Species: Giree

''This page pertains to the collaborative "Thrive Universe" project, and is not necessarily part of Thrive's official development. More information here and here.''The Giree are a spacefaring race in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Physiology
The Giree are a lanky species sharing traits with Earth's gastropods. A Giree’s tentacled head is topped with a single eye. Each arm ends with a four-digit hand, including its thumb. Their feet have three digits; the inner one is the largest, while the outer one, the smallest, is opposed to the other two and suspended further up the "ankle."

Giree are omnivores. Their extendable sucker-mouth located beneath their face-tentacles hosts a radula that can cut pieces of both plant and animal matter, but the mouth itself is incapable of properly chewing.

Culture
The Giree were once predisposed to shyness and compassion. However, this is, for the most part, no longer the case; their civilization was engulfed in a brutal unification war, which ended in the formation of the Sovereign Biktom Directorate. This war was the first of its kind, and it wracked the Giree race to its core.

As a result, they now have a cynical, suspicious disposition. Exceptions to this norm seldom rise far up the Directorate's ruthlessly competitive hierarchy.

Religion
The practice of organized religion has been strictly limited by the Directorate, ostensibly due to its notoriety after the Biktom-spanning unification war (religion was considered to have failed its role as a vessel of stability, a role the Directorate now occupies), but also due to the Directorate's desire to crush anything that could consolidate influence at its expense. As a result, roughly 85% of Giree are nonreligious.

Most of the remainder follow a belief system known as "Pattice," an ancient monotheistic religion centering around Raumtuck, a benevolent god whom early Pattice constituents recorded as having intervened on their behalf to repel hostile forces. The tenets of Pattice include the inherent tendencies towards courtesy and respect Giree have, but also the need to rise to self-defense when necessary. Some followers believe that Raumtuck will intervene once again, this time to cast off the Directorate, while others claim the Directorate itself is his intervention against another great war (a view the Directorate fosters through subterfuge).

Technology
The Giree are a reasonably advanced spacefaring race, utilizing warp technology to move faster than light. They have a habit of incorporating "petals" or "star points" into their structures and equipment.