They are a naturally curious and easygoing species that likes to reach out and learn about other sentients! So they have their own ancestral belief systems, but it's quite common that in their attempts to learn about others, they end up connecting to their religions more than they do their own.

Robocod! I remember playing it with my friends and really loving the Christmas theming. I don't think I ever reached the end, though--there are some later levels with some horrible background effects that made me have to stop playing after a while.

Precisely!

Many thanks!

Thank you so much! Religion is so interesting to me, and it always puzzles me how static it can be in some sci-fi and fantasy. Who's to say a Vulcan wouldn't vibe with a human religion, or an earthling with the cult of Kahless? It's a personal thing as much as it is cultural, if not more.

Even they don't know, as far as anyone can tell! But they're also remarkably unconcerned with finding the answer to that question, which strikes many as strange.

Of note here are the Voices, insect-like aliens whose scaled wings can trace their exact lineage... back about 80 or so years, at which point they all lead up to a single individual, then abruptly end. There are no records of Voices anywhere before that--sightings, archeological evidence, nothing.

According to the Gambit, their Forefathers were banished from the stars and tried to claim domain in Regrilles. The Wild got so mad at their hubris it exterminated most of them, mutated the rest into its children, and left the final few to forever suffer in a planet that hates their guts.

Regrillians have the Gambit of Sky, Sea, and Soil, a tale explaining both their origin, that of their sacred wrecks, and that of the strange posthuman Beastgods that prowl the jungles of Regrilles and kidnap people. Think of them as "sufficiently advanced science fae folk".

They're highly sought as mechanical engineers across the galaxy, even by people who don't share their belief, because for all their idiosyncrasies (or due to them?) they are miracle workers in their field. Even much more advanced species can't squeeze as much as they do out of so little.

Their belief structure states that every machine has a soul, and that more complex ones have a soul AND hundreds of smaller spirits running around in there. So to keep, say, a ship functioning, you need to keep its physical aspect working while still appeasing its metaphysical aspect.

They call themselves Mechanists! Within Regrilles, they commune with the ancestral shipwrecks that pepper their homeworld and petition them for intervention. Through ritual, prayer, and clever thinking, they get those old replicators to squeeze out one more bag of flour, advanced weapon, or medkit.

That's such a cool idea! You should definitely give it a go.

His goal would be to find a situation where he can finally overclock himself doing a good enough thing that he makes up for his mistakes in the past, literally becoming superhuman for a few seconds in order to be the hero he never allowed himself to be.

I haven't found his novel yet, but one day.

Meanwhile the Blossoming (sedentary) Tellari live in communities that are large enough to support traditional research institutions. Any Tellari is welcome to join, though more emphasis is placed on social sciences than their traveling cousins often find tasteful. end/6

Alien species each have their take on the availability of science, both on a general level and culturally speaking. For example, the Seeding (nomads) of Tel Prime trade in "secrets" that are often scientific research framed as fiction, and these storytellers are their own social class. 5/6

Science and art as pursuits are open to all there (as hobbies, since work is often looked down on), but regularly reach dead-ends due to the Caretaker systems already providing most solutions to practical problems. Serious scientists find it easier to simply take their work elsewhere. 4/6

Technoshamans like Diodorus skirt this restriction by being religious and community leaders and learning theory as a supplement to their theological and mechanical engineering education.

Meanwhile, in the urban world of Veter IV, a network of connected caretaker AIs run the megacities. 3/6

For example, Regrillians (humans of Regrilles III), have been toiling to survive in a harsh world for centuries. Manual labor is vitally necessary and automation is all but non-existent, so theoretical pursuits like science and philosophy are relegated to the weak and the elderly. 2/6