Are the Ogorodé... ... ...Greys?

[Raphael]

The first time we meet an Ogorodé in Against Peace and Freedom, they're described as "a small, sad, grey, nondescript alien with big eyes". Well, to me at least, that sounds suspiciously like those Grey aliens UFO believers keep talking about. Should we conclude that in the Incatena Universe, performing bizarre experiments on abducted humans used to be one of those jobs that nobody else wanted? Or that the experiments were commissioned by another species that hired Ogorodé to carry them out in order to hide their own looks from us?

[Emily]

it's actually just descendants of benedict cumberbatch

[zompist]

The first time we meet an Ogorodé in Against Peace and Freedom, they're described as "a small, sad, grey, nondescript alien with big eyes". Well, to me at least, that sounds suspiciously like those Grey aliens UFO believers keep talking about.

No, I've never liked those depictions. The Ogorodé are gray to make them very ignorable, and they have big eyes to look inoffensive if not exactly cute.

(Are aliens likely to have large eyes as infants? Could be, for the same reason as earthly animals do: everything else can grow, but you want the head to be pretty well formed at birth.)

[BGMan]

The first time we meet an Ogorodé in Against Peace and Freedom, they're described as "a small, sad, grey, nondescript alien with big eyes". Well, to me at least, that sounds suspiciously like those Grey aliens UFO believers keep talking about. Should we conclude that in the Incatena Universe, performing bizarre experiments on abducted humans used to be one of those jobs that nobody else wanted? Or that the experiments were commissioned by another species that hired Ogorodé to carry them out in order to hide their own looks from us?

Greys are described as threatening, with advanced technology and the ability to mess with humans' brain waves, that kind of thing.

I picture Ogorodé as more like Ewoks. And if there's biological experimentation going on, I wouldn't be surprised if it's unscrupulous humans using Ogorodé as cheap human proxies like we now use monkeys and rats, assuming their biology is close enough to human to make it relevant.

[Raphael]

I picture Ogorodé as more like Ewoks. And if there's biological experimentation going on, I wouldn't be surprised if it's unscrupulous humans using Ogorodé as cheap human proxies like we now use monkeys and rats, assuming their biology is close enough to human to make it relevant.

Their physical description isn't very Ewok-like, though.

[BGMan]

I picture Ogorodé as more like Ewoks. And if there's biological experimentation going on, I wouldn't be surprised if it's unscrupulous humans using Ogorodé as cheap human proxies like we now use monkeys and rats, assuming their biology is close enough to human to make it relevant.

Their physical description isn't very Ewok-like, though.

Are they hairless?

Maybe they’re more like Dobby from the Harry Potter movies then? He fits the description of a semi-slave, low-status Ogorodé worker better, at least.

[zompist]

I feel I have to emphasize that the Ogorodé are filling an evolutionary niche, and very successfully. They live on a thousand planets among dozens of species. It would be insulting to compare them to dogs or cattle, who have multiplied enormously under the humans, but it's a very stable niche to be an unthreatening #2 to the dominant species.

[Richard W]

I feel I have to emphasize that the Ogorodé are filling an evolutionary niche, and very successfully. They live on a thousand planets among dozens of species. It would be insulting to compare them to dogs or cattle, who have multiplied enormously under the humans, but it's a very stable niche to be an unthreatening #2 to the dominant species.

Well, the Ogorodé have done well if they collaborate with dozens of species, but Amerindian dogs have failed badly (largely replaced by European dogs), Chinese domesticated leopard cats have been replaced by domesticated European/African wildcats, and cattle are threatened by vegans.

[zompist]

I feel I have to emphasize that the Ogorodé are filling an evolutionary niche, and very successfully. They live on a thousand planets among dozens of species. It would be insulting to compare them to dogs or cattle, who have multiplied enormously under the humans, but it's a very stable niche to be an unthreatening #2 to the dominant species.

Well, the Ogorodé have done well if they collaborate with dozens of species, but Amerindian dogs have failed badly (largely replaced by European dogs), Chinese domesticated leopard cats have been replaced by domesticated European/African wildcats, and cattle are threatened by vegans.

You're right that there could be inter-species competition for the #2 spot, but that's within the context of a single planet. In the Incatena universe there is no FTL travel, so competitors would have to get into space first. Very likely the Ogorodé are the only sentient species in our neck of the galaxy that a) got to space and b) accepted living in this ecological niche.