Druuge

The Druuge are greedy, piggish humanoids, who reside around the persei constellation. Their whole culture is an image of extreme capitalism, and all Druuge are the employees of a syndicate they call "The Crimson Corporation." The bosses of this corporation are no less than the overlords of their whole civilization. To the Druuge such Human concepts like love, kindness and morality are totally alien and laughable.

Life in Crimson Corporation is typical: there are good times, when benefit packages and bonuses improve and bad times, when the corporation has to lay off some employees. Only, if you're out of job, you're out of luck. Because everything on Druuge worlds is corporation property, every ex-employee is instantly trespassing and guilty of stealing corporation property, like air and sunlight. Only Punishment for that is the Furnace.

By their own words they are merchants, but a word "slave-trader" would suit them more. These silver-tongued devils always try to get alien captains to exchange their crew for them, for Fuel, "priceless Alien-artifacts" and Mauler starships.

Druuge starship bridges are a disturbing sight to behold as even the captains are in slave cloths and bound to chains. The crew (especially the unfortunate exchanged alien crew) are used as a living cannon fodder in battle when the ship needs more energy. They are ruthlessly thrown into the furnace.