Multi-Species Factions in Science Fiction

Spacedock delves into multi-species factions in Science Fiction.

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[Spacedock]

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[unpaintedarmy]

I'm not surprised he didn't talk about the Tau empire. They're a multi-species empire, but with how little the other races are depicted you wouldn't even know.

[owlwaifu]

I'm a big fan of multi species factions mostly because of my love of unique alien cultures and it's a shame it isnt done that often

[inductivegrunt]

When done right multi-species factions can be really great. Advent, Combine, the Covenant, and the Tau Empire are great examples in their own way. It can work, but conflict would arise if things go poorly. But that allows for amazing stories like with what happened with Halo. So it can work and can make for amazing stories.

[alexv]

As far as physical differences between aliens go, I appreciate that they retconned in Star Trek a reason for why so many species looked similar and were broadly compatible.

An ancient humanoid alien race seeded various worlds so that life would evolve into forms similar to their own. I don't believe they were officially named on the show, but it appears they were given the name of the Preservers.

[JaeSM]

New Stellaris DLC will have an origin where you start as several species, who were stolen from their pre-FTL civilizations but managed to escape. I think that's a really interesting jumping off point for this set-up. Literally, they were forced together, and now they'll work together to defend themselves, save their homeworlds and so on. So excited to try that out.

[arpandey]

In general, any interstellar "empire" should have many races in it because its far simpler to annex species into the empire rather than genocide them. The Roman empire started out Italian but eventually every person in the empire came to be known as Roman, with the same rights and privileges. The ottoman empire had an entire non-Turkic cast of warriors known as the janissaries.

[everythingsalright]

Ive always found the covenant to be interesting in the sense almost none of them like each other and its really just religious hope that holds it together, and even then just barely.

[csongor]

Some of my favourite world building aspect in both sci-fi and fantasy is how different species try to live together, what kind of considerations must be made so everyday items can be used by everyone, etc.

Also I'm surprised there wasn't any mention about Star Wars since technically the Republic was a multispecies government. But it's always nice to hear about X-com, not enough videos about that game series. Also extra points for specifically mentioning Torque.

[MegaBanane]

Another example from Star Trek would be the Xindi, which had multiple distinct species all originating from the same planet.

I would also say the Federation is more on the "very dentralized state" level rather than "very centralized super-national community" - all the species contribute to Star Fleet, but have their own ships still as well. But no species is making separate treaties with third parties, that is all handled by the federation itself as far as I could tell.

[michaelt.]

A thought that just came to mind; Whereas Star Trek sees many species come together, The Expanse actually depicts a species dividing itself.
Going beyond factionalism, but rather depicting actual physical distinctiveness between the various groups.

[mortman]

The thing about Quark's root beer rant is that at the very end even he admits that he hopes the Federation can save them. He has his views but also recognizes the benefits of the Federation system.

[michaellaramee]

I am currently playing my way through the Mass Effect trilogy and I appreciate the world building when they talk about food. In particular that Quarians and Turians can't eat the same food as Humans, Salarians, etc. I love when they talk about the jellyfish Hanar having massive water bills as an aquatic creatures. The volus as creatures that find oxygen toxic needing to wear their own suits. This is the world building I love

[bananabarge]

In Star Wars Legends, namely the Republic Commando Novelization, the Mandalorians were depicted as a true multispecies Faction as everybody who shared their culture and prove themselves worthy could be integrated. I like how it was fleshed out by the Mandos having quite a simple Language that would be easier to learn for most species and laying a heavy emphasis on adoption as a means to grow their popuation. Also being a very nomadic faction furthers believability. Having many humaniod species, that could hide under their helmets helps to support this points.

[DrownedInExile]

XCOM FTW! Just don't be surprised when you miss a 95% shot 😆
Also can we appreciate that XCOM is one of the rare sci-fi settings where the aliens actually have a plausible reason to invade our planet?
I agree with you, would love to see more examples of multi-race Federations, rather than Imperiums.

[arpandey]

Most interstellar empires should be multispecies given the prevalence of alien life in most works of sci fi.

[syppy]

I think it's really neat how you can describe The Federation, Borg and Dominion simply by interchanging four words, Equal, Oppressive, Diverse and Identical

Federation: Equal and Diverse
Dominion: Diverse yet Oppressive
Borg: Equal yet Identical

[ricardogens]

In Star Trek Online canon, the Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire/Romulan Republic are both multi-species civilizations. The Klingons have the Gorn and some Orion as vassal species. The Romulans have the Remans as a subject species.

[berandom]

The Plumbers from Ben 10 are a great example of a multi-species faction, albeit not mentioned or shown in the video.

[doodledibob]

The Starfinder TTRPG is really cool too - the Pact Worlds, the Veskarium, and Azlanti Star Empire all feature varying degrees of incorporation and conflicting sub-cultures. To say nothing of the multitude of NGO entities that exist, from private corporations to religious orders. "The Maple Table" has some great videos on Starfinder lore that talk about this, and there are plenty of books that have great worldbuilding detail.