Skrull

The Skrulls were born from their homeworld Skrullos within the Andromeda Galaxy, but they have found their way to many parts of the known universe.

Biology
Skrulls are a Reptilian-Humanoid race, most are physically malleable, able to alter their shape, size, and/or color at will. Skrull females lay eggs like Earth reptiles but have mammary glands and nurse their young like Earth mammals.
 * Note, the Skrull are biologically compatible with both Humans and Kree, and are able to produce fully viable offspring.

Empire
The Skrull empire is at least tens of millions of years old, making it the oldest continuous interstellar empire in the universe. They have conquered or colonized every suitable world in the Andromeda galaxy and a 1000 races throughout the galaxy. Since the reign of Dorrek the First (10 million years ago) the Skrull empire has also reached into neighboring galaxies which makes it also the oldest intergalactic empire in cosmos.

It has had two mortal enemies for millions of years, the Kree and the Dire Wraiths (a splinter branch of Skrulls who practiced dark magic and became a vampiric psychic race whom were chased out of the Andromeda galaxy). In addition they have warred with the Badoon (a reptilian race) who have at times allied with the Kree. The Skrulls are members of the Galactic Council, along with the other major galactic and interstellar powers and together with them have faced major threats to the Local Group of galaxies.

It is the most resilient empire in the Local Group of galaxies, despite the catastrophes it has experienced (e.g. the Shaper of Worlds, Galactus, or the Annihilation Wave). Unlike the Shi'ar (Kree) or the Kree (both the Shi'ar and Phalanx), it has not been known to have been conquered by an alien empire. Neither has it experienced an alien infiltration of it's worlds unlike the Shi'ar (both the Brood and the Phalanx). Nor has it witnessed a hostile alien or groups of aliens seize the throne unlike both the Kree (the Inhumans and the Skrull infiltrator Nenora) or the Shi'ar (the human mutant Vulcan).

Government
The empire is ruled by a totalitarian monarchy headed by an Emperor or Empress. Governors are in charge of the individual worlds. Admirals and generals command the Skrull fleets. During times of fragmentation, the various parts are ruled by warlords (ex-governors and generals).

Society
The Skrulls have a caste system, and so far several castes have been seen which are warrior, scientist, priest, and worker. At the top of Skrullian society is the Emperor and the members of the royal family, with an aristocracy of nobles below the royals.

Religion
The Skrulls worship Kly'bn and his bride Sl'gurt. Those two in turn had enslaved the gods of a thousand alien pantheons. Other Skrull gods and goddesses may exist, at least one the Skrull goddess of love is known.

History
The Skrulls evolved on the planet Skrullos in the Drax system in the Andromeda Galaxy. Almost a billion years ago the early Skrulls were visited by the alien giants known as Celestials. Like they had done on many other planets, the Celstials experimented on the Skrulls ancestors and divided the species into three branches. The "normal" branch which while powerless had the potential for benevolent mutations, the shapeshifting Deviant branch and the near immortal Eternal branch.

Like on many other planets, the Deviant and Eternal branches went to war and in the case of the Skrulls, the Deviant branch won and wiped out all of the normals and the Eternals, with the excepion of Kly'bn who convinced the Skrulls to spare him in exchange for becoming their everlasting embodiment of what it meant to be a Skrull. The leader of the Deviants, Sl'gurt accepted his offer and volunteered to become his bride. Since Kly'bn was to represent the eternal nature and true form of the Skrulls, Kly'bn vowed never to stay in a single shape for an exteneded time. The two would become the Skrulls gods.

In time the Skrulls abandoned their warlike ways and became peaceful and scientifically minded. Their shapeshifting abilities allowed them to make great contacts with other alien races by simply changing their appearance to look like them. The early Skrull Empire that resulted from these contacts was one based on free trade and mutual co-operation.

Eventually the Skrulls would voyage to the Magellanic Clouds where they discovered the Kree homeworld of Hala. The Kree and Coati who were the two races that shared the planet were still in the dawn of their civilization. The Skrulls decided to manufacture a test in order to determine which race was worthy of receiving Skullian aid and support. A band of Coati and Kree were transported to the Moon of Earth in the Milkyway Galaxy. Here the Skrulls created an artificial environment called "The Blue Area of the Moon" and left the two races to accomplish what they could.

The Skrulls deemed the work of the Coati to be superior which greatly angered the Kree band who killed their Skrullian judges and Coati competitors. They stole the Skrulls advanced technology and due to the immense travel distances, it would take the Skrulls decades to learn of the Kree's activities. By the time they did, the Kree had grown advanced and audacious enough to attack the Skrullian home galaxy which launched the Kree-Skrull war which would last for millennia.

The Skrulls developed the vicious streak required for intergalactic war and with the millennia their entire culture was remade in the warrior image. The Skrulls would come across the Earth which held strategic importance in their war against the Kree and decided to attempt to conquer it. Afraid that the Kree would learn of a full scale invasion, they decided to initially only send a few agents. These agents were foiled by the humans however who had also been manipulated by the Celestials and whose "normal" branch was beginning to manifest super-human powers at a greater scale.

The humans strongest representatives would arrive on the Skrullian throneworld and demand that the Skrullian Emperor leave their planet alone. The same demand would be made towards the Kree who had also gained an interest in Earth. The Skrulls would send many agents in an attempt to subjugate Earth but no full scale invasions.

Eventually the Skrull throneworld was consumed by Galactus, a cosmic force of nature who devours planets in order to maintain the cosmic balance. With the loss of their central government the Skrull Empire collapsed into several warring factions with each governor declaring himself "emperor". The Skrulls would only fare worse when they were one of first major interstellar empires to be targeted by the Annihilation Wave. The Annihilation Wave was a gigantic army that came from the Negative Zone, a Universe outside our own. The Annihilation Wave's superweapon, the Harvester of Sorrows would destroy 90% of Skrull controlled planets before it was destroyed by a Skrullian champion; Kl'rt. With their empire decimated, a large faction of Skrulls lead by the extremist Queen Veranke launched an all out invasion of Earth.

