Umgah

Information
The Umgah (also known as Umgah Blobbies or simply Blobbies) are a species of perpetual pranksters inhabiting Beta Orionis I, a mountainous world with many small seas. The species are purple, blobbish organisms dotted in multiple eyes, mouths and tentacles, though due to a natural interest in bio-sciences and the fact that they amuse themselves by affixing extra appendages to their bodies, it is unknown if this is how the evolved naturally or simply how they've come to appear over time. The Umgah evolved to live subterranean lifestyles in moist and enclosed dwellings due to a fear of open areas and spaces, similar to acute agoraphobia.

The most apparent feature in the Umgah culture is humor — Umgah hate boredom above all else, and are always looking for more ways to have fun. However, an Umgah's sense of humor is particularly warped and seems to know no bounds, which has affected the greater galaxy as a whole more than once. Sometimes they even play cruel and harmful jokes on other races just to laugh their bellies off, seeming to favor the Spathi as victims due to their extreme, natural cowardice (and nearby location); A single Umgah is believed to have been responsible for the condemning of the Spathi into being bound to service as members of the Ur-Quan Hierarchy of Battle Thralls by switching the order of the choice rods on them; they are also guilty of impersonating the Ilwrath gods Dogar and Kazon, leading to the bloody genocide of the Pkunk by the Ilwrath. This makes Umgah essentially like a type of interstellar bully, as well. Despite their antics in teasing or bullying other neighboring species, the Umgah have maintained surprisingly friendly relationships with the Arilou Lalee'lay, even during wartime when they were on the opposing sides. The Arilou frequently visit the Umgah stars of Orionis, because one of their naturally occurring QuasiSpace Portals happens to be nearby.

Historically, it is said that the Umgah were the first race in the local region of space to fall to the might of the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za, and as such were the first local race to be granted Battle Thrall status. However, the Thraddash also claim this "honor," and it most probably belongs to them as the Kzer-Za, given the direction of their arrival, would have encountered the Thraddash before the Umgah. Given the Umgah nature of pranking, it is not beyond suspicion that they altered the galactic documentation as a prank on the Thraddash.

The Umgah would come to play a role in the events of the second Doctrinal Conflict and the subsequent defeat of both Ur-Quan factions. This is due to their receiving an injured Talking Pet, which had been rescued by the Arilou from an Ur-Quan shipwreck. Due to their affinity towards bio-science, the Umgah would quickly come to alter this benign creature into a vastly more malicious neo-Dnyarri, which would just as quickly take control of the entirety of their species with plans to exact some kind of revenge against their Ur-Quan subjugators. When the Captain came upon this he was able to free the Umgah from the neo-Dnyarri's psychic compulsion, and as thanks the blobbies rewarded him in true Umgah fashion—first by revealing their findings that the Mycon were biogenetically engineered by some other race, followed by a transfer of 500 biological data and sending four ships into the Captain's fleet... and then attacking their "great hero" en masse with their Drones, now referring to him as "great enemy".

HyperWave Caster tricks
Using a powerful HyperWave Caster, the Umgah played some "minor" pranks on the Spathi (with disastrous consequences), as well as a routine prank on the Ilwrath, which ended only when the Spathi stole the Caster, hiding it on their temporary homeworld, Epsilon Gruis I-A.

Ilwrath
Around 2147, the Umgah used their Caster to impersonate the twin Ilwrath gods, Dogar and Kazon, giving their commandments to their faithful followers through Channel 44. This came to blows as the Ilwrath rose into revolution with the believers in the HyperWave broadcasts battling their species' priest caste, whose reputation had already been on a downward spiral. With these initial priests defeated, "Dogar and Kazon" then commanded their followers to attack the "Bird Beings", which came to be interpreted by the Ilwrath as referring to the nearby Pkunk. All in all, the entirety of the Ilwrath's modern machinations have been manipulated by the Umgah as a "great galactic joke".

Spathi
The Umgah also used their Caster to impersonate several fictitious malevolent beings — the Grand Master Planet Eaters, Jud the Ineffable Vug (a prank which the Spathi claim not to have fallen for) and Killmaster 18.

Other pranks
When the Spathi civilization fell to the Kzer-Za, they, as all other races before them, were offered the choice to become either Fallow Slaves—trapped under a slave shield they could never escape from but that nothing could ever get through, either—or Battle Thralls—which could come and go at will but that had to serve their Kzer-Za masters as soldiers. The Spathi, being Spathi, obviously went for the Fallow Slave option, sent a white rod back to the Ur-Quan (which represented said choice), but the Umgah courier used to send it back swapped this rod for a black rod, which instead stood for choice to become a Battle Thrall. The Spathi have ever since been trapped in the horribly stressful aspect of war. It is presumed however that this prank led to the 'mental evolution' of certain Spathi to become heroic and the formation of the Black Spathi Squadron, much to the disliking of the rest of the species.

In addition, the Umgah are believed to have unleashed the Evil Ones' menace onto Spathiwa, accelerating the latter's transition to the space age by leaps and bounds.

Minor pranks
A list of more minor pranks known to have been pulled by the Umgah.
 * Capturing and dissecting a Mycon (they clonked it on the head to study its capability of causing genetic modification by just thinking it; they kept the incident secret, unwilling to suffer a Mycon or Ur-Quan retaliation, until The Captain asked them for their secrets after becoming Great Hero).
 * Clogging the life support systems of an entire Spathi Eluder fleet with foul-smelling goo (which resulted in some unwanted hostilities).
 * Changing The Captain's status from Great Hero to Great Enemy and attacking him after he saved them from the neo-Dnyarri threat.
 * Apologizing for declaring the captain as Great Enemy and making him "Honorary King", only to sound the "king-killing horn" and attack him.
 * Attempted to utilize their neo-Dnyarri to compel the Spathi to attack the VUX; this was thwarted by the creature's rise to power and subsequent conquering of the entire Umgah nation.
 * Attempted to drop a planetoid into the ocean of the "stupid nosers from Draconis" (AKA the Thraddash); this was prevented by both species choosing to become Battle Thralls, as the Ur-Quan forbade infighting amongst their hierarchy.

Known individuals

 * Flubbo