Yep. The Galactic Guide mentions the Ch'Lonas resistance to radiation and high birthrate as reasons why the galaxy is lucky they haven't broken out of their corner of space...yet.
My take on Ch'Lonas reproduction is based on hunting wasps. Individual couples mate for life. (There are no "queens" in the Ch'Lonas hive cities.) Females are slightly larger and somewhat more aggressive than males. After copulation, the female lays eggs inside a paralyzed but still living host animal. Shortly thereafter the egg or eggs hatch and the larvae devours the First Prey under the watchful eyes of both parents. Upon emerging from the carcass, the larvae resembles an adult Ch'Lonas, only without the hard outer shell and with milky white, soft flesh.
Young Ch'Lonas are ravenously hungry and feeding them is a full time job. Both parents care for the young and are surprisingly gentle, nurturing parents. Later in life a Ch'Lonas adult will still become maudlin and sentimental about memories of 'larvae-hood".
It takes roughly a year for the larvae to reach adulthood. As young adults, they leave their birth home and enter the Ch'Lonas educational system. The parents almost immediately lose interest in their offspring, who are now completely on their own, and generally start making plans for the next batch.
Ch'Lonas can produce a fully trained adult Soldier in a little less than three years.
The Ch'Lonas female lays at least one egg but may lay up to 1+Constitution modifier number of eggs in one mating. For each egg after the first, a Fortitude save is attempted, DC: 15 + the number of previous eggs laid. Once the save has failed, no further eggs are produced by that mating.
(I wanted to play on the contrast between the Ch'Lonas as fierce, combative warriors and tender parents, with a strong sentimental streak that would seem oddly out of place with their adult character. Just to keep the PC's from seeing the species as merely "Bugmen" Raiders.)
Another aspect of the Ch'Lonas is their hostility toward weakness. Standard contact protocols call for them to attempt to Intimidate the opposing side. If the opponent shows no fear and seems willing to initiate combat, the Ch'Lonas will suddenly back off. The least attempt to avoid conflict is an invitation for them to attack.
In practice this leads to a squad of fighters immediately swarming at any ship that enters through the jumpgate. If that ship targets the fighters and is obviously ready for battle, the fighters will veer off and let their superiors determine what to do about the intruder vessel. If the intruder attempts to negotiate or sends "We are Peaceful!" messages, the fighters attack.
Subsequent responses depend on how the battle with the fighters turned out. Other vessels may also make aggressive challenges, but generally, the Ch'Lonas don't view one vessel as enough of a threat to respond with their full fleet.
One of the things I haven't fully fleshed out yet is the exact appearance of the Ch'Lonas. I've got two basic ideas, both working from the description in the Galactic Guide as "Bugmen".
Choice A) The CGI'ed version. These Ch'Lonas would have four limbs, but they would be very long and spindly with unusual degrees of rotation. The bodies would be superficially "humanoid" but much more obviously "wasp-like". They would move in a rapid skittering style. Their internal skeletons would be closer to cartilage than bone and quite flexible. (The model I keep coming up with in my head would be rather like the humanoid Yellowjacket paramour that's with Hypnos in the movie "Monkeybone". Obscure? Sure, but that's what's stuck in my head.)
Choice B) The Man in a Suit option. Casting would call for very tall, very thin actors (I'm thinking basketball players on the skinny side.) Eyes would be very large and half-wrapped around the sides of the head with antennae, but the mouth would be disturbingly humanoid, even capable of observable emotional expression, with nasty needle-teeth.
Hands would end in long extensions with very long, clawed digits (prosthetics in the "show"). Body covering would be shiny, chitinous, but otherwise they would look very humanoid.
As a player, which would seem more plausible and more in line with the style of the show? Which would be "creepier"? Got another image I could use instead?
