority of them reside on Absalom Station, Castrovel, Verces, and other areas where they can blend in with the local populace. They do so not for any sinister reason or even from fear, but out of a desire to make those whom they live among more comfortable. They are aware that their natural form might be a bit off putting to humanoids who primarily interact with only other humanoids.

On a hunch, a team of researchers recently compared the DNA of an astrazoan volunteer to samples from an ancient race known as ilee, who vanished from their home on Apostae during the Gap, and found a remarkable number of similarities. The ilee were known for being unique: no two of them looked alike. These researchers theorize that some of the ilee used highly advanced genetic engineering to completely transform themselves in response to an extinction-level threat; the astrazoans’ innate ability to control their forms is thought to be a side effect of this change, though some believe it was the intended purpose.