Veranke was a religious extremist and was convinced that the Skrullian holy texts promised the Earth as a new throneworld for the Skrulls. Using their shapeshifting powers, the Skrulls replaced several of the Earth's superhuman heroes and several key members of both major criminal, terrorist and police organisations. With the worlds greatest heroes incapacitated, the majority of its superhuman populance (the mutants) de-powered (prior to the Skrull invasion) and with mistrust spreading among the humans, the invasion seemed guaranteed. But failure would come when Reed Richards, a human genius who had opposed the Skrulls since he first learned of their existence used a device to pierce through the Skrull's shapeshifting. With their enemies clear before them, the Skrull's fleet crippled and with all the heroes and villains united, the Skrulls would fail in their invasion, thus decimating the once mighty Skrull Empire.

With their Empress dead, the remaining Skrull worlds fell into civil war once again. Eventually, six Warlords rose to prominence. By this time, the ancient race known as the Builders invaded several space empires, among them the divided Skrull territories. An alliance was created, and the Skrull warlord Kl'rt was chosen to represent their people and lead their armies. Kl'rt and the rest of the generals led the alliance to victory, and for his great actions, Kl'rt was crowned Emperor of a reborn Skrull Empire.

Technology
The Skrulls have mastered a wide variety of technologies and sciences.


 * Cosmic Cube: An artifact which can be held in one's hands, which pulls energy from another dimension and gives the user the ability to alter reality (potentially up to galactic scale).
 * Intergalactic warp drives (sub-space): Starships can travel from the Andromeda galaxy to the Milky Way galaxy (distance of 2.5 million light years) within seconds or minutes.
 * Intergalactic communications: Nearly instantaneous audio or video.
 * Intergalactic scanners / sensors: The Cosmos Radar spans galaxies and can identify an enemy starship landing on Earth.
 * Intergalactic power transmission: An asteroid sized power station satellite could transmit power from the Skrull throneworld in the Andromeda galaxy to the Super-Skrull on Earth.
 * Shapeshifting technology: Such as the Skrull-X, a humanoid robot that could shapeshift just as a Skrull could and in addition was able to mimic the powers of the Fantastic Four.
 * Miniaturization technology: Which permits a Skrull infiltrator carry equipment (e.g. computers and assault rifle-type blaster) in a miniaturized form without interfering with their shapeshifting. Items were as small as action figure accessories and were easily and quickly restored to original size.
 * Shape-changing technology: Hand held device the size of an early 21st century flip phone can alter the shape of a parked Skrull flying saucer (disguising the vessel) to shapeshifting humanoid robots (e.g. Skrull-X).
 * Brain-wave scanning: Skrulls can scan and track the brain waves of a specific individual anywhere on a planet from orbit.
 * Robotics: Creating humanoid sized robots to multi-storied robotic machines.
 * Cybernetics: From cybernetic enhancements and bionic parts to full blown cyborgs.
 * Genetic engineering: Which resulted in the Super-Skrull program of Skrull warriors given the powers of human super heroes and mutants.

Military Technology
When it comes to war, the Skrulls have developed a great war machine with formidable defenses which is capable of inflicting great devastation.
 * Galactic Defenses: Energy dampening field which "cloaks" the inhabited worlds of the Andromeda galaxy from the world devourer, Galactus (successfully for a thousand years).
 * Weapons of Mass Destruction:
 * Planet Smasher (aka, Sonic Disruptor - a cannon that from the Andromeda galaxy can destroy the Earth in the Milky Way galaxy)
 * Star Killer weapons (cause stars to go supernova)
 * Thermonutron missiles (within minutes burn all life on a planet's surface and in a few hours can shatter a gas giant)
 * Planetary Defenses: Planetary-wide force field and ground-to-space pulse cannons.
 * City-sized Starships: Battleships that are miles-long.
 * Worldships: The planetoid-sized Destructor-class of warship, disguised as asteroids.
 * Energy weapons: Photon torpedoes and blasters, neutrino beams, and pulse cannons.
 * Mecha: Bipedal mult-story humanoid robots and one or two-story multi-legged walkers.
 * Super-Skrulls: Warriors that are given the powers of alien (e.g. human) super heroes / villains and mutants. Could be the powers of one individual or multiple individuals. Originally done via technology (cybernetics, power transmission, etc) and thereby could be sabotaged or interrupted, but eventually it was done via genetic manipulation and permanently given those abilities.
 * Brain-wave Camouflage: The Skrulls developed a method for the Super-Skrull program which prevented the discovery of Skrull infiltrators by technology, magic, or telepathy.Skrull Automated War Machines (X-Men v3 29).png

Skrull Sub-Species
The Deviant branch of the Skrulls has produced a few sub-species / races, all of which retained the racial shapeshifting abilities of the Skrulls:


 * Dire Wraiths: By sucking out the brains of their target via a retractable long barbed tongue, they retain the victim's memories and personality strengthening their disguise. While the use technology it is inferior to that of the Skrulls and their main strength is their mastery of dark magic.
 * Warskrulls: Possess the ability to mimic the powers of any alien super hero / villain or mutant, without the aid of cybernetics or genetic manipulation. Basically they are like the Super-Skrulls but born with that ability.
 * K-class Skrull Mutants: Have the "K" gene which is similar to the human "X" gene, which gives those mutants powers. A wide variety of Skrull mutants and their powers have been shown.