THE ALIEN OF THE DAY

VOGANS

Planet or Origin: Voga / Planet of Gold / Neo Phobos

Vogans  are grey skinned sentient humanoids with  deep-set eyes and protruding facial features on a large domed head with some scarce white hair on its backside and jaw. From observations, no sexually differenciation is apparent and reproduction methodes are unknown. Despite a surprisingly simple technology, such as motor-boats and projectile weapons, Vogans were in contact with offworlders - mainly for commercial and defensive reasons, as their planet contained unimaginable of gold, they were harassed during the war against the Cybermen in the 26th century. 

There planet's gold was used to create glitterguns which could kill Cybermen. In order to stop this, the Cybermen attempted to destroy Voga, they failed but the planet was nevertheless blasted into space. This forced the Vogans to move underground and set up a troglodyte isolationist regime. After floating in space for over 300 years, Voga was captured by Jupiter's pull. Shortly after this, the humans rediscovered Voga and put the Nerva Beacon in its orbit. 50 years later, the Cybermen learned of its whereabouts  and tried against to destroy it still to no avail. 

The Vogan are led by a High Council, which was in turn led by a President or Chief Counciller. The Council had their own militia, which defended the centre of the planet. The Vogan Guilds were represented by the Guardians, who protected the mining galleries and the surface of the planet. The High Council were in favour of the isolationist policy, while the Guardians believed that the Vogans should rejoin the rest of the galaxy. This schism caused a minor civil war, which happened to have occurred when the Cybermen tried to destroy it for the second time.

By the 40th century, Voga had been long since abandoned and was nothing more than a lifeless asteroid.

Source: Doctor Who Universe, (DWN: Revenge of the Cybermen, (EDA: Father Time),  (NSA: Night of the Humans) 

 

MARTIAN BARBAPAPA / POUMPOUM

Planet of origin: it i never clearly stated if th Martian Barbapapa are originary from Mars as it is never clearly stated if the Barbapapa family found on Earth is originary from our planet. In both cases, it is indeed their home.

Martian Barbapapa look a lot like their earthly cousins, being sentient  highly malleable organic vaguely sluglike organism are to mimic on sight almost any shape they see even very complex mechanical contraptions such as ailsnes, submarines and such, or even to create original forms dedicated to specialised uses. They can live in almost any type of environments, demonstrate extraordinary learning capacities, being able to invent complex machinery, from sailboats to interplanetary spaceships, and possess uncanny empathy with all forms of life, being able to domesticate most animals upon contact.

Contrarily to their earthbound counterparts which come in all colors of the spectrum, martian barbapapas are black and white, either striped or dotted, and sport a pair o small antennas coming out of their forehead. Their social structure is based on a tightly knit familial structure. They live in deep martian canyons that they'veturned into gardens.

Source: Barbapspa on Mars, by Annette Tison and Talus Taylor.

SAN'SHYUUM / PROPHETS

Planet or Origin: Janjur Qom, a now destroyed planet with a gravity lower than Earth in the Milky Way galaxy.

The San 'Shyuum are a physically frail mammal-like species acting as leader caste in the interspecies interstellar community known as the  Covenant overwhich they exert complete religious and political control by enforcing a misguided theology based on the false belief that firing a interstellar-range weapon of mass destruction left by the now extinct species known as the Forerunners and known as the Halo Array will start what they call the Great Journey, transcending them into a god-like status. They are also responsible for studying all other Forerunner artifacts - considered holy - and with them to develop new technologies. Their position of power is based on the claim of having evolved on a former Foreunner colony.

Physically frail creatures, they prefer to move around using anti-gravity technology. A life of physical inactivity leaves most if not all Prophets withered and weak but they still remain a strenght greater than that of humans in their arms.  Each Prophet has distinct, often fur-covered lobes of skin hanging underneath their chin similar to a beard, known as "wattles". Prophets of greater age have skin lobes on either side of their heads reminiscent of ears; despite this resemblance, the San 'Shyuum actually receive sound at the back of the head. Older Prophets appear to lose the pigment in their skin as they age and turn a shade of grey, then white. Prophets have three digits on each hand. They have parts of their brain showing through absences of skin on their heads, while skin is still there, it may be possible that they evolved to allow their brain to grow to such a size that the skin is there simply to hold it in place. Anagatictechnologies gives them long lifespan but the fertility cycles of their females are short and few and far between, which would make it difficult for them to have children. 

