Feature Series #1- Species - Lord of Rigel

We begin this 18 part series on discussing features found in Lord of Rigel with species. This seems like a fitting and good place to begin any discussion of a 4x game because this will tell you who you will get a chance to play. Lord of Rigel will feature three groups of species: Elder Races, player races, minor races. These three categories are significant because the player will interact with each in very different ways and each has a role to play in Lord of Rigel that is unique.
The Elder Races in Lord of Rigel are the Rigelans and the Arcturans. Both races have been in the galaxy for a vastly longer period of time than the younger races. They chose to stay behind when other Elder Races decided to leave the galaxy in order to explore beyond their galaxy. The Rigelans and Arcturans can be seen as guardians who were supposed to guide the younger races into maturing and at some point have those younger races take their place as galactic guardians so that the Rigelans and Arcturans could join the Elder races that left long ago. Ultimately these two species could not agree upon how best to fulfill their role and began cohearsing younger races into siding with the in order to wipe out the other side. The back story of the game is heavily reliant on these races and additionally the opposing sides will provide a choice to the player to join one side or to go it alone and push both species out of the galaxy. The Galactic Council will have two player power blocs each controlled by either the Rigelans or Arcturans. Players will need to navigate the waters of diplomacy in order to survive not being wiped out by the other side.
Player species are the ones that the player will get to play with from the beginning of the game. Lord of Rigel players can look forward to trying out 10 unique species that range from Humans, to shape shifters, to machines roaming the galaxy in search of a home. Additionally players can create their own custom species by selecting a species image and choosing custom stats that work for them. Player races are also susceptible to the whims of the Elder races. Initially many of the races will choose to side with one of the Elder races and will begin to form power blocs in the galaxy. However unlike the Elder races the player can try and bring player species into a new power bloc that they can build to force the Elder species out of the galaxy.
The last category of species are minor races. All of these species are pre-FTL (Faster Than Light) and are confined to one world. So why are they important you ask? Minor species will have traits or resources that can help a player and thus make them rewarding to work with. Additionally if diplomatic relations between the player and the minor species are high enough players absorb those species into their own empire. Additionally conquering a minor species will have diplomatic consequence for the elder species and many of the player species. We will discuss minor species more as we continue this series. Next week will be discussing galaxy generation so stay tuned!