Krolp

The Krolp are a sapient, spacefaring alien race which invaded Earth in the 21st century.

Biology
Krolp are large centauroid creatures with striped skin, similar to a tiger's. They have two arms, four legs, and a tail. Their heads have a hard jagged mouth and glowing eyes, like a Jack-o'-Lantern. Their hands have six digits: four fingers in the middle and a thumb on each side. The fingers have claws, while the thumbs have nails. Their bodies emit a characteristic odor which is similar to the smell of cheese, and their laughter sounds more like farting.

Consuming alcohol, such as in whiskey, has the same effect on the Krolp physiology as it does on Humans. Some Krolp chew snarfar, a plant which is poisonous to Humans and addictive to Krolp.

Culture and society
Krolp are a hostile species which conquers and occupies territories on other planets by force and treat the natives as inferiors. Krolp who commit crimes against others of their own race will be exiled from their settlements and forced to live among these subjugated natives, but still view themselves as superior. The Krolp nation is ruled by a single leader on their homeworld, whose position is apparently distinct from that of a king, a president, or an ayatollah.

Their technology is extraordinarily advanced, based on the manipulation of gravitational and nuclear forces. Their weapons can cut through an armored tank as if it was nothing, and their transparent armor is so resistant to Earth weaponry that it usually takes Humans two entire armored divisions to take down a single individual Krolp.

Krolp culture includes titles of respect, but they only use those among themselves and not for conquered races. They take all kinds of loots from their conquered world, from native art works to raw metals, the latter which their technology allows them to mine from as deep as a hundred kilometers below surface.

Appearances

 * "Vilcabamba", by Harry Turtledove (2010)