With regards to naming practices, each San 'Shyuum has a given name and a family name. However, once they rise to a certain level in the bureaucracy, they prefer to be addressed by their title.

Sometime around 110,000 B.C. the San 'Shyuum were part of an alliance with the Humans' empire, forming a major power in the Orion Arm of the galaxy. During this period, they encountered the Flood for the first time, but the spread of the infection was successfully pushed back by the humans while it was still relatively minor. This alliance ended when the San 'Shyuum surrendered to the Forerunners during the following Human-Forerunner war. All San'Shyum on Janjur Qom were killed when the Halo Array was fired during the next Flood outbreak dubbed the Forerunner-Flood War. Their homeworld would eventually be reseeded with specimens that were preserved on the Forerunner Ark structure. Having lost nearly all memory of the Forerunners, the San'Shyum  discovered Forerunner technology on their homeworld and based their religion around the artifacts they found. The beliefs they developed led to bloody civil wars and part of the population leaving their planet, leaving it deeply scarred toward 2100 BCE.  
The war between the Sangheili and the San 'Shyuum began soon after their first encounter in 938 BCE. Sangheili believed that Forerunner technology should not be touched or used for personal gain while most of the San 'Shyuum believed otherwise, and disassembled Forerunner relics to produce their own versions. Their first meeting resulted in a bloody engagement. Physically the Sangheili were far superior. One Sangheili warrior was the equal to at least ten San 'Shyuum. However, technologically, the San 'Shyuum had the advantage and wiped out the Sangheili armada using hit-and-run tactics. 
Eventually in 852 B.C.E., in order to ensure the survival of both races, the Sangheili gave up their own conviction, and the two races merged to form the early Covenant with the San 'Shyuum as the head religious leaders and the Sangheili as the physical backbone and defenders of the Prophets. Soon after, their homeworld was destroyed approx. 648 BCE as the result of a natural stellar collapse and they moved to the mobile-planetoid High Charity which was in turn destroyed by the Sangheili when it was the scene  of a new Flood outbreak in the 2550ies. Their current total population is now estimated at less than one thousand.

Source: Halo Universe, Halo Wikia

JOTOKI

 Art by Souhjiro, copyright © 2009

(Note: no hyperlink was given to the author of this image on the site on which it was found. To anybody who has these informations, please froward them so that they may be added here. Thanks!)

Jotoki are non-humanoid sentient communal organisms that developed a space faring civilisation.
The Jotoki resemble large, spindly starfish. They are born as small aquatic swimmers, most of which are eaten by predators; in time, survivors will merge in groups of five to form one collective organism, which grows into an arboreal creature; its tails become arms, and its fins differentiate into fingers. When it grows large enough, the Jotok imprints itself on an adult and enters a stage of rapid learning and brain growth. A Jotok who desires a family can simply go into the wilderness and "harvest" an adolescent. Unimprinted adult Jotoki are considered feral, and regarded as little more than animals. Since the five subunits that make up one Jotok individual are not necessarily genetically related, reproduction does not require sex; a Jotok can simply find a pond and deposit its offspring to begin the cycle again.
The Jotoki were experts at trade. Their interstellar trade empire was quite developed for its time, but when the Jotoki attempted to use the Kzin as mercenaries, the Kzin revolted and conquered the Jotoki. Before their enslavement, Jotoki operated in groups called "clanpods", as part of their former planet-wide tradeweb. Details of this arrangement are not known. Jotok technological specialties included gravity polarizers, linguistics and biotechnology. They had the ability to force-grow clones to adulthood. The Kzinti believe that there is a free Jotoki fleet wandering amongst the stars, which would have provided their most strenuous opposition.
After the Man-Kzin Wars, humans recovered some Jotoki swimmers in an attempt to breed a free Jotok species.
Source: Larry Niven, Known Space Universe, (informations adapted from the Wikipedia entry), "The Asteroid Queen", by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling, "In The Hall of the Mountain King", by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling, "The Heroic Myth of Lieutenant Nora Argamentine", by Donald Kingsbury

THE ALIEN OF THE DAY