Description: Look at any number of old Earth UFO reports and you'll see what the fraal look like. Thin bodies, large black oval eyes, and pale skin are all their traits. They are roughly as tall as humans, but only weigh about fifty-five kilograms, on average. Most are completely hairless, but a few actually do have wisps of white or silver hair on their heads. Female fraal were never seen by Earth until the zaishan war. The females average being slightly taller than the males of the species, and usually wear elaborate head dresses.
History: The oldest of the League races, it has now been confirmed that the fraal used to frequently have contact with Earth nearly five millennia ago. As the fraal tell it, they were never really interested in physical technology. It was mental abilities that consumed them, and the vast majority of fraal didn't care about the stars, but rather about evolving their minds to pass beyond their physical bodies through the study of psionics. The way they achieved space flight, and most other physical technology was rather odd. One out of every ten thousand fraal has no psionic ability whatsoever. None. These were the fraal who built to improve the physical world (these are the closest beings the fraal have to mentally challenged individuals). The psionic fraal looked on these beings with pity, but they psionically challenged fraal continued on.
Soon after the fraal had achieved space flight, they began to explore the galaxy. The first sentient race they came across were the early humans. Not having any clue how their presence might affect human development, the fraal landed on various parts of the globe and began first contact with the various tribes. The fraal knew enough to keep from giving these primitive creatures advanced technology. This contact continued for several years before the fraal saw their error. The humans began to see them as gods, and began building huge monuments to them. Although the fraal tried to explain they were not divine, the humans continued. Not wanting to damage this race's development any farther, the fraal withdrew.
The non-psionic fraal continued to watch over Earth from afar and study the development of this race. Over the millennia, they saw the many wars and triumphs of the humans. However when the humans developed atomic technology (something the fraal had bypassed entirely) the fraal saw a possibly disastrous end for this species. The fraal began to abduct people to study the effect of the increasing concentration of radiation in Earth's atmosphere. These abductions were always carried out quickly and painlessly, and the memories were almost always erased.
At this time, a couple of envious non-psionic fraal saw the latent psionic potential in humans. They abducted humans and conducted less-than-ethical experiments, consisting of studying mental tolerance levels through exposure to aversive stimuli, psionic responses to fear, etc. These experiments were found out by the other fraal near the beginning of the 21st century, and were stopped.
At this time, the non-psionic fraal received a call from their brothers on the home world. A plague had broken out and the physical scientists were needed back home. The next time the fraal would see the humans would be at the battle of Earth.
Psychology and Culture: One might wonder why, in five Earth millennia, the fraal have not developed far beyond the humans, considering they started their civilization aeons before humanity did. The answer is simple. The average life span of a human was about one hundred years (although now closer to three hundred). The average life span of a fraal has always been about two-and-a-half millennia. Because of this long life, the fraal never seem to be in a hurry, and seem to lack motivation. Also, only one in every three fraal females can bare children. This greatly lessens their reproductive rate (fraal refuse genetic treatment to correct this flaw). They may begin something, then leave it for a couple hundred years, then pick up where they left off. This has changed somewhat with their close relationship with the now space travelling humans.
As for culture, the fraal are godless. They have
never believed in a divine power, but rather believed in their inner power
expressed through psionics (several non-psionic fraal have become religious,
but its not a popular trend). The psionic fraal now take a much more active
stance in interplanetary affairs. Coming under heavy attack from the zaishan
seems to have woken them up. The fraal are mostly an equal society, although
most leaders are female. The psionic fraal now view the non-psionic fraal
with far more respect, for without them, the fraal species wouldn't have
survived the plague, and then the war. Recreation for psionic fraal includes
things like meditation, although humans enjoy watching fraal mental tug-of-war
games.