Syreen
| Syreen | ||||||||
| SyreenComm.png Much more than a warm, breathing pin-up | ||||||||
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The Syreen are a race of bipedal hominids astonishingly similar to the Humans.1 There has been much speculation about the relationship between Humans and Syreen, including possible intervention on the part of the Arilou.
Physiology
Physiologically and genetically, Syreen are Human: the only visible differences between the races are that Syreen skin tint is somewhat more bluish and their retinas reflect light like an Earth cat's. Additionally, the typical Syreen is more comfortable in a slightly warmer and more humid environment than the typical Human. According to some, Humans and Syreen have nearly identical diurnal cycles, exhibiting even further similarity between the two species. Other sources claim that the Human diurnal cycle differs greatly from that of the Syreen, which consists of twenty hours of wakefulness followed by ten hours of rest.2 By scanning Syra, the former variant can be confirmed.
Syreen are also more psychically active than humans, to such an extent that the captain of a Penetrator starship can make use of a psychic amplifier to coerce enemy crew. It is not known if Penetrator captains are chosen for exceptional psychic potential, or how common psychic potential is in the general Syreen population, although they do not evince casual telepathic powers that races such as the Pkunk or even the Zoq-Fot-Pik do. On Earth, stereotypes of the Syreen are rampant: "Space Amazons," "Space Gypsies," "warm, breathing pinups," and other sorts abound. Of course, the truth is more complex than such stereotypes would imply.
Kudos! What a neat way of thkniing about it.
Known individuals
Gameplay notes
Sources of information
Both the Arilou and the Melnorme races can provide the location of the new Syreen homeworld. Fwiffo also knows the location but is somewhat confused, giving the star system name as "BugSquirt".
Another alien race must reveal the nature of the Mycon Deep Children in order for the Syreen to recognize the significance of the Deep Child Egg Case Fragments. The only races that are able to provide this information are the Melnorme, the Druuge, the Arilou, and the Mycon themselves.
The Ur-Quan vault containing the Syreen fleet of starships can be found by searching the few stars that match the clues Talana provides—a red/orange star within 200 HyperSpace units of Betelgeuse and likely in Ur-Quan space. The Zoq-Fot-Pik can give the exact location.
Notes and references
- 1From the 2007 IRC chat with Toys for Bob (robot is Fred Ford, PR3 is Paul Reiche III):
- 23:22 <@Meep-Eep> This one's from me: Given that the Syreen can convince individuals of each species to jump ship using their mental powers, the state in which the humans came back from a Syreen ship after the crew exchange mentioned in the SC1, and the monster growl in the sex scene, is what we see really the Syreen's true form?
- 23:24 <+PR3> The Syreen went through a bit of a transformation from SC1 to SC2. At first they were space succubi (how DO you spell that). In SC2 I felt compelled to give them a lot more 'reason' to act the way they do.
- 23:25 <+robot> About the Syreen: if you've met some of the human women I know, this would not be a very mysterious question.
- 23:25 <+PR3> However, the Syreen should ALWAYS be sexy and strong. The image of them in SC3 was spooky and unpleasant.
- 2The Syreen conversation in the PC version state that the diurnal cycles are nearly identical. The conversation in the 3DO version gives the 20 hour/10 hour diurnal cycle.
- 3Star Control Manual, pp. 28-29